For the people who can afford to focus on skillsets other than survival, there are three primary options. You may only choose one as your specialty, though you may learn beginner-level skills from any of them.
Magic: Research into and personal usage of the nebulous "magic" that previously destroyed the known world. Most communities frown on this.
Meat: Training and honing one's body to peak efficacy and athleticism, often with a focus on combat and defense.
Machine: Fabrication, design, and engineering of contraptions and gizmos both large and small.
During character creation, choose your Specialty, which will give you additional skill proficiencies and tool proficiencies, and 1 novice-level Feat in any Specialty. If the feat you choose during character creation is within your chosen Specialty, you can also choose a Feat Enhancement. You can only choose one Enhancement per Feat, so choose carefully.
As you level up, you'll be able to choose adept- and expert-level Feats in your chosen Specialty, Feat Enhancements in your Specialty, and more novice-level Feats in any Specialty. You can review the other Feats at
Magic Meat Machine.
Specialty: Magic
Choosing this specialty gives you proficiency with Ritual Tools and Conjury Tools, as well as proficiency in Occult (Knowledge) and Research (Wit).
Ritual Tools - These are the tools used for divination, astrology, monitoring and mapping magic. They typically take time and dedicated space to use effectively.
Conjury Tools - These are the few, precious artifacts left from before the Rupture that still possess some amount of magica or some effect on magical workings. Conjury tools produce "real" magic, like sparking a fire or dissolving a solid object into nothingness.
Occult (Knowledge) - Obscure or "lost" information about current and past magical practices, the magical roots of religious rituals, and which artifacts can be used in magic.
Research (Wit) - Finding information, puzzling out connections, or putting clues together.
Novice Magic Feat: Divination
You can reliably use divination tools (included in Ritual Tools) to detect stronger or weaker concentrations of magic and the direction of the natural flow (leylines) in locations, buildings, and living bodies. You can detect whether something is part of a bonded set or has a "twin soul."
Feat Enhancement A
You specialize in using divination tools for navigation in the wider world. You can reliably deduce physical composition/landmarks based on the flow and shape of magic. Roll with
advantage on any Survival check to pathfind or travel through land based on the knowledge you gain from dowsing about it.
Feat Enhancement B
You specialize in using divination tools for analysis and diagnosis of medical conditions, wounds, and illnesses in living creatures that most resemble the spectrum of people-bodies. Roll with
advantage on any Medicine check to assess a creature's physical status.
Novice Magic Feat: Transmutation
You can reliably use conjury tools to create Seen energy (light/heat) from Unseen matter, as well as create Unseen energy (magic) from Seen matter (objects/etc). This is almost always taboo within settlements for most communities.
Feat Enhancement A
You specialize in generating Seen energy in a very precise, controlled fashion. You are able to do this subtly and safely to a level of control from (the equivalent of) lighting a match to blowing up a shack.
Feat Enhancement B
You specialize in generating magica from the destruction of physical materials or objects. You can do this safely and precisely, using exactly as much material or exactly which object you choose. You also know how to either utilize or capture/store the produced magical energy (provided you have the right tools).
Specialty: Meat
Choosing this specialty gives you two extra
weapon proficiencies of your choice, as well as proficiency in Medicine (Tools) and Perception (Wit).
Medical Tools - You can perform both first-aid in-situ as well as longer-term wound care. You can set and splint a broken bone, clean and suture a wound, and diagnose many common illnesses and ailments.
Perception (Wit) - Scanning your surroundings for danger, noticing the hidden ninjas, or seeking an object or location as you travel.
Novice Meat Feat: Ranger
You are fleet and agile, even on uncertain terrain. You can choose either climbing speed or swimming speed to make equal to your regular movement speed (instead of half your movement speed). You can kip up (standing from involuntary prone takes either 5' of your movement OR your bonus action; standing from voluntary prone becomes a free action). You add 5' to your jump distance, and you roll with
advantage on Agility checks.
Novice Meat Feat: Guardian
You are strong and sure-footed, even when burdened. You can move at normal speed on normal terrain while carrying up to 2 creatures of a smaller Class Size than yourself or 1 creature of your same Class Size. You can use your reaction to interpose yourself between a single-target attack and a target within 5' of you to take the hit for them; the attack roll must beat your Defense, not your ally's Defense, in order to hit and inflict harm. You also roll with
advantage on Fortitude checks.
Specialty: Machine
Choosing this specialty gives you proficiency with Machinist's Tools and Artificer's Tools, as well as proficiency in Tinkering (Knowledge) and Crafting (Wit).
Machinist's Tools - These are the tools involved in creating new tools and objects from scratch, as well as crafting larger objects and metal structures.
Artificer's Tools - These are the tools involved in tinkering with clockwork creations and small-scale engineering; they tweak and fiddle and fine-tune.
Tinkering (Knowledge) - You know how to use a wrench, how to apply basic mechanical knowledge, and the properties of most common materials.
Crafting (Wit) - Applying creativity to the construction of contraptions, disabling or disassembling existing gizmos, or MacGyvering parts into a whole.
Novice Machine Feat: Artillerist
You gain proficiency with firearms and learn how to repair them with Artificer's Tools. You learn how to refine and combine black powder and how to store and transport it semi-safely.
Novice Machine Feat: Engineer
You gain proficiency in Investigation (Wit). You can use Machinist's Tools to repair and create basic items like screws, nails, hinges, and bolts from scrap metal, and you can process scrap metal to remove impurities if you have access to a forge.
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