Right now the story I’m trying to write has six skills. While reading the forum tonight I saw a few comments about stories that have “too many skills” so I’m curious how others actually react when they see the character sheet. Can a character sheet make you quit a newly started story or do you give them a chance? Do you have experience that a certain number of skills is a red flag?
Basically for every one that does not reward you or is pointless there is one too much.
But if want a number, usually a CYOA as one/two major skill for the main stats check, one average for minor stats check or when the major are not an option and all the others are there just for the sake of character creation (meaning trying different builds)
Do I need to worry about “sticker shock” at all?
Let’s say the start of the story asks you which of the following (arbitrary number) skills you want your character to be really good at, & then the story has a hidden option at every choice that will become visible when the character has that skill. Presume the skills are equally represented. I’m trying to figure out how often a reader other than me will usually find the extra options meaningful. I’ve only read a few ChoiceScript stories, multiple playthroughs, & presume others on the forum have a lot more experience with these stories than I do. I keep seeing posts that involve concern over how many & what kind. Is this concern well founded?
It’s a very broad question and there isn’t a hard and fast rule but if you haven’t read What I Learned from Playing Every ChoiceScript Game and How I Made My Stats Better I very much recommend them, they’re fantastic food for thought. In general I would say play lots of games and get a feel for what you like and don’t like, what feels intuitive, and whether you hit points where you think “hey, this stat felt useless”, “wait, don’t these stats mean the same thing”, “oh no, I keep failing at things and I don’t understand why”, etc.
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It depends on the type of work your doing for e.g. the Avatar the last air bender 
I liked the movie mainly prince Zuko obviously ( cuz anti- heroes are awesome ), I wanted to see more of Princess Azula ( cuz she’s nuts and I love princesses 
) effing critics…
The point is context different groups ’ nations / tribes ’ specialising in a specific, innated abilities ( note innated but not bound to one practice ) meaning you could potentially add on other subsectors e.g. fire bending → lightning…
This is one of the easiest ways to ensure you won’t lose your audience…
Basically have a good reference, research the abilities you had in mind regards to how they’ll potentially grow… do not break the rules mid way, never lose your audience, your writing has to be organic ( sound and feeling wise )
I GUESS MINE IS OFF TOPIC 
T.Y.! Having these to read through is spot-on helpful.
For me I start rising a eyebrow if there is more then six including personal stats if they are also used in checks for most of the game.