List of Example Abilities

Example Open Abilities

Open abilities follow a few guidelines:

They are either innate abilities to a person (Athletics) or things that can be easily learned. Usually, they’re both, as in the aforementioned case of Athletics, or Woodscraft.

They are rather wide in scope, encompassing a field of actions, without being overly broad. Movement is too broad; Climbing Fences is too narrow. Fighting is too broad; Broad-sword Usage is too narrow.

They are not specialized knowledge that applies only to a certain place in life. These are the Closed Abilities, which are much more narrow in scope.

They often overlap with other abilities, which is great. Two abilities may describe different styles of performing similar tasks.

The pre-made open abilities are below. Examine them to get ideas for your own. They’ve been organized by category. Any character can take abilities from any category, but it may be easier to choose a category or two that define your character and take most of the abilities from them.

Artistic and Creative Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
Freeload	Courtesie	Freeload is used to get free meals and shelter. Your character can’t really get wealthy using Freeload, but you can manage to survive even if broke, which isn’t bad.
Create	Courtesie	Create is used for painting, sculpting, and other arts where a concrete item is created.
Story-tell	Courtesie	Story-tell is used for creating or telling stories, including ballads.
Music	Courtesie	Music is used for singing and playing instruments, and represents musical talent, not lyrical talent. Music and Story-tell are often used together to make an effective song.
Cooking	Courtesie	Cooking is used to prepare appetizing and nutritious meals, even with unpromising ingredients.
Engineering	Artes	Engineering is used to figure out how to build, fix, use or destroy pretty much anything in the mechanical or civil engineering realm (such as a bridge, a wall, a lock, or a mill).

Warrior Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
First Aid	Artes	First Aid is simple medicine: bandaging cuts, binding broken bones, and washing out wounds. If someone’s been physically hurt, this can be used to heal them.
Sense Danger	Artes	This ability is used to perceive anything that might physically harm your character. It is not a “sixth sense”: the danger must be somehow perceivable, if only barely. Here’s where you get those cat-like reflexes.
Battle	Valour	Battle is the basic skills and tactics known by any military commander. It is used for giving orders in combat and planning attacks, including ambushes.
Melee Weapons	Valour	A melee weapon is something like a sword, battleaxe, mace or dagger that is wielded in hand-to-hand combat. You must specify your weapon when taking this ability, and if you want to have ability in more than one melee weapon you must take the ability again for each one.

Deceptive Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
Stealth	Courtesie	Stealth is used to sneak up on people, hide from other characters, and conceal objects on your character’s body.
Deceit	Courtesie	Deceit is used to fool other characters, including pretending to be someone else, forge a document, or straight-out lie well.
Juggling	Artes	Juggling is used to fling objects in the air and catch them, swallow swords or fire, and perform similar tricks.
Conjuring	Artes	Conjuring is used to hide and produce small objects and otherwise deceive the eye, and to produce magical-seeming effects without the actual use of magic.

Outdoor Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
Acrobatics	Valour	Acrobatics includes climbing, balancing, landing safely from a fall, leaping and being comfortable at heights. If Athletics is about power, Acrobatics is about grace and control, in the areas in which they overlap.
Athletics	Valour	This is a measure of raw physicality and fitness. It is used for running, jumping, swimming, climbing, or any other strength-based task not listed as a separate ability.
Aim	Valour	Aim is used for shooting bows and crossbows and throwing objects.
Location Sense	Artes	Location Sense is used to figure out which way is North, keep your bearings while wandering around, remember the turns you took in order to get somewhere, not get lost in mazes, and read maps.
Woodscraft	Artes	Woodscraft is used to track people or animals, know what sorts of plants and animals are present in an area and their properties, as well as set traps.
Animal Ken	Artes	Animal Ken is the social skill for dealing with animals, and is used to deal with domesticated animals or wild ones. Domesticated animals are much easier to control, of course, and this may be used to give them commands. For wild animals, on the other hand, this works about as far as scaring them off, or convincing them not to eat you.
Riding	Valour	Riding is the ability to ride a horse well and for an extended period. It includes knowing how to look after the horse and its equipment, and being able to control the horse in difficult circumstances.

Priestly Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
Pray	Artes	Pray is used for meditation, blessing actions, and performing religious rituals. It involves the character’s belief that he or she is connected to something better than him or her. Receive a penalty die to the check for each activated “Sinful” Key you have and a bonus die for each activated “Virtuous” Key.
Counsel	Artes	Counsel is used to bring peace to someone via private conversation, not unlike mental health counseling. It is the spiritual equivalent of First Aid.
Discern Truth	Courtesie	Discern Truth is used to tell if someone is being honest, or read a person’s intentions.
Orate	Courtesie	Orate is used to sway opinion with speech or demagoguery, and is generally used with crowds.
Clerk	Artes	Clerk is used for all reading, writing, mathematical, language or document-related tasks.

Social Abilities

Ability	Pool	Description
Sway	Courtesie	Sway is used to affect individuals through conversation. Unlike Orate, this works better one-on-one, and the character being swayed may not even realize your character’s intentions.
Savoir-Faire	Courtesie	Savoir-Faire is used to act smooth, dance, get a kiss from a lady, and get another character into your character’s bedchambers.
Etiquette	Courtesie	Etiquette is used to know your way around a society, including knowing who is important and where to get favors. It includes a knowledge of heraldry, precedence and dancing.
Dueling	Valour	Dueling is the art of honorable one-on-one battle.

These are notes for a work in progress. Don’t expect everything to be consistent or make sense.