3E Skills in OD&D (with C&C added in...)

[Finarvyn]

I'm not a huge fan of the 3E system, but I have a decent number of products for it and think that many of them are kind of neat. I was looking at some of that stuff the other day and wondered if I could come up with a simple method of using skills in OD&D. Why? Because some of my players like skills.

The problem is that I really don't want to bother tracking skill levels and have to keep track of all of the skill points. The rules would have to be simple, but allow for some depth. I remembered that 3E skills are rated as "class" or "cross-class" and that gave me an idea.

Castles & Crusades uses a thing called the "SIEGE engine" where characters get prime stats. Rolls made for primes succeed on 12+ (with modifiers for difficulty and character level) while rolls made for non-primes require an 18+.

Take this idea an dapply it to 3E skills. What if all skills were known by all characters. Any skills rated as "class" skills for a character would be like "primes" with success of 12+ (with mods) while "cross class" would be "non prime" and only succeed on 18+.

Simple, easy to handle. All you need is a skill list for each class, which can actually be found in the SRD. No skill points to juggle, no fuss and mess. Modifiers are mostly "on the fly" by the DM. About as OD&D-like as skills can get, I'm thinking.

What do you think?

[philotomy]

This is very close to what many C&C players do (i.e. using the 3E lists as a guideline); the only difference is that you're assigning prime based on the list, and in C&C they're assigning "gets to add level to the roll" based on the list (prime being dictated by the prime stats). You can also do this without a detailed list, IMO. For example, it would work with AD&D "secondary skills." If you're a Fighter who has secondary skill of sailor, you'd get "prime" in fighter-type stuff, but also in tasks like using ropes, handling boats, etc. You could also just base "prime" off the PC's background, in general.

I'm currently running C&C, in addition to OD&D, so I've been using the SIEGE engine for a while. I find myself using formal SIEGE engine checks less and less, though. Often, merely knowing the PC has the appropriate background is enough for many tasks (this is very similar to Gary's approach with his abilities/skill bundles in Lejendary Adventure), and no roll is required. When a roll is warranted, you make the check. However, my experience is that it's often just as easy for the DM to evaluate the situation and assign a probability as a percentage, or as an AC to hit, or something similar.

All that said, if you want some sort of codified system for handling these things, your SIEGE engine variant sounds pretty good.

[calithena]

C&C isn't bad but I'd apply the SW: Saga system to a skills adaptation for OD&D. (Use the 3e or another good fantasy list (Stormbringer 1e comes to mind), but the SWS system.)

In SWS you can have a skill or have a 'focus' (read: expert/master in any other tiered system). The skill gets you +5 on the check, the skill + focus gets you +10, and you get to add half your level round down and your attribute modifier as well.

I actually have this all done up for application to OD&D (use +1/+2 mods for the d6 stat rolls for base/mastery, fixed skill lists for the classes, gain as you go up levels, etc.) and it's a pretty cool system.

[WSmith]

Someone somewhere posted a modification to the "x chances in 6 roll" which I will try to track down.

[crimhthanthegreat]

We always handled skills on the fly. The player wants to do something and I either rule that he knows how based on the basic thumbnail background the players create (takes about a minute or two) or I tell him what he needs to roll to be successful. I never saw a lot of need to have a written list, but there is no reason you couldn't, it is just the more written stuff that you use, the more it tends to slow down the game.