D&D 3E/3.5 Skill changes in 3.5

[Conaill]

(4) Alchemy is now part of the Craft skill, i.e. Craft (alchemy).

I'm still wondering how they're going to deal with that in practice. Especially with regards to all those classes that used to get all Craft skills as class skill, but not Alchemy. Are we going to be seeing "Craft (all skills except Alchemy) (Int)" in those class descriptions? Doesn't seem like a great simplification over just saying "Alchemy uses Craft mechanics".

 

[Ravellion]

Track will be now be purely done on Search IIRC.

 

[Christian]

(2) Animal Empathy is gone. Rangers get the class ability Wild Empathy instead.

What about barbarians and druids? Do they lose access to this skill/ability altogether?

Druids will have it. Barbarians can't lose it because they don't have it-Animal Empathy is exclusive to Druids and Rangers.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Will Open Lock remain or will it be combined with disable device, like in d20M?

Appraise will probably go, too, and become part of the knowledge skills.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

(5) Pick pocket is Sleight of Hand (and lets you do more tricks than just picking pockets).

Check your PHB: pick pocket already "lets you do more tricks than just picking pockets." They just don't really elaborate on these uses much in 3.0.

This was the big beef I had with the addition of the Sleight of Hand and Holdout skills in Deadlands d20. Pick Pockets already did those things.

 

[heirodule]

Knowledge (Dunegoneering)

The Dragon article on the ranger said they would get

Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Knowledge (geography)

as class skills. I don't recall Dungeoneering being described as a specific knowledge before.

Any ideas on what it would cover (or why Rangers would get it? Or maybe all the adventuring classes get it)

 

[Steverooo]

Track will be now be purely done on Search IIRC.

As far as I know, Tracking will be based on Survival (old WL skill), but Search gives a Synergy Bonus (+2 for 5+ Ranks).

 

[theoremtank]

In light of the fact that some skills have been further generalized to encompass more actions, such as pickpocket becoming sleight of hand , I feel it would make sense to combine balance and tumbling into one skill. Or are these two skills too distinct to be condensed?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

In light of the fact that some skills have been further generalized to encompass more actions, such as pickpocket becoming sleight of hand , I feel it would make sense to combine balance and tumbling into one skill. Or are these two skills too distinct to be condensed?

Yea, Balance could really be integrated into Tumble.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Will innuendo and read lips end up somewhere else? d20m puts innuendo in with bluff, and read lips just vanishes. Since a lot of the other skill changes seem to be close to those in d20m...