In System Assumptions, I mention that there will be references to skills in the upcoming lifepath posts and various downtime procedures. If you already use a skill system, you don’t need to leave behind whatever you’re using, and you need to have a notion for succeeding, failing, critically succeeding, and fumbling. It also helps if you have a concept of how to “train” a skill – become learned in it, advance to the next category, etc.
I want to be clear that I am not saying one needs to have a skill system for old-school dungeon crawling, just that I find them useful for many of the procedures characters can take that do not involve fighting, magic, or directly manipulating objects/doors/etc.
In this post, I will provide a basic skill system for those who do not have one but want to hew closely to the proposed subsystems of Ye Olde Fantasy. Note that using skills can be somewhat contentious in adventure gaming, so it’s good to clear some principles first. These skills are abstractions – they are eliding details we either do not care about or do not require players to understand, and skills should not use skills instead of negotiating the fiction to avoid things we care about.
I often mention that I use “skills as saves,” meaning you only roll a skill check to avoid negative consequences. However, one can also argue for using a skill to gain additional benefits in appropriate situations. Skills should not roll skills without apparent consequences; the referee should rule how the fiction proceeds. Skills should not be rolled pre-emptively by the players nor called for by the referee without everyone being able to picture what is happening in the scene. If you are a player, you should tell your referee your intent for your actions and what your character is doing to achieve this, and if you are a referee, you should clearly describe what is happening and allow the players to respond in fiction.
Let’s get onto the suggested system with that pre-amble out of the way.
Skill Roll
Having played with many people from many gaming backgrounds, I find that “what do I have to roll” is one of the major stumbling blocks for new people, and with that in mind, we’ll be using Target20. I know “unified resolution” isn’t very chic with the ultra-crusty old heads, and I love using 2d6 for reaction rolls, d100 for some skills, all the xd6 stuff in TFT and HarnMaster, etc. But for ease, let’s go with a system that is “roll a d20 and try to get 20.” So we’ll be rolling:
d20 + skill level (we’ll go over that in a minute) +/- any applicable modifiers + level if the class would feasibly contribute to the task >= 20
Any roll over 20 is a success, with a natural 20 being critical, and any value lower than 20 will be a failure, with a natural 1 being a fumble.
When contesting with others, all parties roll as appropriate, and whoever succeeds with the highest total value wins, with critical successes of any value beating successes of any value.
Skills
Each skill is based on an individual D&D stat. If you prefer, you could go the Harn/OpenQuest route and use an average of two or three stats, but I have opted for one for simplicity. Most roleplaying game stats don’t make much sense when you sit down and think about them, so making Athletics be “STR + DEX” doesn’t make it any more realistic than just one or the other, although it does distribute stat importance a bit. The skill list below is a mashup of OpenQuest, Majestic Wilderlands, and Worlds Without Number – feel free to add, remove or adjust at your preference.
- Administer (INT) – the “numbers” skill, planning things, logistics, going over records, stewardship, and knowledge of taxation, could even be roped into a component of the law.
- Alchemy (INT) – brewing potions, making poltices, fashioning cures, turning lead into slightly not-lead.
- Animals (WIS) – taking care of animals, husbandry, training, etc.
- Athletics (STR) – running, jumping, climbing, sporting, etc.
- Carousing (CHA) – gambling, drinking, partying.
- Connect (CHA) – finding people that you are looking for
- Deception (CHA) – Bluffing, lying, etc. Usually, this is used for how convincing you sound, but the actual bluff is something you should come up with as a player, if even abstractly.
- Dodge (DEX) – I use this in place of mobility-based saves. If you use a saving throw system, this can be replaced with that.
- Ettiquite (CHA) – knowing the ins and outs of the medieval social hierarchy, particularly useful for courtiers or dealing with the gentry and nobility.
- Folk Magic (WIS) – uses of charms, simple prayers, talismans, and other “common” magics.
- Herbalism (WIS) – the identification and application of herbs- a large component of my games. If you don’t feel this is justified, this can easily be combined with Alchemy or Folk Magic, or Physician.
- Horsemanship (DEX) – Riding could be any animal, but I usually only require this for knightly endeavors. Peasants on a workhorse or donkey don’t need to check.
- Know: Subject (INT) – The generic knowledge check per subject. I usually use this to encompass both the understanding of a subject and being able to convey it and the knowledge of how to research it. Each could be broken out, but my players rarely rolled “Study” when it was, so I merged it here. It could also be fun and thematic to break this out into Natural Philosophy and the 3 + 4 paths of Liberal Arts. I’ve debated doing as much, but people have been more into precise subjects.
- Language: Specific (INT) – The ability to speak and understand verbal or somatic languages.
- Lead (CHA) – Leadership, tactics, and sometimes even strategy. The warlord and hireling-manager skill.
- Read: Script (INT) – literacy of a specific script
- Melee Combat (STR) – Hand-to-hand combat. If you are using a level + class system, you may not need this. If so, replace it with “fighter level (or attack-bonus) + STR.”
- Notice (WIS) – general perception, awareness, etc. Often used in contests against Sneak.
- Performance: Type (CHA) – Oratory, poetry, musicianship, etc.
- Persuasion (CHA) – Convincing, parleying, and another social greasing. Much like Deception, this shouldn’t be a replacement for describing what and/or how your character is doing to persuade others, if even just zoomed out.
- Physician (INT) – Chiurgery, medicine, and first aid.
- Prayer (CHA) – Participating in and conducting religious rituals. Also utilized for divine magic. If using a class + level system, replace with “Cleric levels + CHA”
- Profession: Type (varies) – When you specify your profession, discuss with the referee what the base stat should be. This should cover most crafts and trades, although very specific ones could obviously be broken out.
- Ranged Combat (DEX) – Bows, crossbows, slings, etc. Much like Melee – it can be replaced with an existing combat system.
- Read: Script (INT) – Understanding the written language.
- Resist (CON) – I use this instead of saving throws related to poison, death, physical maladies, etc. It can be replaced with a saving throw system.
- Seafaring (CON) – Boating, navigating the open sea, deep sea fishing, rope work, etc.
- Sleight of Hand (DEX) – Magic tricks and thievery.
- Sneak (DEX) – Lurking and skulking.
- Sorcery (INT) – Casting of arcane magics, summoning and binding spirits, crafting of scrolls, etc. If you are using a class/level-based system, you might not need this and can replace any calls to it with “level + INT”
- Survival (CON) – Navigating, finding food in the wilderness, cooking, and other such practices. Also, hunting and fishing, but feel free to make those separate skills if you find that helpful.
- Unarmed Combat (STR) – Scratchin’, bitin’, scufflin’, and generally being physically ornery with others without using weapons.
- Willpower (WIS) – My mental-based saving throw, but feel free to replace it with whatever other system you wish.
- Work (CON) – General labor could be covered by a profession, but also the kind of thing anyone can do and probably become better at with practice/adaptation.
- Write: Script (INT) – Communicating a language through written form.
So those are the skills I have found helpful in my games. One can continue to break out skills into more specific use cases or group them generally. I am not someone who is particularly drawn to “elegance” in design, so I am not even sure of the exact number nor the distribution of stats. That’s just me, though.
Skill Base
Each skill will have an initial base corresponding to an attribute. Adjust accordingly if your attribute range is different.
| Attribute | Skill Base |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 |
| 4-5 | 2 |
| 6-8 | 3 |
| 9-12 | 4 |
| 13-15 | 5 |
| 16-17 | 6 |
| 18 | 7 |
For any skill that makes sense a character would be able to do, they “open” the skill at the above value for the skill’s corresponding stat. This is not universal among skills and is left up to the discretion of the table based on the character and their background. Not everyone can do Sorcery in most settings, for example.
Skill Training
When a character is told to “train” a skill in a lifepath, they double the value of the corresponding skills. So as an example – if a character has a 9 CHA and is told to train deception, their Skill Value for Deception becomes 8. If they are told to train a skill multiple times due to an event or lifepath, they mark it and perform a Skill Development roll instead.
A character can also receive instruction during downtime. I will make a post about Scholarly pursuits, but in the meantime, a shortened tl;dr version is that a character can spend a season under the tutelage of an instructor. The instructor can charge upwards of 100 times the corresponding stat value that they have, and after the season, they must succeed at the skill in question to have correctly taught the character. If they succeed, the character has yet to be “trained” in the skill, then they adjust their skill value to be double the value in the table above. If the instructor fails, the character opens the skill at the value in the above table plus 1.
Skill Development
When told to make a Skill Development roll, a character goes through all the skills they have marked and rolls it. If they fail to get a result of 20 or higher, the Skill Value is increased by 1. If not, the mark is erased without adjusting the value.
Skill Marks
Characters mark their skills for a development roll anytime they fumble or critically succeed at the skill. They can also mark several skills that the referee believes the character used in interesting or crucial situations throughout the adventure – learning under fire, so to speak.
I have also utilized a method similar to Dungeon World, where we ask questions such as:
- Did the character explore a new location?
- Did the character best a significant adversary or challenge?
- Was a treasure looted from an adventure site?
- Were personal goals/quests of the character pursued?
Answers to any of the above allow a skill to be marked, per the referee’s discretion.
Next Steps
I know that was a lot of systems-hoopla, which I am usually not a fan of. Still, I wanted to convey a foundation of what I use in my medieval fantasy campaigns that extend outside of dungeons and wildness crawls and provide a basis for the upcoming lifepath system, which references skills.
