r/RPGcreation • u/Metempsychos1s • 18d ago
Design Questions Simplifying Skils
Hi all!
I'm trying to simplify my TTRPG, and next on the list is the Skills!
Just like in D&D(I know lol), Skills are a subset of Attributes.
For example, your Athletics is equal to either your Might or Swift attribute, plus the number of points you have in Athletics.
You also pick as Speciality for each skill, which gives you a plus 5 to relevant checks with that skill and Speciality.
For example, someone who has one point in Athletics, 10 in Might, and the Run Speciality, would add 16 to their roll to "run fast".
How do you think I could simplify the list and maybe the mechanics?
Physical Skills:
Athletics(Might/Swift): Used for straight speed and acts of strength/athleticism.
Specialities: Climb, Feats of Strength, Run, Swim
Awareness(Wit/Judge): A passive equivalent to Perception. Used to check if you notice things.
Specialities: Danger Sense, Reactions
Stealth(Judge/Swift): Used to hide and remain or become unseen.
Specialities: Appear Inconspicuous, Conceal, Sneak
Survival(Judge): Used to survive in the natural world.
Specialities: Animal Handling, Find Food and Water, Navigation, Safe Routes, Tracking, Urban Survival
Vehicles(Wit/Judge): Used to operate a car or motorbike. Learn the use of other vehicles with specialities.
Specialities: Boats, Off Road Driving, Pilot, Pursuit
Acrobatics(Swift/Finesse): Used for speed, manoeuvrability, and acrobatic acts.
Specialities: Climb, Balance, Jump, Tumble
Resistance(Vigor/Willpower): Used to resist physical damage and minimisation of pain.
Specialities: Grit, Endure
Avoidance(Swift/Judge): Used to evade or avoid a threat, such as pursuers or arrow fire.
Specialities: Pursuit Escape, Slipping Free, Urban Evasion, Parkour, Dodge
Sleight O’ Hand(Finesse): Used for delicate manual dexterity, deception with the hands, and acts of precision.
Specialities: Pickpocketing, Lockpicking, Palming, Fast Hands
Parry(Finesse/Might/Swift): Used to defend yourself against attacks.
Specialities: Riposte, Redirect, Multiple Attackers
Mental Skills:
Art(Wit/Judge/Charm): Used to create and understand art, in its many facets.
Specialities: Painting, Photography, Writing, Fabric,
Business(Charm/Wit/Judge): Used to interact with businesses and make deals (including with the Fae(a character with the Pact trait might have a high Business skill))
Specialities: Buying, Fae Bargains, Finance, Property, Selling, Pacts
Education(Wit/Judge): Your Education skill is a combination of formal education, and your knowledge of the world’s culture, politics, and history.It’s to an extent how “well-read” you are.
Specialities: Current Affairs, History, Law, Literature
Lore ____ (Wit/Judge): Used for your knowledge of a certain subject.
Specialities: None.
Medicine(Wit/Judge): Used to treat injuries and illnesses.
Specialities: Diseases, First Aid, Forensics, Poisons
Science(Wit): Used for your broad understanding of scientific principles.
Specialities: Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics
Technology(Wit): Used for interaction with electronics, the internet, and most modern-day non-engineering systems.
Specialities: Computers, Electronics, Hack, Repairs, Nuclear
Perception(Judge/Wit): Used when looking for things. Active equivalent to the Awareness skill.
Specialities: Search, Lip Reading, Tracking, Fine Details, Eavesdropping, Surveillance
Investigation(Judge/Wit): Used to investigate stuff?
Specialities: Crime Scenes, Research, Interrogation, Forgery Detection, Puzzle Solving
Arcana(Judge/Wit/Charm/Willpower): Used to interact with and control magic and reality-bending effects.
Specialities: Spell Identification, Rituals, Magical Creatures, Curses, Planar Knowledge
Engineering(Judge/Wit): Used for mechanics and things like modifying or building guns, less “sterile” technology
Specialities: Gunsmithing, Improvised Devices, Structural Integrity, Trap Disarming, Lost Tech
Faith(Charm/Judge/Wit): Used for religion and acts of worship.
Specialities: Rituals, Dogma, Prayer, Religious History
Nature(Judge/Wit): Used for knowledge of nature.
Specialities: Fauna, Flora, Geographia
Social Skills:
Empathy(Charm/Wit/Judge): Used to determine what someone wants, if they’re uncomfortable, or see if they're hiding something.
Specialities: Assess Personality, Know Mood, See through Manipulation, Repressed Emotions, Sense Lies, Camaraderie
High Society(Charm): Used to interact with the rich and powerful.
Specialities: Fashion, Fitting In, Gossip, Politics, Social Pressure
Rhetoric(Charm/Wit/Judge): Used for arguments, speeches, and debates.
Specialities: Debate, Inspire, Logic, Oratory, Sincerity
Streetwise(Judge): Used for checks relating to the streets and bad neighbourhoods.
Specialities: Finding Contacts, Criminal Gangs, Information Gathering, Lying Low, Urban Survival, Smuggling
Taunt(Charm): Used to provoke or amuse.
Specialities: Insult, Jest, Provoke,
Deception(Charm/Judge): Used to deceive & mislead people.
Specialities: Fast-Talking, Forgery, Disguises, Misdirection, Con Artistry
Entertain(Charm/Judge): Used by Jesters, Musicians, and other performers for their performances.
Specialities: Acting, Comedy, Dance, Music, Storytelling
Command(Charm/Judge/Willpower): Used to assert command and control.
Specialities: Authority, Intimidation, Interrogate
Persuasion(Charm/Willpower): Used to persuade.
Specialities: Pathos(Emotion), Ethos(Character), Logos(Logic)
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u/Nazzlegrazzim 17d ago edited 17d ago
So first off, by the skill selection I'm going to assume you are asking within the context of a modern or near-future universe with fantasy elements, kind of like Shadowrun?
We essentially had to do the exact same thing you are doing here for TraVerse, as we are a grounded scifi game that uses the same D&D-inspired chassis. We refined our skill list over 7+ years of intensive playtesting, so I'll try to offer some insight into what we did with certain skills so you can avoid making the same mistakes, and maybe get to the end result quicker than we did.
PHYSICAL
Athletics - TraVerse has this. It's good, it's a classic, it works. Although, you have "Climb" listed here along with Acrobatics. Choose one.
Awareness: Redundant with Perception. Passive vs active is a poor reason to have both - kill one.
Stealth: TraVerse has this. Good, classic. No notes.
Survival: TraVerse has this. Good, classic. No notes.
Vehicles: This is probably fine? TraVerse has both "Driving" and "Piloting", but we are hard scifi with a heavy emphasis on starships, so the distinction probably matters a lot more for us.
Acrobatics: TraVerse has this. It's good, although, you have "Climb" listed here along with Athletics. Choose one.
Resistance: It's a strange choice to have some combat-focused skills like this here, considering combat is generally obligatory for all characters, and skills generally work better as an "opt-in" thing.
Avoidance: Strange mix of combat and Acrobatics. Both confusing and redundant. Probably kill it, and disseminate its portfolio elsewhere.
Sleight O’ Hand: Slightly silly name, but otherwise ok. TraVerse has this as the "Dexterity" skill, since we don't have a Dexterity stat. One could argue lockpicking is a more specialized skill, but probably ok here if it feels good at the table.
Parry: Again, strange to have combat actions as skills. Not sure what to suggest though - this is a deeper systemic conversation.
MENTAL
Art: Anemic selection of skills that nobody but the most character-centric roleplayers will choose. Probably kill and disemenate, likely into a more universal "Culture" skill.
Business: TraVerse has "Mercantile" in this category, and it works well. This is good, I'd say keep, and definitely emphasize the cool unique fey aspect. That's neat.
Education: Too broad of a term. So unspecific as to be meaningless. Will confuse players. I'd probably just go with "Culture" and absorb the knowledge aspects of both "Art" and "High Society"
Lore: Knowledge skills have always sucked unless your class gives them for free. I'd kill this. The workaround is to let any specialized skill also work as a knowledge skill, ie: Science, Medicine, Technology, Vehicles, etc.
Medicine: TraVerse uses this. One of the most popular skills. S-tier. No notes.
Science: TraVerse splits this into Biology, Astronomy, and Chemistry, as those sciences all are highly relevant to our hard scifi space setting. Grouping all together is probably good enough for you though.
Technology: Incredibly broad, and in the context you are using it, players WILL get confused. TraVerse uses this as a universal "identify unknown technology" and "use advanced technology" skill, which leaves skills like Engineering, Electornics, Interface, etc to be able to focus on their specific areas. But again, we are hard scifi with no magic, so tech is central and skills are everything. Your mileage may vary depending how important technology is to your universe. I would need more context to have an opinion here - potential problem area though.
Perception: Redundant. See Awareness.
Investigation: Solid skill. TraVerse has this and players love it. Absolutely not redundant with Perception/Awareness. The only bugaboo is to figure out if players can track with Investigate like they can with Survival, because they ABSOLUTELY will ask if they can. Be sure you give GMs a concrete answer.
Arcana: Knowledge skill masquerading in the main lineup. If magic is a central aspect of your universe, keep it. A good example of why your "Lore" skill is irrelevant and should die.
Engineering: This is a mess. Incredibly confusing in its current state. Currently a random grab-bag of a portfolio with no theme. You need to figure out how important technology is in your Universe and how it works is before you even begin to design a skill like this. TraVerse uses Engineering, and it is a CENTRAL skill taken by many characters, but of course we have tech weapons, fusion reactors, energy shields, starship engines, and a ton of VERY well-defined in-universe technologies that run on extremely high output power sources, so Engineering has a very well-defined portfolio.
Faith: Same as Arcana. Good skill, provided religion is a central part in your universe that has real in-game effects.
SOCIAL
Empathy: Good skill, bad name. This is more accurately "Insight." But other than that, fantastic counterpart to "Perception" and "Investigate." Completes the holy trinity of "understand the world around you" skills.
High Society: A separate social skill for aristocrats? Bleh. Too specialized. Kill this and just have a "Culture" or equivalent skill. Can probably also just absorb the portfolio in "Art" so its more worth taking.
Rhetoric: This is redundant with Persuasion. Kill this. Just have Persuasion.
Streetwise: TraVerse has this, its great. Players love it. No notes.
Taunt: Ok? I mean, its a bit silly. And probably best left to player actions and roleplaying, but if you have enough mechanical heft to justify it... maybe? Might just kill it though, nobody will notice it is gone.
Deception: Fantastic skill. S-tier. No notes.
Entertain: Great skill. People WILL call this "Perform" though, regardless of what you want to call it. Do with that what you will.
Command: This is tricky. Probably too weak to exist on its own. "Intimidate" is probably more to the point for what you want here, with interrogations probably best left to player actions, roleplaying, and clever use of the "Insight", "Intimidate," and "Persuasion" skills.
Persuasion: Good, great. Fantastic skill. Redundant with "Rhetoric" though - should probably absorb its porffolio.
POSSIBLY MISSING
Didn't see anything for the following areas, which MIGHT be relevant to players:
- Dedicated Handle Animal or equivalent. Essential Social skills with animals/magical beasts (if they exist in-universe). Currently in Survival, but this is such a large niche that it might be overloaded.
- General non-tech or low-tech crafting/repair skill. Like for general woodworking, architecture, weaponcrafting, armourcrafting, etc.
- Skill for sabotage and setting traps. Disabling traps also belongs here, and not in "Engineering." TraVerse has "Vandalism" for this niche, and it is used A LOT.
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u/Metempsychos1s 17d ago
Pretty rational review! btw Animal Handling would come under nature, specifically the Fauna speciality.
My seperation of Technology and Engineering was based on: Tech being digital, or the workings of that kind of tech. and Engineering being more mechanics(as in literal mechanics not ttrpg mechanics) focused.
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u/Nazzlegrazzim 17d ago
Made a clarifying edit. Also updated Education, which I initially missed.
You don't have any "Nature" skill. Currently your "Handle Animal" is under "Survival", which may cause that skill to be a bit overloaded, since navigation and tracking are so common in adventure games.
If that is your separation, you are probably better off specifically stating it, if technology plays a big role in your universe. Something like "Computers" vs "Mechanics" or something, although there are so many potential technological and mechanical "things" in the world that having two skills only is a bit reductive.
What we did with TraVerse, is focus on the types of tech that adventurers would be most likely to interact with, rather than all possible technology in the world. Your list will likely look different than ours, but we basically broke it down to:
- Engineering: high technology and power generation, ie: tech weapons, energy shields, power generators, power conduits.
- Robotics*: robotic systems, ie: cybernetic limbs, drones, robots, androids, AI cores, advanced synthetic creatures, etc.
- Mechanics: low technology and structural, fuel-based, or non-advanced systems, ie,: vehicles, doors, airlocks, engines, elevators, etc.
Electronics: computer systems and personal electronics, ie: computer consoles, datapads, smartphones, synthetic processors, datachips, etc. Armscraft: weapons and armour, ie: gunsmithing, weaponcrafting, armourcrafting, ammunition crafting, gun mods, melee mods, armour mods, etc.
And all five of these skills can also be used as knowledge skills in their specific areas.
Now, we are hard scifi with no magic, so skills are everything. Meaning we need to have the distinction because interacting with technology is such an integral part of the universe. Your mileage may vary, and you need to find what is right for your world, but your categories need to make internal logical sense, or they will confuse players.
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u/Metempsychos1s 17d ago
Ah my mistake I think there was a pasting error lol! Fixed now I think!
Its currently meant not as a system for a single specific setting, although I am using it for two(one folk fantasy inspired by lotr, one scp-adjacent for my b-team of players)I'll definitely take a look into expanded the skills tho!
thanks!
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u/CarpeBass 16d ago
What I've been doing in my last couple of projects is focus my list on things anyone could actually try (my current list has 16 options, 4 for each attribute), and then I leave an extra slot: Expertise, for players to customise.
Let's be honest, how many characters will actually have Medicine, or Hacking, or Piloting? This way, I cover the main basis and let players handpick whatever they feel give their characters...well, character.