When I first read the 4th Edition rules, I was struck by the simplification of the skill system. It had become more streamlined and less of a hassle, but it also offered less diversity and forced us to make some uncomfortable concessions. Jump, Swim, and Climb were combined to form Athletics -- efficient, but unrealistic. Despite what Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory may tell you, climbing isn't "a bit like vertical swimming."

Mike Mearls, RPG Group Manager for the D&D Research and Development team, recently suggested a move to an even simpler system -- cut out the middleman. Skills ultimately rely on ability scores, so Mearls suggests a training rank associated with each ability score. The more trained you are in Strength, the better you are at Str-related activities.

In principle, I'm all for simplification. But if we take a closer look at this system, we see that Dexterity-related activities including hiding, balancing, and lock picking. To group these diverse skills together is even more absurd than Jump, Swim and Climb coming together under the banner of Athletics.

GURPS offers an robust and exhaustive skill system, but it suffers from overcomplexity. While I'm willing to make the concessions necessary to use any of these systems, the fact that I'm not completely happy with any of them suggests that there's a better way to handle skills -- a way we have yet to discover.