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Plysical Skills
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Social Skills
Nature Skills
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Knowledge Skills
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Craft Skills
Alchemy
The ancient art of alchemy allows you to analyze and create wondrous tinctures and substances like high-quality glass, porcelain, and paints and enamels. To create elixirs and potions, an alchemist needs a formula, a laboratory, and ingredients, which are often hard to come by. Many alchemists are viewed with suspicion out of fear that they might produce toxic clouds and horrendous smells or set their laboratory ablaze during crazy experiments. …
Animal Lore
When dealing with animals (whether breeding, training, or hunting them), you need knowledge about their behavior, anatomy, and diet. You can judge unknown animals by comparing them to ones you know well. For water creatures, use the skill Fishing instead. …
Artistic Ability
You use this skill to draw a suspect’s face, create a painting, or carve a small wooden or clay figure. …
Astronomy
This skill covers the observation and cataloging of heavenly phenomena, as well as using the stars for navigation, making calendars, and chronometry (measuring time). This skill also covers the related practice of astrology. …
Body Control
Use Body Control to jump far, sprint fast, roll after a fall, balance on a tightrope, or push your body to its limits. Also covers acrobatic actions, athletic challenges, and escaping from ropes, nets, or tentacles. Playing very competitive sports, such as imman, is a complex use of Body Control. …
Carousing
Aventurians commonly consume alcohol when celebrating, toasting a contract, playing drinking games, and for many other reasons. The beverage might be wine, fermented milk, ale, or brandy. You can use this skill for all other kinds of intoxicants as well. To avoid losing self-control in public or suffering a bad hangover, which in Aventuria is called a ‘wolf’ (or sometimes a ‘werewolf,’ in the worst cases), make a check using Carousing (Resist Drug Intoxication). …
Climbing
A hero who wants to climb a castle wall or a steep cliff must make a Climbing check. Failed checks don’t automatically lead to falls; they can mean the hero didn’t dare begin the climb, suffered an injury, or simply took much longer to reach the destination. …
Clothworking
Employ this skill to spin, weave, make felt, crochet, knit, or otherwise produce textiles and sew clothes. Mending a shirt or sewing a simple cape requires at most a simple check, but sewing a ball gown or spinning silk can be much more difficult. The skill can also be used to dye cloth (note that the dye itself is produced using Alchemy). …
Commerce
To strike a good deal, you must know the market and have an idea of where to buy low and sell high. It’s also necessary to get your goods from one place to another cheaply and safely. In addition, this skill covers the correct use of foreign currency, dealing with tolls, taxes, and exchange rates, lending money with interest, managing money, and haggling. …
Dancing
Whether attending a formal ball at the Imperial Court, a Witches’ Night, or a humble peasant celebration, it is useful to know how to dance. Make a check with this skill when performing complicated group and pair dances (though one could manage to take part in a Punin polonaise even if thoroughly drunk). …
Disguise
In some situations, it can be helpful to appear to be someone else. Maybe an adventurer being sought by the guard wants to pass the city gate dressed as a beggar, or a thief wants to pretend to be a count’s son at a banquet in order to steal a tiara. To keep up a deception, the hero must make a Disguise (Costuming) check. Disguise encompasses not only the disguise itself but also the necessary gestures and facial expressions. …
Driving
From donkey carts to chariots, this skill allows you to control all kinds of animal- or human-pulled vehicles. Vehicles whose operation is beyond most common people are deemed complex; their operation requires a trade secret (see page 219). …
Earthencraft
To shape stone for practical use, you must split, hew, and grind it. Alternately, you might even use the secret dwarven art of stone founding. If you want to create a Fjarning’s stone blade or a gargoyle for a temple’s roof or a castle’s wall, you use the skill Earthencraft. …
Empathy
Empathy is not an automatic lie detector, but it does help characters gain a sense of other people’s motivations or deceptions. Is the caravan leader steering me into an ambush because she’s in cahoots with a robber gang? Is the baroness secretly poor, even though she claims otherwise? Is the alchemist’s elixir as good as she says, even though she seems to be trying to suppress a laugh? …
Etiquette
Adventurers granted the honor of standing in the company of important dignitaries or nobles must mind their manners. Heroes who behave badly at court soon find themselves tossed out the castle gate or locked in the dungeon. …
Fast-Talk
A silver tongue, quick wit, cogent arguments, and teasing are all traits of a fast-talking character. This skill is often used to lie and ‘sweet talk’ people. Heroes don’t often need to beg, but you may use a check with Fast-Talk (Begging) to convince a patrician to throw some halers into an unfortunate’s alms purse. Some rowdy fighters use provocation to win easy money by goading weaker opponents into fighting against their better judgment. …
Feat of Strength
Sometimes heroes must kick open doors, prove themselves by arm-wrestling Thorwalers, or lift heavy weights. Use Feat of Strength for all such tasks. …
Fishing
A successful Fishing check means that you catch edible fish or other aquatic creatures. The size of the catch depends on the surroundings and the method (you can catch more fish faster with nets and weirs than with fish hooks and bait). …
Flying
Make a Flying check to actively control a flying instrument like a witch’s broom or a magic carpet, and even guide it, for example, through a narrow urban canyon or an open window. This skill also applies to flying mounts, flying demons, or other creatures that can move the hero through the air. Most heroes won’t need to make checks with this skill too often, but witches who fly brooms probably will. Complex flying instruments include magic carpets, which require a magic word or a certain gesture to activate. …
Gambling
This skill covers not only rules knowledge for various board, card, and dice games, but also playing techniques, strategies, winning combinations, and probabilities. For games other than solitaire, you must make a competitive check against the Gambling skill of the other characters to determine a winner. Complex games must be learned as a trade secret (see page 219). …
Geography
When traveling, it’s helpful to have an idea of what the world looks like in places you’ve never visited. You can use Geography to find your way to a destination, identify passes and safe fords, or estimate a journey’s length and the dangers it might pose. You can also understand and use maps with this skill. …
History
The history of Aventuria can be traced back thousands of years. Old texts, stories, and songs seem to stretch back even further into the past. You amass your own knowledge of history with this skill. …
Intimidation
With this skill, you can threaten, berate, or insult another person to induce fear or obtain information. A duelist can try to frighten an opponent into surrendering or making an error. An orc chieftain might not be as powerful as he looks, but if he makes the right threats, his rivals might not stand up to him at all. Use Intimidation to interrogate someone when Fast-Talk proves too mild a form of persuasion. …
Law
Each region and people has its own justice system. To know the law in different cities, realms, guilds, and Churches, and to use them to your advantage, you need this skill. …
Leatherworking
This skill encompasses the entire process of leather craft from skinning the animal to fashioning a complete cowhide boot. The hide must be flayed, cleaned, cured, dyed, cut, and then sown together. You are just as effective with animal furs, which are often quite valuable. …
Magical Lore
Magic is not common in Aventuria. Recognizing a spell by its gestures or effects alone is a science, as is understanding the functions of magical artifacts or reading the complex patterns of ley lines. …
Math
To determine the interest for a loan, calculate the launching angle for a catapult, or find the surface area of a temple’s dome, you need the skill Math. …
Mechanics
This skill covers basic knowledge of mechanical laws and their uses, including, for example, lever principles, friction and inclined planes, pulleys, cogwheels, and gears. Checks using Mechanics can help when designing traps, catapults, and music boxes, but the actual work requires other skills (such as Woodworking or Metalworking). The application Complicated Systems covers clockworks and similar mechanisms, while Hydraulics covers pumps and water-driven systems. Levers includes all other types of mechanisms. …
Metalworking
This skill covers the smelting, casting, and forging of ore, as well as casting in bronze, working iron and steel, and producing delicate filigree work with gold and other precious metals. …
Music
If you want to earn some silverthalers in a tavern or simply pass some time, it can be useful to know how to play a musical instrument. Music is an especially important means of communication in elven culture. …
Myths & Legends
The peoples of Aventuria tell many stories, fairy tales, and legends about the past, and many of these tales hold kernels of truth. This skill is necessary to recall these stories and legends. You can also use Myths & Legends to tell a story (for example, a storyteller who wants to enthrall an audience with a telling of a beautiful fairy tale would draw upon this skill). …
Orienting
Orienting allows an adventurer to navigate outdoors using the position of the sun, moss growth, the night sky, and other indicators. Orienting is of little worth in cities. A hero might use it there to determine cardinal directions, but must make a Streetwise check to discern which routes are the shortest and which lead to dead-ends. …
Perception
The skill Perception covers all situations that involve the five physical senses. Failed checks could mean that heroes haven’t noticed anything or else misinterpreted what they did notice. The GM may roll Perception checks for players to find out if their heroes perceive a hidden person or a secret detail without revealing that they missed something because of a failed check. Searching a room is purposeful, whereas spotting something is intuitive. Checks with this skill should be rolled as a hidden check (see page 384). If you use your tactile sense, make the roll using SGC/INT/DEX instead. …
Persuasion
This skill is important for all Blessed Ones, especially for priests with a strong drive to evangelize. It allows you to influence people and helps convince them of your opinion or viewpoint. In conversation, a Blessed One can appear totally devoted to a person and at the same time raise serious questions about faith and sow doubts. …
Pick Locks
This skill comes in handy when you would rather not force a door or break through a wall. Complex or rusty locks can incur heavy penalties, while using appropriate lock-picks instead of simple hairpins grants a bonus. Mechanical traps can also be defeated with this skill, but if you fail such a check, the trap is sprung. The application Bit Locks covers all locks that use a standard key with a bit, while Combination Locks covers safes and the like. …
Pickpocket
This skill allows a character to steal small items such as purses, keys, or amulets, or cut holes in moneybags without getting caught. There are several ways to use this skill. The common pickpocket typically steals from people by taking their money pouches, and the burglar steals items from drawers, dressers, or other containers. Distractions are important for a pickpocket. This skill also allows a character to slip an item to somebody else without being noticed. Crowded areas and money pouches worn openly at the belt may grant bonuses to the check, while alert guards and several layers of clothing might make picking pockets more difficult. The check is always made as a competitive check using Pickpocket (application depending on the action) against the victim’s Perception (Spot). Note that a check using Perception (Spot) may suffer penalties due to distractions, crowds, and noise, or receive bonuses for high alertness or quiet surroundings. …
Plant Lore
This skill is used to identify plants, determine the proper amount of sunlight and water for their cultivation, and find the most productive spot for harvesting healing herbs. It also covers uses of plants as poison, antidotes, food, or dyes. You can find and process useful plants with a successful check. You also know how to grow and process wheat, grapes (for wine), and other crops. …
Prepare Food
It’s not difficult to create something edible from good ingredients, but you need this skill to serve guests really fine meals. Prepare Food can be used to fry, bake, and even cure food. You also possess all the know-how to produce alcoholic beverages. …
Religions
In a world where gods are real and their servants can perform miracles, knowledge about Alveranians, demigods, and their emissaries can be more valuable than gold. This is especially true for Blessed Ones, who must know the lives of saints along with the proper rituals and prayers. This skill also covers knowledge of philosophy and strange schools of thought. …
Riding
To guide a mount, and not simply hold on for dear life while it runs, you need the skill Riding. Riding slowly, without a specific direction in mind, requires no check. If you want the animal to canter, gallop, spin around, or kick and bite, you must make a skill check. Complex uses of this skill involve riding extremely unusual mounts, such as war boars or giant horned saurians. …
Ropes
This skill covers knowledge of different knots and lets you splice ropes and tie nets. In addition, you can use this skill to bind prisoners securely. To free yourself from bindings, use Body Control (Squirm) or Feat of Strength (Dragging & Pulling). To free someone else from ropes while bound yourself, you need either a sharp edge or Body Control (Squirm). …
Sailing
This skill is critical to travel the rivers, lakes, and oceans in boats, from the smallest cockleshell to the largest cog. This skill covers everything from rowing and towing to dealing with rigging and small repairs, and even the use of the compass and bathometer. Controlling a ship is a complex task that requires trade secrets (see page 219). …
Seduction
Seduction is the art of using charisma and good looks to get somebody to do what you want, even if just temporarily. Flirting creates a brief advantage by, for example, convincing a guard to turn a blind eye. Of course, this doesn’t mean that every use of Seduction is necessarily an invitation for passionate romance. …
Self-Control
The skill Self-Control allows heroes to resist great physical pain, whether due to wounds or forced marches, and also to ignore distractions. A mage can concentrate on casting combat spells and ignore the goblins throwing rocks at him, for example. For more information about Pain and other conditions, see Chapter 2: Basic Rules on page 31. …
Singing
A beautiful voice can help with Singing, but with the right training, anybody can sing a tune, be it a heroic epic, a song of praise in the temple, or a lullaby. …
Sphere Lore
This skill deals with the secretive places beyond Dere, specifically the Seven Spheres. These include Limbo (the gray swirling spaces between the Spheres) and also things like demonic creatures of the Seventh Sphere, the pathways into the Realm of the Dead, the elemental lords of the Second Sphere, and Globules. …
Stealth
Sneaking up on somebody or hiding requires Stealth. Apply bonuses for darkness, dark clothing, and good cover, and also for noise or distractions. Alert guards and creaky floors make hiding and sneaking more difficult. Remember that even a master of stealth cannot hide in an empty, well-lit room. …
Streetwise
Streetwise reflects the experience to make your way through seedy neighborhoods, find the right contacts, and locate a cheap place to sleep for a night. In most cases, this knowledge also applies to cities an adventurer has never visited. …
Survival
Survival encompasses all the important skills you need to survive in the wilderness that are not explicitly covered by other Nature Skills. These include how to find a suitable place to camp, prepare and build a sleeping place, and gather firewood to make a fire. You can also use Survival to try to predict the weather for the next few hours or days, to potentially avoid a deluge or sandstorm. …
Swimming
Swimming quickly from one place to another, diving into water, dragging somebody out of the water, or fighting under water requires a Swimming check. Strong currents and other adverse conditions could make the task more difficult. …