Not sure where a good place to put this is, but here goes...
Given the success of Starfinder and a goodly chunk of the classes since the release of the APG, one of the things that has been glaring is that there are a few classes in Pathfinder that are still hamstrung with only 2 skill points per level.
The request is this:
Please consider changing the tiers of skills for all Pathfinder classes from 2/4/6/8 per level to a much more streamlined 4/6/8 per level for numbers of skills a given class has, and update older classes to reflect this change, first by errata, then by the next print run of their prospective item.
It won't overpower the game and it will make those classes that have traditionally operating at a minimal level out of combat able to function a lot more effectively with out-of-combat skills, and allow those classes to have a greater impact in play.
Thank you very much for your time!
I think Unchained does this quite well with Background Skills, although it is an optional rule.
Each character gets an additional 2 Skill points per level, but only to be spent on Background Skills; the rules can be found here:
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Unchained background skills are nice and all, however it doesn't help for PFS or campaigns that go 'by the Core book' for such things.
While I definitely agree that this would be worthwhile...
The sheer number of incorrect statblocks would become almost insane. Fixing the NPC Codex alone would be a hefty challenge.
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I think a very large and useful step in this direction would be to make background skills PFS legal. Although this is the wrong board to request that.
I both agree with Wei Ji that this would be a nice change and, unfortunately, agree with Chemlak that the amount of work it would entail would be too high.
Perhaps a compromise would be for Paizo to publicly state that GMs are "strongly encouraged" to add background skills? In a blog pointing to the PRD section of those background skills/
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Background skills don't really help, though. Here's an example.
cleric, not human, int of 10, gives 2 skill ranks per level. Those two basically have to go into spellcraft and knowledge religion for the character to be functional. Background skills wouldn't allow you to take heal or diplomacy or perception or anything like that.
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Background skills don't really help, though. Here's an example.
cleric, not human, int of 10, gives 2 skill ranks per level. Those two basically have to go into spellcraft and knowledge religion for the character to be functional. Background skills wouldn't allow you to take heal or diplomacy or perception or anything like that.
Technically a cleric doesn't really need spellcraft, at least not in the same way a wizard or witch would need it. Generally you have to decide what 2 skills are the most important to your cleric, and go with that. Usually I see diplomacy and kn:religion.
I think the bigger issue for skills than the expectation of roles a class should be able to fill, is the class disparity that exists, especially in the core rulebook. There's no good reason why a fighter should have less skills than a barbarian. Or why an intelligence based caster should be so much better at skills than other spellcasters. Half of the sorcerers I've seen played have been a sage sorcerer exactly for this reason. Personally I've gone with a house rule that every class that isn't an int based caster (either 6 or 9 level spells) gets minumum 4 skill points. Or used the background skills if it's better for the whole party.
Background skills don't really help, though. Here's an example.
cleric, not human, int of 10, gives 2 skill ranks per level. Those two basically have to go into spellcraft and knowledge religion for the character to be functional. Background skills wouldn't allow you to take heal or diplomacy or perception or anything like that.
I assume that you decided to put your favored class bonus into either hit points or a special racial bonus then? The favored class bonus is another way to squeeze out extra skill ranks.
Background skills don't really help, though. Here's an example.
cleric, not human, int of 10, gives 2 skill ranks per level. Those two basically have to go into spellcraft and knowledge religion for the character to be functional. Background skills wouldn't allow you to take heal or diplomacy or perception or anything like that.
I assume that you decided to put your favored class bonus into either hit points or a special racial bonus then? The favored class bonus is another way to squeeze out extra skill ranks.
Or Cunning to get an extra point. Or both the feat and FCB to get +2/level...
Background skills don't really help, though. Here's an example.
cleric, not human, int of 10, gives 2 skill ranks per level. Those two basically have to go into spellcraft and knowledge religion for the character to be functional. Background skills wouldn't allow you to take heal or diplomacy or perception or anything like that.
I assume that you decided to put your favored class bonus into either hit points or a special racial bonus then? The favored class bonus is another way to squeeze out extra skill ranks.
Fighter, not human, Int of 10 (because avoiding dump stat is crucial) 1 skill point additional for a total of 3.
For campaigns like PFS or for those GMs that don't like background skills, having those extra skill ranks can make or break a party (seen it happen, including a complete failure of a scenario because there weren't enough skills in a party with such classes.)
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Although if you do decide to dump a fighter's Int to 8 or 9, you may as well take it all the way down to 7 since you won't lose any more skill ranks for doing so.
Although if you do decide to dump a fighter's Int to 8 or 9, you may as well take it all the way down to 7 since you won't lose any more skill ranks for doing so.
Or 5 if you're race has -2 int.
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Fighter, not human, Int of 10 (because avoiding dump stat is crucial) 1 skill point additional for a total of 3.
Thanks to AWT and AAT fighters can actually be pretty skilled if they want to invest in it, even non-humans with an INT of 10. For 2 feats, and one free AAT choice said fighter can have max ranks in 6 skills at level 6 (4 of those are from limited lists but things like Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, and thanks to Master Armorer Craft (Armor) are pretty useful.) 7 if they are human, and 8 if they take cunning, and 10 if they take Versatile training a second time (Though most weapon groups don't have 4 good skill options.)
This is, however, less ideal than "just having 4 skill points to begin with" and doesn't help Clerics and (Non-arsenal chaplain) Warpriests any.