Skill Packages

I received some interesting feedback from my last post on Skills at EN World. Another poster suggested skill packages, a set of skills that are somehow associated with each other, or follow a common theme. Each class gets to choose from a set of skill packages rather than choosing skills piecemeal as the current D&D 3.5 rules do. I thought about this for a moment and instantly loved it. After all, I think the 3.5 rules do a very good job of enumerating upon skills. My main problem is that they are often so complicated that it takes a good long while to pick which skills to invest in and how much to invest. It would be nice if players could pick a concept that lets them be good at what the concept implies without having to necessarily worry about the details of each and every skill point. While the Maximum Ranks, Limited Choices goes part of the way to solving this issue, it still leaves a lot of choices for a player, and still allows for things like synergy and other complicated cross-class issues. So I hit upon this idea and came up with a list of some sample skill packages of three skills each a player character might choose.

Again, let me emphasize this system does away with the whole notion of class skills and cross-class skills and lets players choose any skill package they want. The number of skill packages a player can choose would be limited in the same manner as previously described in my last post on the subject, that is, a player would receive half as many skill packages as he could normally receive in skill points per level in the core rules. Note that this system actually results in players getting more skills and potentially more skill points (if you were to reverse engineer the rule) by not being limited by class skills. I think with this system we could re-introduce the bonus for having a high a high Intelligence. For each point of Intelligence modifier, you may select one additional skill package. Instead of the synergy rule, a +2 synergy bonus would be granted if a single skill appears in two or more of your skill packages, but this bonus can only be granted once. A guiding principle in this system would also be that no two skill packages should have more than one skill in common.

So here are a few examples. It is not an exhaustive list, just a sampling. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Academic: Architecture and Engineering, Geography, History
Acrobat: Balance, Jump, Tumble
Arcanist: Concentration, Arcana, Spellcraft
Ascetic: Concentration, History, Religion
Athlete: Climb, Jump, Swim
Burglar: Hide, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand
Caretaker: Handle Animal, Heal, Nature
Con Artist: Bluff, Disguise, Forgery
Dilettante: Local, Nobility and Royalty, Perform
Interrogator: Bluff, Intimidate, Use Rope
Naturalist: Geography, Nature, Survival
Negotiator: Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive
Noble: Diplomacy, History, Nobility and Royalty
Purveyor: Appraise, Gather Information, Local
Scout: Listen, Spot, Survival
Spelunker: Climb, Dungeoneering, Use Rope
Teamster: Handle Animal, Ride, Survival
Trapper: Disable Device, Open Lock, Search