Survival Skills
This is a list of all the Survival 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.
Precision
Stun
Dexterity
Armour Mastery
Stealth
Trapping
1st Aid
Field Surgery
Wilderness lore (specify habitat/creature type)
Forgery
Disguise
Locksmithing
Tracking
Disarm
Precision
This skill allows a character to deliver a potentially fatal blow using a dagger, knife or bow/crossbow increasing its damage by +3 points per grade. Grade 4 allows the character to do through damage with the weapon for that strike as well as 6 points of extra damage.
Grade | Extra Damage |
1 | +3 points |
2 | +6 points |
3 | +9 points |
4 | Through |
Stun
This skill allows a character to deliver a stunning blow using a blunt weapon. This allows the 'stun' damage type to be added to the call. You must be able to do 9 damage with a weapon before you can buy this skill. However, any call made with this skill is limited to a 3 damage and stun is always subdual - please see the stun call for more details.
Dexterity
Dexterity represents the ability of a character to roll with blows or dodge them entirely; this is a rank based skill with no upper limit. Each rank grants 1 point of dexterity which is used in the defence value calculation. In the event active dexterity is greater or equal to the incoming damage, a dodge call may be made to indicate the damage was completely negated by dexterity alone.
Armour Mastery
Armour Mastery is the skill of moving whilst wearing armour, it's 4 ranks allow progresssively heavy armour to be worn whilst still gaining the benefits from dexterity. Armour mastery reduces the negative effect of armour by dividing the final armour value worn by the amount given for each rank (rounding up), to give a new value to use in the active dexterity calculation.
Rank | Armour Modifier |
1 | 2 |
2 | 4 |
3 | 8 |
4 | 12 |
Stealth
Stealth allows a character with sufficient cover to hide things (including themselves) or sneak around; each rank in this makes spotting them more difficult and finding hidden objects or people easier. In order to find a hidden character or object a greater rank of stealth is required than that used to hide them. Additionally this skill will only work where there are objects to hide behind/in or shadows to blend into, (for city thief types this can include crowds.)
Trapping
Trapping is the ability to construct and deploy various devices for catching animals/thieves as well as the disarming of traps laid by others. In order to hide a trap effectively stealth is required. Various traps are available ranging from simple snares to large mechanical/magical devices suitable for home security. To use this skill inform the GM what you want to accomplish, a cost (where appropriate) and appropriate damage call will be assigned to your traps. Disarming traps once detected requires time based on the complexity of the trap, once a trap has been studied for a short period the GM will give a disarming time.
1st Aid
1st Aid allows a character to bind minor wounds either on themselves or another, each location can only be treated once until it receives proper rest (between adventures) or magical healing. The applications of 1st aid are to set broken bones, prevent bleeding from a wound to stabalise a dying character, or to restore 3 hit points to a wounded location. Suitable bandage phys-reps are required to use this skill.
Field Surgery
Requires 1st Aid.
Field Surgery allows a character to bind wounds on themselves or another to restore 2/3s of the total hits to a location. Each location can only be bound with Field Surgery or 1st Aid. If you use Field Surgery on a location that has been treated with 1st Aid the location will only recover a maximum of 2/3 hits, but will not remove previous effects from 1st Aid. This skill can also set broken bones and prevent bleeding from a wound to stabalise a dying character. Suitable bandage phys-reps are required to use this skill.
Wilderness lore (specify habitat/creature type)
Wilderness lore represents knowledge not just of the wilderness but potentially of any type of environment or creatures. A city character may know where all the best shops or pubs are, whilst a holy crusader may be able to identify undead creatures as they encounter them. Each time this is purchased an additional type of environment or creature 'species' may be learnt. There is also a 'natural materials' type required for some aspects of weapons/armour crafting which gives information on the materials and its behaviour regarding destruction/resistances.
Forgery
Forgery allows for a skilled character to produce and recognise convincing fakes of documents or items they have a good knowledge of. Each rank possessed makes the forgery more convincing and will only be spotted by someone with a higher rank. Requires a forger’s kit.
Disguise
Disguise allows for a skilled character to disguise themselves or others and recognise other people in disguise. Each rank possessed makes the disguise more convincing and will only be spotted by someone with a higher rank. You must make an attempt to phys-rep the disguise. Requires a disguise kit.
Locksmithing
This functions in a similar manner to trapping, locks can be assembled to secure items and require suitable components (cost dependent on availability and complexity) as well as time to produce. Additionally it can be used to open locked items; the time required varying depending on the quality of lock involved.
Tracking
Tracking allows for a skilled character to spot where others have gone before as well as conceal their own tracks and those of companions, role-playing concealment of, or searching for, tracks is required for the skill to function. In order to spot a track the character must have a greater skill than the target they are following. Higher ranks may also reveal more information and when combined with wilderness lore allows for identification of creatures in the vicinity.
Disarm
Disarm allows for the character to force an opponent to drop (or carefully place on the ground) whatever they are holding in 1 hand. In order to function, the blow must land on the inside of the forearm or wrist of the opponent.