Part 4 - Skills

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The lists below are exhaustive, but do not necessarily reflect what will be available or used in a campaign. The intent is to focus the pool on what might be relevant to the characters and the narrative. During the saga the GM may add skills as needed, including brand new ones not included below.

Skill Checks

• Every skill has a value on a character’s sheet, which can exceed 100.
• When a character rolls a test (or check), they roll a d100 and compare it to the skill’s value:
  • Equal to or less than is a success, Greater than is a failure.
  • 01-05 is always a success, and 96-100 is always a failure.
• Critical and Fumble results are particularly amazing or disastrous rolls.
  • A Critical is a roll equal to or less than one-tenth of the skill’s value (if a skill has a value of 60%, a roll of 6 or less would be a crit).
  • A Fumble is a roll of 99 or 100. Skills with a value above 100 only fumble on a roll of 100.
  • The effects of a Crit or Fumble are up to the GM and can add wondrous or dire twists to a situation.
• (A bunch of GM writing about when to roll and when to have automatic successes.)
• Test difficulty is handled via Difficulty Grades, which modify the skill value of a test (meaning it raises or lowers the target percentage). This math will be handled by Foundry so don’t really worry about it at a practical level right now.

Standard Skills

• Okay, let’s get into them. These are the innate skills all characters have access to and most people use day-to-day.
• There’s a ton of details and examples written here so this will be a common reference section, but below I’ll list summaries and any majorly important points.
  • Athletics (STR+DEX) = huge range of physical actions, including climbing, jumping, and running. There are penalties for trying to do stuff in armor, and test rules for difficult terrain as one would expect.
  • Boating (STR+CON) = operating small boats, canoes, or rafts. This deals mainly with dealing with rough waters and complicating factors, and not necessary just going straight down a river.
  • Brawn (STR+SIZ) = working smarter while harder. This deals with applied might like lifting or breaking things, and contests of strength.
  • Conceal (DEX+POW) = hiding things, not people. This deals with concealing large objects in any number of ways, such as removing wagon tracks in mud or camouflaging a stack of suspicious goods.
  • Customs (INT x2) = social knowledge. This deals with knowledge of a character’s own community, involving social norms and traditions, and comes into play when a character needs to act in a particular way or role.
  • Dance (DEX+CHA) = dance dance dance, dancing is a human constant used in almost every culture in some way. This deals with dancing well and not like a modern zoomer.
  • Deceit (INT+CHA) = liar pants on fire. This deals with any attempt to mask the truth or mislead impressions in some way. Counterpart to Insight, meaning it can be used to contest it.
  • Drive (DEX+POW) = handling wagons and beasts. This deals with controlling any manner of wheeled or drawn vehicles. Just like Boating is called for when things get difficult or extraordinary, and not just to drive along a road.
  • Endurance (CON x2) = staying hale and hearty. This deals with resisting or tolerating damaging or debilitating conditions. Often used in opposed tests and not as a standard roll.
  • Evade (DEX x2) = ducking dodging diving. The classic evasion skill from so many RPGs, this deals with everything you’d expect, and is almost always opposed by some effect.
  • First Aid (DEX+INT) = fixing up that leg. This deals with treating minor injuries or stabilizing major ones.
  • Influence (CHA x2) = persuading the king. This deals with a wide array of situations like charming others into helping you or bribing a guard. Almost always opposed.
  • Insight (INT+POW) = eying up the gambler. This deals with reading both verbal and non-verbal giveaways to discern truth from lies.
  • Locale (INT x2) = watching birds. This deals with a character’s knowledge of local flora, fauna, terrain, and weather. If used outside a character’s community region the test will be more difficult.
  • Native Tongue (INT+CHA) = dropping the rizz speak. This is a more static skill that represents overall fluency.
  • Perception (INT+POW) = WHAT WAS THAT. This deals with both passive and active observation tests. Regularly modified in difficulty to account for the variety of factors that come into play when searching or staying alert.
  • Ride (DEX+POW) = being a horse girl. This deals with controlling, and staying on top of, trained mounts.
  • Sing (POW+CHA) = the Disney princess. Like dancing, this is an ever-present idea in human culture, and this deals with whether you can hold a tune or remember the lyrics.
  • Stealth (DEX+INT) = playing Thief. This deals with hiding yourself from whatever might be stalking you. Like Perception, will often be made more or less difficult according to the conditions that the character is in.
  • Swim (STR+CON) = trying not to drown. This deals with keeping up with currents and your breathing, and efficient use of your energy as you try to not have to swim anymore.
  • Unarmed (STR+DEX) = being a monk. This is a special universal Combat Style common to all characters, covering brawling and wrestling, though characters can learn a discrete cultural Style that may be more fruitful.
  • Willpower (POW x2) = forcing the universe. This deals with the ability to focus one’s force of will or harden his psyche, as well as a measure of personal resolve. Follows Endurance and Evade as one of the most common skills in opposed tests to resist effects.

Professional Skills

• Okay that was a lot, but don’t worry we have more.
• Some skills below are Specialization skills. This means that when the character first learns that skill, they must choose a field of focus or specialty. These skills may be learned multiple times with different specialties.
• As outlined above these are special skills that a character can only use if they learned them during character creation or during play via training.
  • Acting (CHA x2) = This deals with impersonating someone in either a performance or deception setting, and is called for when actively trying to pretend to be someone else.
  • Acrobatics (STR+DEX) = This deals with balance, gymnastics, and tumbling. Can be used to impress others as a performance or mitigate falls or failed leaps. May be substituted in relevant Evade tests.
  • Art (POW+CHA) = This deals with impressing and convincing via any number of art forms, such as painting or poetry. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Binding (POW+CHA) = This deals with magic users exerting their will over otherworldly entities, as well as summoning them. This is a Magical skill associated with Animism.
  • Bureaucracy (INT x2) = This deals with understanding the processing of records and red tape. This is a nerd skill.
  • Commerce (INT+CHA) = This deals with evaluating the value of goods, and trading them for the best profit. Often opposed when trading in the form of a negotiation contest.
  • Courtesy (INT+CHA) = This deals with understanding etiquette and social norms in formal settings, and rubbing the right elbows and nailing the right bows.
  • Culture (INT x2) = This works as the basic Culture skill, but with a specific nation or society beyond the character’s native one. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Devotion (POW+CHA) = This deals with the depth of devotion to a deity, as well as the reciprocating magnitude of miracles. This is a Magical skill associated with Theism.
  • Disguise (INT+CHA) = This deals with making a convincing deception out of apparel or makeup. Can be augmented with Acting to enhance the effect of a deception.
  • Engineering (INT x2) = This deals with the design and building of large-scale structures. This is a nerd skill.
  • Exhort (INT+CHA) = This deals with calling upon and channeling the power of the gods themselves. This is a Magical skill associated with Theism.
  • Folk Magic (POW+CHA) = This deals with casting minor, petty magics, in the form of cantrips, charms, and blessings. This is the Magical skill associated with Folk Magic, naturally.
  • Healing (INT+POW) = This deals with in-depth medical knowledge and treatment well-beyond the level of First Aid. This includes treating serious wounds, diseases and poisons, and even surgery.
  • Invocation (INT x2) = This deals with the ability to cast spells learned from a grimoire or mentor. This is a Magical skill associated with Sorcery, and is also a Specialization skill.
  • Language (INT+CHA) = Like Culture, this works as the basic Language skill but for a foreign language. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Literacy (INT x2) = This deals with actually reading and writing languages. Literacy is not guaranteed even for the native tongue, and cannot exceed the Language skill value of the underlying language. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Lockpicking (DEX x2) = This deals with opening a mechanical lock without the aid of some sort of key. Usually this is opposed against the Mechanisms skill of the crafter.
  • Lore (INT x2) = This deals with comprehensive recalls of a specific body of knowledge. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Mechanisms (DEX+INT) = This deals with the knowledge and skill required to assemble and disassemble mechanical devices, such as traps.
  • Meditation (INT+CON) = This deals with the ability to dig deep within and achieve a state of peace and concentration. Can be used to potentially recover Fatigue and Hit Points in normally uncomfortable circumstances. This is a non-exclusive Magical skill associated with Mysticism.
  • Musicianship (DEX+CHA) = This deals with the playing and maintenance of a group of musical instruments. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Mysticism (POW+CON) = This deals with the innate power to channel superhuman acts and harnessing passions or concepts themselves. This is a Magical skill associated with Mysticism, and is also a Specialization skill.
  • Navigation (INT+POW) = This deals with using the stars, landmarks, or the taste of seawater (?) to accurately travel across a specific region or environment. This is a Specialization skill.
  • Oratory (POW+CHA) = This deals with the art of delivering a speech to a large group of people, used instead of Influence whenever mass persuasion is needed.
  • Seamanship (INT+CON) = This works as Boating does, except it is applied to larger waterborne vessels such as galleons or triremes and also includes the maintenance and upkeep of such a vessel.
  • Seduction (INT+CHA) = This deals with trying to romantically or sexually persuade people. Opposed by Willpower because obviously.
  • Shaping (INT+POW) = This deals with shaping and manipulating the invoked spells of a sorcerer. This is a Magical skill associated with Sorcery.
  • Sleight (DEX+CHA) = This deals with attempts to steal or conceal small objects in the pursuit of petty theft or distraction.
  • Streetwise (POW+CHA) = This deals with knowledge of places and contacts within a settlement, of both a legal and illegal nature.
  • Survival (CON+POW) = This deals with surviving out in a wilderness or rural environment where foraging, fire-keeping, and shelter making are needed and the character has no equipment or rations to use in their place.
  • Teach (INT+CHA) = This deals with the ability to pass on knowledge to others. This is a static skill that acts as a limit to how much improvement this character can give to their more advanced pupils.
  • Track (INT+CON) = This deals with the focused tracking of any game or quarry. Often opposed by Conceal.
  • Trance (POW+CON) = This deals with animists attaining the correct psychological state so that they may transition into the Spirit World. This is a Magical skill associated with Animism.

Skill Notes

• With those two massive lists out of the way, here are some final miscellaneous overviews concerning skills and rolls.
• Like other systems, in most cases when a character fails a test in a way where they can potentially try again (say picking a lock), they may reattempt the test at a higher difficulty grade, representing new trepidation or loss of confidence. After this second effort they are assumed to have given it their go and cannot re-attempt for the foreseeable future.
• Skills can Augment each other as long as the circumstances make sense and the GM agrees to it, such as augmenting Athletics with Locale to use local knowledge of the streets to cover ground quicker.
  • The primary skill (Athletics in this case) can only be augmented by a single other skill.
  • The augmenting skill increases the value of the primary skill by twice its Critical range (or 20% of the skill value).
  • Other characters can Augment one another. A good example is an Athletics test being augmented by another character’s Brawn skill (representing a hoisting or hitch-up).
• Skills may be capped in lieu of the standard difficulty grading if it makes more sense. This reduces a skill to the level of another.
  • An example could be capping a Streetwise test in an far-away foreign city by a the Language skill of the region, due to broken words and sentences making most wave you away as a waste of time.

Contested Rolls

• There will be plenty of times where a skill is being actively resisted by an opponent, and they take the form of one of two types of contests:
  • Opposed Rolls are when two skills are matched against each other in a binary win-or-lose contest, such as a thief attempting to cut a purse loose.
    • To resolve, both sides roll their skills. The winner is the one who gains the better level of success. If they score the same, then the winner is the one with the highest dice roll.
    • If neither side succeeds, then the contest is either rerolled or it is left as a stalemate as some event or circumstance is described. In both cases the GM details the result.
  • Differential Rolls are similar, but instead of a simple win or loss, the result is a scale of success. This is primarily used for combat resolution.
    • To resolve, both sides roll their skills.
    • If both sides receive the same grade of success, nothing happens. Otherwise, award one level of advantage to the side with the higher grade, for each step.
      • For example, if an attacker rolls a success and the defender fumbles, there is two grades of difference in favor of the attacker; this results in two levels of advantage going to the attacker to choose what to do with.

Group Rolls

• Similar to Contested Rolls, Group Rolls are ways to simplify complex tasks and encounters into a single test. There are two types of rolls here as well:
  • Team Rolls are co-operative, where everyone in the team succeeds off of any single success. This might be the case when a group is searching for something, and if any one character finds it they whole group is told and alerted.
    • To resolve, the GM rolls once and compares it to the highest skill of the team. A success is a success for everyone, and a failure is a failure.
    • Inversely, a team test can be used to test against potential failure, such as a Team Stealth test to avoid startling skittish prey.
  • Sorting Rolls instead have individual success, based on rolling a kind of benchmark result.
    • To resolve, the GM rolls once, and compare the skill of each individual in the team with the result. Those with skills above the benchmark survive and “succeed”, while the rest fail.
    • As an example, the GM might roll a Sorting test for a group of chasing bandits; those that succeed keep up with the party, while the ones that don’t begin to lag behind.

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