Skill Empowerment: The Skills to Pay the Bills
Usable By: Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 5
School: Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Duration: Concentration up to 1 hour
Components: V, S
Your magic deepens a creature’s understanding of its own talent. You touch one willing creature and give it expertise in one skill of your choice; until the spell ends, the creature doubles its proficiency bonus for ability checks it makes that use the chosen skill.
You must choose a skill in which the target is proficient and that isn’t already benefiting from an effect, such as Expertise, that doubles its proficiency bonus.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Expertise is a feature I’m a huge fan of. The idea of being skilled at some skills but SUPER skilled at others is nifty. It solidifies the skills you really want to use as YOURS. When the party needs somebody to charm the pants of the noble, the bard with expertise in persuasion steps forward. When you need somebody to get that key off the guards belt without them noticing, rogue with expertise in sleight of hand stands up.
Skill Empowerment is an extension of the concept, but in a way where you can have everyone doing it. Looking into ancient history texts for hints and information about an ancient foe? Now you, the wizard, can have expertise on history checks! Does the barbarian intend to enter into an olympian styled contest? Expertise in athletics!
The duration, spell level, and concentration restraints mean its the kind of effect you’ll only bust out when you anticipate a lot of checks needing the specific skill coming up, and it won’t give everyone expertise constantly. Instead, when you want any member of the party to shine a bit brighter in doing what they want to excel in, you can cast Skill Empowerment.
Spells like Skill Empowerment serve a decent purpose in covering systems that could use improvement. This feels like it offers up something most classes want at some point to everyone without adding in new features into the system. I’m hoping in 5.5 or 6e we get Expertise as a scaling boon to most classes (with rogues/bards getting them either earlier or an extra expertise option or two) but for now, Skill Empowerment can give everyone the chance to be an expert in their respective fields.
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