Semiautomagic.html

At character creation and again at every level increase, a player may designate one skill as her character's "Focus Skill." A character can only have one focus skill at a time, so if a new one is designated the old one becomes a normal skills. Skill checks made with that skill roll a d8 instead of a d6.

Need Help Deciding?

There are a bewildering array of skills listed in this chapter, and sometimes it can be hard to decide which to take. On the following page is a brief description of all skills listed, but even then some assistance might be helpful.

If you want to play a...

Fighter: Take weapon skill, weapon proficiencies, combat expertise, armour, block, and fortitude. Consider combat arts, reflex, ride, and wrestle as well.

Wizard: Take magic skill, magic power, arcana, and spell repertoire, unarmoured, and reflex. Arcana in particular lets you customize how exactly your character casts spells.

Thief: Take stealth, reflexes, armour or unarmoured, acrobatics, and engineering (sabotage). Consider charisma, weapon or ranged skill, as well as combat expertise and a weapon proficiency or two

Cleric: Take magic skill, spell repertoire, medicine, faith, and charisma. Consider some combat skills or humanities as well.

Bard: Take charisma, contacts, and perform, as well as some fighting abilities.

Scientist: Take feebleness, frailty, unarmoured, science, ingenuity, and contacts.

Doctor: Take medicine, unarmoured, science (biology), ingenuity, and charisma.

If you have skill points left over...

Anyone can benefit from fortitude, perception, discipline, and reflexes.

Ability	Skill Name	Skill Rate	Used for
Strength	Athletics	Staggered	Running, jumping, climbing, and swimming
	Combat Arts	Fast	Various combat-related techniques for any fighting style
	Weapon Skill	Staggered	Melee combat and parry defence rolls
	Wrestle	Staggered	Wrestling, tripping, and throwing
	Feebleness	Staggered	Appearing harmless so as to be underestimated
Dexterity	Drive/Pilot	Staggered	Driving and piloting all manner of vehicles
	Acrobatics	Staggered	Jumping and tumbling
	Reflex	Staggered	Dodge defence rolls and initiative
	Ranged Skill	Staggered	Ranged combat
	Stealth	Fast	Avoiding being seen or heard, as well as pick-pocketing and theft
	Timing	Fast	Having unnaturally good timing through luck and skill
Endurance	Shield Use	Fast	Block defence rolls and shield bash attacks
	Armour	Staggered	Getting the most out of worn armour
	Unarmoured	Staggered	Enhancing toughness and target without armour
	Frailty	Staggered	Appearing frail so as to be underestimated
	Fortitude	Staggered	Resisting poison, disease, exhaustion, etc.
	Ride	Staggered	Riding horses and other animals
Intelligence	Combat Expertise	Fast	Learning new combos
	Weapon Proficiencies	Fast	Becoming proficient with new weapons. Without proficiency, you take a -1/-1 penalty to attack rolls
	Magic Skill	Staggered	Casting more complicated spells, spell attack rolls
	Arcana	Fast	Various magic-enhancing techniques, and knowledge of magic
	Spell Repertoire	Fast	Learning new spells
	Perception	Fast	Seeing, hearing, feeling, and smelling hidden creatures and objects
	Science	Fast	Knowledge of science-related concepts (such as physics and chemistry)
	Humanities	Fast	Knowledge of concepts and information in the Humanities fields (such as history and law)
	Engineering	Fast	Hands-on construction, lock picking, and trap disarming
	Medicine	Fast	Treatment of wounds and diseases
	Ingenuity	Fast	Being extremely cunning
Spirit	Magic Power	Staggered	Casting more powerful spells
	Heroics	Staggered	Gaining a daily pool of action points that you can spend for bonuses to die rolls
	Luck	Staggered	Gaining a daily pool of luck rerolls that you can spend to reroll checks
	Discipline	Fast	Teamwork and dealing with your own morale issues
	Intimidate	Staggered	Interrogating and terrifying your enemies
	Faith	Staggered	Smiting unholy creatures, casting divine magic, performing exorcisms, and other uses
	Berserk	Staggered	Flying into a mad rage to increase melee combat abilities and toughness
	Charisma	Staggered	Charming, inspiring, and leading others; as well as deception and disguise
	Contacts	Fast	Gaining a network of NPC contacts for assistance
	Animal Backup	Fast	Gaining a trustworthy animal companion
	Perform	Staggered	Playing music, including powerful magical melodies
	Shapeshift	Staggered	Transforming yourself into an animal temporarily