"We haven't much time, 'friends'! You're going to help me test out my latest and greatest creation.
Now. Before you change your minds."
I fucking hate tier lists. Like BMI, it's a basic collection of information that people go fucking overboard with. In a fighting game, theorists will gauge which characters have an advantage over other characters, and the ones with the most advantages will be put higher in the tier list. It's simple, and it's not always saying there's a huge difference between two characters. For example, King Dedede is a bottom tier character in Smash 4, but that doesn't mean you can pick Diddy Kong(who's top tier) and just automatically win. It doesn't mean you're "stupid" for picking Dedede. The list creators aren't even saying that themselves.
But that's how they're taken, all of the time. To use Smash as our example again, there are people who will look at the S tier and refuse to play anyone but Bayonetta, Cloud, Shiek and Diddy. It's stupid, especially if you're doing this in casual play and you're never going to touch a real tournament. I mean, you're surrounded by your friends who are all picking their favorite characters and you're "eyes on the prize" focused on winning.
I said all that so you'd have context for what I'm doing. I'm going to talk about Pathfinder's core skill set and how valuable the skills are. It doesn't mean you're stupid for taking a low tier skill, and like I always say, every class can spare a few skill points to support a cool backstory. I'm simply discussing trends I've noticed along with basic theorycrafting, to give people an idea of how to prioritize skills. A few ground rules first.
I'm only discussing the core Pathfinder skills. I haven't read the PF update to the Psionics guide so we won't be going over autohypnosis or any of the other skills it updates.
I'm factoring in skill unlocks as well as new uses for skills, such as in the Occult Guide. They're not going to sway my opinion very often, though.
Obviously, things shuffle around based on the kind of game you're playing in. I go into that in the lists, but in general you're going to have to "read the room" or pay attention to what your GM is telling you about the game. Obviously Swim is more important in an aquatic game, and the social skills are flat out necessary in a socially focused game. This kind of thing is always going to happen, and I'm just trying to provide general information and guidance.
I'm not factoring in what class you're playing. Yeah, this is going to change what skills you take, but it's so obvious that I don't feel the need to discuss it. So when Perform is low on our tier list, don't come at me with "But Bard!". I know. I know Bard.
I didn't take optional rules into account, even though Expanded Craft and Expanded Profession are how those skills should have been designed in the first fucking place.
So with that out of the way, here we go.
Hyper Rainbow Tier
Skills in this tier are always useful, no matter what the game is or who's running it. It will probably still come up even if the GM is making an effort to squash it. It's something everyone can justify putting points into regardless of class or concept.
Perception - Yeah, there's only one skill here. It will be a very strange game if your GM isn't calling for a perception check several times in the night. Knowing what's going on and getting key information and hints from the GM is super important to figuring out mysteries, or even just who's about to attack you. In addition to just passively knowing what's going on, it counters stealth and finds traps. Perception will almost always be your most-rolled skill.
Gold Tier
Skills in this tier are useful very often and in most games. They will almost always come up, and hardly ever need players putting in an effort to make them useful.
Diplomacy - Diplomacy covers getting people to help you, which you're either going to end up doing a lot, either by necessity or by it simply being easier than the alternative. It also covers gathering information, which you absolutely will end up doing. This is the prime social interaction skill.
Knowledge(Arcana) - Arcana covers Constructs, Magical Beasts, and Dragons, which you'll fight reasonably often. It also covers magical traditions and symbols, which are bound to come up. Most importantly, however... it covers Weird Magical Shit. Weird Magical Shit will come up in every game you play. Hands down. Even the "low magic" games. Especially those games. As a small bonus, the psychic skill unlock for this is Phrenology, which lets you get some "speak with dead" style information about a corpse(or sleeping person) without having to cast anything. Nice considering that most people who will be using that unlock won't have that spell on their spell list.
Stealth - A lot of skills are dedicated to gathering information, and Stealth is no different. Even if you never steal anything(which, let's face it, is almost always the easy way) it also covers things like scouting and reconnaissance. It also facilitates killing by coup de gras or simple ambush, which can pretty often make an upcoming combat easier. This is technically a skill that requires the player to be proactive about it's use, but it's useful so often and in so many different games that I've made an exception.
Spellcraft - Spellcraft is how you identify magic items and spells as they're being cast. I could stop explaining why this is a great skill right there. Your group will be rolling this constantly for their loot, OR end up paying someone to do it. That aside, knowing what spells are being cast is very important, and people are going to be casting spells in your presence constantly. Even if you're not a spellcaster, you still might be able to justify ranks in Spellcraft.
Use Magic Device - This skill almost got into Hyper Rainbow Tier, but I'm assuming your game is sticking to its book listed uses and not letting players fudge what it can do. Being able to emulate another type of character so you can use a magic item is great. Being able to activate things without knowing their command words is even better. Both of these combined means you can get past standing magical structures like magic doors or portals with a skill check and not having to somehow research or identify how it works.
Silver Tier
Skills in this tier are still pretty useful, but may require some effort on the player to fully realize their worth. They may only come up in certain situations or require the player to be proactive or inventive about their application.
Acrobatics - I fucking love acrobatics, but the fact is that a lot of its uses can be mitigated in some way. Being able to jump doesn't matter as much when you've got wings of flight or a fly spell, and plenty of classes get big bonuses to jumping which preclude you taking acrobatics if you're not one of them. However, it's still really useful for moving around, and it is the ONLY way to avoid Attacks of Opportunity on the battlefield. You may not always need to do that, but it's VERY nice to be able when you do.
Bluff - So yeah, this is only in Silver Tier because, generally, you have to choose to lie to people. Bluff will sometimes get you into an amount of trouble that Diplomacy never will. However, in the hands of the right character, bluff is fucking great and will be very useful in the hands of someone aiming to make it so. Feint is just icing.
Disable Device - There's traps and locks. We all know that. getting past them is a fucking STAPLE of the genre, so instead of going on and on about that, let me share the ONLY reason this isn't in Gold Tier. It very nearly was, but IDENTIFYING that a trap is there is the most important part. Getting past a trap or lock can be accomplished by Disable Device...or, a lot of the time, by hitting it very hard. It's a sad fact, but breaking things works a lot of the time. Still, Disable Device is intensely useful. There will be traps you can't break. There will be chests you won't want to RISK breaking. There will be locks you CAN'T break without making noise. Disable Device is the more elegant and careful solution.
Handle Animal - This is a disused skill I feel like shouldn't be. Training animals for some sort of use can be really helpful. They don't need high skill ranks to roll to assist you in something, and they don't need a high amount of HD. There's a ton of different useful tricks, and even if you only stick to the core book, guard animals will, at the very least, wake you up or alert you to danger. You can also train flanking buddies, or assist pals. Yeah, they only have a few HD. Sure, they might not always succeed at that DC 10, but it's a solid bonus that's not very expensive to replace.
Intimidate - Intimidate can cause Shaken in combat and has some pretty useful feat applications like the Boar Style tree or Dazzling Display. Without that, it can even get you something socially, but it's temporary and not likely to win you any friends. Carefully applied and with a feat or two, though, and this is one of the best debuffs in the game.
Knowledge(Local) - Another useful skill I feel is disused. This time, I know it's because it used to be tied to particular areas, forcing you to spend skill points for a very minor, fiddly amount of knowledge. Now that it's not, this skill is great for making your way, fitting in without looking like an outsider, or simply navigating an area or city. Most PCs are constantly traveling and this skill gets you everything you need to know about where you are.
Knowledge(Nature) - Per the book, knowledge of animals, fey, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, and vermin. All things you're likely to be fighting a lot in your game. Wilderness is often a staple of the fantasy genre. This is no substitute for survival, but it can still prove pretty valuable when you're in the middle of nowhere. Like I just said, the players will likely be in the middle of nowhere a lot.
Knowledge(Planes) - Knowing things about the planes themselves is useful, but knowing things about outsiders is better. The mid to high CR monster lists are dominated by outsiders and undead.
Knowledge(Religion) - In addition to knowledge about undead, which are often a staple enemy, this is everything you need to know about gods and religious traditions, both things that are very likely to come up.
Linguistics - Let's face it, you're going to be traipsing through ruins looking at ancient scrolls and warnings scrawled onto the walls. If you're not doing that, by some miracle, you're still encountering a billion different races and a billion different languages. The psychic skill unlock, Automatic Writing, is also a semi-reliable casting of Augury or Divination, which can be a help, especially at later levels.
Sense Motive - Another skill that was almost gold. People are GOING to lie to you, but even if they don't, this skill lets you read situations, give hunches, or gauge someone's general trustworthiness. This skill is great for when you've got a hunch about a situation already and you'd like to confirm it with a roll.
Sleight of Hand - A somewhat good money maker and a skill that can potentially make your life a lot easier by lifting keys or important macguffins off people without having to kill them. In stealthy or subtle situations this skill can see a lot of use, but it's one of the skills that requires your inventive application.
Survival - Wilderness is a staple of the fantasy genre, and most games are going to be in it a lot. It's nice to be able to hand-wave things like path finding or gathering food by having decent ranks in this skill.
Bronze Tier
Skills in this tier probably won't come up even if the player puts effort into making them useful. They may simply be concepts unlikely to come up in an average game, or there is something in the game that makes putting ranks into them less useful, such as spells or magic items.
Appraise - It's nice to know what your treasure is worth, and a decent GM will always throw you a curveball or two like rare gems or works of art. However, this skill is really only for maximizing your profits, which not everyone is going to care about. Thiefy types can use Skill Unlocks to get some decent uses out of this, but with so many decent unlocks to take and so few you actually get, it feels like a waste.
Climb - Being able to climb is great, and it's probably going to come up, but here's the problem. Things like slippers of spider climb, wings of flying, or racial climb scores preclude you ever having to roll this skill. It's rare that you'll want to put more than 5 ranks in this.
Craft - The mechanics of the craft system as presented in the core book are straight up broken. The times it gives to make things make no sense at all. You'd never use this for actually making mundane items unless you're literally naked in the wilderness and using the new forage system... which is pretty cool, to be fair. A GM using expanded crafting skill from Pathfinder Unchained could potentially bump this a lot closer to silver, but as it is, it's just not going to come up much. This skill is propped up by saving you money on gunpowder and alchemical materials, but also the new Trophy system, which lets you get some extra money out of monsters.
Disguise - Disguise can be pretty useful for gathering information, hiding your identity and such, but Hat of Disguise and polymorph subschool spells give a pretty big bonus to this skill. You can see some nice use out of ranks sometimes, but at some point given a greater hat of disguise and a few ranks and nobody's going to beat your number ANYWAY.
Escape Artist - It can get you out of a grapple. That's nice. It can get you through tight spaces. That, however, isn't as useful as it seems. You can sometimes break your way into something, or even use reduce person or other polymorph spells to preclude having to put much into this skill.
Knowledge(Dungeoneering) - Abberations, Oozes, Caverns and Spelunking. So, two seldom-used monster types and two concepts I can't think of how to roll for. I mean, you're going to be in caves and underground a lot, but I can't think of why you'd need to roll this.
Knowledge(Geography) - Lands, Terrain, Climates and People. Most of this skill's usefulness can also be provided by Knowledge(Local). The reason you'd take this is for knowledge of places you can't find maps for. That might come up once or twice, but probably not often.
Knowledge(History) - I really want this skill to be useful, but frankly it's REALLY nice in specialized games and...otherwise, probably won't come up. The average game is only going to have maybe five places where you can even roll this and come up with something useful.
Perform - If you're not a bard, all Perform does is earn you a decent amount of money for your time. It can be helpful for improving someone's mood or for providing a cover story for your identity, but those are kind of at the GM's discretion.
Ride - This is only for riding in combat and stressful situations, which holds it back. Everyone's gonna ride horses, but riding one in combat can be nice bonuses. If nothing else, you can usually get that nice little +1 for advantageous position. This is in bronze simply because...well, you're either a Mounted Combat guy or you're not. I can't see a lot of people just putting ranks in ride and not backing it up with feats or lances or special mounts.
Swim - Oh boy, this one. Swim is useless until it's not. Nobody wants to fucking drown, but there's two problems. One is a lot of characters are going to be wearing so much weight in gear and armor that no amount of ranks is gonna save them from sinking straight the fuck down. The other is that Water Breathing basically precludes this skill. Add in that most games aren't going to strongly feature water or boats.
Kevin Costner in Waterworld Tier
Skills in this category never come up. There are few, if any, ways to make them useful, no matter how hard you try. If you're rolling these skills a lot, you're either in a very specialized game, or your GM is messing with you. Maybe both.
Fly - I guess Paizo felt this skill had to exist to curb people flying in combat. Fair, I guess...but the DC for falling when getting hit is only ever DC10, it never goes up. You roll it for fancy maneuvers, which most flying combatants aren't going to bother with. If you plan on flying in combat a lot, you took Hover. Like, period. Even then, most of flight's benefits are out of combat anyway. Pathfinder really overvalues flight.
Heal - I did a whole post on this. Just so I'm not repeating myself, I'll be brief. Heal doesn't do anything that curative magic doesn't do, and even with the heal skill unlock, it's not very useful even if you don't have a cleric.
Knowledge(Engineering) - Nobody's ever actually rolled this skill in my presence and had it make a difference. It only ever comes up in terms of being able to effectively destroy a building. There are so many destructive spells like earthquake or even fucking fireball that I don't see the point. As for its other uses? ... Are there any? The book says it handles bridges, aqueducts, buildings and fortifications. Have you ever had to roll a knowledge skill about an aqueduct? Seriously think to yourself, have you ever even been in a game that had an aqueduct in it?
Knowledge(Nobility) - You can't even justify this skill in a social game, because everything you'd ever use it for would be covered by Knowledge(Local). I can't even imagine most actual nobles have this skill. They gather information on relevant allies or enemies and ignore the ones that aren't. This is another one I haven't seen anyone roll in my presence and have it make a difference in the game.
Profession - Profession doesn't actually do anything. Go read the book if you don't believe me. All it does is make a piddly amount of money. There's no reason to ever take this skill unless your GM is using the expanded profession, alternate profession or downtime rules from Pathfinder Unchained. If you are, Profession bumps solidly into bronze, maybe even silver...but in all other games, it remains here underneath the waves.
No comments:
Post a Comment