Skills Block

Download Skills Block

Recommended: Attributes Block

Skills are abilities that are not directly combat related that players can advance in to add a number to their rolls. Things like lock-picking, computer hacking, and trap setting are all things that would qualify as Skills.

Skills are gained by attempting actions. Players can make any non-combat technique a Skill with Storyteller approval. The Storyteller and players will then discuss how specific or broad those Skills are. Skills should be made fairly specific. For example, a player would not take a Skill in “Hunter” but may take one in “Foraging” or “Tracking.”

To use Skills, a player would use the appropriate Attribute for the action they are attempting. For example, a player would roll Perception + Finesse to pick a lock. They would then add their Skill level in lockpicking to their dice roll. If they rolled a 3 and a 9, and had a skill of 2 in lock-picking, their result would be 11 (9 + 2).

Only one Skill can be attached to any one action attempt. You can not apply your character's acrobatics Skill and their jumping Skill together in order to leap across a gap. You must pick one or the other.

Skills can not be used to attack or defend directly, but can give you an advantage on future combat rolls. While you could not use acrobatics to directly aid in your attack or defense, you could use acrobatic to get into a more optimal location that would give you Advantage later.

It is up to the player to convince the Storyteller that their skill applies to their attempted action. A Storyteller would likely not be convinced, for example, that a player skilled in lockpicking could apply those same bonuses to cracking a safe. A player who has skills in medicine, though, may be able to argue their skills are applicable to both humans and animals.

Gaining Skill Points
As characters repeatedly attempt these Skills, these experiences grant them insight, thus making them more skilled. As a novice, most encounters will be educational, and gaining levels in skills is easy. Not every experience grants knowledge, however, so not every Skill attempt grants an advancement in Skill level. The more you advance in a Skill, the less likely you are to learn something new from an encounter.

To advance in a Skill, the player must attempt the action, it does not matter if they succeed or fail at it, and then roll d20s equal to their rank. Like with other rolls in Clattr, the higher roll is read. The roll must be at least 6 times higher than the skill level the player is attempting to achieve. For instance, to gain the first skill level, a player need only roll a 6 or higher. When they wish to advance that skill to level 5, however, they must roll a 30. Skills can only advance by one level at a time. "Burlap finds herself picking the locks on valuable treasures often. She already has a 2 in the Skill, but wants to advance.""She picks a lock again, and now will roll to see if she learned anything from it. To achieve a +3 to her lockpicking, she will need to roll an 18 or higher on her d20 roll.""Normally, a character would roll 2 d20s when attempting to improve their skills. Burlap took an Expertise Trait toward advancing her skills, so will get to roll a third d20. All together, she gets a 3, 9, and 19. She keeps the highest result, 19, which is enough to advance. From now on, Burlap will add 3 to her Agility checks to pick locks."Skills can also be awarded based on other actions, such as spending a day with a master or studying a book on the subject. The higher skill level the player is trying to achieve, the more effort and time they would need to out into the study of it to qualify for an attempt at a Skill increase. The character would need access to knowledge they do not possess, so a master must have a higher Skill than the Characters does. And if studying the character would need access to information they do not already possess.

The Core Clattr rules suggest that Rank 2 players start the game with 12 points to allocate into their skills. This could be two skills at rank 6 each or 12 skills and rank 1, and everything in between.

It is also recommended to limit players attempts at advancing each session or Skill increase could take over game play. Clattr recommends stalling players at 6 attempts per session.

''It is up to the Storyteller to decide if characters start the game with points they can already allocate toward skills. Sometimes it is fun to have newbie characters that must start from the bottom. Other times, seasoned adventurers will already have skills in areas based on their character and concept.''

''Skills based on other actions, such as spending a day with a master or studying a book on the subject. The higher skill level the player is trying to achieve, the more effort and time they would need to out into the study of it to qualify for a free skill increase. And at the highest levels, the advancement may not be given, instead the player would only have a chance to roll for an advancement.''