The West That Wasnt - Skill List

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Skills help define the general abilities and knowledge each character possesses. It is a measure of what they are good at doing. Skills are rated in levels from 1 to 5. When called upon to use a skill, the Master will determine the associated trait being used. This will determine the column used on the cause grid of the action card. The level of the skill being used will determine the maximum number of rows used. So, if the associated Trait has a value of d8 and the level of the skill being used is 3, you would reference the d8 column and can choose your result from rows 1, 2 or 3 (unless the (3)d8 cell is a CF result; more on that in chapter XX: Action Cards)

Trait Skills

Some tasks in the game won’t readily fall under the purview of any particular skill, and it may be determined that such tasks may be best resolved by a check of a character’s Trait. Each Trait has an assigned skill, known as the Trait Skill, that is used for this purpose. Anything relating to this trait, without an appropriate skill, should utilize this skill.

The trait skill also serves a second purpose. When testing a skill untrained, in other words when a character has no ranks in the skill, they use the level of the appropriate trait skill as the rank in the d4 column. This way every character has a method of checking every skill.

Skill List

The following is a list of skills commonly available to characters in The West That Wasn't game setting. After the name of the skill, some possible specializations may be listed in parentheses. If attempting a skill check that involves a specialization, any success is considered to have a free bump (or if any bumps are generated, an extra one). If the skill can be used during action time, an action speed will be listed. Some skills may have differing action speeds depending on how they are used.

Each skill listed describes what is covered under the given skill. Some skills are broader than others, by necessity, and some skills are grouped together to make them viable choices for characters. The skill list is organized as such to promote diverse character choices and make a wide variety of skills likely to appear in game.

Some skills are actually skill groups. Skill groups have both a group and a skill, and may also have a specialization. Skills within the same group are considered related (for Archetype purposes). For example, Melee: Saber is related to Melee: Knife, but not Firearms: Pistol.

Traits and Skills

Each skill is listed with an appropriate trait. There may be times when a different trait seems more suited, but this should be used sparingly, and only when it is obviously divorced from the normal intent of the skill. For example, both melee and unarmed combat are under the purview of the Strength trait. An argument can be made that Dexterity might be more suitable in many cases, but we as designers know of this argument and chose Strength (more on this later). However, knowing about the best firearm or swordsmith? That is a case for Knowledge plus the skill, because it is a special case.

Why were the choices made as they were? Game balance. Had both, or even either, of Melee and Unarmed Combat ended up under Dexterity, every combat skill would be under the same trait, and we decided that the game is better served with some skills under a different umbrella. If you see a skill that seems out of place, likely game balance is the culprit. These choices lead to a better game through diversity.

Strength Skills

• Melee: This skill is used when engaging in close combat while armed with a blunt, bladed or hafted weapon. The Melee skill group includes the skills for knife, saber, spear, tomahawk and club. For weapons that can also be thrown, this skill includes that as well.
  

• Tradecraft (Construction, Blacksmithing, Artisan): The character is skilled at using trade tools to build and fashion useful items and structures. Both construction and blacksmith are Strength based, while artisan is Dexterity based.

• Unarmed Combat: This skill group is used when engaging in close combat while unarmed. It encompasses both striking and grappling, and is the prerequisite for the advanced skills of Boxing, Brawling and Wrestling.
  

Dexterity Skills

• Drive (Wagon/Coach, steamboat, train): This skill group includes the ability to operate and maintain what vehicles were available in the old west. Each skill must be learned separately, and each one has its own specialization of operate and maintenance, so a character might have the skill "Drive: steamboats (maintenance)," which would allow them to pilot a steam-powered riverboat, and give them special knowledge when it comes to fixing it should it break down. However, this ability to repair a steamboat won't help fix a broken wagon wheel or get a steam locomotive rolling. Action speed: Normal
  

• Firearms: (Mounted, Snap Shots, Aimed Fire) This skill group is used when firing a firearm. Aimed fire uses the Acuity Trait. Snap Shots and shots fired from horseback use the Dexterity Trait. Skills within this group include pistol, rifle and shotgun.
  

• Missile: This combat skill allows the character to use missile weapons such as bow and arrow, spear, knife and tomahawk. For weapons that can be used in hand to hand, this skill only covers the ranged aspect, though it is a single skill for all weapons listed.
  

• Pick Lock: This skill allows a character a chance to pick locked doors, padlocks, manacles and crack safes. Usually, picking a lock is an extended action. The Judge will set a difficulty TN and a number of Victory Points required to succeed. When used during action time, the attempt costs 10 APs.
  

• Ride: Just about anybody in the Old West could ride a horse. This is the ability to handle a horse in extraordinary circumstances; to chase down a villain, escape a sheriff's posse, jump a chasm or weave between obstacles in tight quarters. The ride skill is useful for continuous action sequences.
  

• Sneak: Moving about without being detected or concealing oneself from passersby requires a sneak skill check. This is an opposed check against a target’s Acuity. If characters are attempting to sneak as a group, see the section on group skill checks for procedure. When attempting to sneak around or past a group of people, instead of each target rolling an individual search roll, use the following table:
  

Observers	Search Modifier
1	+0
2-3	+1
4-8	+2
9-15	+3
16+	+4

Condition	Search Modifier
Background Noise	-2
Darkness	-4
Target on alert/searching	+2

During sneak checks the Judge may draw the card since it is not always readily apparent whether an adversary has perceived your presence. If you are trying to sneak past multiple, spread out individuals or groups of people, the Judge may also have the sneaking character make the sneak check just once, and have that be a “persistent” target number for enemies to spot him for the duration of his attempt. When used during action time, Sneak is a bit slower than regular movement, add 1 AP per pace moved. During action time, a character can only move at a walking speed while being sneaky.

Reflexes Skills

• Fast Draw: As a staple of old west fiction, Fast Draw deserves a bit of exposition. Without the skill, anyone can draw their weapon, and if they choose to do nothing else, except maybe fire, they will have plenty of surplus APs to help them break initiative-based ties. However, some individuals are better, and those individuals have this skill.

Fast Draw is a Reflex based skill. A successful Fast Draw test reduces the AP cost to ready the weapon by 1 AP. Each bump reduces the ready cost by a further 1 AP, to a minimum of 0. Further bumps add one surplus AP each.

To use Fast Draw, indicate to the Judge your intent at the beginning of the round. Allocate APs normally. After everyone has allocated, the Judge will indicate if any hombres under their control will be using the skill. Place action counters for shots during movement as if the Fast Draw has succeeded. Then, after all movement is complete everyone who is attempting Fast Draw resolves their test, and the actions resolve based on the new order. A failed Fast Draw test means the weapon is drawn, but for full AP cost. A calamity means the weapon is not drawn, and the AP are spent. Only one Fast Draw attempt may be made per round (except in the case of simultaneous attempts with each hand). Characters may need to be reordered for action resolution after Fast Draw checks.

Example: Miranda Valentine is squaring off with one of Angus Laroq's henchmen outside a saloon. The rhetoric has gone too far for reconciliation, so the Judge declares action time. Miranda hopes to plug the mouthy vaquero before he can do likewise to her, so she allocates 3 AP. When she draws a card to resolve her fast draw, it is card 37, showing 9 and 1 in the d10 column. Her Peacemaker has the short attribute, making the standard TN 4. She has succeeded with one bump. Miranda has drawn and cocked her Peacemaker. I wouldn't trade places with that vaquero for all the gold in San Francisco.

It is possible to attempt to ready items with both hands simultaneously using the fast draw skill. The standard penalties for performing actions with each hand apply(-1 to each, increase the off hand penalty to -1 extra, total -2). Resolve each check individually. If surplus APs are generated, use the lowest amount from each check.

• Sleight of Hand: This skill allows a character to conceal small objects by using misdirection and manual dexterity. It can also be used to aid a thief in pilfering small objects without raising the attention of others. Used during action time, Sleight of hand costs 1 or more AP.
  

• Speed Load: This is the ability to quickly reload a weapon in the middle of action time. Pistols and some rifles can carry multiple rounds, and some weapons can be speed-loaded. Speed load costs 1 AP to use. When using the speed load skill, make a skill check at TN 5. Success means that the character has 1 plus the number shown in the 3 burst icon in APs to use on loading actions only. Any unspent APs are lost, not surplus. A bump adds in the 5 burst, a second bump the 10. Any additional bumps add +1 further to the number.

Miranda Valentine is in the middle of an extended engagement with a group of Angus Laroq's goons and needs to reload her Peacemaker. She has d10 Reflexes and a level 2 Speed Load. On her action, she spends 1 AP and draws a card (17).

She generates a 4 and a 7, success! Miranda gains 1 AP plus the result in the 3 burst, 1 AP, for a total of 2 AP. She is able to half cock her Peacemaker and begin loading (which is a cost of 2 AP).

If Miranda had a 3 in speed load, she would have gotten a 9, which generates a bump. In that case, she would get 1 AP, plus the 3 AND 5 burst areas, for a total of 3 AP. In this case, she would prepare her Peacemaker and load one round.

Speed load may only be attempted once per action. A character may continue loading their weapon with normal AP after spending those gained via speed load.

Fortitude Skills

There are no skills that use Fortitude. The trait skill (Toughness) is used for all Fortitude related checks.

Acuity Skills

• Area Knowledge: The character has intimate knowledge of an area, either by spending lots of time there or studying it in-depth. Each area a character wants to have special knowledge of must be purchased as a separate skill. The broader the area described by the skill, the more general the character's knowledge is likely to be; if a character has Area Knowledge: Kansas, he might know things like where most of the larger, important or interesting towns are, where the railroads run, where major rivers are and what Indian tribes lurk in which prairies. If a character has Area Knowledge: Dodge City, with a successful skill check he might know the location of a certain businesses, their owners, the politics and power struggles, important people in town, or a shortcut to the local thugs' hideout. Area Knowledge skills do not have specializations, but each bump on the skill check should reveal some extra layer of information or added, useful, detail beyond which the character might be seeking.
  

• Gambling (card games, dice games, other): Most people know how to play cards, or shoot dice. Great gamblers are the ones who can sit down for a stretch at a back table of the saloon and play the odds to come out on top more often than casual players. Gambling for money is an Acuity-based skill check (while Presence may be substituted for purposes of the occasional bluff), and generally reflects the character spending an extended amount of narrative time playing multiple hands of cards, dice or what have you rather than a single hand of show-down. To engage in a round of gambling, the player resolves a gambling skill check at a TN of 5 (against multiple opponents) or TN 3 + the opponent's Gambling skill level (against a single opponent). If the check fails, you earn effect using the d4 column and your skill level to determine the row. If the check succeeds, you use your Acuity die type to determine the column, with each bump increasing the row. In a one-on-one match (one player against another or one Hero against a mob of gamblers represented as a single unit) a gambler may also opt to bluff his opponents and use his Presence rather than his Acuity. In this case, the opponent makes a Judge Character skill check at TN 5 + the bluffing character's gambling skill; if the Judge character check fails, the bluffing character can treat their action card draw as an exceptional success and draw an extra card to determine cause (or an additional extra card, if the initial result is already an exceptional success!), and use the character's presence die type and gambling skill level to determine effect. If the opponent's Judge Character check succeeds, the bluffing character uses the d4 column to determine effect. The Judge and players may opt to have gambling play out in one round, or multiple rounds for high-stakes games. The player with the highest effect total at the end of all rounds wins. While the stakes may vary (and might be laid out beforehand in the case of a buy-in) one suggestion is that the winner earns a number of dollars equal to the difference between his effect score and his opponent--which may get someone run out of town on a rail if they don't have the stakes to pay up!
  

• Investigation (questioning, clue-finding, puzzle-solving): This skill allows an investigator to figure out what happened by questioning witnesses, examining the scene of a crime, or by trying to piece together disparate bits of information to form a "big picture" based on many smaller details. Investigation can be used by the players to help move a story along. If there is a bit of information, such as a vital clue, to be gleaned in an area, use of the investigation skill allows the Hero to uncover it. Bumps to the investigation skill check should reveal extra details or greater certainty of the truth of the investigator's findings. Some applications of questioning or interrogating witnesses or suspects may require social combat. Basic use of the investigation skill to get information from people revolves around a more casual approach, and will generally eke out what people are willing to tell or what they might let slip accidentally.
  

• Navigation: This skill allows a character to travel overland and not get lost. Characters skilled in navigation can read maps, measure distance traveled, find their bearings, locate landmarks, and blaze trails. When traveling anywhere off marked roads or trails, the Judge may call for a Navigation skill check. Failed skill checks may signal an inability to reach the destination, or an increase in travel time. Success may allow the characters to shave time off their journey or avoid some unexpected hazards. Critical Failure may result in the characters becoming lost.

• Outdoors (Climbing, Hunting, Fishing, Swimming, Tracking): This is the ability to survive with minimal supplies in harsh climates (the ability to find food and drinking water), deal with environmental hazards (such as the ability to climb mountains, avoid poisonous animals, crevasses, widowmakers and snags), and the ability to find safe shelter. The outdoors skill also grants the character the ability to swim. More hospitable climates will have reduced difficulty to survive in. A separate skill check should be made for each aspect of the survival skill a character is attempting. As the characters travel, a check might be made to determine if they gather enough food and water; a separate check may be made to find shelter. Depending on how many action resolutions you wish to make, each character can make their checks separately, or they can be split up among various characters. Failure may impose certain scene attributes (such as Hunger, Thirst or Fatigue).
  

Knowledge Skills

• Academics: This skill group represents an area the character would learn by means of formal education or personal study, granting vast amounts of knowledge about the subject in question. Some examples of academic skills are history, philosophy, science, theology, law or mathematics. Specializations would be specific areas within a skill. For example, History is a skill, Roman History is a specialization within it.
  

• Language: Languages are bought at level 1 each for the ability to speak or read/write only (1 Character Point), or with a specialization (4 CPs total) for full fluency. Each language must be purchased separately.
  

• Demolitions: This skill allows a character to use explosives (somewhat) safely. Dynamite, black powder, nitroglycerin and gun cotton are all examples of period-appropriate explosives the character might know how to handle. When using demolitions to blast a structure/obstruction, a successful skill check allows the explosive's effect to earn victory points, with each bump increasing the row (effect level). As such, knowing how to use explosives dramatically increases their effectiveness when trying to blow stuff up. Action speed: Slow or extended.
  

• Medicine (First Aid, Surgery): This is the ability to patch people up by setting broken bones, applying tourniquets, stitching up tomahawk gashes and plucking bullets and buckshot out of flesh. Consult the description of the appropriate gear, if any is being utilized. Same goes with healing facilities such as hospitals. The following rules assume no equipment or assistance of any kind. Medicine is a skill group including a second skill, Veterinary.

Concussion is easy to get rid of. On a simple (3) medicine roll of any kind, anyone (including unskilled) can provide the necessary care to restore all CT in about 2 minutes. Otherwise your hero gets CT back at the rate of 1 per minute. A character who has critically failed a shock check and has fallen unconscious requires a TN 5 Medicine check to revive, otherwise they are out for 1d6 hours.

Only those skilled in medicine or first aid may attempt to treat real wounds. This attempt may be made up to one hour after an injury. A character with the medicine skill can only heal light and heavy wounds. Only a doctor with medicine and the surgery specialization can heal more severe wounds.

The doctor has to roll once for each wounded area. If successful, the roll reduces the area's wounds by one level. The TN depends on the wound level. Critically injured limbs cannot be healed by normal means, but you can still try to stop the bleeding. Doctors may attempt to heal wounds once per scene.

Wound Level	TN
Wind	3
Light	5
Heavy	7
Serious	9
Critical	11
Maimed (limbs)	13

A character can try to heal a wound every day by making a Fortitude roll against the difficulties listed above. If the roll succeeds, the wound improves by one level. Natural healing rolls are made for each area. A character with wounds to an arm and his torso would roll twice, possibly improving the condition of each location by one would level.

Wounds heal naturally every day, and a doctor can heal every scene? Yep. In TWTW, we dont care about realism, we care about fun. This level of healing ability is cinematic. Ever notice how a hero who gets shot 10 minutes into a movie is somehow just fine for the final scene, no matter when that scene occurs? This is what TWTW endeavors to achieve. If you prefer a more realistic flavor, doctors get one chance to heal a wound when it occurs, and may assist healing once per week.

The medicine skill may be used in combat to attempt to stop a character from bleeding out. This costs 10 APs.

• Repair (Weapons, Vehicles, Scavenge): You know how machines work, be they the simple mechanisms of guns or wagons or complex contraptions like telegraphs or steam engines. Those skilled in repair are also often adept at breaking down machines to find spare parts. When attempting repairs, if a source of compatible parts (for example, a similar weapon or vehicle) is available, the repairman may attempt to scavenge parts at a TN of 5. If the scavenging check is successful, the character can add one level of effect to their first successful repair attempt (with each bump to the scavenge roll adding another level of effect). Scavenging parts during combat costs 8 APs. Attempting repairs is often an extended action. The Judge will set a difficulty TN and a number of Victory Points required to succeed. When used during action time, this is 10 APs.
  

Presence Skills

• Animal Handler (horse/dog/herd animals): This skill grants the character the ability to care and feed for animals. Animal handlers can train dogs and horses, break-in bucking broncos, and herd cattle. They also understand animal behaviors better than most, and are less likely to get negative reactions from domesticated (and some wild) animals because they know how to behave around them.
  

• Judge Character: This skill helps a character size up another person if they have a chance to observe or interact with them for a while. It can allow the character to determine the target’s general strengths/weaknesses for social combat (Game mechanics TBD), and also helps a character make snap judgements about people, such as whether they might be bluffing at cards, or if they might be pulling the wool over their eyes. If a Hero is suspicious and tries to check for deception, the Judge should make a hidden check for the Hero as appropriate, and slip them hints if the Hero makes his Judge Character check that something may not be on the up-and-up. However, if a hero uses Judge Character repeatedly against the same character, the difficulty should get progressively harder to reflect the fact that repeated failure is causing the story in question to become more and more believable!
  

• Leadership: During a fight, the leadership skill can be used to inspire your allies by means of a quick, rousing speech or order, or by deed on the field of battle. Leadership can be used to rally the courage of those who are in the grip of fear and terror, or help them stand fast in the face of enemy fire. If used as an inspiring speech, Leadership costs 1 AP and has a TN of 5. Success increases the bravery skill checks of all your allies within earshot by 1 for the entire round, with an additional +1 for each bump. If combined with an attack action, it adds 1 to the AP cost of the action, and can inspire any allies with line of sight to your actions; bravery skill checks for allies are increased by 1 if your attack is successful with an additional +1 for each bump to the attack roll.

Alternatively, leadership can be used in a tactical manner. The attempt is 1 AP, and the leader can spend 1-2 more AP. If successful, the extra APs they spent are given to an ally of choice. The only stipulation is the ally must be able to understand the speech or signals given.

• Social Combat: This skill group is used during social combat (SC) encounters. It includes the skills of argument, intimidation, persuasion and fast talk.
  

• Streetwise (Gossip, Black Market, Scrounging): Towns and cities played a large part in many a tale of the Old West, and this is even true of the West that Wasn't. Cities are where the people are, after all, and cityfolk often have information that can be useful, or they may be on the lookout to buy or sell illicit goods. A character skilled in Streetwise may also be able to obtain spare parts for repairs (See the "scavenging" described under the Repair skill for details), however, a failure to scrounge for parts may result (at the Judge's discretion) in the character getting caught in the act of stealing! When looking for information or looking to obtain goods that aren't exactly run-of-the-mill, the Judge may call for a check of the character's Streetwise skill. The Judge should set a difficulty TN. Success should give you some details you are looking for (or let you know if there is nothing to be learned in the place you are looking), with additional bumps either granting more precise or confirmed detail, or allowing the player to ask additional questions. When used to obtain black market goods or fence stolen property, the Judge will set a difficulty TN based on such factors as the rarity of the item, the quantity, local laws regarding it, or--in the case of trying to offload items--how easily the item might be identified as stolen. Some buyers may not be willing to purchase a one-of-a-kind or well-known piece of jewelry or artwork, or they may not be willing to touch something if they can too-easily figure out who it was stolen from.
  

• Vaudevillian (Acting, Singing, Disguise, Play Instrument, Drawing, Painting, Sculpting): The character is an accomplished performer. Note vaudevillian is not a skill group, a single skill covers all aspects. The entries in parentheses are specializations.

Essence Skills

• Bravery: The ability of the Hero to resist fear and terror, and stand fast and keep cool in the middle of a gunfight. When a character is in a fight, stray shots will chip away at their ability to focus and carefully aim. When under fire, the Hero may need to make a bravery check to see if they keep their cool, or if their carefully aimed shot is disrupted by flying lead. Bravery may also be used in social combat to resist efforts at intimidation.

Advanced Skills

Some skills require more specialized training than others. These skills have per-requisites that are listed above. The prerequisite skill must be at an equal or higher level to use the given ability. Because of the high cost of having a second skill at an equal level, some of these abilities are incredibly powerful when combined. Judge approval is required when taking advanced skills.

• Boxing: Sometimes called fisticuffs, the Marquess of Queensberry rules were established in 1865, formalizing the martial art of boxing. To take the boxing skill, the character must have Unarmed Combat at an equivalent or higher level. Each level of boxing affords the practitioner a new ability. The boxing skill is not tested in combat, the Unarmed Combat skill is used instead. Boxing abilities may only be used unarmed, or with fist loads.

Level 1: Jab - Once per round the boxer may perform a standard attack for 1 AP less, minimum 1.
Level 2: Once per round the boxer may perform a block for 1 AP less, minimum 1. Additionally, the boxer may take the advantage counter after any successful melee attack against an unarmed or similarly armed opponent.
Level 3: Combination - If performing multiple attacks, the boxer may draw a second card and use the highest value from their pool on that card as their second attack value. Other attacks are unaffected.
Level 4: All punch attacks performed by the character have +1 penetration. Additionally, the boxer starts any hand to hand encounter with the advantage counter, unless the opponent has boxing at a higher level (or the opponent is armed with a weapon of normal length or longer). If levels are equal, neither gets the counter.
Level 5: Uppercut - Once per round the boxer may perform a heavy attack for 2 AP less, minimum 1.

• Bowmaster:

Level 1: Once per turn the AP cost to load an arrow is reduced by 1 AP, minimum 1.
Level 2: Once per turn the AP cost to fire an arrow is reduced by 1 AP, minimum 1.
Level 3: If making multiple fire actions with a bow in the same turn, the practitioner may draw a second card and use the highest result in the appropriate pool for the second shot. Other shots are unaffected.
Level 4: Practitioner may ignore all TN penalties to bow fire for mounted movement.
Level 5: Once per turn the AP cost to aim a bow is reduced by 1 AP, minimum 1.

• Brawling: Brawling is a set of skills encompassing all around fighting expertise. Characters who are proficient in brawling have real world experience in brawls that may have life or death consequences. Brawling abilities may only be used unarmed or with fist loads.

Level 1: Punch - Once per round the brawler can make a standard attack for 1 AP less.
Level 2: Tackle - After performing a successful quick attack the brawler may take the advantage counter. Opponent is taken prone.
Level 3: Improvised weapon - Once per round the brawler may attack as if armed with a club. Pay APs for club, requires appropriate scenery.
Level 4: If performing multiple attacks, the brawler may draw a second card and use the highest value from their pool on that card as their second attack value. Other attacks are unaffected.
Level 5: The brawler has +1 armor value versus unarmed attacks.

• Fan Firing: Fan firing is the rapid firing of a single action revolver by means of "fanning" the hammer with the off hand. It can be wildly inaccurate when performed by an unpracticed hand.

Level 1: The reliability of the revolver is not increased by 1 when the practitioner uses fan firing.
Level 2: The TN of the 2nd shot is not increased by 1. The third shot is still +2, the 4th +3, etc.
Level 3: The practitioner may draw a second card and use the highest value as the result for their second shot.
Level 4: The practitioner need not check for weapon breakage unless a C appears in a cell that is being used to resolve a shot, and in that case not until that shot.
Level 5: The TN of the 3rd shot is not increased by 1. The 4th shot is still +3, etc.

• Gunplay - Pistol: This is the purview of the gunslingers of old west fiction.

Level 1: Once per turn the penalty for firing a shot with a pistol without aiming is reduced by 1, minimum zero.
Level 2: Once per turn the cost to aim a pistol is reduced by 1 AP, minimum 1.
Level 3: If making multiple fire actions in the same turn with a pistol, the practitioner may draw a second card and use the highest result in the appropriate pool for the second shot. Other shots are unaffected.
Level 4: The penalty for called shots with a pistol is reduced by 1, minimum 0.
Level 5: The penalty for called shots with a pistol is reduced by a further 1, minimum 0.

• Gunplay - Rifle: This is the skill of marksmen and hunters of the west.

Level 1: Once per round the practitioner may perform an aim action with a rifle for 1 AP less, minimum 1 AP.
Level 2: Once per round the practioner may increase the Aim value of a rifle by 1, minimum 1.
Level 3: If making multiple fire actions with a rifle in the same turn, the practitioner may draw a second card and use the highest result in his pool for the second shot. Other shots are unaffected.
Level 4: Once per round the practitioner may perform a fire action with a rifle for 1 AP less, minimum 1.
Level 5: Once per round the practitioner may ignore the effects of an opponents shot on their aim if they are using a rifle.

• Knife Fighting: The knife is more than just a tool in the west.

Level 1: Once per round the fighter may make a standard attack with a knife for 1 AP less, minimum 1.
Level 2: The fighter may perform a block actions against a bladed weapon with their off arm without damaging their arm.
Level 3: The fighter may draw a second card when making multiple attacks with a knife during a round. The highest value is used to resolve the second attack. No further attacks are affected.
Level 4: The fighter may take the advantage counter after a successful attack with a knife.
Level 5: Once per round the fighter may make a heavy attack with a knife for 2 AP less, minimum 1.

• Swordplay:

Level 1:
Level 2:
Level 3:
Level 4:
Level 5:

• Wrestling: The practice of grappling has been popular since the ancient Greeks, if not before. Wrestling thrives as a carnival exhibition in the west, and strong wrestlers can take down and control their quarries as a matter of course.

Level 1: Takedown - After performing a successful quick attack the wrestler may take the advantage counter. Opponent is taken prone.
Level 2: Hold - Wrestler may perform a standard attack for 1 AP less, minimum 1. Opponent is considered prone, even if standing.
Level 3: Slam - Wrestler may perform a heavy attack for 1 AP less, minimum 1. Opponent is taken prone.
Level 4: Wrestler may perform two maneuvers from above in succession. A second card is drawn to resolve the second attack. Takedown may not be performed twice on the same opponent.
Level 5: Wrestler may spend APs from his pool at a rate of 1 to 2 to remove APs from an opponents pool. Wrestler must have performed a hold on the previous turn and must have the advantage counter. Points are decremented from opponents pool during allocation.

Social Combat Skills/Counterskills (Work in Progress; Disregard for now)

• Argument/Argument
• Charm/Presence (resolve)
• Indimitate/Aura (bravery)
• Blather/Awareness (focus)
• Lying/Education (memory)
• Taunt