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Well argued. I withdraw my requests.


In my campaigns I've added a new use for Appraise: you can evaluate the general quality of an object. For example, you can tell whether a bridge will stand your weight, whether a rusty sword is still usable, or whether your shoes match your hat. Consider including this use in the manual.

If you're going to transfer uses of Spellcraft to Knowledge (arcana), I propose deleting Spellcraft altogether and using only one skill instead. Also, Concentration deserves to remain. It has many other uses besides spellcasting. For example, if you are busy trying to decipher a rune inscription on a door while your allies dispatch the zombies around you and the castle rumbles to pieces, you'll need a bit of extra effort.

At first I cried over Perception, but you've done a very good job of defining its uses. For that I'll forgive you the Stealth thing.

I love Linguistics! Consider including the Read Lips task within this skill, instead of within Perception.

What am I going to measure the quality of my knots with now?

Consider adding the 4E Endurance skill (blasphemous! yes, I admit it, but you've already got Acrobatics, Perception and Stealth). Endurance is a Con-based skill that covers several tasks that had been ambiguous before (but please don't absorbe Survival into it; they're different things).

Please, please, please, please expand the synergies. I love synergies! Once I had a cleric with ranks in Craft (calligraphy) and Profession (scribe), and it was frustrating not to have a bonus on Forgery checks.


I'm undecided over the Fly skill. I'm afraid it may end up like several 3.0 skills that only were useful for the first 5 ranks and then you forgot about them (Read Lips, Intuit Direction) or skills that were so specific in scope that almost nobody used them (the infamous Scry, the nonsensical Control Shape for lycanthropes). I you can make Fly work like Swim (having the player make a check against unfavorable conditions), this skill can be saved from the irrelevance those others have fallen into.


Brief thoughts: (Nobility) feels weird for clerics, as does (Geography) for druids. Paladins should have (History). Monks have more use for (Religion) than for (History).


Since I met D&D I wondered why a high Dex score didn't add to your speed. I think it makes sense. Isn't there a way to include a rule for this? Just a tiny bonus. For example: with a Dex score of 10-19 you keep your natural speed, with 20-29 you get +5 feet, and so on. Same for scores below 10: -5 ft if you're too clumsy to put one leg after the other. This rule would reward fast characters, and would spare you the pain of wasting a feat in Dash.


The Reincarnate spell has a problem regarding racial bonuses. There are bonuses you get because of a physical difference (+2 Perception for elves), and there are others you get because of your culture (+1 atk against goblins for gnomes). I think racial bonuses should be divided in two categories: racial and cultural bonuses. If you are reincarnated as a different race, you shouldn't lose your previous cultural training, only your physical advantages.


Acrobatics isn't very well defined. At the risk of commiting blasphemy, I like the 4E approach to this issue: two separate skills, Acrobatics for Dex-based stunts (Balance, Escape Artist, Tumble), and Athletics for Str-based ones (Climb, Jump, Swim). It is more rational, and solves the problem of jumping with Dexterity, which is really hard to imagine.


Half-elves are too much like humans. The +2 bonus to any ability score is a huge advantage, and makes the human slightly less interesting an option. This half-elf seems too oriented toward versatility, which is supposed to be the hallmark of the human race. Consider removing Skill Focus (and giving it to humans instead of the first-level extra rank) and restoring the +2 Diplomacy bonus (having been raised in a dual culture should give them a knack for dealing with varied peoples).

Why should half-orcs have +2 Wis? They're not particularly perceptive. I'm for restoring the original -2 Cha instead, or at least giving them +2 Con instead of +2 Wis. Also, the cleric favored class makes no sense for half-orcs. Fighter is more logical an option.

Why remove the halfling's atk bonus for thrown weapons? It adds an interesting flavor to a character.