Skills

Skills are mundane things a character learns, as opposed to abilities, which are magical. A skill is something that is actively used, that is applied, rather than a lore, which is knowledge someone has.

Occupational Skills

Once you have chosen your character's occupation, the GM will write up a list of potential skills here.

Basic Skills

These are skills almost everyone has to some degree within the current setting, though in some cases you might intentionally choose not to have one of these if it fits your character's background to lack a specific skill. You would have a score in all of these, though not all will be relevant.

• Animal handling: a skill in interacting with domesticated animals
• Cleaning: not really gonna come up in game, but most characters would grow up learning to do this in a feudal setting
• Cooking/Baking: rarely gonna come up, but most characters would know some variation of this
• Farming: any poor character will likely have grown up on a farm. May be substituted for Herding
• First aid: most characters will know how to staunch a wound, clean a wound, or cool down a feverish person, though this is not like modern first aid
• Herding: if not a farmer, a person was likely a shepherd or otherwise worked with domesticated animals such as cattle or goats.
• Hunting: most characters in a feudal setting would have some experience hunting. This may be substituted for or combined with Trapping.
• Survival: knowing how to forage for food, find or make shelter in the wild, find your way, etc.
• Music or singing: choose a specific instrument if your character has a Music skill.
• Sewing: most characters would have a little experience doing this for themselves.
• Trapping: catching animals in traps instead of hunting
• Wagon driving: most poorer feudal characters who grew up on a farm would have some experience with this.

Note: no poor or low-income character will know how to read in a feudal setting without very good reason.

Common Skills

Some common but not universal skills include the following. You can have some of these without justifying it in your backstory.

• Bartering: basic trading skills are common
• Brewing: a little ale would help pass the time on the farm
• Dancing: most people would learn some country dances for social occasions
• Direction sense: knowing which way is north, south, east, or west is necessary for most
• Domestic skills: knowing how to care for a home or room
• Gardening: if not from a farm, many people will still know the basics of planting
• Hospitality: there is much etiquette around house guests that feudal folk would know
• Repair: basic work repairing tools, wagons, or things around the home would be necessary
• Riding: if lucky enough to have a horse or access to one, riding is essential
• Storytelling: without other forms of entertainment, this would be more common

Players should choose skills that make sense for their character to have. Consult the GM.

Uncommon Skills

These are other skills, usually connected to a major occupation, just to give you some ideas. If you want one of these, it has to be justified in your backstory. Every character will have a set of skills based on their main occupations, but anyone can take one of the following if they justify it. Consult the GM if you do not know what these might be.

• Archery
• Bee-keeping
• Butchering
• Carpentry
• Commerce
• Gambling
• Herbalism
• Investigation
• Juggling
• Literature
• Masonry
• Medicine
• Mining
• Poetry
• Reading
• Research
• Sailing
• Scavenging
• Smithing
• Tactics
• Theatre
• Travel
• Weapon/armor care
• Weaving
• Woodworking
• Writing

Scores

Every skill will have a score. They work on a similar scale to stats, but they are adjusted because they are not innate:

Score	Description	Difficulty
1-3	Untrained and guessing	So easy a child could do it
4-6	Untrained but educatedly guessing	A professional could do this without much effort
7-9	Just learning	A professional could do this most of the time
10-12	Journeyman	A professional can do this about half the time
13-15	Professional	A professional would find this a challenge
16-18	Elite	A professional would find this very difficult
19-21	Best mortal alive at the skill	A professional would find this nearly impossible
22-24	Best mortal at the skill to ever live	Only the very best have a chance
25-42	Supernaturally skilled	This would only be done if one used powerful magic
43+	Beyond mortal possibility	Only someone more than mortal could even conceive of doing it