Probably too late for this errata, but discussion last night threw up a potential solution to Divine not having enough skills in their advancement option.

(book not in front of me)
to the "Gain 1 rank in pLo+3 Social Skills", add "Gain 1 rank in pLO+3 Social or Artisan (sp?) skills"

ie. The skill group that has Artisan and Perform in it.

This issue has come up in discussion periodically. Once upon a time, as has been explained on other threads (lost now), Etiquette was going to have separate sub skills per region (like separate knowledge skills). That got dumped ... for which I am glad.

But it is true that it's pretty easy to have more potential skill ranks than social skills if you take this advancement to raise your social skills. Personally I think +1 to Persuasion, Deceit, Empathy, Intimidate and Etiquette is a good deal if you are a Divine Caster who also wants to be the party's face.

But if the potential "wasted skill point" bothers you, you certainly aren't alone ... Keen Eyes (or whatever its called) can add Perception to this list.

My issue is more so, what if I want to be divine and not be a party face? I am losing out on a specialized advancement just because I don't want to be the one doing all the talking. I have a small group that I've been working on getting the game going with and it keeps looking like I'll be both running the game and playing a divine character to afford healing. I for one don't think the game is very interesting for anyone if I sit there and talk to myself, playing the face and NPCs, for all but the combats. That is just an odd case but an issue none the less.

you make a solid point, I have some ideas on how to address this.... (as all the Archetypes suffer a little of the same)

I can offer you a "way out" start a Martial character and chose Initiate of the Gods as your background, and use your two talents at the end of character creation to get Preg and Divine Spell Casting.

Your spell casting will not be your core, fighting will..... you can advance your casting up by +2 every tier without an issue, pick the right Paths and you can make it a +3 every other tier. Chose talents like Smite and the like...

You can make a good healer, you don't need max ranks to pull that off.... and he can be helpful in melee or ranged (depending on god) Heck you can make him a Martial based Sorcerer-Priest and make things very interesting.

pete that would be great but its kinda hard for a lot of martial character to qualify for prestidigitation

Really? You only need 3 ranks in a Lore skill to qualify for Prestidigitation, and a lot of things grant Wilderness Lore.

Solani Dwarves, Ardekene Elorii, Black Talons, Humans, Vals, Undir from race.

Altheria, Coryan, Elorii Nations, Hinterlands, League of Princes, and Milandir for nations.

Former Altheran Marksman, Former Messenger, Laerestri, Soldier of Retribution, Woodsman, Huntsman, and Undisciplined Psion for backgrounds.

You can also take Adaptable (Ta) or boost the skill when you buy skill points.

Archtype, Race, Nation, Background, Distributed

you have to hit 3 of the 5
as a martial your only default lore skill is Heal you could qualify on that

so if your Val, Human, solani ardekene berokene, you can get a point here (they all grant any or lore skills)

almeric will give you a point in heal, Altheria, Dwarven enclaves, Elorii Nation give you know religon

the backgrounds that give you aceess to casting, give know religon

(skills come before talents, so adaptable wont do anything for you in char creation)

So as a martial you have to be:
A from Almeric, Altheria, the Dwarven Enclave, The Elorii Lands
OR
B be Val, Human Solani Ardekene or Berokene

Getting back to the original poster, I see no rules balance issue with making it "social and artisan skills" for divine. But I seen no compelling reason why priests of a Church are natural artisans either.

Also if it is changed for the Divine Archetype it should also be done for the Arcane and Martial Archetypes.

This idea is not insignificant.

Personally, I'd like "Social Skills and Perform" because with Oratory, Singing, Instruments, and Dance (and even Acting) are well within the Priest's Wheelhouse.

Martials get to advance two categories (combat and physical I think... Book not in front of me)

Arcane Archtype gets Lore which has oodles of different skills due to knowledge being seperated.

I also like the idea of Perform. Another option (and again I don't have book with me so I don't know how it will work out) is have the deity skill added to the list that can be increased with that option

Regards

Taffy