Playtest results

[Melissa Litwin]

I'm playing in a game that we've decided to use Pathfinder skills in, and overall it's working . . . only OK. It makes cross-classing stupidly powerful (rogue/cleric who doesn't really give up anything of the rogue skill list). The consolidations also make it very easy to qualify for prestige classes that are supposed to have difficult skill requirements. Overall, it's an easy system to use, but it's not a terribly great one in terms of game balance.

[Shisumo]

Could you give some specific examples?

[Melissa Litwin]

Dervish requires ranks in Tumble and Perform(dance) for a fighter class. It makes being a rogue/wizard going into Arcane Trickster and/or Unseen Seer really easy, especially the broken combination (1 rogue/4 wizard/2 Unseen Seer/X Arcane Trickster).

The really important issue is the one rogue dip though. I'd gladly put off a lot of things to have that many skills all maxed. I could be a fighter or ranger or wizard or cleric or anything and also have a lot of really useful skills utility that really shouldn't be that easy to get.

[Shisumo]

Melissa Litwin wrote:

The really important issue is the one rogue dip though. I'd gladly put off a lot of things to have that many skills all maxed. I could be a fighter or ranger or wizard or cleric or anything and also have a lot of really useful skills utility that really shouldn't be that easy to get.

It's been my experience that this is only really a problem for low-level (and I expect for short-duration) campaigns. Every time I've made a mid- or high-level character, or had one of my players do so, the speed with which you gain new trained skills (every even level) has made the rogue dip unnecessary. Everybody becomes uberskilled by 8th level or so, so it's really not that much of a draw anymore.

[Melissa Litwin]

Shisumo wrote:

Melissa Litwin wrote:

The really important issue is the one rogue dip though. I'd gladly put off a lot of things to have that many skills all maxed. I could be a fighter or ranger or wizard or cleric or anything and also have a lot of really useful skills utility that really shouldn't be that easy to get.

It's been my experience that this is only really a problem for low-level (and I expect for short-duration) campaigns. Every time I've made a mid- or high-level character, or had one of my players do so, the speed with which you gain new trained skills (every even level) has made the rogue dip unnecessary. Everybody becomes uberskilled by 8th level or so, so it's really not that much of a draw anymore.

I have to disagree with that. You get lots of trained skills as a mid- or high-level character, but not a lot of in-class ones. Maxed ranks versus half ranks makes a big difference when it comes to being skilled. That rogue dip means that not only does a character have a lot more trained skills, she has a lot more maxed rank, in class skills. Trained doesn't make a skill go in-class, after all.