Rather than get bogged down in the dice mechanics and such, I want to break down what skills are actually included in TNP, and what they should be used for.
One thing I should add is that the general advice I would give if a specific skill doesn't accurately describe an action, fall back to the closest skillset first, and then fall back on attributes 2nd; for these purposes:
- Strength is generally meant to use the arms and/or upper body
- Agility is generally meant to use the legs
- Dexterity is generally meant to use the hands/fingers
- Intelligence is how knowledgeable you are about things
- Charisma is how knowledgeable you are about people
(P.S. this is why there isn't a distinct Swim skill: so that you can use whatever attribute you see fit, for that.)
Brawl (Athletics or Strength) is your general purpose skill for grapple, shove, trip, etc.
Climb (Athletics or Strength) is pretty straightforward; in the rules it is one of the methods of gaining high ground provided by "infrastructure." The other method is Jump (Athletics or Agility)
Break Objects (Infiltration or Strength) is meant as the equivalent to "Bend Bars/Lift Gates" from earlier versions of D&D, but in combat is meant specifically to destroy infrastructure that may be providing cover and/or high ground (at the DM's discretion.)
Acrobatics (Athletics or Agility) is meant to cover skills/actions likes Balance, Escape (Artist), or Tumble (i.e. moving without provoking opportunity attacks) as well as landing on your feet when falling, and doing a kip up.
Intimidation (Communication or Strength) probably needs no explanation, but under certain circumstances in combat it can be used to get enemies to surrender (which is mechanically just as good as being at 0 HP) in order to make this option appealing, but also potentially to speed up combat.
Decipher Script (Communication or Intelligence) is meant to be used when reading text that is written in a language foreign to you, or to crack coded messages; likewise Linguistics (Communication or Intelligence) is mean for speaking other languages and understanding the spoken word, in other languages; the general assumption is that your character would use this for languages they aren't fluent with.
Persuasion (Communication or Charisma) is sort of the opposite of Intimidation; you try to get people to go along with your line of argumentation through general positive reinforcement and the force of your personality (rather than threats.)
Lockpicking (Infiltration or Dexterity) does what it says on the tin; for more complex mechanical devices or traps, you may need to use Disable Device (Infiltration or Intelligence)
Similarly, the Forgery skill (Infiltration or Intelligence) is about creating false documents of a sufficiently convincing quality -- oddly enough, this is something I would class as a "social" skill, because it effectively is used to interact favourably with people, rather than with 'things.'
In that same vein, Disguise (Infiltration or Charisma) involves both creating and using a convincing disguise, and giving an effective portrayal of the person you are impersonating; Bluff (Subtlety or Charisma) is more about telling a convincing boast or recounting of events, that are untrue. You may very well need to make such checks while using a disguise, but you can make them under other circumstances as well.
Sleight of Hand (Subtlety or Dexterity) involves pick-pocketing or otherwise snatching items without arousing suspicion, but can also be used for planting contraband or incriminating items onto other people without them noticing.
Stealth (Subtlety or Agility) is your general 'hide' and/or 'move silently' skill.
Rounding out the list are the Detection skills.
Search (Detection or Dexterity) is meant to be used for finding things by your sense of touch, especially your fingers; the example I always think of is trying to quickly find the right coin or key, in a stuck drawer -- where you can fit your hand in, but can't actually see the contents.
Investigation and Perception (Detection or Intelligence) are lumped together here, largely because there is no 'Wisdom' attribute in TNP, but also because they seem to often be used interchangeably in 5e. Perception from 4e onwards has been the combination of 3.5's 'Listen' and 'Spot' skills; Investigation... well, it isn't quite 'Appraise' or 'Search'... but it seems to be "solve puzzles/riddles through brain power rather than sensory input."
Insight (Detection or Charisma) is your lie-detector and/or 'Sense Motive' skill -- pretty standard.
As for the knowledge skills, they're kind of a mixed bag of knowledge/exploration skills, as well as kind of a sub-set of social skills:
Arcana (Arcane power source) is your general knowledge of magic and the occult, other planes, spellcraft, etc. As in 4e, this would be the skill check you make to 'detect magic'
History & Geography (Martial power source) is your knowledge of pertinent historical events and places of particular significance; in 3.5 this was (as you might guess) two separate skills, but I felt it was worth combining them together.
Religion (Divine or Arcane) is generally associated with monster knowledge about the undead, but could also apply to demons/devils; deities, mythology, religious traditions and ceremonies, etc.
Wilderness Survival (Primal power source) generally covers any uses of 'Survival' (including the Use Rope skill) or the Nature skill, as it pertains to things other than animals/beasts... Animal Handling (Martial or Primal) involves using, training, or communicating with animals (whether through basic verbal or visual cues, or magical/telepathic means) including using them as a mount (i.e. the Ride skill)
Dungeoneering (Arcane or Shadow) typically involves knowledge of caves and caverns, but often is about places like the Underdark, and its denizens.
Medicine (Divine or Primal) generally functions like the Medicine skill in 5e, or the Heal skill in 4e or 3.5; this would likely also cover your 'Detect Poison & Disease' spell/ritual.
Streetwise (Shadow power source) essentially functions like your 'Gather Information' skill, when dealing with the (figurative) underworld; Local (Martial or Shadow) functions similarly, but for commoners or "middle class" people and societies; Nobility & Royalty (Divine power source) is essentially the upper-class version of this sort of skill.
It's probably worth mentioning who got these as 'class skills' in 3.5:
- Local -- Bards, Rogues, Wizards
- Gather Information -- Bards, Rogues
- Nobility & Royalty -- Bards, Paladins, Wizards
- Handle Animal -- Barbarians, Druids, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers
- Ride -- Barbarians, Druids, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers
- Nature -- Bards, Druids, Rangers, Wizards
- Survival -- Barbarian, Druids, Rangers
- Use Rope -- Rangers, Rogues
- Heal -- Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Rangers
- Religion -- Bards, Clerics, Paladins, Wizards
- History -- Bards, Clerics, Wizards
- Geography -- Bards, Rangers, Wizards
- Arcana -- Bards, Clerics, Monks, Sorcerers, Wizards
- Dungeoneering -- Bards, Rangers, Wizards
Meanwhile in 4th Edition (sorting the PHB1 & PHB2 by power source)...
- Arcana was extended to Druid (primal), Invoker (divine), Shaman (primal), Warlock (arcane)
- Dungeoneering was extended to Rogue (martial), Sorcerer (arcane), Warden (primal)
- Heal was extended to Barbarian (primal), Bard (arcane), Fighter (martial), Shaman (primal), Sorcerer (arcane), Warden (primal), Warlord (martial)
- History was extended to Druid (primal), Invoker (divine), Paladin (divine), Shaman (primal), Warlock (arcane), Warlord (martial)
- Nature was extended to Barbarian (primal), Shaman (primal), Sorcerer (arcane), Warden (primal)
- Religion was extended to Invoker (divine), Shaman (primal), Warlock (arcane)
- Streetwise -- Bard (arcane), Fighter (martial), Rogue (martial), Wizard (arcane)
In TNP, classes generally lean towards one or two power sources, with a choice of another (Acrobat is the only class that sort of fits into any of the 5 power sources)
- Paladin (Divine/Martial; Arcane or Shadow)
- Cleric (Divine; Martial or Arcane)
- Druid (Primal; Arcane or Martial)
- Rogue (Shadow; Arcane, Martial, Primal)
- Warlord (Martial; Divine or Primal)
- Spellbinder (Arcane/Martial; Divine or Shadow)
- Occultist (Arcane/Shadow; Primal)
- Adventurer (Martial/Primal; Arcane or Shadow)
- Barbarian (Martial or Primal)
- Bard (Arcane/Divine; Martial or Shadow)
- Sage (Arcane/Primal; Martial or Shadow)
- Ranger (Martial/Primal; Shadow)
- Guardian (Martial/Primal; Arcane or Shadow)
- Fighter (Martial; Divine, Primal, Shadow)
So if we were to, for the sake of argument, combine the 4e and 3.5 class skill lists, and try to represent them in TNP, a few examples would be:
- Paladin: Divine (Nobility & Royalty, Medicine, Religion) + Martial (Animal Handling, History & Geography)
- Cleric: Divine (Medicine, Religion) + Martial (History & Geography) + Arcane (Arcana)
- Druid: Primal (Wilderness Survival, Animal Handling, Medicine) Arcane (Arcana, Religion) + Martial (History & Geography)
- Barbarian: Martial (History & Geography, Animal Handling) + Primal (Wilderness Survival, Animal Handling, Medicine)
- Ranger: Martial (History & Geography, Animal Handling) + Primal (Wilderness Survival, Animal Handling, Medicine) + Shadow (Dungeoneering)
- Fighter: Martial (Animal Handling) + Primal (Medicine) + Shadow (Streetwise)
Next post is due up on September 10th, so check back then!
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