[V6 Draft] Chapter 2: Skills

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[Chapter 2: Skills]
Welcome to the Skills chapter. In this chapter, you will find details on each of the skills available to your character on sign-up and throughout the game.

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Table of Contents:
2.1 Skills Overview - A brief elaboration on skills.
2.2 Skill List - A comprehensive list of every skill in the game.

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[2.1 Skills Overview]
In SimRTK, your character may be proficient at a number of different areas; skills are used to represent this proficiency. However, just as knowledge ranges from novice to master, so to do SimRTK’s skills have different tiers. There is the basic level, represented by having a skill normally: this shows that your character is well-versed enough in the basics to be competant at its application, or has enough natural talent to display ability in it. If a skill is Expertised, it demonstrates that your character has trained even further in that particular area, and can be considered an expert in it. Lastly, for the truly devoted, there are various Masters of the major disciplines who may teach your character their special Master skill if you show enough promise.

Skills are abstractly represented by Skill Points or the shorthand version, SP, and these represent the different tiers of skills. SP is used to measure the "cost" of a skill, with more universal skills costing more SP. SP is spent to buy your starting skills, and the SP cost of skills determines how long they take to study during the game.

Skills can range in use from battle tactics, to dueling abilities, to governmental policies, and so on. Their exact use is detailed below.

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[2.2 Skill List]

Acumen (2sp)
+5 to relevant Stat when staffing any building
(e) -- An additional +10 to relevant Stat when staffing

Administration (3sp)
+30 to draft limit, lower corruption in the city if governor, raising tax revenues.
(e) -- An additional +10 to draft limit. Further lowers corruption in the city if governor, raising tax revenues.

Aid (2sp)
Can use the Aid and Simultaneous Attack commands.
(e) -- Increased effect from Aid.

Ambush (1sp)
Can Ambush with up to 100 units. Greater chance of succeeding in going into ambush.
(e) -- Can Ambush with up to 150 units. Greater chance of inflicting statuses upon the ambush being triggered.

Architect (3sp)
+15 to relevant Stat when staffing certain buildings
(e) -- An additional +10 to relevant Stat

Arrowstorm (2sp)
May use Arrowstorm attack in battle.
(e) -- Extra damage and status effect.

Arson (1sp)
May use Fire Attack and Fire Ambush commands. With Raid, may use Fire Raid. In KTs, can use the Arson ploy.
(e) -- Bonus to success rate of Arson-related abilities.

Articulate (1sp)
May write three letters per turn to an NPC, 1 bonus Bond gained from letters, bond from letters capped at 75, letters cost 15 AP to send instead of 20.
(e) -- No cap to bond gained from letters, and 1 more bond.

Artisan (1sp)
Can craft Clothing, Jewelry, and Treasures in PTs. Can use Bazaar PT Action. (Note: Crafting Clothing, Jewelry, and Treasures in PTs uses the Cha stat)
(e) -- More Crafting Points each PT.

Blitz (2sp)
Can use the Blitz command.
(e) -- Blitz will not accidentally hit friendly units.

Breeder (1sp)
Can craft Mounts in PTs. -1 gold when creating Horses in KTs.
(e) -- More Crafting Points each PT. Additional -1 gold discount to producing Horses in KTs.

Charge (2sp)
May use Charge attack.
(e) -- Defense loss reduced to 5.

Charming (2sp)
+25% to bond gained from all sources other than Write Letter. 10% bonus to NPC recruitment attempts. Bonus to success of Recruit Agents KT Plot.
(e) -- +30% to bond gained from all sources other than Write Letter, 15% bonus to NPC recruitment.

Civil Engineer (3sp)
+20 to City Defense when developing City Defense. -10% to cost of Monuments and Buildings. Buildings take half as much time to construct.
(e) -- +30 to City Defense, -15% to cost of Monuments and Buildings.

Commercialist (3sp)
+15 to relevant Stat when staffing certain buildings
(e) -- An additional +10 to relevant Stat

Counter (1sp)
When leading ranged units, if this character is attacked with a Ranged Attack, this unit will counterattack.
(e) -- Ranged counterattacks deal the same damage as normal ranged attacks.

Craftsman (2sp)
Can craft Armors, Helmets, and Weapons in PTs. +10 Int when creating heavy arms, bows or arbalests in the KT. (Note: Crafting Armors, Helmets, and Weapons in PTs uses the War stat)
(e) -- More Crafting Points each PT. Additional +10 Int to production in KTs.

Cunning (3sp)
+20 TP in battle. When using ploys that inflict status effects, extra Effect Rating will be added.
(e) -- An additional +20 TP.

Dash (1sp)
No Morale loss for using Dash. TP cost reduced to 10.
(e) -- Troops lost via Dash reduced. TP cost eliminated.

Duelist (3sp)
+30 AP and +20 to initiative in duels. Once per duel, you may select a tactic to use two separate times, breaking the one-use-per-tactic dueling limitation. This second use incurs an additional 10 AP cost.
(e) -- +10 HP in duels. War loss from each duel injury is reduced by 25%.

Farmer (3sp)
+15 to relevant Stat when staffing certain buildings
(e) -- An additional +10 to relevant Stat

Formation (3sp)
Your unit may start battle in the Anvil (+5 ATK and -5 DEF); Block (-5 ATK and +5 DEF); Arrow (-5 ATK, -5 DEF, and +5 Ranged Attack); or Column (-5 ATK, -5 DEF, -5 Ranged Attack, and +3 MP) formations; or you may start as the default formation. As your action for the turn, you may Change Formations between any of the above.
(e) -- On your turn, you may Change Formations as a free action.

Fortunate (2sp)
Increased chance of good events occuring in PTs. Reduced chance of injury in battle. Slightly more gold gained from Patrol/Magistrate/Teach Letters.
(e)-- Increased success and gold from Patrol/Magistrate/Teach Letters.

Fusillade (2sp)
May use the Fusillade command in battle.
(e) -- 4MP when using Fusillade.

Inspire (3sp)
May use the Inspire command.
(e) -- +7 Defense from Inspire. Slightly increased duration.

Invent (2sp)
May Forge Arbalests, Towers, Catapults, and Naval Ships in the KT. (Bonus to creating ships with the Navy skill). -1 gold when forging arms in the KT. 5% cost reduction when forging Siege Equipment which does not require this skill.
(e) -- An additional -1 gold to all Forging in the KT. Additional 5% cost reduction bonus when forging Siege equipment and Ships which require Invent.

Investigator (2sp)
+15 to relevant Stat when staffing certain buildings
(e) -- An additional +10 to relevant Stat

Leader (3sp)
+5 to Initiative in Battles. Unit Limit raised by +20. +30 to character's Lead when this character Trains a unit in the KT.
(e) -- An additional +10 to character's Lead when this character Trains a unit in the KT. Unit Limit raised to +30. An Additional +2 Initiative in Battles.

Logistics (2sp)
Food consumption for this army is reduced by 20%. +1MP, +5 Attack and Defense when commanding a Transport unit. May use Formations as a Transport unit. Unit Limit for Transport units increases by 50.
(e) -- Food consumption reduced by 30%. +2MP when commanding a Transport unit, and a further +50 Unit Limit.

Loyalty (2sp)
Bonus to Raid success. Increased defense against the Riot ploy. Even if this unit falls to 0 morale, no troops will desert.
(e) -- Further increased defense against Riot Ploys. Troops will not desert from Riots over 100 Effect Rating.

Medic (3sp)
May use Doctor PT action. May use Treat Wounded Ploy in battle. Is considered knowledgable about the use of poisons and antidotes.
(e) -- Bonus to Doctor and Treat Wounded's effects.

Military Engineer (3sp)
Can use the Construct Barricade, Bridge, Camp and Road commands. Can use the Destroy Bridge command. Can use the Repair and Tunnel commands, as well as the Sap KT plot. The commander is skilled in putting together army encampments, giving the army the base level Fortified status while in the field.
(e) -- Bonus to success and damage of Destroy Bridge, Sap and Tunnel. Gold cost for Repair is reduced by 50.

Missile (2sp)
Can use the Missile Command.
(e) -- Extra damage with Missile, better chance of fire starting.

Mobility (2sp)
All terrain MP costs are reduced by 2 (minimum 1). Does not apply to moving in/out of water.
(e) -- Terrain MP costs reduced by 3. MP bonus on roads is 4.

Mystic (3sp)
Can use the Divination, Haste, Illusion and Weather ploys. Bonus to effect of Treat Wounded, if the character can perform that Ploy.
(e) -- Bonus to success of Mystic Ploys

Navy (1sp)
May use the Ram command in battle. More effective fighting on water (Commanders without Navy take -20 to Melee/Defense/Ranged stats).
(e) -- +5 additional attack and defense while on water.

Negotiator (2sp)
Can pay 50 gold rather than suffer the effects of most random PT events. Base kingdom salary increased by 10. Can use the Invite PT action. Banquet costs reduced to 30AP and 50 gold.
(e)-- Increased success when Inviting NPCs. Banquet cost further reduced to 25AP and 40 gold.

Networking (3sp)
+15% to finding officers in Searches. +5% to the chance of a positive event occuring as a result of a Search. Lower AP cost to Visit Emperor PT action.
(e) -- +20% to finding officers, +10% to the chance of positive events occuring.

Propaganda (2sp)
When this officer is in charge of a building in the KT, there is a chance (dependent on Cha) that its seasonal returns will be greatly increased due to the officer's skill in promoting their cause.
(e) -- Slightly increased odds of the propaganda working and slightly better returns from it.

Raid (2sp)
Can use Raid command. With Arson, can use Fire Raid command.
(e) -- Bonus to Raid success rate, +10% to damage of Raid.

Reversal (1sp)
If a ploy fails against this unit, this unit will immediately use the same ploy against the acting unit (no TP or action cost).
(e) -- Better odds of ploys being successfully Reversed.

Riot (1sp)
Can use Riot Ploy and Riot KT Ploy.
(e) -- Bonus to Riot success.

Rumor (1sp)
Can use Recruit Agents and Rumor KT ploys. With Wile, can use Falsify ploy.
(e) -- Bonus to Rumor-related ploy success rates.

Scout (1sp)
Greatly increased success when using Probe movement.
(e) -- No MP penalty for using Probe movement.

Scribe (2sp)
Can craft Manuals, Maps and Treatises in PTs. (Note: Crafting Manuals, Maps, and Treatises in PTs uses the Pol stat)
(e) -- More Crafting Points each PT.

Siegecraft (2sp)
Siegeworks command does extra damage and has reduced TP cost. Bonus to success when climbing ladders. 10 bonus damage done against walls and gates with Siege Rams. MP Penalty for carrying siege equipment reduced to 2.
(e) -- MP penalty reduced to 1. 15 bonus damage when using rams.

Spy (1sp)
Can perform the Spy action in KTs.
(e) -- Bonus to success of Spy. May acquire spy data from an extra city when spying.

Stealth (2sp)
Bonus to Ambush, Fire Ambush, Raid, Fire Raid, and KT Plots. Bonus to success rate of Elude movement. Reduced chances of being captured in battle. The RP consideration this skill provides is very important.
(e) -- Additional RP consideration and bonuses to KT Plots.

Strategics (3sp)
Can use the Assault, Harass and Rake Commands. Can choose to refrain from acting on its usual initiative turn and delay its action until a specified point later in the turn.
(e) -- Improved success rate for Assault and Rake. Increased TP reduction effect for Harass.

Tactician (3sp)
Can make use of Campaigns when acting as a unit commander or Advisor. When acting as Advisor, this character may share up to two skills with the unit's commander, allowing the commander to use the skills as if he also knew them. All ploy TP costs are reduced by 5 when used by this officer. May use the Open Gates ploy.
(e) -- May share a third skill when acting as Advisor. Seasonal TP regeneration increases by 10.
Note: If the Tactician has an expertised skill, and the unit commander has the nonexpertised same skill, Tactician can pass on the (e) for 1 of his skills passed. If the unit commander does not have the skill at all, Tactician can only pass on the base version of the skill.

Terrain (2sp)
Can use the Flood and Rockslide actions.
(e) -- Bonus to success of Flood and Rockslide.

Trample (3sp)
May use Trample attack with mounted units only.
(e) -- ATK bonus increased by +5.

Valor (1sp)
Enemy Simultaneous Attacks are considered to have one fewer participant for calculating bonus damage. Bonus to Raid's success rate. Increased resistance against the Dispirited status effect.
(e) -- Two fewer participants in Simultaneous Attacks. Injuries incurred from battle (not including duels) are reduced by 20%.

Vehemence (2sp)
Allows use of the Rush command and the Taunt ploy.
(e) -- More favorable attack results when using Rush.

Volley (2sp)
May use Volley attack in battle.
(e) -- Normal damage with Volley.

Wealth (1sp)
250 extra gold at Sign Up. Cannot be studied or tutored.
(e) -- An additional +250 gold at Sign Up. Cannot be studied or tutored.

Weaponmaster (2sp)
+10 AP and +10 to initiative in duels. Chance of missing an attack roll is reduced by 5%. Chance of being disarmed is reduced by 10%.
(e) -- An additional +10 AP and +10 to initiative in duels. Chance of a critical hit on an attack roll is increased by 5%.

Wile (3sp)
Allows the officer to use the Chain, Dispirit, Trick and Lure actions in battle. Together with Rumor allows Falsify ploy. Flood and Rockslide will not hit allied units. If inflicted with a negative status effect, the Effect Rating will diminish more rapidly.
(e) -- Bonus to Wile-related ploys.

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Special Skills and Masters:
In the whole of China, there are many men and women of different skills. Some skills are passed on through the hierarchies of society, becoming known and learnable with enough effort by most who wish to try. Yet there are some few people who are special, who are rumored to have unusual talents, yet hardly ever do these people make their presence known to society at large. Some folk refer to such reclusive talents as Masters, though they may not even know what they are masters of, such is their secrecy. It is generally believed that those few who manage to meet one of these Masters can be rewarded greatly, if it pleases the Master to help them learn to use their own special talent; yet crossing a Master can bring great peril.


List of Known Special Skills

Avatar
Character: Lu Bu
The most dauntless warrior of the era, possessing the ability to shrug off blows without consequence that would wear any other down.

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[End]

[Xeniphon]

A little more in deapth look at skills...

I agree that Arcitect, Commercialist, and Farmer are all underpowered in relation to Accumen (it should also be noted that Investigator has the same benifits as the 3SP development skills but costs only 2SP, there is something wrong there). Accumen is 2SP and the other development skills are 3SP. Even if you assume that alternitive staffing options are only worth 1/5 of the +5 value since they are only potential alternitives and multiple cannot be done at once the fact that it applies to any building (not just civil buildings) it easily is equivilant to the other development skills that cost an extra SP. Further the expertise versions are equal and unless studying has been changed so that any expertise (not matter the SP value of the skill) takes the same time having the expertise of a 2SP skill and 3SP skill (of which the later will take longer) be equal is unbalanced. My reccomendation is to reduce the development skills to 2SP, boost Accumen to 3SP, or improve the benifits of the 3SP development skills. I cannot speak tot he expertise situation as the studying rules have not been put out yet, you should look at it though.

Civil Engineer is a huge skill now, and HUGELY powerful/important. While I know nobody else would likely say it as it is in contrary to self interest I would say it is so powerfula nd influential that I'd still consider it a bargan at 4SP... I'd be really careful of making this the new "must have" skill since all civil and military development will center around buildings and this skill is currently what MUST be the centerpiece to any kingdom (even rivaling/surpassing Administration, but more benificial to overall kingdom improvement). I really reccomend a hard look at the impact this skill has and how all the other development skills will piggyback off it...

Good job with the conversion of Logistics, I wasn't sure how you were going to handle that but it looks good.

Navy is huge now, with the -20 to battle stats if you don't have it. I almost want to say "bump it to 2SP" but I'm on the fence about it... Its a HUGE benifit but then again water is not nearly so common as land, though much mor ecommon than in previous games. I'm torn on this one but it is right on the edge of being too powerful for a 1SP skill...

[Sun Tang]

Negotiator (2sp)
Can pay 50 gold rather than suffer the effects of most random PT events. Base kingdom salary increased by 10. Can use the Invite PT action. Banquet costs reduced to 30AP and 50 gold.
(e)-- Increased success when Inviting NPCs. Banquet cost further reduced to 25AP and 40 gold.

I think this skill has great potential for RP and diplomacy and is good enough without it being written in the skill description, but would it be wrong to give some sort of benefit to raising PS? Like negotiating with the people to stop an uprising or perhaps calming down barbarians or bandits? Seems like it could be "buffed"

[Xeniphon]

There is no "raising PS" anymore since its not a stat. I don't think there is a reasonable way to standardize the RP value of that into a mechanical bonus (which I imagine is why there isn't one). Also Propaganda kind of covers that by offering a chance at increased benifits when staffing a building and some buildings improve Public Safety. Certainly it would make sense to be able to use it in a plot situation to calm people but that has nothing to do with mechanics (or at least has very little to do with them and mostly with RP).

[Tian Long]

I agree on the Civil Engineer point that was raised earlier in that the bonuses it grants (half construction time in particular) makes this skill overwhemingly powerful. I am normally against nerfing and take the empowerment stance but that skill just is way too good to pass up. A nerf may be warranted this time.
Logistics too will really need to be scrutinized for the vast variety of perks it offers for a meager 2sp.
I also agree that the focused developer skills need to be reduced to 2sp each but disagree that Acumen should be raised to 3sp.

Navy needs to be 2sp to compensate for the immense bonuses in combat it allows on top of a tactic which is exclusive to it. Combined with the possibility of naval battles via ocean pathways to port cities makes it a logical skill to grab for such a low investment in sp.
Why does Scribe cost 2sp to craft 3 different item types, and Artisan only costs 1sp to craft... 3 different item types? Scribe needs to be lowered to 1sp.

Wile is incredibly overpowered as well making this skill another example of you'd be stupid not to grab it. The diminished status effect perk should go to the Reversal skill while raising Reversal to a 2sp skill to balance Wile back out.

Valor seems a little much for a mere 1sp as well. I mean essentially forcing damage done from simul attacks into lesser calcs with fewer participants is equal to essentially negating an entire units attack for a turn. For just 1sp?

/grain of salt

[Sun Tang]

There is no "raising PS" anymore since its not a stat. I don't think there is a reasonable way to standardize the RP value of that into a mechanical bonus (which I imagine is why there isn't one). Also Propaganda kind of covers that by offering a chance at increased benifits when staffing a building and some buildings improve Public Safety. Certainly it would make sense to be able to use it in a plot situation to calm people but that has nothing to do with mechanics (or at least has very little to do with them and mostly with RP).

Noted and thanks. I need to read the other rules now. Still drooling over my keyboard with the skills.

[Xeniphon]

I agree on the Civil Engineer point that was raised earlier in that the bonuses it grants (half construction time in particular) makes this skill overwhemingly powerful. I am normally against nerfing and take the empowerment stance but that skill just is way too good to pass up. A nerf may be warranted this time.
Logistics too will really need to be scrutinized for the vast variety of perks it offers for a meager 2sp.
I also agree that the focused developer skills need to be reduced to 2sp each but disagree that Acumen should be raised to 3sp.

Navy needs to be 2sp to compensate for the immense bonuses in combat it allows on top of a tactic which is exclusive to it. Combined with the possibility of naval battles via ocean pathways to port cities makes it a logical skill to grab for such a low investment in sp.
Why does Scribe cost 2sp to craft 3 different item types, and Artisan only costs 1sp to craft... 3 different item types? Scribe needs to be lowered to 1sp.

Wile is incredibly overpowered as well making this skill another example of you'd be stupid not to grab it. The diminished status effect perk should go to the Reversal skill while raising Reversal to a 2sp skill to balance Wile back out.

Valor seems a little much for a mere 1sp as well. I mean essentially forcing damage done from simul attacks into lesser calcs with fewer participants is equal to essentially negating an entire units attack for a turn. For just 1sp?

/grain of salt

I'm actually ok with Logistics, Wile, Scribe, and Valor as they are. Those skills are either the same as last version power wise or slightly less so. Take for instance While which used to prevent all AoE attacks from hitting friendly forces but now only prevents Flood/Rockslide. So the extra bit about ploy severity decreasing faster really just brings it back to where it was (power wise) last version. It also opens up the Reversal+Wile combo which will help bring the Warlord General back up a bit after the improvments tot he Ad-hoc Duels boosting the importance of high war in generals... Valor is the same power it was last version too, they even split up the wound issue so that valor didn't prevent dueling wounds from effecting battle stats (just battle injuries). Scribe is 2SP like Craftsman because manuals/treaties, and maps are used by every type of character while an Artisan's work only has Jewlery that is used by everyone with clothing being for recriuters/politicians and treasures for recriuters/rulers mainly. Because two of an Artisan's 3 types of production are more limited than scribe it is only 1SP.

[Tarrot]

Fortunate: Dong and I are starting up the NPCs, so I wanted to bring up that Fortunate and Negotiator both do not have any benefits for NPCs if we choose to give them the skill (NPCs can only benefit from the reduced chance to be injured in battles, a minor benefit). While its easy enough to just avoid giving those skills to NPCs, I would propose buffing both skills so they're more beneficial.

Fortunate: An increase to the chance of positive events happening on Searches, like a 5% increase.

Negotiator: An increase to recruitment opportunities, again 5% seems fine with everything else.

These would overlap a little with some other skills, but I think it'd make them a little more useful and beneficial.

[Xeniphon]

NPCs don't benifit from Artisan and didn't benifit from Study or Zeal but that didn't stop you giving those to them before or now (where applicable)...

[Sun Tang]

I think fortunate and negotiator can go to various NPC's who demonstrated that in certain events they were very fortunate, like Cao Cao escaping while he was dressed as a commoner and defied some serious odds when many others would have been captured. Also didnt Wu Anguo survive a duel with Lu Bu? I think he deserves Fortunate, yea he was maimed, but he LIVED, not many can say the same. Yea, fortunate may have very limited use for an NPC, but these are two instances where the benefits from Fortunate were historically accurate and deserving and could be the difference between life and death or being captured in battle and hold merit.

As far as negotiator, there are a number of people who excelled at negotiating and brokered some serious negotiations, could come handy in RP situations if you happen to have an NPC or GMNPC on your side.

[Xeniphon]

That last is a very good point Sun Tang, even if NPCs aren't typically involved with RP plots or the like as a rule when a ruler/player/staffer is RPing as them they can effect such things and those skills might be pertinent in that situation even if mechanically they do them little or no good.

I think that with as appealing as recruiters are witht he new skills that to increase their capabilities more would unbalance the game a bit, or at least require a complete rewrite of the search/recruitment formule and then a rebalancing of the KT functions...

[Tarrot]

Spy grants a boost to I-Net according to the KT thread, but there's no mention of it in the skill thread.