Ability List

The following list of abilities is fairly generic, and is intended to serve as a basis for more specific lists, giving an idea of the sort of breadth of an average ability. They are split into a number of sections for ease of reference, but these sections have no further significance. All abilities listed here have a learning multiplier of five.

Artistic Abilities

These abilities cover the production of art, and are distinct from performance abilities. An artistic ability lets you write a piece of music, but you need a performance ability to perform it. These are almost all based on Mental Aptitude, and are specific to a culture. As for Performance Abilities, art of one culture may well be appreciated outside its culture of origin, but it will be noticeably different.

As with Crafts, there are a large number of possible Arts. The ones following are simply a selection of examples.

Architecture
Designing useful and beautiful buildings.
Music
The ability to compose music.
Miniature Painting
Producing small pictures, such as book illuminations.
Monumental Painting
Producing large paintings, like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Painting
Producing medium-sized pictures.
Poetry (language)
The ability to write poetry in a specific language. This skill must be learnt afresh for each new language.
Writing
The ability to write good prose, whether in a report or a novel. Not specific to language, although you need to be fluent (ability 5 or better) to use this ability. Note that Scribe covers the mechanics of writing neatly and using correct abbreviations and references, while Writing covers the style of the contents.

Athletic Abilities

Athletic Abilities cover all defined sports, and each sport is a separate ability. The availability of sports will depend upon the background, and so is not specified here. There are some generic Athletic Abilities, however. These may be close to certain sports, but they will not be the same. All Athletic Abilities are based on Physical Aptitude.
Climbing
The ability to climb steep surfaces, from trees to walls to mountains.
Dodging
The ability to get out of the way of something moving quickly towards you. Includes dodging blows, falling trees, and panicked horses.
Hiking
The ability to travel long distances on foot. Includes knowledge of how to pace yourself so as not to get too tired, as well as sheer endurance.
Jumping
The ability to jump long distances, whether horizontally or vertically.
Running
The trained ability to run fast, and for long periods.
Swimming
The ability to stay afloat and propel yourself through water. Also allows you to swim under water for as long as you can hold your breath.

Combat Abilities

Combat Abilities should be styles. Each style covers the techniques taught in a specific military culture, and will either be armed, unarmed, or ranged, and mounted or foot. No style is all three, although a military culture will probably teach more than one style. Further, any style that involves weapons will most likely cover several types of weapon. A warrior can only use that style with an appropriate weapon. Almost all combat skills are based on Physical Aptitude.

Craft Abilities

Craft abilities cover the production of manufactured items, everything from clothes to houses. They also cover utilitarian design: a house that won't fall over easily, or clothes that fit. Good aesthetic design would require an artistic ability in addition. The listed craft abilities are only examples. Most are based on Mental Aptitude.
Armourer
Armour and weapons, of whatever material.
Blacksmith
Iron items for general use: horseshoes, ploughshares, nails, and similar.
Bookbinder
Includes the manufacture of the pages and cover, as well as putting the two together.
Tailor
Making clothes from cloth of various sorts. Does not include leather clothes, or working with fur.

Endurance Abilities

Endurance abilities let a character continue with a course of action despite opposition. They are based on different aptitudes, depending on the type of endurance in question.
Concentration
The ability to keep at a mental task for long periods of time, despite distractions and boredom. Mental.
Endurance
The ability to engage in heavy physical work for a long period of time. Physical.
Willpower
The ability to stand your ground in social situations, and not get swept away by enticements. Social.

Farming Abilities

Until the nineteenth century, farming occupied 90% of the population. It is important at all periods, at least until food can be produced in factories.
Animal Handling
Dealing with domesticated animals on a personal basis. This compares with Social Abilities, while Pastoral Farming is more like Organisational. Social.
Arable Farming
Farming crops that you plant and harvest every year. Covers vegetable gardens as well as fields of wheat. Mental.
Orchard Farming
Farming crops that you plant once a century or so, and then pull the fruit off. Covers fruit orchards and vineyards. Mental.
Pastoral Farming
Farming animals, whether cows, sheep, pigs, or chickens. Mental.
Ride (animal)
The ability to ride a specific kind of animal. Also possessed by a lot of people who aren't farmers. Physical.
Weather Sense
The ability to forecast the weather a few days in advance. Also useful to wilderness types and sailors. Mental.

Intellectual Abilities

These abilities cover the adjuncts of scholarship: vital skills which are not, really, knowledges. They are all based on Mental Aptitude.
Debate
Carrying on an intellectual argument, where matters of personality do not count, and all the weight is on the quality of the arguments. Use Oratory or Persuade for the other sort.
Lecturing
The ability to give lectures to large numbers of people, and have them learn from it. There is no limit, other than the volume of your voice, to the number of people you can teach, but you must halve your Lecturing score before adding it into the Improvement Total.
Research
The ability to find information in a library or from other scholars. Assumes that no-one is actively concealing the information: you just need to ask the right questions. Note that it is amazing what people do not actively conceal...
Scribe (script)
The ability to write in a single script. As long as the script corresponds to sounds, you can write any language in it. Ideographic scripts are a more complex case, and their versatility will depend on the circumstances.
Speak Language
The ability to speak a language. Characters should really have a score of at least 10 in their native language.
Training
Acting as a trainer, as per the improvement rules, to a single person. The trainer must have a higher score in the taught ability than the trainee.

Knowledge Abilities

There are a vast number of possible knowledges, and the examples below are of possible types rather than of specific possibilities. They are all based on Mental Aptitude.
Academic Knowledges
Useless knowledge: things like history and pure mathematics, which are lacking in immediate application. Of course, this information may turn out to be very useful in certain circumstances, and some characters just want to learn.
Area Knowledges
These knowledges would cover the personalities, geography, and recent history of a specified area. The level of detail would depend on both the level of the ability and the size of the area. The 'area' might be an organisation or people, rather than an actual physical area.
Natural Knowledges
Knowledge of a certain aspect of nature, such as plants, or animals, or stones.
Medical Knowledges
Include first aid, which has a multiplier of two, and more arcane medical skills, such as diagnosis, surgery, and disease treatment.
Professional Knowledges
These are possessed by almost all people, and cover the things that they need to know to do their jobs. For a merchant, it would include the going rates for various things, and what to look for in goods, while for a farmer it would include going rates, types of crop available, and the like. Some of this may be covered by other abilities, and this knowledge may be assigned a lower multiplier at the GM's discretion.

Maritime Abilities

These abilities cover things that you do on the water, whether river or sea. Note that Weather Sense (Farming) and Navigate (Wilderness) will also be very useful to sailors. There is a persistent rumour in RPGs that medieval sailors could not swim. I am dubious, being disinclined to attribute idiocy to any sector of medieval society.
Crew Ship
The general abilities required to serve as crew on a sailing vessel, or a galley. Physical.
Pilot
The ability to guide a ship through dangerous water. Distinct from navigate: you are not trying to get anywhere in particular, merely trying to avoid sinking or grounding. Mental.
Row Boat
Rowing, steering, and generally handling a rowing boat. Much, much smaller than a ship. Physical.
Sail Boat
Handling a sailing boat. Again, smaller than a ship. Physical.
Swim
Not drowning. Physical.

Organisational Abilities

These abilities cover dealing with large groups of people, and getting them to do what you want.
Administration
The ability to manage a large organisation, keeping records and accounts and organising rotas. This ability keeps an organisation running under normal circumstances: Leadership allows changes of tack, and sets the priorities for the administration. Mental.
Leadership
The ability to give instructions that will be obeyed, and the ability to pick achievable goals and the means to those ends. Social.
Oratory
Giving speeches to crowds. These speeches rely mainly on stirring up emotions. This ability also covers basic theatrics: processions, stages, slogans and the like. Social.
Politics
Keeping track of the likes and disliked of people within an organisation, and the ability to manipulate them to get your aims satisfied. This does not require any social abilities, as you can play people off against one another. Social abilities will, however, help. Social.

Perception Abilities

These abilities govern the character's ability to find or notice things.
Awareness
The ability to notice things when you aren't particularly looking for them. Mental.
Empathy
The ability to figure out what someone is thinking or feeling from non-verbal and verbal cues. Social.
Evaluate
The ability to decide how much something is worth. This partly depends on the local market, but is as much an assessment of the buyer or seller: it lets you decide how much they think it is worth, and how much other people are likely to be willing to pay. Social.
Search
The ability ot find things that you are looking for, whether in a physical search, or simply by looking carefully from a distance. Mental.

Performance Abilities

These abilities are primarily of use for putting on a show and earning a living. Some of them can be used for other purposes, however. Most of them are specific to a culture, although this is mainly a matter of style: people often find another culture's songs and dances entertaining, and enjoy translations of their plays.
Acrobatics
Tumbling, tightrope walking, and similar. Physical.
Act
The ability to act convincingly in a play. Also covers the ability to improvise. Social.
Comedian
The ability to keep an audience laughing. Covers joke telling, slapstick, and monologues, but not full-blown comic plays. Social.
Dance
Covers social dancing as well as performance dance, and is specific to a culture. Physical.
Play (Instrument Type)
The ability to play a type of instrument. These will vary from culture to culture, but will often include plucked and bowed string instruments, woodwind and brass, and percussion and keyboard. Physical.
Sing
The ability to hold a tune and sing it pleasantly. Physical.
Sleight of Hand
Conjuring tricks, but also the ability to pick pockets. Physical.

Social Abilities

These abilities cover interactions with other people, and are based on Social Aptitude. Most of them refer to one-on-one situations, but can be used in small groups: see Organisational Abilities for larger groups.
Bargain
Haggling over prices, whether expressed in money or in barter. Can be used for any sort of exchange, no matter how refined.
Charm
Ingratiating yourself with another person. If used successfully, it makes most other social contests easier.
Guile
Various kinds of dishonesty: outright lying, con tricks, feigning emotions, and the like. Can be used to limit other abilities if a character is being dishonest (i.e., the other ability cannot be used at a higher level than Guile).
Interrogate
The ability to guide a conversation in proper directions, make small talk, and get people to reveal things that, perhaps, they wouldn't. All without giving the impression that you are trying to know. Also the ability to get ask the right questions when you are being open about it. Often combined with Charm and Guile in the first case, and with Intimidate in the second.
Intimidate
Making someone scared of you. Can be based on any characteristic, depending on the kind of intimidation.
Persuade
Convincing someone to do something. This is not really based on rational argument, although a good reason will help.

Vehicle Abilities

Each ability should cover one broad type of vehicle. Thus, chariots and carts are different, because chariots have two wheels and carts have four, but carts and carriages are close enough to be the same. Boats and ships are covered under Maritime Abilities, above. These may be based on Mental or Physical Aptitude, depending on the vehicle.

Wilderness Abilities

These abilities govern the ability to survive and prosper in the wilderness. Almost all may be specific to a broad type of terrain: temperate forest/woodland, alpine, swamp, desert, steppe, prairie, arctic, and littoral (sea coast) are sensible categories. However, the basic ability is assumed to apply in any terrain.
Foraging
The ability to find and gather food plants and fresh water. Mental.
Navigating
The ability to find your way about from landmarks and the position of the sun and stars. Mental.
Shelter
The ability to construct appropriate shelter, and to know when to use it. This is important in all environments, even the most benign. Mental.
Stealth
The ability to hide and move without being noticed. Physical.
Tracking
The ability to follow the trails left by people and animals. Mental.
Trapping
The ability to set traps for people and animals. Includes fishing. Mental.
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