The Practice of Sundry Trades

Skills are used when making Tests, to determine the size of the dice rolled in the dice pool. Each Skill covers a range of abilities and is by default tied to a specific Attribute.

# Skill Template

## Skill Name

Each Skill section begins with a brief description of the Skill, how it can be improved through training, and what a character with a high rating in that Skill might look or act like.

### Applications

Applications are subsets of a Skill which help provide examples for some of the tasks the Skill can be applied toward. Additionally, Applications are relevant for Talents [ADD HYPERLINK] which only benefit a single Application within a Skill, rather than the entire Skill.

Applications are just guides for some of the main use cases of a Skill, and are not comprehensive or intended to serve as limits that cover the entirety of what the Skill can do. They are subsets within the Skill and not a separate entity to be leveled up independently.

### Do not use this Skill when

This section details several use cases which might seem like they would fall under the Skill's purview, but in fact belong to another Skill. If this Skill is used in substitution for the more relevant one, it would be done at a significant disadvantage, such as a +2 Difficulty penalty at minimum.

### Alternate Attribute Examples

A Skill *can* be used with another Attribute than its default governing Attribute, *if* it can be justified narratively by the player. This will inflict at least a +1 Difficulty penalty, with more tenuous justifications increasing this even more. Some Talents can mitigate this penalty in specific instances.

# Coordination Skills

Dexterity, Gymnastic, Marksmanship, and Reflexes are all linked to Coordination by default.

## Dexterity

Dexterity is a person's hand-eye coordination and ability to use one's hands in an accurate and careful manner. The Dexterity Skill covers any exact hand movements which do not prioritize speed or strength, focusing on the ability to place the hands exactly where they are needed or hold them steady as required by the circumstances.

Dexterity can be improved through the practice of tasks that demand a high degree of stability, accuracy, and reliability of hand movements.

A person with high Dexterity can easily catch a falling object on its way down and never spills a drink.

**Applications**

* **Craftsmanship**: Use of precision tools, such as whittling, modeling, sewing, and other handicrafts. Useful in weapon maintenance and clothing repair
* **Finesse**: Fine motor control, useful in delicate tasks such as placing and disarming traps, artful calligraphy, and grabbing objects out of the air (see: Return Reaction)
* **Projectiles**: Accurately throwing or launching objects such as rocks, grenades, throwing knives, as well as archery (see: Thrown Attack)
* **Subterfuge**: Sleights of hand useful in criminal acts, such as palming, lockpicking, and pickpocketing

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Operating on a patient through careful use of a scalpel or stitches; use Medicine instead.
* Attacking an enemy with a rifle grenade or other weapon-launched ballistic projectile; use Marksmanship instead.
* Identifying where to place traps to catch wild animals for food; use Survival instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intellect**: More complex forms of Craftsmanship involving technical tool work
* **Fitness**: Throwing something with a focus on strength over accuracy (see: Power Attack)
* **Intuition**: Attempting to palm an object in between moments of scrutiny
* **Intuition**: Throwing a weapon at an unseen target (see: Blind Attack)

## Gymnastics

Gymnastics is the art of moving the entire body with great agility and control. It is the combination of gross motor skills and sufficient strength and balance to enable one to maneuver as required by a more active life.

Training in martial arts, taking dancing lessons, or exercising at a gymnasium are all excellent ways to improve Skill in Gymnastics.

A person with a high Gymnastics rating has a graceful way of moving, and never seems to trip or get caught flat-footed.

**Applications**

* **Acrobatics**: Agile movements which enable jumping, vaulting, and tumbling, especially when trying to avoid injury after a fall (see: Tripping Test)
* **Climbing**: Scaling a vertical or near-vertical surface, with or without assisting equipment like harnesses
* **Flexibility**: Full-body mobility and contortionism needed to escape from grappling and restraints, as well as maneuvering through tight spaces
* **Grace**: Balance, elegance, and careful bodily control, useful in navigating perilous environments as well as dancing

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Climbing for an extended period of time rather than simply vaulting over an obstacle; use Athletics instead.
* Moving with an emphasis on consistent speed over a longer stretch of ground; use Athletics instead.
* Moving in a limited but extremely rapid manner to respond to something; use Reflexes instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Fitness**: Falling from an extremely high distance and absorbing the impact through toughness
* **Fitness**: More vigorous types of dancing
* **Intuition**: Avoiding obstacles in the dark or other circumstances where they cannot be seen

## Marksmanship

Marksmanship covers the ability to aim and shoot a ranged weapon to hit a target at a distance. Marksmanship covers a wide range of weapons, from pistols to shotguns, rifles and machine-guns, and even mortars and rifle grenades; basically any ranged weapon that must be lined up by hand and fired using a sighting device.

A person can improve in Marksmanship by practicing with weapons at a firing range.

Someone with high Marksmanship has a steady hand, a solid stance, and the ability to track or orient toward a distant object or person.

**Applications**

* **Gunnery**: Operating heavy, stationary weapons such as machine-guns and infantry support guns
* **Handguns**: Use of sidearms meant to be wielded in a single hand such as pistols and shortened shotguns
* **Launchers**: Use of arcing ballistic weaponry such as mortars, artillery, and rifle grenades
* **Longarms**: Use of firearms intended to be held in both hands and braced against the shoulder via a stock

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Firing from the hip in close quarters combat where speed matters most, above aim; use Reflexes instead.
* Throwing a knife or grenade at an enemy; use Dexterity instead.
* Doing trajectory calculations to plan out an artillery attack; use Scholarship instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Fitness**: Firing extremely powerful weaponry with significant recoil such as unbraced heavy machine-gun
* **Fitness**: Shooting a Ranged Weapon with the Strength Trait [ADD HYPERLINK] such as a bow and arrow with an emphasis on force over accuracy (see: Fierce Advantage)
* **Intuition**: Launching an indirect attack or firing a weapon against an unseen target (see: Blind Attack)

## Reflexes

The Reflexes Skill represents the ability to respond swiftly to external stimuli and react rapidly to changing situations. It is focused on snap judgements and immediate (albeit limited) actions taken in extremely narrow time windows, often in high-stress circumstances.

Reflexes can be trained through practicing responses in drills, developing muscle memory patterns, and honing reliance upon instinct.

A person with a high Reflexes rating appears to be rarely caught off-guard, and reacts so quickly that others might perceive him as a machine with a hair trigger.

**Applications**

* **Haste**: Responding to danger swiftly and effectively (see: Initiative Test)
* **Piloting**: Controlling a high-speed vehicle such as driving a car or flying a plane
* **Rapidity**: Responding to nearby threats with reflexive Attacks made with Ranged Weapons (see: Close Attack)
* **Swiftness**: Avoiding danger by quickly moving out of the way (see: Dodge Reaction)

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Moving rapidly in a straight direction to cover significant distance; use Athletics instead.
* Moving with the full body to cover a short amount of ground to get out of a dangerous area; use Gymnastics instead.
* Defending yourself in a close combat fight by fending off your opponent's attacks; use Assault instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intellect**: Piloting a vehicle with particularly complex controls
* **Intuition**: Dodging out of the way of an unseen attacker or threat, or attacking an unseen target at close range

# Fitness Skills

Assault, Athletics, Labor, and Resilience are all linked to Fitness by default.

## Assault

Assault covers close quarters combat, involving the use of melee weapons or unarmed fighting styles. Assault includes any method of attacking someone directly or with a held object, either through techniques or brute force.

Learning fighting techniques and drilling them as well as practice matches against others is the best way to improve the Assault Skill.

Someone with a high rank in Assault tends to have a dangerous air about him and moves purposefully with a casual confidence in his ability to defend himself.

**Applications**

* Blades: Weapons that primarily consist of a long metal cutting surface and/or a sharp stabbing tip, including swords, sabers, daggers, knives, etc.
* Mauls: Any variety of weapons which rely upon weight and momentum to inflict damage, including axes, clubs, hammers, maces, etc.
* Polearms: Long hafted weapons with a blade or point at the tip, including spears, halberds, and bayonets on the end of rifles
* Unarmed: Use of the body to fight an opponent, either by punching or kicking, grappling, choking, or using other natural weapons such as claws or fangs

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Throwing a weapon at someone at very short range; use Dexterity instead.
* Firing a weapon at someone from point-blank distance; use Reflexes instead.
* Avoiding a melee attack by dodging out of the way; use Reflexes instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Coordination**: Deflecting attacks with a precision weapon such as a rapier
* **Intuition**: Melee combat against an unseen opponent

## Athletics

Athletics is a combination of the muscular strength, cardiovascular heath, and full-body agility required to move significant distances. The Athletics Skill covers short-distance sprinting at top speeds as well as long term efforts.

Athletics can be marginally improved by anything that gets the heart-rate elevated for an extended period of time, but it benefits most from cardio training like jogging, running, swimming, etc.

High Athletics tends to manifest as toned legs and a limberness to movement, along with a controlled breathing rate when resting.

**Applications**

* **Brawn**: Muscular might for carrying capacity and lifting or dragging
* **Endurance**: Consistent energy required for extended periods of exertion
* **Power**: Ability to throw heavy objects or over longer distances
* **Speed**: Movement speed through running, swimming, or flying (see: Sprint Maneuver)

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Moving over treacherous terrain that poses a tripping risk; use Gymnastics instead.
* Rushing at someone in order to attack them; use Assault instead.
* Moving with intent to remain undetected; use Stealth instead.
* Moving while carrying/pushing something heavy or awkward over a distance; use Labor instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Willpower**: Swimming under the water in panic-inducing conditions that might lead to drowning

## Labor

Labor governs the physically demanding usage of tools. Labor focuses on working with tools that require strength to use effectively to alter the environment to accomplish strenuous tasks.

The Labor Skill can be improved through using it over time or by being trained by someone knowledgeable in how to apply force effectively with tools.

A highly skilled Laborer tends to have callouses on his hands and a sure grip, as well as muscled arms and a strong back.

**Applications**

* **Agriculture**: Planting and growing crops as well as ranching and tending to animals
* **Construction**: Carpentry and woodwork, masonry and stone-working, and other forms of building things
* **Forestry**: Includes felling trees, stripping them, hauling them, and even milling them into lumber
* **Mining**: Prospecting and identifying soil and stones, digging through dirt and breaking up rock, and even extracting and refining ores

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Working with fine tools that require a delicate touch more so than strength; use Dexterity instead.
* Moving swiftly while carrying something that is not very taxing on your muscles to hold; use Athletics instead.
* Managing a group of workers to complete a construction project; use Leadership instead.
* Operating a piece of industrial machinery such as a construction vehicle or a tractor; use Reflexes instead.
* Creating a blueprint or plan of action for a construction project; use Engineering instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Coordination**: Using a strength-based tool in a precise manner, such as chopping down a tree without hitting a nearby sapling
* **Intellect**: Utilizing simple machines to enhance the results of physical effort

## Resilience

Resilience is the ability to keep going in the face of physical injury or enervation. The Resilience Skill focuses on bodily hardiness and ability to resist or heal from wounds and to limit the effects of destructive intent applied to flesh and bone.

Resilience can only be improved through repeated exposure to hardship, though this need not be catastrophic suffering in order to grow in Resilience.

A person of considerable Resilience has been weathered by his experiences, his features chiseled, and he scarcely notices minor cuts and bruises.

**Applications**

* **Fortitude**: Pushing through the effects of sleep deprivation, malnourishment, or dehydration
* **Hardiness**: Limiting the impacts of trauma and other harmful effects to reduce the resultant stress on the body (see: Resilience Test)
* **Immunity**: Ability to fight off disease and capacity to filter and neutralize toxins, pathogens, chemicals, and parasites
* **Recovery**: Healing ability to repair wounded tissue and awaken from periods of injury-induced unconsciousness

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Trying to cover a long distance with an emphasis on speed rather than exhaustion; use Athletics (though Resilience might still be relevant).
* Resisting negative effects of a mental or spiritual nature; use Resolve instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Willpower**: Making it through exhausting undertakings that put more strain on the mind than the stamina

# Intellect Skills

Engineering, Investigation, Medicine, and Scholarship are all linked to Intellect by default.

## Engineering

The Engineering Skill is used in technical fields to work on or with mechanical processes or devices. Engineering governs the application of industrial knowledge to design, create, operate, repair, and destroy modern devices, machinery, and buildings.

Engineering is usually improved by higher level education, but those who are more astute and observant can pick up some of the principles involved through working on Engineering projects.

Someone who is advanced in Engineering tends to have an eye for analysis of complex processes with a passion for how complex objects, vehicles, or buildings work or were made.

**Applications**

* **Demolitions**: Measuring amounts, choosing placement, preparing, priming, and activating explosive charges to destroy or sabotage machinery or buildings, as well as the defusing of such
* **Design**: Creating blueprints, schematics, prototypes, or other methods of planning projects and testing ideas
* **Fabrication**: Operating tools and machines to construct buildings or create machinery
* **Mechanic**: Finding the point of failure within a machine or vehicle and fixing or repairing it, or doing similar with structural weakness in a building

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Trying to disable a mine or tripwire connected to an explosive device; use Dexterity instead (although Engineering can be used to work with the explosive charge after disarming the trigger mechanism).
* Using fine tools to do precision work on complex machinery; use Dexterity instead.
* Building a basic or temporary structure using traditional tools and methods; use Labor (or Survival for makeshift shelters) instead.
* Directing a team of workers on an Engineering project; use Leadership instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Coordination**: Working with unstable explosive materials that require a steady hand
* **Fitness**: Removing or replacing a heavy or jammed part

## Investigation

Investigation represents the capacity for the mind to catch the important details amid the extraneous distractions. Investigation includes the power of perception and sharpness of mind to pick up and put together pieces of information, along with the expertise to know what to seek and where to check.

Investigation can be improved through any activity that builds the ability to weed out unnecessary background elements, spot key details, and realize important connections.

Someone skilled in Investigation is good at piecing together small bits of evidence to form bigger conclusions, and hones in on anything out of place through pattern recognition.

**Applications**

* **Analysis**: Examining body language, facial expressions, and speaking patterns to determine psychological states (can help with Initiative Tests)
* **Examination**: Studying something closely or at length to assess its nature, quality, condition, ability, value, distance, or other information about it
* **Inquiry**: Questioning large numbers of people to gather information or find someone who might have a necessary utility
* **Searching**: Looking for hidden objects or subtle signs in surroundings

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Talking to someone to determine their mental state or using social networks to find something; use Rapport instead.
* Keeping a lookout for changes in environment without actively looking for something; use Awareness instead.
* Searching for something in nature based on an understanding of where it grows or feeds and sleeps; use Survival instead.
* Attempting to find something when a delicate touch is the emphasis; use Dexterity instead.
* Examining a wound or cadaver as a forensic pathologist; use Medicine instead.
* Studying a complex device to determine how it works or how to repair it; use Engineering instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Fitness**: Searching for something in a place that requires moving heavy objects or containers to check for it
* **Intuition**: Examining a piece of art to determine its value or subjective quality

## Medicine

Medicine covers the art of healing the sick or injured through application of knowledge, technique, and chemistry. Medicine covers everything from immediate triage and stabilization to long-term treatment and surgical intervention.

Medicine is easiest to train by learning about biology or medical techniques in a classroom setting, but the most effective method of improving it is hands-on experience with patients.

A Medicine practitioner with a high level of Skill often has an appraising gaze that notes potential health issues, and a calm (almost jaded) casualness regarding the steps needed to fix physical maladies.

**Applications**

* **Diagnosis**: Identifying the specific disease, symptom, or type of injury a patient is suffering
* **Pharmacology**: Prescribing and administering medicines, using chemistry to create medicines, and knowledge of herbal remedies
* **Surgery**: Intervening within a patient's body to right a wrong or repair some damage, sometimes including anesthetics and antibiotics
* **Treatment**: First aid efforts to alleviate a minor wound or to apply short-term remedies to a serious injury

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Trying to convince a patient of the necessity of a procedure; use Rapport instead.
* Examining a crime scene to spot clues about what killed a victim; use Investigation instead.
* Wielding a scalpel to harm a resisting victim; use Assault instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Coordination**: Performing extremely fine or delicate surgical procedures where hand stability matters most
* **Intuition**: Interviewing a patient to diagnose an illness through conversation

## Scholarship

Scholarship is the general education and learning that characters gather through schooling or research or mentorship. It spans the breadth of most forms of academic knowledge such as literacy, history, mathematics, logic, philosophy, the sciences, and so on.

Scholarship is almost universally improved via learning, from books or teachers, though practical application of the knowledge contained within Scholarship can lead to minor advancements through experience.

Someone with high Scholarship would appear more erudite and learned, generally informed about a number of subjects with sufficient comprehension to discuss a topic thoroughly.

**Applications**

* **Culture**: Education in history, classical literature, philosophy, civics, economics, and other non-scientific subjects of higher learning
* **Knowledge**: General information, common knowledge, and trivia which does not fit within the other three Applications
* **Logic**: Presenting convincing arguments, using effective rhetoric, and concisely laying out argumentation
* **Sciences**: Mathematical ability and knowledge of the various sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Working with chemicals or relying upon anatomical knowledge to treat illnesses or injuries; use Medicine instead.
* Applying mechanical or architectural knowledge practically; use Engineering instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intuition**: Composing emotional poetry or moving song lyrics

# Intuition Skills

Awareness, Rapport, Stealth, and Survival are all linked to Intuition by default.

## Awareness

The Awareness Skill is a person's ability to stay alert and notice changes in his surroundings. Awareness can help someone detect hidden threats or traps by their faint tells, observe changes in the mood or feeling in the air, and pick out slight discrepancies within their immediate environment.

Someone striving to get better at Awareness usually develops it through continued exposure to new experiences or environments which train recognition and observant behavior.

A person who excels in Awareness has honed his observational skills to a particularly sharp level and has noticeably good senses, picking up on scents, sounds, or movements that others simply miss.

**Applications**

* **Detection**: Perceiving subtle cues that alert one to the presence of someone trying to avoid being detected
* **Instinct**: Receiving and listening to common sense and gut feelings, as well as the accuracy of these hunches
* **Wariness**: Picking up on the underlying sense of threat or malice posed by intentional traps or hostile actors
* **Watchfulness**: Keeping an eye out for dangers at all times and the ability to respond to them (see: Initiative Test)

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Actively or intentionally searching for something; use Investigation instead.
* Analyzing someone's mood through social interactions; use Rapport instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intellect**: Using surveillance devices to augment observation

## Rapport

The Rapport Skill involves the ability to establish and maintain good relationships with others, as well as to influence people in a generally positive manner. Rapport covers any sort of social situation where friendly or convincing appeals are required to get another person to help or provide information.

Developing the Rapport skill can come from practice such as engaging people at social gatherings, but it can also be improved by studying communication strategies.

Someone skilled in Rapport has a magnetic personality and a noticeable charisma, allowing him to gain trust from strangers or sway opinions in discussions to win people over to his point of view.

**Applications**

* **Charisma**: Convincing others with a charming personality or persuading through moving entreaty
* **Empathy**: Determining a person's mood or sincerity through interaction, and counseling someone in a need of assistance or advice
* **Influence**: Creating a positive impression through friendliness, humor, seduction, wit, or other means of improving a relationship
* **Socializing**: Chatting with numerous people, building a network of contacts, and using social circles to acquire things

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Surveying a large number of people with the sole intention of finding something or someone; use Investigation instead.
* Convincing a person to do something as a result of having authority over him; use Leadership instead.
* Winning over a large number of people by way of a speech addressed to everyone; use Leadership instead.
* Persuading someone by utilizing threats or blackmail, implied or actual; use Intimidation instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Willpower**: Breaking through the barriers of someone in mental turmoil in order to console him

## Stealth

The Stealth Skill covers a broad range of techniques used to avoid detection. Stealth includes sneaking into a location without leaving clues or alerting anyone around, blending in with surroundings through disguises or use of concealment, and avoiding unwanted attention by remaining unseen or blending in so as not to rouse suspicions.

Improving at Stealth requires significant practice and mastering bodily awareness so as to limit sounds and exposure, while building an intuitive sense for the cues that indicate wariness when detected.

A character who has developed high levels of expertise in Stealth possesses an excellent subtlety that can help him blend in with the background or move without attracting attention.

**Applications**

* **Disguise**: Using outfits, costumes, or camouflage to blend in with the environment or take on a different appearance
* **Infiltration**: Entering a location or region without being caught through navigating barriers and bypassing security measures
* **Shadowing**: Tailing a subject without raising suspicion, on foot or in vehicles, as well as surveilling or monitoring a target
* **Sneaking**: Moving without being seen or heard

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Bluffing to get into an off-limits area; use Composure instead.
* Getting into an area where the emphasis is on physical maneuvering rather than remaining hidden; use Athletics instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Coordination**: Needing to move with precision in order to avoid protection, such as avoiding stepping on shards of glass
* **Intellect**: Using technology or devices to improve surveillance abilities

## Survival

The Survival Skill is the ability to take care of basic needs in and safely navigate through outdoors environments. Survival covers acquiring food, water, finding or making shelter, starting fires, and identifying plants and animals that could be dangerous or used as food sources.

Someone looking to develop the Survival Skill can do so by experience in wilderness, most often with a guide or teacher but sometimes starting in more safe or controlled locations and building up to more isolated or extreme ones.

A person with an expert level of Survival Skill can move through brush without being slowed down, isn't worried about being caught outside of civilization, and notices subtle signs in his environment due to significant experience being out in nature.

**Applications**

* **Animals**: Recognizing creatures and the dangers they pose, finding areas they frequent or travel, capturing, training, and handling animals
* **Botany**: Recognizing plants and knowing their medicinal or nutritional applications, as well as knowing where to find specific plants
* **Navigation**: Using surroundings and sense of direction to determine location or the direction to a destination
* **Safety**: Finding an appropriate spot and devising a temporary shelter, starting fires, cooking and preparing food, and acquiring safe drinking water

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Trying to find or examine something unrelated to survival while outdoors; use Investigation instead.
* Attempting to shoot an animal with a gun or a bow; use Marksmanship or Dexterity (respectively) instead.
* Applying herbal remedies to a wound or determining correct dosage; use Medicine instead.
* Using plant material as part of an advanced chemical process; use Scholarship instead.
* Trying to disarm a trap; use Dexterity instead.
* Building a more permanent or modern structure; use Labor or Engineering instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Fitness**: Setting up a shelter in a tree to avoid animal attacks, requiring building while climbing
* **Coordination**: Doing intricate, repetitive gathering tasks like picking many small berries or gathering delicate mushrooms
* **Intellect**: Relying on formal education to identify safe or poisonous natural products

# Willpower Skills

Composure, Intimidation, Leadership, and Resolve are all linked to Willpower by default.

## Composure

Composure is the ability to avoid doing something foolish or harmful and to resist influences which would compel toward such a mistake. The Composure Skill covers self-awareness and control over one's impulses, subconscious instincts, and nonverbal tells.

Composure can be trained through strict lessons or learned through intense self-reflection and effort to develop discipline.

Someone with a high Composure Skill appears unflappable and emotionally stable under high pressure situations, and doesn't act capriciously according to whims.

**Applications**

* **Confidence**: Bluffing, lying, or impersonating someone without showing signs of dishonesty
* **Equanimity**: Maintaining presence of mind in dangerous situations (see: Initiative Test, as well as resisting losing Nerve)
* **Poise**: Using self-assuredness to better relate with standoffish or unfriendly people and animals
* **Restraint**: Exercising self-control to resist temptation and avoiding giving in to vices

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Avoiding distraction to maintain vigilance for a long period of time; use Awareness instead.
* Overcoming mental limitations to excel or succeed; use Resolve instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intellect**: Relying on logic to justify avoiding doing something foolish like indulging in a vice
* **Intuition**: Trying to blend in with an unknown group by picking up social cues on the fly

## Intimidation

Intimidation is the Skill of securing cooperation from uncooperative subjects through threats, hostility, or violence. Intimidation covers high-stress interrogation and methods of torture, blackmailing, threatening, and other methods of applying influence in unfriendly social interactions.

Intimidation gains the most benefit from practice and experience, but manipulative techniques can be taught.

A person with high Intimidation has an intense gaze and a menacing aura about him, or at least exudes a calm confidence in his ability to inflict violence.

**Applications**

* **Coercion**: Using threats or blackmail material to convince an unwilling but potentially cooperative person to comply
* **Interrogation**: Getting information out of unwilling victims through intense psychological manipulation or physical compulsion
* **Pressuring**: Forcing others to feel stress by implied threats or intense scrutiny, without appearing explicitly violent
* **Subdual**: Compelling a hostile actor to stand down, cease hostilities, or surrender

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Persuading someone of the necessity of listening to you without a threat of any kind; use Rapport instead.
* Trying to hurt someone physically; use Assault instead.
* Administering chemicals to get someone to open up or cooperate; use Medicine instead.
* Relying upon the promise of organizational discipline to get someone to obey orders; use Leadership instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Fitness**: Using physical strength to intimidate with implications of force
* **Intellect**: Analyzing and assembling a thorough and damning blackmail portfolio

## Leadership

Leadership is the ability to inspire excellence from subordinates and guide them toward a desired outcome. Leadership covers the act of giving commands to followers, handling the logistics of running a group, knowing how best to utilize the abilities of underlings, and the training of subordinates to improve their performance.

Leadership can be improved through formal education as well as hands-on experience filling a position of authority in some walk of life.

A person with high Leadership speaks with confidence without being bossy or over demanding, and is often turned to for guidance by others.

**Applications**

* **Administration**: Implementing the practical requirements of running a group of people, such as logistics, goals, and time tables
* **Authority**: Compelling obedience through hierarchical dominance and ordering others to fulfill a command
* **Instruction**: Teaching students, drilling trainees, or coaching apprentices to improve their capabilities
* **Tactics**: Recognizing, selecting, and executing effective plans and reactions in the midst of an operation

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Browbeating perceived inferiors through threats of violence or repercussions; use Intimidation instead.
* Interacting with peers or equals united in working on a task together; use Rapport instead.

**Alternate Attribute Examples**

* **Intellect**: Drawing from historical lessons to formulate a strategy
* **Intellect**: Calculating large amounts of logistical requirements
* **Intuition**: Inspiring subordinates through moving emotional addresses

## Resolve

Resolve is the ability to do something difficult or dangerous and to resist influences that would prevent the pursuit of such. Resolve covers the readiness of the mind to do what must be done even in the face of hardship, and to overcome fear or paralysis which would prevent seeing things through to the end.

The Resolve Skill is improved through overcoming personal struggles and growing as a person because of them.

Someone with a high Resolve demonstrates an unflinching determination in their intentions and sees projects or goals through to the end, no matter what.

**Applications**

* **Commitment**: Channeling determination to exceed limitations (see: Struggle Against Fate)
* **Concentration** (if applicable): Focusing to use Racial magical abilities
* **Courage**: Refusing to yield to intimidation or other sources of fear
* **Perseverance**: Pushing through discomfort associated with injuries (see: Pain Resistance Test)
* **Tenacity**: Preventing or overthrowing mind-altering effects, as well as resisting and recovering from unconsciousness

*Do not use this Skill when:*

* Applying discipline inwards to control or limit personal behavior; use Composure instead.
* Refusing to lay down and die in a wilderness situation; use Survival instead.
* Using personal determination to influence others into following the same path; use Leadership instead.