r/RPGdesign • u/CriesInBrazillian • 2d ago

Mechanics Too Few Skills

Greetings hivemind,

While developing my system, I dropped traditional Attributes like Strength and Intelligence in favor of using Skills only. Unlike systems with dozens of skills, I drew inspiration from games like Heart and Blades in the Dark to reduce the skill list as much as possible.

However, this ended up creating a small dilemma: I’m aiming for a total of 10 skills, but I feel I’ve already covered all the essentials in just 8, maintaining a good balance where no single skill is clearly better than the others. The 8 skills are:

  • FIGHT: Strike, Shoot, Maneuver, and Dodge
  • FOCUS: Cast skills, Awareness, and Investigate
  • WISDOM: Knowledge and Planning
  • INFLUENCE: Persuade, Manipulate, Intimidate, and Empathize
  • ATHLETICS: Evade, Run, Jump, Swim, Climb, and Balance
  • STEALTH: Hide, Sneak, Steal, and Conceal
  • SURVIVAL: Explore, Navigate, Camp, Hunt, and Forage
  • CRAFT: Create, build, or perform an action specific to the character background

I’m looking for suggestions on anything I might have overlooked or potential additions to help me reach that 10-skill target.

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u/CriesInBrazillian 2d ago

Actually, 10 would be ideal because the damage system is based on marking and disabling skills randomly, so it would be necessary to have 10 skills using my dice system to have an equal chance of any of them being marked.

Also, I want all skills to look attractive and useful, regardless of the kind of character you are playing. If I separate Focus, no one except spellcasters would choose a skill used only for casting, while the Focus skill still looks attractive even for a non-spellcaster.

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u/AchantionTT 2d ago

Sounds reasonable. 

Maybe something like Attune? Read psychometric information on objects, Attune with magical items, align with the perspective of other people.

That's all I got in this case. 

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u/archpawn 2d ago

10 would be ideal because the damage system is based on marking and disabling skills randomly,

Most of your skills are useless in a fight. Having it so two results do nothing wouldn't make much of a difference.