D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5e] Skill Focus

[RigaMortus]

Do you think they will revise what the SKill Focus feat can do? Maybe make it +3 to a Skill instead of +2...

The reason I bring this up is because there are so many feats out there, specifically in FR Campaign book, which grant at least a +2 to a skill AND something else. Most of the skill boosting feats in FR are far superior than Skill Focus.

 

[hammymchamham]

I voted Yes, since I've house rulled this. Its in the othe d20 books IIRC, d20 Modern, Star Wars, Wheel of Time.

I'm frankly surprised it wasn't done with any of the erratas.

 

[Petrosian]

I house rules it to the following over a year ago. I bet we will see something similar.

Skill focus can be either...
+2 to two related skills
+3 to one single skill for all uses of that skill
+4 to a multipurpose skill for one limited use of that skill.

MnM actaully made the first two into hard and fast feats but left the third as a guideline for custom feats.

 

[Pax]

Voted "yes".

IMO, Skill Focus should be worth +2, plus an additional +1 for every 5 or so levels you attain (thus, +2 at levels 1-5, +3 at levels 6-10, +4 at levels 11-15, and so on). At low levels, +2 is a decent benefit. At higher levels, it's not worth the feat cost, except to qualify for a prestige class (and frankly, that's the only time I -ever- take Skill Focus ...).

Greater Skill Focus shoudl be worth twice as much as Skill Focus.

Epic Skill Focus should be worth three times as much as SKill Focus.

...

There are a lot of "nickel and dime" scale feats that I'd like to see made more scalar to level, in fact. For example: Weapon Focus should (IMO) add to BAB ... say, +1 per 10 levels or fraction thereof. A mere +1 to hit ... *shrug* ... to me, it's not worth the feat, 99 times out of 100. But getting a slightly higher BAB, +1 at levels 1-10, +2 at levels 11-20, well THAT I'd like, and would strongly consider taking.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Everyone's house-ruled this Feat. It's sorta like the unofficial hobby of 3E players. It's an initiation rite for these boards.

In general, I don't like Feats that just do something you could have done with skill points. Feats, IMO, should give new abilities you can't get through any normal process. So, IMC we made it more interesting:

***HOUSE RULE WARNING***
SKILL FOCUS (General)
Prerequisite: 5 ranks in the appropriate skill
You may Take 10 with the chosen skill even under duress. You may re-roll a skill check on a roll of 5 or less; the second roll stands.

GREATER SKILL FOCUS (General)
Prerequisites: Skill Focus, 10 ranks in the appropriate skill.
You may Take 10 with the chosen skill even under duress. You may Take 20 with the chosen skill even if there is a drawback for failure; the check still takes 20 times as long as normal. You may re-roll a skill check on a roll of 10 or less; the second roll still stands.
(This overrides Skill Focus)

The Take 20 thing works nicely. Basically, you spend 19 skill checks planning, then 1 doing. So, a Rogue with Disable Trap sketches out the mechanism in the dirt, figures out where to poke, and then does it perfectly.

Now, I'm not saying that this is what they should do in 3.5E. Keeping it simple is a good design philosophy, so just bumping it to a +3 will work fine. But, I just wish they had been more imaginative when they first started.

 

[Merlion]

I voted yes. and I've gotten the impression that is what their going to do.
I agree with Pax about Weapon Focus etc to for the most part. +1 to attack with one type of weapon is ok but it doesnt ever get any better

 

[Yeoman]

I believe they will change it to +3 to match the other games they have produced. I'd think it was one of the first things to be added to the 3.5 version.

 

[Nail]

***HOUSE RULE WARNING***
SKILL FOCUS (General)
Prerequisite: 5 ranks in the appropriate skill
You may Take 10 with the chosen skill even under duress. You may re-roll a skill check on a roll of 5 or less; the second roll stands.

Wow. That's a good idea. Yoink!

 

[RigaMortus]

Everyone's house-ruled this Feat. It's sorta like the unofficial hobby of 3E players. It's an initiation rite for these boards.

In general, I don't like Feats that just do something you could have done with skill points. Feats, IMO, should give new abilities you can't get through any normal process. So, IMC we made it more interesting:

***HOUSE RULE WARNING***
SKILL FOCUS (General)
Prerequisite: 5 ranks in the appropriate skill
You may Take 10 with the chosen skill even under duress. You may re-roll a skill check on a roll of 5 or less; the second roll stands.

GREATER SKILL FOCUS (General)
Prerequisites: Skill Focus, 10 ranks in the appropriate skill.
You may Take 10 with the chosen skill even under duress. You may Take 20 with the chosen skill even if there is a drawback for failure; the check still takes 20 times as long as normal. You may re-roll a skill check on a roll of 10 or less; the second roll still stands.
(This overrides Skill Focus)

The Take 20 thing works nicely. Basically, you spend 19 skill checks planning, then 1 doing. So, a Rogue with Disable Trap sketches out the mechanism in the dirt, figures out where to poke, and then does it perfectly.

Now, I'm not saying that this is what they should do in 3.5E. Keeping it simple is a good design philosophy, so just bumping it to a +3 will work fine. But, I just wish they had been more imaginative when they first started.

I like this ideas as well. Unfortunately, I doubt my DM or current groupmates would. But for any game I run, I might consider this.

 

[delkain]

At higher levels, it's not worth the feat cost, except to qualify for a prestige class (and frankly, that's the only time I -ever- take Skill Focus ...). [/B]

Skill Focus gives a bonus, it does not add Ranks to a skill thus it cannot be used for this purpose.

Delkain

PS... I voted Yes...