Skill Tiers
Novice > Adept > Master
When increasing expertise skills, some unlock special abilities based on that skill. There are three tiers: Novice, Adept, and Master. Each tier can provide a bonus to the skill. Depending on the skill depends on which tiers provide bonuses and what those bonuses are.
To achieve these tiers, you must increase your skills to specific amounts. Novice tier is achieved when the skill’s total reaches four. Adept tier is when the skill’s total reaches eight and Master tier is it reaches sixteen.
Novice Tier = Skill Total of 4
Adept Tier = Skill Total of 8
Master Tier = Skill Total of 16
Tiers are also a good way to determine how skilled or talented you are in a specific skill. Are you a novice still in acrobatics? Or have you become adept with one-handed weapons? Your tier in those skills will help show how skilled you really are; regardless as to if they give bonuses.
+1 Bonus
There are bonuses for skills at different tiers. Basic skills get a bonus at adept tier while offensive combat skills get it at Master tier except for guns and martial arts.
Armor Proficiency
Whether you are wearing heavy armor or light armor, you need to understand how they function when worn. Without this knowledge, it makes wearing them for protection difficult and gives penalties. However, having your armor skill (Heavy Armor or Light Armor) at Novice tier shows you know how armor functions. It removes any penalties caused from inexperience, particularly the statistic penalty. See Equipment Requirements in the Marketplace chapter.
Channeling Skills
The ability to channel energy into spell effects and other abilities is a powerful and majestic feat. As you develop those powers, your memory and aim also improve. At Adept tier, you unlock the ability to memorize one additional spell. At master tier you unlock the ability to partake in channeling fusion spells.
If you upgrade an untrained channeling skill to an educated or wild expertise skill, you get a new spell within your channeling limit. This is only gained once per skill, regardless of if the skill is educated or wild.
Chain Increment
All skills under the basic section have their increments to chain rolls increased by one at master tiers. So, if you have your harvest skill at master tier, it chains when a 9-10 is rolled.
This stacks with other abilities that increases chain increments of basic skills. Skills can't chain more than the limit mentioned in the game rules, regardless of the size of the chain increment.
Compressed Ready
Once your archery or gun skills reach novice tier, you have had enough training to know how to make attacks in close combat. If the ranged weapon is not a long arm, long bow, or thrown weapon, it can make an advantage attack against targets who are only five feet from you.
Critical Defense (Dodge)
The ability to avoid incoming attacks can be a truly lifesaving ability. When you improve your dodge skill to novice, you unlock the Critical Defense ability. With this ability, you can avoid all attacks—including critical strikes—when the die roll is within the critical defense range (twelve at novice tier) during your defense roll. Your chance of success continues to improve at adept and master tier as the Critical Defense range increases by one per tier. So, at adept tier, your Critical Defense range becomes eleven to twelve (11-12) and at Master tier it increases to ten to twelve (10-12).
The Critical Defense range stacks with other abilities that increase its range but cannot exceed eight to twelve (8-12).
Critical Finesse
At adept tier and master tier, you unlock improved critical strike chance with a specific type of weapon. Each tier increases the critical strike range of that weapon type by one (if the original range is 10, then adept would be 9-10 and master would increase it to 8-10). Regardless, if your critical range is increased through skill tiers or the Improved Critical Strike mastery the range cannot exceed 7-10.
The type of weapon must be related to the skill that has reached adept tier and once the type has been selected, it cannot be changed nor can a new type be taken at master tier. Both tier increases apply to the type of weapon you chose at adept tier per skill. The critical strike range increase also only applies when using the associate skill with the chosen weapon type. For example, the two-handed skill at adept tier can increase the critical strike range of great weapons or polearms as most either require two hands the wield or can be used with two hands. If you use a two-handed weapon with one hand, you lose the two-handed skill and your critical hit chance is based on your one-handed or off-hand weapon skill (if also adept tier).
If you can wield a two-handed weapon single handed (Ambidextrous mastery) you can choose that weapons type for your one-handed or off-hand critical strike increase once one (or both) reaches adept tier. This allows you the increased critical strike range when wielding the two-handed weapon, one handed but not when wielded it two-handed (unless your two-handed skill is adept, and the same type was also chosen).
Martial Arts function differently than weapons because it is its own type. It does not get an increase at adept tier but gains it at master tier.
This also applies to the combat skills that use ranged weapons. Such as choosing bows or crossbows when your archery skill reaches adept. Or guns which use Long Arms, Short Arms, or Burst Blades. Most throwing weapons are based on their melee counterparts.
Damage Chaining
At master tier, the base damage die of the weapon used with these skills has its chain increment increased by one. So, a longsword with a base damage die of 1d8 would chain when a 7 or 8 is rolled.
Damage Reduction
Heavy and light armor gives their wearers extra protection from damage. This extra protection comes in the form of soaking up part of the damage when successfully struck. As you increase your skill with armor that damage reduction increases. At Adept and Master tiers your armor’s damage reduction increases by two per tier. So, if you have a generic cuirass that originally gives six damage reduction when you achieve Adept tier in heavy armor it increases to eight. Likewise, if you achieve master tier of heavy armor its damage reduction increases to ten.
Disciple
You have received special training in the way of martial arts. Through this training, you have developed a mindset that unlocks the potential for more advanced teachings. Your training has included the knowledge to punch, kick, or use other parts of your body to attack. Your damage to martial art attacks is now 1d6 plus might.
Elementary Spell
Expertise Channeling skills work together to unlock elementary spells at each tier. When one of your channeling skills reaches a skill tier, you unlock one elementary spell. This elementary spell can either be one you already have that isn’t an elementary spell but can be turned into one or a new spell. However, you can only gain a maximum of three elementary spells through skill tiers. That is one elementary spell per skill tier but is not per channeling skill.
For Example, you choose Chrono and Gaia as your expertise channeling skills. Your Chrono skill reaches Novice tier and unlocks one elementary spell. Later, you focus on your Gaia skill and it reaches adept, unlocking the second elementary spell. Since your Chrono skill unlocked the novice tier elementary spell, your Gaia skill won’t unlock another one at novice tier. Then even later your Chrono skill reaches Master and your third elementary spell is unlocked. When your Chrono skill reaches Adept, it won’t unlock another elementary spell because your Gaia skill already unlocked it.
Energetically Ready
The more you train with your elementary spells, the quicker you become with channeling them. Select one elementary spell associated with the channeling skill that has reached adept tier; that spell can be channeled as an advantage attack. When channeling the spell in this way, you do not provoke an advantage attack for channeling a ranged spell in melee range. The elementary spell cannot be boosted or enhanced when used as an advantage attack.
This ability is unlocked each time a channel skill reaches adept tier, but it is only applied to the energy type of the channeling skill. Therefore, if your Chrono skill reaches adept, you can select a Chrono elementary spell to be used as an advantage attack. Later, if your Gaia channeling skill reaches adept, you can select a Gaia elementary spell to be used for advantage attacks. This gives you two options for an advantage attack in the same way a fighter can have multiple weapons to choose from.
If the elementary spell is an open spell, only the energy type that is at adept skill tier can be used with this ability.
Extra Actions
As your skills improve, you learn how to optimize the speed and time; they take to perform. While this does not lower the action cost skills require, it gives you more actions to use. The first two times any skills reach Adept tier you gain an additional action up to a maximum of five total actions. So, if your apothecary skill becomes an Adept skill, your total actions per round increases to four. Then sometime later your one-handed skill becomes Adept your total actions per round increases again to five. From here on, any skills that increase to adept do not unlock more actions.
1st 2 Skills to Reach Adept, Each Unlocks +1 Action
These extra actions can be used on anything you would normally use them for except attacks. To use the additional actions to make additional attacks, you must get the combat skill to Adept tier. Getting them to the Adept tier unlocks the ability for extra attacks.
Extra Attacks Unlocked
As your combat skills increase, your tactics improve and you discover better ways to wield your weapons. With that comes speed and optimal striking power, which gives you the ability to make additional attacks.The extra attacks can only be used with combat skills that have reached adept tier. So, if you have your one-handed attack to adept and unlocked not only the extra actions but also the extra attack ability, you now have enough actions to make two attacks in a row with the same weapon. However, picking up a claymore—for this example, your two-handed skill is not adept tier—you wouldn’t be able to use the bonus actions for two claymore attacks in a row. See combat in the game rules chapter for more information.
The exception to unlocking the ability for extra attacks is using martial art attacks. Martial art extra attacks do not have to be unlocked and can be used as more actions are gained.
Float Like a Butterfly
At adept tier if you roll within your critical defense, you can choose to move 5 ft in any open space to avoid the attack. And if the attacks range is larger than 5 ft, it continues onward, attacking any targets behind you (targets behind you must make defense rolls). At master tier this increases to 10 ft. if you choose to not move but use this ability, the attack still continues past you and can hit targets behind you.
Fury Strike
The Fury Strike is a martial art’s ability and can only be used with the martial arts skill when associated with agility. The character can perform up to two more attacks after using a two-action attack by accelerating their essence flow. These attacks cannot be broken up between other actions or movement. At adept tier, you unlock the ability to make one fury strike. Once you reach master tier, the second fury strike is unlocked.
The essence cost to activate a single Fury Strike is equal your character’s fighting or agility statistic; whichever was chosen when the skill became expertise.
Fusion Spell Boosting
Once a channeling skill has reached master tier, it unlocks the ability to channel spells as fusion spells. Successfully channeling these spells requires a significant amount of essence (or life force) and multiple channelers. See fusion spells in the energetics chapter for more information.
General Skills
Using skills as part of your action
The general skills category within the basic skill section is unique to all other skills. This is because at novice tier you unlock the ability to use them as a free action in combat. Once unlocked, each skill can only be used once per turn. If you have novice acrobatics skill, you can use it to jump over a counter during a gunfight.
Gun
The advanced ranged weaponry can pack a large punch, but only if you remember to keep your steam canister or battery full. However, the higher the tier you increase the Gun skill, the easier and quicker you can swap them out. At master tier it only costs one action to replace one. Replacing two requires two actions and trying to replace more than two requires an additional action per canister.
Limit Increase
As your channeling abilities grow, so does your channeling limit. At adept tier, your channeling limit increases by two and at master tier it increases again by three for a total increase of five. The limit increase happens when your highest channeling skill reaches the mentioned tier. The limit increase only happens once per tier, regardless of how many channeling skills reach the tiers. If you improve your Gaia skill to adept tier, your channeling limit increases by two. But if your Chrono skill also improves to adept tier later, you won't get another limit increase because you already got it from your Gaia skill. The same applies for master tier.
Needle in a Hay Stack
Being adept with your lock-picking skills, you have advanced your skill to where impromptu items look like lock picks to you. Using this new found vision, you can pick locks with these items and no longer require lock picks to pick locks. At master tier your chain increment increases by one when using impromptu lock picks.
Shields
Strapping a shield to your offhand can be a strong and defensive strategy. It can also become more than just defense once you have achieved novice tier. At novice tier, kite and targe shields can be used as weapons (offhand or one-handed weapons). However, if you are more of the defensive type and prefer the larger full cover shields, the movement penalty of the pavise shield is removed at Novice tier. If you are continuing your training with shields, at Adept tier you can start using the pavise shield as a weapon but must have a might of eight or higher. Last, if you push all the way to master tier you have learned how to use your defensive weapon to give you additional protection in the area of effect. While wielding a shield at master tier you have full cover regardless of the shield (excludes buckler). The pavise shield can provide cover for one additional person who is within five feet of you and is in the same or smaller size category as you. This does not stack if wielding more than one shield.
Solid Strike
When your martial arts skill is associated with fighting and has reached the adept tier this ability is unlocked. Activating this ability before making an attack you can add your fighting to the damage by spending an equal amount of essence. So, if you have a fighting of five and want to add it to your next attack's damage you would spend five essence before making the attack roll.
At master tier the amount of damage that can be applied increases by 1.5 times your fighting with the maximum cost being ten essence. So, if your martial arts is at master tier and you have a ten in fighting your damage would be fifteen for the cost of ten essence.
Spell Boosting
Being able to boost a spells property beyond its indicated limitation is called Spell Boosting. Doing so increases the cost of the spell based on what property is being pushed beyond its limit. Novice tier channeling skill enhances spells of its associated energy type (e.g. Chrono skill boosts Chrono spells). This skill tier is unlocked per channeling skill. Therefore, if you have your Gaia skill to novice, only Gaia skills can be boosted. Attempting to boost another energy type without meeting the novice tier results in wild energy.
Weapon Special Property
Most weapons have unique properties that are special to how they function in combat. These special properties require training and understanding of how the weapon functions. At Novice tier for offensive combat skills, you unlock the ability to use weapon’s special properties. Until this tier has been reached, these special properties cannot be used.
