There are a handful of ways for your character to interact with the world around them in a game ofDungeons & Dragons. Combat, roleplaying, and exploration are the three major pillars of how this is done, but from there, they split down into a variety of different methods. The way your character interacts comes down to a roll of some sort to see how successful you are.
You have seventeen skills fromthe six ability scoresthat make up what your character is good at. It can be a tough choice to figure out which of these skills is best to put proficiency or expertise in, so here are the best skills to consider.
17Animal Handling
The Carrot Not The Stick
Not every living creature you come across is a demonic entity or an ooze. Sometimes, in your adventure, your party will meet more furry (or scaly) creatures that call the fantasy world home. While fighting them or ignoring them are the main ways to deal with animals, you could also try your hand at being friendly with them instead. The Animal Handling skill is a favorite of the ranger and druid classes, but anyone can benefit from it. It can be used to calm, befriend, communicate, or otherwise interact with animals throughout D&D.
It’s helpful if someone wants to avoid conflict with an animal, but it probably won’t come in handy too often. At low levels, when animals are a bigger threat, you have a lower chance to roll well on an Animal Handling check. At high levels, basic animals probably won’t be seen as much, and definitely won’t be as much of a threat. This leaves little room for this skill to be used often.
16Religion
Holy Rollers
Clerics and paladins may be the usual suspects for proficiency or expertise in the Religion skill, but it can also come from a history in the temples and churches of your world due to the acolyte or similar background. Regardless of the reasoning, it is unfortunate that the skill isn’t as useful as most of the others.
The Religion skill can be quite useful early on to help understand which pantheon your characters may interact with throughout their journey. From there, interacting with other religious folk, investigating temples, or fighting cults can find the Religion check useful, but those are probably few and far between.
15Performance
Karaoke Time
Sometimes the ways a skill interacts with the world around your character is a bit more obscure, like in the way of the Performance skill which is often just used by a single class. You’ll see plenty of bards take this skill and use it as one of their primary choicesfor playing instruments, dancing, and singing.
But other characters can use it in basically anything that requires them to perform a role or do work that has less clear connections to other skills. This confusion and vague nature mean most DMs won’t call for checks of this skill that often, and they are usuallyn’t intense situations when they are called for.
Let The Muscles Do The Talking
Barbarian/Intimidation by Mark Behm
Not every problem in D&D has to be solved with a kind word. The Intimidation skill is a great choice for any character with a bit of Charisma and the brawn to back up their threats. You don’t have to leave the intimidating to the barbarian of the group.
In fact, the paladin or bard may even be better equipped for it with their high Charisma. It helps to use intimidation to get your way in social situations, but it loses points because you really won’t be making friends along the way. Who needs more enemies in D&D when Persuasion does practically the same thing?
Some DMs will allow for the use of the Strength ability score to take place of Charisma for these checks.
13History
Old Tomes And Stories
Usually speaking, the DM for your adventuring group has probably prepared a dynamic fantasy world for your characters to play in. With that comes a lot of lore and backstory to the things, places, and people you interact with every session (even if it is made up on the fly). The History skill is the one that you’ll use to dive into this lore in-character.
Wizards, clerics, and other classes with scholarly backstories may find themselves with a proficiency in History, and it will definitely be helpful to have someone with a positive modifier to the skill to help piece together the world, but as the game goes on this skill will probably be needed less and less. But, it’s a great tool for world building and exploration, which helps all the players stay informed and involved in the world.
12Nature
Plants, Animals, And Most Things In-Between
Each campaign is different when it comes to settings, but sooner or later, your party will surely venture beyondthe towns and citiesthat make up the societies of the world you find yourselves in and go out to explore the great wilderness.
It is in these moments that the Nature skill is definitely a must-have. Outcasts, pariahs, botanists, druids, and rangers are all likely sorts to have proficiency in this skill. Roughing it in the outdoors is a lot easier when you know what plants are edible, what animals aren’t friendly, and really just the basics of surviving outside of a tavern. These are all situations where Nature comes into play.
There is also the argument that the goings-on in civilized areas like towns, villages, and cities may also fall into the Nature skill. Considering that, to some, they are the “natural” environment they may have lived in for an extended amount of time, and have grown a keen sense of the inner-workings and subtleties of said environment.
11Athletics
Lifting Weights, Kicking Down Doors
One side of the coin that is Athletics and Acrobatics. There is definitely some overlap in the two skills, but they have their own places where each is more needed than the other. Each DM has their own way to choose which of these two checks is called for in a moment, but the consensus is that Athletics deals with more of the raw brawn and abilities that result in fitness and strength.
Athletics can be helpful in many different situations, both in exploration and in combat, which earns it a better spot in the list of helpful skills. But, it is the only skill that falls under the Strength attribute, which means that a high Strength score doesn’t benefit as much in terms of skills. If, however, you already have a high Strength character, it doesn’t hurt to plop a proficiency on Athletics for the extra boost and turn your character into a humanoid wrecking ball.
10Sleight Of Hand
Not Just Card Tricks
It helps from time to time to have a character with fast hands. A little bit of Dexterity can go a long way when it comes to certain stealthy situations. Stealing, hiding away weapons, quickly casting a spell, flashing a hand-sign to your party members; all of this falls into the Sleight of Hand skill. Not to mention lockpicking and fancy knife skills.
Even with all that, it is one of the more often overlooked skills in a character’s repertoire, and unjustly so. Even morally good characters can benefit from having at least one party member with proficiency or expertise in this skill. When it comes to problems, a little bit of deft handy-work can be far less painful than full-scale combat.
9Medicine
For When You Take An Arrow To The Knee
Injuries are bound to happen throughout your characters' adventures. Sure, you could spend that hard-earned gold on a doctor or healer in the next township, or you could become proficient in Medicine and treat the party yourself. Magical healing, either through spells or potions, isthe focus of many players, especially the higher in level they go. But, a good old-fashioned Healer’s Kit (that runs on the Medicine skill) never hurts to have on hand for some extra healing.
You can also use this skill to interact with medical items in exploration, craft medicines, and diagnose other characters and NPCs you come across in your travels. It is a helpful skill, and one that has the potential of saving party members the more expertise you have in it. Stabilizing a near-death character or healing them when you’re running low on spell slots is more than a fair reason to put a proficiency on this skill.
8Deception
Lies, Fibs, And The Sort
Despite what your lawful good paladin says, you don’t have to tell the truth all the time. Whether it’s avoiding a fight, sneaking into somewhere you shouldn’t be, or saying you didn’t do something that you absolutely did, the Deception skill is the go-to for many a bard and rogue.
Really, the roleplaying possibilities for the Deception skill are endless. Combined with the performance skill, you can take on different personas and lie your way through most situations, and then lie your way out of those situations when they go badly. It’s a great skill to have in your wheelhouse when it looks like things are about to come to blows, and you just really don’t feel like fighting.
