#dnd skills

[thehomelybrewster]

Skills in D&D History

This is really just a brief "rant" post, but I like skills in D&D. They are a way characters can use their ability scores more precisely, especially out of combat. This post won't go into details on how skills "worked" in each edition, just an overview what skills entailed.

Skills have been around since the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons days, however they've changed drastically. First of all, in AD&D 1e, they were an optional rule, called "Non-weapon Proficiencies", and weren't around until supplements like Oriental Adventures (yes, really), Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, and Wilderness Survival Guide added them piecemeal, with lists appropriate for that type of adventure.

They were also incredibly granular: For example Oriental Adventures includes the skills "sailing craft" and "small water craft" as separate skills. Also available were "flower arranging" and "landscape gardening", "fire building", and "silk maker". Note the last one, a lot of times tool usage was the same mechanic as skills.

In Revised AD&D 2e, there were 64 skills listed in the Player's Handbook, with some limited to certain classes. They were also very granular, like AD&D 1e had them. For example it differentiates between "animal lore" and "animal training", or "local history" and "ancient history". It also includes tools as being part of the list of available skills, such as "gem cutting" or "bowyer/flechter" or "cobbling".

In 3.5e, the amount of skills in the Player's Handbook dropped to 34. Still a massive number, but manageable. Some are really recognizable, such as "perform", or "survival", or "handle animal". Some are however very specific still! "listen", "spot", "search", "appraise", "decipher"... All of these would be part of Perception or Investigation in 5e. Tools were gone from skills, made a separate mechanic.

In 4e, the amount of skills dropped to fifteen, one less than 5e's skill system. Missing are Animal Handling (handled by "nature"), Investigation (handled mostly by "perception"), and Survival... Which is handled mostly by "nature" (foraging) and "perception" (tracking). But also by a skill called "dungeoneering", which handles dungeon navigation and foraging, as well as aberration lore! Also noteworthy is the existence of the "streetwise" skill, which handles information gathering in settlements, something often handled by Investigation or Persuasion checks at 5e tables.

Pathfinder 2e, D&D's cousin, also has fifteen skills, by the way. Well, fourteen and then the MANY lore skills, which handle both tool proficiencies (together with "crafting") and History. "society" and "occultism" are unique to Pathfinder, with "society" handling etiquette, urban exploration, and similar things. And "occultism" is it's own beast, since it also serves as one of the four magic types in the game.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this knowledge with you all. In case you ever wondered if D&D 5e could use more or fewer than sixteen skills!

[levelofexhaustion]

It is time for me to post a D&D hot take (that might actually not be that hot). It revolves around initiative and the way it works in 5e, and any ways to improve it. Most of the discussion has come from both a barbarian in a Theros campaign that I am DM-ing, and a fighter that a friend is playing in a homebrew campaign that I also play in. Both of these campaigns started at low levels, and both characters continued to roll very low initiative because they are Strength based characters and initiative is a Dexterity check.

My proposed rule change: Initiative remains a Dexterity check, but becomes an official skill that a character can become proficient in. Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, and maybe Rogues should have the ability to become proficient with initiative as a part of their starting skills. It could also be provided by subclasses such as War Domain for Cleric, and could then be picked up through feats as well. It seems like strong characters should be just as ready to fight as well as quick ones!

Let me know what you all think!

[ryuspike]

D&D: Alternative Take on Skills

In Dungeons and Dragons, we are to make skill checks for when we want to do something like bashing through doors, picking locks, or trying to convince someone that you’re not just three kobolds in a coat. But sometimes the skills you have don’t fit the mold of the situation. For example, you are trying to diagnose somebody with a broken leg, but your wisdom score sucks compared to your intelligence despite being proficient with medicine. Normally, this makes your medicine skill pretty useless, but what if we change what ability score we are using with which skill?

In D&D, you don’t need to use the ability score that your skill is often paired up with. The fact that the books often organize checks as your Ability (your Skill) should tell you that the game allows for you to change which ability score can be used with which skill in any check.

In the example with diagnosing a sick or injured person, it is expected that you would make a Wisdom (Medicine) check, but the more accurate check would actually be Intelligence (Medicine). You are trying to identify the problem with knowledge and logic, so realistically your Intelligence score is more appropriate than your Wisdom which implies you know how to cure the problem rather than learning what it is. In the case where you need to perform a surgery, a Dexterity (Medicine) check would fit as it represents the need for steady hands during a delicate procedure.

It is one of those lesser known rules of the game due to how rare it is that official modules ask for these nonstandard checks. Xanther’s Guide to Everything is one of the rare times an official book tells you can do this, and it is honestly something I wish more DMs other than myself do in their games. That and using tools as checks that isn’t thieves’ tools. Changing what ability scores are paired with what skills also really expands what your character can do.

Here are some more examples:

Charisma (Athletes): You are coaching somebody else into accomplishing an athletic feat like lifting weights.

Constitution (Stealth): You are holding your breath while hiding underwater to stay out of sight from some nasty foes.

Wisdom (Nature): You are doing some gardening.

Charisma (Religion): You are preaching a sermon for your religion/god.

Strength (Animal Handling): You are trying to wrangle an animal that’s out of control.

Intelligence (Acrobatics): You have vast knowledge of how to perform many acrobatic feats and what they are called.

Dexterity (Performance): You are juggling objects for the purpose of entertainment.

Strength (Intimidation): You can break something to show the other guy that you mean business.

The list can go on forever, but the point is that as long as you have the imagination and willingness to stray from the concept of marriage between abilities and skills then your games can greatly improve in quality. Characters who feel like they are pigeonholed into one job can find themselves with more wiggle room. This also breathes new life in skills that barely get any use because either magic or the DM replaces the need for them.

[jamespeppersalt]

I explained all the DnD 5e skills to my friend

[discussdnd]

Improving skills with DnD

Playing DnD has many advantages, such as having a fun time with friends, socializing, and having the possibility to be creative. However, those are not the only upsides of being in a campaign. One of these wonderful positive effects is developing skills that you can use in everyday situations.

One of these skills for example is negotiation. While playing DnD, you are almost constantly getting into situations where you have to negotiate. Whether you are trying to convince your DM to let you have the homebrew character of your dreams, or that your idea is indeed genius and therefore you should be allowed to carry it out, or you have to have your way with the bar owner so that you will not be punished for destroying their favorite piece of decoration, you simply just cannot avoid it. It is a basic part of how the game can proceed forward, and this comes in handy in everyday scenarios as well. Slowly you will require less and less time to come up with reasons to stand by your point, and by developing your negotiating and charisma skills, you will be able to present your reasons all the more efficiently.

The second skill that proves to be useful every time is the problem-solving skill. When playing you are constantly facing puzzles that you have to solve to proceed with the story. This can also teach you how every decision has consequences, that may not always be in your favor, therefore you will have to solve problems once again. Once you get better at it, it will be easier to come up with unique, out-of-the-box solutions, as puzzles in DnD most often require that.

The third skill I would like to talk about in this entry is the skill of working in a team. Given that most often you play these games in groups of three or above, you will find that you need to learn how to cooperate. This skill is very complex, as it requires you to listen to the others in the group as well, reason with them if you find something that they are doing wrong, and learn how to compromise if need be. In everyday situations, you sometimes are also required to work in a team, and the better you can co-operate, the better your results will become.

DnD requires you to develop many skills for easier progress in the story, and these skills are very useful in everyday life as well. I have only discussed the 3 I find most important here, but the list does not stop there. If you are curious about what other skills DnD can help you get better in, then I recommend you check out other sites that discuss this as well.