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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Gamemastery Guide / Chapter 4: Variant Rules / Feats and Features

Simplified Skill Feats

Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 194
The standard system gives feats specifically to spend on skills to let PCs gain fun, skill-based options without feeling like they had to sacrifice a feat that could have improved their class’s core specialties. In some games, especially those focused on combat with little exploration, downtime, or social interaction, the PCs might have more skill feats than they need. The simplified skill feats variant allows you to reduce this aspect of decision-making.

Building a Simplified Skill Feat Character

Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 194
Simplified skill feat characters don’t receive any skill feats, even from their backgrounds. They still gain general feats and can use those to select skill feats if they want a crucial ability. You may want to allow rogues to gain skill feats, but at the normal advancement most characters have, instead of their usual double advancement.

Playing with a Simplified Skill Feat Character

Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 194
While you probably won’t need to adjust combat challenges at all for simplified skill feat characters, skill-based challenges—especially social challenges—will be tougher, especially at higher levels where it’s expected characters will have more efficient skill-based abilities due to skill feats. If you prefer more baseline difficulty, you could adjust the expectations down slightly.