Customizable Skills
According to the core rules of 5e, you choose several Skills at character creation to which you apply your proficiency modifier, which gradually increases as you gain levels. You also gain proficiency in several Skills, tools, or languages as a result of your chosen background. This alternative system provides additional options by allowing you to break down your proficiency into individual Skill Points, which can be distributed however you like among the abilities available to your class and background.
Whenever you gain a class level, you gain a number of Skill Points determined by the Skill Points by Class table, which you can spend to increase your proficiency in any Skills, Tools, or Languages available to your class and background. You may increase your modifier for any available Skill or tool by assigning points directly to it, or buy a language by spending 2 points on it.
Option: Distributed Skill Points
The Distributed Skill Points table contains the same number of points per class as the Skill Points by Class table, but spread out over every level between 1 and 17. Using this table will create a more gradual, granular, and natural character development experience.
Explanation
Several classes provide two skill proficiencies, for which a starting character has a +2 multiplier. Furthermore, each official background provides four proficiencies divided among Skills, tools, and languages. Adding these all together and multiplying them by their value gives 12 "points" worth of proficiency.
Every four levels (5, 9, 13, and 17), your proficiency modifier increases by 1, providing an additional 6 points for the existing proficiencies. The Bard, Druid, Monk, Ranger, and Rogue classes get extra starting proficiencies, and thus more points, both at the start and when their bonus increases. Additionally, the Bard and Rogue have class features which allow them to add double their modifier to Skills of their choice. These have also been taken into account. When playing a Bard or Rogue, you can ignore the "Expertise" features and refer to the chart, spending the points where you like. For Bards of the College of Lore, use the numbers in parentheses.
Because of the sheer number of items listed as armor or weapons, and the fact that most classes are proficient with all of a broad type (light/medium/heavy armor, or simple/martial weapons), these proficiencies are easier to handle in their current state, and you still need to track your proficiency modifier for this reason.
Skill Points by Class
| Level | Bard(Lore) | Druid, Monk, Ranger | Rogue | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 (20) | 14 | 20 | 12 |
| 3 | 0 (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 12 (15) | 7 | 11 | 6 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 9 | 12 (15) | 7 | 13 | 6 |
| 10 | 8 (8) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 14 (17) | 7 | 13 | 6 |
| 17 | 14 (17) | 7 | 13 | 6 |
Distributed Skill Points
| Level | Bard(Lore) | Druid, Monk, Ranger | Rogue | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 12 |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 4 (5) | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 (5) | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 (5) | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 (5) | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 (5) | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 8 | 4 (5) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | 4 (5) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 10 | 4 (5) | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 11 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 12 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 13 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 14 | 4 (6) | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 15 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 16 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 17 | 4 (6) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Option: Saving Throw Proficiencies
In addition to Skills and tools, each class provides two Saving Throw proficiencies. You can customize these as well: give your character four additional Skill Points at level 1, and 2 additional points at each of the milestone levels (5, 9, 13, and 17). You can spend any of your Skill Points to improve your Saving Throws.