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rpg-system-notes/Version 1/Chronicles of Fate/02 🟡 Attribute and Skill Descriptions/02 🔵 Skill Descriptions.md
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Previous Section: [[01 🟡 Attribute Descriptions]]
# Skill Descriptions
## Skills
Skills grant a bonus to the relevant rolls and can range from 0 to +10 naturally but you may get additional bonuses based on [[#Skill Specialization|Specializations]]. Skills have a linked [[01 🟡 Attribute Descriptions|Attribute]] which is the Attribute that is normally used with the Skill. Unless otherwise stated, when a [[04 🔵 Types of Checks#Skill Checks|Skill Check]] is called for use the linked Attribute.
## Skill Specialization
Skills apply to general situations but characters can gain specializations within these skills for extra bonuses in specific situations. Specializations come in 4 levels, Novice, Adept, Expert, and Master. Each level grants an additional bonus +3, +5, +10, and +15 respectively. There are no limits on what a specialization can be but talk with your GM before choosing a specialization. Examples can be found under each skill.
### Equipment Expertise
Many sets of tools and exotic weapons require expertise to be used. Equipment expertise is unlocked and progressed the same as specializations except there is no limit to the number of items a character can have expertise with. If an item requires expertise to be used it will describe which skill that expertise is related to.
## Knowledge Skills
Knowledge skills do not have ranks, because they are not used directly in skill tests. Instead, they are used to provide opportunities to gain knowledge connected to other tests. For example, if a character has Armor Crafting Knowledge and makes a Perception check to look over a Target's armor. The check might give them the chance to learn about armor weaknesses.
**Examples:**
- Local History
- Theology
- Local Factions
- Weapon Crafters
- Espionage Techniques
- Local Herbs
- Hunting Grounds
- Aerospace Technology
## Language Skills
There are lots of languages in the world. Knowing how to speak languages can be the key to picking up information people are trying to hide. Language skills are [[#Knowledge Skills]] with [[#Skill Specialization|Specialization]] levels like so:
- English (Novice)
- English (Adept)
- English (Expert)
- English (Master)
## List of Skills
### Acrobatics
Primary Attribute: Agility
Your Acrobatics skill covers your ability to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as running across a sheet of ice, balancing on a tightrope, or staying upright on a rocking ship's deck. The GM might also call for an Acrobatics check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.
### Animal Handling
Primary Attribute: Awareness
Animal Handling is used to calm a domesticated animal, keep a mount from getting spooked, or intuit and animal's intentions. You also make an Animal Handling check to control your mount when you try something risky.
### Arcana
Primary Attribute: Memory
Arcana measures your ability to recall lore about magical matters such as spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, and magical traditions.
### Athletics
Primary Attribute: Strength
Your Athletics score covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping, or swimming. Such as scaling a rain-slicked cliff, avoiding hazards on a climb, jumping unusually far, pulling off a stunt while jumping, swimming treacherous currents, or staying afloat when a creature tries to pull you underwater.
### Brawling
Primary Attribute: Agility
Brawling is used when determining if an unarmed attack hits its target.
### Crafting
Primary Attribute: Memory
The Crafting skill is used to create and repair items as described in the [[4 🔵 Crafting|Crafting]] section.
### Culture
Primary Attribute: Presence
Culture is used to identify and respond to the social conventions in the current environment. For example, eating dinner with a King may require a check using Culture to determine if the character causes a scene.
### Deception
Primary Attribute: Presence
Deception determines whether you can convincingly hide the truth, verbally or through actions. Deception ranges from misleading through ambiguity to telling outright lies.
### Dueling
Primary Attribute: Agility
Dueling is used when determining if a melee attack hits its target while using a weapon.
### Engineering
Primary Attribute: Logic
Engineering measures your ability to make things do what you want them to and what they were designed to do. This skill is used to understand how technology works and to develop your own.
### Environment
Primary Attribute: Memory
The Environment skill measures your ability to recall lore about matters such as terrain, plants and animals, weather, and natural cycles. It can also be used in urban environments to determine how much you know about a region of a city or town.
### Exotic Weapons
Primary Attribute: Logic
Some weapons are not like any other and require particular training to use them. This skill is for those weapons. You must unlock a Skill Feature to use this skill, and you can only use this skill with weapons for which you have the Skill Feature. This skill functions the same as other combat skills.
### History
Primary Attribute: Memory
History measures your ability to recall lore about matters such as legendary people, ancient cultures, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.
### Insight
Primary Attribute: Awareness
Insight determines whether you can discern the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone's next move. This involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerism. More information is available in the [[03 🔵 Social Actions#Read Intentions|Read Intentions]] section.
### Intimidation
Primary Attribute: Presence
An attempt to influence someone through threats, hostility, and physical violence use the Intimidation skill. More information about using this skill can be found in the [[03 🔵 Social Actions#Threaten|Threaten]] section.
### Investigation
Primary Attribute: Logic
Your ability to look for clues and make deductions based on those clues is measured by Investigation. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. This skill is also used when searching through a library to find historical information.
### Maneuver Vehicle
Primary Attribute: Agility
This skill is used when a character has to maneuver a vehicle. Basic driving does not require a skill check. A check is only needed when failure means that you would lose control of the vehicle. The GM determines when any non-basic driving requires a check such as making a sharp turn at speed on slick ground or avoiding trees while flying through a forest.
### Marksmanship
Primary Attribute: Agility
Marksmanship is used when determining if a ranged attack hits its target.
### Martial Arts
Primary Skill: Agility or Strength
The Martial Arts skill is used when making attacks, however using this skill requires that the character be trained in Martial Arts by unlocking the relevant Feature.
### Medicine
Primary Attribute: Memory
The Medicine skill is used to heal characters. More information about regaining health can be found in the [[04 🟡 Healing|Healing]] section.
### Perception
Primary Attribute: Awareness
Perception lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. For example, you can try to overhear a conversation through a closed door, catch the scent of monsters hiding in the forest, or spot things that are obscured or easy to miss.
### Performance
Primary Attribute: Presence
Performance determines how well you might delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or other forms of entertainment.
### Persuasion
Primary Attribute: Presence
When you attempt to influence someone or a group using the rules described in [[02 🔵 Social Encounters|Social Encounters]] you will use persuasion to determine your success, except for in specific situations described in the Social Encounter rules..
### Politics
Primary Attribute: Memory
Politics measures your ability to remember and recognize who you need to work with or put pressure on to achieve your goals as well as knowing who might know about secrets or opportunities to exploit.
### Religion
Primary Attribute: Memory
Religion measures your ability to recall lore about matters such as deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and secret cults.
### Science
Primary Attribute: Logic
Science measures your ability to understand and discover scientific principles. It is primarily used during [[5 🔵 Researching|Research]] when trying to discover methods that would allow the development of new technology.
### Slight of Hand
Primary Attribute: Agility
Slight of hand is used when you attempt some form of manual trickery, whether that's concealing an object on your person or picking someone else's pocket.
### Stealth
Primary Attribute: Agility
Stealth measures your ability to conceal yourself from others.
#### Hiding
Hiding is a unique way that characters can use the Stealth skill. It's tied to the [[03 🔵 Actions#Hide (I)|Hide]] action in combat encounters. The GM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. When you attempt to hide make an Agility + Stealth check. Until you are discovered or stop hiding, that check result is contested by the Perception score of a character that might discover you.
You can't attempt to hide from a creature that can sense you clearly, and you give away your position if you make noise, such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase. In combat, most characters stay alert for signs of danger, so if you come out of hiding and approach a character, they typically detect you. However, under certain circumstances, the GM might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a distracted creature, granting you advantage on an attack roll.
### Survival
Primary Attribute: Awareness
Survival represents your understanding of both urban and natural environments as well as your ability to sustain yourself and keep your bearings in these environments. This skill is used to hunt, scavenge, find water, traverse treacherous terrain, evade predators, predict changes in weather, and maintain a desired path through difficult environments.
#### Tracking
Tracking is a unique way that characters can use the Survival skill. It involves detecting and following signs of a character's passage through an area. A PC who wants to track a character declares their intention to do so. Then the GM determines whether tracking is possible, if a check is necessary, and the difficulty of the DV required to track the target.
### Tactics
Primary Attribute: Logic
The Tactics skill is used to determine resistances and vulnerabilities of targets primarily in combat. It is often used with the [[03 🔵 Actions#Observe in Detail (I)|Observe in Detail]] action or during [[5 🔵 Researching|Research]] when trying to find a information about how a target behaves in combat.
# Next Section
[[02 ❌ Armor|02 ❌ Armor]]