Chapter Three

Character Growth, Skills and Paths

Skills sharpen through use, not inheritance. A fighter who has taken one too many bad presses learns to read weight and footwork in ways no drill ever taught. A negotiator who has talked their way out of a lord’s dungeon understands leverage that no manual describes. In Dyrhal, advancement is not a reward handed down from above. It is the residue of survival, made useful.

Steel Age is a classless game. Characters do not advance along fixed archetypal rails, and growth does not arrive as a package deal. What changes is what the world has forced into you: habits that hold under pressure, instincts sharpened by failure, and the rare hardening of body or mind that comes only after real ordeal.

This chapter explains how characters grow through milestones, how Skill Points are earned and spent, and what a character must achieve before they can go deeper into their craft.

Milestone Advancement

Steel Age assumes Milestone Advancement. Individual experience points or similar mechanics are not tracked. Instead, the GM awards a milestone when the party completes a meaningful unit of play: an objective resolved, a threat overcome or survived, a journey concluded, a bargain struck, a ruin cleared, or a consequence endured.

A milestone is not a trophy for showing up. It marks a turning of the wheel: the moment after a chapter closes, when you can finally measure what the ordeal made you.

Example — A Milestone (Survival Is the Lesson)

The party limps back into Skellinford at dusk, wet to the bone and short on arrows. They did not “win” the road — Dyrhal does not grant clean victories — but they survived the marsh crossing, drove off the leech-wolves, and returned with the barge-master’s missing ledger. The GM calls it: that chapter is closed. The wheel turns. Everyone gains a milestone.

Results Each character gains +2 Skill Points (SP) and may spend them immediately.

Milestone Rewards

When your character gains a milestone, apply the following reward immediately.

Each Milestone

Gain +2 Skill Points (SP).

Skill Points represent lessons learned under strain — habits burned into the body, instincts sharpened by failure, and techniques that finally hold when the world turns hostile.

From the journal of Viktor Isanlov — written at the Broken Wheel, Damarast, third night after the crossing

The fire here is real. That sounds like nothing but it isn’t. For eleven days the only warmth was what we made ourselves, and even that felt borrowed. The bandits on the Greyvoss road I expected — men are predictable when they’re hungry. The other things, the ones we found in the sunken farmstead on the second night, I did not. We don’t talk about that. What I know is that Freyja pulled me back from the doorway before I could see what was inside, and I have not thanked her for it yet.

Now I sit with a cup I didn’t have to earn and I notice things I couldn’t before — the way the barkeep holds his left arm, the two men in the corner who haven’t spoken in an hour, the door that doesn’t latch right. I don’t know when I started reading rooms. I don’t remember deciding to. Maybe that’s how it works. You survive something you shouldn’t, and the world quietly hands you the bill in a different currency. Dyrhal teaches whether you’re paying attention or not. You just find out later what it cost.

Major Arc Rewards

Some growth is broader than sharpened technique. At the close of a major arc, the GM may award a deeper mark of change.

At the close of a major arc — typically after five or so milestones — a character gains:

Major Arc

+1 Health

+1 Core Attribute

These increases reflect real hardening over time — not abstract heroic inflation, but the slow accumulation of endurance, scar tissue, judgment, and force. The GM should award a major arc reward when the fiction supports it. Long hardship, repeated danger, hard travel, command responsibility, study, loss, and sustained struggle can all leave a mark deep enough to change the character permanently.

Raising Core Attributes

Core Attributes are not meant to climb forever. In Steel Age, the body and mind are real things: they strengthen, they harden, they fail. A Core Attribute increase represents years of survival, training, and scars paid in full.

A character may receive a Core Attribute increase no more than four times over a career. The same Core Attribute may not be increased twice in a row.

The increase should make sense in light of play. A character who has endured brutal marches, exhausting labor, and repeated physical danger may have clearly earned Prowess or Toughness. A character shaped by command, negotiation, vigilance, study, or spiritual discipline may have earned Mind or Charm instead.

Human Limits in This Age

No Core Attribute may exceed 11 at character creation.
Through advancement, a Core Attribute may increase beyond 10, but 12 is the maximum for humans in this age.

Values beyond 12 should be reserved for the inhuman, the legendary, or for campaigns that deliberately reach back into an Age of Myth.

Injury Can Lower Your Maximum

Steel Age is not only about growth; it is also about what is taken. Some grievous injuries and lasting consequences can reduce a character’s maximum in a Core Attribute. When this occurs, the new maximum replaces the normal human limit for that attribute until the injury is healed, if healing is possible. If an attribute is ever reduced below its new maximum, it must be raised again through normal advancement.

Example — A Major Arc Reward and the Cost of What Came Before

Eryk has spent months as the company’s steady mind — counting supplies, reading men, keeping bargains straight, and noticing what others miss. At the close of a major arc, after the party settles an old debt with a Komes and survives the reprisals that follow, the GM awards a major arc reward. Eryk gains +1 Health and increases Mind by +1. Months later, a brutal injury leaves him slower to focus and quick to forget names in the dark. The GM applies a lasting consequence that lowers Eryk’s maximum Mind to 11 until it is healed — if it can be healed at all.

Results A major arc reward grants +1 Health and +1 Core Attribute. Grievous injury may later reduce the maximum for that attribute. See Injuries and Recovery for effects that reduce attribute maximums.

Spending Skill Points

Skill Points are not abstract talent. They represent lessons learned under strain — habits burned into the body, instincts sharpened by failure, and techniques that finally hold when the world turns hostile. Steel Age rewards competence, but it does not pretend competence appears from nothing. The GM may require training, tools, instruction, or narrative justification where appropriate.

Skill Tier Costs

The following costs represent the SP required to advance to that tier from the previous one. These are not cumulative totals.

Tier	Cost
Trained	1 SP
Skilled	2 SP
Expert	4 SP
Master	6 SP

Mastery is intentionally expensive. A character who wants to reach the highest tier of a skill must commit significant resources over multiple milestones. This scarcity is by design — in Dyrhal, true mastery is rare and hard-won. Because these costs are per-tier, higher ranks already require time. Even before fiction is considered, mastery cannot be reached in a single burst of spending.

When a skill reaches Skilled, Expert, or Master, resolve any Path and Perk choices for that skill at that time.

Partial Advancement (Committed Progress)

Some increases require more Skill Points than are gained from a single milestone. This is intentional. Mastery is not a single purchase.

You may invest Skill Points toward an Expert or Master increase across multiple milestones. Record progress as committed progress toward that tier — for example, Melee Combat (Expert) 2/4 or Healing (Master) 3/6. Once the full cost has been invested, the skill tier increases immediately.

Committed Skill Points are locked to that skill and tier. They are not floating points to be reassigned freely later. Committed progress may not be moved to another skill unless the GM allows retraining during downtime and the fiction strongly supports it.

Meaningful Use Requirement (Expert and Master)

Expertise cannot be purchased in a vacuum. To invest Skill Points toward Expert or Master, the skill must have seen meaningful use in play. A skill qualifies if it materially affected the outcome of a scene with stakes, was used under real pressure or risk, or was applied repeatedly in a sustained task.

The meaningful use must have occurred before the current spending moment. A skill purchased during the current milestone does not immediately qualify itself for Expert or Master investment. This requirement keeps deeper mastery tied to lived experience rather than menu-shopping.

Example — Meaningful Use

Freyja has used Survival repeatedly over the last stretch of play: reading ground in bad weather, finding a ford before dusk, keeping the company from bedding down in a flood basin. When the milestone arrives, that use clearly qualifies. She may invest toward Survival (Expert). By contrast, if Tomas buys Trade for the first time during the current milestone, he cannot immediately begin investing toward Trade (Expert). He has the training now, but not yet the hard use that turns training into deeper craft.

Results Expert and Master require meaningful use before investment may begin.

Downtime Training

Sometimes the campaign does not naturally present a chance to use a skill that a character is trying to deepen. In such cases, the GM may allow dedicated downtime training to satisfy the meaningful use requirement. This training must be real within the fiction: time spent under instruction, repeated practice with proper tools, structured study, supervised drills, or work performed in conditions where failure would matter. Downtime training is not a loophole for abstraction — it is a way to represent serious effort when the campaign’s immediate events did not provide the opportunity directly.

Skills and Paths

The rules above explain how characters grow. The rules that follow explain what those gains mean in play: what skills represent, how ranks change what a character can attempt under pressure, and how Paths and Perks turn training into distinct forms of mastery. In Steel Age, advancement is not separate from action. You become better at the things the world has forced you to do well.

Skill Ranks

Skill ranks measure not just how good you are, but what you are allowed to attempt when the world is sharp and unforgiving.

Rank	Modifier	Add Attribute?
Trained	+0	Yes	Formal learning or hard experience.
Skilled	+1	Yes	Talent becomes dependable; commit to a Path.
Expert	+2	Yes	Seasoned mastery under stress.
Master	+3	Yes	The rare kind others seek out by name.

No Relevant Skill

If a character lacks the relevant skill, they may attempt the action only if the GM judges the attempt plausible. Roll 2d6 only — no Skill Modifier, no Attribute Modifier. This represents guesswork, desperation, or brute trial and error, not competence.

Competencies

Competencies represent knowledge and capability that falls short of a trained skill but above raw guesswork. There are two kinds.

Basic Human Competencies cover tasks within the range of ordinary human capability — climbing a fence, swimming a calm river, lighting a fire, lifting a heavy load, basic first aid, reading a common language. Any character may attempt these.

Background Competencies represent specific knowledge from a character’s life before play — the rites a shrine-keeper learned, the knots a sailor tied ten thousand times, the ledger customs a clerk absorbed without thinking. These are granted by background during character creation.

Competency Check

Roll 2d6 + relevant Attribute Modifier. No Skill Modifier applies. If the character has the relevant skill at Trained rank or higher, use a Skill Check instead.

Specialized, technical, or dangerous work — picking a lock, treating a serious wound, navigating by stars — requires a trained skill and cannot be resolved as a competency check.

Skill Checks

Not every action in Dyrhal demands a roll. When stakes are real, outcome uncertain, and failure carries consequence, a skill check gives the table a shared language for resolving the moment.

Skill Check Formula

2d6 + Skill Rank Modifier + Attribute Modifier + Situational Modifier

Must exceed the Challenge Mark (CM) or Defense Score. Ties favor the world or the defender.

Challenge Marks

Challenge Marks represent the world — weather, light, time pressure, quality of tools, risk, and how forgiving the situation is if something goes wrong.

CM	Difficulty
CM 6	Routine under pressure — good conditions, ample time, proper tools
CM 8	Standard challenge — the world is neither cooperating nor condemning
CM 10	Hard — time pressure, poor conditions, or immediate consequence on failure
CM 12	Severe — specialized, dangerous, or improvised in hostile conditions
CM 14	Extreme — near-impossible; the world is making a statement
CM 16	Legendary — conditions that kill the unprepared outright
CM 17 ✦	Mythic (optional) — only attemptable with exceptional leverage

CM 8 is the world being itself · CM 10 is the world pressing back · CM 12 is the world punishing haste and weakness · CM 14+ demands a different plan — or a master’s touch.

CM Benchmarks by Domain

Locks & Intrusion

6Simple latch or careless padlock

8Common household lock

10Quality lock, watched doorway

12Guild-grade lock, poor tools

14Strongbox or inner secured door

16Vault mechanism or warded seal

Persuasion & Social

6Someone already inclined to help

8Standard request, modest stakes

10Suspicious person, costly favor

12Bending duty or breaking custom

14Turning a hostile crowd

16Enemy choosing mercy in triumph

Wilderness & Travel

6Clear trail in fair weather

8Fog or light snow, broken ground

10Forced march in rain, rough scree

12Flooded ford, storm winds

14Blizzard, ice that groans underfoot

16Conditions that kill the unprepared

Example — Skill Check vs Challenge Mark

Sella needs to pick the lock on a merchant’s strongbox before the guard makes his round. The GM sets CM 12 — quality lock, time pressure. Sella is Skilled in Thievery (+1) with a Mind modifier of +2 and her Burglar Path Edge (+1). She rolls 2d6 (4+3=7) +1 (Skilled) +2 (Mind) +1 (Path Edge) = 11. She fails — the pick snags and the guard’s footsteps are getting closer.

Results Skill check vs CM: roll 2d6 + Skill Modifier + Attribute Modifier + Path Edge, must exceed the CM. 11 < 12 — failure, with consequences.

From the field notes of Ser Nathan Purcell of Ardeaux — ninth month in Dyrhal, somewhere east of the Veld

At home I was considered a capable man in a hall. I knew which fork, which bow, which silence. I knew how to make a lord feel that his opinion had been heard even when it hadn’t. Nine months in Dyrhal and I have used none of it. The courts here are not courts. They are rooms where hard men sit with their boots on and decide who gets to leave.

So I practice the blade instead. Every morning, because there is nothing else. I am not yet what I was in a hall, in that other language. But I am becoming something here that I was not before, and I think it will hold longer.

Defended Skill Checks

Use a Defended Skill Check when another creature’s active awareness, resistance, or interference is the obstacle — when they could plausibly stop you right now. Common situations: sneaking past an alert sentry, lying to someone scrutinizing you, pickpocketing an attentive target, forcing control of an object while someone actively prevents it.

The defender does not roll 2d6. Instead, the defender sets a Defense Score:

Defense Score

Base Score + Relevant Attribute Modifier + Relevant Skill Modifier (if applicable)

The acting character rolls normally and must exceed the Defense Score. Ties favor the defender. If the defender has no relevant skill, they do not add any attribute modifier to the Defense Score.

Base Score	Conditions
Base 6	Favorable — darkness or heavy cover; distracted or intoxicated target; chaotic environment
Base 8	Neutral — typical conditions; alert but not suspicious target; standard visibility
Base 10	Unfavorable — bright light, open ground; suspicious or actively alert target; formal or tense setting

The resisting skill does not need to match the acting skill — it must represent how the defender is realistically resisting. Examples: Stealth (urban) → Mind + Streetwise. Stealth (wilderness) → Mind + Survival. Deception (court) → Mind + Lore. Pickpocketing → Mind + Trade or Streetwise.

Example — Defended Skill Check

Freyja tries to bluff her way past a gate sergeant, claiming she has authorization to enter the barracks. The GM rules this is a Deception check against the sergeant’s active scrutiny. Freyja rolls 2d6 (5+4=9) +1 (Trained) +2 (Charm) = 12. The sergeant’s Defense Score: Base 8 (neutral conditions) +1 (Mind) +1 (Streetwise) = 10. Freyja exceeds it — the sergeant waves her through, unconvinced but unwilling to make an issue of it.

Results Defended check: attacker must exceed Defense Score = Base + Attribute + Skill. Ties favor the defender.

Skill Paths

When you reach Skilled rank in a skill that has Paths, choose one Primary Path for that skill. You may only gain perks from your Primary Path as you advance. For skills with two possible attribute modifiers, the character’s chosen Path determines which attribute applies — but only when the check falls within that Path’s domain.

Path Edge: When you choose a Path for a non-combat skill, you gain Path Edge and add +1 to Skill Checks that fall within that Path’s domain. Path Edge does not apply to weapon skills. The GM is the final arbiter of whether a check is within a Path’s domain.

Optional Rule

Continued Advancement (Cross-Training)

After reaching Master rank in a skill, you may spend Skill Points to learn perks from one additional Path within that same skill. You may only cross-train into one additional Path per skill, and must be Master rank before purchasing any off-path perks. The GM may require downtime, instruction, or access to a mentor.

Skilled-tier perk: 1 SP Expert-tier perk: 2 SP Master-tier perk: 3 SP

Skills and Paths List

Each skill entry shows its governing attribute and available paths. Choose a path when a skill first reaches Skilled. Most skills use a single attribute, but some skills list two — the applicable attribute may vary by situation or by which path the character has chosen. When making a skill check, characters add a +1 Path Edge bonus if the action falls within their chosen path's domain. Path Edge does not apply to Melee Combat or Ranged Combat.

Skill	Attribute	Paths
Martial
Melee Combat	Prowess	Reach (Spears/Polearms), Heavy Momentum (Axes/Hammers/Maces), Dueling (Swords), Close Combat (Short Blades/Infighting), Shield & Defense
Ranged Combat	Mind or Prowess	Marksman, Skirmisher
Command & Tactics	Charm or Mind	Leadership, Tactics
Acrobatics & Movement	Prowess	Acrobatics & Tumbling, Controlled Footwork
Wilderness & Travel
Survival	Mind	Outdoorsman, Pathfinder
Beastwise	Mind or Charm	Hunting & Trapping, Animal Handling
Seamanship	Mind	Sailor, Navigator
Subterfuge & Intrigue
Stealth	Prowess or Mind	Shadow, Evasion
Streetwise	Charm or Mind	Urban Sense, Shadow Trade
Thievery	Mind	Cutpurse, Burglar
Deception	Charm or Mind	Liar, Imposter
Social & Civic
Persuasion	Charm	Rhetoric, Coercion
Lore	Mind	Laws & Customs, History & Theology
Trade	Mind	Merchant, Caravan Master
Craft & Technical
Craft	Mind	Craftwork, Fine Craft
Construction & Labor	Mind	Builder, Miner
Healing	Mind	Physician, Medicine
Special
Unseen Craft (Casting) ✦	Varied	Determined by birth omen — see Chapter V

Martial Skills

Melee Combat

Use Melee Combat when engaging enemies directly in hand-to-hand combat. This includes fighting with any melee weapon, maintaining reach and pressure, using shields, contesting space, and pressing or resisting momentum in close combat.

Attribute Modifier: Prowess

Martial Skill Perks are Active Perks. Only one may be active at a time. Declare at the start of the Melee Combat Resolution Phase, before any Engagement Clash rolls are made.

Reach (Spears / Polearms)

Skilled Second Rank: If adjacent to an ally and unengaged, add +1 to that ally's reach bonus.

Expert Hold at Bay: If your reach is greater than your enemy's, add +1 reach this turn.

Master Drive Home: Add +1 weapon lethality to your spear or polearm this turn.

Heavy Momentum (Axes / Hammers / Maces)

Skilled Heavy Momentum: Gain +1 on the Momentum Press roll this turn.

Expert Break Shield: On a successful Engagement Clash, instead of gaining momentum, reduce enemy shield bonus by 1.

Master Sunder: On a successful Press, degrade enemy armor by 1 after damage is applied.

Dueling (Swords)

Skilled Defensive Stance: +1 to Engagement Clash rolls, −1 to Momentum Press rolls this turn.

Expert Superior Technique: +1 to Momentum Press rolls this turn.

Master Great Swing: −1 to Momentum Press roll, +2 weapon lethality this turn.

Close Combat (Short Blades / Infighting)

Skilled Close Quarters: Gain +1 on Momentum Press rolls this turn.

Expert Infighting: On a successful Engagement Clash, reduce the target's reach to 0 until you choose another target or switch active perk.

Master Find the Gap: Take −1 to Momentum Press roll; on a successful hit, ignore 2 points of armor.

Shield & Defense

Skilled Shield Focus: Add +1 to shield bonus against one enemy this turn.

Expert Shield Bash: Add +1 to the Engagement Clash roll when equipped with a shield.

Master Shield Wall: Gain +1 shield bonus per adjacent ally with a shield (rear ranks excluded; max +2).

Martial Skills continued

Ranged Combat

Use Ranged Combat when attacking at a distance — opening volleys, ambushes, skirmishing under fire, attacking from elevation or cover, and fighting while repositioning to maintain range.

Attribute Modifier: Mind (Devices) or Prowess (Thrown Weapons)

Ranged Combat Perks are Active Perks. Only one may be active at a time. Declare at the start of the Ranged Combat Resolution Phase, before any attack rolls are made.

Marksman

Skilled Take the Shot: Treat Long range as Medium and Extreme as Long for your next ranged attack.

Expert Vital Aim: If you spent the previous segment aiming, increase weapon lethality by 2 for the next shot.

Master Crippling Shot: A successful hit that overcomes resilience reduces enemy movement by 25% for 2 rounds.

Skirmisher

Skilled Mobile Threat: You may move half speed and make a ranged attack in the same phase.

Expert Dangerous Throw: +1 lethality to thrown weapons.

Master Loose and Charge: At point-blank range, throw a weapon then move ¾ speed toward the target; if you reach them, engagement occurs as normal.

Field Journal of Olpheon Kasmir, Man-at-Arms — Barony of Kalz

The Drezdani skirmishers from the northern Starostwa do not fight like southerners. They do not hold a line. They throw once, hard, and then they are somewhere else before you have finished registering the throw. I have watched them work a forest road and by the time the caravan guard understood what was happening there were three men down and the skirmishers were already in the trees. No wasted motion. No second throw unless they were certain. The ones who were not certain were not there anymore, which tells you something about how the north selects its fighters.

Martial Skills continued

Command & Tactics

Use Command when directing, coordinating, or steadying others, especially under pressure — issuing battlefield orders, rallying shaken allies, coordinating group actions, and maintaining discipline and cohesion.

Attribute Modifier: Charm (Leadership) or Mind (Tactics)

Leadership

Skilled Last Stand: Allies under your command do not make morale checks until they have lost 67% of their number (33% remaining), instead of 50%.

Expert Rallying Shout: Once per combat, when an ally within earshot fails a morale check, you may have them reroll one die. The new result must be kept.

Master Hold the Line: If allies suffer a morale collapse during the previous round’s aftermath, take a special action in the following Opening Phase and attempt to rally them — Skill Check vs CM 12.

Tactics

Skilled Veteran Presence: Once per combat round, designate one ally within earshot. That ally gains +1 to their next Engagement Clash this round. Does not count as an action.

Expert Coordinated Strike: Once per round, make a Command check (CM 8) to call a coordinated opening on one enemy. On success, the next allied hit against that enemy this round gains +1 lethality, if at least one other ally is also engaging.

Master Dictate the Battle: On a successful Command check (CM 10) at the start of the scene, add +1 to allied initiative for the remainder of the scene.

Acrobatics & Movement

Use Acrobatics & Movement for climbing difficult surfaces, feats of body control, balance, and precise physical movement under pressure.

Attribute Modifier: Prowess · Path Edge applies

Acrobatics & Tumbling

Skilled Soft Landing: When you fall and a controlled landing is plausible, make an Acrobatics check (GM sets CM, typically 8–12). On success, reduce the fall’s consequence by one step.

Expert Spider Climb: You may attempt to climb without proper equipment when plausible handholds exist. The GM sets the CM based on slickness, angle, exposure, and time pressure.

Master Slip Past: Once per round, when you attempt to move past an adjacent enemy, make an Acrobatics check opposed by their engagement defense. On success, pass through their reach without becoming engaged.

Controlled Footwork

Skilled Sure Step: Ignore any CM increase due solely to poor footing (slick stone, loose gravel, pitching deck). Does not reduce increases from darkness, wounds, or active interference.

Expert Nimble Traverse: Reduce penalties for difficult terrain by 50% (round in the GM’s favor). Applies only to terrain penalties, not injuries or conditions.

Master Cat’s Balance: The first time each combat round you would be knocked prone by mundane means, you may ignore it.

Wilderness & Travel Skills

Survival

Use Survival to endure and function in hostile or undeveloped environments — finding food, water, and shelter, making camp, traveling through wilderness, and avoiding natural hazards.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Outdoorsman

Skilled Hidden Bounty: When your party takes a Forage Segment and you succeed, find 1 additional ration (or equivalent supplies), subject to terrain scarcity at GM discretion.

Expert Cold Camp: When your party makes camp, you may attempt a Survival check (CM set by GM, typically 10). On success, treat the area as one step safer for random encounter checks; if an encounter occurs, the party begins aware.

Master Campwarden: When your party chooses the Camp option during travel, make a Survival check (CM 10). On success, any healing or rest taken is 25% more effective.

Pathfinder

Skilled Direction Sense: You always know the general direction of travel and can keep a heading under ordinary conditions.

Expert Without a Trace: When someone attempts to track your group, conditions are treated as one step worse for the tracker (Base 6 → 8; Base 8 → 10). Cannot increase Base beyond 10.

Master The Easy Way: At the beginning of each travel segment, make a Survival check (CM 12). On success, your group’s overland movement speed increases by 20% for that segment.

Wilderness & Travel Skills continued

Beastwise

Beastwise governs the pursuit and handling of animals: reading sign, setting snares, bringing down prey cleanly, and working beasts that can panic, bolt, or bite. Used when you must track, capture, harvest, calm, or direct an animal under pressure.

Attribute Modifier: Mind (Hunting & Trapping) or Charm (Animal Handling) · Path Edge applies

Hunting & Trapping

Skilled Blood Bounty: Gain 25% more rations from a successful Beastwise check during a Hunting segment.

Expert Trapper’s Sense: On a successful Beastwise check (CM 10), reveal traps in the immediate natural area.

Master Bloodhound: Once you establish a trail on your quarry, they must win two consecutive Defended checks to evade your tracking for the remainder of that pursuit.

Animal Handling

Skilled Animal Instincts: When nearby animals are neutral, you know how to act to avoid provoking aggression on a successful check (CM 8).

Expert Animal Whisperer: Make a Beastwise check (CM 12) to shift an animal or small pack from Aggressive to Neutral. One attempt per encounter.

Master Man’s Beast Friend: On a successful check (CM 12), form a loyal bond with a single animal (GM discretion). Only one Bond may be held at a time.

Seamanship

Use Seamanship when operating vessels or navigating waterways — piloting ships, managing crew, navigating rivers, coasts, and open sea, handling storms and hazards, and conducting boarding actions.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Sailor

Skilled Sea Legs: You suffer no combat penalties while fighting aboard a ship.

Expert Marine Captain: On a successful Seamanship check (CM 10), allies gain +1 on their first combat round rolls during a boarding action.

Master Weathered by Salt: While aboard a vessel you are crewing, reduce any CM or Base Score increase caused solely by shipboard conditions by one step (2 points), to a minimum of CM 6 or Base 6.

Navigator

Skilled Navigator’s Sense: Instinctively know the direction of the nearest known port or safe anchorage within the region.

Expert Read the Water: Once per travel segment, study currents, wind, and shoreline signs; the GM must tell you whether the next leg is safe, risky, or dangerous, and name one specific hazard if any are present.

Master Plot Course: At the beginning of a travel segment, make a Seamanship check (CM 10). On success, your vessel gains 20% travel speed.

Subterfuge & Intrigue Skills

Stealth

Use Stealth to avoid detection, attention, or pursuit — moving unseen, hiding under pressure, and withdrawing without trace.

Attribute Modifier: Prowess (Shadow) or Mind (Evasion) · Path Edge applies

Shadow

Skilled Ghost Step: If you end your movement in plausible cover or shadow, you may attempt Stealth even if you were moving normally a moment ago.

Expert Vanish After the Deed: Once per scene, after you take an overt action while hidden, you may immediately attempt a Defended Stealth check (Base set by GM, typically 10) to remain hidden or slip into new concealment.

Master Moving Shadows: You may move full speed while using Stealth.

Evasion

Skilled Break Contact: When you break line of sight, you may immediately attempt a Stealth check to disappear. On success, pursuit shifts to searching.

Expert Second Chance: Once per scene, when you fail a Stealth check in this path’s domain, you may immediately attempt the check again at one step higher difficulty.

Master Gone to Ground: After you successfully break contact during a pursuit, pursuers must win two consecutive Defended checks to reacquire you for the remainder of that pursuit.

Subterfuge & Intrigue Skills continued

Streetwise

Use Streetwise to navigate urban social ecosystems, informal power structures, and illicit networks.

Attribute Modifier: Charm (Urban Sense) or Mind (Shadow Trade) · Path Edge applies

Urban Sense

Skilled Read the Mood: When you enter a district or tense space, the GM tells you the current heat (low / normal / high) and one specific behavior that would immediately draw attention.

Expert Lost in the Crowd: Once per scene in a crowd, make a Streetwise check (CM set by GM, typically 10). On success, mundane pursuers must switch from chasing to searching.

Master Alley Awareness: Once per scene in an urban setting, if you would begin a fight unaware due to mundane surprise, you may attempt a Streetwise check (CM 10). On success, you are not unaware.

Shadow Trade

Skilled Backroom Names: Once per settlement per day, locate the right illicit contact for one category (fence, smuggler, forged papers, muscle, etc.).

Expert Bribe Ledger: Once per scene in a settlement, ask the GM who in the immediate problem-space can be bought and what kind of payment would work.

Master False Eye: You automatically detect common counterfeits, shaved coin, and false measures in goods you personally handle.

Thievery

Use Thievery for technical, illicit actions involving precision, mechanisms, or sleight of hand.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Cutpurse

Skilled Mark Sense: Before committing to a pickpocket attempt against an attentive target, the GM tells you whether conditions are favorable, neutral, or unfavorable (Base 6/8/10).

Expert Timing Sense: Once per scene, delay the moment the victim notices the theft until the end of the scene or until they attempt to use the item.

Master Soft Touch: Once per scene, when you fail a Defended pickpocket attempt, you may abort cleanly: you gain nothing, but you are not immediately detected.

Burglar

Skilled Improvised Picks: Without proper tools, make a Thievery check (CM set by GM, typically 8–10) to fashion makeshift picks good for one attempt on a specific lock.

Expert Re-Secure: When you successfully bypass a lock or security measure, you may leave it appearing undisturbed under casual inspection.

Master Safe Failure: Once per scene, when you fail a Thievery check, you may choose for the failure to be non-catastrophic: no jam, no trigger, just a cost (time, noise, or suspicion).

Deception

Use Deception when intentionally misleading others through words, behavior, or presentation.

Attribute Modifier: Charm (Liar) or Mind (Imposter) · Path Edge applies

Liar

Skilled Clean Lie: When you tell a lie supported by a plausible cover story, ignore any CM increase due solely to the target’s suspicion or hostile attitude.

Expert Plausible Deniability: Once per scene, when a lie is challenged, reframe it as misunderstanding or partial truth to downgrade the immediate consequence by one step.

Master Web of Lies: Once per scene, when you fail a Deception check in this path’s domain, you may reroll the check. The GM treats failure as suspicion rather than immediate exposure unless hard proof is present.

Imposter

Skilled Working Disguise: With common materials, assemble a basic disguise that passes casual attention. In low-scrutiny situations (typically CM 6), no check is required.

Expert Working Role: Once per scene, if your disguise would fail under casual scrutiny, pivot to a believable secondary role without changing clothes.

Master Master Forger: Create forged papers, marks, or seals that pass non-magical inspection given time and materials (CM set by GM, typically 10–14).

Trade

Use Trade when dealing with value, commerce, negotiation, and exchange.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Merchant

Skilled Golden Eye: When you examine goods or coin in trade, spot common frauds at a glance (shaved coin, crude counterfeits, false measures, obvious defects).

Expert Favorable Terms: Once per settlement per day, after a successful Trade check to buy or sell, secure one minor add-on at no cost if plausible (delivery, discreet storage, small bonus quantity, useful name).

Master Market Maker: Once per session, choose one common good or service category. Until end of session, treat availability as one step better or prices as one step more favorable, if the fiction supports it.

Caravan Master

Skilled Load and Lash: Increase the effective carrying capacity of a caravan or pack train you lead by 20% through careful loading and discipline.

Expert Keep the Line Moving: Once per travel segment, when the caravan faces a non-combat obstacle, make a Trade check (CM set by GM, typically 10). On success, reduce the delay to a minor cost only.

Master Break the Trap: When an ambush would occur against a caravan you lead, make a Trade check (CM set by GM, typically 10–12). On success, the ambush becomes a regular fight: your group is aware and begins in formation.

Persuasion

Use Persuasion to change another’s willingness, attitude, or cooperation. Persuasion does not grant control or obedience; it affects willingness and consequences.

Attribute Modifier: Charm · Path Edge applies

Rhetoric

Skilled Winning Demeanor: When improving a target’s willingness through courtesy or reasonable terms, treat the CM as one step lower (minimum CM 6) if you offer something the target plausibly values.

Expert Slippery Tongue: Once per scene, when you fail a Persuasion check, attempt a follow-up check (CM set by GM, typically 10). On success, downgrade the outcome by one step.

Master Face-Saving Exit: When you succeed on a Persuasion check against a hostile group, name one plausible off-ramp. If credible, the group accepts it for the remainder of the scene.

Coercion

Skilled Pressure Points: When the target cannot simply walk away, reduce the CM by one step for coercion checks (minimum CM 6); treat Base 10 as Base 8 for Defended checks in those circumstances.

Expert Wordless Threat: You may attempt Coercion without speaking, using posture, proximity, and intent. The target must be able to see you and understand the nature of the threat.

Master Quiet Yield: When you succeed on a coercion attempt, the target yields without shouting, calling for help, or making a public scene, unless willing to accept an immediate severe consequence.

Lore

Use Lore when recalling, interpreting, or applying learned knowledge about the world, its peoples, customs, history, and belief systems.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Laws & Customs

Skilled Way of Address: When dealing with titles, greetings, or legal forms, ignore any CM increase due solely to unfamiliarity with local custom.

Expert Correct Forms: Once per scene in a formal setting, avoid a social or legal misstep that would trigger a hard consequence; you still pay a cost, but you keep your footing.

Master Letter of the Law: Once per session, when a law or protocol would bar you outright, cite a plausible precedent or loophole to reduce the barrier by one step.

History & Theology

Skilled Godspeak: When interpreting unfamiliar religious ceremonies, rites, or symbols, ignore any CM increase due solely to lack of familiarity.

Expert Signs of the Old: When you study a ruin, relic, or rite, identify what era or tradition it belongs to and what it was for; on success, learn one practical implication.

Master Forgotten Script: Attempt to interpret alien, unknown, or long-dead writings others cannot decipher (CM 12 minimum; higher for deliberately obscured or inhuman texts).

Craft & Technical Skills

Craft

Use Craft when creating, repairing, modifying, or evaluating manufactured objects.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Craftwork

Skilled Craftsman’s Pace: Complete Craftwork projects in 25% less time.

Expert Field Repair: Repair functional gear with improvised materials. Once per travel day, restore a damaged item to usable condition without proper tools; the fix is temporary until proper downtime repair.

Master Master of the Bench: Reduce the required margin to achieve Superior or Masterwork quality on Craftwork projects by 1 (minimum 0).

Fine Craft

Skilled Patient Perfection: If you spend 25% more time on a Fine Craft project, treat your Margin as 1 higher for quality purposes only.

Expert Artist’s Touch: On a successful Fine Craft project, increase the item’s market value by 25% due to artistry and finish. Stacks with any quality-tier value change.

Master Fine Adjustments: Once per item, reroll any Craft check made while working on a Fine Craft project. The new result must be kept.

Construction & Labor

Use Construction when working with large-scale structures, earthworks, or subterranean environments.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Builder

Skilled Stretch Materials: On a successful check, projects require 20% fewer materials.

Expert Structure Sense: Gain +1 to checks made to force, breach, or demolish constructed barriers when directing the effort or placing the tools.

Master Builder’s Eye: On a successful check (CM set by GM, typically 10), reveal hidden rooms, false walls, or concealed doors in a man-made structure.

Miner

Skilled Deep Sense: You instinctively know the depth and general direction of the nearest exit underground.

Expert Ore Heart: On a successful check (CM 10), discern the presence, quality, and estimated quantity of valuable ore in the area.

Master Miner’s Sight: You suffer no combat penalties in dim light (still penalized in darkness).

Healing

Use Healing when treating injury, illness, or physical trauma.

Attribute Modifier: Mind · Path Edge applies

Physician

Skilled Field Triage: Without a healing kit, attempt to improvise emergency tools. Make a Healing check (CM set by GM, typically 8–10). On success, attempt Stabilization as normal despite lacking a kit.

Expert Steady Hands: Once per scene, when you fail a Stabilization attempt, you may reroll one die. The new result must be kept.

Master Expert Surgeon: When you oversee a patient’s recovery for a full day, increase their natural healing by +1 for that day. Does not apply at 0 Health.

Medicine

Skilled Hair of the Dog: Poisons are less effective against you. When making a Toughness check to resist a poison, treat the poison’s Potency as one step lower (reduce CM by 2, minimum CM 6).

Expert Counteragent: During an Action Segment, treat a poisoned character. Make a Healing check against the poison’s Potency. On success, reduce the poison condition by one step or prevent it from worsening.

Master Master Apothecary: When you craft a tonic, antidote, or poison, improve its quality by one step or produce one additional dose. Once per travel day with appropriate ingredients.

Special Skills

Unseen Craft (Casting) ✦

Use Unseen Craft when casting spells, resisting magical attacks or effects, identifying the source of an enchantment, or determining the presence of magical energies.

Attribute Modifier: Varied · Omen-Born only

Paths for this skill are determined by the character’s birth Omen. A character may only have one birth omen and may not choose from multiple spell paths. See Chapter V: Magic for full Working descriptions.