I saw a skill system in a thread on the boards, that i think is pretty good but i had some problems. So i change some things and I want to see how you think about it.
Firstly you gain skill points from your stat modifiers and class, you can use them on skills of the same kind or other kinds for a extra cost. So points from Strength can be used on skills like Swim and climb. For 1 to 1 ratio or too other kinds of skills for a 2 to 1 ratio.
So if you have 14 Str you can put one rank in Swim and Climb or one rank in knowledge religion.
You gain half your class skill points as free points that can be used on any thing. The maximum amount of points from a Stat is the normal skill points from the class. So a fighter whit 16 Dex will only get 2 points but a barbarian would get 3.
Secondly if you have a negative modifier you need to spend extra points to get the first rank.
So if your Cha is 8 you need to spend 1 extra point to learn Diplomacy or 2 points if they com from stat.
Note that you don't gain skill points from Con.