Chapter 07

Skills

What your character knows how to do — and how well

Skills are the specific things your character has trained to do. Every skill is tied to an attribute, and your target number flows from both. There are 27 skills across six attributes — you can have up to 15. What you choose defines who you are at the table.

Skill target = ((10 + attribute) × skill level) + 30 Unskilled attempt = (5 + attribute) × 5

The Handler

I've seen a kid with nothing but a lockpick and a steady hand get us out of a vault that three armed operatives couldn't crack. Strongest person on the team, best gear money could buy — none of it mattered. What matters is whether you've put in the hours to do the thing that needs doing when everything's gone wrong.

Physical Skills

Physical skills are bought from the Physical pool (10 + BR + PC points).

BR — Brawn

Skill	What It Covers
Athletics	Climbing, swimming, jumping, running, lifting — all feats of raw physicality. Covers any physical challenge that isn't fighting.
Brawl	Unarmed combat. Punches, grapples, headbutts, tackles. Fast and always available — fists don't jam in a Wild Zone.
Melee	Armed close combat. Swords, axes, clubs, knives, improvised weapons. Covers attack and parry with any handheld weapon.
Intimidation ★	Physical menace — looming presence, cracking knuckles, breaking things to make a point. Flex stat: may be placed under SP instead.

PC — Physical Coordination

Skill	What It Covers
Firearms	Pistols, rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons. Loading, clearing jams, and shooting under pressure. Separate from Ranged because guns live and die by the Aetheric balance.
Piloting	Operating vehicles — airships, automobiles, motorboats, motorcycles. Covers routine driving and white-knuckle chases alike.
Ranged	Bows, crossbows, thrown weapons. Martial ranged combat immune to magic zone interference. The reliable option when the Aether is thick.
Sleight of Hand	Pickpocketing, palming objects, lockpicking, hiding things on your person. The art of making your hands do things people don't notice.
Stealth	Moving silently, hiding, shadowing someone, blending into crowds. Getting somewhere without being seen or heard.

The Street

I grew up on the gradient — Sootwell Row, then Coppergate, then wherever I could sleep. You learn fast what keeps you alive: climb anything, outrun anyone, and never be seen unless you want to be. I've known fighters, talkers, clever types. The ones who couldn't run or hide? They're not around to have opinions about it.

Mental Skills

Mental skills are bought from the Mental pool (10 + IN + AW + PW points).

IN — Intellect

Skill	What It Covers
Craft	Working with your hands — metalsmithing, woodworking, leatherwork, repair, fabrication. If you're building or fixing a physical object, this is the skill.
Engineering	Machines, structures, electrical systems, demolitions. Understanding how complex things work — and how to make them stop working.
Medicine	First aid, diagnosis, surgery, pharmacology, poisons. Treating wounds, identifying diseases, and knowing which end of the syringe to use.
Occult Lore	Magical theory, supernatural history, ritual knowledge, identifying enchantments. Knowing what you're dealing with before you deal with it. Not casting — understanding.
Science	Chemistry, physics, forensics, biology, geology. Analytical thinking applied to the material world. The lab coat skills.
Tactics	Reading a battlefield, planning ambushes, coordinating teams, anticipating enemy moves. The difference between a fight and a strategy.

AW — Awareness

Skill	What It Covers
Empathy	Reading people — body language, tone of voice, sensing motives, detecting lies. Knowing what someone feels, even when they're hiding it.
Investigation	Crime scenes, research, connecting clues, deductive reasoning. Active analysis — finding what's there and figuring out what it means.
Observation	Noticing details — spotting the glint of a wire, hearing footsteps above, catching the odd detail in a room. Passive alertness and active searching.
Survival	Tracking, hunting, navigation, foraging, shelter-building, reading weather. Everything between the city limits and the horizon.

The Scholar

In my second year of fieldwork, a team went into a ruin near Thornfeld without consulting anyone who could read the ward-signs on the door. Four experienced operatives. They lasted nine minutes. I know because the survivor's pocket watch stopped when the resonance hit. One afternoon in a library would have told them what they were walking into. Knowledge is not glamorous, but I attend far fewer funerals than my colleagues in the field divisions.

PW — Power

Skill	What It Covers
Resolve	Resisting mental effects, maintaining composure under pressure, enduring pain and fear, shaking off stun. Your refusal to break. Every character benefits — not just casters.
Scholarly Casting	Learned magic. Requires a spellbook and study. You choose your tier, control your power, and accept lower backlash risk. See The Two Paths of Magic.
Wild Casting	Intuitive magic. No spellbook — you reach into the Aether and take what comes. Higher ceiling, higher risk, less control. See The Two Paths of Magic.

Social skills are bought from the Social pool (10 + SP points).

For the GM

Social skills don't replace roleplay — they resolve uncertainty. If a player makes a compelling argument to an NPC who has reason to listen, no roll is needed. Call for Persuasion when the outcome is genuinely uncertain, not when a player says the right words.

SP — Social Prowess

Skill	What It Covers
Deception	Lying, disguise, forgery, acting, misdirection. Making people believe things that aren't true — with words, appearance, or documents.
Etiquette	High society, formal situations, cultural knowledge, diplomacy. Knowing which fork to use, how to address a baroness, and when to shut up.
Intimidation ★	Social pressure — veiled threats, cold authority, weaponized silence. Flex stat: may be placed under BR instead.
Leadership	Inspiring, commanding, rallying, organizing. Getting people to follow you — in a firefight, a boardroom, or a revolution.
Persuasion	Convincing, negotiating, charming, haggling. Changing minds through argument, appeal, or sheer likability.
Streetwise	Underworld contacts, black market access, reading a neighborhood, knowing who runs what. The opposite of Etiquette — knowing which alley to take and who to ask.

★ Intimidation

Intimidation appears in both Physical and Social. When you take this skill, choose which attribute defines it for your character and buy it from that group's points. A bruiser who looms over people (BR) and a spymaster who whispers threats (SP) both intimidate — differently.