Skills

Direction Sense

This skill is more than just a good memory and internal compass. Direction Sense is a tie between oneself and the land. The more closely one is tied to the world the better one is able to sense it. With a small amount of this skill a person seeking something in the woods could get a general idea where it might be. The more skill they have, the more they will be able to home in on exactly where they object is. Direction Sense has a few limitations.

1. Direction Sense cannot detect Farie Treasures. For a complete list of these treasures follow this link.

2. Direction Sense must be used on something specific. You could not use the skill to find you the nearest treasure or even any nearby Narzen Chalice. You could get a location of Narnzen's Chalice of Wealth because that is a specific item.

3. Direction Sense cannot find something that has been separated from the natural world. I could use Direction Sense to find the fabled Bronze Brambles, but if dug them up and put them in a building or or chest then I would be breaking their connection to the world and so from then on they would not show to Direction Sense. In other words you cannot use the sense to find items in buildings, trucks, drawers, etc.

As well as treasures, locations can found with Direction Sense. The Crone's Hovel or Lost Gods altar are good examples. Places that block magic such as the Nihilist's Grove or the Troll cave do not block Direction Sense since it is a skill and not a spell. Runes and graves are connected to the earth and so can be targeted by Direction Sense too.

Each use of Direction Sense uses up one card, but the total points you start with determine the “level” of each use. So, the more levels of Direction Sense a person has the more detailed answer they will receive for each question. If you were to ask for directions for a valid item, here are the responses you would get depending on how many skill points of Direction Sense you had:

1 pt - A pointed finger ("That way")

2pts - A point and really vague distance ("That way, close by.", "That way, not too far off." , "That way, long way off", etc.)

3pts - Point and 1 reference ("That way, past Arboleth" "That way, on the far hill.")

4pts - Point, reference and landmark ("That way, past Arboleth, near a white stone.")

5pts - Detailed description. Try and be as specific as possible.

7pts - Detailed description and a guide if needed. Only druids can have a Direction Sense skill of 7 or higher.

The following factors will drop person's Direction Sense “level” by one point. You will still have as many uses as number of points, but the skill at which you can use them is lowered by a point.

• The person is in a place they have never been before. It takes time to establish a connection to the land.

• The person is in a place alien to them. You may have been in the FoD before but it will never be a place where a normal person could ever connect to.

• The person is in a building or city. The ties to the earth are weaker when separated from it.

The you Direction Sense skill could also be increased if you happen to be in a place highly attuned to land around it, but this will be up to the AM’s discretion.

Prayer points to Gods tied to the earth and directions could be used to augment your Direction Sense skill. They must be the specific Prayer points not general prayer points to that God or Goddess. The God must be the correct deity for the spot being sought.

¤ Adoaman - Something on or in the earth

¤ Atu - Something hidden

¤ White Lady - Something in the Farie Lands

¤ Arboleth - Something in the Goblin Woods

¤ Jack O'Lantern - Something in the Forest of the Condemned

¤ Vine - Something in the other Woodlands

Lock Pick and Trap Use

Lock pick and Trap Use are probably the easiest skills to explain. First of they are two separate skills. Only Rogues can have 7 or more points in either of these skills.

Lock Pick Skill:

For each level of Lock Pick you have, you gain 1 use of the skill per Adventure.

The highest level lock you can open is equal to the total number of LP points you have. There are ten levels of lock starting with 1. So a player with 4 points of Lock Picking could open four locks as long as none of the locks were level 5 or higher.

Trap Use Skill:

The same logic for Lock Pick applies to Trap Use. The way trap detection works is if you have at least 1 point of Trap Use you can detect a trap and what level it is. You can then choose to back off or proceed by either disarming the trap or letting it go off. If you do not have any points of Trap Use and you open a trapped box or touch a trapped object then the trap goes off. There is no chance of backing off.

Luck

Luck is good for getting out a sticky situations. Say you stepped on a trap or blundered into monster you had no hope of defeating. If you had the points you just might get lucky and evade these dangers.

Here are some of the things Luck can do for you.

1 Point of Luck:

• Once per Adv can be used to avoid a combat

• Once per Adv can up a Trap Use skill 1 point. No more than one point of Luck can be used on this attempt.

• Once per Adv can up a Lock Pick skill 1 point. No more than one point of Luck can be used on this attempt.

• Once per Adv can up a Direction Sense skill 1 point. No more than one point of Luck can be used on this attempt.

2 Points of Luck:

• Can avoid a simple and somewhat unfortunate situation. Basically a Time Doppler for something not really terrible. (avoiding a low curse or some damage, if it was a big curse or enough damage to kill you then you would need more than 1 point)

• Once per Adv can cause a non-physical attack to target someone else. In other words if Evil wizard is about to blast you, for 2 points of Luck, that blast would hit someone else. This only works if there is more than just you and Evil wizard (can have blast rebound). The attack will target the whomever is closest to you. This would count as one of you two non-spell actions for the Casting Phase.

3 Points of Luck:

• Can avoid a simple and unfortunate situation. Still a Time Doppler but this one can avoid the really horrible stuff.

4 Points of Luck:

• Once per Adv can cause an attack to miss you. This could be either a spell, a power or a first strike. This would count as one of you two non-spell actions for the Casting Phase.

No player may have more that 10 points of Luck. They also may not purchase more than 5 points of Luck. The remaining 5 points have to be earned during games.

Prayer

Prayer points are used slightly different from the other skills. You must use one point of Prayer for each level of spell you wish to cast.

Prayers spells can only be dispelled with more prayer.

You must choose a specific God to pray to, and the prayer must align with the God’s specialty. Since this is a prayer, the wish may not be granted or it may be granted in a way you did not intend.

Only Templars can have a more than 7 General Prayer points.

Spellcraft

Some spellcraft abilities will use up a spellcraft card. Others can be used as may times as the skilled being wishes. What abilities one can access depend on how many levels of spellcraft one possess.

When using spellcraft in combat, the person using the skill needs to declare the skill's use.

1 Point of Spellcraft:

• During combat, can tell how many hanging spells a being has active. It does not revel the type or nature of those spells. This does not use up a spellcraft card and also does not count as one of the skill- user’s combat actions.

• Will revel the name of hanging spells on one individual or the name a of spell being cast. Uses one charge of spellcraft per detection but does not count as one of the skill-user’s combat actions.

• Functions like a Know Rune spell. Uses one charge of spellcraft per rune.

2 Points of Spellcraft:

• Can detect the use of the doppelganger spell. This does not use up a spellcraft card and also does not count as one of the skill-user’s combat actions.

• When used in conjunction with the Detect Magic spell functions like a Detect Power spell. This does not use up a spellcraft card and, if applicable, does not count as one of the skill-user’s combat actions.

• Functions like any of the 1st level Detect spells in the Information sphere. Uses one charge of spellcraft per detection.

3 Points of Spellcraft:

• During combat, detects the nature of all channeled items and personal spells the target creature(s) has functioning. This does not use up a spellcraft card and also does not count as one of the skill-user’s combat actions.

• Functions like a Detect Curse 2, Identify or Read Magic spell. Uses one charge of spellcraft per use.

4 Points of Spellcraft:

• Detects the presence of Glyphs and Sigils and gives the skill-user the knowledge of what will trigger the construct. This does not use up a spellcraft charge and, if applicable, does not count as one of the skill- user’s combat actions.

• Functions like a Know Curse 2, Identify 2 or Know Glyph spell. Uses one charge of spellcraft per use.

5 Points of Spellcraft:

• Functions like a Know Magic Spell (both person and area effect). This does not use up a spellcraft charge and, if applicable, does not count as one of the skill-user’s combat actions.

• Functions like a Know Sigil spell. Uses one charge of spellcraft per sigil.

Only Mages or Scholars can have a Spellcraft skill of 7 or higher.

Truthsense

Truthsense is the ability to detect lies. It is more than just the ability to read deceit from a person's body language or speech patterns. It is a link to the virtue of Truth and so, with enough points, one could discern the veracity of writing or divinations.

The only real danger to Truthsense is that it will not detect a falsehood if the person making it believes the untruth to be accurate. The strength of Truthsense is it cannot be blocked by spells or by the power level of the target. Truthsense can be used on Gods.

Each use of Truthsense uses one card. The more levels of Truthsense one possess the more methods of communications can be targeted.

1 pt - Will detect the truth of a Direct Question posed to the target of the skill. The person using the skill need not be the one asking the question but they must be present when the question is asked and answered.

2pts - Will reveal lies made during a Speech made by a being. Again the skill-user need not be the one to instigate the target's dialog but the must be present and able to hear it.

3pts - At this point the skill-user can catch untruths made during an entire Conversation. The same caveats as above apply.

4pts - The skill-user can spot deceptions in Written Material.

5pts - The skill-user can spot deceptions in Visions.

7pts - At this level the skill overcomes the drawback listed at the top of the page. The skill-user can tell if he or she is hearing/reading/seeing the Real Truth regardless if the source believes it to be true or not.

Only Scholars, Diviners and Inquisitors can have a Truthsense skill of 7 or higher.