At 1st level, a character using the Skill Points variant gains their initial skill proficiencies as described in the Core Rulebook. However, at every level beyond 1st, instead of gaining skill increases, the character gains a number of Skill Points, as indicated on Table 4–19: Skill Points by Level. The character can spend these Skill Points to increase their proficiency rank in various skills, as shown on Table 4–20: Cost to Increase Rank. A character must meet the minimum level indicated on the table to increase their rank, primarily to avoid having a player becoming unrealistically good at one skill early in their adventuring career while neglecting everything else. Characters can save up Skill Points between levels for a more expensive increase later on.

Table 4-19: Skill Points by Level

Level	Skill Points Gained
1	Initial proficiencies
2–5	1
6–13	2
14–20	4

Table 4-20: Cost to Increase Rank

Rank	Minimum Level	Skill Point Cost
Untrained to trained	1	1
Trained to expert	3	2
Expert to master	7	4
Master to legendary	15	8

Players using Skill Points have more flexibility to build characters with a broader range of skills in which they’re trained or better than normal, and this variant encourages that flexibility by increasing the cost of specializing. For instance, a 19th-level fighter could use Skill Points to be a master in seven different skills, or to be legendary in three skills. While this makes the variance in skills slightly less predictable, it shouldn’t have a big enough effect on a group’s capabilities that you need to make any significant adjustments when you run the game.