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| shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_skillsets [2015/10/16 08:14] – [Burglar skills] Petike | shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_skillsets [2023/11/10 15:37] (current) – [Diplomatic skills] petike |
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| Like in every RPG, each and every player character has certain skills available to him or her. | Like in every RPG, each and every player character has certain skills available to him or her. |
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| Skillsets //are distinct// from specialisations. A specialisation points to a particular area which an individual professional thief considers his/her personal field of expertise. Skills, in contrast, are in and of themselves a much wider and more equalitarian concept, and pertain to specific capabilities of individuals. | Skillsets //are distinct// from [[shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_jobs_explained|specialisations]]. A specialisation points to a particular area which an individual professional thief considers his/her personal field of expertise. Skills, in contrast, are in and of themselves a much wider and more equalitarian concept, and pertain to specific capabilities of individuals. |
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| The vast majority of skills is shared among all professional thieves, regardless of their specialisation. However, as one would expect, a specific thief's skills often reflect in one way or another what his or her specialisation is within "the business". | The vast majority of skills is shared among all professional thieves, regardless of their specialisation. However, as one would expect, a specific thief's skills often reflect in one way or another what his or her specialisation is within "the business". |
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| ==== Basic stats and skills ==== | ==== Character statistics ==== |
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| **Health:** The overall medical status of a character at a given moment. Dependant on various factors. Can be damaged by injuries, illnesses, combat, poisons, can be restored/healed via medicines, resting, a particular diet and certain magical healing items.\\ | **Health:** The overall medical status of a character at a given moment. Dependent on various factors. Can be damaged by injuries, illnesses, combat, poisons, can be restored/healed via medicines, resting, a particular diet and certain magical healing items.\\ |
| **Strenghth:** The overall physical strenghth of a character, especially in more demanding activities such as hard physical labour, melee combat and archery, lifting and carrying objects, etc.\\ | **Strength:** The overall physical strength of a character, especially in more demanding activities such as hard physical labour, melee combat and archery, lifting and carrying objects, etc.\\ |
| **Endurance (Stamina):** The overall capability of a character to perservere and withstand various stresses, injuries, and Fatigue.\\ | **Endurance (Stamina):** The overall capability of a character to perservere and withstand various stresses, injuries, and Fatigue.\\ |
| **Agility (Dexterity):** The overall masterry a character has over his/her common movement skills and movement speeds.\\ | **Agility (Dexterity):** The overall masterry a character has over his/her common movement skills and movement speeds.\\ |
| **Fatigue:** The amount of fatigue a character is experiencing at a given moment. Dependant on various factors, can be counteracted via resting, consumables, certain medicines, substances and items.\\ | **Fatigue:** The amount of fatigue a character is experiencing at a given moment. Dependent on various factors, can be counteracted via resting, consumables, certain medicines, substances and items.\\ |
| **Concentration:** The amount of concentration the character has at a given moment. Dependant on various factors, can be increased overall via regular long-term training.\\ | **Concentration:** The amount of concentration the character has at a given moment. Dependent on various factors, can be increased overall via regular long-term training.\\ |
| **Evading:** \\ | |
| **Running:** \\ | ---- |
| **Jumping:** \\ | |
| **Climbing and mantling:** \\ | ==== Movement skills (Basic skills) ==== |
| **Rolling and sliding:** \\ | |
| | **Running:** The skill at sprinting and running, over short or longer distances, while trying to stay fairly energetic despite the tiring nature of moving around fast on one's own two legs.\\ |
| | **Jumping:** The skill at jumping into the air (e.g. to reach a ledge that is too far away), jumping over shorter distances (e.g. from roof to roof, over the gap between buildings), over smaller obstacles (e.g. while running and not having time to slow down), and so on. A seemingly simple skill, but its frequent practicing can make it very useful. Even a life-saver at times. \\ |
| | **Climbing and mantling:** Skill at climbing upward (and downward) with one's bare hands or with the use of a rope. This is one of the more crucial movement skills one needs to practice and hopefully somewhat master, because many thievy professions require some use of vertical movement. (Burglary-focused professions the most, but not just them.)\\ |
| | **Rolling and sliding:** A skill particularly useful for quick getaways, for quickly bypassing certain obstacles and even in certain combat situations. Rolling involves rolling one's body to the side, usually on a flat surface. Sliding involves sliding down or on a slippery surface, in various standing or sitting positions. \\ |
| | **Evading:** A more minor skill, but useful in particular situations. These include evading or pushing away/aside pursuers or attackers, dodging obstacles while running in a straight line or quickly turning a corner, and so on. Like sliding and rolling, it also has its potential uses in a man-on-man combat scenario, especially as a trick for fooling or distracting an opponent. \\ |
| | **Swimming:** Skill at swimming both underwater and above the surface. Allows for various styles of swimming, dependent on the exact situation and one's needs. Swimming underwater has the important limitation of needing to hold ones breath for longer periods and regularly resurfacing to avoid drowning (the lenghth of breath-holding is somewhat species-dependent, but no player character can truly breathe underwater). \\ |
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| **Leaning:** Skill at leaning carefully around the corner, in order to get a sneak peek of what might be going on beyond it. Emphasis on //carefully//. Leaning is a skill that appears easy, but it is actually rather hard to master. It's also a risk course of action, even for the best-trained of thieves, as there's always a potential margin of error involved in virtually any lean from behind a corner. Even the most careful ones. As great a skill as leaning is for stealthily observing one's nearest surroundings obscured by obstacles, far too many rookie thieves tend to underestimate its effectiveness and value. Don't be one of them...\\ | **Leaning:** Skill at leaning carefully around the corner, in order to get a sneak peek of what might be going on beyond it. Emphasis on //carefully//. Leaning is a skill that appears easy, but it is actually rather hard to master. It's also a risk course of action, even for the best-trained of thieves, as there's always a potential margin of error involved in virtually any lean from behind a corner. Even the most careful ones. As great a skill as leaning is for stealthily observing one's nearest surroundings obscured by obstacles, far too many rookie thieves tend to underestimate its effectiveness and value. Don't be one of them...\\ |
| **Sneaking balance:** More often that not, the art of sneaking around requires at least a degree of crouching. This is rather necessary in order to minimise one's height-related conspicuousness and the loudness and speed of one's leg movements. Unfortunately, the need for crouched or very slow walking is not exactly a natural style of gait for any humanoid, and can pose some problems. One of the most immediate is one's balance while walking, even on a perfectly safe, secure and wide enough surface. Especially after some long, tiresome or difficult bit of sneaking, there is always the off-chance of stumbling or otherwise erring when you'd least want to. Practing your balance and learning when to not push it too far during sneaking can prove very helpful.\\ | **Sneaking balance:** More often that not, the art of sneaking around requires at least a degree of crouching. This is rather necessary in order to minimise one's height-related conspicuousness and the loudness and speed of one's leg movements. Unfortunately, the need for crouched or very slow walking is not exactly a natural style of gait for any humanoid, and can pose some problems. One of the most immediate is one's balance while walking, even on a perfectly safe, secure and wide enough surface. Especially after some long, tiresome or difficult bit of sneaking, there is always the off-chance of stumbling or otherwise erring when you'd least want to. Practing your balance and learning when to not push it too far during sneaking can prove very helpful.\\ |
| **Crouched walking:** \\ | **Crouched walking:** The stealthy movement skill for situations where lowering your physical height for better concealment in shadows is crucial, and walking speed doesn't need to be fast. Walking upright while sneaking around, even in poorly lit locations, can still give away a thief's presence very easily if he/she is not careful. Crouched walking is a simple tactic offering a reasonable compromise between swiftness of walking movement and the probability of being seen more easily by potential adversaries.\\ |
| **Creeping:** \\ | **Creeping:** The stealthy movement skill for situations where you can afford to walk upright or just slightly hunched down, but still need to walk slowly and carefully to avoid making much noise. Creeping's main advantage is in greater ease of moving fluidly from slower to faster walking speed or even to running, something that's not available for the crouched walking method. Creeping has its uses, but is generally used more sparringly than crouched walking.\\ |
| **Crawling:** \\ | **Crawling:** The stealthy movement skill for situations where you're forced to use the local environment to greatly lower your risk of being seen by adversaries (e.g. crawling in tall grass in a relatively well-lit area, with few shadows to hide in), or for overcoming obstacles where walking upright isn't a possible solution (e.g. crawling threw a tight space with a very low ceiling, etc.).\\ |
| **Facial disguise:** \\ | **Apparel disguise:** In a pinch, a skill useful to just about all thieves, but it is particularly useful for larcenous individuals specialising in spying and intelligence gathering. As the name implies, this skill focuses on how well one has (or can) disguise himself by wearing clothing that helps him blend in with other people, avoiding or lessening suspicion. Effective use of clothing as a disguise is dependent on good knowledge of the local social context, on a carefully thought out approach (pre-planned being the safest) and even a little bit of luck and intuition (once a thief is in the lion's den, with the disguise maybe his only shoddy protection from capture or other reprisals).\\ |
| **Apparel disguise:** \\ | **Facial disguise:** In a pinch, a skill useful to just about all thieves, but it is particularly useful for larcenous individuals specialising in spying and intelligence gathering. As the name implies, this skill focuses on how well one has (or can) disguise his face in order to blend in with a crowd when it's occassionally really needed. Beware though. Unlike with other forms of disguises, this one can be something of a double-edged sword. Disguising your face too much or too conspicuously (e.g. wearing a scarf below the eyes in broad daylight) is bound to actually draw attention to you, including that of law enforcement units. Sometimes, a suitably subtle way of hiding one's facial features can be preferable.\\ |
| **Concealing items:** In a pinch, a skill useful to just about all thieves, but it is particularly useful for larcenous individuals specialising in spying and intelligence gathering. For professional thieves, space for carrying useful gear is always limited. The gear usually has to be worn on the outside, commonly on the person's belt, or more rarely on the back or over the shoulder. A useful way to get around that is training to conceal small objects in one's clothing (e.g. tiny loot in small amounts, smaller and stealthier tools or weapons). All without making it apparent to any bystanders - admittedly, the hardest part of such an endeavour...\\ | **Concealing items:** In a pinch, a skill useful to just about all thieves, but it is particularly useful for larcenous individuals specialising in spying and intelligence gathering. For professional thieves, space for carrying useful gear is always limited. The gear usually has to be worn on the outside, commonly on the person's belt, or more rarely on the back or over the shoulder. A useful way to get around that is training to conceal small objects in one's clothing (e.g. tiny loot in small amounts, smaller and stealthier tools or weapons). All without making it apparent to any bystanders - admittedly, the hardest part of such an endeavour...\\ |
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| ==== Aural stealth ==== | ==== Aural stealth ==== |
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| **Aural self-awareness:** The skill at keeping aware about the sounds made by one's own body movements while sneaking or hiding. Even in environments well suited to easy and effortless sneaking, there is no guarantee that the thief (or thieves) in question can't make the occassional mistake. Willingly or inadvertently... Before one can truly ponder skillfully skulking past areas with loud surfaces, tricky patrols and hard to ascertain safety measures, he/she needs to know his/her own physical limitations and capabilities. This includes learning about one's own recurring mistakes and oversights while sneaking, such as overly heavy footsteps, overly fast walking or creeping speed, ignoring subtle differences between surface types, ignoring the sound impact of the amount and nature of gear and loot you're carrying, etc. \\ | **Aural self-awareness:** The skill at keeping aware about the sounds made by one's own body movements while sneaking or hiding. Even in environments well suited to easy and effortless sneaking, there is no guarantee that the thief (or thieves) in question can't make the occassional mistake. Willingly or inadvertently... Before one can truly ponder skillfully skulking past areas with loud surfaces, tricky patrols and hard to ascertain safety measures, he/she needs to know his/her own physical limitations and capabilities. This includes learning about one's own recurring mistakes and oversights while sneaking, such as overly heavy footsteps, overly fast walking or creeping speed, ignoring subtle differences between surface types, ignoring the sound impact of the amount and nature of gear and loot you're carrying, etc. \\ |
| **Sound propagation awareness:** \\ | **Sound propagation awareness:** An important and helpful skill for sound-based stealth. One's awareness of how sound spreads in a particular, specific environment, based on the shape of its spaces, and on the current outside or interior conditions affecting the environment. \\ |
| **Sound direction awareness:** \\ | **Sound direction awareness:** An important and helpful skill for sound-based stealth. It's simply one's awareness of the direction from which a particular sound is emanating from, or which direction it's approaching you from. Easier said than done, though... Often, you have to wait a short while until you can truly make out the //exact// direction of the sound, and the some sound is coming from. How sound spreads is not based only on the shape of the surrounding environment, but also on the distance of the sound's point of origin from you, and even on something as uncontrollable as weather conditions. Oh yes, under certain atmospheric conditions, your hunch about the direction a sound is coming from can get outright muddled or misinterpreted until you properly figure it out. \\ |
| **Knowledge of surfaces:** \\ | **Knowledge of surfaces:** A crucial skill for successful use of sound-based stealth. The world isn't a place that accomodates thieves easily. True, some urban or natural landscapes can be surprisingly helpful playgrounds when one wants to travel or sneak around in unpredictable ways, but beyond that, it's not exactly rosy. One of the biggest omnipresent annoyances to a sneaky professional thief are the different volume levels and sound qualities of different types of surfaces. Mention marble-tiled floors, iron grating or gravel surfaces to a thief, and he/she will near-memetically frown with annoyance. But mention soft low-growing grass or a dry dirt floor, and he/she might raise his/her eyebrows and nod in appreciation. Know your surface, for every surface is different from the other, and there's a multitude of even basic surface types. It might decide about your sneaking more than you think, more than anything else. You can stand around in bright light if no one's around to see you, but start making an inadvertent ruckus and people will hear you even if they don't exactly see you. \\ |
| **Eavesdropping:** \\ | **Soft-foot:** The skill at timing one's gait and putting down one's sole onto a surface in as silent and careful a manner as possible. It's generally best used in conjunction with the "Aural self-awareness" and "Knowledge of surfaces" skills. The latter two help guide the player into knowing the current state of his personal limits when it comes to moving around silently. In turn, the "Soft-foot" skill takes care of carrying out the input from those two skills into careful, sound-conscious walking actions.\\ |
| | **Silent five-fingers:** Similar to the Soft-foot skill in its focus on the amount of sound the player creates with his limbs. In this case, the skill focuses on how carefully the player's character can pick up, move, put back down, and otherwise manipulate various items or small bits of furniture. This also counts for loot the items one is stealing, of course. Avoiding the loud chinking of coins, the creaking of chests or the slamming of a jewellery box's lid can sometimes make quite a difference (especially in interiors where one can't shut a door and isolate a particular room from the rest of the building at least for a short while).\\ |
| | **Eavesdropping:** A less important skill, but invaluable for gathering precious and helpful intel. The skill focuses on quietly and carefully eavesdropping behind closed doors (with an ear to the door), under opened or ajar windows, or even just listening to a conversation from behind the corner. Eavesdropping can be tricky, as it can take even a skilled thief out of his usual comfort zone or preferred secure hiding place. On one hand, you want to overhear conversations or recordings, but on the other hand, you don't want to accidentally reveal your position and get caught.\\ |
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| **Map and plan reading:** The skill at reading and //especially understanding// maps and plans found on the sport or brought along for a particular thieving mission. A truly surprising amount of thieves who boast about their professionalism go off on a heist or adventure just willy-nilly, only to be unpleasantly surprised once they run into something they didn't expect or know about. Don't be like them. Careful preparation can not only make all the difference between success or failure, but life or death as well. Granted, you're often not lucky enough to recover a completely detailed or completely readable map. You're often forced to simply work with what you have, use your noggin to fill in the blanks, and just make the best of it. \\ | **Map and plan reading:** The skill at reading and //especially understanding// maps and plans found on the sport or brought along for a particular thieving mission. A truly surprising amount of thieves who boast about their professionalism go off on a heist or adventure just willy-nilly, only to be unpleasantly surprised once they run into something they didn't expect or know about. Don't be like them. Careful preparation can not only make all the difference between success or failure, but life or death as well. Granted, you're often not lucky enough to recover a completely detailed or completely readable map. You're often forced to simply work with what you have, use your noggin to fill in the blanks, and just make the best of it. \\ |
| **Navigation:** \\ | **Navigation:** The skill at navigating a certain place or environment based on common sense, logical thinking and one's own professional experience, all the while avoiding making far too many rookie mistakes. Though this skill might not seem like anything particularly complex at first glance, it's hard to stress how incredibly crucial it can be for pulling off the vast majority of jobs, especially ones related to burglary or heists. Understanding a particular environment from available intel, maps, plans or written notes is one thing, but developing a certain sense for how to proceed in that environment and what to look out for as one explores it is another thing entirely. Something that can take a while to master. In addition, the Navigation skill also reflects how well small teams of thieves are led during an operation, especially if they have to be split up and cooperate without direct contact over longer distances (and given that the setting is a pre-wireless tech society, sorting this can be a particular challenge for anyone's ingenuity). \\ |
| **Breaking in:** The skill at planning and figuring out ways to stealthily break into a locked or guarded building/establishment. A crucial skill for the early phases of any heist. Also comes in handy when one is planning his return journey, back to the relative safety of the streets and the nearest safehouse or other hideout. Rather than just being about finding an entrance and scurrying inside, the skill involves a careful assessment of which way inside one should use (a non-obvious solution to entering often proves the right answer), when he/she should enter, and whether any special tools for breaking in are required. Concerning break-in tools, the skill also governs the stealthiness of their use by a thief. \\ | **Breaking in:** The skill at planning and figuring out ways to stealthily break into a locked or guarded building/establishment. A crucial skill for the early phases of any heist. Also comes in handy when one is planning his return journey, back to the relative safety of the streets and the nearest safehouse or other hideout. Rather than just being about finding an entrance and scurrying inside, the skill involves a careful assessment of which way inside one should use (a non-obvious solution to entering often proves the right answer), when he/she should enter, and whether any special tools for breaking in are required. Concerning break-in tools, the skill also governs the stealthiness of their use by a thief. \\ |
| **Pickpocketing:** The skill at picking others pockets. A very useful skill for situations where one can sneak up quietly on security personnel (or other staff) from behind their backs and deprive them of their keyring. On a less objective-centric note, it's of course also useful for stealing people's belt purses in order to secure some monetary gain on the side, or to steal a tool or object dangling from their belt so you could use it for your own needs. A //really// skilled thief can also dare to try pickpocketing directly from people's pockets, which is not exactly an easy task.\\ | **Pickpocketing:** The skill at picking others pockets. A very useful skill for situations where one can sneak up quietly on security personnel (or other staff) from behind their backs and deprive them of their keyring. On a less objective-centric note, it's of course also useful for stealing people's belt purses in order to secure some monetary gain on the side, or to steal a tool or object dangling from their belt so you could use it for your own needs. A //really// skilled thief can also dare to try pickpocketing directly from people's pockets, which is not exactly an easy task.\\ |
| **Lockpicking and safecracking:** The skill at picking open various types of locks and locking mechanisms. One of the truly essential burglar skills. Not only for getting to less accessible loot, but also useful for non-violently opening up new doorways and routes that were previously unavailable for entry. ([[thick_as_thieves_lock-n-trap|Main article on lockpicking.]])\\ | **Lockpicking and safecracking:** The skill at picking open various types of locks and locking mechanisms. One of the truly essential burglar skills. Not only for getting to less accessible loot, but also useful for non-violently opening up new doorways and routes that were previously unavailable for entry. ([[thick_as_thieves_lock-n-trap|Main article on lockpicking.]])\\ |
| **Trap disarming:** ([[shared_worlds/thick_as_thieves_lock-n-trap#trap_disarming|Main article on trap disarming.]])\\ | **Trap disarming:** The skill at disarming simpler, mechanically set traps that could either trigger alarms and call attention to thieving, or trigger simple countermeasures that could injure or kill a thief. Not an essential skill, but can certainly be a useful one in certain situations, when risking injury or capture is just not worth it. ([[shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_lock-n-trap#trap_disarming|Main article on trap disarming.]])\\ |
| **Loot-savviness:** The skill at assessing which particular pieces of potential loot are worth the theft, and which are not. Based partly on common sense, partly on knowledge of the local context and partly on intuition, this skill influences quite a lot on how successfully you'll earn a living by stealing stuff. Stealing commonplace domestic items made of the cheapest and most mundane materials will probably not earn you a fortune, but stealing even the same kinds of items if they are made from precious metals or feature rare and exquisite craftsmanship will bode better for your monetary gain at a fence.\\ | **Loot-savviness:** The skill at assessing which particular pieces of potential loot are worth the theft, and which are not. Based partly on common sense, partly on knowledge of the local context and partly on intuition, this skill influences quite a lot on how successfully you'll earn a living by stealing stuff. Stealing commonplace domestic items made of the cheapest and most mundane materials will probably not earn you a fortune, but stealing even the same kinds of items if they are made from precious metals or feature rare and exquisite craftsmanship will bode better for your monetary gain at a fence.\\ |
| **Loot awareness:** Distinct from mere loot-savviness, this skill lies in how capable one is at spotting loot within a certain space, usually various rooms inside interiors (though loot situated outdoors exists too, of course). The tricky thing with loot is the fact that it's often hidden from plain sight. While your "proper" fellow citizens make mistakes by leaving their valuables in places where they're easy to nab, this is the exception, not the rule. Some of the valuables that can't be hidden all the time will be ready for nicking as soon as you break into a room. But the majority won't be so conveniently placed, and you'll have to carefully and stealthily snoop around in order to locate it.\\ | **Loot awareness:** Distinct from mere loot-savviness, this skill lies in how capable one is at spotting loot within a certain space, usually various rooms inside interiors (though loot situated outdoors exists too, of course). The tricky thing with loot is the fact that it's often hidden from plain sight. While your "proper" fellow citizens make mistakes by leaving their valuables in places where they're easy to nab, this is the exception, not the rule. Some of the valuables that can't be hidden all the time will be ready for nicking as soon as you break into a room. But the majority won't be so conveniently placed, and you'll have to carefully and stealthily snoop around in order to locate it.\\ |
| Please keep in mind that even thieves skilled in combat are not professional warriors or soldiers. Evading a threat or running away from it isn't cowardly, it's a reasonable and natural choice. Defending yourself is valid, but killing people because they're in your way is not. | Please keep in mind that even thieves skilled in combat are not professional warriors or soldiers. Evading a threat or running away from it isn't cowardly, it's a reasonable and natural choice. Defending yourself is valid, but killing people because they're in your way is not. |
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| **Brawling:** One's capability at (usually defensive) melee without the use of weapons. Brawling primarily consists of offensive and defensive moves initiated by the upper and lower limbs. Moves such as punches, slaps, hand-hammering, kicks, tripping someone off his feet, etc. The use of worn impact weapons, such as brass knuckles, also counts under brawling.\\ | **Brawling/Pugilism:** One's capability at (usually defensive) melee without the use of weapons. Brawling primarily consists of offensive and defensive moves initiated by the upper and lower limbs. Moves such as punches, slaps, hand-hammering, kicks, tripping someone off his feet, etc. The use of worn impact weapons, such as brass knuckles, also counts under brawling.\\ |
| **Bludgeoning/Chopping:** Offensive melee skills, for impact attacks. These two moves are interchangable to a certain degree, and can be seen being used by weapons such as clubs, maces, hammers, staffs (for bludgeoning), swords, axes and some other bladed weapons (for chopping). Along with Brawling moves, these two are perhaps the oldest set of combat skills ever, known since the dawn of time and the creation of the first primitive weapons. Bludgeoning and Chopping is meant to create deep wounds or shatter entire body parts, and can therefore be incredibly nasty to the adversary on the receiving end.\\ | **Bludgeoning/Chopping:** Offensive melee skills, for impact attacks. These two moves are interchangable to a certain degree, and can be seen being used by weapons such as clubs, maces, hammers, staffs (for bludgeoning), swords, axes and some other bladed weapons (for chopping). Along with Brawling moves, these two are perhaps the oldest set of combat skills ever, known since the dawn of time and the creation of the first primitive weapons. Bludgeoning and Chopping is meant to create deep wounds or shatter entire body parts, and can therefore be incredibly nasty to the adversary on the receiving end.\\ |
| **Thrusting/Stabbing:** Offensive melee skills, for piercing attacks. These two moves are interchangable to a certain degree, and can be seen being used by weapons such as spears, other polearms, swords (for thrusting) knives and daggers (for stabbing). The point of these offensive moves is incredibly obvious: Inflict the deepest wound possible or internal bleeding, to cripple an adversary in a serious way and take him out of the picture. \\ | **Thrusting/Stabbing:** Offensive melee skills, for piercing attacks. These two moves are interchangable to a certain degree, and can be seen being used by weapons such as spears, other polearms, swords (for thrusting) knives and daggers (for stabbing). The point of these offensive moves is incredibly obvious: Inflict the deepest wound possible or internal bleeding, to cripple an adversary in a serious way and take him out of the picture. \\ |
| Please keep in mind that even thieves skilled in combat are not professional warriors or soldiers. Evading a threat or running away from it isn't cowardly, it's a reasonable and natural choice. Defending yourself is valid, but killing people because they're in your way is not. | Please keep in mind that even thieves skilled in combat are not professional warriors or soldiers. Evading a threat or running away from it isn't cowardly, it's a reasonable and natural choice. Defending yourself is valid, but killing people because they're in your way is not. |
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| **Draw weight:** Only important for bows and hand-spanned crossbows. Depends on a character's Strenghth, Agility, and also the degree of Fatigue. With the sole exception of hand-spanned crossbows, crossbows and firearms do not require draw weight consideration, since they are reloaded via more mechanical means, rather than directly by hand. Draw weight for bows and hand-spanned crossbows is not a replacement for the reloading skill, but runs parallel to it.\\ | **Draw weight:** Only important for bows and hand-spanned crossbows. Depends on a character's Strength, Agility, and also the degree of Fatigue. With the sole exception of hand-spanned crossbows, crossbows and firearms do not require draw weight consideration, since they are reloaded via more mechanical means, rather than directly by hand. Draw weight for bows and hand-spanned crossbows is not a replacement for the reloading skill, but runs parallel to it.\\ |
| **Reloading:** Deals with a character's capability of reloading missile weapons during a certain amount of time. Does not affect throwing weapons. Bows and hand-spanned crossbows are drawn, mechanical crossbows and crossbow-derived weapons are spanned, firearms are reloaded. In the case of bows, Reloading and Draw weight are always counted together, as they are used concurrently while drawing a bow before the arrow is released/shot.\\ | **Reloading:** Deals with a character's capability of reloading missile weapons during a certain amount of time. Does not affect throwing weapons. Bows and hand-spanned crossbows are drawn, mechanical crossbows and crossbow-derived weapons are spanned, firearms are reloaded. In the case of bows, Reloading and Draw weight are always counted together, as they are used concurrently while drawing a bow before the arrow is released/shot.\\ |
| **Throwing:** Deals with a character's capability of throwing objects, either mundane objects used as improvised decoys and weaponry, or purpose-built throwing weapons. It is a skill similar to the draw weight or reloading skills, but isn't directly related to either of them.\\ | **Throwing:** Deals with a character's capability of throwing objects, either mundane objects used as improvised decoys and weaponry, or purpose-built throwing weapons. It is a skill similar to the draw weight or reloading skills, but isn't directly related to either of them.\\ |
| **Decoy:** Something of a more advanced cousin to the Confuse spell. It creates the titular decoy, which can take on the form of any number of visual or aural illusions. These are usually very short and subtle examples instead of anything grandiose, as their briefness makes them more confusing or even frightening to an affected NPC character. If used wisely and sparringly, it can create enough of a temporary distraction to be a nice trump card for solving trickier challenges to one's sneaking around. This spell is particularly useful to conman and stealth expert character builds. \\ | **Decoy:** Something of a more advanced cousin to the Confuse spell. It creates the titular decoy, which can take on the form of any number of visual or aural illusions. These are usually very short and subtle examples instead of anything grandiose, as their briefness makes them more confusing or even frightening to an affected NPC character. If used wisely and sparringly, it can create enough of a temporary distraction to be a nice trump card for solving trickier challenges to one's sneaking around. This spell is particularly useful to conman and stealth expert character builds. \\ |
| **Repel:** A spell that creates an invisible power barrier or wave blast that can push back an attacking adversary, or attempt to knock him off his feet, etc. The only real combat spell worth the name, but its limitations make it ideal only for defensive purposes instead of offensive combat. This is a generally useful spell.\\ | **Repel:** A spell that creates an invisible power barrier or wave blast that can push back an attacking adversary, or attempt to knock him off his feet, etc. The only real combat spell worth the name, but its limitations make it ideal only for defensive purposes instead of offensive combat. This is a generally useful spell.\\ |
| **Enhance:** A spell that enhances a character's //movement-related// Agility, Endurance and Concentration skills, and ocassionally, his/her Strenghth skill. Be warned though, this spell __cannot be used__ to enhance one's //combat-related// Strenghth, Endurance, Agility and Concentration. This spell can make you jump a little higher or turn around swifter or run slightly faster in an emergency, but it cannot make you wield oversized weapons or reload instantaneously. This is a generally useful spell.\\ | **Enhance:** A spell that enhances a character's //movement-related// Agility, Endurance and Concentration skills, and ocassionally, his/her Strength skill. Be warned though, this spell __cannot be used__ to enhance one's //combat-related// Strength, Endurance, Agility and Concentration. This spell can make you jump a little higher or turn around swifter or run slightly faster in an emergency, but it cannot make you wield oversized weapons or reload instantaneously. This is a generally useful spell.\\ |
| **Heal-up:** A spell that actually //doesn't// heal wounds or injuries, but it speeds up the natural healing processes in a tiny area, such as the area of said wounds or injuries. In essence, it shortens the time needed for a wound and/or injury to heal itself. Bear in mind that restoring lost health still requires proper medicine and old-fashioned healing/resting. This is a generally useful spell.\\ | **Heal-up:** A spell that actually //doesn't// heal wounds or injuries, but it speeds up the natural healing processes in a tiny area, such as the area of said wounds or injuries. In essence, it shortens the time needed for a wound and/or injury to heal itself. Bear in mind that restoring lost health still requires proper medicine and old-fashioned healing/resting. This is a generally useful spell.\\ |
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| ==== Diplomatic skills ==== | ==== Diplomatic skills ==== |
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| **Persuasion:** \\ | **Persuasion:** The most basic and most often used of all diplomatic skills is simply that with which you persuade others to see things your way. It's the backbone of all conmanship and diplomacy - to many people, things that are one and the same. Beware, there's no guaranteed recipe for how to go about using this skill. Every person you're trying to sway is a unique individual, and the situations you're trying to persuade that person in always offer a unique context (even broadly similar situations). But don't fret. There might not be a recipe, but there are many, many different bits of advice for getting good mileage out of this skill. Good advice time-tested by entire generations worth of experience gathering by others. Overusing Persuasion on a regular basis can negatively effect the Trust scale.\\ |
| **Haggling:** \\ | **Haggling:** Trading things, whether with money or via barter methods, can often be quite the hassle. This is where your bargaining skill can really come in handy, saving you some additional money or items you might have otherwise been forced to trade. Whether you're haggling with shop owners operating among the thieves' guilds, or those that are part of the regular (and mostly legal) commerce of the city, a skill like this is one that money can't buy. Overusing Haggling on a regular basis can negatively effect the Trust scale.\\ |
| **Deception:** \\ | **Compassion:** The skill at performing acts of empathy, understanding and selfless acts, all in a manner that could potentially raise the player's reputation and thus also the Trust levels of an individual NPC or even a group of NPCs. The downside of using this skill is that insincere attempts at compassion can be potentially revealed, either quickly or gradually, based on the perceptiveness of an NPC, or that certain NPCs might not think highly of the player showing compassion in a certain context or even at all. Using Compassion on a regular basis will (generally) positively effect the Ethics scale.\\ |
| **Distraction:** \\ | **Deception:** The skill at creating ruses, half-truths, false impressions or just straight-up cunning fibs about some situation or about some individual or place. This skill can be used by more upstanding players as well as more manipulative-minded ones, but is trickier to use than most. The major downside is that attempts at deception can be potentially revealed, and the resulting repercussions do not bode well for the player, particularly his reputation in terms of the Ethics and Trust scales. Using Deception on a regular basis will negatively effect the Ethics scale.\\ |
| **Intimidation:** \\ | **Distraction:** The skill at orchestrating situations (simple or complex) via social means, all in order to take away a certain person's or group's attention away from one thing, then refocus it on another thing. From fooling someone into looking the other way or falling for a (seemingly) mundane accident happening nearby, to providing temporary plausible cover for fellow thievy operatives during a heist or getaway, well-used examples of distraction can make or break many situations where potential success hangs by a thread. Successful distractions are objectivelly hard to pull off, especially for prolonged amounts of time, but fooling people's immediate reflexes by psychologically outsmarting them is one of the ultimate tricks up any experienced thief's sleeve. Using Distraction on a regular basis does not have an effect the Ethics scale.\\ |
| | **Intimidation:** Sometimes, when all other diplomatic skills and milder methods fail, a professional thief has to resort to something... harsher. The intimidation skill doesn't necessarily mean you have to rough someone up. Really knowledgeable thieves will tell you that playing on another person's fear or weak spots can do wonders, whereas directly threatening or even harming that same person would probably yield little. One needs to find the right balance between using Intimidation in an almost surgically accurate manner. Use Intimidation too much and too often, and Ethics and Trust ratings plummet like a stone, too little and the player is laughed off by NPCs for behaving like a wannabe tough guy and a fool. Bare that in mind when using this skill. Using Intimidation on a regular basis will negatively effect the Ethics scale.\\ |
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