So, I had an idea. the idea is that at the beginning of a campaign each player selects one skill thats important to them.
so the archer might take perception, the thief might take slight of hand, the gambler might take bluff ect. and then just give the players a 50 point bonus in the skill.
that way, even though they're starting at level 1, characters could have that bit of renown. they can be well known for having the best eyes in the city or etc. it just seems that most movies and stories start of with the main characters already having something special about them, being the best at something even if its something small. what do you guys think? is it an interesting idea or do you just see it being abused somehow.
This limits what you can do as a GM. If somebody chooses perception, then they'll be able to see everything. If they get sense motive, nobody can lie to them. Disable device makes trap useless.
A whole party with this is going to greatly limit you unless you find ways to split them up.
At that point you'd be better off just saying the player auto-succeeds at the skill. Touch of demigod or what not.
I've played around with this idea, but much lower bonus! I've used +15 and +8.
15 is nearly auto success. A character chose sense motive and it was interesting have such a powerful gift in knowing who to trust. +8 is just a huge advantage, a powerful knack.
I enjoyed using both, but 50 is indeed excessive.
+50 is auto success.
You might be better off adding a pool system that refreshes each day, and with this pool the player either rolls a natural 20 automatically or just auto succeeds.
Be wary of any goblins choosing acrobatics.
okay, maybe 50 is way over the top. what about 10, and yeah I guess I would be hurting myself. but I feel like it'll give each character an area to shine. I know characters not getting there moment can happen quite a lot and be quite disheartening.
10 is more reasonable. 50 almost means never fail ever. 10 is extremely good. A good base line is looking at circumstance bonuses in skills.
+10 on perception means they can tell something is there while sleeping as well as someone else can while awake.
+10 on sense motive is the same a being able to ignore convincing proof.
+10 in acrobatics means you can balance on a beam as well in an earthquake as someone else can under normal circumstances.
+10 is huge, 50 is absurd.
A more manageable approach may be to give them skill focus. This gives a +3 to start out and a +6 later on.
Another approach would be to allow them to roll twice and take the better result. This is roughly equivalent to a +4 in the skill.
A more manageable approach may be to give them skill focus. This gives a +3 to start out and a +6 later on.
Or "greater skill focus", which actually doesn't exist in 1st party form (to my knowledge).
Greater Skill Focus (feat, does not stack with skill focus)You gain +3 to a chosen skill.
At 5 ranks, this increases to +6, at 10 ranks, +9, at 15 ranks, +12 and at 20 ranks +15.
+50?
Yes, bad idea. thats reality warping strong.
+50 to Acrobatics means being able to jump 50 feet further than would normally be the case. That's one of the more quantifiable effects.
+50 to Acrobatics means being able to jump 50 feet further than would normally be the case. That's one of the more quantifiable effects.
really? does acrobatics work like that? so if you have acrobatics +10 you can jump an extra 10 feet?
Yup. Jumping over a 15 foot pit (with a running start) is a DC 15 Acrobatics check. Jumping over a 50 foot pit is a DC 50 check.
Since you can't "auto fail" on a roll of a natural 1 on a skill check, a character with a +10 Acrobatics can easily jump 10 feet horizontally (once he rolls, his check will be a minimum of 11). The DC for an acrobatics check to jump a horizontal distance is equal to the distance covered
Finally, you can use the Acrobatics skill to make jumps or to soften a fall. The base DC to make a jump is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or four times the height to be reached (if vertical). These DCs double if you do not have at least 10 feet of space to get a running start.
So someone with a +50 can jump AT LEAST 50 ft from the start and as they level up this is going to get more absurd as they put more skill points into it (or take Skill Focus or other traits/feats/class abilities to increase their skill). Imagine a monk spending ki on top of this.
So yeah, I agree with the others. Considering the skills will get better as the characters level, something like free Skill Focus would be fine. A +10 at the start is still a HUGE bonus and higher than that means a lot of challenges are going to be negated completely. Keep in mind that with such a bonus, you could be creating a large gap between what party members are capable of. If you are challenging the party, it's pretty much an auto success for the skilled character, but if challenging the skilled character the party will be kinda SOL (granted this is more an issue for some skills than others, particularly contested skills like Stealth and Perception)
If you're not using skill unlocks in general then giving each Signature Skill for free kinda does what you want. "Your ability with a particular skill is the stuff of legends, and you can do things with that skill that others cannot." But you'd have to invent something for it to do at 1 rank since it usually has a minimum of 5. I suppose you could just have the 5-ranks power kick in early.
Hmm, can't find the per-skill details on Archives of Nethys. Well, they're on d20pfsrd, at the bottom of each skill page. Note that they are not all equally spiffy.
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Hmm, can't find the per-skill details on Archives of Nethys.
They're in the Unchained Rogue's section. http://archivesofnethys.com/SkillUnlocks.aspx
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Everyone will take the bonus to perception, and you'll never be able to ambush the party again. Seriously, who wouldnt.
Or maybe the rogues would take acrobatics, and depend on the party to find traps for them.
I don't really see the point of this because some skills are better then others and will just result in cookie cutter skills picked. Or if they must stick to a different skill, the players will ask why that guy got to pick perception, and I get the short end of the stick.
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Believe me, if I wanted to build a character for scariness, I need no GM fiat for that. Half elf (skill focus intimidate), put a rank into intimidate on lv up. Start with 14 for cha minimum.
Should be more then enough for your intimidating needs, even without magic items. Afterall, DC = 10 + HD + wis mod, you're rolling HD +8. You just need to roll (His HD - yours +2 + wis mod), to suceeed the check.
I'll go along with the idea of Skill Focus as a freebie if that's what you want. I'd say that in and of itself is good enough to be 'the best in town at X', or near to it, as long as your hometown isn't Absalom or something like that. But Skill Focus in Craft, for example, is a decent way to be the most talented weaponsmith in a village. One free feat is probably not going to break a game like a +50 will. ('Yawn. I just forged another Holy Avenger. What's next?' ... and that's just on Craft.)
A wise person once said: those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And those who are totally useless do nothing but criticise.
I am going to go against the grain here and say that I think it is a great idea.
I recommend you make this a short campaign in case there are some unforeseen complications, but otherwise go for it. It would be great if you could tell us how it went!
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Speaking from experience, even a +8 racial bonus (Skilled eidolons) can turn checks into an auto pass. Take 10 on searching perceptions rolls and find all the things. Stealth means almost never getting caught, and being small means it's practically invisibility. Nevermind Hellcat Stealth.
Giving a free skill focused feat (Alertness, Skill Focus, Prodigy, etc) would be a fantastic way to set up characters who are exceptional at their trade while keeping the game balanced.
Giving everybody a free Skill Focus and the Signature Skill feat from Unchained as a bonus feat might be fun. If you really can't wait for the PCs to go over the top maybe you could allow them to invest level+4 ranks in their "signature" skill so that they get the initial bonus from Signature Skill starting at 1st level and gain the other abilities early.
Regarding high modifiers and Perception, I had a PC with a +27 Perception who failed to notice 5 Huge size Giant Slugs which surprised our party by coming around the corner on a forest path. The DM's reasoning was basically, "You didn't notice they were there since they were around the corner." One of the other players added that slugs probably move very quietly since they slide.
I think that if PCs have very high skill modifiers the DM often adjusts his or her expectations of how successful a certain number might be.
So someone with a +50 can jump AT LEAST 50 ft from the start and as they level up this is going to get more absurd as they put more skill points into it (or take Skill Focus or other traits/feats/class abilities to increase their skill). Imagine a monk spending ki on top of this.
Heck, that's a standing high jump of 6.5 feet before stat, skill, favored class and the die roll. This can easily get over 8 ft at level 1. Double that for a running jump.
Giving everybody a free Skill Focus and the Signature Skill feat from Unchained as a bonus feat might be fun. If you really can't wait for the PCs to go over the top maybe you could allow them to invest level+4 ranks in their "signature" skill so that they get the initial bonus from Signature Skill starting at 1st level and gain the other abilities early.
Regarding high modifiers and Perception, I had a PC with a +27 Perception who failed to notice 5 Huge size Giant Slugs which surprised our party by coming around the corner on a forest path. The DM's reasoning was basically, "You didn't notice they were there since they were around the corner." One of the other players added that slugs probably move very quietly since they slide.
I think that if PCs have very high skill modifiers the DM often adjusts his or her expectations of how successful a certain number might be.
Oh, I understand scaling for that one guy with the +50 mod. It's when you do that and hose the ones with +10s that it might get awkward.
I was thinking the same thing. It's a nice bonus to make them good at their best skill, without making them super-human from level 1.A more manageable approach may be to give them skill focus. This gives a +3 to start out and a +6 later on.
I agree with this. If you want to give them a something a little more special, you could say "Skill Focus, and you can always take 10 on that skill". That way they have to put points into that skill to get the most out of it, and their average is better, but someone else could still out(skill) them on a high roll.
Is this overpowered? - Probably.Is it game-breaking? - Not really.
You could also vito any skills you think ARE game-breaking (Perception, Craft etc).
I'd suggest talking to them and asking what skill defines their character without telling them you're giving them a bonus. Then you assign the bonus feat to the skill you think suits their character concept. That way they're less likely to Meta-Game it.
Party of five: super-perception, super-sleight-of-hand, super-disable-device, super-stealth and super-bluff. Between them they can rob anyone; if caught, they can bluff their way out.
Versatile Performance what?
Like you're one to talk, especially after the Shepherd's Pie incident (you know which Shepherd's Pie incident I'm talking about!)