KNACKS
All players should look at their skill list and choose an adjective or descriptive focus for each skill they are proficient with.
This is to re-introduce some of the granular detail that 5th Ed. has stripped out of the game, and to act as a role-playing guideline.
This rule is very loose. It is not intended to narrow your skill range or penalize you. You retain your normal proficiency bonuses to general tasks under that skill umbrella. The KNACK descriptor serves to characterize your skill base a bit more. This will also serve as texture to suggest how you manifest that particular skill, or what you are especially good at.
A KNACK tells us what kind of Deception techniques you prefer, what kind of Performance you have a gift for, or which animals you're good at handling, etc...
These will confer benefits circumstantially as per DM caprice. Sometimes I may grant Advantage to a roll with a Knack. Alternatively, I may modify the DC or grant more specific details than normal, based the outcome of a Knack roll.
Please only apply the Knack adjective to your Proficient skills, NOT your untrained skills... and try not to choose something solely for exploitative advantages. :)
Examples:
- Arcana: magical sensitivity / book-learning / cryptography / dark arts...
- Athletics: swimming / climbing / formal sports / farm labour...
- Acrobatics: parkour / capering (clownish tumbling) / balancing...
- Deception: stonewalling under pressure / tall-tales / con artistry / bureaucracy...
- Intimidation: bluster / covert threats / cruel mockery / being inherently creepy
- Perception: eavesdropping / keen nose / long-distance sight / forests / cities
- Stealth: wilderness / social camouflage / silent body / creating hides
- Sleight of Hand: cheating / magic tricks / hidden weapons
Use your imagination and find something that fits your character in particular.
*SKILL CHANGES*
The HISTORY skill proficiency has been expanded. Please use this skill in reference to all forms of formal education, and the humanities in particular. It now functions as a broad SCHOLAR skill.
If you have this skill, you should choose a sub-discipline, such as Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Philosophy, History, Astronomy, Literature, Law, Geography, Mathematics, etc...
If you go with History, you can specialize it to Military History, Heraldry, Ancient Civilizations, etc...
If you go with History, you can specialize it to Military History, Heraldry, Ancient Civilizations, etc...
TOOL SKILLS will mostly follow the expanded descriptions from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Tool Skills will not be limited to the use of the tool itself. It will be treated like an artisanal trade or craft, with a specialized knowledge base unto themselves.
If your background grants you these tool proficiencies, you are also considered skilled in that field even when tools are not available. Even without a kit, you can be an Alchemist, a Calligarapher, a Carpenter, a Smith, a Mason, a Forger, a Navigator, an Herbalist, etc, etc...
ALL SKILLS... will now have a success rate based on the players Skill Check roll. Normally, making a Skill Check or Ability Save grants a PASS / FAIL result measured against a DC.
Instead, the total of the roll (after modifiers) will serve as a measurement or indicator of performance when applicable. Sometimes high or low performance on the roll will have direct numerical impact (climbing faster, jumping higher, learning more, seeing further, etc) or it may be factored into an opposed check.
Additionally, Natural 20s and Botches will also be taken into consideration, representing spectacular success or dismal failures.
ALL SKILLS... will now have a success rate based on the players Skill Check roll. Normally, making a Skill Check or Ability Save grants a PASS / FAIL result measured against a DC.
Instead, the total of the roll (after modifiers) will serve as a measurement or indicator of performance when applicable. Sometimes high or low performance on the roll will have direct numerical impact (climbing faster, jumping higher, learning more, seeing further, etc) or it may be factored into an opposed check.
Additionally, Natural 20s and Botches will also be taken into consideration, representing spectacular success or dismal failures.
SKILLS and ATTRIBUTES... Skills usually have a specific attribute associated with them as a general guideline. Occasionally you may be asked to make a Skill Check with another base attribute.
Example:
Using Intimidation, you attempt to scare someone by breaking a brick on your head, or by bending a steel bar. In that situation you would likely use Intimidation+Strength, instead of Intimidation+Charisma, depending on how you are 'selling' the Intimidate attempt.
Example:
Example:
A winged monster is doing a speeding fly-by. You want to leap off the battlement onto its back. If raw leap distance is not in question, you may be asked to make an Athletics+Dexterity check instead of an Athletics+Strength, representing the necessary bodily precision. Possibly you will have the option of either attribute (since grip strength may also be key in successfully landing the jump).
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