The System
Skills
Skills define what your character can do. There are no classes - your traits and abilities come almost entirely from the skills you invest in. Every rank from 1 to 10 in a skill grants a new skill feature. There is no cap on how many ranks you can hold in a skill, and traits that scale with rank keep scaling beyond rank 10.
Physical Skills
Athletics[BOD]Fitness, strength, and endurance. Used for climbing, jumping, lifting, running, and resisting harmful physical effects. Higher ranks increase your hit die and carry capacity.
Perception[INT]Using your five senses to observe your surroundings. Governs noticing threats, spotting hidden things, and reading fine detail. High ranks grant improved low-light vision and eventually the ability to always detect lies.
Piloting[AGI]Steering vehicles of all kinds - carts, cars, aircraft, boats, and automechs. Unlocks the ability to perform combat maneuvers and handle crash landings.
Stealth[AGI]Hiding, sneaking, pickpocketing, and remaining undetected. Unlocks Sneak Attack damage on unaware targets, and eventually the ability to move at full speed while hidden.
Artisanship[AGI]Skill with artisan tools for crafting fine goods - leatherworking, carpentry, tailoring, cooking, and more. A broad skill covering anything made by hand.
Social Skills
Deception[CHA]Lying, misdirection, disguise, and creating false impressions. Used in social contests where you need someone to believe something untrue.
Intimidation[CHA]Coercing others through threat, display of force, or sheer presence. Useful for extracting information, clearing a room, or gaining compliance.
Performance[CHA]Entertaining through music, acting, storytelling, or other performance. Covers both artistic merit and the ability to hold an audience.
Persuasion[CHA]Convincing others through honest argument, diplomacy, and charm. The go-to skill for negotiation, haggling, and winning people over.
Knowledge Skills
Astronomy[LOG]Stars, celestial bodies, and navigation by night sky. Used to chart courses, tell time precisely, and eventually predict the future through the stars.
Economy[LOG]Currency, trade, pricing, and commercial law. Used to appraise objects, haggle prices, reduce living costs, and know people who can help with almost anything.
History[LOG]Historical events, eras, politics, and archaeology. Helps identify artefacts, understand foreign customs, and uncover what has come before.
Literature[LOG]Books, written works, languages, and ciphers. Grants the ability to read and write, learn additional languages, copy formulae, and forge documents.
Medicine[LOG]Anatomy, first aid, surgery, and treatment of conditions. Allows installing prosthetics, diagnosing and treating ailments, restoring health points, and - at high ranks - attempting to revive the recently dead.
Mythology[LOG]Religion, legends, and mythological creatures. Helps identify monsters, exploit their weaknesses, extract valuable parts from their remains, and lift their curses.
Nature[LOG]Flora, fauna, geology, and the natural world. Used to forage for herbs and food, grow plants, identify animals and minerals, and tame creatures as companions.
Survival[INT]Endurance, tracking, foraging, navigation, and wilderness living. Covers everything needed to keep yourself alive in harsh or unfamiliar environments.
Engineering Skills
Clockwork Mechanics[LOG]Designing, assembling, and upgrading clockworks and gadgets. Covers power cores, energizing fuel-powered devices, artificing clockwork modules onto objects, and coupling power cores to increase their rating.
Automachinery[LOG]Building and maintaining automatons and automechs (pilotable power armour). Covers designing chassis, movement parts, and modules - from tiny scouts to large combat machines.
Augmentation[LOG]Designing and installing prosthetics and powered autolimbs with modular upgrades. High-rank augmenters can repurpose automaton parts as limbs and design mechanical organs.
Gunsmithing[AGI]Crafting and modifying bows, pistols, rifles, and artillery. A skilled gunsmith can also train themselves to use their own creations more effectively than any off-the-shelf weapon.
Tinkering[AGI]Crafting parts and explosives, scrapping objects for materials, and improving the reliability of engineering work. The support skill that underpins all other engineering.
Vehicle Mechanics[BOD]Building, repairing, and maintaining vehicles of all kinds. Covers assembling engines, repairing damaged sections in the field, and tuning vehicles for better performance.
Magic Skills
Alchemy[LOG]Extracting elemental essence from raw materials, then using it to mix elixirs, brew potions, and enchant objects through infusion. Also the source of Essence used by Witchcraft.
Prayer[WIL]Channelling divine faith to bestow blessings, heal allies, repel unholy creatures, and lift curses. Fuelled by a Faith resource that regenerates daily and through prayer.
Spellwork[WIL]Casting spells - incantations fuelled by Essence. Also grants the ability to inflict curses at higher ranks. Spells must be memorised from formulae before they can be cast without the formula.
Runecraft[LOG]Carving magical runes onto objects and creatures for persistent effects, and performing rituals - slower but more powerful magical workings ideal for preparation outside of combat.
Summoning[WIL]Summoning, binding, and controlling spirits, demons, and angels. Also allows bonding a small creature as a familiar, establishing a telepathic link with it and empowering it.
Combat Skills
Artillery[AGI]Operating heavy weapons: rocket launchers, machine guns, flamethrowers, and railguns. These weapons are devastating but require two hands and significant setup.
Brawling[AGI]Unarmed combat and brawling weapons. Unlocks trip attacks, improved strikes, and multiple attacks per action at higher ranks.
Bow[AGI]Bow and arrow. A silent ranged option with excellent range. Higher ranks enable multishot, arrow recovery, and crippling aimed shots with bonus effects.
Pistol[AGI]One-handed firearms. Can be dual-wielded at rank 4. Offers fast reloading, quickdraw, and at the highest ranks, the ability to spray fire across multiple targets at once.
Rifle[AGI]Two-handed firearms. Excels at range with target marking, aimed shots, and piercing cover. At high ranks, shots can pass through multiple targets in a line.
Shield[BOD]Defensive fighting with a shield. Protects allies nearby, deflects ranged attacks, and at higher ranks allows the shield to be used offensively as a weapon.
One-Handed Melee[AGI]Knives, clubs, swords, rapiers, and any single-hand melee weapon. Adds Body to damage. Enables disarming, opportunity attacks, and extra attacks at higher ranks.
Two-Handed Melee[BOD]Greatswords, mauls, halberds, and other heavy two-handed weapons. High damage output with wide sweeping attacks and the ability to damage armor and cleave through multiple targets.