3.5 Rebuid Poll Part 34: Class SKills

[bhu]

If you were rebuilding 3.5, how would you do class skills?

[Viletta Vadim]

Get rid of them entirely.  I hate class skills, so they do not exist in my games.  If it makes sense for your Fighter to have ranks in Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty (like, say, because he's a noble), then your Fighter has ranks in Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty at no penalty.  Any skills that makes sense, you can take without penalty, whether it's one skill unusual to the class or a dozen.

[Bauglir]

Every class comes with a short list considered core to the class (so all Wizards have Knowledge (arcana), but not necessarily (religion)), plus a character background a la d20 modern, plus a couple chosen by the individual. Should give enough freedom to create characters while still keeping certain classes associated with each skill. Class list can vary at each level, while the other sources are permanent for that character, barring some sort of retraining mechanic. Going with a separate XP pool for skills or something like that, your class when you buy the skills is what determines what that list is. Not sure if that's a good idea, it seems wrong to make things dependent on when you do them. Maybe just give a background and some free choices, and have certain classes grant a bonus to one or two skills at each level?

Oh yeah, and boo to the half-max ranks cap. Get rid of that, just let class skills be a little more expensive. Twice as much is probably too much, unsure what to do about that. Maybe make class skills cost 2 and cross-class cost 3? Seems a little kludgy to me...

[vermithrx]

There are no class skills. Each class has a list of recommended skills and maybe one or two mandatory skills (spellcraft for wizards, etc.), but otherwise all skills function as though class skills.

Just because a given character fights a certain way is no reason to saddle it with a learning disability against anything not directly related to its combat style.

[dman11235]

There are some skills that everyone should have access to.  And by the same token, there are some skills that shouldn't be accessible to everyone.  Of course, some of this is on the fence, and I can see it going either way.  But I guess my take would be a group of skills everyone has access to easily, a group of additional ones based on class, and then a mechanic that lets you trade out skill for skill additional class skills.  So you've got spellcraft, listen, spot, hide, move silently, decipher script, craft (basket weaving), and profession (basket weaving) as class specific skills, and you could trade out listen and spot for craft (thresh for baskets) and profession (thresh maker), and that would be your new class skills list for that class.

[RobbyPants]

I'm fine with a classed system of having set skills, but I want it more flexible than it is in 3.5.  Basically, I don't want cross-classing to bone you so much, and I'd like feats to simply add skills to your list of class skills.  From a 3.5 perspective, picture Alertness as giving +2 to Listen and Spot, and adding both of them to your list of class skills no matter what level you take.  Picture giving everyone Able Learner, so once you've taken a single level of a class, its class skills are class skills for all of your levels thereafter.

[ninjarabbit]

I like Option 3.

3rd Edition is supposed to about customizing your character to your tastes and skills should be no different. For example not every paladin wants to be a mounted warrior so ride is useless to those paladins and I should be able to have knowledge (the planes) if my concept is more of a demon hunter.

[veekie]

I'm personally with a combination of 1 and 3. A list of set skills anyone of that class is proficient with, and a smaller number(1-2) of 'hobby skills' that fit your personal selections.

[Pteryx]

I'm pretty much with veekie here -- keep things largely the same when it comes to class vs. cross-class, but also give a small number of "class skills by choice".  Maybe have those with (the equivalent of) 2 or 4 skill points/level would get one such pick, 6 skill points/level would get 2, and 8 skill points/level would get 3.  -- Pteryx