Skills

All PCs start with the Free Skills, in addition to buying skills from the lists below.

If you take any magic skills you cannot then take science skills, and vice versa.

Skills can only be taken once unless otherwise specified.

Any skill that requires appropriate roleplay with no duration specified is 30 seconds.

A skill that requires uninterrupted roleplay is cancelled if you or any other participant is attacked.

General Skills

Skill	Prerequisites	Description
Combat Training		You can wear armour for +3 hits. Armour is an item or set of items that is designed to look like armour. Choose a combat school from Rogue, Warrior and Invoker. Receive the Free Skills for that school, and you can now learn the Combat Skills for it.
Melee Training		You can use 8”-42” weapons in both hands. You can use a buckler up to 15” in diameter. You can use a weapon 42”-60” in both hands.
Polearm Training	Melee Training	You can use a weapon 60”-84” in both hands. These can be stab safe and if so can be used for thrusting. You can use a stab-safe 60”-84” spear in one hand to thrust only.
Thrown Training		You can carry up to three thrown weapons and use them.
Toughness		You are tougher than usual and have one extra hit.
Extra Toughness	Toughness	You are tougher than usual and have one extra hit and gain another extra hit when wearing armour.
Extreme Toughness	Extra Toughness	You are tougher than usual and have one extra hit.
Analyse Power		When you use Sense Magic to examine an EFFECT you also discover the level and element (if any) of the EFFECT. You can spend 5 seconds inspecting someone performing roleplay to determine what skill (if any) they’re using. If you possess the skill they’re using, you will also determine the exact intended outcome. All rituals are led with the “Lead Ritual” skill. All alchemy, including improvised, is considered the “Alchemy” skill. For example, a thaumaturge performing the Ruination ritual would respond that they are using the Lead Ritual skill. If you also possess the Lead Ritual skill (of any element), you can then ask what the ritual they are performing will do.
Intuition		Spend at least a minute of uninterrupted roleplay discussing a particular problem, or what lies ahead, with other characters. Using clever questioning techniques and social prompts you are able to boost the intuition of all participants in the conversation. This allows each participant to come to a unique minor realisation about the given problem (a suggestion by the ref, usually relevant to their specialty or viewpoint). A person can only take part in an Intuition once on a given problem. Having a wider range of skills and viewpoints in the discussion may yield better results.
Investigation		Spend at least one minute of uninterrupted roleplaying examining a scene or item to get information about it. Others can participate, with yourself leading the examination. The more participants, the more information will be gained. A person can only participate in an investigation once for a given target. Investigate is good at yielding mundane information about an item or scene, but is poor at divining magical properties. You will sometimes spot that things are out of place and get a hint that an Investigation might yield information.
Preparation		You have an excellent memory for skills, and with appropriate roleplay can learn a skill from a character that can perform that skill. You can only learn skills that you could learn yourself (so you must have any prerequisites, and you can’t learn a skill you’re locked out of due to science or magic attunement). You can only remember one skill at a time, but you can forget your Preparation in order to learn a new one. You can activate this ability once per day to gain that skill for an encounter. You cannot use any per-day abilities granted by the skill you’re replicating, including improvising rituals. You cannot learn the Combat Training skill with this. You will remember your Preparation for at most a week.
Personal Income		You have a source of personal income - maybe you rent a house, or have a small business or a wealthy family. You receive additional income before the start of every interactive, and this income will never be affected by political factors.
Exotic Income	Personal Income	You gain one exotic item before the start of every interactive.
"Trader"		You possess a broad understanding of trade and cultural norms, allowing you to identify and estimate the value of well-known items and hazard an educated guess at the value of unknown items. You can also make a quick assessment of a character to determine if they are carrying any valuables, or specifically weapons (“OC do you have any game items?” and “OC do you have any weapons or a focus?”, should elicit a Yes/No response). You can smuggle 2 items up to the size of a dagger, or one item up to the size of a one-handed weapon. Do not hand over those items to a searcher on the completion of a search, unless you are terminal or dead. If that item is the only game item/weapon on you, also respond “No” if the Trader skill is used to assess you.
Connections		You can send messages to characters in uptime by asking a ref for a contact to meet you and pick up the message. This is primarily for delivering to NPCs, but you may deliver messages to PCs with this skill, in which case the contact will attempt to deliver it anonymously. Your contacts are only able to deliver messages to people on this plane, though cultivating contacts that can work extraplanar may be available in play. This can also be used to find someone who can perform a service for you, provided that service is relatively common (if uncommon, you may be able to contact someone who knows someone). If a character who can do your desired service is known to be in the interactive, you will almost certainly just receive their name.
Inspire		You are a skilled orator whose words have profound impact. When you speak, people listen and take heed. Following at least 30 seconds of motivational or demotivational speech you can call “EFFECT: <Emotion>” to a single character. Once per day after 5s of oratory you can call “MASS EFFECT: <Emotion>”. These abilities can be performed on a resisting target, but can’t be performed in combat. Available emotions are: Admiration, Envy, Anger, Courage, Inspiration, Pride, Joy, Calm, Regret.
Iron Will		You have reserves of determination allowing you to resist one non-EPIC COMPEL or emotion EFFECT per encounter with a declaration of resistance, individuality or other roleplay appropriate to your characterisation. You can use this additional times per encounter, but will take a WOUND each time you do. If you RESIST an emotion EFFECT you can RESIST all further emotion EFFECTs from the same source for the rest of the encounter.
Leadership	Iron Will	Once per day with appropriate roleplay you can prepare any number of characters (including yourself) to grant them EFFECT: You may resist one non-EPIC COMPEL or emotion EFFECT that would interfere with a specific goal or plan until sunrise. Once per day with appropriate roleplay you can prepare any number of characters (including yourself) for the upcoming encounter. All participants gain EFFECT: +1 HP for the next encounter.
Smooth Talker		You know how to quickly de-escalate a situation. Following 5s of non-threatening, calming or de-escalating speech, you can call “MASS EFFECT: Don’t start a fight.” once per encounter. The target of this effect doesn’t feel any more or less predisposed to you, but are willing to talk instead of fighting. This skill can be used on a resisting target, but can’t be used once combat has started. You can spend at least 1 minute of roleplay to spread a rumour or plan a campaign to attempt to influence a group of NPCs who are not present, but are on this plane. Other characters can assist with this. It is likely to take time for any influence to take effect.

Magic Skills

Skill	Prerequisites	Description
Lead Ritual		Choose an element. You can lead rituals of that element that you’ve learned, improvise rituals of that element, and you learn the Consecrate ritual for that element. This skill can be taken multiple times, choose a different element each time.
Learn Ritual	Lead Ritual	Learn an additional formulaic ritual of any element for which you have the Lead Ritual skill. This skill can be taken multiple times, learning a new ritual each time.
Focused Thaumaturge	Lead Ritual	Once per day you can boost the effectiveness of a ritual you lead, increasing the effective power by 50%. You can RESIST non-EPIC REPEL and any non-EPIC COMPEL or EFFECT that would cause you to stop the ritual.

Science Skills

Skill	Prerequisites	Description
Alchemy		You can perform alchemy to manifest first and second order partials of alchemicals. You can use 2 ingredients safely. You can identify a known alchemical with a few moments of roleplay. You can identify an unknown alchemical with appropriate roleplay, destroying it.
Improved Alchemy	Alchemy	You can use 4 ingredients safely. When in the field, you can transmute ducatto into any basic ingredient. This is much less efficient than purchasing ingredients from the task force stores.
Advanced Alchemy	Improved Alchemy	You can manifest third order partials of alchemicals and use 5 ingredients safely. You can use alchemicals that are Advanced Alchemist Only.
Master Alchemy	Advanced Alchemy	You can use 6 ingredients safely. You can manifest fourth order partials of alchemicals and use fabled fourth order alchemicals. Fourth order alchemicals are likely to be your magnum opus; you may only be able to fully comprehend one or two, but they will have a dramatic effect.
Alchemical Resistance	Improved Alchemy	You can consume an additional alchemical per encounter before suffering from overdose.
Surgery		Surgery is a very common requirement for the treatment of wounds. See Wounds and Death. With 5 seconds of touch range inspection you can determine the exact hits of a character. With appropriate roleplay you can autopsy a human corpse and ask one question about it.
Dissection	Surgery	With appropriate roleplay you can dissect a recently deceased non-human body to salvage usable materials from it and ask one question about it. Materials in bodies must be removed and preserved *extremely* quickly, such that each dissector can usually only dissect a single body at the end of an encounter before the rest are spoilt. Not all body types yield useful material.
Field Medic	Surgery	You can suppress wounds with the Patch Up skill two more times per day.
Rapid First Aid	Surgery	You can use 5s stationary appropriate roleplay to CURE 1 another character.
Graft		You can graft elemental material on to people, or yourself (or another surgeon or grafter can do the operation under your direction if self-surgery is impractical), which can grant new abilities, usually with drawbacks. Your knowledge of grafts means you can use one graft without mechanical drawback. Grafts cannot add new large body parts, such as more limbs or heads. If the target is unwilling the graft may be rejected.
Advanced Grafting	Graft	You can perform advanced grafts on yourself (or another surgeon or grafter can do the operation under your direction if self-surgery is impractical). There is no set list of advanced grafts, but consulting with a Keeper or task force staff could give insight on what is possible and what would be required to do it. Advanced grafts can be based on elemental grafts, or altering your own tissue with a powerful alchemical. Advanced grafts will always cause a dramatic appearance change.
Reanimate		With appropriate roleplay you can reanimate a mostly complete corpse. This may not work if they’ve been dead for a long time. This can allow a conversation with the dead creature. This may fail even with a recently dead corpse if the soul isn’t willing to return. Corpses can also be reanimated with a rudimentary intelligence to perform simple tasks. Reanimated workers are not useful for combat and there is a limit to how many workers a reanimator can maintain at a time. You can also use this skill to restore a terminal character to full capability, but they will still die at the end of their terminal state. There is no currently known way to fully restore a terminal character. Legends speak of people making pacts with elementals in return for returning from the brink of death, but the price described is always dire, and they say they never quite came back the same...