General Rules
There are enough changes and updates in this work to make it worth rewriting any duplicated parts of the base rules for clarity. As such, this section is intended to be used on its own and you should not need to reference the SRD rules at all. Where the rules differ substantially from the SRD, we have generally included sidebars to discuss the reasoning behind the changes.
Those of you who are familiar with the SRD rules and just want to know what the big differences are can find them in the spoiler box below.
Changes and Updates
- Characters no longer gain or lose skill points based on their intelligence modifier.
- The cross class maximum skill rank is equal to your (character level + 3), divided by 2. This is rounded up.
- Cross class skill ranks are purchased at the cost of 1 skill point, not 2.
- Retraining is a core part of this revision, not an optional rule.
- Skill bonuses other than attribute bonuses no longer stack and capped at +3. They are now all of the competence type.
- Synergy bonuses no longer exist.
- Skill items are very different.
- Spells that grant skill bonuses or ranks do not exist. They have been removed or rewritten.
- Assorted subsystems have been updated to better interact with skills. These are detailed in a later chapter.
| No More Intelligence Bonus |
|---|
| Because of the greatly increased power of these skills, you no longer gain your Intelligence modifier as a bonus to your skill points per level. Getting a bonus skill from high intelligence with this variant is akin to getting bonus feats for a stat, and that would be bad. So it got cut. We believe there are ample reasons to retain a decent Intelligence score still, and there are still some classes that depend on it. |
Skill Points
Every class comes with a number of granted skill points, which are used to gain ranks in a skill. You gain a bonus to checks with a skill equal to the number of ranks you have in it, and unlock more impressive skill abilities based on your total ranks in a skill. The way that you invest these points to gain ranks in a skill depends on whether you elect to advance your skills automatically or manually, as described in the sections below.
Automatic Skill Investment
At first level, you gain a number of skill selections equal to the skill point value of your class. You may select any class skill to advance at the class rate of character level + 3, or you may use that selection to instead gain two skills at the cross-class rate of (character level + 3) / 2 rounded up. Once a skill is selected in this way, it automatically gains ranks based on your level and the selected progression.
Multiclass Characters
This system works poorly with multiclass characters and may require substantial additional bookkeeping. Because a class skill for any class is a class skill for every class, we recommend that multiclass characters simply make the same selections across all classes if possible. If it is not possible due to differing numbers of skill points, we instead recommend that they use the manual skill investment rules instead.
Manual Skill Investment
Some players prefer a bit more management of their skill selections. There is power to be squeezed out of a completely manual assignment of skill points, if you want to spend the time and energy looking for it.
If you elect to manually assign your skill points rather than simply select some skills for maximum investment, you gain a number of skill points as determined by your class selection each time you gain a level. At first level, the skill points granted by your class are multiplied by 4.
The skill points acquired from your levels are invested in your skills. Each skill point you invest in a skill grants you 1 rank in the skill. You may invest up to your character level + 3 skill points in any class skill, and up to (your character level + 3) / 2 rounded up in any cross class skill. Once you have reached these rank maximums, you may not invest additional skill points in that skill until you increase the maximum through level gain.
Multiclass Characters
If a skill appears as a class skill for a class that a character possesses, the maximum ranks for the character in that skill is equal to their character level +3. Effectively, if a skill is a class skill for one of your classes, it is a class skill for all of your classes.
Additionally, if a character takes a level in a base class that offers more skill points per level than any of his other current base classes, he gains an additional number of skill points equal to 3 times the difference between the number of skill points granted by his new class and the highest number of skill points granted by one of his current classes. These points may be invested in current or new skills as normal.
| Cross Class Purchasing |
|---|
| Unlike in the SRD, you gain cross class skill ranks at the cost of 1 skill point each. With this change, you can sacrifice one of your main skills for two cross-class skills at half rank. And if you ever multi-class into a class where those are class skills, you haven't permanently given up a pile of skill points. Additionally, you round the cross-class maximum up instead of down so that we can avoid people being unable to spend skill points on cross-class skills at even levels (and thus having unused skill points). It also sets the level 20 cap at 12 ranks instead of 11 and grants additional powers at the top end, which is a nice thing for cross class skills to get. |
Skill Abilities
Each of the new skill abilities include a rank minimum (even if that rank is Untrained), and characters with at least this many ranks may attempt that use of the skill without penalty. This adjustment allows us to ignore the trained / untrained distinction previously present in skills. There are simply abilities that you can use at your current skill level, and abilities you can not because you lack sufficient ranks.
Skill Checks
To make a skill check, you roll 1d20 and add your skill check modifier to your roll. Your check modifier includes your skill ranks, your attribute bonus from the related attribute, and any miscellaneous modifiers for circumstances related to the ability ranging from racial bonuses to equipment bonuses or armor check penalties.
Your check result is compared against the task DC. This DC is either determined by the DM based on the obstacle or set by someone else making an opposed check. Your degree of success or failure against the DC is used to determine the degree of your success or failure with the skill ability. These results are listed in the skill abilities, which use this format:
Base DC: The basic DC required to use the ability. This entry also includes an indication of applicable modifiers. Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: This entry indicates how the ability changes if you roll better than the DC by 10 or more. It may not be present in all abilities.
- DC+5 to DC+9: This entry indicates how the ability changes if you roll better than the DC by 5 or more, or it may be written as “DC+5 and above” if there is no greater success possible. It may not be present in all abilities.
- DC+0 to DC+4: This entry indicates the default level of success for the ability by meeting or exceeding the DC. It is present for all abilities, and may be written as “DC+0 and above” if there is no greater success possible.
- DC-1 to DC-5: This entry indicates the default level of failure for the ability if you do not meet or exceed the DC. It is present for all abilities, and may be written as “DC-1 and below” if there is no greater failure possible.
- DC-6 and below: If there is a more substantial failure possible than the default level, it is listed in this entry. It may not be present in all abilities.
Almost every skill ability includes a penalty for failing by more than a certain amount. This was done to discourage repeated attempts when the abilities are first acquired, since a number of these abilities mimic spells in effect. The abilities also include benefits for successes over a certain amount. This was done to provide characters improving benefits from their abilities and to reduce ability obsolescence, as well as to make characters choose between risking failure by rolling for a stronger result and playing things safe by taking a fixed result instead of the roll.
Checks without Rolls
Making a roll for a skill ability includes the potential for both great success and great failure, and there are times when you might rather just get by without worrying about it. These times are generally those when you are not under pressure to perform, like in combat, and when you have time to focus.
You may "take X" with any skill ability whenever you are not actively threatened or distracted. Additionally you may "take X" with any skill ability even when you are actively threatened or distracted as long as you have 4 more ranks in the skill than the minimum required to use the skill ability. Gaining four levels means you get the task under hand, and it’s just not that big of a deal anymore.
Taking 10
Taking 10 represents putting in an average amount of effort, and not attempting to reach for a greater result. It can be thought of as doing "just enough to get by". For the purposes of your skill check, you treat your 1d20 roll as if it had come up 10. Taking this option takes the same amount of time as a normal use of the skill ability does.
Taking 15
Taking 15 represents spending time and effort to do a good job, but without spending time to make it perfect. It can be thought of as "taking the time to do it right". For the purposes of your skill check, you treat your 1d20 roll as if it had come up 15. Taking this option takes four times as long as a normal use of the skill ability does.
Taking 20
Taking 20 represents putting in a great deal of effort in an attempt to make the check as "perfect as you can get". It means doing it over, and over, and over until you get it right... even if you get it wrong once or twice along the way. If you would fail the check in a way that would not allow you to retry it had you rolled a 1, you treat your 1d20 roll as if it had come up 1. Otherwise you treat your 1d20 roll as if it had come up 20. Taking this option takes 20 times as long as a normal use of the skill ability does.
| Where did the penalties for trying to do better go? |
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| There used to be penalties in the skills that you could take if you were trying to do better than the default success rate. These have been eliminated entirely, and generally subsumed into the degrees of success check results. The reason is straightforward: you are always assumed to be trying to do as well as you possibly can with your skill, without taking unnecessary risks. If you need to push yourself for some reason, roll the die instead of taking 10. The chances of failure or underperforming are roughly equal to the chances of you performing better, and that’s much better for these purposes than sticking a negative modifier on your roll. |
| Make Your Own Checks |
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| Checks that the DM used to make for you for secrecy reasons have been rewritten into checks that players should make themselves. While it wasn’t bad for the DM to make these checks, it only served to make players feel disconnected from their success or failure and to keep information from them that might make them not continue ahead. It’s easy enough to write these checks in such a way that you either know you failed, know you succeeded, or believe you’ve succeeded (but be wrong about it), and in those cases there’s no reason to keep that from you. As part of this trade off though, once you say you do something and you roll the die for the check, you’re bound by its results and you’re bound to carry through the action. The DM doesn't need to tell you the DC of the task though, so it's generally best to not worry about your action once it's begun. |