Improvement

An Improvement token is a token that the player may gain through the resolution of certain Encounters, Spells, Conditions, or other effects. It can allow the player to gain more dice when they resolve skill tests that match the improvement token.

If the player gains an improvement token, they take the token and place it on their investigator card with the "+1" side facing up. If they improve it again, flip the token to the "+2" side. The "+2" tokens must be treated as two separate "+1" tokens for all intents and purposes. Improvement counts as part of the base skill, so it will stack with bonuses from an Item or other source.

The maximum a skill may be improved is two above its printed value on the investigator's sheet. Any further improvements are ignored. It is possible to improve all five of an investigator's skill if it happens in a game. Improvement tokens may always be applied to any test unless specifically told otherwise: Resistance will never affect Improvement tokens.

### Improving a skill

Skills can be improved in any of the following ways:

* An investigator may start the game with an improvement (e.g.  Ursula Downs).
* Some Location Encounters are likely to improve a skill. San Francisco is likely to improve , Shanghai to improve , Sydney for , Rome for , and Istanbul for .
* An investigator can improve a skill by an ability under certain specific conditions (e.g.  Sefina Rousseau).
* An investigator can improve other investigator's skills under certain specific conditions (e.g.  Harvey Walters).
* A Spell or a Talent Condition can allow an investigator to improve 1 skill (e.g. Feed the Mind).
* Personal Stories Rewards can improve one more skills (e.g. Guardian of the Veil).
* Some Assets may improve a skill if a specific condition is met (e.g. Specialized Training).
* A Local Action can allow to improve a skill under certain specific conditions (e.g. Snowy Mountains).

### Double improvement

Some effects can allow an investigator to improve a skill a second time:

* If  Lily Chen improves a skill, she may immediately improve the same skill again.
* If  Joe Diamond improves a skill, he may immediately improve a different skill at the same time once per round.
* Forced Learning Spell allows an investigator to improve again 1 skill, once per round.

## Impairment

 Under the Pyramids included the possibility of impairing a skill, which would reduce the number of dice a player gets for performing a skill check. A skill can be impaired as a result of a failed Encounter, a flipped Spell or Condition, a Prelude or a Mythos effect.

As Improvement, Impairment tokens have two sides (-1 and -2 here) and follows the same rules. An Investigator cannot impair or choose to impair a single skill either more than two below its printed value on the investigator's sheet or if doing so would reduce that skill's modified value to below 1. Improvement tokens and Impairment tokens negate one another. If an investigator has both an Improvement token and an Impairment token for the same skill, he discards both tokens.

* If  Calvin Wright gains an Impairment token, he may choose to instead recover  1 Health and  1 Sanity.
* If  Wendy Adams gains an Impairment token, she may choose to not gain this token, once per round.