Skills

I also have plans to make Skills/Knacks a bit more intuitve and fluid.
This PDF puts all my skills on one page (it's a bit old, I will revise it soon).

Alternative Starting Skills

As an alternative to the Destiny Spread system, I suggest players automatically recieve two skills: a civil skill based upon their class, and a another skill based upon their life style (this should correspond with the campaign setting).

The choices for class could be:

• Upper class (must have the Noble advantage): Courtier, Courtesan, Scholar
• Churchmen: see the Church of the Prophets book, or just pick Scholar.
• Middle class (must have an appropriate Membership, or Noble if Vendel): Merchant, Bourgeois
• Lower class: Housewife, Streetwise, Urchin
• Survivalists: Hunter, Sailor

The choices for life style could be (players in my games can choose as they see fit):

• Adventure campaign: Athlete, Dirty Fighting
• Naval campaign: Riverboat Pilot, Sailor, Whaler
• Court campaign: Rider, Firearms

I see these skills as extremely useful, and think that it's a fair balance; in exchange for a bit of randomness, the Destiny spread gives you about 6-10 free Hero Points (I think), while this system only grants 2-4.

First Aid Knack (revised)

As it stands, the First Aid knack is unrealistic and almost useless - spend an action, roll First Aid against a TN equal to the number of Flesh Wounds the patient has; success removes all Flesh Wounds. Realism (and, more often than not, circumstances) dictate that First Aid should take place after a battle, and normally takes quite a while to bring to fruition. Of course, after the battle everyone heals all their Flesh Wounds anyway, so there really isn't any need post-action. My solution is thusly:

To make a First Aid check, first make sure the situation is safe (i.e. nobody's rolling Initiative). A successful First Aid check results in the last Dramatic Wound being healed by the patient. What's the TN, you say? The intuitive (to me, at least) solution is to use the TN of the last failed Brawn check - the number of Flesh Wounds the character had when he recieved his Dramatic Wound. This poses the problem of remembering this number, a speedbump in a highly streamlined game. Alternately, you might choose to use the highest number of Flesh Wounds you had during the battle, as that may be easier to remember. Or, as a third option, a Hero can choose to "leave his wounds open" - instead of erasing the Flesh Wounds from the character sheet when a Dramatic Wound is inflicted, he leaves them there. This becomes the TN for the First Aid check (maybe at +5 for self-binding). The Flesh Wounds get erased whether the check was successful or not. Finally, the bland option is to just use a formulaic TN, such as 10 for each Dramatic Wound the character has.

Bourgeois [New Civil Skill]

The bourgeois are a rising class, and have developed a society somewhere between that of the nobles and the common man.

Basic Knacks: Etiquette, Fashion, Socializing
Advanced Knacks: Accounting, Appraising, Diplomacy, Haggling, Law, Politics, Shopping

Gunner [New Martial Skill]

The gunner on a ship fires, maintains and repairs the cannons.

Basic knacks: Lifting, Reload (Cannon)
Advanced knacks: Artillery, Cannon-Smithing, Gunnery, Mathematics
Reload (Cannon): For every Rank you have in this Knack, your reloading time for cannons is reduced by 3 Actions.

Housewife [New Civil Skill]

Almost everywhere in Theah, the wife of a working-class marriage must fulfill a variety of chores.

Basic Knacks: Cooking, Menial Tasks, Seamstress, Steward
Advanced Knacks: Diplomacy, Gossip, Haggling, Shopping, Storytelling

Soldier [New Martial Skill]

Marching through the mud, foul-smelling food, and chaotic combat - it may be an honor to serve your country, but sometimes the service is less than honorable.

Basic Knacks: First Aid, Footwork*, Menial Tasks, Tactics
Advanced Knacks: Ambush, Artillery, Cooking, Gunnery, Incitation, Logistics

* If the character already has the Footwork knack, this Skill does not add to it. Similarly, if the Footwork knack is granted by a skill obtained after this one, this skill does not add to the Footwork knack.

Backgrounds

This PDF is a bit old, but should have all the backgrounds on a single page.

Alien

You may simply be misunderstood, or maybe you are the bastard son of a hated enemy, but for whatever reason, your countrymen, your neighbors and family, your nearest and dearest, want to see you tarred, feathered, and kicked out of their country. The number of points you invest in this background determines how many people of your homeland are upset with you (1- mostly just the nationalists, 3- every man, woman, child, and llama sees you for who you are: an outsider), and just how upset with you they are (1- they really don't trust you, 3- they'd trust you more if you were at the end of a rope).

This background comes up when your ostracism prevents you from fulfilling a plan or requires you to spend all your efforts defending yourself.

Rücken

(see the Eisen sourcebook for more information on Rücken)
You have declared another Hero your Rücken - your back, who comes to your aid whenever you need it - and he has declared you his. The point value of this background should be determined by the GM based upon just how difficult it is for your Rücken to stay alive and well. A 1-point background, for instance, would be if both Rücken were trained Swordsmen, while a 3-point background might be if they were simply best friends from thirty years back, and now life has turned dangerous for them both.

This background comes up when you must drop something of notable importance for your Rücken, such as the ball where you plan to unmask the Duke for the vile tyrant he is, or abandon your family without telling them. Should you place anything at all above the needs of your Rücken, this background is lost.

Illness

Sometime during their travels, people manage to get sick. And while commoners find common illnesses, Heroes find epic illnesses. Somehow, you've got the only case of that legendary disease that anyone's heard of for centuries. Of course, the only cure is found at the top of the world, under the throne of the O'Bannon, or in the center of the sixth sea. When this background is taken, the GM chooses a cure and some symptoms. The easiest method of implementing the symptoms is to choose a number of knacks affected, and subtract a number of points equal to the points invested in this background from them. For example, say the GM declares that the Hero's blue tongue has affected her Oratory, Seduction, and Sincerity rolls, and therefore she loses 1 point in each of these for each point of her Illness. Note that the more knacks affected, the more often the illness comes into play, and the more experience the character gains.

This background comes up when you spend most or all of a session searching for a cure, or when it ruins a major plan of yours.

Pact

You have entered into a sacred pact with your fellow party members, perhaps to guard the secret entrance to the Syrneth ruins you found or to uphold the strict Charter of your small pirate ship. Each Hero in the party should take the same background with the same number of points invested (GMs may allow it to exceed the normal background point maximum), and all members loose the background if it is ever violated. The number of points determines how difficult it is to uphold the pact, and how dangerous those who oppose you are (1- you must not let anyone get ahold of the Syrneth Staff of Madness, 3- you have vowed to overthrow the Inquisition).

The party gains Experience from this background whenever the session is centered upon fulfiling the terms of the pact.

Unrequited Love

He's the greatest man Théus ever created, and, more importantly, he's utterly perfect for you. Someday, he may be yours, but for now he's burdened with someone who isn't you. It might take a little persuasion, but some day he'll realize how perfect you are for him. The number of points spent on this background determines how difficult it is to gain the object of your desire, and how much you would give to have him.

This background comes up whenever you get closer to having your love come to your arms. This background gets resolved when you have either lost hope, or have finally achieved your goal of true love.

Ward

You have been charged with someone's protection. Perhaps you have a grandfather who is quite sharp but a little stiff, or you may have been honor bound to see a member of the Invisible College to his safe haven in Vendel, or maybe you found a young wastrel in dire need of good parents. The number of points determines how helpless your ward is (1- a henchman, 3- a baby) or just how many persons want to see him or her dead.

This background comes up whenever you must spend a significant portion of the session defending your Ward from harm. It is resolved once your Ward can fend for himself, or is otherwise no longer under you care.

Last updated: April 1, 2004
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