A character’s Skills are a set of categories and associated ranks that reflect a character’s ability to perform certain actions. The ranks reflect the character’s experience, training, and overall ability to perform these various actions. Skills are either trained or untrained. Each trained skill has a corresponding Skill Ranks, which has an associated value from 0 to 5, which reflects how capable the character is at utilizing that skill. Each skill has one or more Governing Characteristics: a set of characteristics that reflect the different ways that a character can utilize a single skill.
When a character makes a Skill Test, they apply a bonus equal to +10 times the value of their skill rank (starting at +0 for Novice [rank 0], and up to +50 at Master [rank 5]) to the base characteristic. Typically the player chooses which characteristic to use as the base, but the GM may require that they must use a particular characteristic if they feel the circumstances dictate it. If a character attempts to use a skill that is untrained instead of trained, the test suffers a -20 penalty instead.
Specializations
Skill Types
There are two types of skills, Standard Skills and Field Skills. Standard skills function as described above, but field skills are different and can be identified by the “[Field]” in their name. Field skills are collections of related skills that all function independently as standard skills. For example: Profession [Smithing] and Profession [Medicine] function as separate skills that must be trained and ranked up independently. Both skills have their own separate skill rank, though they function similarly because they share the same “parent” skill. Sometimes the fields will share governing characteristics, but sometimes each will have its own.
Learning and Advancing Skills
The XP cost to learn a skill (upgrade it to trained, Novice rank) is 100 XP. From then on, the cost to advance to the desired rank varies. Skill ranks are advanced in order.
Favored Skills
A character’s favored skills are those skills that are governed by at least one of the character’s Favored Characteristics. Favored skills cost 75% of the usual XP to advance in rank or gain a specialization in (round down to the nearest multiple of 5).
Skills Descriptions
This section gives an overview of each skill, what it represents, its governing characteristics (listed in parentheses), and some common applications.
Skills
| Skill | Governing Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Acrobatics | Str, Ag |
| Alchemy | Int |
| Alteration | Wp |
| Athletics | Str, End |
| Combat Style [Field] | Str, Ag |
| Command | Str, Int, Prs |
| Commerce | Int, Prs |
| Conjuration | Wp |
| Deceive | Int, Prs |
| Destruction | Wp |
| Enchant | Int |
| Evade | Ag |
| Illusion | Wp, Prc |
| Investigate | Int, Prc |
| Logic | Int, Prc |
| Lore | Int |
| Mysticism | Wp |
| Navigate | Int, Prc |
| Necromancy | Wp |
| Observe | Prc |
| Persuade | Str, Prs |
| Profession [Field] | Varies |
| Restoration | Wp |
| Ride | Ag |
| Stealth | Ag, Prc |
| Subterfuge | Ag, Int |
| Survival | Int, Prc |
Standard Skills
- Acrobatics
- Alchemy
- Athletics
- Combat Style [Field]
- Command
- Commerce
- Deceive
- Enchant
- Evade
- Investigate
- Logic
- Lore
- Navigate
- Observe
- Persuade
- Profession [Field]
- Ride
- Stealth
- Subterfuge
- Survival
Spellcasting Skills
The skills in this section are used when casting spells from their respective Spell Schools. See Casting Spells for more information about casting spells. Adding specializations to spellcasting skills is more specific than in the standard skills. Characters who wish to add a specialization to a spellcasting school may choose a conventional or unconventional spell that they know to specialize in. When any level of that spell is cast, standard rules for Specializations apply.