Combat Skills
This is a list of all the combat skills available to buy either with starting XP or with XP you get from adventuring. The skill costs are in the table . There are a few skills that require discussion with a GM such as spell creation.
Unarmed
Short
1-Handed
Ambidexterity
2-Handed
Thrown
Bow/Crossbow
Weapon Mastery
Weapon Specialisation
Strength
Armour
Combine Armour
Toughness
Regeneration
Weapon/Armour Lore (specify type)
Strike Down
Knock Back
Shield
Unarmed
Unarmed allows for you to tap someone with an open palm light tap (avoiding sensitive areas) and call base damage. Note that this is required for touch-based spell attacks. It can be used for Stun attacks, however you do need to be able to do the 9 damage required by the Stun skill.
Short
Short weapon use allow for the use of any weapon up to 24" long of a selected type (dagger, handaxe, mace, etc) inflicting base damage
1-Handed
1 Handed weapon use allows for the use of a 1 handed weapon of a selected type (sword, axe, mace, etc) inflicting base damage
Ambidexterity
Any character wishing to use 2 1-handed weapons may do so, in order to use an offhand weapon the character must double the adjusted cost of the weapon skill required in their 2nd hand.
2-Handed
2 Handed weapon use allows for the use of a 2 handed weapon of a selected type (sword, axe, mace, etc) inflicting base damage
Thrown
Thrown weapon use allows for the use of any thrown weapon inflicting base damage
Bow/Crossbow
Bow and Crossbow skills allow the use of bows or crossbows respectively inflicting base damage. The bow and crossbow skills cost different amounts of XP and must be brought seperately.
Weapon Mastery
Having practiced extensively with the same weapon, weapon mastery grants the character the ability to do 3 extra points of damage with a given specific weapon. If this weapon is lost or replaced the either original must be tracked down or used again, or the skill will need to be re-learned with the new weapon
This skill costs: 3 x adjusted cost of weapon type selected (including off hand modifier if applicable)
Weapon Specialisation
Unlike weapon mastery weapon specialisation covers an entire section of weapons (e.g. long swords, claymores, poleaxes) that a +3 damage bonus applies to. Any weapon of the chosen type can be used to get the benefit from this. The 2 bonus’s can be used together to get a +6 damage when using a particular weapon.
This skill costs: 3 x adjusted cost of weapon type selected2
Strength
Strength works to increase the damage inflicted by melee or thrown weapons (not bow or crossbow) by 3 points for each rank possessed. This skill has no upper limit. This skill can also be used to inflict damage with weapons the character is unfamiliar with, doing just the damage bonus from strength and ignoring the weapons base damage.
Armour
The armour skill allows the user to take advantage of the deflective protection of armour that is being worn. There are 5 grades of this skill and allow for the use of different armour types, each may be used without knowledge of the others (e.g. a character may elect to only learn how to use plate armour). Regardless of whether a character has the skill to use the deflective value of the armour all armour adds 1 hit to each location phys repped.
| Grade | Armour type | Armour Category |
| 1 | Cloth | Cloth |
| 2 | Padded | Light |
| 3 | Leather | Light |
| 4 | Mail/Studded | Medium |
| 5 | Plate | Heavy |
Combine Armour
In order to maximise the effectiveness and comfort of armour it is necessary to layer various types together. This skill allows a character to gain the benefits of more than 1 type of armour simultaneously. As with armour there are 5 grades allowing for various armour types to be combined as below, however the previous grade of combine armour is required before the next may be learnt. In order to make use of the combined protection a character must 1st know how to use all of the desired armour types and may layer at most 1 cloth, 1 light armour, 1 medium armour, 1 heavy armour.
| Grade | Armour type |
| 1 | Combine with cloth |
| 2 | Combine with padded |
| 3 | Combine with leather |
| 4 | Combine with mail/studded |
| 5 | Combine with plate |
|
Example Dave wants to wear leather and mail armour together. He therefore requires grade 4 Combine Armour (Combine with mail/studded) regardless of the fact he’s not planning on wearing cloth or padded armour. He therefore requires ranks 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Combine Armour and grades 3 and 4 of Armour for the mail and leather. |
Toughness
Toughness represents training to toughen the body’s resistance to pain and injury granting 3 additional hit point per location for each purchase of this skill.
Regeneration
Regeneration represents innate resilience possessed by many heroes and mystical creatures. This allows for the rank of regeneration in hit points to be restored, without the need for potions or 1st aid skills, every 5 minutes whilst out of combat (or incapacitated). Scars, broken bones, severed limbs, and other disfiguring injuries cannot be regenerated in this manner and require specialised treatment to restore the characters body.
Weapon/Armour Lore (specify type)
Weapon and armour lore allows for a character to recognise and value unusual and potentially legendry items of the type they choose (e.g. weapon lore - swords). Whilst they may know an item is rare/magical and have clues about the powers legendary items posses they will not know how to activate them.
Strike Down
Strike down allows a character to call strike down as part of their damage call, representing either brute force from large weapons, or precision strikes with smaller weapons.
Knock Back
This allows a character to use brute force and call knock back as part of their damage call and requires a 2 handed weapon to use.
Shield
The shield skill allows for a character to pick up and use any form of shield effectively without any penalties. Without this skill a shield may still be used however it requires the full attention of the character to do so meaning they cannot fight back or use spells whilst using the shield.