This is a sort of followup from yesterday’s post about Rogues & Skills. While I was thinking about skills and how they are handled a few other things crept into brain. Something that was bugging me just a little bit about 5E but I didn’t put my finger on it until now.

Besides HP, there are basically four ways that characters improve. Attacks, Skills, Saves, and Casting (for the magic types). In 5E, much of this handled via the Proficiency Bonus. It gets added for Attack Rolls, Skill Checks, Saves, and influences spell casting. A single number to rule them all. I’m all for simple but maybe this one is bit too simple. Why should all of these thing progress at the same rate? This is more apparent at low levels before all the cool class tricks kick in. And yes Rogues and Bards get Expertise. And yes attribute modifiers play a big role on the final number.

But think of it this way. The modifier used to determine the character’s skill and experience is the same for all characters. So basically a second level fighter and a second level wizard have about the same training with a dagger. That really doesn’t make much sense to me.

And as I mentioned before this goes up at the same rate. So why not make each of these four categories separate proficiency bonuses. So from the previous example, a second level fighter might have a +2 Fighting Proficiency Bonus, a second level rogue might have +1, and a second level wizard might have +0. The rogue might have a +2 Skill Bonus since skills are their thing (usually). And so on.

Not trying to tear anyone or anything down. Just a random thought.

Enjoy.