Abilities

Normal Abilities

Normal abilities are those listed in the ability list. Almost everything that a character does will depend on a normal ability. These are the things that the character knows well, and has had particular training in.

Profession

Every character has at least one profession. The player can simply select this at character creation, as long as the GM approves it: no spacemen in a medieval fantasy setting. Most of the character's abilities should be chosen as part of that profession, and listed under the profession. The player must be able to justify the inclusion of an ability under a profession.

The character gains an ability in any profession he has studied. This ability has a multiplier of two, but cannot be studied directly. Instead, the character gets 1 xp for every full point of ability that falls under the profession. The professional ability cannot be higher than the highest normal ability falling under it. This ability may be used for any task that the GM and player agree falls within the competence of that profession: it represents the general familiarity with your area of work that you acquire simply through doing the job.

A character may have more than one profession. If he learns a skill from another profession, it should be recorded under that profession.

For example, Frederick is a blacksmith. He has Blacksmith 10, Evaluate 10, Blacksmith Professional Knowledge 10, Training 10, Animal Handling 8, Awareness 10, and Crew Ship 6. The first six skills all fall under his "blacksmith" profession, and give him 58 xp. This gives him a score of 6, which he can use for bargaining with customers and suppliers, organising his forge, or similar activities. He also has the profession "sailor" from a brief experience in his wayward youth. Crew Ship falls under this profession, and gives him 6xp, so that the profession Ability has a score of 2. He can use this for swimming, assessing ships, understanding naval terms, and so on.

A character may move an Ability from one profession to another if he increases it by at least one point in the context of the new profession. This will reduce the profession score of the old profession, and increase that of the new. This is slightly unrealistic, but it involves the least book-keeping: it should not be a common occurrence, especially for high abilities.

Cultural Abilities

There are three cultural abilities per culture, Physical, Mental, and Social. Each one falls under the appropriate aptitude, and the character gains a number of xp equal to the Aptitude every year that he lives in that culture (starting at birth). These abilities have a multiplier of 50, because they can be used for any activity practised within that culture. They cannot be increased by any other means, so they will always be low. Each cultural ability can be substituted for any ability known in that culture that falls under the same Aptitude.

Defaults and Increase

When an ability is learned properly, it must always be learned from zero, even if the character has a higher default ability.