Skills

A challenging tasks becomes trivial: you pass without needing a save.

An impossible task might become challenging (within reason): you may attempt it, but must pass a save.

Acrobatics. Reduce difficulty or sprint while balancing. Reduce difficulty while leaping. When you fall, you reduce the falling distance by 4 metres, if you pass the AGI save, and by 2 metres even if you fail.

Act. You are able to convincingly fake emotions and to disguise your voice and accent. This might give you an advantage in suitable social interactions or can be used to complement a disguise.

Alchemy. You can read and write. You can speak and understand Classic, the language of scholars and the Church. You can craft alchemical substances, such as acid vials, alchemist’s fires, flash powder, and smoke bombs. This requires raw materials (worth ¼ of the item) and an alchemist’s workshop. You can craft a batch of 2 consumables of the same type in a watch.

Ambidextrous. You can use both hands equally well. Damage is not impaired when you attack with a weapon in your non-dominant hand. You can attack the same target with two weapons at once, rolling damage for both but only considering the higher roll.

Animal handling. You know how to take care of animals: feeding, grooming, taming, training, recognising signs of discomfort, etc. You can befriend wild animals by offering food and passing a WIT save, and domesticated animals by offering food or passing a WIT save. Befriended animals follow you until the end of the watch or you leave the area where they live. You can’t befriend hostile animals, and you can only be accompanied by one befriended animal at a time.

Apothecary. You can craft medicinal substances, such as antidote, cure-all, darkroot, healing draught, madcap mushroom, medicine box, and all kinds of poison. This requires suitable ingredients and apothecary tools. Creating a single dose takes only a stretch of time, but ingredients are rare. It takes a watch to gather them in the wilderness (if they are locally present), or to find them for sale in a settlement (they are worth ¼ the value of the end product).

Augury. You can spend a stretch to consult the entrails of a dead medium-sized animal to gain an omen. Sometimes, the entrails might provide an useful piece of information, at the GM’s discretion.

Bargain. If the buyer has this skill and the seller doesn’t, goods are sold at half price. You are able to estimate the value of most items just by examining them.

Battle frenzy. You can become frenzied by spending a main action, or immediately when you suffer damage. The condition lasts until all enemies have been defeated. You can spend a main action to try to calm yourself by passing a WIT save. While you are frenzied, you recover 1 health for each enemy you kill.

Blather. You are able to speak endless strings of nonsense, leaving others dumbfounded. Reduce difficulty when distracting and taunting people.

Boatmanship. You count as two people when rowing a boat and know how to sail. When you forage, on a fish result you find an additional ration, even if you don’t have fishing tools.

Bravery. You are immune to fear and treat terror as fear

Brawling. Your unarmed attacks are not impaired and inflict d6 damage. Your armour value is increased by 1 against unarmed attacks.

Burglary. Reduce difficulty when opening a lock, do it without tools (crowbar or lock picks), do it silently, or do it in only a round. You can react to all traps you trigger, even if you weren’t aware of them.

Bushcraft. Pass a WIT save to ignore the movement penalty when travelling between sectors or regions without following a path. If you have navigation tools, you pass automatically. You can sleep in the wilderness without a camping kit. When you forage, you roll twice on the foraging table and apply both results.

Charm. Reduce difficulty when befriending or persuading people. If you spend a stretch chatting or observing someone, you can estimate if they are bribable and how much they might want.

Cleave. When you inflict critical damage or kill a target with a melee attack, you can immediately attack another target with the same weapon. You can do this at most once per turn, and not while countering.

Climb. Reduce difficulty or sprint while climbing. Your attacks aren’t impaired while climbing.

Contortionist. Your joints are extremely flexible and you can bend your body in absurd shapes. You can squeeze through small openings and easily escape bonds.

Craft. You can repair items without a toolbox or without having to pass a save to succeed You can craft non-consumable items, such as weapons, armour, and vehicles. This takes a watch and requires raw materials worth ¼ of the item and a workshop with all the necessary tools and equipment. Crafting items with the durability keyword takes one watch every 2 points of durability.

Disarm. Targets of your disarm attacks can’t resist with a STR save unless they also have this skill. You can only be disarmed by characters with this skill.

Disease resistance. You develop an immunity to all diseases you recover from and can’t contract them again. Keep track of the diseases you are immune to.

Divination. If you have divination tools, you can spend an omen and a stretch of time to ask a question pertaining your current situation. The GM describes a vision giving you a cryptic answer. There is a 1:4 chance that the vision is wrong or misleading, rolled secretly by the GM.

Dodge blows. You can dodge for free, without spending your turn, once per round.

Drive carts. Reduce difficulty while driving a cart. When your cart makes a full movement in combat, you can still use your main action to attack, but only after the movement is completed.

Erudition. You can read, write, and perform advanced calculations. You can speak and understand Classic, the language of scholars and the Church. You are an expert in all manners of academic lore: history, geography, beasts, plants, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, etc. The GM might give you additional information when it makes sense.

Faith. You can read and write. You can speak and understand Classic, the language of scholars and the Church. You can invoke sacred powers.

Fast strike. When you counter an attack or your attack is countered you always hit first unless your opponent also has this skill.

Fire eating. You can consume alcoholic drink and spit it through an open flame, such as a lit torch, to make a melee blast attack inflicting d4 fire damage. You reduce incoming fire damage by 1.

Fleet footed. When you sprint, you can move by an additional zone. You must only make an AGI save to sprint every two rounds (at the start of the 3rd, 5th, 7th…​ rounds). You can freely dodge attacks of opportunity without needing to spend your turn.

Frugal. You don’t reduce abilities when you can’t satisfy needs during a day rest. However, you still have to satisfy them all in order to heal and recover mana. You pay half for lodging, since you have very low standards.

Gossip. You might hear interesting rumours when taking a day rest or full rest in a settlement. The GM decides what you hear, and it isn’t necessarily true. You can easily find contacts, even illegal ones such as fences, by spending a watch asking around for information.

Heal. When you use a medicine box: heal half STR in a stretch, or d8 damage (up to half STR) as a main action. When you use surgery tools, you are automatically successful without needing to pass a WIT save.

Hunt. Reduce difficulty when following trails. When you forage, on a small game result you find an additional ration, even if you don’t have trapping tools.

Incorruptible. You heal 1 corruption on a day rest and all corruption on a full rest.

Intimidate. Reduce difficulty when intimidating or torturing.

Languages. You can read and write. Each time you encounter a new language in your adventures there is chance you actually know it: 1:2 for common languages, 1:4 for dead or remote languages. Keep track of the languages you can speak.

Leadership. Reduce difficulty while inspiring and keeping the loyalty of followers. Once per stretch, as a main action, you can rally all frightened and terrified allies within range 2. They make a group WIT save and those who succeed recover immediately.

Luck. Your maximum omens are increased by 1. When you use an omen, there is a 1:4 chance it isn’t actually spent. When choosing the target of an indiscriminate effect, such as a trap or a monster ambush, the GM might prioritise other characters over you.

Magic sense. You can spend a stretch in meditation to sense the presence of magic phenomena (ongoing powers, demons, magical creatures, etc.) in your zone or in your sector (your choice). You can only detect if any magic phenomena is present in the area, but can’t count them, locate them, or determine their nature.

Magic shield. You can use an ancient esoteric technique to erect a magic shield around you. Activating or deactivating it takes a stretch spent in meditation, and it deactivates automatically if you are incapacitated or fall asleep. Profane powers have a 1:2 chance of not working on you, no matter if harmful or beneficial. Other targets aren’t protected and sacred powers aren’t affected. Sorcerers can spend 1 enhancement point to ignore the shield.

Medicine. You can read and write. You can speak and understand Classic, the language of scholars and the Church. You can diagnose poison and disease by spending a round examining a victim. After diagnosing, you can instruct someone with the apothecary skill to create a bespoke antidote or cure-all which always works against that specific poison or disease.

Monster slaying. You inflict double damage against targets with larger size than you.

Music. You know how to sing and play music instruments. During a day rest you can play an inspiring song for your party: all companions have a 1:4 chance of recovering 1 spent omen.

Pack rat. Your carry limit are increased by 2: you can carry up to 10 bulk unencumbered, and up to 20 encumbered. This also changes how heavy it is to carry you!

Piercing strike. If you roll higher than the target’s armour value with an attack you ignore armour and inflict full damage. If you roll equal or lower, you inflict no damage as usual. This skill doesn’t work in situations where you are required to pass a WIT save to hit.

Play games. You can learn to play games quickly: after you have played a game, you can’t be beaten by others unless they also have this skill. You know how to cheat: your cheating attempts are always successful unless your opponents are paying close attention to you. People might still get suspicious if you win too much.

Poison resistance. You are resistant to alcohol, poisons, and drugs. You ignore the first dose taken within a stretch: it has no effect. You can resist a second dose with a STR save, and a third dose works automatically.

Protect. You can guard for free, without spending your turn, any number of times.

Quick draw. You can equip and unequip any number of items held in hand as a single bonus action.

Ride. Reduce difficulty while riding a tamed beast, ride without a saddle, or ride an untamed beast. When your mount makes a full movement in combat, you can still use your main action to attack, but only after the movement is completed.

Shield mastery. When you hold a shield, your armour value is increased by 1 against all attacks, not just if you react or are countered. If you are unaware of the attack, however, your shield still doesn’t protect you.

Skilled blow. You improve the damage die of melee attacks (but not unarmed attacks): d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12. You can’t improve a d12. In case of blast attacks only one target takes increased damage.

Skilled shot. You improve the damage die of ranged attacks: d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12. You can’t improve a d12. In case of blast attacks only one target takes increased damage.

Sneak attack. You always inflict d12 damage when you attack unaware targets, no matter what weapons you use or if you are unarmed. Unarmed attacks are still impaired.

Sorcery. You can read and write. You can speak and understand Magick, the language used to invoke profane powers. This language is too convoluted to be used to communicate, but is essential to use magic. You can invoke profane powers. You can increase your maximum mana by 1 instead of taking a normal advancement, up to 6 at most.

Steady aim. You double the range of ranged attacks.

Steal. Reduce difficulty while stealing, or attempt to steal an item with bulk 1 instead of ½.

Stealth. Reduce difficulty or sprint while sneaking. When your group is detected by another group, make an AGI save: if you pass you still managed to conceal yourself.

Strike to injure. When you inflict critical damage, you may choose to injure or kill the target. You choose what injury to apply instead of rolling on the table (it must still make somewhat sense), and you may choose that it is permanent rather than temporary.

Strike to stun. When you attack with a blunt weapon (a cudgel, the pommel of a sword, a rock…​) you may choose to inflict no damage. You must still roll the damage die and compare the result with their current health. If damage beats or exceeds half the target’s health, they are incapacitated until the end of the stretch. if damage beats or exceeds the target’s entire health, they are incapacitated until the end of the watch.

Swim. Reduce difficulty or sprint while swimming. Your attacks aren’t impaired while in water. You can hold your breath for twice as long.

Tough. Your maximum health, and the threshold for instant death, are increased by 2 (they equal your STR plus 2).

Wrestling. Targets of your grapple attacks can’t resist with a STR save unless they also have this skill. You can only be grappled by characters with this skill.