Custom skill creation?

[i3ullseye]

Ok, I guess the easiest way to discuss this is just talk about what I have done already, and what i would like to do.

Using the D&D 5E ruleset, each skill has a default Ability roll it uses. And the possible bonuses are a raw roll and the abilities base modifier or penalty added, which is just the ability roll, and Proficient which also adds the characters proficiency bonus to this roll. Added to that we have half proficient which only adds half of their proficiency bonus, and double proficient which naturally adds two times their proficiency bonus to the ability roll.

Now there are times when a different ability might be used with a skill. For example being proficient in Acrobatics is a Dex roll. But there may be times where you want to know if you are aware of a historical acrobat, or maybe have researched a certain routines history. At that point you would roll your Acrobatics, but use Intelligence for example. Not common, but some skills are more prone to this type use than others. You still qualify for whatever proficiency level you have on that skill, but you would use a different base ability for it. Maybe doing a strong man act is Strength used with Acrobatics. But the one of the only ways to do this right now is to create a copy of Acrobatics set to Strength, and one to Intelligence. This is fine, but seems a bit unwieldy.

Now what I have done in the past is create a custom skill for each attribute. A Strength skill, a Dex skill, and Intelligence skill, etc.... now if I toggle the proficiency level, I can just roll this and apply it to whichever skill I want. This seems a better solution if your game mixes up these skill rolls a lot. You could even make four copies of each ability skill, and set each one to each of the various proficiencies. But that's twenty four lines of skills to accomplish this. Let alone if some need an encumbered flag or not.

So to my question/discussion. It doesn't seem there is a way to nest skills, to have multiple rolls collapsed under one header skill. You can collapse the abilities tab items, and also powers and spells and such, but none of those allow you to create an item that just rolls and ability roll and applies a different level of proficiency. Or is there? Am I missing an easier way to accomplish this?

Ideally I would love to have just six lines/items. One each for each Ability score. Next to that score I would want the encumbrance flag that Stealth has, that way it can be toggled on and off when appropriate. Then, ideally, 4 little D20's after that. Preferably labelled, but even if not, one roll for raw, one for half, one for proficient and one for double. RHPD

Is there an easy way to accomplish this I am missing? I think with these 6 lines we could streamline a lot of 5E skill and tool use.

[Moon Wizard]

I think in most games, people typically use mostly the standard set of skills. When a specific specialization is needed (usually one or two), a custom skill is created for that purpose.

Anything more complex would probably fall into the realm of building a custom code extension to modify the ruleset to fit those needs.

Regards,
JPG

[LordEntrails]

Nesting would require an extension. But, if you are trying to simplify skill use, why not just use ability checks?

[Zacchaeus]

Nesting would require an extension. But, if you are trying to simplify skill use, why not just use ability checks?

Because ability checks would give the wrong result.

I think what the OP wants is all the skills as they are now + one additional line for each ability and four roll-able boxes one for each proficiency state. This would cover every possible skill roll combination. So if the DM calls for a skill roll on some skill which is not listed or for a skill which is listed but he doesn't want to use the ability normally associated with that skill then he can call for, for example an intelligence skill roll + proficiency would roll a check with the intelligence modifier + proficiency.

Whether such a system would be workable (players easily clicking on the wrong button etc) and how much use you would get out of it would depend on how much the DM calls for skill checks based on a 'non-standard' ability score. As Moon Wizard says I think most people don't call for such checks and if a player has a skill that isn't listed (like Pick Locks) which is used frequently then that would get added as a new skill to their character sheet.

[i3ullseye]

Exactly right Zacchaeus. It would simplify all rolls into six skills with 4 (plus an encumbrance maybe) buttons on each. I think with proper labeling it would be easy to non click the wrong one. Especially if it were to be placed in a grid with labelled columns maybe. Like I stated, it isn't anything that can't be done now with creating multiple new skills to use, but it would be nice to have it available at a click.

But it sounds like it might not be possible without some coding.