<b>Animal Empathy</b>: I've heard some discussion on ranks in this skill affecting summons. Summons seem uber enough as it is, perhaps instead ranks in this skills have a power boosting effect on charmed animals. I have no idea if this can even be scripted, but maybe a special hide item could be equipped to a newly charmed animal and then unequipped after the charm wears off.
<b>Appraise</b>: This has the potential to be an interesting skill on many levels, here are some ideas.
Instead of requiring an opposed appraisal check have it work more like the Lore skill and affect prices (for buying/selling/ID'ng goods) in a more uniform and reliable way. There should be a certain cap on the prices in both directions certainly. Additionally, this implementation won't be that attractive until the economy gets balanced out.
Alternately, perhaps only characters with ranks in appraise can sell items at their actual prices (as opposed to a bonus). Other characters can sell them, but at significantly reduced costs (have a certain gp minimum per "item level"). This can be implemented similar to the Lore skill, with higher ranks allowing higher priced items to be sold at their actual value. Seeking out characters with high appraisal (or investing in it yourself) to sell those sarcophagi, golden robes, and gems at their actual prices will add another dimension of character interaction!
If this can be scripted...I have no idea...but have an appraise check when examining items to approximate the sell value of the item. I know item properties can be edited in-game, but I'm not sure about descriptions. If it is possible, perhaps an approximation of the price could be added at the bottom of the description.
<b>Concentration</b>: No real comment here.
<b>Craft Trap</b>: I've only seen a few players use this skill. My first suggestion is to include more +skill items for this skill. I don't know what's in the game at this point, but definitely items that add to Disable Trap and Set Trap should add to Craft Trap as well (not necessarily rings). Craft Trap rings would be nice and level 16 Disable Trap/Craft Trap rings, too, or even Craft Trap/Set Trap or even level 20 rings (if they exist) that add to three skills: Craft/Disable/Set Traps +5.
Another suggestion that I'm not even sure is possible is to allow all trap crafting items to stack, not just the usable items (flasks, etc.). I collect all the craft trap items in the case that a rogue I'm partying with might need them, but collecting the knuckes/crystals/ice I pass up because they take up so much space. If a use similar to how the other items are used can be scripted for these items that would be interesting, too!
<b>Disable Trap</b>: Currently there's no real reason to fear traps on chests. Just get your tank to max their hp and trigger it. This really takes the umph out of traps and leaves this skill out of the loop for serious builds. Traps should have more serious consequences for being triggered off a chest...see my comments on Open Locks for more on this.
Currently traps don't appear anywhere else (unless another player sets them). One of the things I enjoyed about the single player campaigns was having to watch out for traps on the floor and doors. The current spawn system seem fairly robust and I believe making traps randomly spawn in a similar way wouldn't be too difficult. Certain areas wouldn't make much sense for this, but dungeons and definiltey the Bandit HQ would make for interesting areas to look out for traps on doors and on the floors.
<b>Discipline</b>: No comments.
<b>Heal</b>: No comments.
<b>Hide</b>: No comments.
<b>Listen</b>: No comments.
<b>Lore</b>: No comments.
<b>Move Silently</b>: No comments.
<b>Open Locks</b>: I feel as if this needs to be implemented more into the game. I've run across only one door that needs a rogue/pixie (or a certain cheesy spell...) to unlock it to get to the boss battle for the area. This is a great idea and should be implemented more into the module...it will create more player interaction I think.
Currently there's no real reason to worry about locked chests. And locked doors are only a problem if you can't bash them (again, only one I know of). Two suggestions I have might change how players interact with chests: 1) Triggering a trap off a chest doesn't destroy it. Everytime a chest is opened the trap is triggered. Perhaps even everytime a chest is closed, too. Everytime the chest is bashed the trap is triggered. Add more to the hit points and damage resistance of chests, too...so while you can hack away at them you might trigger the trap two times or more. Using spells and missile fire should be dangerous, too. Bashing a chest with arrows seems silly...make chests immune to any kind of missile fire. Give high level chests spell resistance so casters will have to throw lots of firepower at chests to get at their contents. And, for Satan's Sake, change the cheesy "Find Traps" spell or disable it!
2) Breaking open a chest destroys part of it's contents. Script a saving throw for all the items in the chest. Failure destroys it. Gold is reduced by a percentage depending on the roll. I know currently bashing chests is bugged, so sometimes you don't get anything at all...you should get <i>something</i>, but having a party member with rogue skills should increase the rewards. Regarding the spell, "Knock". In my opinion, this is another spell that takes the thunder away from the rogue and others with open lock skills. This spell should either be disabled or changed. I don't allow this spell in my PnP games, but here's how I would implement it: script a caster level check versus the DC of the lock and increase the DC by a significant amount, enough to make reliance on rogues who can "take 20" with their open lock skills something desirable.
<b>Parry</b>: I heard that this skill was bugged in-engine, but I have no idea becaues I have never used it. It has the potential to make combat more interesting and tactical though. One implementation that I've seen is to allow ranks in Parry to affect AC the way Tumble does, but only with certain weapons. Twohanders get +1 AC for every 5 ranks, Dual-wielders get +1 AC for every 10 ranks, for example.
<b>Perform</b>: No comments.
<b>Persuade</b>: I've read that lots of work is being done on implementing this into the module. In the words of Venom Blackheart, "How exciting!"
<b>Pick Pocket</b>: I like how this has been changed in NS4, no real comments.
<b>Search</b>: More "secret stuff" should be implemented. In SoU and HotU they added secret doors which could be found. This was a really great addition to the game and made Search much more useful than for just avoiding traps. Obviously secret doors in a PW are kind of silly, but perhaps adding randomly spawning "hidden stashes" that can only be found through Search checks. These would basically be chests, but could also be triggers for certain events (such as spawning a boss or a special quest item).
<b>Set Trap</b>: See my comments under Craft/Disable Trap above.
<b>Spellcraft</b>: No comments.
<b>Spot</b>: No comments.
<b>Taunt</b>: It's nice to see this skill being used more with the power level not being as uber anymore.
<b>Tumble</b>: No comments...
<b>Use Magic Device</b>: I'm not sure what the ins and outs of the changes are with UMD, but this remains a powerful skill.
Closing: I'd like to hear from more people and their thoughts on my suggestions or their own suggestions on how skills should be changed.
