Skills

What is a skill?

Skills are what characters use to get things done in Swords of Infinity. Whether that character is doing battle, casting a magic spell, or applying her knowledge of theoretical physics, they are all broadly categorized as Skills. Every one of these Skills is keyed to a related Ability (i.e. Swimming is keyed to Strength), and the key Ability's score is used to determine a character's base chance of success at using that Skill. Swords of Infinity calls for the explicit use of several Skills that make the system mechanics work, however the skills called for by name should not be considered an exhaustive list, but rather a foundation that can be built upon.

Using Skills

To use a Skill a player need only declare their intent to do so and name the skill they plan to use and then make a success roll to determine the results -- this is referred to broadly as a "Skill Check" in many RPG systems and is also the term used by Swords of Infinity. Sometimes this declaration is made in response to a prompt from the Storyteller (i.e. the Storyteller may ask everyone at the table to perform a Spot skill check to notice a nasty monster creeping up on them).

Most Skill Checks with substantial effects on the story require a roll to determine the outcome. The character's target number for a successful Skill Check is based off of the Skill's key Ability score plus any skill bonus and situational or equipment modifiers. Once the Skill Check has been rolled, the Storyteller narrates the outcomes of the success or failure.

Storyteller's Note: In some cases the result of a roll might give a player meta information about what is about to happen in the story (e.g. a poor roll on a sneak Skill Check might cause a player to behave more cautiously than he otherwise might). In situations like these it is recommended that the Storyteller makes the roll for the player and keeps the outcome secret in order to save the player from having to pretend that they did not know this meta information.

Power Skills

Some skills are used for determining the target number of Power rolls, such as weapon damage or spell power skills, these skills are denoted with a superscript ^P and are not used for Skill Checks made to determine the success of an action.

Pushing Past Limits

Swords of Infinity is a game designed to tell stories about heroes that succeed no matter the costs. To reflect this players are able to modify their rolls by taking damage to a one or more Damage Target, this is referred to as Pushing Past Limits (and often shortened to just "Pushing"). Players have the opportunity to use this mechanic whenever they make a Power or Success roll, and do so by increasing or decreasing their rolls to reach any target number they desire, once their rolls have been modified they apply damage equal to the amount they modified their roll by to a single Damage Target. This mechanic can be used once per check.

Example: Parthenia is attacking a Goblin with her greatsword, and rolled a 50 on her Success Check. Her target number for success on an attack is 40, so Parthenia's attack will miss. This attack is very important to Parthenia, so instead of accepting the failure, she pushes past her limits and applies the difference between her roll (50) and her success target (40) as 10 damage to her right arm. Her attack is now a successful hit and the Goblin will need to defend itself.

Storyteller's Note: This mechanic is not a good fit for all Skills, particularly those that reflect an activity that takes long periods of time and where many things could go wrong during the process. Therefore players should typically not be allowed to "Push" on crafting or training skill checks.

Non-Player Characters and Pushing Past Limits

Non-Player Characters (NPCs), the characters and monsters controlled by the Storyteller, are typically unable to Push Past Limits. This is a deliberate decision that skews the balance of the game in the favor of the player characters, and is often the only thing that stands between their success and death at the hands of a terrible monster. In some cases, however, it might suit the story to give an NPC access to this mechanic (i.e. when a opponent is intended to be particularly challenging). Storytellers should be aware that giving this mechanic to an NPC can drastically slow down the flow of the game, so it is recommended that it only be used sparingly.

Storyteller's Note: The Pushing Past Limits mechanic was designed specifically for heroic characters that sacrifice themselves in order to achieve success and, while it works well for that type of character, it may not be thematically appropriate for villains. As an alternative Villains can use the same mechanic but apply damage to a nearby minion instead (e.g. a villain might throw a lackey in front of a hero's sword to protect himself), this represents their willingness to sacrifice others to meet their ends.

Choosing a Skill for the Job

For any given challenge the Skill used to accomplish it is typically the verb used to describe what the character is doing (e.g. the Swim skill gets used when a character is swimming across a fast-moving river). It is possible that in some situations multiple Skills might be relevant to the task at hand, and in these cases players should use whichever Skill gives them the highest chance of success (only one Skill and its corresponding bonus can be used at a time). Any character can attempt to make a Skill Check, even if they are not trained in that skill. If the character does not have a relevant Skill that suits the challenge simply use the character's most relevant Ability.

Storyteller's Note: Players are going to want to use the skills they are specialized in regardless of whether they are actually relevant to the situation. At times like these it is recommended that some kind of situational penalty be applied to characters that are using skills that are only marginally related to the problem (e.g. a -20 penalty for a character attempting to use their carpentry skills to solve a stone-working problem).

Difficulty Modifiers

Difficulty modifiers come in positive (bonuses) or negative (penalties) increments of 10 and can be granted by the Storyteller based on the equipment being used or the situation at hand. Example penalties and bonuses for each degree of magnitude and variety are detailed in the tables below.

Equipment

Crafting skills (i.e. carpentry) require the use of tools to perform them. Depending on the quality of the tool being used and the Value Level of the item, the character attempting the Skill Check could receive a bonus or penalty to their roll. See the Crafting section for more information on Equipment#Tools.

Difficulty

As conditions change and more or less complicated tasks are attempted by characters, the Storyteller should apply bonuses or penalties to players' rolls in order to reflect the relative difficulty of the task. The following table describes what sort of penalties and bonuses tend to be associated with tasks of various difficulty, and should be used by Storytellers to come up with their own difficulty modifiers. These modifiers are entirely subjective and more often than not are going to be chosen to challenge players based on the skill level of the party.

Storyteller's Note: Difficulty modifiers are here to keep the game interesting, but the vast majority of Skill Checks are going to be made without any difficulty penalty at all. Keep in mind that Skills Checks that the party cannot succeed at under any circumstance are not fun, and neither are those that are trivially easy to succeed at. Use these modifiers to reward players that have focused on a particular skill, or to pique their interest in skills that they may have previously neglected.

Penalty or Bonus	Example Task
-50	Tasks which most normal people would not be able to accomplish under normal circumstances.
-40	Tasks which only professionals or the very well studied are able to accomplish, and may still fail at.
-30	Tasks which usually require a good amount of practice or training to accomplish. Dual wielding weapons suffers a -30 penalty.
-20	Tasks which the average untrained person rarely succeeds at.
-10	Tasks which require a little extra effort.
0	Tasks with average difficulty.
+10	Tasks which people usually know how to perform, but don’t have to attempt very often.
+20	Tasks that most people have been taught how to perform, and are expected to be able to perform to some degree of success.
+30	Tasks that the average person can accomplish successfully a little more than half of the time.
+40	Tasks that people have been taught, but are repeated every day and are therefore very simple.
+50	Tasks most people can perform without even thinking about it.

List of Core Skills

The following skills are used by the various mechanics in Swords of Infinity. This is not a comprehensive list of all possible Skills, but rather a list of the skills minimally needed to play the game.

Skill	Key Ability	Brief Description
Melee Weapon Damage*P	Strength	Damaging someone or something with a melee weapon.
Sprint	Strength	Moving beyond a characters base movement distance in one action.
Jump	Strength	Leaping great distances or heights.
Climb	Strength	Scaling vertical obstacles.
Lift	Strength	Lifting heavy objects.
Fly	Strength	Using wings to fly.
Weapon Accuracy*	Dexterity	Accurately hitting a target in combat.
Dodge	Dexterity	Avoiding incoming attacks entirely.
Stealth	Dexterity	Moving unseen and unheard.
Ride	Dexterity	Directing and maintaining control over an animal.
Drive	Dexterity	Operating and directing a vehicle.
Pilot	Dexterity	Operating and directing a flying vehicle
Endurance	Vitality	Performing a strenuous activity for long periods of time or staying awake for days at a time.
Resist Impairment	Vitality	Ignoring the negative effects of wounded or disabled limbs.
Ranged Weapon Damage*P	Awareness	Damaging someone or something with a ranged weapon.
Block	Awareness	Interposing a weapon, shield, or limb in the way of an attack.
Spot	Awareness	Being visually aware of the surroundings.
Listen	Awareness	Hearing subtle sounds.
Smell	Awareness	Smelling faint smells
Track	Awareness	Following trace to its origin.
First Aid	Intelligence	Reduces the negative effects of wounds or disabilities.
Craft*	Intelligence	Creating consumable items, reusable devices, and equipment.
Knowledge*	Intelligence	Deep knowledge of a specific field
Spell Success*	Intelligence	Successfully performing the ritual necessary to cast a spell.
Training*	Intelligence	The ability to successfully train Followers of certain types (e.g. dogs, swordsmen, etc.).
Spell Power*P	Personality	Determining the power of a spell being cast.
Art	Personality	Creating art.
DeceiveP	Personality	The ability to successfully convince others of something that is untrue.
PersuadeP	Personality	The ability to successfully convince others to do things or believe something that is true but inconvenient.
IntimidateP	Personality	The ability to successfully force others to do things through the application of fear.
BarterP	Personality	The ability to haggle over prices.
InsultP	Personality	The ability to deal stress damage using sharp words.
InspireP	Personality	The ability to heal stress damage using encouraging words.
ProvokeP	Personality	The ability to draw a character's hostile intent to one's self.
CalmP	Personality	The ability to remove the hostile intentions of a target.
* These skills must be specialized in a more specific form (i.e. a character must specialize in Longsword Damage, rather than just "Damage").