D&D 5: Masters of Skills

By the DM, 2017-10-18

Skills were one of my favorite parts of D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder. They remain one of my favorite parts of D&D 5. Like in every edition of D&D, rogues and bards are the skill masters, but who is better?

The Rogue gets four proficiencies, four Expertise skills, and a huge bonus at level 11, where rolls below 10 are automatically pushed up to 10. Lore Bards get six proficiencies, two Expertise skills, and at 14th level, can add a Bardic Inspiration die to skill checks after seeing the result of the roll. Bards also get bonuses to skills they are not proficient with.

Here's a level-by-level analysis of the skill masters:

	Rogue				Bard
Level	prof¹⁾	non-prof rolls²⁾	prof rolls³⁾	avg⁴⁾	prof	non-prof rolls	prof rolls	avg
1	4(2)	0-19	10-29	10.5 / 19.5	3(0)	0-19	10-25	10.5 / 17.5
2	4(2)	0-19	10-29	10.5 / 19.5	3(0)	1-20	10-25	10.5 / 17.5
3-4	4(2)	0-19	10-29	10.5 / 19.5	6(2)	1-20	10-29	11 / 19.5
5-9	4(2)	0-19	12-31	10.5 / 21.5	6(2)	1-20	12-31	11 / 21.5
10	4(4)	0-19	14-33	10.5 / 23.5	6(4)	2-22	14-33	11.5 / 23.5
11-12	4(4)	0-19	23-33⁵⁾	10.5-25.75	6(4)	2-22	14-33	11.5 / 23.5
13	4(4)	0-19	25-35	10.5 / 27.75	6(4)	2-22	16-35	11.5 / 25.5
14	4(4)	0-19	25-35	10.5 / 27.75	6(4)	3-32	17-45⁶⁾	17 / 31
15-16	4(4)	0-19	25-35	10.5 / 27.75	6(4)	3-34	17-47	18 / 32
17-20	4(4)	0-19	27-37	10.5 / 29.75	6(4)	4-35	19-49	18.5 / 33

While Rogue has more reliable skill checks than Bard starting at level 11, and doesn't have to use up a limited resource (Bardic Inspiration), I think Bard is the clear winner here starting at level 14. No other class can get close to a 49 on a skill check.

The Most Skills

Want a ridiculous build to get the most skill proficiencies possible? Try this one:

Background: Any that comes with two proficiencies.
Race: Half-elf, for two bonus skills.
Feats: Skilled, obviously. Thats 3 more.
Rogue 1 - This gives you four proficiencies and two expertise.
Knowledge Cleric 1 - Proficiency and expertise in two skills.
Lore Bard 3 - Four more proficiencies, expertise and jack of all trades.
Warlock 2 - Take the Beguiling Influence invocation, for proficiency in Deception and Persuasion.
Ranger 1 - One more proficiency.
10 more levels of rogue for reliable talent.
2 levels of whatever you want.

By level 8, you have proficiency in all 18 skills, and double proficiency in 6 of them. Yay. By level 18, you have 8 double proficiencies, and you can't roll lower than a 10 on any skill check.

¹⁾

proficiencies and expertise

²⁾

range of rolls for a non-proficient skill with an ability penalty of -1

³⁾

range of rolls for a proficient or expertise skill with an ability bonus of +5

⁴⁾

average rolls for a non-proficient skill with an ability penalty of -1, vs a proficient or expertise skill with an ability bonus of +5

⁵⁾

Reliable Talent

⁶⁾

Bardic Inspiration

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Roleplaying Resources

D&D 5: Masters of Skills

The Most Skills