Talents

Alertness allows characters to notice physical changes in their environment, such as items out of place, changes in scenery, and strange noises. Usually coupled with Perception. Alertness is useful for the character who wishes to be the first to uncover whatever secrets the world may hold.

Athletics is the realm of the physically talented. It encompasses activities of the sports field, not the battle-field. Running, jumping, dodging attacks, and throwing objects are all examples of Athletics exploits.

In the taverns or on the battlefield, because of honor or misunderstandings, fighting is a fact of life in this dark world. Unarmed combat encompasses everything from the skilled, methodical strikes of the martial artist to the rough-and-tumble street fighter. Those who Brawl know where to strike as well as how (an elbow to the throat or to the nose) and can take hits as well as deal them. And for the scrappiest of fighters, fighting “fair”isn’t worth anything if it means losing. Win. With your own two hands and knuckles and muscles. Win.

The Crafts Skill encompasses a wide variety of practices, from making furniture to the creation of weapons and armor. Crafts covers the act of making useful items and tools. Also included is the ability to evaluate the expertise and value of another person’s work. Choose a field of expertise when taking Crafts. Outside that field, treat the Ability as if it had no dots. Additional fields can be purchased with one experience point. Attempting to deal in a good outside your field of expertise is treated as though the Skill is at 0, and rolls begin with their difficulty increased by one.

Can your hands move faster than their eyes? Leger-demain provides a type of manual dexterity which aids in sleights of hand, picking pockets, and even juggling. Why sing for your supper when you can just take it, with no one the wiser?

Marksmanship is both a domestic and a martial skill. With the same bow, a person can feed her family or defend her home. This ability covers not only the use of bows and crossbows, but also one’s proficiency in maintaining, repairing, and, at the highest levels, crafting the weapons.

Melee is a measure of the character’s prowess with hand-to-hand weapons (as opposed to ranged weapons, covered by Archery, or fighting unarmed, covered by Brawl). This Skill includes the ability to use staves, swords, clubs, axes, and knives. Some melee weapons can be repaired and crafted based on the character’s level of expertise, though making metal weapons requires Crafts.

Ride describes the character’s affinity for travelling by horseback, fighting while mounted, and in a limited capacity, caring for the animal. Expert riders can also gauge the value of other animals and treat minor ailments that befall them. They are also able to spot quality craftsmanship from poor when it comes to gearing their mount.

Stealth is the ability to pass unseen and undetected through a space, to get in and get out with no one the wiser. This includes hiding in plain sight in the midst of a crowd, tailing a mark, or skulking past guards to gain entry to a household. If the roll is contested, the char-acter pits her Dexterity + Stealth against the target’s Perception + Alertness. Sleight-of-hand attempts fall under Legerdemain.

Survival measures how successfully the character can move about in, adapt to, and thrive in the elements. Sometimes, Survival is more about living long enough to return to civilization than it is about eschewing it: finding your way through the forest, foraging for food, and locating drinkable water.

Medieval enigmas encompass symbolism, history, lore, and cryptography. The smallest pieces click into a cohesive whole when you have sufficient knowledge of enigmas. Each thread spins together into a tapestry of an answer.

Your experience with enigmas allows you to draw logical connections to deduce the solution when it is least evident to others.

What berries can you eat? Will it rain tomorrow? What’s the best remedy for whooping cough? This wisdom is not found in books, but from sitting at the knee of people wiser than you, and spoken in sewing circles and market stalls. They know the cures and they know the reasons to be afraid of the dark.

Your eye spies the smallest details, tracing them back through the web of information. You have the questions and they have the answers, and woe betide any who stand long in the way of your search.

You connect all the threads, weaving them together to reveal the tapestry of the truth. Or the Church’s truth. Or the King’s truth. Whatever truth you seek, you have the tools to discover it.

The Romans called it Justitia, but you don’t need Latin to know how it works. Though there may be a thousand years of jurisprudence for precedence, blindfolded Justice still holds her sword. Those who have the purse to pay receive finer justice than those who don’t; the King trumps the lord and the lord trumps the peasant.

The law of the Church (canonical) often clashes with the law of the land (royal decree or common law), with the end result being a law only as strong as those enforcing it.

At this time, there is more unknown than known in the world, and endless discoveries await. Chemistry, physics, astronomy, and athematics are only nascent sciences; literature and rhetoric bloom. Scholars are only just developing universities. With Academics, you have the capacity to be the light burning against the darkness of ignorance and superstition.

You understand Elvish, can read and write, and have been taught some thing of theology and philosophy. This is the standard medieval education, and requires that you have attended at least a cathedral school or monastery. A high rating indicates that you attended a of the university or other place of higher education.

This education did not come cheap. You, your parents, or your guardians obviously had some wealth. Remember, most medieval people are entirely illiterate. Without some understanding of Academics you can neither read nor write.

It is assumed that you can speak your natural language, but you must purchase any other languages you wish your character to speak. For each level of Linguistics, your character may fluently speak another language. However, Linguistics also gives a character an understanding of the structure of language, which is in turn the basis of thought. With this Ability, you can identify accents. You also have a chance of figuring out phrases from languages related to the languages you know. For instance, you might be able to decipher some vulgar Slyphan (a Elven language) if you know Elvish.

NOTE: You do not need to purchase this to speak Elvish if you have Learning.

This is the age of the humors. Feeling low? You are melancholic, with an excess of black bile. Phelgmatic? Too many cold foods. Keeping the humors in balance could be a full-time occupation, involving charts and diagrams and leeches. It is a strange mix of superstition and ancient Greco-Roman research.

Anatomy and physiology are still being developed and, unfortunately, dissecting the human body for research is still centuries away from being acceptable. In the meantime, take a tonic and be sure to wear that amulet for that cough.

To know the occult is to understand the unseen and the inexplicable. The supernatural is a hole that reaches much deeper and darker than people imagine. Just as you reach the bottom, another tunnel reveals itself, burrowing ever deeper.

Some might say Occult and Theology are just two sides of a coin that reality flips. One person’s miracle is another person’s ghostly encounter. Both require a faith in something not easily seen or understood. Overlap does occur between the two, especially in the case of miracles or saints.

If a character’s Occult score is high, the outcomes of their Occult rolls tend to be more accurate.

Politics is the great game; some say the greatest game. It can bring unimaginable power, but the wheel of fortune can turn quickly, grinding the ambitious into the finest of powder. History is littered with the names of those who overreached.

High-level politics is a mixture of diplomacy and carefully exercised leverage. The more you understand, the more you can bend others to achieve your goals.

Theology is the science of God, by whatever name you might call him, and never was it more compelling than at this time in history. God was in the smallest mustard seed and in the largest ocean. Plagues were the wrath of God and a bountiful harvest was the blessings of God made manifest.

Two questions plagued the minds of medieval theo-logians: what is the nature of evil and does our free will allow us to act independent of it? To a religious mind, every day was a choice to walk with God or dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.

Animals in this era are not only domestic companions, but also labor on farms, trackers in the field, and companions in battle. Animal Ken reflects one’s rapport with beasts both domestic and wild, including the ability to tame and train them, to understand their instincts and use that knowledge in their handling, and to predict and control their behavior.

With belief and superstition holding the same weight as knowledge and science, the distinction between the natural world and the supernatural is not as solid. Many expect to see those things which lie in the dark places of our world. Sometimes, those things are indeed seen. Awareness makes the cold chill on your neck and the thing out of the corner of your eye more solid, more perceptible for human and supernatural alike. Better to know it’s there so you can deal with it accordingly than go through life ignorantly and perhaps anger something on your way.

At its most basic, Commerce is the practice of buy-ing and selling. However, all the intricate details that go in to getting goods to market also factor into this skill: knowing trade routes, evaluating the quality of the goods, negotiating their prices, keeping track of who might want what, and what they’d be willing to pay for it. Choose a field of expertise when taking Commerce. Outside that field, treat the Ability as if it had no dots. Additional fields can be purchased with one experience point.

Not all Commerce is legal; in fact, some of it delves into the downright inhuman. Trade routes exist for stolen goods, drugs, and slave trafficking as well as spices and silk.

While Alertness picks up the physical characteristics of a location or situation, Empathy allows a person to discern the emotional states of those they encounter. Empathy can be used for ill or good, to weed out deception or determine a person’s true feelings. Facts don’t tell the whole story. Emotions add another layer of complexity to every situation. Sorting them out can reveal what is really at stake.

You understand and can sympathize with the emotions of others, and are thus able to respond to them appropriately. You can often discern the motives behind someone's actions by simply listening to him. You can also detect when you are being told lies. Empathy has a down side, however - because you are so open to the feelings of others you often feel the same emotions as those around you.

Etiquette is the ability to comport oneself appropriately in social situations, and to assess and adapt to traditions and expectations that are new to the participant, including manners, speech patterns, dress, movement, and social interactions.

Characters begin knowing the basic etiquette of their own class and culture without taking levels in Etiquette.

Sometimes it’s easier to convince people than it is to force them into submission. Expression is an art which has been valued through time and many a war has been turned or undertaken because a good case was clearly and expertly stated. Facts aren’t necessary in all cases; the ability to wield words expertly, brand meaning into listeners’ minds, and slip the point into the listeners’ hearts can accomplish much more. Please note, being able to make one’s case using the quotes and allegories of others doesn’t mean you can necessarily read them yourself. Reading and writing is for academics. Bringing them to life to influence those who will listen? That’s your job.

Among many of the weapons in a person’s social arsenal, striking fear into the hearts of others is a keen tool indeed. Threaten people’s loved ones, flesh, livelihood, whatever they hold dear. See how quickly they bend to your will.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Every body needs a head. Leadership allows one such person to take on that role and direct those who have respect and are willing to follow. The best leaders inspire rather than exploit their disciples; Leadership is more often rolled with Charisma rather than Manipulation.

Performance is the ability to entertain an audience and keep them enthralled, whether it’s a full amphitheater, a handful of passers-by, or a single mark. Choose a field of expertise when taking Performance. Outside that field, treat the Ability as if it had no dots. Additional fields can be purchased with one experience point.

You are the oil that allows the gears of a great house to run smoothly. You handle the books and the market accounts. You manage the number of workers for the harvest, maintain the stables, keep the ponds and forests stocked, and so forth. A good servant is worth their weight in gold, it’s said, and it’s never truer than here.

You will never be caught flat-footed with a surprise hunting party. True experts can tell at a glance the quality of other people’s households as well, ferreting out the hidden dust and the half-shined silver that falls beneath the notice of others.

Subterfuge is an elegant way of saying “lying.” While the motives behind the lies may be good or evil, the ability to hide one’s feelings and motives can be used to accomplish deeds of varying morality.

You know how to conceal your own motives; moreover, you know how to decipher the motives of others and how to use those against them. The secrets and intrigues of others interest you, and you work at understanding their weaknesses. A command of this skill makes you the ultimate conversationalist, or the ultimate spy.