Copyright notice

© 1994 by Scott Gray and Sharon Tripp. These pages may not be reproduced for profit. They may be copied, provided they are not altered and the authors' names remain attached.

Miscellany

Conceal item. A character with this skill may hide small items on his/her person more efficiently. If a character with the conceal item skill is searched, the person searching must spend twice the normal time to find hidden items (ten minutes instead of five). Note that a player whose character has this skill does not notify someone searching him/her of this; if the person stops searching after 5 minutes, then the concealed item is not found. This applies only to items which are actually hidden, not those kept in obvious pouches or pockets.
Prerequisite: None
Skill points: 18

Detect forgery. Each day the player may bring one item to logistics which (s)he believes is a counterfeit. This skill is stackable. For each additional level of the skill purchased, (s)he may examine an additional item, or may re-examine the same item.

The GM rolls secretly to determine the results of the character's inspection. On a roll of 01-75, the GM will tell the player the truth about whether or not the item is a fake. On a 76-95, the character will not be certain whether or not the item is a fraud. If the GM rolls 96-00, (s)he will give the player false information.

The character must have some familiarity with the type of object being examined in order to have any chance at all. (S)he cannot ascertain that a bank note was forged if (s)he's never seen the notes of that particular bank, and cannot tell a note was forged without having seen a sample of the person's writing. Depending upon the character's level of familiarity with the writing style, the GM may choose to raise or lower the odds of discovering whether it is a fake.

Example: Captain Fenkirk has gotten a bank note from Kevin which he does not trust. It looks and feels wrong somehow, and he's never particularly liked Kevin anyhow. He goes to Dale, giving her the bank note along with another bank note of the same bank which he already had.

Dale has three levels of detect forgery. Roslyn (who plays Dale) tells Alexandra (the GM) that her character is comparing the bank notes. Alexandra looks at the item numbers for each of the bank notes, and checks her records. Alexandra rolls secretly (a 54), and tells Roslyn that upon examination, Dale is certain that there's something different about the two notes.

Dale decides to continue examining the notes, just to be certain. Alexandra rolls again (an 82). Dale realizes that what she thought was a different style of handwriting might just be within the normal realm of drift of one person's writing style -- she can't be entirely certain.

Dale studies them a while longer (using up her last detect forgery for the day). Alexandra rolls (a 28), and Dale concludes that the two signatures definitely belong to different people. She brings the notes back to Captain Fenkirk and reports this to him. Captain Fenkirk is righteously indignant, and determines to press charges against Kevin -- not quite remembering that the other bank note was given to him by Stig....

Prerequisite: None
Skill points: 15

Dry herbs. This skill allows the character to preserve certain types of vegetable components, adding two months to the expiration date.
Prerequisite: None
Skill points: 12

Explosives use. This skill is necessary to safely mix volatile alchemical formulas such as gunpowder, explosives or Ellenic fire. It is also necessary for properly using such mixtures in traps.
Prerequisite: None
Skill points: 18

Improvise lockpick [angled, bendable, curved, diminutive]. A character with this skill can spend two minutes to fashion a usable lockpick (of the type specified when the skill is learned) out of things available around. A completely sterile manmade environment may not have anything in it the character could make into a lockpick (say the character was thrown naked into a padded cell). But rocks may be splintered, wood chips used, belt clips, hair pins, etc. to fashion the lockpick. The improvised lockpick is less efficient than a normal lockpick, and any character using it is at effectively -2 to his/her lockpicking ability.

An improvised lockpick may only be used by a person with the appropriate improvised lockpick skill.
Prerequisite: At least one level of the appropriate lockpick ability.
Skill points: 6

Innovation [choose area]. Innovation isn't exactly a skill. A character may purchase innovation "points" to be applied to later skills as though the innovation points were skill points. The innovation points may also be used for research within the appropriate field. Innovation points are expended and lost when spent to purchase skills. When purchased, each innovation point must be declared for a particular subset of skills.

1 innovation [magery] point costs 2 skill points
1 innovation [chirurgery] point costs 2 skill points
1 innovation [engineering] point costs 3 skill points
1 innovation [combat] point costs 4 skill points
1 innovation [historical] point costs 5 skill points
1 innovation [generic/all] point costs 8 skill points
1 innovation [alchemical] point costs 3 skill points

The value of innovation points is that the GM will loosen (often ignoring completely) the normal requirements that the character wait a period of time after announcing intent to learn something, or have access to research materials. Though the GM may demand a wait or research time in order to purchase innovation points with skill points, the innovation points may then be turned in for new skills on need at any time afterwards, without long delays. Note that the normal requirements are only ignored if the entire point cost of the skill is paid for with innovation points.

Example: Greg has two points of innovation (historical). He goes to the GM, Alexandra, and says that Lord Sigrun wonders if there were ever any Republican settlements in the area. Alex announces that this will take at least a month, examining the soil and waiting for a letter back from the library of Scarcella, as well as one skill point. Greg decides to spend one of Lord Sigrun's innovation points. Alexandra rules that, without lengthy research, Lord Sigrun can find evidence of such a settlement atop a nearby hillock.

The form the knowledge takes should often be dependent on what other abilities or skills the character possesses.

Example: Lord Sigrun happens to have geology ability. Alexandra states as his evidence for the Republican settlement that the erosion on the cliff face was clearly caused by a dramatic shift in the path of a nearby river, between 800 and 1200 years ago; this could have only been caused by the building of a dam or aqueduct, and thus evidence of a Republican settlement. If Lord Sigrun didn't have geology ability, but had research (historical), Alexandra might state that he remembered that the Republican Senator Randirus was exiled due to "indiscretions" and built a palace for himself in the area on a "hillock overlooking a branching stream" in this area; the details of the description in the history conforming to the description of the nearby hill.

Prerequisite: The same base ability as would be used as the prerequisite for research in that field.
Skill points: 2-8 per innovation point, depending upon field of knowledge. Innovation points are used in place of skill points to learn a skill overnight or on the spot. Once an innovation point is "spent", the point is applied to the skill that is learned with it, and the innovation point is gone.

Locksmithing. This skill enables a character to open locks up to two levels higher than his/her lockpicking ability. To use this skill, the character must have locksmithing tools, and spend 15 minutes working on the lock. Use of this skill on a lock leaves the lock disassembled at the end of the 15 minutes -- an additional 15 minutes must be spent if the character wishes to put the lock back together.

Locksmithing also allows the character to make a copy of a key. If the character has the key itself to work from, this will cost two brass farthings and take two hours. If the copy is being made from the lock, this requires ten minutes spent with the lock (heating and cooling wax to get an impression) in addition to the requirements of two farthings and two hours. Copying a key does not make a perfect copy -- the copy must be jiggled around a bit. A lockpick rep is used; however, it doesn't represent a lockpick, and anyone can use it.
Prerequisite: One level of lockpick mastery
Skill points: 12

Resistance to [poison]. This skills grants the character an additional level of fatigue versus a particular type of poison for each time purchased.
Prerequisite: None
Skill points: 3 per level of resistance