List of Secrets

Secrets are special qualities your character has that let him or her do extraordinary things. They generally work in the following ways:

Permanently get a bonus die to a specific use of an ability.
Permanently get +1 damage or protection with an ability.
Permanently get a minor unusual ability. This ability may require a skill use.
Spend one die from a pool to use an ability in an unusual way.
Spend two or three dice from a pool to use an ability in a supernatural or powerful unusual way.
Spend a number of dice from a pool for a scalable effect. If this effect is especially powerful or unusual, it may carry a cost of extra dice.

Most of the Secrets pre-made for Errantry follow the above guidelines, but not all. Look at the ones below, and examine them for ideas for your own.

Note that a Secret is described both in terms of its narrative effect and its mechanical effect in the game.

Secret	Narrative Effect	Mechanical Effect	Ability Check Required	Pool Cost
Animal Speech	Your character can speak to an animal (which is not a speaking animal) and understand its signals.		In order to get the animal to cooperate or not try to eat you, you might need a successful Animal Ken ability check. Even if you fail this check, you’ll understand that it wants to eat you loud and clear.	2 Artes.
Alcohol Tolerance	You can “drink under the table” any character who doesn’t have this Secret (if the other character also has the Secret, use your respective Endure ability checks as an opposed check). You will retain your wits during this exercise and can take advantage of the other character’s intoxication to extract information from him or her that normally he or she would not disclose (the success level on your Endure ability check is how many penalty dice they have to their Resist ability check to keep from babbling the information). Or you can simply use this as a way of getting them out of the way, or refreshing your Vigour pool.	Endure
Disturbing	Your character is able to deliberately make other people profoundly uncomfortable through some aspect of appearance or behaviour. You must choose the aspect of your character which is, or can be, disturbing to others and specify the circumstances in which your character can activate the effect and the type of people it affects (it can’t affect everyone). For example, “She is extremely beautiful and can pour on the charm to make a man she concentrates on uncomfortable about how attractive she is,” or “He has a particular tone of voice which makes any younger person he directs it against feel six years old.”	The next action the affected characters take will have 1 penalty die.		Increase effect to 2 penalty dice by spending 1 Courtesie.
Command	Your character is a natural leader.	He or she has a permanent bonus die to convince others to follow his or her lead. When they do so, and he or she encourages them in combat using a successful Orate ability check, they receive bonus dice equal to his or her success level.	Orate
Contacts	Your character knows all sorts of people in all sorts of places. You can use this Secret for your character to automatically have a past relationship with any encountered character in the adventure. You may describe the relationship briefly or in depth.	Their attitude to you is determined by the Attitude Determination Method described under Character Type Charts.		3 points from a pool which fits. Valour would fit for a wartime comrade, Courtesie for an ex-lover, and Artes for a former colleague in your character’s field of study.
Diplomacy	You are able to draw the attention of combatants or potential combatants.	You receive a bonus die on your Orate or Sway ability checks (versus their Resist) to convince them not to fight.	Orate or Sway
Disarm	Your character can disarm an opponent, without changing intentions, with a successful ability check using a weapon in Bringing Down the Pain.	Because weapons can be all sorts of things in this game, “disarm” just means that the weapon’s been rendered ineffective for the duration of Bringing Down the Pain.		1 point from the pool most relevant to the weapon.
Distraction	Using appearance, rapid patter, sleight-of-hand, throwing things or whatever else fits your character concept, your character is able to distract other characters in a way which advances your agenda.	Either impose a penalty die on them for any action they are attempting, or give yourself a bonus die to Deceive, Disguise, Stealth, Conjuring, Orate or Sway, providing your use of the Secret fits those applications.
Enhancement (Ability)		You must select an ability when you take this Secret. You may spend as many points as you like out of the associated pool to give bonus dice to the ability.
Flying Leap	Your character can make amazing leaps. Using this Secret, he or she can jump much further or higher than normal.	For each Valour point you spend, up to three, you can jump another multiple of normal human ability for one leap.	Athletics	Valour
Guidance	Your character can receive divine guidance on a useful course of action to pursue.		Pray
Herbal Health	Your character can always find an herb that is an effective healing agent with a successful Woodscraft ability check in the outdoors.	The herb lets you use your Woodscraft Ability to act like First Aid and heal others.	Woodscraft	1 Artes.
Hidden Pocket	Your character is adept at hiding objects on his or her person. No matter how carefully searched the character has been, he or she may pull an inexpensive, small (hand-sized) item off her person. You need not have mentioned the existence of this item at any time in the past.		Stealth	2 Courtesie.
Horsemanship	Your character can ride the most vicious steed without falling off or being injured, and is able to control and train horses to a remarkable degree.	You only need to make a Riding roll when attempting feats of horsemanship which would be impossible to most people; all ordinary feats of horsemanship you can automatically perform.	Riding	1 Valour when making a Riding check.
Inner Meaning	Your character’s art carries a meaning beyond the surface.	Use any non-physical Courtesie-based ability at a distance via a piece of your character’s art.		2 Artes.
Knock-back	Your character’s blows send people flying.	Knock back a stricken character one yard per success level. This immediately ends Bringing Down the Pain if you’re involved in that, with no resolution as to intentions.	Melee Weapon	2 Valour.
Lore	In a largely illiterate and uneducated populace, your character has the advantages of education.	Lore can be used to “remember” useful facts about people, places, objects, animals, natural phenomena and history.	Clerk	1 Artes.
Mighty Blow	Your character can strike with extreme might.	Spend as many points of Valour as you like to increase the harm of a successful blow in combat by that number of points. You can do this after discovering your success level.	Melee Weapon	Valour
Shattering	The weight of your weapon can be used to destroy other weapons and armor in combat.	With a successful attack, your success level (not including any damage bonuses) is removed from the damage bonuses of weapons or damage reductions of armor. If reduced to 0, the item is destroyed. (Note: if used against player characters’ weapons or armor bought with the Secret of Imbuement, they may repair the item or have it become something new after the scene.)		2 of the pool most relevant to the weapon.
Signature Weapon	Your character has one weapon with which he or she is bonded.	You gain a bonus die to any action taken with that weapon and any other character else attempting to use the weapon receives a penalty die. (Note: to change this weapon, this Secret must be taken again.)
Slenderness	Your character is slender, graceful and of relatively small stature. He or she can therefore squeeze into small spaces, cross ropes, branches, bridges and the like which wouldn’t support someone heavier or clumsier.	Permanent +1 damage to Acrobatics ability checks.
Speciality (Skill)	You must select an ability when you take this Secret. Choose a speciality your character has within that ability - for example, sensing danger from beasts in the Sense Danger ability.	You always have a bonus die when your character attempts an action that falls within that speciality.
Synergy		You can chain multiple abilities together in Bringing Down the Pain as you would in a normal ability check; that is, you can roll multiple ability checks in one action to add bonus dice to the final check.		1 associated pool point for each extra ability you roll.
Throwing	Anything is a dangerous missile in your character’s hands. He or she can throw anything fist-sized to greatsword-sized as an attack.	The object counts as a +1 weapon.	Aim	1 Valour.
Unwalked Path	Your character’s footfalls leave little trace for others to follow.	You can use your character’s Woodscraft ability in resistance to anyone trying to track him or her.	Woodscraft	1 Courtesie.

Secret of Imbuement Only available to Enchanters, Ecclesiastics and their crosstypes. Your character can turn items into weapons, armour or talismans with a successful Pray ability check (Ecclesiastics) or Magic ability check (Enchanters). Weapons and armour cost one advance per “plus” (so making a weapon +2 costs 2 advances). Adding a second bonus on the same item is not at any discount, so if you give a weapon a +2 bonus and a +3 bonus, that costs five advances. (Any well-made item can be considered to have a +1 bonus, but giving it a +2 bonus still costs two advances, since you are not building on the +1 but creating the +2 from the ground up.) If your success level is lower than the number of advances spent, you must also spend Artes pool points to make up the difference. \\In addition or alternatively, you can use this Secret to imbue the item with the power of another Secret (making it a talisman). That Secret will have its costs lowered by one pool point. The imbuement costs one advance and one Artes. \\The item can be taken away from its owner, but the owner must be given a chance to get it back, or can roll the advances spent on it into a new item. You can take away someone else’s Imbued item, but you will have to pay the original cost to keep it.
If the item being imbued is for someone else (not the Enchanter or Ecclesiastic performing the imbuement), the cost in advances is borne by the recipient, but the Enchanter or Ecclesiastic must still spend any Artes pool points required.

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