D&D 3E/3.5 Scry skill gone in 3.5e

[Nifft]

I'd like to see an "Awareness" or "Perception" skill (based of Wisdom) replace both Spot and Listen. There are some situations where I want to ask the PCs to detect a scent, or a texture, or something else that's not exactly Spot or Listen, but darn close.

Then, I'd use the Perception skill to notice a Scry sensor, unless you're actively looking for it, in which case I'd allow either Perception or Search (whichever is higher).

-- Nifft

 

[The Little Raven]

I'd like to see an "Awareness" or "Perception" skill (based of Wisdom) replace both Spot and Listen. There are some situations where I want to ask the PCs to detect a scent, or a texture, or something else that's not exactly Spot or Listen, but darn close.

Making Spot and Listen a single skill is a mistake. A blind man will have no ranks in Spot. He'd have ranks in Listen, instead. A deaf man would have no ranks in Listen. He'd have ranks in Spot, though.

And your sense of smell isn't really something you develop... you either have a keen sense of smell, or you don't. Thus, it's a special ability (and optional feat for some characters). I would also allow characters to use it for a keen sense of taste as well.

As for tactile sense... that's more a matter of personal knowledge of what you are touching, rather than practice.

 

[Chun-tzu]

Making Spot and Listen a single skill is a mistake. A blind man will have no ranks in Spot. He'd have ranks in Listen, instead. A deaf man would have no ranks in Listen. He'd have ranks in Spot, though.

Combining the two isn't necessarily a mistake. If you had a single Perception skill, then a blind person could not make any Perception checks that involve sight, and a deaf person couldn't make any that involve hearing. Simple enough.

But I'm not sure it's such a good idea from a balance perspective. Spot and Listen are already prime choice skills. If they were combined, everyone would take ranks in Perception.

For smell, it makes a fine skill for races with more developed senses of smell, such as Gnomes and Orcs. In fact, there's a Sniff skill detailed by Throwing Dice Games in their free material:

http://www.throwingdice.com/freestuff.html

Having a Sniff skill works fine for some characters, but it doesn't really solve the problem Nifft is talking about. It would be nice if there was a rule for perception checks that aren't covered by Spot or Listen. Maybe characters could have a default Perception score that's the average of their Spot and Listen scores.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I'd like to see an "Awareness" or "Perception" skill (based of Wisdom) replace both Spot and Listen. There are some situations where I want to ask the PCs to detect a scent, or a texture, or something else that's not exactly Spot or Listen, but darn close.

Nowhere in the description of Spot does it state that it's a purely visual skill.

Elves get a bonus to Spot because of their keen senses.

I have no problem using Spot to adjudicate vision, taste, scent or texture, and Listen to adjudicate hearing.

-Hyp.

 

[shilsen]

Nowhere in the description of Spot does it state that it's a purely visual skill.

Elves get a bonus to Spot because of their keen senses.

I have no problem using Spot to adjudicate vision, taste, scent or texture, and Listen to adjudicate hearing.

-Hyp.

The description of being blinded (DMG. pg.83) says that a blind character cannot "make Spot skill checks or perform any other activity (such as reading) that requires vision."

 

[Malin Genie]

I wonder what will happen to the Divine Oracle if Scry goes as a skill? (Prq: 10 ranks in Scry, Skill Focus (Scry))

AFAIK Wizards has said they won't revise the splatbooks or offer online 'conversion' material (or have there been rumours to the contrary?)

 

[DonAdam]

That throwing dice thing is only so-so...

The rules are amazing.

But it's just too much work to integrate into the core rules.

If I was designing a world without monsters, I would use it in a heartbeat.

Of course, I could always just fudge a little and assume max ranks for any creature with the appropriate feat to make use of one of those skills.... hmmm...

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Hey now - don't be dissing USE ROPE!

While we were playtesting 3e, we went through a period when R&D renamed half the freakin' skills as "Intuit X." There was intuit danger (which later became the class feature uncanny dodge),

To bad they didn't keep it as a skill. A skill is much better than the class ability that is presented in 3e. The absolute nature of it is just so incredibly lame IMO.

 

[Andion Isurand]

Perhaps the Scry skill checks will be absorbed by Spellcraft and/or Concentration skill checks.

Spellcraft checks might be used to find and locate people and places to scry upon...

A spellcraft check could be opposed by another spellcraft check ( or an intelligence check ) for someone who thinks they might be being scried upon and tries to find out...

...followed by a difficult Spot Check to spot the sensor, but opposed by the scrier's spellcraft check.

Opposed Concentration checks might be in order for two spellcasters ( one being the scrier, the other being the scried ) that find themselves pushing against one another's will.

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Basically, I think Scry can be dropped without much fuss.

 

[Centaur]

I think that both functions of the scry skill should be absorbed by the Spellcraft check.

A check could be made with a high DC to notice an "Active Aura" in the area. This would give enough info for the caster to use other skills such as spot or detect magic spell to pinpoint it's location.

What about (Potential Huge danger here) upon finding the sensing point of the spell, using an opposed spellcraft check for the person being viewed to get a glimse of the scryer?