Rewriting Dwindle pt 3 Skills~Brainstorming

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Dwindle has a lot going on. It also has a whole bunch of Skills. This is a good basic skill list. But I am thinking of limiting the skills, much like I do in my new games. For example, in Zenagos, I want your best skill to have a maximum value of 5, and your worst skills to have values of 2. This does a few things:

First, there is no Maxing of all skills as players increase in level.

Second, This should encourage players to coordinate their top 3 skills. I don't think any Current player in Dwindle has over 20 skill points, so I think I can get away with a change.

The Redesign

Currently Dwindle's skills include:

  1. Athletics
  2. Attune
  3. Combat
  4. Command
  5. Consort
  6. Deception
  7. Insight
  8. Negotiation
  9. Notice
  10. Perform
  11. Scholarship
  12. Stealth
  13. Survival
  14. Tempt
  15. Tinker
  16. Theft

In Gods of Aureata, I was able to cut the skills down to 10. I did this in part, by naming them after different jobs: Grifter, Tinkerer, Medic, etc. If it was something you could imagine someone in that role taking on, then you could use that skill.

So my question is then, can I do the same thing with RPG classes? Here is the list of Dwindle Classes and the skills I feel best define them.

  1. Alchemist: Tinker, Attune, Scholarship
  2. Barbarian: Survival, Combat, Athletics
  3. Bard: Tempt, Perform, Consort
  4. Cleric: -Heal-, Attune, Assist
  5. Druid: Expertise, Consort, Survival
  6. Fighter: Combat, Command, Athletics
  7. Monk: Combat, Insight, Attune
  8. Necromancer: Command, Attune, Scholarship
  9. Paladin: Combat, Attune, Command
  10. Ranger: Survival, Combat, Notice
  11. Sorcerer: Attune, Attune, Attune?
  12. Thief: Theft, Consort, Tempt
  13. Warlock: Negotiation, Attune, Deception
  14. Wizard: Attune, Scholarship, 

Looking at this list, I can see there is way too much overlap to use them as skills. The question for the average fantasy Class, is mostly, "What sort of fighter / blaster are you?"

This will not abide.

Looking back at the GoA skill list:

  1. Driver: (GoA has electric vehicles.) I may turn this to a catch-all for mounts / ships / wagons, etc.
  2. Entertainer: Consorting, tempting, gaining trust or friends, acting
  3. Grifter: Lying, sensing deception, false identities, confidence schemes.
  4. Healer: Medicine, healing, herbalism, anatomy, 
  5. Prowler: moving, sneaking, hiding, following
  6. Tinkerer: making, repairing, inventing, forgery
  7. Investigator: noticing, interviewing, interrogating, researching
  8. Thief: bypassing security, gaining entry, slight of hand
  9. Skirmisher: attacking, defending, gaining advantage
  10. Occultist: researching, recognizing unnatural, odd trivia

I think this is probably the most concise list of skills I've ever made. When you couple it with Feng Shui 2's take on skills (what you can do, what you know, who you know, what you have) it is really comprehensive.

I even like it as a way to determine your class / role. If Driver is highest ranked, that's your role.

I digress, because I'm tired. 

This list can fit Dwindle well. I can't push in the FS2 concept of all encompassing skills (because of the namesake resources), but I believe these will work.

I think this will be my base set. If I need more, or less, I can cut or add as needed.

Skills will remain ranked 0~5, with corresponding dice sizes. I'll do  a write up for them when I am not so exhausted and have time. Probably not tomorrow.


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