Skills

So, I love skills.  I'm a huge fan of them.  I think skill based games are the best.  7th Sea's knacks are awesome and DnD 3/3.5 had a great skill system.  It was one of my favorite parts of the system.  I am sad to see a declining skill system in 4e and to hear rumors of its further decline in 5th. 

I use a system where anyone can use any skill.  This was pioneered by a buddy of mine (Tom).  It basically worked like this:  if you try to pick a lock, your lock picking skill increases.  If you try to climb a rope, your climbing skill increases.  Now, there are a few skills, like magic, that should require training to get into, but for the most part, I feel that anyone should be free to 'try' just about anything.  This kind of moves into experience, which I'd prefer to talk about later. However, I will say this much.  I have the players track their progress as a percentage of reaching the next rank in the skill.  Each encounter in which the skill is used nets the hero a few more percentage points towards the next rank in the skill.  The next thing is that: everything is a skill.  When you swing a sword: you're using your sword skill.  When you ride a horse: you're using the ride skill.  It's all skills.