Skills

Skills are specific techniques you have practiced to help achieve your goals. Skills may be used for many things, such as combat, exploration, travel, and interacting with NPCs. All skills have a type, a target, and tags, which describe how the skill may be used. Most skills have effects that describe what they do when used, and a type of defense which they may cost or grant.

Type

Each skill has a type that describes how long it takes to use. There are five types of skills: actions, maneuvers, reactions, passives, and others.

Actions

Actions are often a character’s most powerful skills, including most attacks against enemies and skills to support allies. You may only use one action on your turn. Actions may benefit from your agility, brawn, and/or cunning, depending on the action’s target. After you use an action, or use a maneuver instead of your action, all temporary conditions are removed from you.

Maneuvers

Maneuvers are faster skills that let you move around the battlefield. You may only use one maneuver each turn. You can use a second maneuver instead of your action, but if you do, you become heedless after the second maneuver. You may move a number of paces up to your agility as part of any maneuver that isn’t slow, but not maneuvers that are slow. Using a maneuver in an enemy’s zone of control risks being hindered, unless it it careful. Your cannot use an action in the middle of a maneuver, or vice-versa.

Reactions

You can use a reaction at any time, even during another character’s turn and interrupting another a skill. However, all reactions have a trigger, which must be met before the reaction can be used. You can use reactions as often as their triggers are met, but only once per triggering event. There is no limit to the number of reactions you may use in a round.

Passives

Passive skills are always in effect; you always receives their benefits when you have them in your fighting style.

Other

Other skills take more than one turn, and will specify how long they take to complete. You must concentrate on the skill for the duration in order to complete the skill. If your are interrupted, then nothing happens, and any resources spent on the skill are not consumed.

Targets

All non-passive skills have a target, which describes who or what is affected by the skill. You must be able to see the target(s) of a skill, with the exception of blast skills and skills that only target yourself. You must choose the target of a skill before any effects, costs, or attacks come into effect. Some skills also have specific rules that tell you who they target.

Utility

Utility skills are the broadest category of skills, and usually aid you and your allies. You can normally target yourself with utility skills, and you are always the target of a personal utility skill. Unless stated otherwise, utility skills caan affect enemies, but utility skills are never attacks.

When you use a utility action (but not maneuvers or reactions), roll 2d8. Each boon or bane the skill has adjusts the number of these dice. Each die that rolls equal to or below your cunning earns you a cunning effect, in addition to the skills other effects! The total of this roll isn’t normally used.

Attacks

An attack skill lets you wear down your target’s defenses and ultimately defeat them. In addition to the usual features of a skill, all attacks have a threat and a yield, which the target must choose between. If an attack targets multiple different characters, then each may independently choose how to respond, and each must choose their response before resolving any outcomes. See the defending section for details on what to do when you are attacked. You can’t normally attack yourself, but you might if you include yourself in a blast.

Threat

The threat of the attack represents how difficult an attack is to avoid. Each attack lists it’s base threat, and you add your agility to that threat do determine the total threat your target must contend with. You must take an attack’s threat as damage to your choice of poise, momentum, or focus if you want to avoid that attack’s yield, as detailed in the defending section.

Yield

An attack’s yield describes what the attack does if it is not defended against. Each attack has a damage type (poise, momentum, or focus) and damage dice that you roll if the target yields. Add together all the dice to determine the amount of damage you do with the attack. If it is a melee or thrown attack, also add your brawn to this damage. The target’s armor reduces the damage they take from an attack’s yield.

Furthermore, compare each individual die to your cunning. Each die that rolls equal to or below your cunning earns you a cunning effect, in addition to the yield’s other effects!

Personal

You are always considered the target of your personal skills. Other characters can be incidentally affected by your personal skills, but they are never considered a target.

Melee

Your melee skills can target one character within one pace of you. You can target yourself with melee utility skills, but not attacks. Add your brawn to the yield damage of melee attacks.

Ranged

A ranged skill will specify a maximum range, such as “Ranged: 10”. This range is increased by your cunning. A ranged skill can target one character within this maximum range. Using a ranged skill in an enemy’s zone of control let’s that enemy impose a bane on the skill.

Line

A line skill targets any area or character between two points. Many line skills will start from an area within one pace of you and extend outward to a specified range. Line skills require precision, and fail to target a character that you can’t see, even if the line passes though their area.

Blast

A blast is a sphere that spreads out from the center a number of paces specified by the skill. For example, a two-pace blast would include the center of the area as well as anything within two paces of the center. The skill targets each character in the area, even yourself and characters that you can’t see. Blasts cannot normally go through walls, but can spread around them.

A blast can be central, point-blank, or within range.

Defense

A skill may list a type of defense that it grants or costs when used. A positive number grants you that of defense. If you can’t currently gain that type of defense, for example if you are knocked-down and trying to gain momentum, then you may still use the skill but you gain no defense from it.

A negative number means that the skill costs defense, which you must pay before you can use the skill. This cost is unaffected by your armor. If you can’t pay the cost, then you can’t use the skill. You may invoke a final gambit to use a skill without paying its defense cost, but doing so leaves you drained of energy and automatically defeated afterwards.

A skill’s defense type also determines how it interacts with some conditions, like kneeling, distracted, and unbalanced.

Effects

A skill’s effects describe what it actually does when you use it. Most skills have effects, except for some straightforward attacks. Effects of a skill are not optional, they happen weather you want them to or not. However, some effects may offer you a choice. The effects of a skill always take place after pay or gaining the skill’s defense, but before any other outcomes are resolved.

Concentration

Some skills require your concentration to maintain their effects. While you’re concentrating on a skill, you may release your concentration any time on an ally’s turn, including your own, but not on an enemy’s.

Concentrating on a skill doesn’t come with any inherent cost or penalty. However, you can only concentrate on one skill at a time. If you use a second concentration skill while you are already concentrating on another one, then you must either release your concentration on the first skill or ignore the concentration effects of the second skill.

Interrupting

Some effects will let you interrupt a character who is concentrating on a skill. In particular, interrupting your target’s concentration is always an option for a cunning-effect. Your concentration is automatically interrupted on one of your weapon’s skills if you stop holding the weapon for any reason.
When you interrupt a character, any effects they were concentrating on immediately end. Some concentration effects are automatically interrupted when specific events come to pass, and some skills might do something special when they are interrupted.

Cunning Effects

For each of your skill’s dice that roll below your cunning, you have earned a cunning effect! The type of cunning effects you may add to the skill depend on the skill’s skill-tags, and will usually offer you a choice. For example, a water cunning effect can either make the target wet or remove a condition from them. If your skill has multiple tags with cunning effects, you can choose any of those options, but only one effect per successful roll. Other effects may also offer you unique options for cunning effects, which you may choose instead of cunning effects from the skill’s tags. You can also interrupt your target’s concentration as a cunning effect.

If your skill earns three or more cunning effects, then each successful die after the second earns you a critical effect! The GM will describe what extraordinary effect your skill achieves. Skill rolls can’t result in critical fumbles.

Universal Skills

A universal skill is available to any character at any time, regardless of equipped weapons or fighting styles. There are 10 universal skills:

ActInteractDashShiftDefendKickGrabFeintShout OutSprint

Skill Tags WIP

A skill’s tags may describe many things about the skill, included where it comes from, how it may be used, and what it does when used. A skills tags tell you which classes can learn the skill and how. Many tags also grant options for cunning effects to actions that have the tag. A complete glossary of skill tags can be found below, and you should refer back to this list when necessary.

Careful

A careful maneuver cannot be hindered, and a careful ranged skill does not suffer a bane from enemy zones of control.

Slow

A slow maneuver doesn’t give you any bonus movement from your agility. If the skill has any movement of its own, you can still move with that.

Bare-handed

A bare-handed skill requires the use of one free hand, and typically can’t be used while wielding a separate weapon in each hand. A bare-handed skill may be used while wielding one two-handed weapon, but you cannot use a bare-handed skill while concentrating on a two-handed weapon’s skill and vice versa.

Cunning: The target becomes grabbed while you concentrate, you take one of the target’s weapons, or you remove a non-persistent condition from the target.

Slashing

A slashing skill slices with a keen edge.

Cunning: Deal +2 poise damage and you may move two paces, or the target becomes unbalanced.

Piercing

A piercing skill stabs with an impaling point.

Cunning: +2 focus damage and ignore the target’s armor, or the target becomes bleeding.

Blunt

A blunt skill smashes with brute force.

Cunning: +2 momentum damage and shove the target two paces away from you, or the target becomes kneeling.

Lightning

A lightning skill wields the elemental power of electricity.

Cunning: Disarm the target, or the target becomes shocked.

Ice

A ice skill wields the elemental power of frost.

Cunning: The target becomes chilled or weakened.

Fire

A fire skill wields the elemental power of flame.

Cunning: The target becomes burning or blinded.

Air

An air skill wields the elemental power of the winds.

Cunning: the target becomes vortexed, choking, or evasive.

Water

A water skill wields the elemental power of water.

Cunning: The target becomes wet, or you remove a non-persistent condition from the target.

Earth

An earth skill wields the elemental power of stone.

Cunning: The target becomes petrified, guarded, or unbalanced.

Caustic

A caustic skill wields the elemental power of acid.

Cunning: The target becomes corroding or wracked.

Oil

An oil skill wields the elemental power of grease.

Cunning: The target becomes oiled, evasive, or fumbling.

Holy

A holy skill wields the righteous power of the divine.

Cunning: Either you or the target becomes blessed or guarded.

Unholy

An unholy skill wields the wicked power of the dammed.

Cunning: Either you or the target becomes cursed or defenseless.

Plant

A plant skill wields the natural power of flora.

Cunning: The target becomes restrained or guarded.

Companion

A companion skill relies on the bond between a character and their loyal companion.

Cunning: Your companion can use an additional maneuver this turn or it becomes empowered.

Mental

A mental skill manipulates a character’s mind.

Cunning: Either you or the target becomes distracted or honed.

Sight

A sight skill relies on bright light or visual patterns for it’s effect. A light skill is ineffective on a blinded character, and a blinded character may be unable to use certain light skills at the GM’s discretion.

Cunning: Either you or the target becomes blinded or guarded.

Sound

A sound skill relies on shouting, music, or other noise for it’s effect. A sound skill is ineffective on a deafened character, and a deafened or choking character may be unable to use certain sound skills at the GM’s discretion.

Cunning: Either you or the target becomes deafened or empowered.

Bonus

When you ready a skill as a bonus skill, it doesn’t count against the total number of skills you can have readied in your fighting style.

Thrown

A thrown skill involves throwing your weapon or item at the target. Your weapon or item lands at a place within one pace of target determined by the GM. If the skill is an attack, add your brawn to the yield damage.

Unblockable

The target of an unblockable attack can’t use momentum to defend against the attack. They must either dodge, predict, or yield the attack. A minion must yield to an unblockable attack.

Undodgeable

The target of an undodgeable attack can’t use poise to defend against the attack. They must either block, predict, or yield the attack. A minion must yield to an undodgeable attack.

Unpredictable

The target of an unpredictable attack can’t use focus to defend against the attack. They must either block, dodge, or yield the attack. A minion must yield to an unpredictable attack.

Stealthy

A stealthy skill is relatively inconspicuous, and does not automatically reveal you if you are hidden. However, the GM will usually call for an agility roll to remain hidden even when using a stealthy skill.

Universal

A universal skill is available to any character at any time, regardless of equipped weapons or fighting styles. You may still be prevented from using universal skills by other effects, such as the restrained condition preventing you from dashing. The GM may rule that some universal skills are unavailable to certain characters, for example, a snake cannot reasonably use the kick skill.

Core

A core skill is the defining feature of a class, and is automatically included as a part of that classes fighting style. Core skills don’t count against the number of skills you can equip to your fighting style.

Basic

A basic skill is available to every member of a specific class, and does not need to be unlocked with experience.

Novice

A novice skill can be learned by any member of its class by spending experience. Novice skills are often straightforward, but nonetheless effective.

Expert

An expert skill is slightly more advanced than a novice skill. You must unlock a certain number of novice skills before you can move on to expert skills.

Expert

An expert skill is slightly more advanced than a novice skill. You must unlock a certain number of novice skills before you can move on to expert skills.

Master

A master skill is difficult to use, but can be extremely effective at the right moment. Master skills are only unlocked after you have mastered a certain number of expert skills.

Grandmaster

A grandmaster skill represents the pinnacle of your classes power. Such skill can only be achieved by those who have mastered a certain number of master skills.

Initiative

Imitative skills are used exclusive by assassins. Initiative skills grant, spend, or otherwise benefit from the assassins unique resource: initiative.

Berserk

Berserk skills are used exclusively by berserkers when they are berserking. When you first begin berserking and at the end of each of your turns while you’re berserking, you gain access to a randomly selected berserk skill from your fighting style.

Permanent

Once you have unlocked a permanent skill, it is available to you regardless of your fighting style.

Legendary

A legendary skill is unique to a legendary foe, a legendary item or a character’s personal legend.

Vulnerable

If you are vulnerable to a specific tag, then any attack with that tag gains a boon against you. Utility skills and attacks that aren’t actions are unaffected by vulnerability. If you are vulnerable to multiple tags, then each will add a boon to attacks targeting you. However, multiple sources of vulnerability to the same tag don’t add multiple boons.

Resistant

If you are resistant to a specific tag, then any attack with that tag suffers a bane against you. Utility skills and attacks that aren’t actions are unaffected by resistance. If you are resistant to multiple tags, then each will add a bane to attacks targeting you. However, multiple sources of resistance to the same tag don’t add multiple banes.

Immune

If you are immune to a condition, then that condition can’t be applied to you. If you are immune to a specific tag, then the threat of any any attack with that tag is reduced to 0 against you, allowing you to ignore that attack if you choose. In addition, the GM is granted a point of doom when you attack an enemy with a tag to which they are immune. Note that a character only needs to be immune to one of a skill’s tags, not all of them.

Ineffective

If a skill with a particular tag is ineffective on you, then you can’t be affected by the skill in any way, whether you want to be affected or not.