Mental Skills (one of the two below to replace Computer)

Religion

Characters possessing this Skill are educated in the proper rituals and demonstrations of the multitude of religions and sects now overtaking Europe. This is not occult knowledge, but rather a familiarity with the widely available (and greatly complicated) tales of religion and understanding of its proper practice in the setting, domestic and foreign.

Possessed by: Artists, occultists, philosophers, priests, scholars

Specialties: Sect (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Utraquist), Rituals

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: Your character mistakenly identifies a religious sign or name, or remembers incorrect information that affects his decisions for the worse. Depending on the situation, this flawed information could be deadly.

Failure: Your character is unable to identify or remember any useful facts about the situation at hand or perform the proper ritual.

Success: Your character properly identifies or remembers facts about a particular religious practice.

Exceptional Success: Your character is able to identify a particular religious ritual with great clarity, possibly recalling extra details that enhance his understanding of the broader context of the situation.

Warfare

This Skill represents a character’s understanding, gained by education, experience or just innate sense, of large-scale tactical maneuvers. Warfare is useful when planning for a battle (to assign troops well, to read the lay of the land for potential advantages and trouble spots and to predict enemy movements) and when attempting to read the flow of events during open conflict. A character with a high rating in Warfare is unlikely to walk into a trap in battle, and is more likely to adopt the right response to a change in circumstances amidst the din and chaos of war.

Warfare does not just represent the ability to gain objectives in war — it is the ability to gain those objectives while incurring a minimum of losses on one’s side and inflicting a maximum of casualties on the enemy. Any good soldier can take an objective with overwhelming force. It takes a great one to achieve the same goal with an underpowered force and avoid losing any subordinates in the process.

Possessed by: Military officers, mercenaries, experienced criminals, nomadic tribesmen

Specialties: Ambushes, Fields of Fire, Troop Movements, Supply Lines, Terrain

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: Your character seriously misreads the details of the battleground. At best, he might fail to take advantage of a weakness in enemy forces. At worst, he might walk himself and his allies into a trap or stage an attack from a position of disadvantage. Any attempt to gain the objective based on his faulty assessment will likely fail, and will certainly lead to unnecessary losses on his side.

Failure: Your character’s insight fails to improve the circumstances for him and his allies. Maybe he just can’t get a proper read of fast-developing events, or maybe he just doesn’t have enough experience to outfox his opponents. The objective may still be achieved, but it will carry a heavy cost.

Success: Your character achieves his objective.

Exceptional Success: Your character not only gains his objective quickly and efficiently, but his accompl ishment carries a minimum of losses and throws the enemy off balance, possibly paving the way for further successes.

Physical Skills

Archery (can replace Firearms)

Archery allows your character to identify, maintain and operate most types of bows and crossbows. This Skill can represent formal military training or the familiarity born of experience in the field. Note that dots in Archery do not apply to manually fixing or building bows or fletching arrows, only to wielding them. Construction and repair are the province of the Crafts Skill.

Possessed by: Criminals, mercenaries, hunters, soldiers

Specialties: Bow, Crossbow, Long Shot, Trick Shot

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The weapon malfunctions in some way, or your character accidentally hits a different target (possibly himself). The most common type of dramatic failure is an arrow drop — the arrow simply falls from the bow without firing, and the character is free to nock and fire another one in the next turn. Another common failure is the string break, which must be repaired before the bow can be fired again.

Failure: Your character misses his intended target. The Storyteller determines what, if anything, the arrow or bolt hits.

Success: Your character hits his intended target and inflicts damage as normal.

Exceptional Success: Not only does your character hit the target, but he strikes a particularly vital area, magnifying the damage as reflected by the roll.

Ride (replaces Drive)

The Ride Skill allows your character to control and guide a mount under dangerous or difficult conditions. Characters don’t need this Skill simply to ride a horse, camel or other mount. Rather, this trait represents the training or experience necessary to maintain control at high speeds, to ride through dangerous environments without injuring the mount and to push the mount to the limits of its performance.

Note that dots in Ride do not apply to training a mount, only to riding one. Taming and instruction of a mount are the province of the Animal Ken Skill.

Possessed by: Noblemen, soldiers, nomads, mercenaries, farmers

Specialties: Dangerous Conditions, Pursuit, Maintaining Speed, Stunts

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: Your character loses control of the mount while attempting a maneuver. If traveling at high speed, the mount stumbles and may injure itself and throw the rider. If the mount is traveling at low speed, your character slips and tumbles from the mount, likely injuring himself.

Failure: The mount doesn’t complete the intended maneuver. The mount likely balks or turns from the intended direction. The direction the mount travels is determined by the Storyteller, not your character.

Success: Your character completes his intended maneuver.

Exceptional Success: Not only does your character complete his intended maneuver, but he gains more ground than expected.