HGd10PHB - Chapter 9 - Knowledge Social and Movement Skills

The last set of skills are broken into three categories, knowledge, social and movement. Each skill is largely independent of other skills and does something unique, but some may affect combat or be used in combat, while others may benefit other skills. Some of these skills may overlap or even be considered the same skill by the player and GM. It is not necessary to use all of these in a game. These are provided to give players a wide array to customize their character with.

Examples: Perform includes Sing (Social) and Dance (Movement). It isn't necessary to take all 3 skills, but their might be a story reason to separate out specific performance types. For instance, I have been singing all my life and am fairly decent at it. I also played Tuba in high school, but haven't practiced in years. I can't dance...period. All of these would fall under the Perform Skill, but it would not be realistic for them to all be the same level. Choose skills based on what fun and the story requires.

Knowledge
Knowledge skills are non-combat related skill checks that cover anything related to lore or education. If a character has formally or informally picked up information about anything: region, culture, science, magic, rare artifacts, or the best restaurants on Pulon Island, then this is the appropriate skill set to roll from. Another way to look at it is if it doesn't fit in Crafting, Movement, or Social skills it goes here.

To Learn

All Knowledge skills fall into one of a series of tiers of Difficulty to learn.
 * Common Concepts - 15 - These concepts are those that the common man can learn by talking to folks in town who already know something about the topic. This might include local flora, fauna, geography, history, and government. It also includes the local language in terms of reading, writing, and speaking.
 * Uncommon Concepts - 20 - These concepts are those that require a little bit of research or a broader understanding of the world to grasp. This might include Common Concepts but on a much broader scope such as continent or at least kingdom-wide. Current religions are all considered Uncommon Concepts. This includes all foreign languages as well.
 * Esoteric Concepts - 30 - These concepts are those that take specialized learning to uncover. Ancient recorded history, dead religions and languages. In a Fantasy setting this will also include the scientific disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry, and Physics such as Astronomy.
 * Legendary Concepts - 35 - These concepts are those that are only hinted at in stories and ancient ruins. They are believed to be true concepts and sound reasonable, but there is an element of improbable to them.
 * Mythological Concepts - 40 - These concepts are so buried as to be unknown in any contemporary context. They are discovered only in the most extreme circumstances and locales.

Rolled
A Knowledge Check is specific to a certain limited category, otherwise, the basic Knowledge Skill check is rolled to create a new specific category as the character studies up on the subject. At character creation or through extensive training, a character can spend 1 Base Point to gain a specific Knowledge Skill with 1 BP in the line. Knowledge skills cannot be gained In The Moment without unique circumstances (e.g. a magical book imparts significant knowledge of a particular subject before poofing).

When rolling in a specific category, the score determines the level of knowledge on that topic.

10 - uneducated; common folk knowledge; usually wrong and full of assumptions

15 - some knowledge; less prone to assumptions and error, but actual knowledge is scant

20 - above average; able to hold a conversation about the topic

25 - learned; able to teach the common folk rudiments of the topic

35 - well educated; knows enough to hold classes with a depth of knowledge to pass on

45 - expert; knows enough to research and experiment in order to add to the knowledge base

55 - master; reputation for knowledge of the subject; consulted regionally because of knowledge

65 - scholar; continental renown for knowledge; only the most hidden secrets or most esoteric bits of trivia escape you concerning the topic

75 - sage; you might as well have been there, seen that, done that, and got the t-shirt

100 - essentially omniscient about this particular topic; nobody knows more than you do, nor could they

See the example below with the Knowledge: Nobility skill.

Amirith Daarcphyre'' is meeting with Lady Amilorisan of Netterhall. He is required to sit through a formal dinner while a bunch of dignitaries, functionaries, and sycophants joust through a complicated dance of etiquette and protocol. He has never been much for the formality of the nobles so knows next to nothing about the situation. He rummages through his brain, not so much to join the fray but to glean something of meaning from their innuendo-filled fencing. He rolls a 17 on his Knowledge: Nobility and catches enough useful information to report back to his friends not empty-handed.''

Typical Knowledge Skills:
This list is not, by any means, exhaustive. The GM should feel free to add any Knowledge skills that pertain to their campaign specifically or any that Players submit that make sense for their character in your gaming world.

Movement Skills
Movement skills relate to any non-combat action that requires a character to move about with some chance of failure. This often pits the player against the environment they find themselves in. Whether they are swimming across a river in full plate armor or jumping across a pit of fiery lava, the player might not get to where they are going. They need to roll a Movement Skill check to find out.

Rolled
Movement checks are typically intuitive moves but some benefit from training as well. Whenever explicit training in a Specialized Movement Skill has not been done yet, then the generic Movement Skill is used. Movement is rolled against an environment-based Difficulty Score. To learn a Specialized Movement Skill, the basic Movement Roll must exceed the DS of the specialized skill regardless if the check itself is successful against the environment DS.

To Learn

Movement skills are difficult to learn if they are outside a character's upbringing (Character Creation). The more you learn, the harder it is to keep straight with new skills. The base Difficulty Score is listed here, but for each new Movement Skill gained, add +1 to the DS to learn a new one.

Learning a skill through a trainer after character creation requires in-game time and 1 Base Skill point. Learning a new skill on the fly requires GM permission and a 3/1 cost of Base Skill points to add 1 BP to the new skill line.

A typical movement roll

Active Roll: 1d10 + TBS of selected Movement Skill

vs. DS of the environment.

Movement Skills may also serve as Reactive Roll opposed checks. 

Social Skills
Social Skills relate to any type of skill necessary to interact with other characters of any kind. This may include animals, aliens, or artificial life-forms. The list of social skills is meant to include skills where confrontation happens or advantage gained is important. Whether a person is bluffing their way out of dire situation, practicing etiquette with the foreign ruler, trying to fool the guards with a disguise, or just gathering information on the streets, the skill's needed to maneuver through society can be just as vicious and deadly as any weapon.

More often than not, social skills are based on the more mental characteristics rather than the physical. Listed below are the social skills with a brief description and the Base Characteristics used for the skill.

Rolled
Social Skills are rolled either as an active roll or a reactive roll depending on the situation. Whoever initiates a particular action is the active roller and the reactive roller is the person responding. This may change multiple times over the course of a single encounter, but generally, Social Skill rolls are opposed to other Social Skill rolls.

Active Roll: 1d10 + Y

Reactive Roll: 1d10 + Y

Highest roll succeeds.

To Learn

Learning new specialized Social Skills requires the character to roll a Base Social Skill roll equal to or above the DS of the specific skill to learn it whether or not that roll actually succeeds against the opposing roll or DS. Social skills are difficult to learn if they are outside a character's upbringing (Character Creation). The more you learn, the harder it is to keep straight with new skills. The base Difficulty Score is listed here, but for each new Social Skill gained, add +1 to the DS to learn a new one.

Learning a skill through a trainer after character creation requires in-game time and 1 Base Skill point. Learning a new skill on the fly requires GM permission and a 3/1 cost of Base Skill points to add 1 BP to the new skill line.

Navigation

 * Hero's Guild Players Handbook Home
 * Chapter 1 - Creature Kinds
 * Chapter 2 - Base Characteristics
 * Chapter 3 - Skills
 * Chapter 4 - Traits and Foibles
 * Chapter 5 - Physical Combat Skills 
 * Chapter 6 - Mystical Skills
 * Chapter 7 - Equipment
 * Chapter 8 - Crafting
 * Chapter 9 - Knowledge Social and Movement Skills
 * Chapter 10 - Optional Classes
 * Chapter 11 - Rules of Engagement