Skills

Skills can be used outside of combat for a variety of purposes and they grant auxiliary combat bonuses. The five skills are Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival. Every class gains initial proficiency bonus in two skills, but not limited to them. Non-combat skills are gained separately from combat skills(Abilities, Talents) and they do not use the same resources.

Overview

Skill	Meaning (based on the in-game description)	Effects on gameplay	Use in interactions (based on the in-game description)
Stealth	allows characters of any class to attempt to avoid being seen or heard	can get closer to NPCs in scouting mode without being seen	?
Athletics	counters the effects of accrued fatigue, allowing characters to go farther and fight longer before they suffer penalties	at rank 1:  -40% combat fatigue gain at rank 2:  -80% combat fatigue gain at rank 3:  -90% combat fatigue gain per rank:  +10% max fatigue	for physical feats like climbing, swimming, and jumping
Lore	a character's accumulated miscellaneous knowledge and trivia, often of occult or esoteric topics	at rank 1:  can use level 1 scrolls at rank 4:  can use level 2 scrolls at rank 6:  can use level 3 scrolls at rank 8:  can use level 4 scrolls at rank 10:  can use level 5 scrolls at rank 12:  can use level 6 scrolls at rank 14:  can use level 7 scrolls	for picking up on relevant historical or cultural contexts, and contributing general knowledge
Mechanics	makes it easier to open locks and find and disable traps, and place traps of your own	per rank:  can disarm traps of +1 difficulty can pick locks of +1 difficulty +3 accuracy for own traps	for activating or disabling a variety of machines
Survival	allows characters to make better use of the food and potion items they find	per rank: +5% duration for consumables	for wilderness challenges, and for contributing specialized knowledge of nature or alchemy

Effects

Skills affect character stats, interaction with items and new dialogue options, and can be used to avoided fighting. There will often be ways to avoid fighting. Examples: standard methods of talking your way out of a fight or sneaking around an encounter, but there will be other ways too. Perhaps you can re-sanctify a desecrated cemetery to prevent any further undead from rising, or maybe figuring out a way across a ruined bridge will always avoid the bandits on this side of the river.

During any situation where a skill is checked against a challenge’s level of difficulty, the party member with the highest relevant skill is represented as the starting benchmark. If their skill outweighs the difficulty score, the player’s efforts succeed.

Some items are used in different scenarios to alter how skill checks occur. These items are categorized as ingredients and helpers. Ingredients are used for recipes, and are typically consumed in the process. Helpers come into play during scripted interactions, where the presence of an item during a scenario (e.g. having rope at a ledge) can shift the trajectory of the narrative. ^Verify

Allocation

At first level, a character only has their initial class and background bonuses to skills. Each class confers bonuses in two or three skills and each background in one or two skills.

Upon achieving a new level, a character gains 6 skill points. Advancing a skill to the next rank costs one point, plus one point per time the skill has already been advanced. Note that class, background, and other bonuses are "free" and do not increase the cost of advancing skills.

Class bonuses

Class	Stealth	Athletics	Lore	Mechanics	Survival
Barbarian
Chanter
Cipher
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Priest
Ranger
Rogue
Wizard

( = 1 rank, = 2 ranks)

Background bonuses

Background	Stealth	Athletics	Lore	Mechanics	Survival
Aristocrat
Artist
Clergyman
Colonist
Dissident
Drifter
Explorer
Hunter
Laborer
Mercenary
Merchant
Mystic
Philosopher
Raider
Scholar
Scientist
Slave
Farmer (NPC only)
Gentry (NPC only)
Midwife (NPC only)
Soldier (NPC only)
Trapper (NPC only)

( = 1 rank, = 2 ranks)

Buffs

Rites are a special, non-craftable type of scrolls that temporarily boost specific skills.

Certain wearable and consumable items can additionally provide temporarily bonuses to skills (see Attribute and skill boosts).