Part 1: The Basics ☰
In I&A, there are three types of skills: Action Skills, Tool Skills, and Weapon Skills. Action Skills are skills that are used to perform certain actions, such as climbing, stealing, sneaking, performing, etc. Tool Skills measure one’s familiarity and talent with a specific set of tools, such as Art Supplies or Woodcarving Kits. Weapon Skills are skills that directly relate to the use of certain types of weapons, e.g. Small, Polearm, Exotic, etc. But how does one become adept in these skills, and how does a character’s adeptness in a given skill result in their ability to meet the challenges presented to them?
Adeptness with a specific skill is referred to as proficiency: for Action and Tool Skills, it increases through the use of Skill Points, or SP, and it takes 1 SP for proficiency with an Action or Tool Skill to increase by 1. Proficiency with Weapon Skills, on the other hand, increases as characters gain levels, as shown in the tables below.
To give a better idea of what each level of proficiency means, a descriptor is given here for each level of proficiency:
0: Novice. You have no knowledge of what you're doing or how to do it. 1: Amateur. You have some basic knowledge of what you're doing but you're still very inexperienced and unfamiliar with it. 2: Journeyman. You've achieved a measure of competency with what you're doing, enough to perform some difficult tasks when the stars align just right. 3: Adept. You're starting to get pretty good with what you're doing, and on a good day can succeed at harder tasks. 4: Expert. You're very, very good at what you're doing, certainly better than almost everyone you've met. You're able to perform difficult tasks with some regularity. 5: Master. You are among the absolute best at what you're doing, and will rarely if ever meet anyone who is as good or better than you are. 6: Grandmaster. You have surpassed normal Sentient ability, and are truly the best at what you're doing. Though some tasks do present trials to you, you are still able to perform them with just a little bit of luck.It is worth noting that the above only applies to Sentients, and other creatures can go up to 10 in their proficiencies, like with Ability Scores.
When making an Action Skill check, roll a number of d10s equal to your proficiency in the given skill and add the appropriate Ability Score to the rolls (e.g. you add your DEX score when making a Sleight of Hand check). If you have 0 proficiency in a skill, roll a d10, half that number, and then add the appropriate score. Tool Skills are very similar, except that the bonus to the roll is not tied to a particular Ability Score and is instead up to your GM's discretion depending on what you are doing.
You can use 1 SP to increase proficiency with an Action or Tool Skill by 1, to a maximum of 5 unless otherwise stated by a special exception such as a class feature. At 1st level, each character starts with 1 proficiency in each Action Skill, and their Background (and possibly Heritage) will grant them proficiency in a few more; additionally, 1 SP is gained whenever you level up. The Spectrum of Success also applies to Action and Tool Skill checks.
For Weapon Skills, proficiency is a direct measure of how many damage dice you roll when attacking with a given weapon, but unlike Action Skills, every weapon has its own base damage die. If your proficiency with a weapon is 0, you roll the base damage die and divide the result by 2, then add your STR or DEX score, depending on the weapon; if your proficiency is > 1, you roll a number of damage dice equal to your proficiency then add your STR or DEX.
For example, let’s say Lailyn the Warrior has 3 proficiency with Medium weapons and 1 proficiency with Large weapons. On her turn in combat, she chooses to attack an Ork with her flail. A flail’s base damage is 1d6, but because Lailyn has 3 proficiency in Medium weapons, she would instead roll 3d6 and add her STR score to the result. On the other hand, if Lailyn chose to slash at the Ork with a claymore, she would instead roll the base 1d8 then add her STR.
Proficient Weapon Skill (PWS). Like with Action Skills, every character starts with 1 proficiency in every Weapon Skill. However, at 1st Level, a character will select a single Weapon Skill (2 for Warriors) to gain proficiency in as they level up (except Elemancers, who by default gain proficiency in Elemancy); this Weapon Skill is referred to as their Proficient Weapon Skill (PWS). The table here shows how a character's proficiency in their Proficient Weapon Skill increases as they increase in level. When multi-classing, use your total number of levels when determining proficiency in your PWS (this does not apply to Elemancy Proficiency - only levels in Elemancer count for that).
| Total Level | PWS Proficiency |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 3 |
| 8 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 |
| 10 | 4 |
| Total Level | PWS Proficiency |
|---|---|
| 11 | 4 |
| 12 | 4 |
| 13 | 5 |
| 14 | 5 |
| 15 | 5 |
| 16 | 5 |
| 17 | 6 |
| 18 | 6 |
| 19 | 6 |
| 20 | 6 |
Skill Checks Using Weapons. In the event that a character attempts a non-combat related task using one of their weapons - such as using their ranged weapon to hit a far-away object - have the character roll a number of d10s equal to their proficiency with that weapon and then add the appropriate Ability Score, like you would with an Action Skill check.
Whenever the term advantage is used, it means that by some stroke of luck or fortunate circumstance, a character has gotten a particularly strong hit against an opponent or has some sort of situational expertise with the skill they are performing or the tools they are using. Mechanically, this means that half (rounded up) of the dice the player must roll are automatically taken at their highest value.
For example, say that Sandor the Warrior, who has 3 proficiency with Polearm weapons, decides to strike an unconscious enemy with his halberd. Normally, Sandor would roll 3d6 + his STR score to determine the damage he deals; however, because he has advantage, he instead rolls 1d6 + 12 + his STR.
Disadvantage is very similar conceptually, except that half (rounded up) of the dice to be rolled are automatically taken at their lowest value. To extend on the above example, this would mean that Sandor instead deals 1d6 + 2 + his STR score damage.
Should a character have both advantage and disadvantage in a situation, they cancel each other out and the rolls are made normally. If they have multiple sources of advantage, all of the dice they would normally roll are taken at their highest value, while if they have multiple sources of disadvantage, all of the dice they would normally roll are taken at their lowest value.