SKILLS

Skills are specific fields of knowledge or ability. They represent study and practice.

Below is a list of skills. It is not exhaustive - it focuses on adventuring skills, leaving others to the imagination of players.

The Master should feel free to add or drop skills to make the list fit their campaign world. Players who wish to have an unlisted skill should propose the new skill to The Master.

The skill list is divided into physical and mental. Physical skills are based on Dexterity. Mental skills are based on Intellect.

Physical Skills

Acrobatics
Archery
Athletics
Burglary
Climbing
Craftsmanship
Defense
Grappling
Perception
Pickpocketing
Quickness
Riding
Stealth
Striking
Throwing

This skill allows one to perform flips, cartwheels, rolls, and tumbles. A high level may let one swing on trapezes and walk tightropes. It can also be used to lessen the damage taken from a fall.

This is the ability to use missile weapons such as bows and crossbows.

This skill allows one to run, swim, and jump.

Most characters can run ten yards per movement action. Each level of this gift gives the character an additional yard. It is rolled to determine the progress of a race or chase, with each point of Dos being one yard of distance gained or lost.

It also allows one to swim faster than others, though the rate is halved.

Leaping over obstacles or chasms requires a roll against a challenge level set by The Master.

This is a favorite skill of thieves and spies. It is used to gain unauthorized access to places.

Burglary lets one pick locks, whether ordinary keyed locks or fancier combination or puzzle locks.

It also allows one to set or disarm small traps. This can be used to protect locked a chest with a poison dart, to protect a hallway with a cocked crossbow, or to protect a door with a levered scythe - or to disarm any such protections set by others.

Last but not least, having this ability means that the character knows how to force doors or shutters quickly and quietly.

This covers a wide range of activity, from trees to cliffs to castle walls. The more difficult the surface (the less friction and handholds), the higher the challenge level.

A failed roll usually means no progress, but a spectacular failure could mean a fall.

This is the ability to make and repair useful items. One can build build a house, carve some arrows, or make minor repairs to damaged weapons and armor. It is a broad skill.

Master craftsmen can create works of great beauty and utility. The Master may rule that a character must specialize in a particular field (such as blacksmithing, woodworking, etc) in order to realize this level of quality. Specialization trades breadth for depth.

This is the art of avoiding harm (blocking and dodging). It can be used to evade any physical attack that is possible to evade.

This skill is used in close combat, when opponents are locking limbs and most weapons are useless.

This skill represents both the quality of one's natural senses and general alertness. This important skill can prevent one - and one's friends - from being taken by surprise.

This skill allows one to filch keys and pick pockets. It is rolled against the Perception of the intended victim - and, to a lesser extent, against that of others nearby.

This can also be used for less nefarious purposes, such as performing minor "magic" tricks through sleight of hand.

This skill represents muscle speed and reflexes. It determines who goes first during a round of physical combat.

This is the skill of using an animal (usually a horse) for transport. Normal travel does not require riding rolls - the skill is used for tricks, leaps, and mounted combat.

This is the art of silence and invisibility. To move unseen requires shadow, the darker the better. Dark clothing and soft shoes help.

This skill represents to ability to hit opponents in melee combat.

This is the skill of throwing and catching objects. It covers hitting a target with hurled objects (rocks, knives, axes, spears) and the use of slings. A high skill level allows one to juggle rags, balls, and such. Skilled jugglers can use more impressive items such as knives and swords, but this can get ugly if a roll is badly failed. Multiple jugglers can work in tandem for a splendid show.

The simplest thrown attack is a good-sized rock. This does the base strength damage of the attacker (like a punch, only farther). Larger rocks add more damage, but have less range.

Mental Skills

Animals
Command
Concealment
Defiance
Disguise
Divination
Engineering
Forgery
Gaming
Healing
Navigation
Observation
Scholarship
Shadowing
Sorcery
Survival
Tracking
Trading

This skill is used to train animals to perform work or tricks and to effectively handle such domesticated creatures. It can also be used, at higher levels, to befriend wild animals. A master can even calm enraged beasts.

This skill represents the character's quickness of thought and ability to react to the actions of others. It is the mental equivalent of the Quickness skill. It determines the initiative of one using sorcery. It also represents the general decisiveness of a character; this can be used to inspire followers.

Concealment is the art of hiding things, whether in a room or on one's person. Those trying to find the hidden objects will have to make Perception rolls greater than the Concealment roll.

This skill represents the ability to resist mental attacks (sorcery). It is the mental equivalent of the Defense skill.

It doesn't matter whether an assault is aimed directly at the character or at everything in the general area. A Defiant character does not move - it focuses its concentration to prevent hostile sorcery from harming it.

Any sorcery can be resisted, no matter how large or powerful. The defender need only roll higher with Defiance than the attacker does with Sorcery.

If a spell is of continuing duration, the Defiance roll must be made every round.

Defiance is not supernatural, nor is not limited to those who practice sorcery. Anything with a mind can defy its effects.

This skill lets one appear physically different. It is rolled against the Observation of anyone who might see through the disguise. Minor cosmetic changes are simple; major cosmetic changes are more difficult. A master of disguise may pass as a different race or gender, but it is almost impossible to change one's height by more than a few inches.

This is a catchall for mystical abilities that are used to learn the unknown. A diviner may hear the whispers of spirits, read the future in the stars, or simply know things without reason.

Divination allows one to know whether a person, place, or thing is supernatural - and, if so, what that nature might be. This is a passive power, a sixth sense. It serves the same purpose with regard to sorcery and the spirit world as the Perception skill serves in the physical world.

If sorcery is used anywhere near a diviner, The Master should have the player roll Divination to see if the character senses it. More powerful spells are "louder" and "brighter," so The Master should subtract one point from the challenge level for each level of energy in the spell.

Note that this check is made the moment that any supernatural energy is channeled. A sorcerer who is trying to cast an enormous spell may take several hours to do so, during which time the amount of energy in the spell grows steadily. Any diviners in the area should get regular skill checks to see if they notice.

Divination also allows one to sense the presence of nearby disembodied spirits and to communicate with them on a primal level. A diviner does not receive coherent thoughts from ghosts, only urges, feelings, and desires.

Finally, Divination can also be used by The Master as a plot device. He can allow a character to sense danger, receive visions of the future, or anything else that adds to the game.

This skill is used to construct and operate siege engines such as catapults, ballistae, and trebuchet. It can also be used for undermining defenses through sapping. The engineer does not need to do all of the building or digging; it is enough to draw up plans for skilled laborers to follow.

The art of forging documents, seals, crests, and the like. The skill is rolled against the knowledge of the person trying to determine the authenticity of the item. Scholarship can help with this.

The gambler's skill. It lets characters win at games more often, but luck is always a factor.

This is the skill of primitive medicine. A character can bind wounds, set bones, and move companions without doing further harm.

This skill also grants the possessor knowledge of useful plants and herbs that can be made into salves to speed healing, prevent infections, fight off diseases, or cure poisons.

Finally, this skill represents, at higher levels, the ability to perform acupuncture and minor surgery (lancing boils, amputating limbs). Acupuncture can be used to eliminate pain, to cure some types of ailments, and to quicken the natural healing process. Minor surgery might be required to cut out an infection in order to prevent the spread of toxins to the vital organs.

This is the ability to determine location and heading by the heavens. It is particularly useful at sea. Master navigators may even have a sixth sense about time of day and the direction they are facing.

This skill is similar to Perception. Perception is used to detect subtle things that may go unheard or unseen; Observation is used to detect things that are obvious but may go unnoticed. Observation can allow one to notice that someone is wearing the wrong clothes, behaving strangely, etc. It is especially useful for spotting disguises. Bonuses can be given if the character has some reason to suspect that the disguised person is not who they appear to be.

This is a catchall for academic skills. It represents knowledge of subjects such as astronomy, cartography, geography, heraldry, history, languages, philosophy, politics, and religion. It also lets the character write with flourish, using proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and perhaps stylistic calligraphy.

Master scholars and sages are highly prized by their patrons, and a visit to one can be expensive. Many choose to specialize in one of the above subjects, trading breadth for depth (as with Craftsmanship).

This is the art of following someone in a crowd without the subject realizing that they are being followed. It relies upon the shadower being inconspicuous in dress and behavior (if everyone in town wears white clothing, someone will notice a black-cloaked figure following them no matter what the shadowing roll).

To notice that one is being followed, one must make an Observation roll versus the Shadowing roll of the follower.

Sorcery gives mortals godlike powers. One can create force at a distance, cause things to burst into flame, read a person's thoughts, relieve someone of suffering, or open gateways to alien worlds - all with but a thought.

Sorcery cannot be learned; it's a gift. For those with the gift, this skill measures both knowledge and ability. For those without, it measures only knowledge.

See the Gifts and Sorcery chapters for more.

This skill allows one to appraise the value of items. It is used for everything from earthenware pots to rare works of art. Exotic objects are more difficult to appraise. The better the roll, the closer the appraisal is to the real value.

Trading also represents knowledge of markets. Skilled traders can tell where markets will be by the layout of a town. They can also locate black markets and information peddlers.

Wilderness

This is the ability to survive in the wild with minimal equipment and supplies. A master of the wilderness can live indefinitely with nothing more than a good knife and some warm clothes. Additional items, such as a bow and arrow for hunting, make life easier.

This skill also lets a character discover and follow tracks. Some creatures are easier to track than others. Different types of terrain increase or lessen the challenge. Some, like rivers or solid rock, are impossible to track through - the only hope is to pick up the trail on the other side of the obstacle.

Cost

Average peons have no skill levels higher than five or six. Talented craftsman may have skill levels of ten or greater, making them very competent in their professions even if their attributes are average.

The point cost of a skill is based on the level. The higher the skill, the more difficult it is to improve. The amount of points required to achieve a particular skill level is given by the following chart and formula:

skill level	cost	title
1	1	apprentice
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	6
6	8	journeyman
7	12
8	16
9	24
10	32	master
11	48	master
12	64	master
L	2^(L / 2)

Thus: to give a new character an Archery skill level of 6 requires 8 character points. To later raise that same character's Archery to 7 will cost 4 experience points - 12 for level 7 minus the 8 already spent to reach level 6.

As with attributes, fractions are rounded down.

Skill levels, like attributes, are open-ended.