Aen Skills

While some checks may simply make use of your stat quotient, a few checks are referred to as Skill Checks, where the bonus to the dice roll may be increased beyond the quotient by various factors, such as a character’s Experience Bonus. Each skill can be used in a multitude of situations. Every skill has a base bonus that is equal to the associated stat’s quotient. If a player is experienced with the skill, they also add their Experience Bonus to the stat quotient associated with that skill. Additional bonuses can be added to skills through training.

Athletics (Vigor)

Athletics is used to do determine a character’s endurance and ability to perform constitution-related feats, testing your lungs and heart more than your muscles. Climbing a rope, sprinting across a field, and swimming in choppy waters are all examples of scenarios that would require an Athletics skill check.

Finesse (Dexterity)

When you wish to slip a coin out of a passerby’s pouch, perform a card trick, or land a bullseye with a dart, you will rely on your Finesse. Finesse is also the skill that allows musicians to properly play their instruments. You can think of finesse as a test of one’s fine motor skills.

Grace (Dexterity)

Unlike Finesse, Grace refers to the dexterity of your entire body rather than just your hands. It’s your ability to land on your feet, dance at a gala, parkour up a wall, backflip off a bridge, or sneak through an enemy camp unheard. This skill can be applied in many circumstances and is among the most versatile of all the skills.

Intuition (Acuity)

Gut feelings and the ability to read the body language of others falls under the Intuition skill. Intuition can be powerful to those who have trained it well, or unreliable for those are less than capable. This skill is used to determine the intentions of a creature you are interacting with, or how it is responding to a situation. Some who are especially skilled with intuition can rely on it to determine whether a particular course of action is wise.

Knowledge (Cognition)

Knowledge is a broad skill pertaining to what you know about a multitude of topics. Your base Knowledge skill is based on your Cognition quotient, but training and study in various facets allows you to be especially knowledgeable in certain fields. There are infinite fields that you may be knowledgeable and trained in. Common fields are Arcane, Biology, Botany, Cryptozoology, Culture, Geography, History, Occult, Psychology, Religion, and Zoology, but there are infinitely more fields to train in and study.

Making a Knowledge check is more of a conversation than most skill checks. You might mention to your GM that you have training in a field pertaining to the current situation and ask if you can make a check relating to that to see if you have any information to provide that might be useful. For example, if you see paw prints in the dirt of a trail you are walking on, you might mention to your GM that you are trained in Zoology and ask if you can make a Zoology check to determine what manner of creature would leave such marks. When the Knowledge check is made, the GM rolls secretly behind the screen, adds your modifier for the Knowledge check, and tells you what you believe you know about the topic in question. Depending on the result of the secret roll, the information may or may not be entirely accurate.

The base Knowledge skill cannot be trained or increased, nor can one be experienced with it. It is always tied to the Cognition stat. You may only train specific fields in which you are knowledgeable and become experienced with those.

A single character can be knowledgeable with up to six different fields.

Notice (Acuity)

When you wish to scan a room, crowd, or other large space to pick out something out of the ordinary, you will use the Notice skill. Notice is reserved for broad searches made to perceive something, rather than more refined and careful inspections, which would fall under the Search skill. The Notice skill also contributes to the Passive Notice attribute, which is used to quickly detect something out of the ordinary without actively searching for it. Notice is most commonly used when a character is keeping watch.

Performance (Wile)

Whether you are trying to act, create a distraction, or sing a song, you will rely on your Performance skill to get the job done. Performance allows a character to add flair to action. A street magician might combine Performance with their Finesse skill to keep an audience distracted while they swap decks of cards, or a dancer might combine Performance and Grace to make their dance more entertaining and engaging. Other skills get the job done, Performance gets the job done in style.

Power (Might)

Power is one’s ability to perform feats of raw strength. Throwing a heavy object, grappling a creature, or holding a door shut while it is assailed by enemies on the other side are examples of scenarios in which your Game Master might call for a Power check. It goes beyond just being muscular, though—those who are experienced with power know how to position and prepare themselves for a challenge, digging their heels into the ground and straightening their back before pushing a boulder out of the path.

Search (Cognition)

While Notice is a broad scan of an area, Search is a more targeted investigation. The Search skill is used to sift through the drawers of a desk, locate a trapdoor, or loot the pockets of a corpse.

Speech (Wile)

Want to convince someone to help you with a task? Want to negotiate with a vendor for a better price on their fruit? Maybe you wish to convince the guards that you really didn’t know the area you’re in is restricted? Any time you want to use your words to control a situation, you’ll be relying on the Speech skill. From intimidating an enemy to lying to the authorities, speech is vital for one’s survival.

Tools (Cognition)

There are numerous—potentially limitless—tools out there to master. Most know how to use at least one or two well, but some entities are incredibly versatile with tools, able to shift from smithing a sword to brewing a beer as easily as flipping a switch.

Everyone has a single base Tools skill, and then branching from that are the specific tools with which they are experienced (meaning they may add their Experience bonus to checks made with those tools). For example, a character may have a +2 to a check with any tool due to their high Cognition stat, but they are adept with mason’s tools, and thus have a +4 to checks that make use of that tool.

The base Tools skill cannot be increased through training directly and is always tied to your Cognition quotient. You can only train and become experienced with specific tools.

A single character can be experienced with a maximum of six tools.