Skills

You already know what attributes are and which ones we use in Heroes of Fantasy. They have one thing in common - everyone is given them from birth (although they can of course develop).

In addition to attributes, we will also use skills to describe your character. Skills differ in two ways - they derive from the base attributes, and you often have to learn them before you can start using them at all.

Base

You determine your skill from its base attribute: it is half of the attribute minus 2.

Limitation by a Second Attribute

Some skills require, besides the base attribute, that the character has another attribute at a certain level. For example, Herbalism depends on Int and is limited if the character has Sen lower than 0. For each point that causes the limitation, the character gets a -1 penalty to this skill.

An attribute higher than the limit has no effect (i.e. it gives no bonus).

Training and racial bonus

Skill level is increased by basic training and any racial bonus.

Race Bonus

The race bonus does not count towards SP (unless explicitly stated otherwise).

Opening

Many skills must first be opened before you can fully use them. In the description of such a skill you will find what you need to do to open it (spend experience points, know another skill, etc.).

If you have not opened a skill, you can still use it, but you get a -5 penalty to it.

This penalty, of course, does not apply to skills that are open for free from the start, or to skills that you already have open through basic training, or to skills that you open during the game.

Opening a skill in-game

However, opening a skill during play is not that simple. It is not enough to spend 2 or 5 exp and have the skill fully available. First you must find someone who has mastered the skill well (has at least 2 feats). Then you must arrange the teaching with them, which takes about a week, and possibly pay them or reward them in some other way.

Load and Armor Penalties

Remember to add the penalties for load (stiffness) to all rolls, and also for armor (light / medium / heavy : -2/-4/-6) - see the chapter "Carrying Capacity and Load."

Skill Bonus

Many skills will give you a bonus to a certain action or another (or even the same) skill.

This bonus does not count towards the number of increases, so it does not raise their cost (learning something new costs the same number of experience points as before gaining the bonus). This also means that you do not gain any feats for it.

Increasing Base Attributes

If your character's base attribute changes, you must recalculate the base of the skills that depend on that attribute. If you raise the attribute to an odd level, all the skills it affects increase. If you raise it to an even level, the skills are not affected (because we take half and round up).