quote:Original post by Ronixus
On the side of skills. What is a skill anyways? It''s something that you can do to be productive right? Well, if I know how to hit metal with a hammer to make a dagger, why can''t I _attempt_ to make a sword? Why must it be, "I can''t make it ''cause I''m stupid?" To me, skill use must almost always be allowed, but proficiency using that skill should make the difference. And by difference, I mean an actuall learning experience, not just "Wow, I can suddenly make a shield now!" After all, it''s a _role_ your playing, not a robot that has suddenly downloaded a program!

I''ve been trying to find a reasonable system for skill advancement that addresses the issues you described. The best solution I''ve found is to make certain skills "trainable." Under my system, a character can attempt to use any skill as long as he meets certain minimum criteria.

Here''s a simple example with combat skills. Let''s say "punch" and "kick" are the simple combat skills with no requirements. Any character can attempt a punch or a kick. However, there is also a "jump-kick" skill that has a minimum requirement in the kick skill. If the character meets that minimum requirement, he can also attempt a jump-kick, even if he doesn''t possess that skill.

This system can lead to some interesting scenarios in the game. For example, there could be a "Summon Fire" skill that any wizard could attempt. But if he doesn''t possess one of the three sub-skills beneath it ("Burning Hands," "Flaming Missile," or "Fireball"), he doesn''t know which of the three he might cast, or if it will be successful.

I like this method because it allows players to experiment, but also limits their access to certain high-level skills. After all, not any player should be able to shoot laser from his eyes; or to be more specific, unless they meet certain criteria, they should always expect to fail.