Each person in this land has skills. What exactly is a skill. Well it is something which allows a person to be good at something or have some knowledge in. Does a person have to be skilled in something to attempt it? Well, no of course not. However they are more likely to succeed at something if they are already skilled in it. People can be skilled in a variety of of things, depending upon background. They can become skilled at something by learning about the skill they are interested in or by practise, practise, practise. Most people have a variety of skills learned over the years. Consider yourself as an example--how many skills do you possess?

A player character is more than a collection of combat modifiers. All characters have skills beyond the ones of their class or race. These are known as "non weapon proficiences" At first level, these are the skills your character picked up during their chilhood and any pre-adventuring training. They will help shape the background of your character and should be picked accordingly. Each NWP costs Character Points and the cost will often depend on the class of your character as many are aimed at specific classes or even races. Ask and I will let you know what the cost will be.

After first level, the NWP's will reflect the skills your character learns whilst adventuring and the choices you make should reflect that. New NWP's can be purchased using Character Points and old ones improved upon in the same way.

Not having a NWP doesn't mean you can't attempt that skill, likewise having the skill doesn't guarantee automatic success if it is used. Each NWP is related to a stat on the character sheet which determines what the base score that a character has in that NWP. Most of the time, if the task is simple, I won't even refer to that (hence the reason you may not even need the NWP). However, if the attempted task is a little more complex, then I'll roll against the number on the sheet. The skill range is from 0-20 for each NWP. Average for the starting skill level is 8. It costs 1 Character Point to raise the NWP 1 skill level. Below are the main NWP's which you can use to develop your character. New ons may be added so if you have any ideas for them, let me know.

All nonweapon proficiencies are available to all characters. Some nonweapon proficiencies are easier for certain character classes to learn, however.

Nonweapon proficiencies help determine the success of character actions beyond what is defined by the basic abilities of the character races and classes. They provide a useful gauge when a character tries to build a boat or behave properly at court. This frees the DM to think about more important parts of the story instead of little, perhaps even insignificant, details. Proficiencies can develop during the course of a game. Though characters will often start out with less likelihood of success when using proficiencies, they will have many opportunities to develop those skills beyond the limits inherent in the old ability score system.

Nonweapon proficiencies give a player character more depth. Used cleverly, they tell the player more about the personality and background of his character and give him more tools to work with. Applied judiciously and thoughtfully, nonweapon proficiencies vastly increase a character's role-playing potential. Beware, however, because nonweapon proficiencies can have exactly the opposite effect. They can become a crutch for players who are unwilling to role-play, an excuse not to develop a character's personality or history. Some players decide that proficiencies define everything the character knows; they make no effort to develop anything else. I hope to avoid this by encouraging players to dig deeper and explore the possibilities in their characters. I ask a player to explain why his character has specific proficiencies. What did that character do before becoming an adventurer? Questions like this stimulate players to delve into their characters' personalities and backgrounds. Bewarned - a characters history may haveno apparent intial effect on the campaign world, but may come into play further down the road..

If the characters' home base is a fishing village, the lists can be used to allow a character to learn swimming, sailing, fishing, and navigation. These are common skills among seafaring people. At the same time, characters, who come to this town from the nearby mountains, must devote time to learn those proficiencies. A youth spent in dry, solid tunnels hasn't prepared them for a life at sea. Instead, they may have learnt mining, gemcutting, and other stonework skills.

Players are encouraged to make intelligent and sensible choices for their characters, but not at the expense of role-playing. These are meant to be skills that aid roleplaying and not the be all and end all of the character.