I.E.1. Skills

Section 1: The Basic System

Each skill the character has is developed to a certain degree of expertise. This expertise is a function of the amount of time spent on the skill, the difficulty of the skill, and the natural aptitudes or raw ability in the skill's base area. A character's success at a task is a matter of skill, innate ability, and to some degree, luck. While innate ability and luck are beyond the character's control, skill may definitely improve through training and experience. Skill development and success is not a linear process. While a hundred hours spent studying a new skill will do wonders for the development of a neophyte's skill in any certain field, the same amount of time and effort will make no difference in the specialty of a world class expert. Thus, the success roll should be a bell curve to represent the amount success and difficulty of a task, while the advancement chart should be geometric to represent the increasing difficulty of advancement. With these restraints in mind, the system was designed.

To determine if the character successfully performs a task, total the roll of three six-sided dice and the character's Effective Skill Level. This sum is the Success Roll (SR). If this sum is greater than or equal to the task's Base Odds (BO), he or she has accomplished the task. If the sum is less than the Base Odds, he or she fails. The basic chance of succeeding in a given feat is determined by the Game Master, using the guidelines shown below.

Each skill the characters possess is rated on a scale ranging from 0 to 20, and this number is known as the Skill Level (SL). Table I.E.1-1 describes what the various gradients mean.

The Game Master decides what skill applies to the task, and what Level in that Skill would be necessary to complete the task easily. The number is then added to 7 to determine the Base Odds. For example, the Game Master might determine that swimming across a quickly flowing 100 yard wide river could be easily crossed by a character with 6th level Swimming (Journeyman Level). The Base Odds would be 7+6 = 13.

Using the above river example, a character with a Skill Level 2 in Swimming would need a roll of a minimum roll of 11 (13 - 2 = 11); on a roll of 11 or more he would succeed, and on a roll of 10 or less he would fail. A character with a Skill Level of 10 in Swimming would only need a roll of 3 or more (13 - 10 = 3), and would thus succeed automatically.

Many activities are interactive. That is, they do not consist solely of a character testing his ability against nature, but involve the skills of an opponent as well. For example, a character attempting, with a Bargaining skill of 5 attempting to haggle a good price on a horse from a trader with a Bargaining skill of 8 would have (7+8-5 = 10) a roll of 10.

In most cases, it is easier to compare the Base Odds to the Success Roll than to figure out what the roll needs to be to succeed. If the sum of the Success Roll is equal to the Base Odds, or greater, then the check succeeded. Circumstance Modifiers are applied to the roll; a bonus is always a positive number, and a penality is always a negative number. In general game play, the character will make a Skill Check, add the appropriate Skill, and announce the results. The Game Master will compare this to the Base Odds for the task, and announce the results.

The Base Odds assume that the task is being performed under fairly normal conditions; that there are no significant distractions or unwarranted hazards, and that the proper tools are available. When conditions are difficult, the odds of success should drop significantly. It is up to the Game Master to determine the exact handicap for each situation. The following modifiers are example situations of a task being attempted under less than ideal circumstances.

In many cases the degree of success or failure can be very important. A particularly great success on a public project, for example, can bring a character the attention of powerful people, while spectacular failure can result in dismissal, loss of influence, or a similar social disaster. For many physical feats, failure can also result in injury or death. The following rules govern the degree of success and failure.

In social situations, or other circumstances where there are greater and lesser levels of success and failure, the following chart should be used. Simply subtract the Success Roll from the the Base Odds; a negative number indicates failure, and a positive number indicates success. Enter the number on the chart to determine the reaction of people to the feat. If the task is not publicly known, of course, there is no public response, and the rating simply gives the player and the Game Master an idea of how well or badly the character preformed.

In some cases, the character may begin a feat, size up his chances, and then decide whether to commit or abort the attempt. This is possible only for definite, short duration actions, such as hurdling a wall or docking a boat. For such actions, the character may roll one of the three six-sided dice and then make his decision to commit or abort the attempt before rolling the last two dice. If the character aborts the attempt, he suffers no ill effects other than a loss of time, a missed opportunity, and possible embarrassment. Note that many feats do not lend themselves to this approach, such as judgments, decisions, and actions where bailing out is impossible, i.e. leaping a wall with guard dogs in close pursuit. Judgment in these matters is left to the Game Master.