Character Creation Skill question

[Goblin Berserker]

Ok, on skills. The finishing touches section says to put your ability mod in section D and so on. Then later it says if you don’t have a rank in a skill listed in section D put a 0 in the rank box. Then later it says to add it all up.

So the next day I’m comparing my players character sheets with the premade ones. My players had skill point totals in all the skills from the ability mods, but the premade ones didn’t have ability mods in all the skills, nor totals for all the skills.

I think the finishing touches section might have thrown the players off (me too), but I need some clarification on the issue. I just assumed from the book and the premade character sheets that only the skills that don’t require training get the ability mods and get added to the total section. It is quite confusing because say a wizard is trained in a bunch of skills but he doesn’t get to put 0 in the rank and put his ability mod into that box and add the totals.

Hope my wording isn’t too confusing, because I am, haha.

[Akerlof]

GoblinBerserker wrote:

Ok, on skills. The finishing touches section says to put your ability mod in section D and so on. Then later it says if you don’t have a rank in a skill listed in section D put a 0 in the rank box. Then later it says to add it all up.

So the next day I’m comparing my players character sheets with the premade ones. My players had skill point totals in all the skills from the ability mods, but the premade ones didn’t have ability mods in all the skills, nor totals for all the skills.

I think the finishing touches section might have thrown the players off (me too), but I need some clarification on the issue. I just assumed from the book and the premade character sheets that only the skills that don’t require training get the ability mods and get added to the total section. It is quite confusing because say a wizard is trained in a bunch of skills but he doesn’t get to put 0 in the rank and put his ability mod into that box and add the totals.

Hope my wording isn’t too confusing, because I am, haha.

That's your answer there. If a skill requires training to use, like the Knowledge (stuff) and Disable Device skills, you don't need to put anything in there because you won't be using it anyway.

I think you're getting confused because you are not clear on what is a trained skill and what is a class skill:

Trained skills require you to invested at least one rank/point in them before you can use them.

Class skills are skills that you get a +3 bonus when you add a rank into them.

So, for example, Knowledge (local) is a class skill for a wizard, it is also a trained only skill. So the wizard cannot make a skill check using knowledge local unless he puts at least one rank in it. (That's the trained part.) But when he does put a rank in it, along with being able to use the skill to make checks, he gets a bonus of 1 (rank) + 3 (class skill bonue) + N (hit Int modifier). So if he had an 18 int, he would have a bonus of 1 + 3 + 4 = 8.

On the other hand, while Bluff is a class skill for a rogue, it is not a trained only skill. So, if a rogue had 14 Cha but no ranks in Bluff, he could still use the Bluff skill with a +2 bonus. However, if he decides to put two ranks into the skill when he levels up to level 2, he would end up with a 2 (ranks) + 3 (class skill) + 2 (Cha bonus) = +7 to his Bluff skill checks.

The Wizard, with a Cha of 7, could use Bluff without putting any ranks into it but he will take a -2 penalty to the checks. At level 2, he could decide to put two ranks into it like the rogue, but since it is not a class skill for him, he would not get the +3 bonus, so he would end up with 2 (ranks) + 0 (not a class skill) - 2 (Cha modifier) = +0 to his rolls when using the Bluff skill.

[Goblin Berserker]

Awesome, thanks! I thought that was it, but I wanted some reassurance before I rolled with it.

And you're right, I was getting class and trained confused. At least I assumed that if it was a class skill that they were also trained in it.

[The Jan]

I was having the same doubts and Akerlof explained perfectly. Thanks!!