Over the course of the game your competence in various activities will be put to the test, and various related activities are bundled together under the auspices of various skills. The Sleight of Hand skill, for example, is checked whenever you attempt to pick locks, steal from other characters, or disarm traps. There are two primary modifiers for skill checks - a character’s Proficiency Bonus (if they’re indeed proficient in said skill) and their relevant Ability Score.

You assign your Ability Scores during character creation, but Proficiency Bonuses are a bit different. During character creation, you’ll get a list of skills you can choose from - the actual skills and the number you can select vary by your starting class, but generally you can choose between two and four skills from this class-curated list. You are proficient in these skills, as well as two bonus skills determined by your origin, and potentially more depending on what class you choose.

Below you’ll find lists of all the skills you gain access to based on your start class, and the number of these skills you can choose to be proficient in.

Barbarian Starting Skills List¶

A self-sufficient warrior more accustomed to the wilderness than the comforts of civilization, the Barbarian’s skill list is equal parts rugged individualist and wary survivalist. Their reputation for slipping into fearsome battle rages helps their interpersonal skills via a noted potential for proficiency in Intimidation.

Bard Starting Skills List¶

Having access to every skill in the game, the Bard is the most versatile class, skills-wise, although the Rogue can become proficient in more skills. This diversity allows the Bard to differentiate between skalds singing rousing warsongs, bon vivants making use of their impeccable social graces to mingle in high society, ne’er-do-wells with a flair for the dramatic, or itinerant actors, musicians and performers.

Cleric Starting Skills List¶

While Clerics may be representatives of their chosen deity, wielding powerful magics in their name, their divine patron has notably not decided to bestow them with a wide array of skills. Despite being a mix of warrior and caster, the Cleric’s skills decided fall into the latter category, with a dutiful focus on healing, history and dogma, with a few interpersonal skills to help the priest entice new followers and root out falsehood.

Druid Starting Skills List¶

Deeply attuned to and protective of nature, the Druid is an animist priest whose faith manifest in ways as diverse as nature itself, from feral enemies of civilization to tender-hearted naturalists. Their skills, unsurprisingly, are a mix of herbology, biology, botany and rugged survivalism with a bit of magical aptitude thrown in for good measure.

Fighter Starting Skills List¶

As diverse as the panolpy of war, the Fighter is the consummate soldier, rugged mercenary, aspiring warlord or questing knight, and their somewhat varied skill list reflects the numerous ways of harnessing one’s martial prowess. The Fighter has access to skills related to strength, endurance, agility, animal tending (gotta keep your mount fit!), and a life of combat has also given some Fighters the ability to sniff out threats and lies and bully others into submission. Even the historically-minded armchair warrior who has read the exploits of past warriors is covered!

Paladin Starting Skills List¶

A warrior with a distinct moral (often religious) bent, the Paladin has sworn an oath and gives them purpose and drive. Part priest and part crusading holy warrior, the Paladin’s humble list of skills includes a focus on physical fitness, religious studies, healing arts and the ability to convince and cow others.

Ranger Starting Skills List¶

The Ranger covers a wide array of character archetypes, but they are generally scouts, trackers and hunters (bounty, game or otherwise). Rugged survivalists all, Rangers have a favored enemy and a terrain they’re particularly adept at exploring… even if that terrain is an urban environment!

In addition to the skills listed above, the Ranger also has access to a variety of Favored Enemies which helps define their chosen demesne and the prey they hunt. More relevantly, your Favored Enemy also tends to impart a skill proficiency, as follows:

If you choose the “Urban Tracker” environment, you’ll also gain proficiency in Sleight of Hand.

Rogue Starting Skills List¶

The fixer, thief, assassin, burglar, spy and thug are all potential Rogues, and while the Rogue doesn’t have access to quite as many skills as the Bard, they exceed their showy counterpart in the depth of their talents, if not the variety. The Rogue can be proficient in more skills than any other class, and in addition they can demonstrate expertise in two skills they are proficient in, doubling the Proficiency Bonus they add to those skills.

Sorcerer Starting Skills List¶

An arcane spellcaster whose powers come from their bloodline, their grasp of magic is simultaneously more intuitive and natural than any Wizard’s, but also less disciplined and sophisticated. Their tendency to rely on their natural talents gives them access to skills that influence others, at the expense of some of the more scholarly skills a Wizard possesses.

Warlock Starting Skills List¶

If you’re not naturally gifted or you don’t have the intelligence, patience or resources for proper magical instruction, you can always make a deal with a devil (or other unspecified otherworldly being) to gain magical power! The Warlock is an odd sort of spellcaster whose powers come by binding themselves to a powerful, supernatural patron, which, if we’re being honest is what Clerics are doing, anyways. The variability in a Warlock’s patron, the pact they entered into in exchange for their powers and the Warlock’s reasons for seeking such powers leads to a rather eclectic list of skills to choose from.

Wizard Starting Skills List¶

Your traditional cone-hat-wearing, bearded, robed magic-user (note: hat, beard and robe are optional), the Wizard gains their powers from good, old-fashioned book-learning, studying runes, scrolls and rituals that cumulatively builds up a corpus of knowledge sufficient for them to bend reality to their will. Needless to say, the skills favored by Wizards tend to be the intellectual sort.

Starting Skills by Race¶

While your starting class determines most of the skills you’ll be proficient in, some races are naturally talented at certain activities. Below you’ll find a list of extra proficiencies you’ll gain based on what race your character is: