Skills are the abilities a character uses to get ahead in life on Dawn of the Ages, whether she is a rogue, a wizard, or a templar. They take a character beyond the necessities of eating, sleeping, and moving, allowing her to go. They are moreover improvable, that is, frequent use of a skill will improve the character's aptitude in using that skill, up to near-godly levels.
Skills fall into several different categories, which we list below. We discuss spells on their own webpage.
Attack skills are those that allow an edge when attacking another character or a mob. These are first-attack skills, usable to initiate combat, but unusable during the fighting. Skills such as backstab, assassinate and waylay are included in this category.
During a fight, many characters have access to skills allowing them to do extra damage to an opponent. These are called combat skills. Throwing, kicking, decapitating and shieldbashing are all examples of combat skills. Defensive skills such as dodging also are included.
Sometimes a character needs a deeper knowledge of a subject beyond the cursory glance at the object or the character. Healers as well as sages find import in the smallest details a skill can provide. Informative skills such as diagnostics and the various lores can provide these details if developed.
No spellcaster can harness the energies of his craft without basic magical skills such as casting or ritual. Even the minor casters such as rangers would have trouble without these skills at their disposal. Professions which incorporate spellcasting into their everyday lives also have access to spell languages, such as deama and mainistir. The ability to read a scroll or to use a wand also count as magical skills.
A few skills fall into no special category, not because they aren't special, but because no more than one or two instances of them would apply to any one category of their own. These include such skills as skinning and cooking, both of them specific in their applications, yet not truly related. The ability to defuse traps also falls into this category.
The monetary skills can save a character a gold piece or two when dealing with merchants and others in the money trade. Nobles are adept at these skills, as well as thieves. Trickery, bribery and haggling all are part of the monetary category of skills.
Some characters are more adept than others when moving over certain kinds of terrain. Others, such as avians, can fly. All such skills fall under the category of movement, and include swimming, running, jumping and climbing.
No spy would be worth her weight in salt without the ability to keep an eye on her target. Rangers are particularly adept at these sorts of skills, having trained in the wilds of Ayreon and developed the abilities needed to follow and capture their quarry. Tracking, hunting and marking all are surveillance skills.
Possibly the deadliest of skills outside combat are those which allow a character to pass by or approach another character unnoticed. What better way to backstab a victim than from behind a veil of shadow? Camouflage, stalking and shapeshifting all fall under this category of skill.
Religion - Always a God choice.
Judges - We're lookin' for a few good bounty-hunters.
Callador - Drink ale! Go clubbing! Kill bloodmages! 'Nuff said!
Wulfen Fur Cloaks - Only the best in winter apparel! Black fur now in stock!