Skills
Created Sunday 11 May 2014
Skills are modified for this game as follows.
- Acuity: Hide and Move Silently are combined into one skill called Acuity.
- Stealth: Spot and Listen are combined into one skill called Stealth.
- Knowledges: The number of Knowledge skills is reduced from ten to six.
- Arcana: magic, the undead, alchemy ingredients that aren't animals or plants
- Arch/Eng: Buildings, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications, Dwemer ruins, machinery, and constructs.
- Daedra: Daedric gods, Daedra-worshipping cults, Daedric ruins, planes of Oblivion, and lesser Daedric creatures.
- Nature: Animals, plants, the uses of animals and plants in alchemy, seasons and cycles, weather
- Morrowind: combined knowledge local, history, nobility/royalty, geography, and religion (The Tribunal Temple, Almsivi, the Living Gods) for the Morrowind area.
- Empire: combined knowledge local, history, nobility/royalty, geography, and religion (Imperial Cult, the Nine) for the Empire.
Note that the following knowledges are removed: dungeoneering (no aberrations!) local, history, geography, nob/roy, religion (undead now part of Arcana).
For purposes of deciding which skill your character has as class skills,
Listen → Acuity
Spot → Acuity
Hide → Stealth
Move Silently → Stealth
K (arcana) → K (arcana)
K (arch/eng) → K (dwemer)
K (dungeoneering) → K(dwemer)
K (geography) → K(Morrowind)
K (history) → K(Empire)
K (local) → K(Morrowind)
K (nature) → K (Nature)
K (nob/roy) → K(Empire)
K (religion) → K(Daedra)
K (the planes) → K(Daedra)
Skill books and training
In addition to the usual allocation of skill points you gain on levelling up, you can also improve your skills by reading books and recieving training.
Books
Books are mundane items which you may find in loot or from booksellers.
General interest books are mass-printed on printing presses and cheaply available from many booksellers. Specialised technical manuals and training guides are also available but most copies tend to be expensive or in private collections.
Learning a skill from a book requires eight hours of quiet reading time. At the end of the eight hours, make an INT check. The DC is 10 + existing skill ranks if the skill is in-class for you, or DC 15 + existing skill ranks if it is cross-class.
If you succeed the INT check, you gain one full rank in the skill. You can't increase your skill ranks beyond the skill cap for your character level.
If you fail the INT check, you didn't learn anything from the book. You can't read the same book again.
Once one character is done reading a book, they can give it to another character to read.
Trainers
Most experts are willing to provide practical training in a skill, for a fee.
The fee depends mostly on your current skill rank and the value the trainer puts on their own time.
A trainer can't train you beyond your skill cap for your level. A trainer is also unable to teach you beyond their own skill level.
Learning a skill by training requires eight hours of one-on-one time with the trainer. At the end of the eight hours, roll an ability check based on the governing ability of the skill (i.e. STR for Jump). The DC is 10 + existing skill ranks if the skill is in-class for you, or DC 15 + existing skill ranks if it is cross-class.
Success means you gain one skill rank, and you can take further training (provided you can pay the fee.) Failure means the trainer was unable to teach you anything, and you can't take any further training in this skill until you level up.
Meta
The idea of this system is to allow any character to pick up a few points in any skill they want (provided they can bear the expense of the books or training.)
The availability of books is regulated by the DM, who places books as loot, and populates the list of available books at the bookshop. (Books are expensive!!)
The availability of trainers is also regulated by the DM, who determines the availability of a trainer and the price of training. The price of training is purposely not fixed, but the cost should be a significant amount of the character's net wealth. This is a good way to drain off excess money from the party.
Revision Log
2014-05-11
First revision.
Backlinks: Custom Rules