Bogdanov89 wrote...
Sometimes, when i am making my character, i got a high Skill (like Heal) that is my class skill - but my attribute modifier for that skill is rather bad (negative, like a Fighter with -2 wisdom modifier).
In other cases, i got a Skill which is NOT my class skill (2 points for 1 improvement, like Persuade for Sorcerer) - but my attribute modifier for that skill is quite high (charisma on sorcerer, which is good for persuade).
In the first (fighter with Heal) example, i really don't want to waste putting skill points in Heal if my negative wisdom modifier is going to make it too weak to properly heal and remove diseases/poisons.
In the second example (sorcerer with persuade), i really don't want to waste putting skill points in the non-class Persuade if that low skill increase (1 increase for 2 points) will make that skill too weak to strongly perform.
In which of these cases is the skill actually going to be strong?
Or, in other words, are the Skill points more important OR is the skill's attribute modifier more important when determining a skill's strength/power?
Skill points wind up mattering more -- yes, your fighter might have a -1 wisdom modifier (-2 isn't even possibly by default) but that matters far less when you have 43 ranks in it.
And in terms of Persuade, a sorcerer with 20 charisma modifier at 40 will only have 41 max possible persuade -- meaning a druid with -1 charisma modifier will technically be better at persuading if they invest 43 ranks.
You'll note that both are pretty close anyway -- so a general rule of thumb is that you either need it to be a class skill OR you need a high modifier in that attribute.
There are some exceptions to this like Tumble and Appraise since, to some degree, ANY points in these are valuable -- it's not "pass/fail" like stealth. Having 20 persuade versus a DC of 50 is no better than having 0 persuade. But having 20 Tumble or 20 appraise is much better than having 0.
Bogdanov89 wrote...
Thank you for replying.
Can you please take a look at my added question (previous post) about skills?
Also, when you say "larger the dice" in the 10d6 example, do you mean the 10d part of it - or the d6 part of it?
For maximize, is the "10d" more important or the "d6"?
The d6. A d4 averages 2.5. Empowered is 3.75, Maximized 4. Little difference. d20 averages 10.5. Empowered is 15.75, Maximized 20. Big difference.
ShaDoOoW wrote...
Yes indeed it doesnt make a sense and its obviously wrong. CPP fixes this issue and empower doesnt affect addittional bonuses into damage calculation. Strangely enough NWN community doesnt consider this odd at all claiming this to be bioware's intent and my fix to be a balance change. Not that it would matter as we both know the truth 
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It is a balance change. The basic idea of "Empower Spell" is that it deals 50% more damage. It soups up the spell.
However, if a spell does 1d8 + 2 per caster level, at level 40 Empower increases it from 84.5 to 86.75 if we use your method which is terrible and completely worthless. It SHOULD go from 84.5 to 126.75.
In other words, the thing that needs to be changed is MAXIMIZE spell, not Empower spell, because Maximize doesn't account for non-dice values. In the example above Maximizing the spell would only increase it from 84.5 to 88 -- again, completely worthless. If anything Maximize should simply always increase a spell's damage by 70% (which is 6/3.5, or a maximized d6 divided by an average d6) if otherwise the damage would be less. In other words, a Fireball would go 60/35 = 71% bonus, so leave it alone. But the spell I gave would go 88/84.5 = 4% bonus, so multiply 84.5 * 1.70 = 143.65. Could adjust it for d4 versus d8 spells or whatever if really necessary, but 70% is reasonably fair (arguably should be 84% bonus -- sqrt(1.5)^3 = 1.84, which is using Empower Spell as the basis aka 2 spell levels higher should be 50% more).
