My rampant speculation on skills

[bookrat]

Before the blog comes, here's what I think is going to happen with skills:

There will be two types. Proficiencies and Skills.

Proficiencies are something everyone has, like perception. Your race/class/background will determine if you're untrained, trained, or expert.

Untrained: +stat
Trained: level + stat
Expert: level + 1 + stat

You can also obtain trained or expert status through a feat.

Then there will be Skills, like knowledge. You'll have points to send on those, just like PF1.

So there's no longer a distinction between "trained only" skills and other skills. Trained only skills will just be Skills. And the other ones will be Praying, where your race/class/background/feat determines your level of competency.

[Dragonborn3]

A bit about skills. Might help speculating.

[JRutterbush]

bookrat wrote:

Before the blog comes, here's what I think is going to happen with skills:

There will be two types. Proficiencies and Skills.

Proficiencies are something everyone has, like perception. Your race/class/background will determine if you're untrained, trained, or expert.

Untrained: +stat
Trained: level + stat
Expert: level + 1 + stat

You can also obtain trained or expert status through a feat.

From the podcast, Untrained is stat -1, not just stat. Further, they mentioned five qualities of weapon, those being Poor, Common, Expert, Master, and Legend, with the latter 3 granting +1, +2, and +3 attack, respectively. I strongly suspect they'll use a unified system for stuff like that, so my bet is that skills will also be ranked as Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master, and Legend, with Master and Legend being +2 and +3, just like with weapons. They also said that being an Expert in Craft would allow you to craft Expert items, which further supports the idea that this is how it will work, since you'll need a way to be able to craft Master and Legend items (and my guess is that an Untrained craftsman will craft a Poor quality item, even if they succeed on their check). Beyond that, they confirmed that Skill Unlocks will be a thing, and this format gives a very easy tie in with a system like that: you can have Trained Unlocks, Expert Unlocks, Master Unlocks, and Legend Unlocks.

I'm 99% certain this is how they're going to go with it, it just makes sense, is nice, clear, and streamlined, and works on a unified system that really makes things flow smoothly.

[bookrat]

From EN World's wiki:

Skills -- a critical skill check is one which beats the DC by 10; a fumble is one which misses by 10. A fumble might give you a condition, such as Hampered (-5' speed). (Glass Cannon Podcast, as are all the below items).

Skills are untrained, trained, or expert.

Acrobatics & Athletics both skills.

Medicine.

Society replaces Knowledge (Local) and Knowledge (Nobility).

"Seek" is an action, could use Perception or Arcana.

"Leap" is an action.

The critical mechanism (+/-10) applies to attacks too.
If monsters roll against players, they PCs have their own Difficulty Class (DC) now.

To get a bonus, spend more actions on a skill check.

Skills have "unlocks" at higher levels. Medicine skill unlock allows you to heal HP.

[bookrat]

Since skill unlocks exist, I think I'm on target for the idea that proficiencies and skills are two different things, and you can advance skills via skill points.

For example, the medicine skill can only revive those who are on the brink, at low skills levels. As you get better, you can unlock the ability to heal HP in the middle of the day. That, to me, suggests a point buy system for skills akin to what PF1 has.

Meanwhile, proficiencies are keyed to your chargen (and possibly can be purchased later).

[Bloodrealm]

bookrat wrote:

The critical mechanism (+/-10) applies to attacks too.

Between this and using overcasting for spells, I am certain now that I will never play PF2.