Skills

Skills/Character Creation:

Any character can learn any skill they wish. You get several points at character creation to add ranks to a skill. You can add no more than 2 ranks to a skill during character creation and you can only have 5 ranks in any given skill ever.

Skill Advancement

Skills are advanced based on how much you use them. In a game session, if you use a skill, check the box to the left of the skill on your character sheet. At the end of the session, you can fill in one of the five circles to the right of that skill to represent your growing proficiency in that skill. Once you have filled in all five circles next to a skill, you increase that skills rank up to a maximum of 5 skill ranks.

• The GM may increase or decrease the number of circles you gain in a rank for a particular session based on what occurred when you used that skill in that session.
  • Markus used his Performance skill during this session and is ready to check off one of his proficiency growth markers, but the GM notes that his use of Performance that session was the key to ensuring the party met their goals in the adventure and was a centerpiece of the ongoing story, so they allow Markus to check off two of his proficiency growth markers for that session.
  • Joel used his Stealth skill during this session and is ready to check off one of his proficiency growth markers, but the GM notes this his use of Stealth that session was a complete failure that alerted their enemies to the party’s presence and got one of the party killed, so they rule that Joel cannot check off his proficiency growth marker for that session. While we do learn from failure, this scenario represents the loss of confidence in our skills that we can experience after a massive failure.

Skills in a Setting

Not every skill listed will be needed for every setting or campaign, or you may add specific skills to your setting or campaign not listed here (Settings Packs can include setting specific skills not listed here and suggestions of which skills to remove for that setting). It is suggested that no setting or campaign have over 25 skills available as it will provide a greater potential for non-general skills that overlap too much with other skills and cause confusion on what skill to use for a given situation.

Combat Skills:

• Melee (use of hand-to-hand weapons)
• Ranged (Personal) (use of ranged weapons made to be used by an individual)
• Ranged (Heavy Arms) (use of ranged weapons made to be used by a crew of people)

Magic Skills: (Could also be used for mental powers using slightly different names for the skills)

• Casting (casting a specific spell)
• Detect/Identify (detecting and/or identifying magic in an area or on an object)
• Counter (countering the spell casting of a foe or magic effect)
• Create (create a new spell formula, imbue an item with magic or create a scroll or spell book entry)

Physical Skills:

• Feats of Strength (break down a door, lift a heavy object, etc.)
• Feats of Agility (leap over a pit, swing from a rope, etc.)
• Sleight of Hand (pick a lock, pickpocket, optical illusions and tricks)
• Stealth (sneak around an area unnoticed or hiding, bonus can be affected by armor or other items worn or carried)
• Riding/Driving (riding an animal, driving or piloting a vehicle)
• Perception (spotting hidden things, out of place items, important items)

Social Skills:

• Insight (ability to read other being's moods and intentions)
• Mental Fortitude (ability to resist mental effect spells, mental power attacks, fear, etc.)
• Persuasion (can involve debate, intimidation, bluffing, deception, etc.)
• Performance (singing, dancing, acting, etc.)

Knowledge Skills:

• Culture (knowledge of cultural practices, history, and other societal practices)
• Healing (non-magical first aid, tending to a wounded player, surgery, etc.)
• Investigation (digging through archives, looking for clues, piecing together puzzles, etc.)
• Spiritual (knowledge of religions, spiritual practices and beliefs)
• Street Smarts (knowledge of urban life and city survival skills)
• Technology (use of complex machinery, electronics, etc.)
• Wilderness Survival (knowledge of plants, animals, tracking, and wilderness survival skills)

Skill Checks

• Generally, skill checks are accomplished by rolling d20+applicable skill bonus against a DC set by the GM. 
• Rolling a natural 20 results in a critical success. In combat, the results of a critical success are laid out in the Combat section. A spells critical success result is listed in the spell listing. For other rolls, the GM and player can work together to determine what happens on a critical success (e.g., Lars is participating in a horse race and rolls a natural 20 on his Riding skill check. Lars not only wins the race, but he beats his opponent so badly that they are badly embarrassed).
• Rolling a natural 1 results in a critical failure. In combat, the results of a critical failure are laid out in the Combat section. A spells critical failure result is listed in the spell listing. For other rolls, the GM and player can work together to determine what happens on a critical failure (e.g., Lars is trying to jump over a deep pit and rolls a natural 1 on his Feats of Agility skill check. Lars not only falls into the pit, but he also takes extra damage when he slams into the side of the pit on the way down).
• Different situational modifiers can give you Advantage or Disadvantage on skill checks as determined by the GM. In those cases, you roll 2d20 and take the higher or lower roll depending on the situation as outlined in the Dice section of the rules.
• Sometime a player and an NPC are working directly at cross purposes and an opposed roll using the same or different skills on both sides is necessary.
  • An ogre tries to break open a door while a warrior tries to hold it shut. Both will make a Feat of Strength roll and whomever rolls higher wins.
  • A cutpurse tries to sneak around the grand hall to escape the castle while one of the guards is searching the hall. The cutpurse will roll a Stealth skill check and the guard will roll a Perception skill check and if the cutpurse wins, they evade detection, if the guard wins, they see the cutpurse and a chase or combat ensues.