SpiralWorlds Player’s Manual · Character Creation

Skills & Proficiencies

5.5e proficiencies · Pathfinder 1e skill ranks · D&D 3.5e skill points

Skills describe trained competence in tasks such as climbing, hiding, recalling lore, noticing danger, negotiating or practising a trade. The three supported rules systems handle that training differently. Choose the campaign edition first and use only its procedure.

Player characters using different skills and proficiencies during an adventure — Your class, background and experience determine what your character is trained to do; the rules system determines how that training is recorded.

Critical edition rule: D&D 5.5e / 2024 does not use skill ranks, class-skill ranks or the Pathfinder +3 class-skill bonus. Those mechanics belong only in the PF1e or 3.5e tabs where stated.

What a skill represents

Training is not the same as permission

AbilityThe underlying physical, mental or social aptitude used for a check.

SkillA category of trained activity such as Stealth, Survival, Perception or Diplomacy.

TrainingProficiency, ranks or skill points depending on the edition. Training improves a check; it does not automatically decide whether an attempt is possible.

Do not treat a skill list as the character’s whole education. A soldier can know local law, a craftswoman can understand trade, and a courtier can know horses even when those details are not represented by a dedicated mechanical skill. Use the rules for checks and the character record for broader knowledge.

Rules procedure

Record skills using your edition

5.5e / 2024Pathfinder 1eD&D 3.5e

D&D 5.5e / 2024

There are no skill ranks. At character creation, your background supplies proficiency in two specified skills and one tool, while your class supplies its own proficiencies and any choices listed in the class entry.

1. Record the Proficiency Bonus. A level-1 character normally has a +2 Proficiency Bonus. This bonus rises with total character level.

2. Mark your skill proficiencies. Record the skills granted by your background and the skills chosen or granted by your class. If another feature grants a proficiency, record that too.

3. Calculate a proficient skill. When a skill is relevant to an ability check and you are proficient in it, add your Proficiency Bonus to the ability modifier. If you are not proficient, you normally make the ability check without adding the Proficiency Bonus.

Example: a level-1 character with Dexterity 16 has a +3 Dexterity modifier. If proficient in Stealth, the ordinary Stealth modifier is +5: +3 Dexterity +2 Proficiency Bonus. There is no rank to buy and no extra +3 class-skill bonus.

4. Record Expertise only if a feature grants it. Expertise normally doubles the Proficiency Bonus for the relevant ability check. The Proficiency Bonus itself cannot normally be added to the same roll more than once.

5. Keep tools separate. Tool proficiency is not a skill rank. Your 2024 background normally grants one tool proficiency; class or other features may grant more.

6. Do not assume one fixed ability for every use. Skills are associated with common abilities, but the Games Master can call for a different ability when the situation warrants it—for example, a display of raw physical threat might use Strength with Intimidation proficiency rather than Charisma.

SpiralWorlds note: a skill proficiency does not create a culture or profession. Record the character’s actual training source as well: guild apprenticeship, military service, court education, university study, household instruction, temple schooling, wilderness upbringing or another plausible route.

Pathfinder 1e

PF1e uses skill ranks. Your class determines a base number of ranks gained each level, then your Intelligence modifier and other rules can alter that total.

1. Find the class’s Skill Ranks per Level. Use the PF1e class entry. Add the character’s Intelligence modifier. A character receives at least 1 skill rank per level even with a low Intelligence modifier.

2. Apply other legitimate rank sources. Some race traits, favored-class choices or class features grant additional ranks. Use only those actually present in the chosen PF1e build.

3. Spend ranks. At 1st level, a character can normally place no more than 1 rank in any one skill. In general, maximum ranks in a skill equal total character level.

4. Identify class skills. Each PF1e class has a class-skill list. If you have at least 1 rank in a class skill, you gain the PF1e +3 class-skill bonus on checks with it.

5. Calculate the check. A typical trained skill check uses d20 + ranks + relevant ability modifier + class-skill bonus if applicable + other modifiers.

Favored class: PF1e normally lets a character choose one favored class. Each time a level is gained in that class, the character can normally take either +1 hit point or +1 skill rank, subject to any approved favored-class options.

The old table on this page listed classes such as Alchemist, Cavalier, Gunslinger, Inquisitor, Magus, Ninja, Oracle and Summoner. Those values are no longer presented as universal character-creation rules here. Use the actual PF1e class entry for the class being played.

D&D 3.5e

D&D 3.5e uses skill points and ranks, but its system is not the same as Pathfinder 1e.

1. Calculate 1st-level skill points. Find the class’s skill-point base, add the Intelligence modifier, then multiply the result by 4. For example, a 3.5e Fighter uses (2 + Intelligence modifier) × 4 at 1st level, while a Rogue uses (8 + Intelligence modifier) × 4.

2. Apply legitimate racial or other bonuses. In the 3.5e SRD, a Human gains 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each later level. Apply such benefits only when they belong to the chosen 3.5e race and build.

3. Spend class-skill points. One skill point buys 1 rank in a class skill.

4. Spend cross-class skill points. One skill point buys only ½ rank in a cross-class skill.

5. Observe rank limits. At 1st level, the ordinary maximum is 4 ranks in a class skill and 2 ranks in a cross-class skill. More generally, class-skill maximum ranks equal character level + 3; cross-class maximum ranks are half that amount.

6. Calculate the check. A typical skill check is d20 + skill ranks + relevant ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers.

Do not import the Pathfinder rule: 3.5e does not give the PF1e +3 bonus merely because a ranked skill is a class skill. The advantage is cheaper ranks and a higher maximum.

5.5e quick reference

The 2024 skill list

These are the eighteen standard 2024 skills. The ability shown is the one most commonly associated with the skill; the Games Master can use another ability when the situation justifies it.

Strength

Athletics

Dexterity

Acrobatics · Sleight of Hand · Stealth

Intelligence

Arcana · History · Investigation · Nature · Religion

Wisdom

Animal Handling · Insight · Medicine · Perception · Survival

Charisma

Deception · Intimidation · Performance · Persuasion

Constitution

No standard skill is normally tied to Constitution, though the Games Master can call for Constitution ability checks when endurance is the issue.

Open Skills Index Skills Summary Skill Descriptions

Training in the world

Explain where the skill came from

ProfessionA craft, trade, office, military role or scholarly discipline can explain several proficiencies without becoming a second class.

InstitutionGuilds, universities, civic schools, courts, military companies, private tutors and master-apprentice relationships can all provide training.

HomelandTerrain and local life matter. A river pilot, mountain hunter, urban messenger and court secretary may value very different skills.

ExperienceAdventuring can teach abilities that the character’s original profession never did. Mechanical advancement need not reproduce childhood training forever.

Languages remain separate. A creature type does not automatically create a spoken language in SpiralWorlds. Use the character’s actual upbringing and the edition’s language allowance. The Languages / Speak Language reference handles languages and communication.

For a first character

Choose skills that will actually get used

A novice does not need to predict every challenge in the campaign. Start by covering the character’s expected role and one or two personal interests.

Adventuring basicsPerception, Stealth, Athletics, Survival and social skills often matter because they answer common exploration and interaction problems.

Class roleChoose proficiencies that support what the class is expected to attempt. A Rogue usually values different skills from a heavily armoured Fighter or scholarly Wizard.

Character identityAt least one skill can show who the character was before adventuring: medicine, performance, craft knowledge, animal handling, scholarship or negotiation.

Party coverageYou do not have to be good at everything. A party is stronger when characters cover different tasks rather than duplicating every proficiency.

Before moving on

Skills checklist

The campaign edition is fixed.
5.5e characters have not been given skill ranks.
5.5e background and class skill proficiencies are recorded.
The correct Proficiency Bonus is recorded for 5.5e.
PF1e skill ranks use the chosen class and Intelligence modifier.
PF1e +3 class-skill bonuses are applied only to class skills with at least 1 rank.
3.5e 1st-level skill points are multiplied by 4.
3.5e class and cross-class costs and rank limits are kept separate.
Pathfinder and 3.5e skill rules have not been mixed.
The training source makes sense for the character’s history.
Languages are recorded separately.

Back to Character Creation Related: Feats Related: Choose Your Class

Legacy note

What this rebuild replaces

Open legacy explanation

The old page was a Pathfinder-only instruction page presented inside a shared character-creation sequence. It told every reader to calculate class-skill ranks, granted a +3 class-skill bonus and listed PF1e classes and rank totals. Those rules now appear only in the PF1e tab. The 5.5e and 3.5e procedures are kept mechanically separate.

The original /the-basics-7/5-allocate-skill-ranks/ URL is retained for link continuity even though the visible page identity is now Skills & Proficiencies.

Sources and licensing

Rules sources

SRD 5.2.1 attribution: This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

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