Ye Olde Inn

It seems like Skill Cards have been all the rage recently.

I've never liked them much, myself. However, the majority of my group has always yearned for some way to show advancement. So I gradually relented and have tried a couple different things with mixed results. Eventually I gave up and sat down to figure out what I thought would work best for our group and not make me feel like I just gave everyone cards that really aren't much different from spells.

I went through my living list of special abilities to give custom Heroes, most of which were drawn directly or in some mutated form from what a lot of people have posted here. I converted them into always-on "Skills" that the Heroes could earn. I settled on a Hero earning 1 Skill card of his choice (from those available) after successfully completing 10 Quests/Encounters. They will have to choose from what ever cards are open, so first come first serve on the skills. A few I may print multiple copies of. There are few alternates in here that I need to test out before I settle on. I've also made a draft of a sheet that I'll add to their player packets to track these skills and completions on. It's also got a fluff section for those Players (you know who you are) that like to get "really" into it. Another advantage is that if the Hero dies, the skills get lost. I will also make a Chaos spell to remove skills, just in case I badly misjudge the power level.

Can you guys think of other generic, always on skills that you think would fit the theme well?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ccfgaap1quey ... s.zip?dl=0

Nice but the one thing i didn't like was the... 'you have learned line'.

Cool, some of the skill names sound a little unexciting, but that is probably just me.

Once was Mortimer wrote:Cool, some of the skill names sound a little unexciting, but that is probably just me.

yes they're pretty boring.

Where able, I used the common name found here on the forums. Move-Atrack-Move being a prime example. Not an exciting name, but you know what it does just by reading it!

What's the problem with the learning line? I don't quite follow there. Are there any thoughts on how this will work out in practice? Or any new skills that could be added?

I'd prefer it to read simply the skill. For instance

Agility... Swift on your feet you can pull off an attack mid flow. Move attack move.

So you get a few words of fluff, then the mechanic, as you have done. Reading each card and it starting with 'you have learned', gets repetitive. The combined actions is more like how I'd word them all. Once was Mortimer makes a good point, we should try and name them.

The roll for result on Alchemy etc, I'm not a fan off. I'd simply make this a choice. The Hero gets to start a quest with 1 potion of choice.

Very Nice.

The Dual-Wielding, Endurance, Heavy Armour, Large Bows, Heavy Weapons, Magic Traps, Dispel Runes (I think there's only one l in dispel), Move-Action-Move, Parley, Light Weapons, Apprentice Spellcasting, Basic Spellcasting, Transitional Spellcasting, Skilled Spellcasting, Master Spellcasting and Weapon Mastery cards are missing full stops. I wouldn't have started listing them if I'd known there were going to be that many.

I think Eagle Eyes would be better if you could shoot past just one ally, maybe with a level two that you can shoot past one monster, but not both at the same time and I think a better option for Archery would be to count black shields as skulls.

I like the draw two and must keep at least one version of Treasure Hunting best.

Edit:
How about a throwing skill, plus one dice? There could be a level two as well. Three extra dice might be a bit much.

Gold Bearer wrote:Very Nice.

The Dual-Wielding, Endurance, Heavy Armour, Large Bows, Heavy Weapons, Magic Traps, Dispel Runes (I think there's only one l in dispel), Move-Action-Move, Parley, Light Weapons, Apprentice Spellcasting, Basic Spellcasting, Transitional Spellcasting, Skilled Spellcasting, Master Spellcasting and Weapon Mastery cards are missing full stops. I wouldn't have started listing them if I'd known there were going to be that many.

That's really strange........they're in the PSD file.....but they're not in the JPEG. I don't even know what to say.

Edit: OK....they're not in the PSD. I copied and pasted repeatedly. I missed the periods. I'll update that.

A throwing skill! Good idea, I'm on it!

EDIT:

How about 2 throwing skills?

1. Daggers only, reduce target defense die by 1 (Minimum of 1).

Upgradable to:

2. Axes/Spears, reduce targets defense die by 1 (Minimum of 1).

The idea being that it's easier to learn to throw a dagger with great accuracy than an Axe or Spear.

Then, I know a lot of people rule that you can recover thrown weapons with a search. I've never really allowed that though it does make perfect sense. I think I'll make a skill - for my people only probably that allows them to recover a thrown weapon.

The dropbox link isn't finding anything... I really wanted to look through these as your idea seems pretty similar to what I've been brewing up (I call them "traits" instead of "skills", but it's the same idea with players getting to choose them as they progress). I was hoping to find a few ideas for skills to steal... er... uh... draw inspiration from?

I took it down for some revisions.

They're not done yet, but here is where they currently stand, including a few new ones.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/meaj7ynrscc5c ... d.zip?dl=0

Whenever I see people write the phrase "Move-Attack-Move" I cringe a little inside, because that doesn't really sound like a proper in-universe name for a skill. The name I know that ability by comes from Star Wars Miniatures, where it was referred to as "Mobile Attack".

What is the timing for using the Charm ability? Does the die have to be rolled once for each item/mercenary? What if a Hero wants to buy something he can't afford at full price, but may be able to pay for at a low enough discount? These are all questions I would be asked if I played this skill.

When using the Diagonal Movement skill, do diagonal squares count as one square or two? If it's one, the ability effectively confers a speed boost when moving through rooms, in addition to the tactical advantage of having diagonal moves.

The other skills seem to me to be balanced. Nice work!