The game is built around using skills heavily in combat, exploration, and world interaction. A character's skills are the main determining factor in what they are good at or bad at, and are made better through use.
| Rank | Level |
|---|---|
| Novice | 0-19 |
| Apprentice | 20-39 |
| Expert | 40-59 |
| Adept | 60-79 |
| Master | 80-100 |
All skills have a Rank of Novice, Apprentice, Expert, Adept, and Master. Rank with a skill is determined by skill level (Table: Skill Rank). All skills have a level of 1-100 and a key ability tied to them. The key ability's modifier determines the starting level of that skill in character creation. Skill Rank determines when a character can purchase a Skill Perks and which ones they are elegible for.
All skills have a modifier based on that skill's level (Table: Skill Modifiers). This is the number that is rolled whenever a character attempts a task related to that skill.
| Skill Level | Modifier |
|---|---|
| 0-5 | +0 |
| 6-10 | +1 |
| 11-15 | +2 |
| 16-20 | +3 |
| 21-25 | +4 |
| 26-30 | +5 |
| 31-35 | +6 |
| 36-40 | +7 |
| 41-45 | +8 |
| 46-50 | +9 |
| 51-55 | +10 |
| 56-60 | +11 |
| 61-65 | +12 |
| 66-70 | +13 |
| 71-75 | +14 |
| 76-80 | +15 |
| 81-85 | +16 |
| 86-90 | +17 |
| 91-95 | +18 |
| 96-99 | +19 |
| 100 | +20 |
To increase a skill’s level, it must be actively used. Any time a character succeeds on a skill check for that skill, a checkmark is placed next to that skill. At the end of the session, any skills with a check mark are given a Leveling Check to determine if the skill increases in level or not. If the skill levels, the check mark is removed and the skill must be used again in order to be eligible for leveling up. If the leveling check fails and the skill does not increase in level, the check mark remains to try again at the next session.
The leveling check is rolling a d100, adding the key ability modifier for that skill, and comparing it to the skill’s current level. If the result of the d100 + ability mod is equal to or higher than the skill’s level, then the skill levels up.
A character can choose to use Skill Trainers to gain skill levels instead, but this will remove any current check marks for that skill.
Anytime a PC tries to do something where the outcome is uncertain, a skill check is required. A skill check consists of rolling a D20 and adding that skill’s modifier to the roll. If the outcome meets or exceeds the DC the GM set for the task, the task succeeds.
An opposed check can happen when a PC’s success or failure depends on the outcome of another character’s check result. The highest result wins. In a tie, the higher skill modifier wins. If these numbers are also the same, roll again.
At each Rank other than Novice, there are new Skill Perks available. Skill Perks are like other Perks in that they must be bought with experience points, but the requirements are only based on a singular skill’s level and pertain only to the use of that skill.
Skill Perks allow a character to specialize in a specific facet of a skill. In most instances, a character can only choose one Perk at each Rank (for a total of 4 Perks per skill, one each for the Apprentice, Expert, Adept, and Master Ranks). Perks can be retrained.
A character’s aptitude with a particular weapon is determined by their skill level for that weapon’s category. Weapon skill determines how likely a character is to succeed on a hit in combat with that weapon and how much damage they deal. The weapon skills are:
A character’s ability to use armor to its maximum benefit is determined by the appropriate armor skill. Armor skill determines how well the character can move in their armor, the number of enchanted armor pieces they can wear at once, and how much damage their armor will mitigate. The armor skills are:
Magic skills are based on the six Schools of Magic. Each skill determines a character’s aptitude with spells from that particular School. Skill level determines how well a character can cast spells, its effectiveness or damage, and how powerful certain Magical Effects from that School are when Spellcrafting. The magic skills are:
Creation skills determine how well a character can create certain items and equipment, how well they can gather related materials (this doesn’t apply if they are buying the materials instead), and their ability to work with Special Materials. The creation skills are:
Adventuring skills are skills normally used outside of combat in every-day exploration or travel, interactions with npcs, etc. The adventuring skills are:
Lore skills behave differently than other skills - they do not level up with use automatically like other skills. In order to level them, time must be spent Studying the relevant topic or gaining knowledge in some other way. Lore skills are used for recalling facts that are outside of common knowledge, identifying things, etc. The Lore skills are: