Skill

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This article is for Skills in the Storytelling System. For skills in Storyteller System games, see Abilities.

In the Storytelling System, Skills are traits that represent a character's acquired capabilities. Typically a Skill is combined with an Attribute (and occasionally a third supernatural trait) to form a dice pool for an action, representing the character's natural prowess and learned ability coming together to perform a task.

Like Attributes, Skills are grouped into Physical, Social and Mental categories and are rated from 0 to 5 dots. There are eight Skills in each category for a total of 24 broad Skills, representing all possible learned activities. While all the modern World of Darkness games use the Skills covered in the World of Darkness: Storytelling System Rulebook, Requiem for Rome replaces some with Skills more appropriate to the setting; for example Firearms is replaced with Archery and Science with Religion.

Tasks which are instinctual rather than learned - like observing one's environment or resisting one's emotions - are generally resolved using Attributes only, and do not involve Skill use.

To represent more specific training, characters may nominate Specialties which effectively increase the Skill's rating by one for tasks within their purview. For example, a character with a Medicine Skill rating of 2 with a speciality in "First Aid" would have an effective Skill rating of 3 when administering CPR or applying a pressure bandage.

Attempting to perform an action "untrained" - with a rating of zero in the required Skill - imposes an additional penalty on that action. This penalty is higher for Mental skills than for the other two categories.