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Long before Unchained was published I had already pretty well "Consolidated" the Skills in the d20 system -- and I've been continually tinkering with the Skills system here and there over the years, considering and then implementing tiny adjustments in-between Campaigns, with input from my Players of course.
Most recently I tried Background Skills but, in gameplay, they don't really get used so we've pretty much abandoned them. I give NPCs the Background Skills and let PCs have the option but, yeah, it just hasn't come up.
One of my absolute KEY design platforms was my demand to (try to) make all of the Skills useful and perhaps even necessary for gameplay. I always rankled at, for example, Perception being as vital as a friggen Ability Score(!!!) while, for example, Appraise was an inexcusable waste of graphite from your pencil.
Part of that also meant I tried to "Consolidate" the Skills based on the requisite Ability Score modifier and, in that, I feel I succeeded quite well: DEX, INT, WIS, & CHA all have six Skills (though that did mean I had to make an uncomfortable decision on Appraise, AND Sleight of Hand!), and STR has two Skills but hey, STR is mostly a combat thing.
So here is what my gaming group has been using for quite a long time now, and I'd love to hear what y'all think. I mean, I think it really makes the Skills mechanic balanced in Gameplay -- both compared to each other, and by Ability Score.
Acrobatics .... DEX
Appraise .... WIS
Bluff .... CHA
Climb .... STR
Diplomacy .... CHA
Disable Device .... DEX
Disguise .... CHA
Escape Artist .... DEX
Fly .... DEX
Handle Animal .... CHA
Heal .... WIS
Intimidate .... CHA
Investigate .... CHA
Linguistics .... INT
Lore of Arcana .... INT
Lore of Cosmology .... INT
Lore of Humanoids .... INT
Lore of Nature .... INT
Lore of Society .... INT
Perception .... WIS
Ride .... DEX
Sense Motive .... WIS
Sleight of Hand .... WIS
Spellcraft .... via your Spellcasting Class
Stealth .... DEX
Survival .... WIS
Swim .... STR
Mostly it follows the RAW for each of these Skills. The Heal Skill is dramatically improved making it valuable -- especially when there isn't a dedicated Heal-bot. Combining Spellcraft & UMD and then making it Class dependent (CHA for Sorcerers, INT for Arcanists, etc) made sense. Separating Diplomacy from Gather Info like back in the 3E days made sense (and renaming Gather Info to Investigate). In gameplay PCs always ask to use Swim and Climb to rescue drowning and falling PCs so may as well make it the rule. Putting Undead as part of Lore of Arcana makes far more sense than having Undead part of Cosmology (unless Jesus or the Catholic church is part of your Campaign Setting). Giving two Languages for Linguistics makes it more valuable. And of course, making Appraise the Skill needed to valuate your (even Magical!!!) loot is good; if you make your check you get half value as per RAW -- if you suck you get a little less than half value and if you're awesome you get a bit more than half. All the sudden Appraise is a usable Skill and not like the "Cooking" Non-Weapon-Proficiency from 2E. And Sleight of Hand as WIS, well, it is vs Perception & sometimes maybe Sense Motive, I dunno.
BACKGROUND SKILLS:
Perform;
Craft;
Profession;
Artistry;
and such have been pretty well relegated to Background Skills for NPCs. We've tried to include them but, frankly, it just never comes up. If someone ever actually plays a Bard I guess we'd have to make his Perform Background Skill into an Adventuring Skill. Or really, maybe we'd just make it a Class-Level check: Bard Level + CHA +3 sounds right. And in my game if you have Scribe Scroll or Brew Potion it means you Scribe the Scroll or Brew the Potion. Not make a Skill check too.
Opinions?
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I like the investigate, Lore of Arcana & Lore of Cosmology -skills, the use of climb to catch characters seems fit and getting an improvement on the heal skill seems comfy for the characters lacking a cleric.
However, I believe the Sleight of hand skill should be tied to dexterity, as its a deft action.
If sticking with Lore of Humanoids, shouldnt they get intel on race features, rather than class features..
Btw, did you exchange Knowledge Nobility & Know History with Lore of Society?
Overall, interesting aspects on the skills.
I like that you didn’t lump climb and swim together.
Agreed that Perform is a necessary class skill for Bards & Skalds and a non-event background skill for everyone else, so making it a class feature akin to Wild Empathy is sensible. But do dock those classes a skill point if you do. The Bard has too many anyway.
I've found that background skills come up quite a bit, but I can see that stopping at higher levels where magic >> skills.
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I think I agree putting Sleight of Hand back with DEX. (No one in our group builds PCs with it so it just doesn't come up over the table for me to have thought about it earlier.)
But that temporarily improves DEX while concernedly, weakens WIS. And I'd like to keep WIS in line with the others.
I guess if I brought Craft (WIS) back into 'Adventuring Skills' then it'd be even again. And I could get really strict on Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Alchemist Stuff, etc. that it makes it feel more influential. Maybe I'd rename 'Craft' to make it different sounding to the ol' Craft-and-Profession we're used to. I'll get a good synonym for "Create" or "Fabricate." Then I just have DEX as one more than the three 'Mental' Abilities.
Of the Abilities, the one I'd be happy with being used more is CHA -- the modifier that needs a boost since it's not tied to either a Save or how many Skill points one gets every Level. I don't have to tell you how common it is for one PC to start with a 20 CHA while all the other PCs have a 5 CHA! (We Love min-maxing at our table!)
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with Lore of Humanoids, shouldnt they get intel on race features, rather than class features..
Btw, did you exchange Knowledge Nobility & Know History with Lore of Society.
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You get Race features as well as Class features with Humanoid Lore. So a successful check will tell you if the Elf has Evasion, whether or not it really is a Kitsune in Human form, that Vishkanya have poison spit, or that Goblins are afraid of writing and horses. Without the successful check, you wouldn't know any of that. .... Since Humanoids are 'based on Level' it fits that the Skill is used for both Class & Race -- it also keeps the Balance.
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Yeah: Nobility, History, Geography, Society -- all combined.
Just for clarification to make sure I understand what these rules do, I think of "consolidating" as taking many things, re-purposing some of them to do more, and then removing the redundant things. In this case, ending up with fewer skills than when you started.
Would it be more accurate to say that you're not really "consolidating" the skills, but more you're load balancing what you can do with them with the intent to make the skills of closer to equal value?
Not trying to be pedantic, but I was genuinely confused at first.
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Lore of Humanoids .... INT
I like the trope of a warrior being able to assess an enemy and knowing how they fight (they're fast, they'll probably try to disarm, they're distractible, etc.), but I don't see them using this same awareness against a caster's abilities. The trope exists less for a caster evaluating a melee opponent, but it's still there. I don't have a solution that's in line with your stated goals, though.
But... do the original skill rules allow for the ability to determine class features?
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Just for clarification to make sure I understand what these rules do, I think of "consolidating" as taking many things, re-purposing some of them to do more, and then removing the redundant things. In this case, ending up with fewer skills than when you started.
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Oh, I just copied the word they used in PF Unchained. I gave neither thought nor consideration to the word's usage. .... I guess for me it's more: 'Redesign' or perhaps better, 'Remaster' -- like from 3.0 to 3.5 to PF to now PF1.1
Lore of Humanoids .... INT (Race and Class and Ability Score knowledge)
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But... do the original skill rules allow for the ability to determine class features?
I've always argued absolutely 'Yes' it is inferred. RAW says Knowledge: Local is to determine Knowledge of Humanoids. Humanoids are built by Class Level. When looking at entries in the Bestiaries for Humanoids the entry gives Class features. I don't feel that's a stretch or a loophole or a mistake. If I can look at a Glabrezu or a Blue Dragon and roll, then I can look at a Catfolk Witch or an Elf Alchemist just so. .... I'm also of the Monte Cook school of, well, the world is not shocked or flabbergasted to learn someone uses Invisibility in the town market, or has a great big ol' Wolverine as an Animal Companion. Maybe the average villager has never seen a Kineticist or an Eidolon -- but he has a vague idea of their existence. And Adventurers, yeah, it's just a Knowledge roll away.
YMMV