In a previous game I had a player take ranks in Profession (Sailor) to help work out his own back story as a member of the merchant marine. That said when skill checks came up for a variety of things he was otherwise untrained in (survival to find direction, some knowledges, climbing) I let him default to his profession. That might be very generous GMing to many but my reasoning and his being that yes; a trained sailor is likely to know which stars in the night sky can be used to find North, or that the moon is going to be New/Waxing/Full/Waning, or have some clue of how to move up rope. It got me thinking, rather than have Profession be the slot you throw a few dumped ranks into if they perform in the occupation they should probably be able to use their life experience in some advantageous way. If I were to develop this as something to incorporate into my own game I feel that I should know exactly how it works mechanically and what limitations it has so that a Profession doesn't end up eclipsing a preexisting skill.
Mechanically I see it working as either:
A) - A circumstantial bonus to the skill rolled (DC 10 Profession skill check grants a +1 bonus, bonus +1 per 5 over the DC).
B) - Treat it similarly to the Bard's Versatile Performance class feature where you can use the Profession skill in place of very specific aspects of skills. (i.e: Using Profession (Sailor) to interpret direction, as opposed to all Survival checks)
Does this resonate with anyone else? Does it seem to work mechanically? Should there be additional limitations (if so what)? Do you see any glaring downsides / flaws overall and if so how would you go about addressing them?
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Versatile Profession (new trait?)
Choose a profession you are trained in and select two, three, or four skills related to that profession. You gain a +1 competence bonus to your chosen skills for every 2, 3, or 4 ranks you put into that profession (minimum +1). Further, you may aid an ally using one of the associated skills by succeeding an a DC 10 profession check.
While I don't normally use traits as an expression of things I do allow the players to exchange a feat for 2 traits if they want. I actually like that take on it though. It gives them a reason to pursue improving the profession if they want to get the most out of the linked skill. It also addresses one sorta meta feel I was having regarding mastery of a profession. For example 1-3 ranks would be something akin to an apprentice, 4-6 a journeyman, 7-9 an expert, 10 and up being a master of the trade.