Knowledge & "Color" Skills
Every PC can pick to three knowledge or "color" skills to gain Proficiency in. You can also make up a "color" skill--Perform, Craft or the like. These have to be non-combat related.
To be more precise, if there is a knowledge skill that is not "professional-grade" that you want to add as representative of your character's background, use this for that. "Knowledge: Local--City of Greyhawk" is a good color skill even if you're not trained in History.
Artisan Toolkits and trained/proficient Skills are considered "professional-grade" proficiencies. You can't ask for either with this rule. What you're looking for here are smaller things. "Perform: Banjo" is a good color skill; "Perform" is not.
If you've ever played Shadowrun, think of the way they handle knowledge skills there as examples of color knowledge skills.
Custom Feats
Because the current feat selection is pretty meager, if you have a proposal for a new feat, send me a PM. You still have to be eligible for one or more through your build.
Variant: Skills with Different Abilities
I am using the Variant rule about "skills with Different Abilities" on page 175 of the Player's Handbook.
Please make the attribute check I ask for even if you don't think it makes sense, please.
And remember the Golden Roll Rule: don't ask for or suggest rolls outside of combat. I'll tell you when you need to roll in non-combat situation.
Variant: Skills with Different Abilities:
Normally, your proficiency in a skill applies only to a specific kind o f ability check. Proficiency in Athletics, for example, usually applies to Strength checks. In some situations, though, your proficiency might reasonably apply to a different kind o f check. In such cases, the DM might ask for a check using an unusual combination o f ability and skill, or you might ask your DM if you can apply a proficiency to a different check. For example, if you have to swim from an offshore island to the mainland, your DM might call for a Constitution check to see if you have the stamina to make it that far. In this case, your DM might allow you to apply your proficiency in Athletics and ask for a Constitution (Athletics) check.
So if you’re proficient in Athletics, you apply your proficiency bonus to the Constitution check just as you would normally do for a Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, when your half-orc barbarian uses a display o f raw strength to intimidate an enemy, your DM might ask for a Strength (Intimidation) check, even though Intimidation is normally associated with Charisma.
