Skills
Skills in Midgard automatically scale to a character's level, at a rate dependent upon the character's Familiarity in a given skill. Your starting Profession dictates initial Familiarity for a handful of skills and these or other skills can be increased with skill points, which are given each level, and can be purchased with experience points.
Task Difficulty and Modifiers
Tasks which are not opposed by another skill or check have their difficulty rated by Rank, which correlates to a target number for your roll. Tasks are further modified by circumstance and what you're trying to attempt.
Difficulty Tier | Target Number
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Pedestrian | 5
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Basic | 10
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Apprentice | 15
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Journeyman | 20
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Master | 25
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Expert | 30
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Godly | 35 |
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The level-derived bonus of a skill before negatives or other bonuses are applied is referred to as your rank. A fourth level character with Skilled Healing has a +4 rank in Healing, for example.
Magic Skills
Several of the skills in Midgard are magical in nature, and describe a character's skill with the relevant sort of magic. A character's Familiarity with a given magic skill determines the highest Circle of spell the character has access to:
Skill Familiarity | Maximum Circle of Spells Character Can Cast
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Trained | 2nd
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Proficient | 3rd
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Skilled | 4th
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Focused | 5th |
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However, the Circle of spell a character can actually cast is limited by their character level. A character's rank determines the Power of their spells, regardless of Circle, as well as how well they can overcome resistance to their magic.
Combat Skills
Skills tagged as combat skills are used to make attacks. Which you use is dependent upon the sort of attack you are making, with most ranged weapons using accuracy, most melee weapons using Brawl, and most grappling maneuvers using Wrestling, though exceptions exist. Using a combat skill to make an attack is always an Attack action. Combat skills may allow other uses, which have their own action types. Combat skills are also used to defend yourself in combat, and which you use depends both on the circumstances and the weapon you are currently using, generally, though, the skill you last used to attack will be the skill you use to defend until you use a different skill to attack.
Knowledge Skills
Skills which are tagged as being knowledge skills indicate that a character who has any training in them also has basic knowledge of the topic the skill covers. In essence, they may roll the skill in question to know some fact about the subject.
- Pedestrian facts are information any adult might know, such as how to stop blood loss to prevent death (Healing).
- Basic facts are information which require specific exposure to the topic, but anyone with even a passing familiarity might know, such as the process for making a sword (Craft-Blacksmith).
- Apprentice facts are information which are known to people who have studied the topic such as the composition of Steel (Craft-Blacksmith)
- Journeyman facts are information only known to individuals fully trained in a topic, such as how to estimate time of death (Necromancy, Healing)
- Master facts are information which are typically only known to those who have practiced a related trade for most of their adult life, such as how to recognize the signs of active draugr (Necromancy).
- Expert facts are information which can only be readily recalled by someone who has devoted their lives to a given topic, such as the process for creating the legendary Philosopher's Stone (Transformation)
- Godly facts are information which is typically only known to the gods and other immortal races themselves, such as the recipe for the mead of the Asgard (Transformation).
If a character's Rank and modifier together are greater than the target number of a task, they automatically know it.
Might | Agility | Kenning | Wisdom | Presence
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Athletics | Accuracy | Binding | Divination | Handle Animal
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Brawl | Stealth | Craft | Heal | Necromancy
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Wrestling | Tumble | Disable | Naturalism | Negotiation
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-- | -- | Rigging | Perception | Skaldry
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-- | -- | Transformation | Runes | Trickery |
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Acquiring Skills
A character's ability with a skill is rated by their rank, which is a number dependent on level and the number of points a player spends on a given skill. There are four levels of Familiarity, and Untrained. A character who is untrained in a skill has a rank of +0, while a character who is Familiar with a skill has a rank related to their overall character level. Each level of Familiarity costs 1 point.
Familiarity | Rank
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Untrained | +0
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Trained | +1/4 Character Level or 1*
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Proficient | +1/2 Character Level or 2*
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Skilled | +Character Level or 3*
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Focused | Character Level+3 |
*Whichever is higher.[/center]
The Skills
Accuracy[Agi, Combat]
Accuracy is your ability to make attacks with thrown weapons, such as darts, projectile weapons, such as bows, and attacks which deal precision damage, such as sneak attacks, as well as melee weapons which benefit from your finesse, such as whips. It is opposed by the skill Evade.
Action-As a combat skill, Accuracy is by default an Attack action.
Athletics [Might]
You make an Athletics check when you are climbing, jumping, swimming, or otherwise taking strenuous physical action where the outcome may be in question (just running doesn't require an Athletics check, chasing or running away from someone does).
Climbing- With a successful Athletics check, you may climb in a chosen direction along an incline, vertical, or even inverted plane at ¼ your land speed. Slopes include inclines of less than 60 degrees, while walls are inclines of 60 to 110 degrees. Planes at a greater than 110 degree angle to the ground are considered ceilings.
- A knotted rope with a wall to brace has a non-difficulty. Any roll is sufficient to make progress, and your roll actually defines how quickly you can move. (TN 0)
- An unknotted rope with a wall to brace against or a knotted rope without a wall is a Pedestrian task. (TN 5)
- Ledges to hold and stand on, such as on rough walls or the crossing ropes of ship riggings are a Basic task to climb. (TN 10)
- Unknotted ropes without bracing walls, surfaces with copious handholds like rough natural walls and trees, or pulling yourself onto a ledge are Apprentice tasks. (TN 15)
- Surfaces with narrow handholds, such as masonry walls, are a Journeyman task. (TN 20)
- Brick walls and other rough surfaces without real handholds, as well as ceilings with handholds but no footholds are Master tasks to climb. (TN 25)
- Opposed surfaces you can brace against, such as in a chimney or narrow shaft decrease your Target Number by 10. (-10 TN)
- Perpendicular surfaces, such as climbing a corner, reduce your Target Number by 5. (-5 TN)
- Slippery Surfaces have a Target Number 5 higher than normal. (+5 TN)
- Rolling higher than your Target Number by 5 or more allows you to climb at half your land speed, rather than ¼. You may specifically attempt to climb at this accelerated rate by rolling for a TN 5 higher than normal, if you fail this roll, you make no progress. (+5 TN)
- You may choose to climb at a slower rate than normal- just 5' per round, and in return roll against a TN 5 lower than normal. (-5 TN)
- Catching yourself while you fall is a substantially more difficult task than climbing, increasing the TN for the surface by 20 (+20 TN) for a wall, or 10 for a slope (+10 TN)
- Catching another person falling within your reach is possible, but difficult. You must first make a touch Brawl check, opposed by the target's Evade (which they may voluntarily forego adding their Dexterity modifier to). If this attack hits, immediately make an Athletics check at a TN 10 higher than normal for the surface, success indicates you have caught the character, but now their weight and full encumbrance count against yours, and if it exceeds your Heavy load, you automatically fail. Failing this climb check by 4 or less means you only fail to catch the character, while failing by 5 or more means you fail to arrest their fall and lose your grip on the wall.
Jump—Jump checks are modified by a character's land speed and movement. A standing jump has a higher TN than an equivalent running jump, and a character with a higher land speed gains a bonus on running jumps due to their greater momentum, while one with a lower land speed takes a penalty due to their momentum.
- A long jump with a 20' or greater running start has a TN equal to the number of feet attempted (ie, a 5' running jump is a Pedestrian task, a 10' running jump is Basic, and so on). Without a running start, the TN is doubled. (TN=feet to be jumped, x2 for standing jump)
- A high jump with a 20' or greater running start has a TN of 5 per foot beyond the first jumped (a 2' running vertical jump is Pedestrian, 3' is Basic, etc). Without a running start, the TN is again doubled. The character's vertical reach is added on top of this, and is dependent upon size as follows- Fine ½', Diminutive 1', Tiny 2', Small 4', Medium 8', Large 16', Huge 32', Gargantuan 64', Colossal (128' or double longest dimension—whichever is greater). Quadrupeds have the vertical reach of a creature 1 size category smaller.
- Every 10' of speed higher or lower than 30' land speed provides the character with a bonus or penalty of 4 on their Jump roll, respectively.
Swim—When in water, make an athletic check each round. Each successful check allows you to move in a chosen direction at ¼ your speed as a move action, or one half as a full-round action. Failing by 4 or less means you make no progress, but you go underwater if you fail by 5 or more.
If you are underwater (or otherwise incapable of breathing normally) you can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score. Each round in which you make a standard or full-round action reduces the number of rounds for which you can hold your breath by 1 round. After this time elapses, you must make an Constitution check each round to continue holding your breath. This starts as a Basic task, but the TN increases by 1 each round after the first. Failing one of these checks means you begin to drown.
- Swimming in Calm water is a Basic task. (TN 10)
- Swimming in Rough water is an Apprentice task. (TN 15)
- Swimming in Stormy water is a Journeyman task. (TN 20)
- Each hour you swim requires you to make a Journeyman Athletic check or suffer 1d6 nonlethal damage from fatigue.
Action-Generally speaking, an Athletics check is made as part of a move action, but situations may arise which change this. Catching yourself or another character is a free action.
Binding [Kenning, Magical]
Binding is a form of magic which attempts an exacting, and potentially dangerous task- to enter into a contract with or coerce another creature to place it into the caster's service, or to seal a creature within an object.
While there are spells and spell-lists which use the Binding skill, it can also be used to create the magical contracts spoken of above- and frequently must be used in this way, before the spells of the Binding discipline can be used. In order to call or summon a creature with Binding spells, you must first find the appropriate sort of creature, and make a successful Binding check, the rank of this task is set by the type of creature being bound, and modified by it's HD.
- Animals are a Basic task to bind
- Magic Beasts and Plants are an Apprentice task to bind.
- Giants and Humanoids are a Journeyman task to bind
- Undead and Constructs are a Master task to bind
- Spirits are an Expert task to bind
- Dragons are a Godly task to bind
- To the TN for the rank of a given creature, add the creature's HD. Creatures with fractional HD subtract 1 from the TN to bind them per division of 2 (½ -1, ¼ -2), ie, binding a bat is TN 8 (Basic task TN 10-2 for ¼ HD).
Action-Binding a non-intelligent creature takes 1 minute per HD. Binding a willing intelligent creature requires 5 minutes per HD, while binding an unwilling intelligent creature requires 1 hour per HD. Casting a Binding spell takes an amount of time stated in the description of the spell.
Brawl [Might, Combat]
Brawl is a character's skill at making attacks with melee weapons. The more skilled a character is with Brawl, the more damage their unnarmed attacks do. A character untrained in Brawl makes Slam attacks that deal 1d4 nonlethal when unnarmed. A Trained or better character has the option of dealing lethal damage, and each tier increases the die type of damage by one step, (1d6 for trained, 1d8 for proficient, 1d10 for skilled, and finally 1d12 for focused).
Action-As a combat skill, Brawl is an Attack action.
Craft [Kenning, Knowledge, Technical]
Craft represents your ability to create, appraise and know about manufactured items. It represents a variety of separate trades, and can be taken multiple times, with each trade as it's own skill—Blacksmiting (covers all iron work), Basketweaving, Bone, Bookbinding, Bowyer, Carpentry, Gemcutting, Glass, Jewelry, Painting, Pottery, Sculpture, Shipbuilding, Stonemasonry, Textile (covers all leather and textile work), Trapsmithing, and quite possibly more.
Simply for having the Craft skill, you may work in a town or village as a craftsman and appraiser in your trade. With no roll needed, you may earn a weekly wage as appropriate to your trade, possibly more if your trade is in particularly high demand, whether for lack of competition or for surplus of work.
Appraise-Appraising an item requires that you study it with some ability to concentrate on the matter at hand. It's difficult (though not impossible) to appraise an item while dodging and weaving in combat, but if you're in a quiet shop or room without clients or companions badgering you, you're in pretty much the ideal environment.
- Common and well-known objects are a Basic task to appraise. Failure means you mis-appraise the value of the item, by as much as 50% under or over it's true value (2d6+3 times 10%) (TN 10)
- Rare and Exotic items are Apprentice or higher level tasks, with failure meaning that you cannot estimate the value at all.
Action-Appraising an item takes 1 minute, though some particularly rare, large or complex items may well take longer.
Crafting-Crafting always requires tools, often specialized. Your TN will depend on the item and complexity thereof you are attempting to create, and whether you have the proper tools, improvised tools, no tools, or high quality tools.
- A bludgeoning weapon, such as a club or a shotput, or a simple object, such as a rolling pin or wooden spoon, is a Pedestrian task. (TN 5)
- A slashing or piercing weapon, shield, or typical item, such as an iron pot, is a Basic task. (TN 10)
- A great shield, light or medium armour, or a complicated item, such as a chain, is an Apprentice task. (TN 15)
- Heavy armour and very complex items, such as clocks or locks, are Journeyman tasks. (TN 20)
- Minor Magical Items are Master tasks to create, and require a Masterwork item. (TN 25)
- Moderate Magical Items are Expert tasks to create, and require a Masterwork item. (TN 30)
- Major Magical Items are Godly tasks to create, and require a Legendary item. (TN 35)
- Weapons with moving parts, such as flails and bows, increase TN by 5. (+5 TN)
- Masterwork items are considered to be one rank higher than typical. (+5 TN)
- Legendary items are considered three ranks higher than typical. (+15 TN)
- Consumable magic items have a TN based on the level of the spell effect (10+spell level)
All Target Numbers above assume proper, average tools and facilities. If this is not the case, see below-
- Improvised tools increase the TN of your task by 2. (+2 TN)
- Complete lack of tools increases your TN by 5. (+5 TN)
- High quality tools and facilities make it easier to craft, and reduce your TN by 5. (-5 TN)
Crafting and item takes a certain amount of time based on the sort of item-
- Bludgeoning weapons, simple objects and consumable magic items require 1 hour.
- Slashing or piercing weapons, typical items and minor magical items require 1 day.
- Shields and complicated items require 2 days.
- Light armour and highly complex items require 3 days.
- Medium armour requires 4 days.
- Heavy armour and Moderate magical items require 5 days.
- Major magical armour requires 10 days of work to create.
- Moving parts increase the time to create weapons by 1 day.
- It takes half-again as long to create a Masterwork item.
Crafting requires that you have proper raw materials equal in value to one-half the market value to the finished product. For every 1 silver piece of materials you lack you need to spend a day gathering or foraging them before you can make your check. This is a large abstraction of the actual activities required, and if it would take more than about 10 days, it may well be the subject of an adventure. Or a crime.
If you fail your check by 4 or less, you simply make no progress in the time it takes to make the item. You are left with usable materials equal to what your started, but no product. If you fail by five or more, your time is wasted and you ruin 50% of your materials.
Knowledge-Similar to appraisal, characters trained in crafting are also knowledgeable about their craft, and may be able to answer questions and provide information similar to having a Knowledge skill relevant to the craft.
Disable [Ken, Technical, Knowledge]
Disable is your ability to sabotage, disarm, or remove mechanical devices. It is the skill one most frequently uses for infiltration after stealth, as they unlock doors and jam or disarm traps. The roll is made as normal, but the result is not known by players until the device is used or triggered.
Weapons and spells with a physical manifestation can also be disabled, though the latter is often quite difficult.
Disabling is primarily the knowledge of of how to cause damage to a device, often quickly and decisively, and the same knowledge can also be used to rig devices which have been damaged, or from improvised pieces. This is similar to a Craft check, save that the result is a device or item which will last no more than a number of scenes equal to the rigger's Intelligence modifier.
The terms used to describe task difficulty can also be used to describe the complexity of a device. A device has a complexity ranging from Pedestrian to Godly, which describes how difficult it is to sabotage or rig an equivalent of-
- Pedestrian devices include most bludgeoning devices or simple knots.
- Basic devices include slashing and piercing weapons, and simple locks.
- Apprentice devices include wheels and other relatively simple but finicky machines.
- Journeyman devices include simple traps, whether disabling or resetting.
- Master devices include high quality traps, clockwork and steam devices.
- Expert and Godly devices are rare in Midgard, and few come to mind, save items crafted by the Svartalfar for the gods. Interrupting the daily resurrection of Tanngniost or Tanngrisnir might be an Expert disable check to crack one of their bones, while disabling Mjolnir would easily be a Godly task.
Disable can also be used to escape from physical bonds—rope, manacles and the like. Escaping from rope bonds is opposed by the Rigging check of the character who tied you up, while other bonds have a set TN based on their nature:
- Escaping nets and magical bonds is a Journeyman task (TN 20)
- Escaping manacles and tight spaces is an Expert task (TN 30)
- Masterwork materials increase the TN to escape by 5 (TN +5)
- Legendary materials increase the TN to escape by 10 (TN +10)
When used in this manner, the Disable check may use the character's Intelligence modifier—if trying to sabotage, break or disable the bonds—or their Dexterity modifier if trying to slip from them.
Action- Disabling a Pedestrian device takes only a standard action, and a Basic one takes a full-round. Apprentice and above take 1d4 rounds per step until Expert, which takes 10 minutes, and Godly devices require at least an hour of constant work.
Escaping ropes, manacles and the like requires a minute of work, escaping a net or magical bindings requires a full-round action, and escaping a grappler is a standard action.
Divination [Wisdom, Magical]
Handle Animal [Presence]
Handle Animal measures one's ability to train, rear, ride and deal with animals. It can also be used to do the same with Magical Beasts, though with greater difficulty, and Intelligent creatures can always be addressed with Negotiation instead. In addition to the tasks below, Handle Animal also has the same uses as Negotiation, but only in regards to animals and magical beasts.
Command- An animal trained to perform tricks or tasks can be commanded to do so. Success indicates that the animal will perform the commanded task on it's next action. This is a Basic task, and is a free action. (TN 10)
Push- The animal is coerced or convinced to perform a trick or task it has not been trained to do, or act in a specific way, or to make a forced march or hustle for more than an hour before it next sleeps. This is a Master task, and is a full-round action. (TN 25)
Train- With a week of working 3 hours a day, you may train an animal to perform a specific trick when commanded. Animals can learn 3 tricks per point of Intelligence. You may also train an animal for a purpose, which is a set of related tricks. Training for a purpose takes as much time as training the animal the tricks individually, but requires only a single roll. Different tricks and purposes have different TNs.
- The tricks Come, Down, Fetch, Heel, Perform, Seek, Stay, Work, and the purposes Heavy Labour, Perform, and Ride are Apprentice tasks. (TN 15)
- The tricks Attack, Defend, Guard, Track, and the purposes Combat Riding, Fighting, Guarding, and Hunting are Journeyman tasks. (TN 20)
- Handling an animal that is injured in anyway, including nonlethal and ability damage, has a TN that is 2 points higher. (+2 TN)
- Handling a Magical Beast is treated as a task one rank higher than handling an animal in the same way. (+5 TN)
Rear a Wild Animal-Rearing a wild animal is raising it from infancy so as to tame it. Once tamed, it can be trained to perform tricks and purposes. You may rear up to three animals at once, and it takes as much time as it takes the animal to grow to maturity working three hours a day. Rearing an animal is a Basic task modified by the HD which the animal will have when fully grown. (TN 10+HD)
Riding- If you are riding an animal that has been trained to be ridden, in calm surroundings, with no attempts at complex tasks, no roll is needed.
- Guiding the animal with your knees and staying in your saddle are Pedestrian tasks. (TN 5)
- Directing a war-trained mount in battle is an Basic task. (TN 10)
- Dropping down to hang along your mount's side to use it as cover, softening a fall from your mount to avoid taking damage, making your mount leap, or spurring it to greater speed are Apprentice tasks. Failing your check to soften your fall indicates you take 1d6 points of damage, and failing a Leap attempt means you fall from your mount, and will take the appropriate amount of damage when your mount leaps.(TN 15)
- Directing a mount which has not been trained for combat is a Journeyman task, and failure means that you spend the entire round trying to direct your mount. (TN 20)
- Fast mounting or dismounting a mount that is one size category larger than you is a Journeyman task, and is a free action if you succeed. Failure indicates you must take a move action to mount or dismount. You cannot mount or dismount a steed larger than one size category greater than you. (TN 20)
Tame- Taming an animal is taking an already mature animal and reinforcing a measure of docility or submission into it so that it will respond to your commands. This is more difficult than rearing an animal, as you are working against the learned and instinctual behaviour of an adult rather than replacing or modifying the learning of a juvenile. Taming an animal takes 2 weeks, and is a Journeyman task modified by the HD of the animal. (TN 20+HD)
Note- The check made to Train, Rear or Tame an animal is made half-way through the total length of time the task takes. If the check is successful, you must invest the rest of the time stated, if it fails, you may abandon the attempt. If these tasks are interrupted only once—one seventh of the total time goes by without the proper amount of work, for example—it can be made up for by increasing the total time spent by that amount—if you don't spend three hours training an animal on the fourth day, for example, you can increase the time to eight days. If, however, the task is interrupted more than this—two days go buy, consecutively or separately, for example—the amount of time is doubled and the TN raises by five. Rearing an animal, of course, cannot be extended, so any interruption greater than a week results in an increase of the TN by 5. Training and Taming can of course be retried, but rearing cannot (at that point you're essentially trying to Tame the animal).
Heal [Wisdom, Magical]
Healing covers both mundane and magical methods of healing, as well as the creation of salves and poultices. You may administer First Aid, Long Term Care, and Treat Wounds, Poisons and Diseases, Craft Healing Compounds, and Cast Healing Spells.
First Aid- Saving a dying character through binding wounds stabilizes a character at negative hit points. A successful check changes their condition from Dying to Stable, but does not confer any hit points. This is an Apprentice task, and standard action. (TN 15)
Long-Term Care- Administering to a wounded or ill character for a day or more allows them to heal more quickly than they would if completely unaided. A successful check means they heal at twice the normal rate while you continue to provide care. You may care for as many as six patients at a time. Skilled characters above fifth level may care for a number of patients equal to their unmodified Healing bonus. Long-Term Care requires supplies, such as bandages and salves, and cannot be applied to oneself. This is an Apprentice task, and is a full-day's work (8 hours). (TN 15)
Treat Wound- You may treat penalty-causing wounds, such as those from stepping on a caltrop, such that the creature does not suffer that penalty. This is an Apprentice task, and a standard action for wounds not caused by magic, while wounds caused by magic require ten minutes of work. (TN 15)
Treat Poison- You may administer aid to a character who has been poison and will take additional damage or suffer other effects. The next time the character would make a save against an effect of the poison, roll your Healing skill, they may use their save or your Healing roll, whichever is higher. This is a standard action.
Treat Disease- This functions as Treat Poison, but requires 10 minutes of work.
Craft Healing Compound- This follows the rules of the Craft skill. Most healing compounds are Apprentice tasks to create.
Cast a Healing Spell- Casting a Healing Spell follows the standard rules for casting a spell- your Healing roll is used to overcome resistance to the spell and the effectiveness of the spell. Spells you can cast depend on spell-lists you purchase through Esotera, and spell stages you can cast are dependent upon your character level and skill tier.
Naturalism [Wisdom, Magical]
Necromancy [Presence, Magical]
Negotiation [Presence]
Negotiation addresses all social attempts to affect a sapient creature's mind, ideas, disposition, or other mental stance (non-sapient creatures are covered with Handle Animal). Negotiation falls into three major tactics each with their own uses-
Bluffing- Bluffing is an attempt to convince another person of something which is less than true or otherwise difficult to believe. There can be some overlap with Diplomacy, in which case, look to what you are specifically trying to do- if you're trying to ingratiate yourself through less than honest means, that's more diplomacy. If you're trying to convince someone of something and you don't particularly care what they think about you, that's definitely bluffing.
When bluffing another, your Negotiation check is opposed by their Perception check modified according to the situation.
- If the target wants to believe you (say, "No, ma, I did not kill that guy.") their Perception check drops one tier (a -5 penalty).
- If your bluff is believable, and doesn't affect the target ("This, officer? No, I paid for this donut."), their Perception check is unmodified.
- If the bluff is difficult to believe, or pose some small risk to the target ("My teeth? Oh, dear, these are just new dentures, there was a mix up with the Fabricator."), the target's Perception check rises one tier (+5 bonus)
- Bluffs which are actually hard to believe, or which put the target at significant risk ("We're not outnumbered! They're just riding out of single file to inflate their numbers! Come on men!") the target's Perception check rises two tiers (+10)
- If your bluff is incredibly out there or puts the target at a risk of almost certain death or worse ("That is not lava, that is Freedom Juice. Go and drink deep that you might be freed from the yokes of your oppressors.") your target's Perception check is four tiers higher (+20).
Both incredibility and danger weigh on the difficulty of bluffing someone, and, if desired, a difference can be drawn between whether the target doesn't believe you, or is not convinced to put themselves in harms way--if the target beats your bluff check by less than the bonus they receive due to danger of the bluff, they can be said to believe you but be reluctant to face the potential harm.
Mind you, this only functions when the target is aware of the danger. If you hand them a chest, with bottom rigged to fall out, full of alchemist's fire and they don't realize that's what's in it, or have any reason to think that's what's in it they do not receive a bonus on their Perception check against your bluff of "Hey, can you hold this chest for me?" because there's no suspicion of danger.
A successful bluff check means that the target believes you, or follows the suggested course of action until they have reason to change their mind or course of action (such as serfs wading into "freedom juice" immediately running out because now they know it's lava).
Bluff has a few additional uses:
- Feinting in Combat- When in combat, you may use Negotiation to make your opponent believe you will take an action counter to the one you are planning. Your target may oppose this check with the higher of Perception or a combat skill they are currently using (reflecting their training to recognize feints), if you succeed in your bluff, your target loses their Agility bonus to AC for your next attack against it. Some creatures are difficult to feint against in this way. Animals should be feinted against with Handle Animal, as should Magical Beasts. Constructs are generally assumed to have an artificial mind (if not mindless) patterned off of whatever creature they best resemble, and impose only a single tier penalty (-5) when you attempt to feint them. Mindless creatures cannot be feinted, and Eldritch Horrors have alien minds which impose a two tier penalty (-10) on characters which attempt to feint them.
- Creating a Diversion- You may create a diversion to allow you hide. This is treated as a believable, non-harmful bluff (though not one the target is necessarily inclined to believe). Roll Negotiation as normal, and any opponents watching you roll Perception as normal. If you win, you may hide while your opponents believe the diversion you've created is worthy of their attention.
- Delivering a secret message- You can use Negotiation's bluff function to deliver a secret message to another person. Simple messages that could be expressed with a few words--"kill him," "go there," "not now" are Apprentice tasks (15) to deliver and for the intended to notice with Perception, and Journeyman (20) tasks for unintended bystanders to notice with Perception. More complex messages which would otherwise require a full sentence are Journeyman tasks to deliver and receive, but Apprentice tasks to notice by unintended bystanders. If you or your intended recipient fail the check by less than 5, you fail to get your message across. If either check fails by 5 or more, the message is misunderstood in some way.
You could handle such messages via notes--with the bluffer writing down a message, handing it to the MC, and then the MC writing a message down, verbatim if both checks succeeded, with changes if one or both failed by 5 or more, and handing it to the recipient. However, this is optional, and if used players are putting trust in the MC to not skew the message too drastically if either check failed, or at least to skew them in ways appropriate to the characters involved (if the recipient is well known for being stab-happy, it might be reasonable for the MC to say they misinterpreted "not now" as "stab him").
Diplomacy-
Intimidation-
Perception [Wisdom]
Rigging [Kenning, Technical]
Rigging covers both quick creation of improvised devices and general rope work. Usually these tasks are fairly simple, but when trying to rig a contraption or device, look to the rules of Crafting to determine the base TN.
- Tying a firm knot and securing a grappling hook thrown less than 10 feet is a Basic task.
- Special knots, such as slip knots, sliding knots, or knots rigged to loosen when tugged, as well as tying a rope around your body one-handed, or splicing two ropes together is an Apprentice task.
- Binding a character sets the TN for their escape attempt.
- Every 10' a grappling hook is thrown increases the TN to secure it by 2, maxing out at TN 20 for a 50' throw. Failing this roll by 4 or less means the hook simply fails to catch, while failing by 5 or more means that it will hold initially, but fail after 1d4 rounds of supporting weight.
Jury rigging, by definition, is the attempt to quickly make or repair a device meant to hold together for only as long as it's needed, often without proper tools or facilities. When jury-rigging an item, refer to Crafting for the TN of the item desired, but remember to increase the TN by 2 for improvised tools or 5 for no tools at all. The time it takes to rig the item in question is reduced by dropping down a unit of time—from weeks to days, from days to hours, from hours to minutes. In other words, if crafting an item would take 1 day, rigging an equivalent item takes 1 hour, if it would take 1 hour to craft an item, rigging an equivalent would take 1 minute, and so on. Unlike crafting where a day of work actually represents 8 hours of work, rigging times represent working the entire time stated. Keep track of food and rest needs for times of a day or more.
A jury-rigged item lasts for an amount of time units equal to the creator's Intelligence modifier, where the duration units have an inverse relation to the crafting units--
Rounds | Days
|
Minutes | Hours
|
Hours | Minutes |
In essence, the more complex an item, the longer it takes to craft, but the less time the jury rigging will hold together.[/center]
So a jury-rigged club (bludgeoning weapon) lasts a number of hours equal to the character's Intelligence modifier, and jury-rigged plate mail will last for a number of minutes equal to the character's Intelligence modifier. The jury-rigged club requires roughly 3 lbs of wood, while jury-rigged plate mail would require roughly 50 lbs of steel or iron. Roughly means within 10%. Only things with normal crafting times measured in days or less can be juryrigged. If something normally takes weeks or longer to craft, you're better off trying to craft it at an accelerated pace--whether by shooting for a higher TN, crafting without sleeping, or some other means.
While crafting requires raw materials equal to one-half the market value of the item to be created, Rigging does not care about the value of the materials, or their state, it just requires proper material in an amount that weighs roughly the same as the item to be rigged.
Failing a jury-rigging check by four or less means you've only wasted your time, while failing by 5 or more means you've wasted your time and ruined 50% of your goods in some way that makes it unusable for the purpose of the task at hand.
Action- Throwing a grappling hook is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity, tying a knot takes a full-round, binding a character takes 1 minute, and splicing two ropes takes 5 minutes.
Runes [Wisdom, Magical, Knowledge]
Skald [Presence, Magical]
Steallth [Agility]
Transformation [Kenning, Magical]
Trickery [Presence, Magical]
Tumble [Agility]
Wrestle [Might, Combat]