Classes Missing Signature Skills


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So signature skills are sort of the PF2 version of class skills- these are the skills that you can be the best at because they are related to your class, but while PF1 characters had quite a few class skills (as few as 9, I think) PF2 characters have as few as 3. Now some reduction is inevitable since there are fewer skills now, I find there are still a few cases where a class was often tricked out to be exemplary in a skill is nonetheless lacking it as a signature skill in PF1.

A few I can think of, off the top of my head:
Fighter- Intimidation
(Fighters were among the best intimimancers in PF1 due to a surplus of feats, and honestly "really good with weapons" should be scary.)
Barbarian- Survival
(I know we're trying to move the class away from tribal stereotypes, but given the Conan inspiration and the self-sufficiency angle of the class, the class should be good at finding food in the woods)
Monk- Stealth
(the writeup for "playing a monk" even calls out how stealthy you can be, and the monk is never going to jingle when they walk, has exemplary body and breath control, and honestly the whole "can cover yourself in bells and walk across a room without making a noise" seems more like "fantasy martial arts training", than rogue stuff.)

Any other classes that people feel need either "another signature skill" or "relatively simple access to another signature skill"?

I'm not sure if "signature skills are incredibly precious" is a good idea since you only get 9 skill ups period, which is a max 3 legendary skills. So having more lets you at least pick between a few things to be really good at.

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I'm surprised that they didn't get those skills as signature skills, especially with the fighter getting some maneuvers that utilize intimidation.

I'm also bummed that the ranger doesn't get the medicine skill. That was one of my favorite skills to get on them, even if it's mostly for flavor.

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I definitely think that any class with less than 4 or 5 trained skills needs more. And need more signature skills.

Especially fighter/barb/monk. They basically have no choice but to train their signature skills, raise them to expert, then master then legendary, or they just flat lose out.

Deviating on even one means losing mastery/legend status for a skill. That's pretty unacceptable. It's a pretty flat 'character build trumps background or flavor' statement.

Even if you get more from intelligence at some point, you still have to get them to expert on schedule.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I would also like to see a way for classes to get more signature skills, as a skill or general feat. One thing I liked about pathfinder over 3E was that there was niche protection but you could work your way around the normal tropes if you were willing too 'pay' for it.

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I find it very strange that Wizards don’t have Lore as a signature skill. Aren’t they supposed to be good at knowing things?

Atlatl Jones wrote:

The entry on Lore (p. 141) says all Lore skills you have are Signature Skills.

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Honestly, I wish all classes had one “free” Signature Skill that you picked.

This allows some customization out of the gate without having to pay extra. True, it doesn’t matter to the character until 7th level. In my opinion, it would even be alright if you had to wait until 9th level to make that pick, slightly delaying your ability to Master that skill.

I like to make characters that have something unusual or quirky about them. In PF1, that would often mean taking a skill that isn’t typical for that class. I’ve an Ifrit Swashbuckler who is working to get Kn: Planes as a class skill as part of connecting to his heritage. It has helped me understand their motivations and interests.

In PF2 the classes already limit how many skills you can advance to the higher levels by limiting the number of Skill Increase you get. If a person wants to spend those on a skill that isn’t generally associated with their class, why not allow it? Their total number of Master and Legendary skills will not change, just what skills they can choose to get to those levels.

As I mentioned in another thread, I would also be in favor of Craft always being a Signature Skill.

The skills called out in the op are definitely appropriate signature skills for the listed classes.

I agree with others that there also needs to be a simple way to gain additional signature skills, such as a skill feat. Having a signature skills of your choice at level 1 is also a good idea.

I'd agree with all classes having a free signature skill, but honestly, I'd rather just do away with the concept entirely. If signature skills let you be better at those skills, but didn't cap progression, then maybe I could see keeping it around, but as it stands, I think it pidgeonholes classes into their stereotypical roles. The fact that you cannot gain other signature skills other than by multiclassing (or rare exceptions, like with the alchemist) heightens this, but even if you could get additional signature skills, I'm not entirely sure what is gained by stereotyping classes.

Agreed, strongly agreed. There's too few and not enough choice.

I think there should be about two more, perhaps a racial and a background, or since those might overlap and fail to actually get you anything then just two free choices. A racial and a background and 'if it already is a signature skill from you, pick a new skill of your choice'.

So with classes who start with 3 signature skills and 3+IntMod trained skills, I feel like this results in forcing these classes down critical paths. Since with a base Int Fighter/Monk/Barbarian you will start with 3 trained skills, you have 3 signature skills, you get 9 skill ups, and it takes 3 skill ups to make a skill legendary.

So putting aside what might be a problem if characters are untrained at all but 3 skills (the +level to everything seems to make it not hopeless), I think we're going to end up with a whole lot of fighters/monks/barbarians who are super terrific athletes and acrobats and not good at much else.

I would propose every class without a class-specific Int focus starts with at least 4 signature skills (so you cannot make all of them legendary, you must choose) and has at least 4 + IntMod trained skills at level 1 (so you must have training in some things which are not going to be made legendary, so you must prioritize.)

Putting skills in the "Signature" box in the side column sort of sign posts "these are the skills you should be good at" but the math here makes it so that these might be the only skills you are good at.

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