Instead of a +3 bonus to class skills, I would prefer to see a system where maximum skill ranks would be 3 + level (just like in 3.5E), but instead of multiplying level 1 skill points by 4, extra skill points would instead be granted independently of class. Classes would get a normal X + Int. bonus skill points per level, but race* would give a number of bonus skill points at level 1 that would be equal for all classes, so that multiclassing problems of Rogue 5/Wizard 5 versus Wizard 5/Rogue 5, where the first is always better than the second due to having vastly more skill points, would not rear their ugly head again.
Each character would therefore get the following number of skill points from their race* at level 1:
12 + 3 x Intelligence bonus
Humans would, of course, get another 3 skill points on top of the above.
Therefore, for humans the number of bonus skill points would be: 15 + 3 x Intelligence bonus
Note: An alternative way to determine the amount of bonus skill points would be to eliminate the somewhat clunky 3 x Intelligence bonus and instead give a fixed number of racial/universal skill points – say 18 for a normal race and 21 for humans (assuming an implied +2 Intelligence bonus). This would, however, be slightly less backward compatible.
This would lead to some classes which normally get 6 + Int. bonus skill points or 8 + Int. bonus skill points losing out somewhat, but it is possible to compensate them.
Those classes that have 6 + Int. bonus skill points would lose 6 skill points overall, so they could be compensated by giving them +2 skill points at level 1 and another +4 skill points at level 2. Classes with 8 + Int. bonus skill points could have their loss redressed by giving them the same compensation as the 6 + Int. bonus classes, plus another +6 skill points at level 3.
Of course, it would also be possible to simple give the 6 and 8 skill-point classes all 6 and 12 skill points that they lost respectively as bonus skill points at level 1, but this kind of frontloading might encourage dipping to take advantage of that, so it might be better to spread the compensation over the first two or three levels (like I have shown above, or perhaps even uniformly).
The benefits of this system are:
1) Better character customization at level 1
2) Better compatibility with 3.5E rules
3) Low-skill point characters get additional skill points they can spend on backround skills at the beginning without altering their skill point progression
4) Additional balance mechanism for races
*As things stand now, the racial bonus skill points are essentially universal bonus skill points, not dependent on race. However, if these bonus skill points were truly a racial feature, they could be used as an additional balancing mechanism for the races. For example, if dwarves are slightly more powerful than the other races because of their racial features, but due to flavor reasons it makes no sense to remove any of their abilities, perhaps their racial skill points could be 10 + 3 x Intelligence bonus, instead of 12 + 3 x Intelligence bonus (example only – the exact figure would depend on balancing needs), thus preserving their flavor, but bringing them into better balance with the other races.
I have much more to expound on, but I have posted a less cleaned up version elsewhere only for it to be not read due to the length of text involved. Having learned my lesson, I thought I would post this in chunks hopefully small enough for people to read. Here comes the next part, explaining my logic for why I have chosen 12 bonus racial/universal skill points as the standard for an average race.
In 3.5E, every character effectively has 4 levels worth of skill points and skill rank maxima at first level, rather then merely one level. Let’s call the three extra levels virtual levels for now, because they don’t really exist – they merely grant extra skill points and maximum skill ranks. The problem is that the number of skill points granted by these virtual levels differs according to what is the class a character takes at level 1, which leads to problems, particularly the one with multiclassing, where a combination of high skill point class first low skill point class second is invariably better than the same classes taken in the opposite order. Virtual levels should, therefore, have their own skill point progression. But how many skill points should they grant? When deciding this matter, it is prudent to consider some statistical facts about skill points and hit dice/levels:
Commoner as base for virtual levels: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Humanoid as base for virtual levels: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Warrior as base for virtual levels: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Lowest skill point progression: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Medium-Low skill point progression: 4 + Int. bonus / level
Medium-High skill point progression: 6 + Int. bonus / level
Highest skill point progression: 8 + Int. bonus / level
Mean of possible skill point progressions: 5 + Int. bonus / level
Median of possible skill point progression: 5 + Int/bonus / level
Mode of NPC Classes: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Mean of NPC Classes: ~3 + Int. bonus / level
Median of NPC Classes: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Mode of PC Classes: 2 + Int. bonus / level
Mean of PC Classes: ~4 + Int. bonus / level
Median of PC Classes: 4 + Int. bonus / level
The above are basically all the available choices for the skill point progression granted by virtual levels. It would probably best be base virtual level skill point progression on one of two possible approaches: the lowest progression or the average progression. I would prefer to use the average skill point progression of PC classes, which would result in: 4 + Int. bonus / virtual level skill points, but using a skill point progression of 2 + Int. bonus / virtual level would certainly be viable and could achieve even better backward compatibility, though in order to ensure that no classes lose out, more classes would need to be compensated in the manner I outlined in my first post, due to greater losses:
4-skill point classes: 6 lost skill points
6-skill point classes: 12 lost skill points
8-skill point classes: 18 lost skill points
The progression using 4 + Int bonus requires less compensation to fewer classes and gives low skill point classes some bonus initial skill points to spend on their background skills without changing their skill progression, so I consider it a slightly superior choice.
Here is a summary of what each virtual level gives:
V1: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1)
V2: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1)
V3: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1)
When we combine this into a racial or universal bonus we get:
12 + 3 x Int. bonus skill points
+3 to skill rank maximum
Humans:
15 + 3 x Int. bonus skill points
+3 to skill rank maximum
The above-mentioned concepts could be extended to also doing other things, such as granting a racial hit point bonus at level 1. The question becomes what size bonus to grant? If we extend the virtual level concept from skill points to hit dice, we can arrive at an appropriate answer.
Because racial bonus hit points are a new bonus and do not replace a different mechanic, they need not be concerned with backward compatibility so much. Unless of course, we use them to replace the maximum hit points at level 1 rule and thus make multiclassing fair with respect to Class X / Class Y versus Class Y /Class X combianations, as outlined in the above posts.
Let us consider the Barbarian, as he has the highest hit die: d12. A Barbarian at level 1, therefore, normally gets a full 12 hit points (+ Constitution bonus), but if he had to roll, he would only gain 6.5 hit points on average. The difference is 5.5 hit points, which is therefore the amount of bonus hit points a ‘normal’ racial/universal bonus should grant. We can round this to 6 hit points. Of course, just like skill points, racial bonus hit points could be used as an additional for balancing races, so if say the Half-Orc was slightly underpowered compared to other races, he could be boosted to 7, 8, 9 or even 10 bnus racial hit points to compensate for that.
Normally, the 5.5 bonus hit points for a standard race would be rounded down to 5 hit points, but we need to round up to 6 hit points. The reason for this is that this allows them to be uniformly distributed at 2 hit points per virtual level. For most races this makes no difference and they simply provide a +6 to hit points, but for LA races this would be important, as LA could reduce virtual levels before impacting real levels.
Summary of what each virtual level gives:
V1: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1); Hit points (2)
V2: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1); Hit points (2)
V3: Skill points (4 + Int. bonus); Skill rank ceiling (+1); Hit points (2)
An LA race would lose the appropriate number of virtual (and if they ran out also real) levels
Therefore:
LA +1 race would lose V3
LA +2 race would lose V3 and V2
LA +3 race would lose V3, V2 and V1
LA +4 race would lose V3, V2, V1 and one real level
…
Of course, the loss of these virtual levels could already be acounted for in the racial features list precluding the need for calculation on the part of the player. For example, the Drow would only grant 4 + 1xInt. bonus skill points, +1 to maximum skill ranks and +2 bonus hit points.