Skill Names

[Stone Dog]

Hello, good forumites.

I opened this thread to have a place to better discuss skills instead of proficiencies (I don't care what you say, spell check, I'm going with that). Mainly because the two things are different enough that talking about what constitutes Thievery over in the proficiency thread is a bit off topic. Not much, but a bit.

To help the conversation along, I'm going to post sets of skill names that other games have used to see what people think of them. These will be copy and pasted from character sheets and Wiki pages, so please forgive the formatting. I'm specifically leaving GURPS and Star Wars (WEG) from the list because of their breadth of very specific skills that don't map much with Pathfinder's narrower lists.

Here we go!

13th Age:

No individual skills, choice of character backgrounds instead.
D20 + relevant ability modifier + level + relevant background points
A few possible backgrounds include: acrobat, alchemist, animal trainer, architect, aristocratic noble, assassin, chef, con-woman, goblin exterminator, hunted outlaw, knight errant, magecraft, priest, refugee, scout, shepherd, soldier, spy, temple acolyte, thief, torturer, transformed animal, traveling martial arts pupil, tribal healer, tunnel scout, wandering minstrel, warrior poet, and so on.

D&D 5e:

Acrobatics (Dex)
Animal Handling (Wis)
Arcana (Int)
Athletics (Str)
Deception (Cha)
History (Int)
Insight (Wis)
Intimidation (Cha)
Investigation (Int)
Medicine (Wis)
Nature (Int)
Perception (Wis)
Performance (Cha)
Persuasion (Cha)
Religion (Int)
Sleight of Hand (Dex)
Stealth (Dex)
Survival (Wis)
As well as proficiency based on tool use (ie Thieves tools).

Conan (Modiphius):

Acrobatics
Alchemy
Animal Handling
Athletics
Craft
Command
Counsel
Discipline
Healing
Insight
Linguistics
Lore
Melee
Observation
Parry
Persuade
Ranged Weapons
Resistance
Sailing
Society
Sorcery
Stealth
Survival
Thievery
Warfare

Exalted:

ARCHERY
ATHLETICS
AWARENESS
BRAWL
BUREAUCRACY
CRAFT
DODGE
INTEGRITY
INVESTIGATION
LARCENY
LINGUISTICS
LORE
MARTIAL ARTS
MEDICINE
MELEE
OCCULT
PERFORMANCE
PRESENCE
RESISTANCE
RIDE
SAIL
SOCIALIZE
STEALTH
SURVIVAL
THROWN
WAR

Fate:

Athletics
Burglary
Contacts
Crafts
Deceive
Drive
Empathy
Fight
Investigate
Lore
Notice
Physique
Provoke
Rapport
Resources
Shoot
Stealth
Will

FantasyCraft:

ACROBATICS DEX
ATHLETICS STR
BLEND CHA
BLUFF CHA
CRAFTING * INT
DISGUISE CHA
HAGGLE WIS
IMPRESS CHA
INTIMIDATE WIS
INVESTIGATE WIS
MEDICINE INT
NOTICE WIS
PRESTIDIGITATION DEX
RESOLVE CON
RIDE * DEX
SEARCH INT
SENSE MOTIVE WIS
SNEAK DEX
SURVIVAL WIS
TACTICS INT

Star Wars (FFG):

Astrogation (Int)
Athletics (Br)
Charm (Pr)
Coercion (Will)
Computers (Int)
Cool (Pr)
Coordination (Ag)
Deception (Cun)
Discipline (Will)
Leadership (Pr)
Mechanics (Int)
Medicine (Int)
Negotiation (Pr)
Perception (Cun)
Piloting - Planetary (Ag)
Piloting - Space (Ag)
Resilience (Br)
Skulduggery (Cun)
Stealth (Ag)
Streetwise (Cun)
Survival (Cun)
Vigilance (Will)

[Rysky]

Here's a consolidated list I made awhile back going off of Unchained.

Arcana (INT/WIS) - Arcana, Planes, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device (Arcane)
Acrobatics (DEX) - Acrobatics, Fly, Ride
Athletics (STR) - Jumping, Climb, Swim, Fly
Culture (INT/WIS) - Nobility, History, Local, Linguistics
Engineering (INT) - Craft, Engineering
Dweomer (CHA) - identifying spells, Use Magic Device (all)
Finesse (DEX) - Disable Device, Escape Artist
Mysticism (INT/WIS)- Religion, Planes, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device (Divine)
Nature (INT/WIS) - Dungeoneering, Geography, Handle Animal, Nature
Occult (INT/WIS) - Psychic, Planes, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device (Psychic)
Perception (WIS) - Perception, Sense Motive
Performance (CHA) - Disguise, Perform
Persuasion (CHA) - Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate
Profession (INT/WIS/CHA) - Appraise, Profession
Stealth (DEX) - Stealth, Sleight of Hand
Survival (WIS) - Heal, Survival

[Stone Dog]

I've always liked a Perception divide between Search (Int) and Notice(Wis). Search being the deduction of what is hidden or hard to find and Notice being raw sensory input and environmental cues.

For the most part though, I like the condensed skill list you've set up, Rysky.

[Rysky]

Thankies ^w^

Hmm, with Perception being it's own thing now we'll have to wait and see what it's like.

[Stone Dog]

I think Perception is going to be dependent on certain tasks, which I'm cautiously optimistic about. "Seek" is an action that might see Int be the modifying ability score and the rogue might have a "Treasure Hunter" or "Trap Finder" bonus for certain specific encounters. "Notice" might be modified by Wisdom and have a passive score as well, which maybe the Ranger would have Class Feats to boost in certain situations.

[Rysky]

Yeah, there are probably various modifiers for each application of "Perception", from awareness to listening to spotting to smelling to tasting to searching to recalling a visual, etc