Blatantly "newbie" question: Skill points

Tim Mercado

Mongoose
Ehh...hate to ask this....but need to.

Each class has a listing of "skill points at first level", with obvious varying formulas....such as:

(barbarian)
Skill points at first level: (4+Int modifier)x4

However, the first page of the "Skills" section, Conan AE edition, page 74, 3rd paragraph, states a crazy amount of skill points. 16 class skill points and 12 bonus skill points, to be exact. How did these numbers come into being?? Even with a rediculously high Intelligence score, these numbers seem rather large. Consider the aforementioned (barbarian) skill point formula for a 1st level Barbarian with an Intelligence of 12 (+1). The numbers, according to the above formula, would be 20, with up to 4 points available to any skill on a one-for-one basis from (Int modifer(+1))x4=4. If a player wanted to go that route, that would leave 16 class skill points available.

Am I doing this correctly, or is there something I am missing that the description in the Conan AE is illustrating? Just a question of clarification, really; I'm still fairly new to D20-style rules systems and am not in an environment that allows for actual game-time learning. Thanks everyone.

Happy gaming!!!
 
Each class has a listing of "skill points at first level", with obvious varying formulas....such as:

(barbarian)
Skill points at first level: (4+Int modifier)x4

The Conan rules made the skill point system a little more complicated than D20 to allow for more "flexibility" on how you spend them. Here is the breakdown from what I read:

1st Level (Barbarian):
Class: 4 x 4 = 16 Skill Points (Class Skills = 1:1 Ratio / 2:1 cross class)
Intelligence: Int bonus x 4 = ?? Skill Points (But can be used on ANY skills)
Racial Background Skills: Under each race there are usually 3 (sometimes 4) background skills that each get 2 points to start with automaticly.

So for this example if you had a Barbarian with a 14 intelligence and he was a Cimmerian, the total number of skill points are:

Class: 16
Intelligence: 8
Racial: Climb-2, Move Silently-2, Survival-2

For a grand total of: 30 skill points[/quote]
 
Sounds about right to me. Just don't forget about maximum rank, which can be circumvented somewhat by racial characteristiscs, synergy and the like.
 
Hmm, looks good to me too. Thanks everybody, that example in the book was (and is still) confusing. But I like the way you broke it down. Cheers!
 
I particularly like the idea of being able to spend bonus skill points anywhere. I think it can make for very interesting characters.
 
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