The list of skills available through the system covers both skills that are used (or will be used) in various coded systems and skills that we have no intention of implementing any code for but that are unusual enough that knowledge of such a skill should be recorded on the character’s sheet. On the other hand, some skills were purposefully left out because it is assumed that most nobles would have some grasp of them and because no code will ever rely on them. This includes, for example, reading and writing. When it comes to such skills we allow players to roleplay their characters as they feel is appropriate for their concept. If someone wishes to play a noble who is illiterate, they can simply opt to do so.
Skills should be carefully chosen with regards to your character concept. You will need to JUSTIFY skills that are above a certain level (over 45), skills that are unusual for your concept (such as combat skills for a female character) and also skills that are unexpectedly high or low for your concept, such as a noble with much Blacksmithing at all or a noble with low (or no) Etiquette. An absence of skills expected for your character concept may also be grounds for disapproval. Many of the skills listed are skills that nobles in particular would have some small amount of training in. Fewer than 8 skills for a noble would be highly unusual (see the section on “Noble Upbringing”) and when it comes to skills from the combat skillgroup most noble knights would have some training in 8-10 weapons.
Note that when you go through CharGen, there are two rooms associated with Skills. Many people will only enter the main Skills room, but if you select a skillgroup such as Combat and/or Scholarship, you will be transferred to the Grouped Skills room after you are finished in the main Skills room, and that is where you will distribute the points on the individual Combat and/or Scholarship skills.
The scale for skills is 0-100, though it is possible to go past 100 with certain ASSETS and it is also possible to have bonuses that lead to an effective score over 100. There are also FLAWS that provide negative bonuses.
Please note that there is no level that is considered average; how would one determine an average when not every character has a particular skill at all? The skill distribution for characters is very pyramid-shaped with a lot of characters having skills at the lower end of the scale and higher skills rapidly becoming increasingly rare.
Your pool of skillpoints is affected by your tier, by your AGE (its decreased below and increased above the peak range of 21-45) and by some Assets and Flaws. There is also an additional bonus of 50 skillpoints for having a noble upbringing.
By declaring in the skills room that your character has had a typical noble upbringing, you are allocated an additional 50 skillpoints. This is applied after all negative and positive bonuses to the skillpool have been applied.
Most nobles should make this choice. If you decide against doing so, your concept needs to make it clear why. Some non-nobles can make this choice, but if they do their concept needs to make it clear why.
In addition to allocating 50 additional points, the choice imposes the following requirements on your skill choices: you have to take at least 12 skills (not counting the Combat or Scholarship groups) and you have to take at least 10 skills from the following list.
There are no coded rules regulating how many points have to be spent in each of these skills, but whether or not they have been put at reasonable levels is an important factor in determining whether a character concept is approved or not.
Some skills are treated a little differently than others, namely those placed into skillgroups. These are the various Combat skills and the various Scholarship skills. They allow for characters with training in a wide variety of related skills, such as knights. Having an asset such as Knight or Scholar allows you to select a skillgroup and decide on how many skills you want within that group. If you do not have any of the assets that give access to skillgroups, you have to purchase Combat and Scholarship skills individually, and then you can place points in no more than three skills from each group. Skillgroups are capped per tier regarding how many points you can allocate to them.
When you allocate points to a skillgroup, the sum is multiplied with the number of skills you’ve chosen to spend points on. That sum is then reduced according to a diminishing returns formula.
The individual skills within the skillgroup are subject to the tier cap for skills. Additionally, no individual skill within a skillgroup can be lower than 40% of the score you allocated to this skillgroup.
You are limited to 3 skills in the high range and 3 skills in the low range. High is defined as over 80% of your general tier skillcap. Low is defined as under 40% of your general tier skillcap skillcap.