Skills Primer
Skills represent the knowledge, training, experience, and practical ability of a character. They describe what a character is capable of doing and how effectively they can perform tasks within that area of expertise.Azalore has 35 skills, covering physical abilities, knowledge, social interaction, practical skills, combat training, armour training, and magical ability.
How Skills Are Measured
Every skill is measured from 0 to 5.
0 — Untrained
The character has little or no training in the skill. They may still attempt basic actions that anyone could reasonably perform, but lack the knowledge or experience required for more difficult tasks.
1 — Novice
The character has basic training or limited experience. They understand the fundamentals and can perform straightforward tasks, but struggle with difficult or unfamiliar situations.
2 — Competent
The character has developed a reliable working ability. They can perform ordinary tasks consistently and handle moderately difficult situations.
3 — Skilled
The character has considerable training and experience. They can reliably perform difficult tasks and apply their skill effectively in challenging or unfamiliar circumstances.
4 — Expert
The character possesses exceptional ability and extensive experience. They can overcome very difficult challenges and perform tasks beyond the capabilities of most trained individuals.
5 — Master
The character has reached the pinnacle of the skill. Their knowledge, training, and experience allow them to accomplish extraordinary feats that would be beyond even an Expert.
What a Skill Represents
A skill represents a broad area of capability, rather than a single action.
For example, Athletics covers climbing, jumping, lifting, pushing, pulling, and strenuous physical exertion. Survival covers tracking, hunting, foraging, finding shelter, and surviving in hostile environments.
This means that not every individual action has its own skill. Instead, related activities are grouped together under an appropriate skill.
Some skills are deliberately more specialised. Pickpocket, for example, specifically represents the ability to secretly take or manipulate objects belonging to another person, while Disarm Traps represents the ability to identify and disable traps.
Skills and Character Capability
A character's Skill Level describes what they are reasonably capable of achieving.
The individual skill topics provide a detailed description of what each level represents for that particular skill. A character with Swim 0, for example, has no ability to swim or tread water, while a character with Swim 5 possesses exceptional mastery of swimming.
Skill levels therefore have an in-world meaning. They are not simply numbers used to modify another mechanic.
The Four Applications of a Skill
Each individual skill is examined through four possible applications:
Overcome
How the skill can be used to overcome an obstacle, problem, or challenge.
For example, Athletics can overcome a physical obstacle by climbing a wall or forcing open a door.
Advantage
How the skill can be used to create a beneficial situation or opportunity for the character or others.
For example, Athletics could be used to gain a better position or physically place an opponent at a disadvantage.
Offensive
How the skill can be used against another character to harm, hinder, pressure, restrain, or otherwise negatively affect them.
Not every skill is an offensive skill. Where a skill has no meaningful offensive application, its description will state this.
Defensive
How the skill can be used to protect the character or another person from harm, interference, or an opposing action.
Not every skill is a defensive skill. Where a skill has no meaningful defensive application, its description will state this.
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Skills Do Not Have to Do Everything
The four applications are used to help explain the scope and usefulness of each skill, not to force every skill into every role.
For example, a knowledge-based skill may be extremely useful for Overcome and Advantage, while having little or no direct Offensive application.
Likewise, a combat skill may naturally have strong Offensive and Defensive applications while also being useful for Overcome and Advantage.
The individual skill topics explain these applications in detail.
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No Ability Scores
Azalore does not use traditional ability scores such as Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
Skills therefore stand on their own.
A character's Athletics skill represents their trained physical capability without requiring a separate Strength score. Similarly, Academia represents their academic ability without requiring an Intelligence score.
This allows characters to be defined by what they have learned and what they are capable of doing.
No Dice
Azalore is a diceless system.
Skill Levels are therefore not added to dice rolls. Instead, a character's level of skill is used as part of determining what they can accomplish.
The individual skill descriptions establish the capabilities associated with each level, while the wider Azalore rules determine how situations involving competing skills, obstacles, and uncertain outcomes are resolved.
[center]In Summary
Skills describe what your character can do.
Skill Levels describe how capable they are.
0 is Untrained.
1 is Novice.
2 is Competent.
3 is Skilled.
4 is Expert.
5 is Master.
Each skill is described through its Overcome, Advantage, Offensive, and Defensive applications.
Not every skill will have an application in all four areas.[/center]