Hi All:
I’ve been watching the discussion here with some interest, as I’ve long thought that the D20 skill system needed some improvement. I have some ideas to share; some are original, others are “borrowed.”
First, I’d like to propose a new skill: Recall. This would be an Int skill and represents a character’s ability to remember things with varying levels of detail. Major information that the PC would obviously want to remember would have a DC of 10 or even lower, but lesser details or things that seemed unimportant at the time might warrant a DC of 20 or even higher. Modifiers would be imposed for elapsed time.
Second, I have a list of condensed/combined skills. I took a rather minimalist approach here; I only have five. Nothing earth-shaking here.
Agility (Dex) - Balance, Fly, Tumble
Arcana (Int) - Knowledge (Arcana), Spellcraft
Mechanics (Int) - Disable Device, Open Lock
Perception (Wis) - Listen, Search, Spot
Religion (Int) - Knowledge (Planes), Knowledge (Religion)
Stealth (Dex) - Hide, Move Silently
I know some folks disagree with putting Search in with Spot and Listen, but I think its really just an application of the same thing. Others want much greater consolidation. For them, I offer…
Third, the Iron Heroes rule set introduced the idea of skill groups. The skills included in a skill group are all related to a central theme, and so the PC can purchase them all at a substantial discount. In the IH rules, (for those of you who aren’t familiar with it) all classes can buy max ranks (level +3) in all skills, but each class also has a few skill groups that they can purchase for one skill point. One skill point gets you one rank in each of the associated skills. My list of group is loosely patterned after the IH groups, although some of IH’s groups have already been dealt with above (perception and stealth, et. al.). And yes, you can still buy ranks in the individual skills.
Acrobatics - Agility, Escape Artist, Jump
Athletics - Climb, Jump, Ride, Swim
Academia - Decipher Script, Architecture & Engineering*, Geography*, Heal, History*, Nobility & Royalty*
Mysticism - Arcana, Concentration, Use Magic Device
Psychology - Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Sense Motive
Streetwise - Gather Information, Local*, Nobility & Royalty*
Thievery - Forgery, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Wilderness Lore - Handle Animal, Dungeoneering*, Nature*, Survival, Use Rope
*Knowledge skills
Ok, now for the really radical one. Fourth, instead of using Int as the sole source of bonus skill points, why not award bonus skill points for each ability with the restriction that the bonus points can only be applied to skills that are tied to that ability. At first level you would get the sum total of all of your ability modifiers as bonus point instead of 4 x your Int modifier. At later levels, you would have to choose which ability to draw the bonus points from with the same restriction as at first level. Low ability scores would simply impose an extra cost to purchasing the skills. A low Wis (let’s say, 8) would make your first rank in any Wisdom skill cost 1 extra skill point. This penalty would apply only once at each level.
All the Best,
Scott
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Ok, now for the really radical one. Fourth, instead of using Int as the sole source of bonus skill points, why not award bonus skill points for each ability with the restriction that the bonus points can only be applied to skills that are tied to that ability. At first level you would get the sum total of all of your ability modifiers as bonus point instead of 4 x your Int modifier.
Did you play any Chaosium games (Runequest, CoC)?
That's how they did their skill points, at least in the first editions.
Rolemaster also allocated development points/level based on 5 of the 10 stats, though it didn't insist you spent them on the associated skills.