Oddyssis's page

I think that casters are going to need to be at least 1 skill proficiency up over martial in this system the way that so much magical stuff is depending on them keeping their magical casting skill at maximum ranks.

I don't think that's necessarily true. I think it means that casters will naturally be inclined to invest in intelligence and focus on their areas of expertise, which is the way a caster should be. I'm not arguing that they all get 2 base either, just that the martials start with a lot more skillpoints or proficiencies so they can be versatile too.

Overall, I highly dislike Signature skills as a mechanic and believe they should be removed entirely, allowing any class to spend their levels in any skill they wish. I don't see anything inherently unbalancing in a Fighter that's trained his whole life in moving stealthily, or a Monk that's spent years becoming one with Nature.

Thanks for the reference list that really makes it easier to digest!!!

I highly agree that Signature skills is unnecessary and only further limits character choice. Skill points work just fine and I don't see anyone complaining about that system being broken. However whether or not it is kept for the final version I'd really like to see at least the lowest 3 (fighter, barbarian, monk) get 5 proficiencies or base skill points per level. No reason to nerf players for not choosing to be a magical ponce.

Has anyone else been looking over the number of proficiencies each class is allotted? I think that the way it is currently presented martial classes are severely restricted in the ways they can specialize for roleplay AND utility.

Fighters, Monks, and Barbarians last I checked get 3 proficiencies to start with. This is seems strange because that is barely enough to hit the major skills they need to be good at. Athletics, acrobatics, and maybe stealth or survival. I understand that every other level you get a bonus proficiency which helps a lot, however compared to classes with casting things start to get strange. Paladins get 4 proficiencies starting. That seems like a reasonable amount but it's more than martial classes without access to spells (which grant a massive amount of utility) get.

What I don't understand at all is that the full casting classes get far more proficiencies to start than martials. Clerics and Sorcerors get 5, Druids get 4, Bards (which I understand are supposed to be the skill monkeys of casters) get 7! Of course Rogue deserves special mention for having a boggling 10 proficiencies and twice as many increases as any other class, which might be overkill.

It's always been my opinion that martial classes should get equivalent or more skills than casters because otherwise they are pigeonholed into combat only and become dead weight outside of a narrow skillset, which is why lots of players prefer to play classes with at least a little magic and being the fighter is often considered a necessary chore. This kind of setup guarantees casters will be awesome at all sorts of things and totally outshine other classes in rp and general utility. Weigh in and let me know if I'm missing something or if this is crazy unbalanced.