Skills

No matter how strong a character might be, they cannot defeat a smaller man trained in the martial arts. No matter their intelligence, without training they will never crack the cipher in time. No matter how much natural charisma, they will suffer in politics without training. And no matter the natural aptitude in magic, they are likely to kill themselves without training.

Where attributes describe the raw talents of the characters, it is the skills a character possesses that can make the difference between life and death. The skills are as follows:

Everyman. These are skills that everyone shares some ability in. This skill includes the ability to hear things in the distance, or spot the thief crouching in the shadows, and perform basic first aid.

Combat. Fighting is inevitable when heroes are involved. The Combat skill covers all aspects of both individual and mass combat situations. It encompasses all forms of combat, whether martial arts, swords, guns, lasers or spaceships. The individual soldier will use this skill every bit as much as the general on top of the hill, poring over maps and planning the entire invasion.

Fitness. Whether the situation calls for brute strength or extreme flexibility, the Fitness skill is the answer. It covers all physical and body-related activities outside of those handled by other, more specific skills. Whether you are testing your fitness by swimming the English Channel, climbing the Cliffs of Dover, or performing in the Olympics, it is covered here.

Nature. Surviving the worst that nature has to throw at you, whether in extreme weather or extreme animals, are these skills. This skill covers taming wild animals, reading the signs that nature has left to track creatures or animals, knowing what to do to survive dangerous weather and terrain, and how to manipulate nature to achieve certain affects, like through herbalism.

Negotiation. Politicians, Philosophers, and Scientists might all have strong need of this skill. It helps you talk your way into or out of situations, or barter the price on something down to a reasonable level. If you need to find the answer to a difficult riddle, you can use this skill to negotiate your way through the maze of logic until you arrive at the answer. It also covers getting around the laws.

Skullduggery. The skills of the con artist, street magician and wily rogues are grouped here. Breaking and Entering, cracking safes, sleight of hand, and the knowledge of surviving in the rough and tumble back streets and alleys are all found in the Skullduggery Skill.

Supernatural. Mighty Wizards, Wiccan priestesses, sharp-eyed Mentalists, and brazen Super-Heroes all share one thing in common: they have abilities most normal people would call supernatural, paranormal, or just plain super. The Supernatural Skill is a measure of how much they know about their powers and how they work, as well as their ability to sense other supernormals, and manipulate their powers.

Technology. The Technology skill covers any use or creation of man-made devices. This might be hacking into the InfoNet, pushing your spaceship to its maximum abilities, or trying to create a new bridge. Skills have a maximum score of 10.

All characters are allowed to try to use a skill, even when they have no proficiency in it.

Options: Skill Descriptions

In the Basic Rules, skills provide a very broad idea of the character’s abilities.

They do not give any specifics about how good they might be with individual specialties in that skill. Many times, this is much broader than we would like, but we do not want to get into the specifics that skills would provide. Enter Skill Descriptions.

These are intended to be used as a step between the Basic and Expanded Rules and should not be used when expanded skills are in use. Skill Descriptions are a single short phrase, no more than a handful of words in length that tell us what specialty that character has in the skill. Basically, if you had to describe that skill in words only (no numbers), what would you say? Perhaps the character is a black belt in Karate, and then the Combat description might be “Martial Artist.” Or maybe the character has a hard time not noticing things that happen around them, even when they wish they could tune everything out, and then they might have a General description of “Always Aware.”

There are two types of Skill Descriptions,and both are encouraged: strengths and weaknesses. Strengths gain the character a +1 bonus when the Director agrees that the Description is applicable. A weakness causes a -1 penalty when the Director agrees the Description is applicable.

Mastery Levels

As a character gets better at a skill, their chance at success naturally raises. In the game, that means you get extra dice to roll, keeping the single highest die roll. Characters start with a skill score of zero. This Mastery level is called Novice, and the player gets 1d10 to roll for Skill Checks. Every third advancement in the skill, the Mastery level raises to the next level.

Mastery Level Descriptions

Novice. This is where the character starts play. It is the everyday person trying to do everyday things.

Apprentice. An Apprentice has enough skills that he is capable of performing those skills better than the Novice, but can still fail miserably.

Journeyman. The Journeyman will reach success more often than the Apprentice and is quite a bit more successful than the Novice. His skills are becoming a natural part of him. While rare, failures are still possible.

Master. The Master has become one with his skills. He knows them like he was born with them, and can wield them with superb success. Only on very rare occasions will the Master fail.

Skill Mastery is expensive, as only time and practice can bring a character to the point where their skills are a natural extension of themselves. It costs 5 Advancements to raise the Skill by 1 point.