Weird thread warning: I'm going to work through the idea that I'm not sure I like the skills/skill list from D&D.

I remember the release of 3rd edition D&D. I was very young, but I am a generational gamer (my Dad taught me D&D), and I remember loving non-weapon proficiencies from 2nd edition and the skills/skill point system when 3rd edition came out.

I felt like it expanded the game.

However now, as 5th edition comes into its winter, I think for the most part skills and the skill system is an impediment.

I feel like there are many things that could have been given mechanical life in the rules that instead was sort of thrown into the skill system instead.

The result is things that could be RPed out, things that could be given narrative texture, are instead short-cutted with a skill roll.

Take survival for instance. Putting the 80% of the Exploration pillar into one skill roll short circuits what could be a dramatic narrative.

The obvious issue with the skill system is the effective weight of each skill is incredibly unbalanced. Animal Handling is very very narrow, Stealth is very very broad. Why would you choose one over the other?

Passive Perception to me was an epiphany. But they didn't go far enough. Perception should not be on the skill list: it should be a derived passive only attribute like AC or HP.

What most of us use perception for should be an investigation roll instead.

The "lore" skills, Arcana, Religion, Nature, etc. should be a whole subsystem of the game in and of itself. Collecting information about the world shouldn't be locked behind a die roll really. Information like this seems more appropriately part of the Treasure system, doesn't it?

Gaining information, like items, gives you access and advantages against the challenges of the game. Collecting lore should feel like collecting valuables.

Lore and information shouldn't use the same system as sneaking past a monster or navigating the wilderness.

So I'm not sure that, if I carry these thoughts through, whether or not I would advocate for doing away with the skill list or expanding it - granulating out survival into component parts (for instance) to encourage working through the process of navigating the wilderness.

I think most likely I would go to doing away with a set skill list, putting certain game functions like Perception and Stealth into derived attribute status instead of skills/proficiency, and letting things like animal handling be covered by a looser nonweapon proficiency system.

Certain class decisions (or feats, maybe backgrounds) might give you some help with Perception, stealth, etc. but it's not something you choose to be proficient in like a learned capability like horsemanship or medicine.