player42's page

I heartily agree with the majority on this one. Combine all those individually named +2/+2 feats into a generic "+2 to any two skills" feat. That would make it much easier to go through the feat lists and find what you're looking for.

In my experience, few PCs take these feats unless it's a prestige class requirement. If you have few skill points, a +2 boost probably isn't enough to make you good at a skill; and if you have many skill points, you don't need it. In either case, there are almost always more beneficial feats for your character, and only a limited number of feat slots to fill.

In standard D&D3.5, I've suggested making these feats (and skill focus) more useful by allowing one to treat the indicated skills as class skills all the time. Since there's no point cost difference for cross-class skills in Pathfinder, that would be moot. Instead, they could allow one to take 10 when using the skills under duress, just like a rogue's Skill Mastery.

My list is pretty similar:

Alchemy (Int) make & identify potions, special materials & alchemical substances, use certain alchemical items
Animal Handling (Cha) ride, train, & command animals
Arcane (Int) identify spells, magic items, effects, magical creatures (magical beasts, aberrations, magical constructs), etc. Use magic devices, read magic
Athletics (Con) run, jump, climb, endurance
Construction (Int) build, repair, identify & disable: buildings, tunnels, defensive works, ships, etc.; find secret passages, determine weaknesses
Craft (Dex) make, repair, identify & disable items: woodworking, tailoring, tanning weaving, artwork, ceramics, etc.
Diplomacy (Cha) persuasion, gather information, high society savoir-faire
Escape (Dex) squeeze through small space, slip bonds & shackles,
Gymnastics (Dex) tumble, balance, jump, reduce fall, regain footing, aerial maneuvers, etc.
Healing (Wis) medicine, heal wounds, cure sickness
Intimidation (Cha) scare people into cooperating, demoralize opponents
Language (Int) learn 1 language or alphabet per rank, decipher script, make & break codes.
Lore (Int) history, geography, local, nobility, humanoids, hidden secrets, riddles, misc. facts
Mechanic (Int) make, repair, disable & identify traps, locks, constructs, complicated devices
Merchant (Int) haggle price, appraise value, run a business, business contacts/knowledge
Metalsmith (Dex) make, repair, identify & disable: metal arms & armor, other metal items
Nature (Wis) survival, find food, avoid danger; identify animals, plants, & vermin; navigate on land, track
Notice (Wis) spot, search, listen, smell, taste, feel, use other available senses
Perform (Cha) music, display of skill, dancing, inspiring oration, bardic music effects
Religion (Wis) understanding of undead, gods, demons, outsiders, planes, rites, & beliefs; perform rituals
Sailing (Int) handle ships & boats, navigate at sea, water survival
Sense Motive (Wis) counteract subterfuge & misdirection, detect lies, read someone' motives
Stealth (Dex) hide, move silently
Streetwise (Cha) gather info, fence stolen goods, knowledge of low society & criminals
Swim (Con) swimming, holding breath
Trickery (Cha) bluff, disguise, forgery
Thievery (Dex) pick locks, breaking & entering, pick pockets, bypass traps
Warfare (Int) strategy & tactics, leading troops in battle, operating siege engines & defenses, knowledge of weapons & army procedures.

28 skills: Str 0, Dex 6, Con 2, Int 9, Wis 5, Cha 7.

I'm not that keen on concentration. I can't think of a time I've ever seen it used aside from spellcasting, so it always just seemed like a means of soaking up a caster's skill points.

There's always the gotcha aspect of defensive casting, too: as in "aha, you didn't say 'I defensively cast' you take an attack of opportunity!" Instead, I might favor a spell failure chance for casting in melee, maybe 5% per spell level or something, cumulative with armor misfire chances.

Another option would be to use Will save in place of concentration. Maintaining your concentration in the face of distraction sounds like an act of will to me, and doesn't require more skills or skill points.

Historically, of course, no distinction was made between arcane and divine magic. People's beliefs about magic and spells were tied into their other beliefs about the supernatural and cosmology. But so long as we maintain that separation in D&D, then the skills governing arcane & divine spells should also be separate. Same with psionics if you include that in your game as a distinct form of "magic".

I'm not that keen on concentration, though. I can't think of a time I've ever seen it used aside from spellcasting. And there was always the gotcha aspect of defensive casting, as in "aha, you didn't say 'I defensively cast' you take an attack of opportunity!" Instead, I think I'd favor a spell failure chance for casting in melee, maybe 5% per spell level or something, cumulative with armor misfire chances.

I agree. +1 skill point sounds better than +1 hp for favored class levels. Most characters could really use more skill points. I think the human's extra skill point would reflect his versatility with regard to favored class, so I wouldn't add the bonus twice.

BTW, archaic means old, arcane means mysterious, so the OP is right.

Jeff Jenkins wrote:

1.It is not terribly costly to create an item that creates food and water once per round indefinately.

2. It is not terribly costly to create an item that will cure disease in the same manner.

I feel the need to point out that "not terribly costly" (from the average PC's perspective) is equal to "hopelessly out of my price range" for most of the NPC populace in the typical D&D campaign world.

It won't be out of their price range now that they don't have to spend most of their income on food or medical care. Being freed of the need to toil in the fields for hours on end also provides commoners the opportunity to try their hands at more profitable professions - magic item crafting, for instance.

Of course in a typical D&D adventure, you are 10 times more likely to run into a spellcaster or magic item shop than a farmer, anyway. Actually, this is why I think Eberron is the ideal setting for D&D - it actually takes into account the effects of magic & magic items on society. Leave more traditional fantasy settings to other systems with less abundance of magic.

I'm glad they did away with the XP penalty for multiclassing, at least. If the intention of favored class is to avoid abuse of multiclassing, though, the solution is to build classes so that their coolest features come later, or scale up with class level. Front-loading a class with the most important benefits at 1st or 2nd level is an open invitation to dip.

I think we all agree that keeping or dropping the 1 hp/lvl won't matter that much either way. That being the case, why bother with an extra rule that adds this extra bit of complication for no great purpose? Races will naturally gravitate toward certain classes based on their stat modifiers and any potential synergy between racial & class features.

If the rule is kept, however, I like the earlier poster's recommendation of awarding a bonus skill point instead of hit point for favored classes. After all, if a race is predisposed toward a certain profession, then members of that race would be better at the skills associated with it, but wouldn't necessarily be tougher & able to take more hits for following that chosen path.