Attributes and Skills
Attributes are the broad capabilities and natural talents of a character, whereas skills are the specific areas a character has trained.
Attributes
Every character has every attribute, though they likely have 0 levels in some of them. There are 4 attributes:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Physique | The physical strength and constitution of a character's body. |
| Wits | The quick-thinking and dexterity of a character. |
| Intellect | The scholarly knowledge and reasoning of a character. |
| Heart | The charms, religious knowledge, and empathy of a character. |
Skills
The amount of skills is only limited by one's imagination. There is for example one skill for every tool or niche one can think of.
Most skills have an associated attribute; if a character has one of these skills, then they add their score in that attribute to the skill's score.
A character has a skill if they have at least one (non-temporary) level in that skill.
While there are an infinite number of skills, one will mostly use the following 24 general skills (6 for each attribute):
| Category | Physique | Wits | Intellect | Heart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social | Awe(The apparent strength of the character. This awe can inspire respect, hope in allies, and fear in opponents.) | Trickery(The art of deception and manipulation, sharing only what is convenient for the other party to hear.) | Reason(The ability to use logic to explain why you are always right.) | Charm(Whether through words or just one's general likability, the ability to control people's emotions or make them help you out of the goodness of their heart.) |
| Defense | Fortitude(The ability of the body to resist attacks, such as poisons, viruses, and alchohol.) | Dodge(The ability to react and move out of the way of danger.) | Warding(Perhaps more niche than other forms of protection, this skill resists pure magic and allows magical protection.) | Will(The strength of the mind to avoid magical and natural influences.) |
| Movement | Athletics(The ability to perform deeds requiring physical strength or a high stamina.) | Stealth(To remain hidden, or perform unseen actions, stealth keeps your presence and acts unknown to others.) | Navigate(Whether by use of the stars or a map, the ability to locate your current position and orientation.) | Travel(Travelling for days with little going on is surprisingly hard. To keep track of rations, to keep spirits high, to make sure noone falls behind, there is a lot to do which this skill helps with.) |
| Knowledge | Body(Understanding of the body is primarily used when healing physical injuries.) | Nature(Knowledge of plants and animals, of what plants to combine to heal a burn, or where best to scratch a cat, you will hardly find someone who could not use more knowledge of nature.) | Lore(While some may be skilled in specific fields, this skill covers a general and random collection of knowledge spanning history and the fundamental nature of the world.) | People(Whether it be the local customs, people's likely reaction, or the gods and their influence over communities, people are a complex field of study.) |
| Perception | Awareness(A constant sense of what is going on, especially from the corner of one's eye. This awareness helps avoid surprises like an ambush or trap.) | Find(Whether it be searching a room or following a trail, the ability to find both things of importance and things of profit is a prime skill for treasure hunters.) | Study(Whether it be studying books for their knowledge, or experimenting on an object to learn of its function, this skill is invaluable for the scholarly folk.) | Insight(Understanding the words unspoken, or the intentions hidden away, insight is the opponent of other's trickery, whether intentional or not.) |
| Art | Crafting(By hand or tool, crafting sculptures of stone or weapons of metal, this skill covers the arts requiring a strong hand, especially ones where function matters more than appearance.) | Brewing(Whether cooking a healthy dinner, or combining some berries to make a deadly toxin, brewing is a natural skill often decried as witchcraft.) | Arcane(The ability to cast spells and enchant tools, as well as understanding these spells and enchantments.) | Storytelling(To craft stories, songs, myths and poems; to control people's emotion with nothing but words; it is hard to believe it is not arcane magic.) |
Temporary Skills
It is possible for characters to gain "temporary" levels in skills, for example from tools like a Staff(A simple tool that gives +1 Arcane.). These only apply if the character already has at least one non-temporary level in the skill. Other than this one restriction, temporary skill levels are no different from non-temporary skill levels.