I came up with an interesting idea for a house rule, and I wanted to hear other peoples' thoughts on the matter; primarily to see if it could be abused or otherwise mess up game balance some how.
I was thinking of removing Spellcraft, as a skill, from the game. Everything Spellcraft related would be rolled into Knowledge (arcana) with the exception of using it for magic item creation checks.
For magic item creation checks, you will be forced to use Craft skills of the appropriate kind.
I think this reduce needless redundancy in skills, beef up Craft so as to be more desirable, and limit item creation in such a way that a single character can't make half the worthwhile items in the game with just one feat (now requiring more investment in the form of skill ranks and also making some checks harder). It will also increase the likelihood of cursed magic items appearing in the game, since people will only be willing to max out so many craft skills.
What do you think? Any unforeseen consequences?
I am okay with this.
You could use knowledge (religion) for identifying divine spells from clerics, inquisitors, paladins and oracles, and knowledge (nature) to identify spells from rangers and druids.
But that might be awkward when it's not clear who is the source of a particular effect (especially if it's one shared between arcane and divine).
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I don't like it thematically, as you don't really build the items you 'craft' you just imbue them with magic.
I don't see how being a really good jeweler, for instance, would translate into being able to magically imbue the item with energy.
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I don't like it thematically, as you don't really build the items you 'craft' you just imbue them with magic.
I don't see how being a really good jeweler, for instance, would translate into being able to magically imbue the item with energy.
You would still need the various Craft feats and the spell caster Prerequisites.
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I don't know isn't Knowledge Arcana already pretty decent as it is? Adding that much more to it doesn't seem like the best idea to me at least.
Plus it completely mucks up the divisions between arcane and divine magic. Knowledge Arcana to identify the holy relic or what spell the evil cleric is casting? Seems a bit wrong.
That's a good idea, Umbral.
Crimson, Magical Aptitude would wither grant a situational bonus on all craft checks made to enchant a magic item in place of it's Spellcraft check, or else have some other non-skill effect (such as speeding up the crafting time of magic items).
I am already leaning to this, but I am retaining Spellcraft as a casting skill. Only available to casters.
i'd recommend keeping spellcraft
only because it doesn't turn knowledge religion, arcana, planes and nature into the 4 unholy kings of knowledge.
i would bring in autohypnosis, to help martial characters out. autohypnosis lets you ignore hindering conditions for a given period by making a skill check.
"i'm fatigued?" luckily i have this skill which allows me to suppress my fatigue and tough it out long enough to fight
"i'm panicked?" luckily i can make a skill check for suppressing the fear and ignoring
allow martial characters to both treat autohypnosis as a class skill, and gain a circumstance bonus equal to their BAB.
A problem in PF is that perception is the king skill. Way to useful for one skill. By combining both Arcana and Spellcraft you are replicating that effect. Everyone would pump "spellcana" to know everything about magic. I'd keep them separate. My two cents.
A problem in PF is that perception is the king skill. Way to useful for one skill. By combining both Arcana and Spellcraft you are replicating that effect. Everyone would pump "spellcana" to know everything about magic. I'd keep them separate. My two cents.If perception is a problem the only practical solution is to go forward, not back. Either all the good skills need to be subdivided until they're as weak as the weak skills and skills/level doubled or possibly even tripled for everyone or skills need to be combined until every skill is about as good as perception. There isn't space on an 8.5x11 character sheet to do the former legibly.
if you gave all PCs 2 additional skill points per level. and an additional 2 skill points per level for background skills, you would have less issues with PCs being skill starved.
A problem in PF is that perception is the king skill. Way to useful for one skill. By combining both Arcana and Spellcraft you are replicating that effect. Everyone would pump "spellcana" to know everything about magic. I'd keep them separate. My two cents.If perception is a problem the only practical solution is to go forward, not back. Either all the good skills need to be subdivided until they're as weak as the weak skills and skills/level doubled or possibly even tripled for everyone or skills need to be combined until every skill is about as good as perception. There isn't space on an 8.5x11 character sheet to do the former legibly.
We saw the end result of this madness with the 4e skill list... *shudders* What was it in the end? 17 skills?
I believe you will always have certain skills that outshine other skills based on that skill's nature. Perception is sort of what we use to interact with the world; we perceive things, we make assumptions based on those perceptions, and we act on those assumptions. Of course Perception is going to be more important than things like Appraise or Knowledge (nobility).
As to the OP's original idea, I don't think it would break the game, but if you are doing it because you don't like it verses the player's don't like it, I would avoid changing anything. Sometimes a GM changes aspects of gameplay based on their own personal preference or preferred style of play as opposed to "fit the campaign" or "meet the needs of the players." I've been guilty of that on more than one occassion with my distain for companions (pets, cohorts, familiars, animal companions, mounts... I hate playing characters with them!), but I recognize my players might enjoy those mechanics. So, for their sake, I read up on the mechanics, become very... familiar (pun!) with the rules, because I know at the end of the day the enjoyment of my players is what matters the most.
I'm sure you feel the same way.