[HR] Making Techniques Viable (as more than "one-trick" specialists)

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by arnej

A loooooong time ago, in a 3e discussion far, far away, someone proposed that a PC could get "Technique Points" equal to the points put in the base skill. This had the effect of making low-stat high-skill characters feel very different than high-stat high-skill characters. The low-stat ones had tons of techniques that they could use (reflecting better their years of experience) where the high-stat types got the benefits of high stats, but had few techniques. So two Broadsword-16 fighters could feel way different.

arnej

I rather like that. I'm not sure about straight points in skill, at least at the start. But for every point (or two points) you spend above 4, you get a free point in a technique of your choice might work well.

A similar effect can be had by inverting the phrasing "if you have at least 4 points in a skill, every point you spend on a technique also counts as a point (or half a point) toward buying up the base skill." Which still allows you to ignore techniques if you want but negates (or halves) their cost for PCs that want them and are happy to spend the saved points on the base skill.