Admittedly, skill are dependant on weapons and items, but I think there's a few givens that we can get down:

Weapons:

Handguns (dual wield speciality)
Rifles

• Sniper Rifle
• Shotgun
• Full auto (M60)

Bow - regular compound and crossbow
Thrown


Spy-type:

Stealth
Camouflage
Disguise
Perception (noting something out of the ordinary)
Martial Arts (specialties in unarmed or armed and possibly striking and grappling arts)
Mental Resistance (ability to resist interrogation and possibly psionics)
Persuasion
Intimidation
Lockpick - mechanical and electronic
Computer Skills

• Hacking - yeah, I know it's not the right word

Dodge
Climbing



More later


edit: typo

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I don't want to be promoting spousal abuse.

I was going to say something about the spelling mishap on Machaira's part, but I didn't want to look like an anal-retentive. Thanks for shifting the blame away from me, Struan!

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On the bow front, I would suggest:

Crossbow - pistol, light, heavy, repeating (all are similar, but require slightly different skills)

Bow: Shortbow, Longbow, Compound (again, all slightly different, but similar)

Firing for standard bows and crossbows is completely unrelated, so shouldnt really be linked (however, the firing for crossbow and pistols is similar, so possibly a 'slight' link here, although very small)

Mental power might be grouped as willpower... although perhaps a slight link from interogation (learning how to interogate means you learn how to resist... although still needs willpower to do so) and possibly one that cant be advanced normally, its something that can only really be learned through special techniques or actual practice.

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for psi, see other thread. What's the difference between disguise and camoflague?

Combat:
Melee Weapons (knives/swords) (though maybe this is covered by "marital" arts (heh))
Heavy Weapons (missile launchers)
Demolitions (grenades (also affected by throwing), C4, etc.)
Machine Guns (M249 SAW (aka the FN Minimi) for example)
Blocking

Other:
Gambling: It's Nevada, we've got Las Vegas, right? I think some minor minigames are in order.
Repair: fix borked items, scavenge from old items in the ruined cities
Medical: healing-related skills, also may give you a slight combat bonus due to anatomical knowledge of where to strike/shoot

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Melee + Throwing = knives and sword throwing! (linked skills?)
For instance you could fight and as a finishing move throw your sword... (it's been a dream of mine to put this into my game)
<<<<<
oh yah and if you need the largest freaking weapon class ever, this guy right here has it (though it needs to be extended a little bit, and major reworkings.. )
<<<<<

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Disguise is becoming someone you're not, changing your appearance (think Tom Cruise at the beginning of Mission Impossible). Camoflague is blending into your environment.

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I think that improvised weaponry would make an effective skill; as it increases, you are able to use more and more unorthodox items: Chainsaws, saw blades, crowbars, glass shards, possibly even the corpses of fallen enemies (but who says they have to be dead?).

A stealth kill ability would also be kinda nice.

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The non-psionic section of the Character Skills has been update in the wiki. Please check it out and provide feedback.

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Heh. Marital abuse. That's a funny typo

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maybe merge camouflage and disguise for simplicity reasons?

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I'm not that concerned about simplicity.

what I mean, people might not think one by itself is that important so they won't spend points into it, but they'll do both if they're combined.
Remember Deus Ex?
did you EVER put points into the swimming skill? Did ANYONE ever put points into the swimming skill?
I only remember 3 parts in the whole game where it was useful, 1 of which had alternate non-water-based routes, the other 2 of which were bonus areas which could be done using rebreathers anyway.

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The skill list is going to have to be pretty malleable until we get the complete plot and level design figured out. If we don't have a part of the game where the player could use either one there's no reason to have them in the game in the first place.

looking at this thread
and the following off of the wiki:
* Pistol
* Shotgun
* Sniper
* Rifle - single shot
* Automatic
* Thrown - grenades
* Thrown - knives
* Heavy - ex. anti-armor
* Martial Arts
* Bow (compound and crossbow - separate skills)
* Dodge
* Improvised Weapons - the ability to use miscellaneous items in combat - pipes, chains, chairs, etc.

[edit]
Non-combat Skills

Non-combat skills include:

* Tracking
* Lockpicking - physical and electronic (separate skills)
* Observation - the ability to notice anything out of the ordinary
* Demolitions - includes placement/arming and disarming
* Interrogation
* Diplomacy
* Haggle - allows the player to get a better price when buying items
* Stealth
* Camouflage
* Disguise
* Mental Resistance (ability to resist interrogation and possibly psionics)
* Computer Hacking
* Climbing
* Repair
* First Aid
[/quote]
I've renamed repair to Electronics to include hacking electrical locks like Deus Ex, if that's fine with the rest of you. I also changed the name of "first aid" to Medical because that's more general.
as it stands, I have

I left out a couple

because
Throwing - we already have martial arts for throwing knives, grenades have demolitions.
Persuasion/etc - I don't like dialogue "skills". if there's overwhelming opposition I can add them, but I really hate that idea.
Tracking - what is this, how is it useful?
Melee weapons - we have martial arts, which covers this.

I think in some ways our game design is overly complex because of so many people trying to add stuff, we're suffering from feeping creaturism.

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In my mind Martial Arts doesn't always include Thrown and Melee Weapons. It can, but a character can be skilled in one of them without knowing Martial Arts. Martials Arts would be hand-to-hand combat and weapons specializations, making them more effective at combat. A child can throw stones but that doesn't make him a martial artist.

Why separate variables for skills with only one value? I was thinking Skill would be a class with something like:


There's a lot of info for a skill that has to be kept. The above are not a finalized version and are from the base RPG that I was working on, not PC, although there will probably be some similarities.

sounds good to me. can you be on IRC soon-ish?

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Not until later on tonight. It's only 2 p.m. here. I probably won't be on until around 9 p.m.