by Abilities
- Animal Ken
You understand the temperament of animals, allowing you to empathize and communicate with them. It’s not like Dr. Doolittle; rather you can deal with them more equitably. With Animal Ken, you can train an animal to perform specific behaviors, or attempt to deduce an animal’s state of being with a Mental Challenge. If you work with an animal for at least a month or so, you may be able to teach it a simple trick, up to a limit of one trick for each Mental Trait the animal possess.
- Athletics
You might have been a strong arm for the shipwrights or perhaps you are just naturally talented, but you are skilled in all manners of athletic endeavors. You can throw a ball, catch, sprint, climb, jump and swim and run with the best of them. Your Athletics Ability is used for retests on most forms of raw physical activity: acrobatics, running, climbing, jumping, swimming, throwing, ballet dancing and other activities.
- Awareness
You have a talent for knowing when things are amiss, whether by that strange feeling in the pit of your gut or through scrupulous observation. This is particularly useful for just knowing when things are about to get crazy. Awareness requires a Mental Challenge to use. This ability allows you to notice things that are not of the physical world, including the presence of the supernatural. this talent covers the spectrum of sensory perception that is outside the range of most morals. this ability may be used to call for a retest on any form of magical detection or evaluation.
- Brawl
You are adept at using your body as a weapon, including unarmed combat ranging from dirty infighting to highly stylized martial arts. brawl is used for punching or kicking, grappling and holding, thus enabling even a character who is stripped bare to present herself as a formidable foe
- Crafts
You build and construct things. Depending on your specific area of expertise, you might know how to remodel a Ship or House or sculpt figures out of sand. As such, you must specify an area of expertise, a focus, such as Weaving, Carpentry or Sculpting. Making or repairing an item with Crafts is decided by a challenge, with difficulty set by the Storyteller based on the type of job (drawing up architectural schematics is decisively more difficult than sanding a 2 x 4). Crafts also includes body art, such as tattooing, piercing or other applications of body alterations.
- Dodge
You possess enough fighting savvy to avoid physical harm by manipulating your body away from directed attacks and, to a lesser degree, gunfire - you know when to hit the floor or how to dive for cover. You can only use Dodge against any attack that
you’re consciously aware of: a fight in which you are a participant or a shooting that you happen to see unfold. Dodge is used to retest challenges where you attempt to avoid physical harm.
- Empathy
You are sensitive to the moods and emotions of people around you. When you listen to someone, you understand his feelings. You can identify with others and tell when people are lying or holding back while talking to you. With a Social Challenge and the expenditure of a level of Empathy, you can determine if the last thing that someone said was a lie (although Subterfuge can defend against this expenditure). Alternately, you can attempt to determine the subject’s current Demeanor.
- Etiquette
You know when to bow in the presence of one with a higher station and how to address him in a polite manner. You can hold a toast with the best of them, and you keep your cool in any social scenario, from high tea to a gang rally. The Etiquette Ability can be used with Social Tests to impress or blend in at parties. If you make a social faux-pas, you may expend an Etiquette Ability immediately to negate the gaffe - your character knew better than to make the mistake.
- Expression
Words and feelings flow freely from you. When the Muse strikes, you put pen to paper (or fingers to instrument) and pour out a torrent of emotion and stirring imagery. You can convey message and meaning in your art, from symphonies to poetry, and whatever you write is both clear and moving. While it is possible to create a work without Expression, it may very well be technically brilliant but emotionally sterile.
- Finance
You can also use your Finance to balance books, run a business of your own, follow a money trail, perform an audit or clean up an accounting mess with a Mental challenge (difficulty dependent on the task, as determined by the Storyteller). Alternately, you can spend a level of Finance Ability to attempt raise cash between games. Not every use of Finance is so benign - money-laundering has to come from somewhere..
- Firearms
A little time at the gun range goes a long way. You know how to hold, fire and clean a gun. You can un-jam one, too, and you can tell different models apart. You know how to stand to get the best aim, how to handle recoil and how to take care of problems in the field. If you posses the Firearms Ability, you may use your Mental Traits for gun combat instead of using Physical Traits, at no cost. You can expend a level of Firearms for a retest in ranged-fire combat.
- Folklore
- Haggling
- Intimidation
- Investigation
- Law
- Leadership
- Linguistics
- Medical Knowledge
- Medicine
- Melee
- Navigation
- Occult
- Performance
- Politics
- Repair
- Ride
- Science
- Security
- Stealth
- Streetwise
- Subterfuge
- Survival
- Animal Ken
You understand the temperament of animals, allowing you to empathize and communicate with them. It’s not like Dr. Doolittle; rather you can deal with them more equitably. With Animal Ken, you can train an animal to perform specific behaviors, or attempt to deduce an animal’s state of being with a Mental Challenge. If you work with an animal for at least a month or so, you may be able to teach it a simple trick, up to a limit of one trick for each Mental Trait the animal possess.
- Athletics
You might have been a strong arm for the shipwrights or perhaps you are just naturally talented, but you are skilled in all manners of athletic endeavors. You can throw a ball, catch, sprint, climb, jump and swim and run with the best of them. Your Athletics Ability is used for retests on most forms of raw physical activity: acrobatics, running, climbing, jumping, swimming, throwing, ballet dancing and other activities.
- Awareness
You have a talent for knowing when things are amiss, whether by that strange feeling in the pit of your gut or through scrupulous observation. This is particularly useful for just knowing when things are about to get crazy. Awareness requires a Mental Challenge to use. This ability allows you to notice things that are not of the physical world, including the presence of the supernatural. this talent covers the spectrum of sensory perception that is outside the range of most morals. this ability may be used to call for a retest on any form of magical detection or evaluation.
- Brawl
You are adept at using your body as a weapon, including unarmed combat ranging from dirty infighting to highly stylized martial arts. brawl is used for punching or kicking, grappling and holding, thus enabling even a character who is stripped bare to present herself as a formidable foe
- Crafts
You build and construct things. Depending on your specific area of expertise, you might know how to remodel a Ship or House or sculpt figures out of sand. As such, you must specify an area of expertise, a focus, such as Weaving, Carpentry or Sculpting. Making or repairing an item with Crafts is decided by a challenge, with difficulty set by the Storyteller based on the type of job (drawing up architectural schematics is decisively more difficult than sanding a 2 x 4). Crafts also includes body art, such as tattooing, piercing or other applications of body alterations.
- Dodge
You possess enough fighting savvy to avoid physical harm by manipulating your body away from directed attacks and, to a lesser degree, gunfire - you know when to hit the floor or how to dive for cover. You can only use Dodge against any attack that
you’re consciously aware of: a fight in which you are a participant or a shooting that you happen to see unfold. Dodge is used to retest challenges where you attempt to avoid physical harm.
- Empathy
You are sensitive to the moods and emotions of people around you. When you listen to someone, you understand his feelings. You can identify with others and tell when people are lying or holding back while talking to you. With a Social Challenge and the expenditure of a level of Empathy, you can determine if the last thing that someone said was a lie (although Subterfuge can defend against this expenditure). Alternately, you can attempt to determine the subject’s current Demeanor.
- Etiquette
You know when to bow in the presence of one with a higher station and how to address him in a polite manner. You can hold a toast with the best of them, and you keep your cool in any social scenario, from high tea to a gang rally. The Etiquette Ability can be used with Social Tests to impress or blend in at parties. If you make a social faux-pas, you may expend an Etiquette Ability immediately to negate the gaffe - your character knew better than to make the mistake.
- Expression
Words and feelings flow freely from you. When the Muse strikes, you put pen to paper (or fingers to instrument) and pour out a torrent of emotion and stirring imagery. You can convey message and meaning in your art, from symphonies to poetry, and whatever you write is both clear and moving. While it is possible to create a work without Expression, it may very well be technically brilliant but emotionally sterile.
- Finance
You can also use your Finance to balance books, run a business of your own, follow a money trail, perform an audit or clean up an accounting mess with a Mental challenge (difficulty dependent on the task, as determined by the Storyteller). Alternately, you can spend a level of Finance Ability to attempt raise cash between games. Not every use of Finance is so benign - money-laundering has to come from somewhere..
- Firearms
A little time at the gun range goes a long way. You know how to hold, fire and clean a gun. You can un-jam one, too, and you can tell different models apart. You know how to stand to get the best aim, how to handle recoil and how to take care of problems in the field. If you posses the Firearms Ability, you may use your Mental Traits for gun combat instead of using Physical Traits, at no cost. You can expend a level of Firearms for a retest in ranged-fire combat.
- Folklore
- Haggling
- Intimidation
- Investigation
- Law
- Leadership
- Linguistics
- Medical Knowledge
- Medicine
- Melee
- Navigation
- Occult
- Performance
- Politics
- Repair
- Ride
- Science
- Security
- Stealth
- Streetwise
- Subterfuge
- Survival
