Skills listed with an asterisk (*) can be purchased multiple times. Doing so either improves the Skill, or increases the number of times per logistics a Skill can be used.
Skills may have prerequisites. These can be found in the Skill Chart, which explains exactly what is needed before purchasing any given Skill.
Some Skills may only be used once per Logistics Period (LP) per purchase. They will explicitly state this in the description.
Many Martial and Stealth Skills have IG “flavor” names for characters to use. The OOG Skill names are useful for players to understand what the Skill does—for example, the Skill is called “Sleep/Paralysis Blow” but IG, characters can refer to it as “Waylay.”
Below is the listing of all our current Skills. Many will have the following Keywords:
LP, Production
Alchemy allows the character to create non-magical elixirs, poisons, oils, and solvents. For each time Alchemy is bought, the character gets five Alchemy Production Points as detailed in the “Production Skills” section.
Alchemy cannot be used to determine the presence of an Alchemical substance or magical potion in a creature’s bloodstream.
Advanced Use: To utilize a gas globe (Packet) requires at least three ranks of Alchemy. All gas Packets must be orange to differentiate them from spell Packets (which cannot be orange). A character with 10 or more levels of Alchemy is considered a Journeyman, and only spends four copper pieces for every five production points of Alchemy.
See Chapter XII Alchemy for more details on specific types of Alchemy and how they might be used.
Passive
This Skill allows the character to use a Bow and a Crossbow.
For safety reasons, real Bows and Crossbows are not used in REFUGE LARP. Instead, archers use padded physical representations for the Bows and Crossbows, and blue Packets to represent Arrows and Bolts. See Chapter IX Weapons and Armor and Chapter IV Combat for more details. Please note: You MAY block with a padded Bow. You MAY NOT block with a Crossbow.
LP, Meditatable
This Skill allows the character to strike for higher damage From Behind to one opponent once per LP for each time the Skill is bought. If used with a ranged Weapon, the Assassinate may be used from any direction.
This Skill may be used with any Weapon for which the character has the appropriate Weapon Skill. An Assassinate does 25 points of damage that can only be increased with purchases of the Improved Assassinate Skill.
You may call any applicable carrier with this Skill (e.g. Magic, Flame, Silver) that your Weapon is capable of. The Assassinate applies to only one blow, whether it hits, misses, or is blocked. Any defensive call against this Weapon swing (such as Weapon Shield, Parry, Evade, or Dodge etc.) protects against and expends an Assassinate. In this case, you may not mediate the Skill back.
LP This skill allows the character to do 2 extra points of Weapon damage From Behind, or 1 extra point of Weapon damage from any direction with a ranged or thrown Weapon, for 10 minutes. Multiple Back Attacks can be expended simultaneously for enhanced effect, each adding additional damage as described above. It can be used with any Weapon with which your character has the appropriate skill.
A player may activate no more than five Back Attacks at any one time. Players may voluntarily end the 10-minute duration at any time. Players may not activate additional Back Attacks if they have some already running at the same time (they must choose to end the ongoing ones first).
Back Attacks are traded in to purchase the Backstab Skill at the rate of two Back Attacks to one Backstab, plus one additional Back Attack per Backstab they have already bought. This means that the second Backstab requires three Back Attacks to be traded in, the third Backstab will require four Back Attacks, and so forth.
Passive This skill allows a character to do 2 extra points of Weapon damage From Behind, or 1 extra point when used with a ranged or thrown Weapon. It applies to any Weapon in which the character has the appropriate skill.
The Skill can be purchased multiple times and the effects stack. Note that each purchase requires trading in an additional set of Back Attacks.
LP, Production, Passive (refitting armor)
This Skill allows the character to create Weapons, Shields, and suits of armor; it also allows them to refit physical suits of armor, but not Natural or Arcane Armor, an unlimited number of times per LP. For more information on refitting armor, see the Armor section in Chapter IX Weapons and Armor.
The person with this Skill can then make anything which Blacksmithing can produce up to their maximum Production Points.
Refitting a physical suit of armor can be done any number of times per LP by a character with the Skill Blacksmith. See Chapter IX Weapons and Armor section for details.
Silvering a Weapon: Silvering a Weapon allows the Weapon to harm monsters that can only be hurt by silver, such as certain Undead. To silver an existing Weapon, the Blacksmith must pay 15 Production Points and 15 silver pieces. Silvering an existing Arrow or Bolt costs 1 silver per Arrow or Bolt and 1 Production Point (note that these costs are separate from the costs of the actual creation of the Weapon itself.) Once applied, the silver can never be removed.
Strengthening a Weapon, Shield, or other item: Strengthening a Weapon, Shield, or other item allows it to withstand Shatter and Acidic Skin effects as well as explosive traps. Once strengthened, the item will withstand two such attacks. When hit with one of these effects, the person with a strengthened item must say “Resist.” An item can only be strengthened once, giving it two Resists to these effects. After those Resists are used, it can be strengthened again but can never have more than two Resists at any one time.
To strengthen an existing item, the smith must pay an extra 50 Production Points and 50 silver pieces.
Advanced use: A character with 10 or more levels of Blacksmith is considered a Journeyman, and only spends four copper pieces for every five production points of Blacksmithing. Silvering and strengthening do not benefit from this reduction in cost. A character with 20 or more levels of Blacksmith is considered a Master and gains the ability to refit armor in 30 seconds as opposed to the usual 60 seconds.
LP, Species
With this Skill, a character can break all active Command effects on another creature once per LP per purchase. The Command effects can be found in the Effect Groups section. This does not include Greater Command effects such as Enslavement, Euphoria, or Amnesia.
You must be close enough to touch the affected person as if touch-casting and must spend ten seconds of role-playing conversation and Focus with the victim to remove the effect.
If you perform any other Game Abilities during this time, if the target is attacked, or if the conversation is interrupted, then the Break Command fails and is expended. Attempting this action on a character that had not been under the effects of a Command will still result in the ability being used for the day.
You cannot use this Skill upon yourself.
LP, Meditatable
This Skill allows the character to memorize a single Celestial Magic spell each day of lower or equal level to the level of spell slot which has been purchased. This Skill provides a Spell Slot as described in the Skill System section.
LP
Each purchase of this skill grants a character 25 points in a Channeling pool to spend each day. The pool can be channeled in increments of 5, up to a maximum of 10 points; once points are expended, they do not return until the following Logistics Period.
Celestial Channelers may use Stone, Ice, Lightning,or Flame Sources; Earth Channelers may use Healing or Chaos Sources. The character’s primary Spell School determines their Channeling type, though Channeling can be bought at an additional cost for their secondary school, which will produce a separate Channeling pool for that school.
You may purchase multiple Sources to use multiple elements, but your Channeling pool amount remains unchanged by doing so. For more information, see Chapter XI Magic.
Passive, Species
This skill allows a character to use a One-Handed Claw. The base damage for a Claw is two points; all Claws must be short Weapon length and must abide by all Weapon construction rules, and additionally must have their entire striking surface colored red. This skill only allows the use of one Claw unless the character also has Florentine, Two Weapons, or Style Master, at which point the character can use either two Claws or a Claw and a Weapon; as Claws are short Weapons, a player may dual-wield them with just the Florentine skill.
You may use any skill requiring a Weapon with the Claw (such as Weapon Proficiency or Sleep/Paralysis Blow), and characters who are hit in their Claws with Weapons, bows, or Arrows do not take damage from the attack. In general, Claws are treated as Weapons, and can receive Alchemical Weapon coatings and be used with Blade spells; however, Claws cannot be silvered or strengthened by the Blacksmith skill.
Claws may not be Disarmed, Shattered, stolen, confiscated, or destroyed; if you are struck by such an effect which would target a Claw, you should call “No Effect”.
The Claws are retractable and can be retracted and activated without a count; the time it takes a player to obtain the physreps out-of-game is the time it takes the character to activate the Claws in-game.You cannot call a Pause Game to get your Claw, so keep them close by! Similarly, if you drop a Claw, you cannot call a Pause Game to pick it up.
Other players may not pick up your claw for you, and should never take the Claw if they find it on its own. Carrying a Claw phys rep and a Weapon phys rep in the same hand is not allowed.
Passive
Once purchased, the character may expend any Signature Spell from memory as “X Spell Strike <effect>” using a Weapon that you are proficient with. If the Weapon attack misses, the spell may be Meditated back as normal. This may be done any number of times per LP.
When expending an Earth Signature Spell, the character may choose to change the effect of this attack to the Body Carrier but will only inflict half as much damage (rounding up) as they would normally inflict with this ability.
LP, Defense (Smart, Guard)
Trigger: You are hit with a Weapon Strike attack that you were able to validly block (with a Weapon or Shield).
You may call “Counteract” to the trigger to negate the validly blocked Strike.
Note that this may not be used against Strike attacks with other qualifiers like Spell or Poison, nor may it be used against a Weapon Strike that validly hits you. It may be used once per LP per purchase.
LP, Production
This Skill allows you to create an Earth magic-based potion. You must have access to the spell in a spell book, but you do not have to be able to cast the spell.
Making a potion costs Production Points and IG money and falls under the rules set forth in the section on the “Production Skills” section.
You receive five Create Potion Production Points for every time you purchase this Skill.
Advanced Use: A character with 10 or more levels of Create Potion is considered a Journeyman, and only spends four copper pieces for every five production points of Create Potion.
LP, Production
This Skill allows you to create a Celestial Magic-based scroll. You must have access to the spell in a spell book, but you do not have to be able to cast the spell.
Making a scroll costs Production Points and IG money and falls under the rules set forth in the section on the Production Skills section.
You receive five Create Scroll Production Points for every time you purchase this Skill.
Advanced Use: A character with 10 or more levels of Create Scroll is considered a Journeyman, and only spends four copper pieces for every five production points of Create Scroll. A character with 20 or more levels of Create Scroll is considered a Master and gains the ability to cast from any level Celestial battle magic scroll (regardless of the highest-level Celestial spell he or she has). A Master can also cast from any Celestial battle magic scroll without sufficient light to read the scroll (but the scroll still must be held before you and in a location from which it could be read were there sufficient light, following all normal scroll reading rules).
LP, Production
This Skill allows you to make traps and Trap Globes as per the “Traps and Locks” section as well as identify Trap Globes at a base time of 60 seconds.
It also allows you to attempt to arm a trap, disarm a trap, or pick a lock. It does not guarantee success.
You must have this Skill to even attempt to set a trap, disarm a trap, or pick a lock. You may not even cut an obvious trip wire without this Skill. See the Traps section in Chapter XV Odds and Ends for details.
A person without this Skill can detect whether a trap is present but will have no idea how to disarm that trap such as an obvious trip wire.
Making a trap or globe costs Production Points and IG money and falls under the rules set forth in the section on the Production Skills section.
You receive five Create Trap Production Points for every time you purchase this Skill.
Advanced Use: Three ranks are required to throw Trap Globes. A character with 10 or more levels of Create Trap is considered a Journeyman, and only spends four copper pieces for every five production points of Create Trap. A character with 20 or more levels of Create Trap is considered a Master and gains the ability to set a trap in 30 seconds as opposed to the usual 60 seconds.
LP
This skill allows the character to do 1 extra point of Weapon damage for 10 minutes. Multiple Critical Attacks can be expended simultaneously for enhanced effect, each adding additional damage as described above. It can be used with any Weapon with which your character has the appropriate skill.
You may activate no more than 5 Critical Attacks at any one time. You may voluntarily end the 10-minute duration at any time. You may not activate additional Critical Attacks if they have some already running at the same time (they must “end” the ongoing ones first).
Critical Attacks need to be traded in to purchase the Weapon Proficiency Skill at the rate of two Critical Attacks to one Weapon Proficiency, plus one additional Critical Attack per Weapon Proficiency they have already bought. This means that the second Weapon Proficiency requires three Critical Attacks to be traded in, the third Weapon Proficiency will require four Critical Attacks, and so forth.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Nerve Blow.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, attack once with the call “Weapon Destruction” or “Weapon Stun <limb>.” This Skill represents a combatant aiming to strike their foes’ nerves to slow and disable them; IG this will affect most creatures, regardless if they have a “nervous system” or not.
LP, Defense (Smart, Guard)
Trigger: You are hit with a Packet or physical delivery attack
You may call “Dodge” to the triggering attack allowing you to negate the effect.
You may use this once per LP per purchase.
It does not protect against area effect traps or Killing Blows. Dodge cannot be used if you are completely immobilized, such as when under the effect of a Web or even simply being tied up.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Terminate.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack From Behind and use the Doom carrier. This may be combined with an Assassinate or Slay for additional damage.
LP, Meditatable
This Skill allows the character to memorize a single Earth Magic spell each day of lower or equal level to the level of spell slot which has been purchased. This Skill provides a Spell Slot as described in the Skill System section.
Passive
Educated allows you to identify Potions, Alchemical items, Trap Globes, and Battle Magic Scrolls at a base time of 60 seconds. See the “Production Skills” section in Chapter VI The Skill System for details.
If you also have the Skill Herbal Lore, Create Trap, Read Magic, or Healing Arts, the base time to identify an item based on that production Skill is reduced to 30 seconds per item.
Time is reduced to 15 seconds with 10 ranks of Alchemy, Create Trap, Create Potion, or Create Scroll. If you have 20 ranks of Alchemy, Create Trap, Create Potion, or Create Scroll, you can instantly identify an item based on that production Skill.
LP, Meditatable
You may, once per LP per purchase, expend a spell from memory to attack once for “Spell Strike <spell>”; if the attack misses, both the spell and this Skill may be Meditated back separately. The spell may not be higher than 1st level; every 25 Martial XP lets you Spell Strike 1 higher level, requiring 25 XP for a 2nd level and 200 XP for a 9th
If used for a Necromantic spell, the spell counts as three levels lower than it is.
LP, Meditatable
You may, once per LP per purchase, expend a spell from memory to attack once with a melee Weapon From Behind for “Spell Strike <spell>;” if the attack misses, both the spell and this Skill may be Meditated back separately. The spell may not be higher than 1st level; Every 25 Stealth XP lets you Spell Strike 1 higher level, requiring 25 XP for a 2nd level and 200 XP for a 9th
If used for a Necromantic spell, the spell counts as three levels lower than it is.
LP, Defense (Smart, Guard)
Trigger: You are hit with a Weapon qualifier attack or Poison Attack that uses physical delivery.
You may call “Evade” to the trigger allowing you to negate the effect.
You may use this once per LP per purchase.
It does not protect against area effect traps or Killing Blows. Evade cannot be used if you are completely immobilized, such as when under the effect of a Web or even simply being tied up.
LP
This skill allows a character to halve the time it takes to refit a suit of armor once per LP for each purchase. You may expend up to two uses of Fast Refit to reduce the time, to a minimum of a 15 second refit. A single use reduces the time to 30 seconds, and two uses reduces the time to 15 seconds.
When using this Skill, a character must announce “Fast Refit.” Once the Skill is announced, it is expended even if the refit action is interrupted.
A use of the Fast Refit Skill will stack with the Master rank bonus of a Blacksmith.
This Skill may be purchased once for each rank of Blacksmith the character possesses.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Debilitating Blow.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack From Behind for “Weapon Fear” or “Weapon Berserk.”
Passive
First Aid allows the user to stabilize a dying creature (at -1 Body Points), bringing the recipient to zero Body Points. The person will then regain consciousness in one minute with one Body Point. First Aid will work on a character under a Disease effect but will not remove the Disease effect itself.
This Skill only works with humanoid physiologies (which includes all PC species and most other bipedal creatures such as goblins, gnolls, Orcs, Ogres, trolls, etc.). It will not work on creatures with no metabolism (such as Undead or constructs), on certain monsters which are completely alien, or on animals or other non-humanoid creatures (although, at a Plot team’s discretion, an appropriate Trades Skill might assist in this type of situation). If First Aid is started on an invalid target (such as a dead character), the target should call “No Effect” to indicate that the person attempting to help is having no success.
This Skill cannot save a creature hit with a Killing Blow or a Doom spell. Note that the Skill Healing Arts is needed to determine if the creature is dead (unless it is painfully obvious to everyone, like the creature’s head has been removed).
The Skill requires a full uninterrupted minute of Focus. The player with this Skill should role-play the First Aid by pulling out some bandages and otherwise concentrating on helping the patient and it must be obvious to anyone looking that First Aid is being performed. The only body contact allowed is with the target’s shoulder, although you may pantomime further physical contact in an appropriate manner. In other words, you cannot lie on the ground next to your victim with your hand on your victim’s torso and be performing this Skill. If interrupted while giving First Aid, then the one-minute “Bleeding Out” timer continues where it left off when the First Aid was started.
You cannot apply First Aid to more than one person at a time, nor can you perform any other Game Ability while applying First Aid other than Healing Arts.
A player who is being given First Aid and does not wish to have body contact must tell the player with the First Aid Skill. This does not mean the First Aid is being refused IG.
Passive
A character with this Skill may convert a spell in memory at time of casting to a Signature Spell of one level lower. First level spells may not be converted in this way. All other requirements of the spell must still be met; the spell must be correctly incanted (as the Signature Spell), a Packet must be correctly thrown or touch-cast, and so forth. If the spell misses its target, the caster may Meditate back the original spell. A spell converted in this way cannot be combined with other Skills like United Blow, Combined Strike, Enhanced Strike, or Empowered Strike. The converted spell may be placed into a Spell Store or Memory Strike Ritual.
Passive
This Skill allows you to hold and use two Weapons in combat, one in each hand. Neither Weapon can be a Two-Handed Weapon, and neither Weapon may be a Long One-Handed Weapon - this Skill allows Short or Small Weapons only.
As noted in the Combat section, each Weapon must be swung separately with the correct damage call.
LP, Meditatable
You may, once per LP per purchase, expend a Celestial Signature Spell from memory as “X Spell Strike <effect>” through a Weapon attack; if the attack misses, both the spell and this Skill may be Meditated back separately. If you also have the Combined Strike Skill, you may instead choose to expend the spell as “X Arcane Strike <effect>” when using Foundation Strike.
Passive
This Skill allows characters to expand their Body Point total. IG, it represents the character spending part of their time on ‘toughening up’ and preparing for the rigors of combat. For each time this Skill is purchased, the character gains 5 maximum Body Points.
Passive This Skill, which represents basic medical knowledge, is required to learn any Earth spells.
A character with Healing Arts can determine if someone is Diseased, Sleeping, Paralyzed, dead, bleeding out, unconscious, or merely faking injury upon examining them. The exact extent of injuries can be determined as well.
A person with Healing Arts examining a hurt body can tell exactly how many points of healing are necessary for complete recovery. (Asking “How many Body Points are you down?” is an OOG question and the response should not be considered IG by those nearby without their own examination or other IG communication)
This Skill will not allow you to tell if a creature is under the effects of an Alchemical substance or if the creature has any in their system. It will not allow you to determine cause of death by poison, Necromancy, or the use of spells or similar unobvious means. It will, however, allow you to determine if the damage was caused by an Edged or Blunt Weapon or by Claws.
Since this Skill represents checking pulse and otherwise examining the body, it cannot be done instantly.
In order to use this Skill, the person must touch the subject’s shoulder and role-play an examination. The amount of time it takes to perform the examination is determined by the length of the questions being asked but in no case less than three seconds.
Before asking any questions, you must say “Healing Arts” so that the recipient is aware that the questions being asked are not actually being said IG and thus must be answered. Since these are OOG questions, they can be asked and answered while under the effects of a Silence.
These OOG questions can only include the following:
A player representing a permanently dead body should respond to “Are you Dead?” with “yes,” and “How long until you Resurrect?” with either “Never” or “Not applicable.”
You may not ask questions like the following: What is your maximum amount of Body Points? Were you killed by Necromancy? Were you killed by Celestial spells? Were you poisoned? Was that guy running away the one who killed you?
If this Skill is used to ask an inexplicable answer (such as asking a living person “How long until you Resurrect?”), the recipient should answer “Not applicable.”
You cannot use Healing Arts on a conscious person without their knowledge. It is always obvious that you are using your Skill. Shaking hands or touching someone’s shoulder will not give the results that a real check-up would. A conscious person thus can prevent Healing Arts from being performed unless bound or similarly restrained.
Healing Arts can be performed through Binding effects such as Web and Pin but not through effects that block physical contact such as Prison and Circle of Power.
Certain creatures are not affected by Healing Arts. Creatures that have “no metabolism” or “alien metabolism” or “animal metabolism” on their monster card should state “No Effect” when someone attempts to use Healing Arts upon them.
If a creature has an alien metabolism and the Skill Healing Arts, it may both use Healing Arts normally and may also use Healing Arts upon creatures of the same type. For example, a Naga with Healing Arts may use Healing Arts on another Naga effectively, but may not use Healing Arts on a giant spider.
Creatures with no metabolism may never have Healing Arts used on them effectively, even by other similar creatures with the Skill Healing Arts. For example, an Undead Death Knight with the Skill Healing Arts cannot use that Skill on another Death Knight.
Passive
Herbal Lore represents a character’s knowledge of herbs and natural substances. To mix an Alchemical elixir into a food or drink, or to apply a coating or Weapon coating, you must have Herbal Lore.
Anyone can use an ingested substance if not mixed into food or drink. In other words, anyone can drink an Intoxicant elixir straight from the bottle, but you must have Herbal Lore to mix that elixir into a drink or food.
You cannot use the Skill Herbal Lore on a character to determine if that character is under the effects of an Alchemical substance.
LP
This Skill grants one point of High Magic per purchase; see Chapter XI Magic for details. Anyone with at least one purchase of High Magic may read Ritual Scrolls of that aspect (or “General” Aspect).
Passive
This Skill enhances the damage that your Assassinates will produce. For every purchase of the Improved Assassinate Skill, all Assassinates you use increase by 25 points of damage.
Passive
Each purchase of this Skill allows you to evoke up to 10 more Channeling points per Packet. Improved Channeling also adds an additional 50 points of Channeling to your primary school of Channeling. This Skill can be purchased only once for every 20 purchases of Channeling.
Passive
This Skill upgrades your Slay Skills so that they will inflict additional damage. For each purchase of Improved Slay, each of your Slays will add an extra five times the Weapon’s base damage.
LP, Defense (Smart, Guard)
Trigger: Another player within arm’s length is hit with any Packet or physical delivery attack.
When using this Skill, you must call “Intercept” and clearly indicate which triggering attack the Skill was used against. It may be used once per LP for each purchase.
You may only Intercept a blow that you could logically reach within arm’s length or with your Weapon or Shield. You may not use a Bow to intercept across the battlefield but can do so within reach of the Bow. You can use this for any attack in which you could conceivably place yourself between the attack and the intended target as long as you follow proper Charging rules and do not contact either the victim or the attacker. Think of it as jumping in front of a bullet, but without physically doing so.
You may call an additional defense if appropriate after using an Intercept to take a blow meant for another.
LP, Meditatable
You may, once per LP per purchase, expend an Earth Signature Spell from memory as “X Spell Strike <effect>” through a Weapon attack; if the attack misses, both the spell and this Skill may be Meditated back separately. If you also have the Combined Strike Skill, you may instead choose to expend the spell as “X Arcane Strike <effect>” when using Magisterium Strike.
Passive
This Skill allows you to place an accurate value on certain IG items. It will not identify whether those items are magical, but only how much they might fetch on the open market.
This is usually accomplished by consulting an OOG list that your chapter will keep. This “Merchant Value List” will contain the IG items that have a game number, along with their monetary value. If an item does not have a number on this list, a character finding such an item will be perplexed by the material or technique and thus unable to identify its worth.
This Skill also allows the character to sell game items (potions, scrolls, Alchemical substances, armor, Weapons, and traps) to Logistics during normal LPs for their Production Point value in IG money. Items that are not produced through the Production Point system (components, ritual scrolls, Magic Items, etc.) cannot be traded in, and must be sold IG. A Channeling Source can be sold to Logistics for 2 silver pieces.
If a Production Point item is sold which has had additional Production performed upon it at a set cost (such as Strengthening or Silvering), a Merchant may regain the additional Production Point cost that was originally put into the item.
LP, Defense (Smart, Reduced)
Trigger: You have been struck with either any non-Instantaneous Effect or a Line of Sight Effect.
This Skill represents you relying on toughness and grit to resist debilitating effects through sheer force of will. When struck by an effect with a non-instantaneous duration, you may call “Mettle” as a defense and expend 20 Body Points (this amount may not be reduced in any way). This reduces the effect by 5 minutes, which may immediately negate the effect. Line of Sight effects are negated completely by this ability. Multiple Mettles may not be used against a single attack.
You may not use this Skill if you do not currently have at least 20 Body Points, nor may you use other Skills, rituals, or abilities to reduce or negate the damage. This Skill may be used once per LP per purchase.
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield a One-Handed Blunt Weapon. This includes any Blunt Small, Short, or Long melee Weapon. A Blunt Weapon cannot be used for thrusting, and any thrust with the tip of the Weapon does no damage.
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield a One-Handed Edged Weapon. This includes any Edged Small, Short, or Long melee Weapon. It also allows the use of a One-Handed Spear which may only be used as a thrusting Weapon.
Passive
This Skill allows you to use all One-Handed Edged and One-Handed Blunt Weapons. When purchasing this skill, all skills included within it are removed and refunded.
LP
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack from any direction which normally requires attacking From Behind. This Skill may (and normally should be) be combined with other Skills; note that no additional call is needed when this Skill is used.
LP, Defense (Smart, Guard)
Trigger: You are hit with a Weapon qualifier attack (or Weapon trap), or Poison qualifier attack that uses physical delivery
You may call “Parry” to the trigger allowing you to negate the attack.
Using a Parry against a swing for Massive will not stop you from taking damage, but you can call Parry to take the hit from another player. It cannot be used against non-Weapon traps nor can it be used against a spell or Alchemy Packet delivered attack. It may be used to block Arrows and Bolts.
Parry may be used with any Weapon in which the user has the appropriate Skill (other than a Crossbow or a Thrown Weapon). You may not use a Parry if you are not legally wielding a Weapon in your hand or if the wielding hand is affected by Stun Limb, Shackle or similarly incapacitated. A Two-Handed Weapon must be held in both hands to be able to use a Parry. A Bow or Staff is considered a One-Handed Weapon when using this Skill.
You may only Parry a blow you could logically Parry at the point where the strike is given. Your Weapon must be able to reach the attacker’s Weapon (not just the intended target of the attack!), otherwise the strike is too far away to Parry. If you could interpose yourself between your ally and a fighter trying to Slay him or her, you may call a Parry and nullify the attacker’s blow. However, you cannot call a Parry while standing at the other end of the battlefield.
You may not use a ranged Weapon to Parry a blow intended for someone else at a distance.
You may use this once per LP per purchase.
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield any hafted Two-Handed Weapon with a blade on the far end. This includes Weapons like Two-Handed Axes and Halberds.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Penetrating Attack.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, use the “Body” carrier for a single attack. This can be combined with other Skills (such as Slay or Assassinate). This Skill may only be used with a ranged Weapon or a One-Handed Small or Short Weapon. This represents the ability of a Skilled archer, crossbowman, or knife fighter to penetrate armor with a well-aimed shot.
LP, Species, Defense (Smart, Guard)
This Skill functions in the same way as the Skill Evade. It does not count as a Stealth Skill for Skill cost prerequisites.
LP, Species, Defensive (Smart, Reduced)
This Skill functions in the same way as the Skill Resolute. It does not count as a Martial Skill for Skill cost prerequisites.
Passive
This Skill is required for anyone wishing to learn Celestial Magic spells or cast Battle Magic scrolls. It does not allow you to read Ritual Magic scrolls (you require High Magic to do so).
With this Skill, you can use Battle Magic scrolls up to your highest level of Celestial spell ability plus four. Thus, if you have the Skill Read Magic and have no Celestial spells, you can use up to and including 4th level scrolls. If you have at least one 1st level Celestial Spell Slot, you can now use scrolls up to and including 5th level, and so on.
To use a magical scroll, you must hold the scroll before you, have enough light to be able to read it, actually read the scroll, say the verbal incant out loud, touch the spell Packet to the scroll, and then throw the spell Packet.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by a Binding effect (any delivery method)
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by a Command effect (any delivery method)
This does not work on Greater Commands.
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
Each purchase of this skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by a Curse effect (any delivery method)
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by an Elemental qualifier attack, or a Foundation Element effect (any delivery method)
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
This may be used against any attack using the Elemental qualifier. It may also be used to resist any single Foundation element attack (Flame, Ice, Stone, or Lightning) no matter what qualifier is used.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by a Necromancy effect (any delivery method)
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by any attack using the Poison qualifier (any delivery method)
It does not include Oil of Slipperiness or Paste of Stickiness.
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Resist), Species
Trigger: You are affected by any attack using the Spell qualifier (any delivery method)
To use this ability, you must call “Resist” when struck by the triggering effect.
This Skill does not allow you to Resist arcane delivered effects, formal Ritual Magic, or any other effect not delivered by the Spell qualifier. It does allow you to Resist an incanted spell, since those implicitly use the Spell qualifier.
Each purchase of this Skill also increases the character’s maximum Body Points by one.
LP, Defense (Smart, Reduced)
Trigger: You are hit with any attack or effect that would take you below 0 Body Points.
To use this ability, you must call “Resolute” when struck by the triggering effect. You will instead remain at one Body Point.
This will not prevent other effects from the attack (such as armor damage, Doom, or any other Weapon carrier).
You may use this once per LP per purchase.
LP, Meditatable
You may, once per LP per purchase after using any Dodge, Parry, or Evade Skill, immediately make a single Weapon attack. When using this attack, positioning requirements, such as From Behind, may be ignored.
Any offensive Skills or spells used from memory during this attack are not expended but must have at least a single use available at the time of Riposting Blow. Any Rituals used during this attack are expended.
Passive
This Skill allows you to use a Shield. Shield use in our game is unrealistic, as Shields are practically indestructible. To compensate for this, Shield use is somewhat restricted. You cannot intentionally make physical contact with your opponent with a Shield and may not “Shield bash”; see Chapter IV Combat for details.
You cannot use a Shield to perform Weapon-based Skills such as Parry. If hit with an effect that references a “Weapon” (such as Shatter, Disarm, etc.) the Shield will not be affected. However, these Skills can intentionally target a “Shield” instead.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Ambushing Blow.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack From Behind for “Weapon Silence” or “Weapon Stun <limb>”.
LP, Meditatable
This Skill enables the character to do one powerful attack of damage to one opponent once per LP per purchase. This Skill may be used with any Weapon in which you have the appropriate Weapon Skill.
A Slay does a set amount of damage that can only be increased with purchases of the Improved Slay Skill (you may not add any bonus damage from Weapon coatings, spells, etc.). You may call any applicable carrier with this Skill (e.g. Magic, Flame, or Normal). The Slay applies to a single swing only; once used, it is gone until the next LP.
The Slay’s damage is based on the Weapon type you are wielding - it will inflict ten times the base damage of the Weapon used and may only be increased by purchasing the Improved Slay Skill.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Waylay.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack with a melee Weapon From Behind for “Weapon Sleep” or “Weapon Paralysis.”
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Tendon Blow.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, make a single attack with a melee Weapon From Behind for “Weapon Slow” or “Weapon Weakness.”
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield any Small Weapon, which includes Bludgeon, Dagger, Hatchet, or any other Small melee Weapon, as defined in the “Weapons” section. It does not include Small Thrown Weapons.
Since this Skill includes both Edged and Blunt Weapons, it cannot be “sold back” when purchasing One-Handed Edge or One-Handed Blunt. However, since all the Weapons included in this Skill are also included in One-Handed Weapon Master, you must sell this Skill back when purchasing it.
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield a Staff. Staff use is restricted for safety reasons, so a player using a Staff must keep both hands gripped within the middle three feet of the Staff. You cannot trip people with a Staff or perform many other Staff moves that would be used in real life. Thrusting with a Staff is not allowed. See Chapter IX Weapons and Armor for details.
Passive
With this Skill, you gain use of the Shield, Florentine, and Two Weapon Skills. When purchasing this skill, all skills included within it are removed and refunded.
Passive
Once this Skill has been purchased, you may ignore positioning requirements (such as From Behind) when attacking a character performing a Counted Action such as Ripping Free, Rift, or Killing Blow.
Passive
This Skill allows you to use hand-thrown missile Weapons. See Chapter IX Weapons and Armor for more details on how to safely make and use Thrown Weapons.
Passive
This Skill is used to add flavor to your character. It cannot be used to give you any extra power IG nor does it guarantee any information from the Plot Committee, although the Plot Committee may take it into consideration when distributing information or plotlines. For instance, if you have Trades: Sailor and a module involves capturing a boat from pirates, your Skill could come in handy.
For every Trades Skill bought, you will receive one silver piece at check-in for each LP of the event they are checking in for. This money is received up front even if you are not able to attend the entire event. This represents income you receive from your Skill. Trades Skills must be Skills that would provide an income. Trades: Good Looking or Trades: Lazybones would not be acceptable.
You can buy multiple levels in any Trades Skill; each level will give additional coin and may be considered by your Plot team for appropriate level of expertise.
When choosing a Trades Skill, you cannot duplicate or imply other IG Skills. Trades: Herbalist is pretty much the same thing as Herbal Lore, and Trades: Leathersmith is covered under Blacksmith.
Example Trades Skills might include (but are not limited to) actor, architect, artist, astrologer, baker, bard, barrister, bookbinder, bookkeeper, brewer, builder, butcher, calligrapher, candlemaker, carpenter, cartographer, cartwright, cobbler, farmer, farrier, fisher, fletcher, forester, gambler, glassblower, gravedigger, hatter, hunter, innkeeper, jeweler, lumberjack, mapmaker, mason, masseuse, moneylender, musician, miller, miner, navigator, painter, potter, rat catcher, sage (specify field of study), sailor, scout, scribe, sculptor, silversmith, singer, tailor, tavernkeeper, tracker, trapper, undertaker, veterinarian, and weaver.
Passive
This skill allows you to wield a Two-Handed Blunt Weapon. A Blunt Weapon cannot be used for thrusting, and any thrust with the tip of the Weapon does no damage.
Passive
This Skill allows you to wield a Two-Handed sword, and only a Two-Handed sword. Any other Two-Handed Edged Weapon falls under the Polearm Skill.
Passive
This Skill grants you the ability to wield all Two-Handed Weapons covered under the Skills Two-Handed Sword, Two-Handed Blunt, Staff, and Polearm.
When purchasing this skill, all skills included within it are removed and refunded.
Passive
This Skill allows you to hold and use two Weapons in combat, one in each hand. Neither Weapon can be a Two-Handed Weapon, and one of the Weapons must be a Short or Small Weapon.
As noted in the Combat section, each Weapon must be swung separately with the correct damage call.
If an archer has the Two Weapon Skill and is using a Short Bow, then they may block with the Bow in one hand while wielding a Long One-Handed Weapon or a One-Handed Spear in the other.
Passive
Once this Skill has been purchased, you may expend any Signature Spell from memory to gain 10x the level of the spell in damage and gain the Body carrier for a single attack From Behind. This may be done any number of times per LP.
When United Blow is used with a ranged Weapon (whether thrown or a Bow/Crossbow), the Body Carrier cannot be used, but the bonus damage will still be added to the attack.
LP, Meditatable
Also known as “Demoralizing Strike.”
You may, once per LP per purchase, attack once with the call “Weapon Strike Weakness” or “Weapon Strike Shun.” This represents a warrior striking their opponent with a flourish or intimidating shout to cause them to back up or fight weakly with trepidation.
Passive
This Skill allows the use of all non-ranged Weapons. It encompasses both One-Handed Master and Two-Handed Master, which must be sold back when Weapon Master is purchased. It does not allow the use of Shield, Florentine, or Two Weapons. When purchasing this skill, all skills included within it are removed and refunded.
Passive
This skill allows a character to do 1 extra point of Weapon damage. It applies to any Weapon in which the character has the appropriate skill. If using a Two-Handed Weapon, the character can do 1 additional point of Weapon damage for every 2 purchases of this skill; Two-Handed Weapons include Bows, Crossbows, Polearms, Staffs, Two-Handed Blunts, and Two-Handed Swords.
A Weapon Proficiency adds this bonus to any Weapon with which the character has the appropriate Weapon Skill. When attacking with a Proficiency, you call out the total damage and any appropriate Carrier.
The Skill can be bought multiple times and the effects stack. Note that each purchase requires trading in a set amount of Critical Attacks; see the Critical Attack Skill for details.
Passive
This skill increases a character’s class Armor maximum by one point per purchase, up to a maximum of 62 points; see Chapter III Classes and Chapter IX Weapons and Armor for details. You are required to have the appropriate physrep to receive the bonus. Your armor marshal can assist you with this calculation at logistics.