So I'm making a design document (just for fun, I have no delusions that it will ever get made) for an MMO that I might eventually convert to a custom pencil & paper game or a modification of D&D. For reference, the game play is similar to Oblivion. I'm stuck deciding what primary skills to use! You start with 300 points. Each Primary skill you can put in 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100, which signifies the maximum level you can get that skill to. In an effort to balance Magic and melee, becoming magic attuned will cost 100 points. Magic: Magic Attunement Twelve different schools of magic! ??? Physical: 1H weapons 2H Weapons Shields Dual-Wield Archery ??? It seems melee is lacking. Should I make each weapon a primary skill? (Swords, axes, etc) Should I make each type of weapon a primary skill? (Slashing, Piercing, etc) The idea is to be as open ended as possible. Unlike Oblivion, a lot of the skills such as acrobatics, parry or swimming will be secondary only, especially if anyone can do them. Also, you don't need 1H sword skill to equip and use a sword (the skill just increases damage) but yet the benefits of picking up a school of magic are a plethora of useful spells, I'm kind of struggling with how to balance this and/or make physical skills interesting. I think your secondary skills will loosely be based on your primary skills. Again, the goal is to be as open ended as possible and support full casters, full melee or hybrids as much as possible. Things you might need to know: -Anyone can wear any armor but their movement speed suffers (Based on strength), how much stamina is drained while using it (Based on Constitution) and casting speed is greatly increased. (Based on how much it encumbers somatic components) - A player can cast a spell by channeling it through any weapon, not just a staff (Might be a secondary skill I don't know) Any help? =(