As an AD&D Dungeon Master (DM), I have been unhappy with the non-weapon proficiency system, in terms of how it applies to character creation, gradual improvement of proficiencies and the rate at which proficiencies are acquired. The system always seemed a bit slow and coarse for my liking. Because of this, I have written the following non-weapon proficiency system.
Basics of the system:
Proficiencies are point-based. This system works proficiencies and languages similar to the way thieving abilities are handled. That is - a character starts with a number of points to spend on proficiencies, and accrues more proficiency points each time that character gains a level. The player must still adhere to the groupings as they appear in the player's handbook (PHB) with respect to their class. Also, similar to the PHB, you receive additional points for each language slot you have, according to intelligence.
The latest change to the system gives the character twelve (12) points for each non-weapon proficiency slot (under the normal rules) and an additional twelve (12) points for each language. The character also begins with their native language for free, set to a proficiency equal to their intelligence.
Then, at each level increase, the character gains 10 points to put into proficiencies (no more than 5 in a single slot). The DM may also wish to limit the number of points put into a language to a maximum of 3 points
This was changed from: 60 points to all starting characters + 12 points per language slot + 15 points per level.
Increasing your proficiencyThe PHB tells you which ability score a proficiency relates to. When increasing a proficiency, you must consider this ability score. If there is a modifier on that ability score, that must be used. For example, tumbling refers to DEX. To calculate point costs, your "related ability score" is equal to your DEX. If the proficiency check is DEX-1, the "related ability score" would be DEX-1. There are three distinct "stages" for increasing proficiencies with respect to point cost.
Stage One The first stage is to increase your proficiency up to the related ability score. To do so, add points to this proficiency at a one-for-one rate of improvement (adjusted by modifier in PHB). For example, if your DEX is 14 and you want tumbling, you can spend 14 points to get a 14 rating in tumbling.
Stage Two The second stage is to increase your proficiency beyond the related ability score, up to your racial maximum for the related ability. To increase your proficiency rating beyond the related ability score, you must spend two (2) points to increase the skill by a point. Using the above example, if your racial maximum is 18 and you wanted to increase your tumbling from 14 to 18, you must spend 8 points.
Stage Three The third stage is to increase your proficiency beyond the racial maximum of the associated ability score. For this, you must spend five (5) points to increase the skill by a point, up to a maximum of 19. 19 is considered mastery of the skill (rolling a 20 always indicates failure). Therefore, continuing the example, to increase your tumbling score from 18 to 19, you must spend 5 points. Your total cost (with DEX 14) to get mastery in the Tumbling proficiency is 27 points.
Assuming that the proficiency has no modifier to the related ability score check, your racial minimum for the related ability is 3, and your racial maximum for the related ability is 18, here is what you can get in a proficiency for 23 points:
Proficiency rating
Ability Score 23 points in skill
3 13
4 13 (1 point extra)
5 14
6 14 (1 point extra)
7 15
8 15 (1 point extra)
9 16
10 16 (1 point extra)
11 17
12 17 (1 point extra)
13 18
14 18 (1 point extra)
15 18 (2 points extra)
16 18 (3 points extra)
17 18 (4 points extra)
18 19
Optionally, the DM may allow you to increase beyond 19, figuring that situational modifiers may reduce your skill below 19. Also, optionally, the DM may not allow you to increase your proficiency beyond the related ability score + 5, with the reason that if you don't have the dexterity to be a master tumbler, all the practice in the world won't help.
Multiple Slot Proficiencies If the listed proficiency costs multiple slots, you need to double or triple the cost of increasing the proficiency accordingly. For example, Herbalism. Herbalism is listed as using 2 proficiency slots. That means to increase Herbalism up to your ability score, you must spend 2 points per point of proficiency, then 4 points per point beyond your ability up to 18, then 10 points per point to increase your proficiency beyond your racial maximum.
Advantages of this system. This system allows a player to develop his or her character's background more fully, and learn new skills gradually as the adventuring career progresses. You can define your character as a jack-of-all-trades (good for a bard) or a master weaponsmith (good background for a fighter). Expanding this system to languages would allow the character to gradually learn a language (use roleplaying to decide what is appropriate).
Proficiency checks are still the same, except that they are made (on a d20) against your rating rather than the skill associated with the proficiency. They are also made for proficiencies that did not previously require a check.
Disadvantages of this system. One hole in the system has always been how to handle nonproficient characters. There's a chance that someone knows how to ride a horse well enough to stay on at a trot, but without the proficiency, how would you know? The answer that I have come up with for this is to give the character or NPC a base score in all proficiencies, perhaps equivalent to two points of proficiency. That means that you start with a base 2 in land-based riding, and a base 1 in survival. Your weaponsmithing skill is less than a point, and so doesn't count. This might indicate the fact that you've seen a weapon being made, but couldn't do it yourself. :) Another example is a non-proficient rider would have a 10% chance of staying on a horse that rears up.
Another disadvantage is how the system handles changes to your ability scores. If your ability score related to a proficiency increases or decreases from some effect, such as Ioun stones or a Tome or undead drain, what happens to the proficiency? The solution is simple, but cumbersome. Calculate how many points you have spent in the proficiency to get it to the level it currently is. Then, recalculate the level it would be with the new ability score. For example, if you have the Tumbling proficiency at 16 with a DEX of 12, and some effect increases your DEX to 14, you would have to recalculate your Tumbling proficiency. You have spent 20 points in Tumbling to get the 16 proficiency score. With the new DEX of 14, 20 points would get you a proficiency of 17. Therefore, when your DEX increases from 12 to 14, your proficiency automatically increases from 16 to 17. Because of this, you need to keep track of how many points you have spent on a proficiency as well as your current skill level. It's a little extra bookkeeping, but has its advantages.
Issues
Well, there you have the latest version of the Modified Proficiency System. Please consider
this to be a living document, and feel free to comment. If you don't have any specific
comments, think about the following discussion issues. Questions preceded by (NW) refer to the
non-weapon proficiency system; those preceded by (W) refer to the weapon proficiency system:
(NW)If a non-proficient character is given two points in a proficiency for purposes of a
non-proficient check, why don't the characters start with 2 points in all proficiencies?
(W)Do you think the number of points gained per level is fair to the character classes?
If you have any answers to any discussion issue(s), feel free to
e-mail me.
