TOMAGOMB Skills

Proficiences
TOMAGOMB Proficiencies enable a character to use a particular weapon or armor without penalty in combat. Being unproficient with a weapon incurs a -4 penalty to Dexterity while trying to fight. Being unproficient with armor means you suffer a penalty to Dexterity equal to the base AC bonus of the armor in question.

Proficiencies are grouped by classes, which are defined by the general type, size, form and material of the items. Each class covers a number of related weapons or armor. Short Blade would cover short swords, wakizashi, sword canes, etc. Similarly, Leather Class covers cuir bouilli, studded leather and armor made of hide. Some proficiencies are more specific; the item in question is either very unique or very hard to master.

(Improvised Weapons is also a proficiency; but I'm not sure how to edit this table without a collapse.)

See the section on items for more, specific information about weapons and armor.

Skills
In TOMAGOMB, many characters will have very little in the way of skills, and those characters probably don't have a great deal of use for them. If a Strength check or an attack roll earns you your supper and a way of life, why bother with anything more? That being said, many other characters, particularly rogues, assassins, bards and rangers, often depend on their skills to give them an edge. Other characters might have skills granted by either their race or simply a high M.A. score. After looking over the skills below, work with your GM to determine what would be most useful and fitting for your character if you're having trouble deciding. Skills are bought percent-for-point from your race, class, and M.A. bonuses. All skills have a baseline percentage equal to the governing stat for that skill though; for instance, Blacksmithing would start at a % equal to the character's Str score. The GM may always draw the line on untrained skill checks, saying that some skills cannot be used without spending at least 1% in the skill. At level 1, you have a cap of 40% in each skill unless your class description allows for more (rogues, assassins, bards and rangers do). After level 1, you have no cap on skills* and may raise them as high as you like. Your class progression of skill % gain / level doesn't start until level 2 (you already got your class bonus at 1st level), but M.A. skill gains begin at level 1.

Skill success happens when you roll equal to or under your skill, failure is when you roll above your skill percentage. When you roll a natural 01 on percentile dice, you critically succeed your skill check. A roll of 100 is a critical failure. Also, having a trained skill at 20% is considered bare minimum competency. This doesn't mean you're good at it, it means you can perform mundane day-to-day tasks involving that skill without embarrassing yourself. You must still roll the skill in times of stress or when failure entails great risk. Having less than 20% skill, even trained, means that the character must always roll the skill to use it, although under very mundane circumstances the GM may add up to +50% to the skill check and failure won't be drastic.

Characters who go above and beyond mastery of their skill can extend the number they critically succeed on, but criticals above 01 are "mini-crits," meaning they don't have quite the same amazing effects as a natural 01. (As an aside, the critical extension effect of 20 Luck causes 02 to act just like 01, so it's still nothing to sneeze at.) For every 10 skill over 100, not including equipment or non-permanent bonuses, you get a +1 critical extension for mini-crits. For example, Fritz "The Crits" Jenkins has 164% skill in Knowledge: Computers not counting the bonuses he gets from equipment. He gets major criticals on 01 as usual, but he also is 60+ over 100, so he gets mini-crits on 02 to 07. See each skill description for the effects of crits and mini-crits.

Regarding skill bonuses/penalties and the dreaded -x/5th penalties: apply any flat number bonus or penalty to your skill before subtracting fifths from the skill. Example: Devan the blacksmith has a special +10% skill bonus coming from a magic item that improves his base blacksmithing skill of 110% to a total of 120%. However, he's trying to work with mithril, which poses a -1/5th skill penalty. On top of all that, the chaos mage thought he'd try to help Devan out, but ended up giving him a -5% skill penalty with the spell Randomize Skills. The correct order is to take his base skill, make all numerical additions and subtractions (so, 110 + 10 - 5 = 115% skill) then apply the -1/5th penalty last (so, 115 x 0.8 = 92). Devan still has excellent odds of working that mithril.

The skills below are grouped by category, not restriction; anyone can take any skill if they have the skill points free! As a final note, in regards to Performance vs. Craft skills in terms of monetary income: yes, Craft skills will end up paying better, even slower, worse-paying skills like Tailoring or Cobbler. However, the drawback to craft skills is that you generally require a workshop which houses a host of tools, a selection of wares, and storage of raw materials. This not only requires more initial investment, but anchors you to a given area, whereas a performer is free to roam and sing for his supper. That being said, a campaign centered in a given town for many sessions might find the performer at a disadvantage and looking for work. If this is the case, consider that the performer can apply his talent to teaching others and still draw approximately the same income. Craft skilled characters might also (depending on the trade) be able to travel with a mule-driven cart and have a mobile shop; nevertheless, it's still one more thing to keep up with and get stolen. For all these reasons, Performance should be relatively fair for its freedom compared to the Craft skills. In any case, the GM should be paying attention to two factors: fairness and realism.

*(Skill testing is in the works; someday there may be a level-based cap. Just a thoughtful warning.)

Lockpicking/Disable Traps
Governing Stat: Dexterity

This skill is certainly a potent one, used to disable mechanical devices. As for traps, this skill can even allow one to disable a magical trap, though usually at some deficit (defaults to -10% per CPD of the effect). Otherwise, a regular skill check allows one to disable most mechanical devices. Sometimes the GM will increase or decrease the difficulty depending on the device. One action is usually sufficient to disable a lock, two actions (a full round) for mechanical traps, and 4 actions (two full rounds) for magical traps or extremely complex devices, sometimes even more if made by gnomes. Failure on this roll means you can't open the lock or disable the device, and failure by more than 15% means you've sprung the trap if applicable. Critical success on this skill means you lowered the time to a free action and even know exactly how it works and how to set the device back the way it was before. A mini-crit lowers the time to a main action minimum, and you know how the device works and can set it back the way it was before. Critical failure should be something appropriately disastrous, such as a Luck roll to determine how loud you are, or the machine's chance of a critical trap damage. Finally, if you are attempting to perform this skill quietly, that check keys off your Stealth skill, not your Lockpicking/Disable Traps skill (you make the Stealth check in addition to your Lockpicking/Disable Traps), though the GM may add difficulty modifiers depending on the situation. Special Note: You need a regular perception check to notice a trap before you can disarm it.

Performance
Governing Stat: Mental Aptitude

When you take performance, choose a set of talents that are interrelated, such as Dance and Acrobatics, Juggling and Sleight of Hand, Oration and Storytelling, Singing and Poetry, Stringed Instruments, Woodwind Instruments, Brass Instruments, Percussion Instruments, etc. A success indicates the audience likes your performance (the GM may add modifiers depending on the audience's mood and setting), and you earn a free meal, a night's stay, and 1d6 copper pieces per full 10 points of your success in a moderately-sized tavern setting. In a small or sparsely populated tavern, a free meal, a night's stay, and 1d6 copper pieces per full 20 or 30 points of skill you made is all you're looking to get. In a very large tavern or crowded market square, you might instead earn 1d10 copper per full 10 points you succeeded by, minimum 1d10 for any success. For a concert (if you've gained such popularity) you earn a minimum of 3d6 silver coins for success, and an extra 1d6 silver per 10 points of success (the GM can always increase this if your concerts are getting more and more successful). However, every night you perform in the same location gives a -1/5th penalty to your Performance score, unless you're performing something continuous (like an epic) or something different (singing to storytelling). Failure in any of these settings means you earn nothing at all (maybe a little pity). Critical success in any of these settings upgrades the coin type by one grade and you get the maximum result! Your popularity increases as well. A mini-crit upgrades the coin type by one grade, but you still roll the result; also, your popularity increases. Critical failure means you are booed off the stage and get rotten fruit thrown at you, and your popularity decreases.

If you combine multiple types of performance (Singing and Stringed Instruments, Poetry and Percussion, Acrobatics and Juggling, etc., just keep it reasonable) then roll two separate perform checks. If you succeed at both, you rake in the money from both skills and gain a little popularity. If you fail at one, you actually make 50% less from your success at the other skill. If you fail at both, you get booed and guffawed and lose popularity. Also, performance sometimes can be used in other ways, such as lulling a creature with low M.A. into not attacking your party, or used in place of a Subterfuge check to get NPCs to like you better. Be creative!

Pickpocket
Governing Stat: Dexterity

This skill allows you to snatch up items that others are carrying. For game purposes, any item weighing 2 lbs. or less can be pickpocketed normally, and an obvious coinpurse up to 2 times this weight can be taken successfully without penalty. Items weighing 3-4 lbs. gives you -1/5th skill, 5-6 lbs. gives -2/5ths, 7-8 lbs. gives -3/5ths, and any item weighing 9 lbs. or more gives a -4/5ths to your skill. On a success you get the item, and the perception roll to spot you works the same as Stealth. On a failure, not only do you not get the item, but the subject has a perception roll to spot you and even gets a +1 for each full +10% you failed by! Critical success means you can pickpocket an item of any size undetected. On a mini-crit, you can still get an item of any size, and opposing Perception rolls are penalized an additional -3, though critical Perception rolls still detect you. Critical failure means you are automatically detected.

Subterfuge
Governing Stat: Mental Aptitude

This skill allows you to disguise yourself, to lie outright, to diplomatically maneuver and even to seduce others. Subterfuge covers a vast array of the more personality-based manipulation, but it's not for everyone. When performing one of the above tasks, you roll Subterfuge and the defender makes a perception check just like the Stealth description (-1 perception for every 10% you succeeded by). If you succeed, it indicates that they bought the disguise, or the lie, or concede your point in debate and like you a bit better, or are intrigued by your proposition. Failure indicates they see through the disguise or lie, or don't change their mind, or aren't interested in you. A critical success means you might gain additional information from the subject or are particularly in their favor in addition to your success. A mini-crit is about the same as a normal critical for Subterfuge, with a little bit less effect. A critical failure means the subject grows more hostile towards you in addition to your failure.

Stealth
Governing Stat: Dexterity

This skill is useful to nearly anyone who isn't wearing a lot of metal armor. Making a stealth check works as such: you spend an action of your round to duck into some cubbyhole, nook, shadow, or other handy place and can begin traveling quietly during your second action (if you desire) at half your normal speed. Moving up to normal walking speed has a -1/5th stealth penalty, jogging is -2/5ths, run encumbered is -3/5ths and all-out running is -4/5ths. If your stealth check succeeds, count how many times you beat your Stealth by a full 10 percent. The number of times you beat by 10% is subtracted from your enemies' perception check. For instance: D'jumi Ooomboulos the level 1 bedkip assassin has 70% stealth. He moves slowly to get full effect, and rolls 42% on his percentile dice. He beat his Stealth by 28%, which counts a full 10% twice, so his enemies take a -2 penalty to M.A. for perception against his stealth. A critical perception check always finds you, unless you critically succeeded on Stealth. Critical stealth checks make you completely undetectable even to special forms of perception until you perform some action other than moving that could give you away, such as using another skill or attacking. On a mini-crit, Perception checks take an additional -3, though critical Perception checks still find you. Critical failure means you not only failed to be stealthy, but you have no idea just how obvious you are to spot and hear.

Knowledge Skills
Governing Stat for all Knowledges: Mental Aptitude



Knowledge: Anatomy
This detached and morbid science gives one insights into the inner workings of all types of organisms. You can actually remove someone's liver, because you know where it is (honestly, they're not that easy to find!). You can answer medical questions and find magical reagents faster without destroying valuable organs of various creatures. Finally, one nice side benefit of this knowledge is your adeptness at healing others. Anyone can wrap a bandage (it's assumed to be part of an adventurer's training), but not everyone can necessarily set a bone properly, or perform some levels of surgery. On a successful skill check, you heal the subject for 1 point of damage per 10 skill points of success, minimum 1 extra healing. Failure is no worse than any other schmuck would bind a bandage on for. Critical success doubles the healing you would otherwise have accomplished. A mini-crit heals 50% more than you would have otherwise, rounded up. Critical failure means you botched the healing for 1 damage per 10 points missed by, minimum 1 damage dealt.

Knowledge: Arcana
This vast knowledge covers all things of a non-divine magical nature on the material plane (and some specifics of how the planes work in a vague fashion). This knowledge can help you to analyze mystical forces, can give you guesses as to a magical item's true nature, and assist in areas such as spell identification and what the aether is capable of (spell creation). The GM will in general provide the specifics of successes and failures. Critical success will cut your research time to mere minutes or hours, or you instantly have the best answer to a quick problem, or identify all properties of a magic item. A mini-crit is just about as good here, use the GM's best judgment. Critical failure means you get entirely the wrong idea about the subject at hand, or item, or actually mislearn or miscreate a spell and have a version that produces some other effect, generally not a good effect.

Knowledge: Bestiary
This knowledge allows you to identify the various monsters you come across. Identifying regular animals with this skill receives a +20% skill bonus! Other humanoids, monstrous humanoids, and things native to the material plane work on the skill check as normal. Aberrations have a -1/5th skill penalty, and outsiders have a -2/5ths skill penalty. Anything more bizarre or alien than that has anywhere from a -3/5ths to -4/5ths skill penalty, or might not be knowable at all. This is a GM judgment call. Successful identification means you know what the creature is and its most common attributes (its best stats, obvious weaknesses, modes of movement, common languages, spellcasting ability, etc.). Failure means you don't know. Critical success means the GM actually shares with you the creature's specifics. A mini-crit will get you most of a creature's specifics; the GM will add to the information you would normally get on a success but occasionally leave out a few details or secret features. Critical failure means you totally misidentify the creature, preferably with something somewhat feasible but wholly wrong. "No, that's not an Abominable Snowman, it's a Frozen Wastes-variety polar bear. Dangerous, but not too clever." The GM may make up false specifics that you believe to be true about the creature until proven otherwise.

Knowledge: Nature
This skill allows you to answer questions about the natural world, from geology and basic physics to botany and zoology. You can identify poisons, figure out if the drinking water is clean, identify any natural plants and animals and make guesses as to those that aren't (you add Knowledge: Nature to Knowledge: Bestiary when identifying plant and animal monsters), find the cardinal directions in natural settings, survive in the wilderness, and other related tasks. This is an excellent skill to take as a druid or ranger, though there are some that exist that respect the natural world without really knowing much about it.



Knowledge: the Planes
This is a general knowledge of how the aether interacts with other planes of existence (as well as your own). You will be able to answer questions regarding broad knowledge of the planes in general, analyze portals and identify otherworldly spells, creatures and items (add your Knowledge: the Planes to your Knowledge: Bestiary when identifying outsiders and summoned creatures, and add 1/5th of your Knowledge: Arcana to your Knowledge: the Planes when identifying portals, spells and items this way), and generally be a know-it-all regarding basic planar information (such as coterminous planes). However, you will not know anything beyond the most renowned figures of a given plane, only be aware of the most significant locations on a given plane, etc., unless you specialize. For instance, if you take Knowledge: the Abyss, you might be able to identify a specific layer you've been stranded on, even if it's a seldom-visited or known layer. You would double your skill to identify demons (!) but halve your skill to answer questions about other planes and other outsiders (unless you had more appropriate knowledges, such as some basic Knowledge: the Planes to fall back on). This level of specialization is for the few and the crazy, as planar travel is difficult and dangerous (and rare), but it is an option.

Knowledge: Psionics
Similar to Knowledge: Arcana, but more specialized. Don't delve into this skill unless you're sure you need to know. That being said, it often gives you an insight into certain types of creatures that are otherwise sometimes baffling even to Knowledge: Bestiary (add your Knowledge: Psionics skill to Knowledge: Bestiary when identifying psionic creatures), and allows a non-psion to identify psionic powers being used. It largely depends upon the campaign setting, so ask your GM before taking this skill.

Knowledge: Religion
This skill will answer questions you have about various religious customs, the nature of different faiths, the portfolios and personas of different deities, and even possibly delve into the nature of divinity. This is a specialized skill, but sometimes a very, very important one, as the gods are certainly real and their zealous worshipers often cross paths with adventurers.

More knowledges can be added, of course, this is just a scattering of the vast array of knowledges available.

Alchemy
Governing Stat: Mental Aptitude

This skill can be used to craft various lotions, salves, powders, ointments, potions and elixirs. A touch of magic helps a lot - you take a -1/2 deficit to skill if your character has no Life Spirit or Piety! That being said, certain potions can be brewed at no deficit even without magical talent, such as a minor, lesser or regular healing potion. Other potions, mana potions in particular, require some magical connection to brew. When brewing up a specific potion, you spend money towards raw ingredients equal to 70% of the base cost of the item, and the progress you make daily towards a specific potion batch is 1gp per 2% of your success (for instance, a minor healing potion would cost you 10 gp and 5 sp in raw materials, so if you succeeded by 42% on your Alchemy check for the day, you would complete 2 minor healing potions at a 21 gp value). Unfinished work carries over from day to day. Failure means you get no further in your potion brewing, and failure by more than 20% means you actually waste raw materials equal to 1 sp per point beyond 20%. A critical success doubles your output and allows you to brew at 50% of the normal price! A mini-crit still doubles your output, and lets you brew at 75% of the normal price. A critical failure means you waste double the usual amount of materials, minimum 5 gp, and any work carried over from a previous day is wasted.

You can also brew little trivial salves and ointments and potions that have a slight but minimal effect, which range in base price from 1 sp (snake oil, etc.) up to 5 or even 10 gp (treatments for various minor ailments, such as headache, stomachache, rash, infection, the common cold, scurvy, flagging sex drive, etc.). The GM will determine what price each is likely to fetch and how costly the ingredients are, but in general these potions cost 50% of their base cost in raw materials. They make up your day-to-day income, your bread and butter. Magical potions that duplicate a spell effect should use the pricing table in the Tomagomb Items magic section, with raw materials worth 70% of the potion's base price.

Blacksmithing
Governing Stat: Strength

Blacksmithing is a wide range of talent in TOMAGOMB, allowing you to make and repair virtually any nonprecious metal item (including mithril, though at a -1/5th penalty). Silver, gold, platinum, etc. will generally be handled by jewelcrafters, so you would be at a -2/5ths skill penalty when working in these materials. Among the items you can work in are tools, equipment, weapons and armor. While most blacksmiths will make their living forging up plowshares and horseshoes, all should have at least a passing knowledge of repairing weapons and armor as well. However, you might not want to order a brand new sword from the village smith if he's used to making nothing sharper than sickles and wood axes, as he's likely to take a long time and forge something less than beautiful. Larger towns generally will have at least one competent smith who can gear up adventurers.

To create your own items, you spend 50% of the item's base price in materials and begin to forge, completing 1 sp of work per 1% you succeeded by per day. Failure by more than 20% means you waste 1 cp of raw materials per 1% beyond 20%. Critical success doubles your normal amount made in a given day. A mini-crit increases your output by 50%, rounded up to the nearest silver. Critical failure means you waste double the normal raw materials, at least 5 sp, and any work that was carrying over is wasted. Smithing takes longer than some skills for its results, but the results are undeniably in demand. Repairing items, on the other hand, is much faster. You spend virtually nothing on raw materials (a little coal, or a patch of steel), costing you only 1d6-1 sp (or the GM can dictate the exact amount). Minor repairs (knicks, dings, small dents, chips, etc.) only require one skill check per hour to fix, success indicates you forge out the dents and repair the item, charging double your raw materials cost, minimum 2 sp (unless you're fixing your friends' gear for free). Moderate to major repairs may cost raw materials of 2d6 sp (but never above the base item's raw materials, such as a dagger), and require one skill check per day. As long as you succeeded by enough to cover the raw materials, the item is fixed, but the standard fee goes up to triple the raw materials cost for time spent (but never above the price of the base item total; items this cheap also take less time to fix).

Bowyer/Fletcher
Governing Stat: Dexterity

A bowyer is simply a person who crafts bows, and a fletcher a person who crafts arrows. Combined, this creates a fairly lucrative profession, and can even extend to crafting crossbows and bolts. Exotic woods subtract -1/5th skill, and any alien substance capable of producing a bow that isn't wood subtracts -2/5ths or more skill. Unlike some items, bows and arrows can't usually be repaired at all; this is why most prefer to switch out weapons for melee combat. The creation process is otherwise similar to Blacksmithing, except for attempting to craft a mighty bow.

To craft a mighty bow, you must have bowyer/fletcher skill overmastered (101% or more). The bow must be mastercrafted in addition to the mighty crafting during creation. You must inspect the subject who will be buying the bow, taking an hour and a successful M.A. check (critical success halves the time and gives you +10% skill to craft their bow; critical failure doubles the time on the first inspection). A failed check will require another hour and a successful check. During this time, you will have them demonstrate their stance, measure them (much like a tailor in some ways, but not in others), and watch them test-fire 100 arrows (included in the cost of creation for one inspection, further sets might need to be purchased). A particularly nice piece of wood must be procured, included in the cost but possibly difficult to attain. Any critical failure ruins the project, so this is clearly an undertaking to craft. A wise bowyer will include terms in the contract in the event of a mishap, ensuring either the intent to craft another mighty bow or a refund for his time spent thus far. Beyond all of that, just treat the item as one that requires a lot more gold's worth of work to complete.

Leatherworking/Tanning
Governing Stat: Fortitude

A tanner is also a person in high demand in most sizable towns. Tanners can make or fix any item made of leather or animal hide (even dragonhide, though for working the scales see a smith). Exotic animal hides subtract -1/5th skill, and exceptionally exotic hides (dragons, demons, etc.) subtract -2/5ths. Other than the Strength modifiers, Tanning follows much the same rules as Blacksmithing. The primary difference, therefore, is that since leather items generally are cheaper, the Tanner produces more items that are less valuable individually. Subtract one silver from the cost of materials for repair prices (always with a minimum charge of 2 silver for labor).

There are definitely more craft skills on the way! To be continued...

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