Skills - Ofer Nave

# Games > Cosmere > Stormlight > Character > Skills > [!NOTE] References > Pages 55-67 ## Overview - everything you do is a skill test, including attacking and surgebinding (magic) - everything someone does *to* you is a skill test vs your defenses or skills ("opposed") - opposed ties go to the defender - there are 18 standard skills that everyone has access to + 10 surge skills for Radiant chars - all skills are associated w/an attribute - skill modifier = attribute + ranks - roll all dice at once — skill, damage, plot, advantage dice, etc #### Opportunities (🔵) & Complications (🔴) - 🔵/🔴 are both cumulative - nat 20 generates 🔵, nat 1 generates 🔴 *(by default)* - 🔵/🔴 ranges can be increased **Opportunities** - Aid an Ally (adv) - Collect Yourself (recover 1 FP) - Critical Hit (max dmg) - Influence the Narrative **Complications** - Hinder an Ally (disadv) - Become Distracted (lose 1FP) - Influence the Narrative ###### Plot Dice | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | | 🔴2 | 🔴4 | - | - | 🔵 | 🔵 | - the GM (and sometimes a player) can *Raise the Stakes* (once/roll max) which adds the plot die to a skill test - 🔴X → Add X to the skill roll in addition to generating a complication. #### Advantage & Disadvantage - for each advantage, choose a different die to duplicate (d20, plot die, dmg die, etc) - for each disadvantage, the GM chooses the die to duplicate and the result to keep - one advantage & one disadvantage cancel each out #### Difficulty Class | DC | Difficulty | | :-: | ----------------- | | 10 | Easy | | 15 | Medium | | 20 | Hard | | 25 | Very Hard | | 30 | Nearly Impossible | ## Standard Skills ###### Strength | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :----------------: | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Athletics** | Athletics reflects your physical prowess, brawn, endurance, and resistance to harm and physical adversity. Athletics can allow you to overcome an obstacle with feats of strength such as lifting, pushing, climbing, jumping horizontally and vertically, and pulling. Athletics is also used to make unarmed attacks. **Jumping:** While moving, a character can generally jump a horizontal distance equal to their own size wo/test, and a vertical distance equal to half their size. For longer jumps, they must make an Athletics test. General guideline: a 40' jump on Roshar would be nearly impossible (DC 30) for a Medium character. | • Leaping onto a foe to throw them off guard. • Seizing an enemy’s shield to get an opening to attack. • Flexing menacingly to shake an opponent’s resolve. | | **Heavy Weaponry** | Heavy Weaponry represents your experience wielding the most devastating weapons of warfare. You test Heavy Weaponry when you attack with or otherwise use weapons that are literally heavy, such as axes and hammers, along with most Shardblades. | • Distracting foes by winding up a dangerous-looking swing. • Dramatically drawing a sheathed heavy weapon. • Performing a practiced kata with your weapon, demonstrating your skill. | ###### Speed | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :----------------: | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Agility** | Agility reflects your capacity to maneuver within your environment, steer a mount, execute acrobatic feats, and pilot vehicles with precision. When your reflexes, mobility, or maneuverability are challenged by a task, you test Agility. | • Nimbly rolling to attack at an unexpected angle. • Bobbing and weaving quickly to throw your opponent off-balance. • Slipping inside an opponent’s guard, making it harder for them to defend against attacks. | | **Light Weaponry** | Light Weaponry represents your facility with smaller armaments that are wielded with finesse rather than raw strength. When you attack with or otherwise use knives, short swords, bows, slings, and similar weapons, you test Light Weaponry. | • Feinting with an intricate flourish, drawing a foe’s attention away from the real threat. • Conspicuously patting a concealed weapon, calling attention to its presence. • Throwing a weapon as a distraction from some other action. | | **Stealth** | Stealth represents your ability to avoid or escape attention. When you attempt to sneak, hide, blend into a crowd, or similarly avoid notice or lose pursuers, you test Stealth. **Hiding in Combat:** In combat, you can Use a Skill to attempt to hide from a character, making a Stealth test against their Spiritual defense. You can hide only if you’re in cover, if you’re in an area where your target’s primary sense is obscured (such as darkness), or if your target has no line of effect to you. If you’re attempting to hide from more than one character, compare your test result to each character’s Spiritual defense. Each character who you succeed against loses track of you and can no longer sense you, and they remain unaware of your exact location until you attack or take another action that would logically expose your position. As, you can covertly signal one or more allies you can sense, revealing your position to them. A character searching for you can Use a Skill to make a Perception test to search for you; the DC for this test equals the result of your original Stealth test, and it gains a disadvantage if you’re in cover or an area where the character’s primary sense is obscured. On a success, that character senses you. | • Briefly ducking out of view to disguise what you’re doing. • Using an object you had hidden up your sleeve. • Feinting one direction before moving in another. | | **Thievery** | Thievery covers all manner of tasks that require precise manual dexterity or are useful in skulduggery. When you pickpocket, lockpick, perform sleight of hand, escape from bonds, tie knots, or create disguises, you test Thievery. **Pickpocketing in Combat:** You can Use a Skill to make a Thievery test to pick the pocket of a character within your reach. When you make this test, raise the stakes. The DC of this test equals the target’s Spiritual defense, and you gain a disadvantage if the target is aware of your presence. | • Using sleight of hand to make something you’re holding seemingly disappear into thin air. • Subtly drawing a weapon to catch your foe unawares. • Donning a ridiculous piece of pre-prepared costuming to shock your target. | ###### Intellect | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :-----------: | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Crafting** | Crafting uses your ingenuity and knowledge to design and build physical objects with what you have on hand. When you’re crafting commonplace items like simple machines, traps, pottery, woodworking, sketches, sewing, or impromptu tools, you test Crafting to determine your success. **Crafting Complex Items:** If you want to create more complex items like weapons, armor, equipment, buildings, grand works of art, and fabrials, you need to have a corresponding expertise to make a Crafting test. **Repairing Items:** This game has no specific rules about damaging or repairing existing items, and it’s assumed you can competently maintain your equipment. But when it suits the story, the GM might call for a Crafting test to repair or reassemble an important item. | • Scooping dust or dirt into a pouch to use as a makeshift powderbomb. • Attaching rope or cloth to a weapon, making its trajectory harder to track. • Deploying an improvised device to flash light into someone’s eyes. | | **Deduction** | To understand the world, one must observe, question, and test. Through logic, reason, accruing evidence, and interpreting it, you can test Deduction to more confidently navigate the many uncertainties that surround you. | • Inferring a foe’s weakness or hidden injury by observing their behavior. • Reflecting on a character’s rhetoric to discern their true motives. • Identifying a foe’s most useful asset and how to impede it. | | **Lore** | Lore establishes your familiarity with history, current events, folklore, religions, places, and science. When you attempt to recall information that you could reasonably know from your background, you test Lore. **Lore and Expertise:** In addition to the general Lore skill, your expertises represent areas of specific knowledge. If you want to recall basic information relating to an exper-tise of yours, the GM should generally give you the information without a test. By contrast, if you want to know secret, forbidden, or otherwise obscure knowledge about a subject, you might have to test even if you have an expertise. If you succeed on a test to recall such hidden knowledge but you don’t have the relevant expertise, you might not learn enough key details to gain the full picture. | • Demonstrating how your target’s actions don’t line up with the beliefs they claim to uphold. • Recalling your target’s inherent weaknesses or reservations. • Recognizing the useful properties of something in the environment. | | **Medicine** | Medicine measures your ability to heal yourself and others through your knowledge of anatomy, psychology, and surgery. When you attempt to diagnose physical maladies, support those with mental or physical illnesses, or determine a corpse’s time and cause of death, you test Medicine. You might even carry surgical supplies to make your ministrations more effective. **Using Medicine in Combat:** If you have at least one rank in Medicine, you can spend 2 focus and Use a Skill to make a DC 15 Medicine test to treat a conscious ally within your reach, or you can make the same test with a disadvantage to treat yourself. On a success, your target recovers health equal to your ranks in Medicine. **Using Medicine While Resting:** During a long rest, you can make a DC 20 Medicine test to treat an ally’s injury, or you can make the same test with a disadvantage to treat yourself. On a success, the duration of a shallow or vicious injury is reduced by 1d4 days. Once a character has been treated in this way (whether successfully or unsuccessfully), they can’t be treated in this way again during that long rest. | • Spotting a previous injury you can exploit in your opponent. • Thinking of a specific medicine to use in this moment. • Alleviating an injured ally’s pain so they can support your next maneuver. | ###### Willpower | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :--------------: | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Discipline** | Discipline determines your ability to control your outward reactions and responses to unsettling circumstances. Discipline can help you maintain composure in the face of fear, anger, pain, or sorrow. This doesn’t mean you don’t feel these emotions, but you can think and act with exceptional clarity and poise even under great duress. **Overcoming the Odds:** Discipline can be used actively, such as when putting on a brave face while approaching a formidable foe. However, it can also be used reactively to shake off fear, doubt, distraction, and similar challenges. The GM might sometimes have you test Discipline to avoid an unwanted effect or to later overcome it. | • Waiting until the perfect moment to strike. • Unnerving the foe by holding firm despite their advance. • Marching into obvious danger without showing fear. | | **Intimidation** | Intimidation reflects your ability to induce fear in another character and thereby ensure their compliance. When you project physical dominance, issue a threat (whether explicit or implied), or intentionally catastrophize a situation, you test Intimidation. **Insincere Threats:** Most threats include some degree of exaggeration, such as overstating your willingness or ability to make good on the threat. If a threat is plausible to the receiving party, bluffing doesn’t affect how the test is made. However, if you’re feigning some thing preposterous, such as claiming to be a fearsome warrior while you’re visibly ill and can’t stand up, you gain a disadvantage on your Intimidation test. | • Singing, humming, or speaking to contentious rhythms (if you’re a singer). • Mocking your enemy. • Displaying signs of “the Thrill.” | ###### Awareness | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :------------: | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Insight** | Insight measures your ability to discern the true feelings of others, see through deceptions, and use your intuition to determine whether a situation is off. When your social instincts, emotional intelligence, and gut reactions are challenged by a task, you test Insight. | • Manipulating the right emotions to provoke a sloppy—and revealing—response. • Following a hunch that a rival is posturing to appear more powerful than they are. • Appealing to a foe’s underlying desire that conflicts with their current actions. | | **Perception** | Perception signifies your ability to notice details about your surroundings. When you inspect the area around you, search for a hidden character or item, or try to recognize something from your memory or a description, you test Perception. (The upcoming “Stealth” section contains rules for detecting hidden characters.) **Senses and Perception:** Much like this game doesn’t restrict your senses to sight and hearing, you don’t need access to all senses to test Perception. The earlier “Senses” section provides guidance on navigating the world with limited senses, but in general, each character tests Perception in the same way regardless of which senses they can access. | • Spotting something in your environment to use to your advantage. • Using depth perception to gauge the exact distance between you and a target. • Observing a weakness in an enemy’s stance. | | **Survival** | Survival indicates your competence in obtaining vital resources and shelter, avoiding environmental threats, and understanding animal behavior. When you track someone or something, interact with wildlife, or navigate unfamiliar territory, you test Survival. **Foraging in Nature:** During a short rest, you can try to collect resources like food, water, or medicinal plants. When you do, you forgo the other benefits of resting and instead test Survival. On a success, you identify useful natural resources and safely collect some. For example, you might painstakingly milk knobweeds in the Shattered Plains during your short rest, producing one dose of potent antiseptic. The DC for foraging depends on where you’re foraging and what (if anything) you’re specifically looking for. The GM might deny this option if an area has nothing noteworthy to hunt or gather, or if foraging would be too risky. | • Working with an animal companion to coordinate attacks. • Using knowledge of the terrain to find a favorable position to act. • Adjusting a ranged attack based on weather conditions. | ###### Presence | Skill | Description | Gaining Advantage | | :------------: | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Deception** | Deception measures how well you can mislead others with blatant dishonesty, clever insinuations, exaggerations, and strategic omissions. Using this skill can include carefully chosen words, but also emotional manipulation, deflection, falsified evidence, and misleading body language. **Long-Distance Deception:** When trying to deceive others from afar — such as via spanreed communication, letters, or messenger — uncontrollable variables make Deception more difficult. A long-distance recipient is less likely to be fooled by a convincing performance, and more likely to employ unseen aid and evidence. As a result, you make Deception tests with a disadvantage if your target can’t sense you. | • Pretending to aim or swing from a certain direction, only to change at the last moment. • Wearing the enemy’s uniform on a hectic battlefield. • Lying to your foe and rattling their composure. | | **Leadership** | Leadership represents your ability to inspire people, draw attention, and command allies. When you appeal to someone’s better nature or sense of right and wrong, you test Leadership. You can also use this skill to delegate tasks, manage a crowd, bait an enemy, or direct allies who aren’t strictly under your command. | • Challenging an enemy to a one-on-one duel. • Calling nearby allies to cover your advance toward the enemy. • Asking a nearby companion to help. | | **Persuasion** | Persuasion reflects your charisma, social fluency, and assumed trustworthiness. When you barter, debate, reason, or appeal to self-interest, you test Persuasion. While Deception and Intimidation tests might allow you to pressure an unwilling target into compliance, you’ll usually test Persuasion if you’re seeking agreement and a reasonably amicable outcome. **Attitudes:** People are more likely to agree with you if they already find you pleasant, intelligent, and trustworthy. If you have a good rapport with someone (or a particularly strained relationship), the GM may choose to decrease (or increase) the DC to reflect the target’s attitude toward you. | • Negotiating the terms of a duel. • Distracting a foe with clever banter. • Making a genuine offer of peace. |