Page 56 - World of Darkness

speed driving. Each Skill listed in this chapter has a num- Academics
ber of suggested Specialties to give you an idea of the pos-
sibilities. Doctor Carlton’s library was a shambles. Bookshelves
leaned on broken supports as if drunk, and piles of antiquated
Skill Tasks tomes lay scattered amid bits of broken glass and ceramic on
the carpeted floor. Julia picked her way through the debris to
If a Skill represents a particular body of knowledge or Carlton’s desk and examined a large, leather-bound book rest-
training, a Skill task describes a specific application of the ing on the ink-stained blotter. “It’s his journal,” she said, run-
Skill in question. Healing Wounds, for example, is a task ning a slim finger over the careful lines of script. “The last
describing an application of the Medicine Skill. Skill tasks thing he wrote looks like Latin: ‘mali principii malus finis.’”
combine an applicable Attribute with the Skill, plus any “The bad end of a bad beginning,” Stapleton trans-
relevant equipment modifiers to form a dice pool, minus lated, bleakly surveying the damage from the doorway. “I told
any situational modifiers. Climbing a steep cliff, for ex- him that damned idol would be the death of him.”
ample, is a Skill task combining Strength + Athletics + Academics is a broad-based Skill that represents a
equipment such as rope, pitons and cleats. Many Skills in character’s degree of higher education and general knowl-
this chapter have one or more tasks associated with them edge in the Arts and Humanities — everything from En-
that suggest different ways in which the traits can be ap- glish to history, economics to law. Dots in this Skill do
plied in various situations. Use these as guidelines for de- not directly correlate to a given level of education. Your
termining other Skill tasks that arise in your stories. character could have entered a doctorate program but
spent more time partying than studying, resulting in low
The Right Tools for the Job dots. Conversely, a self-taught individual who read vora-
Having the proper equipment for a task can often ciously and studied intensively could have high dots with-
mean the difference between success and failure. In addi- out ever earning a diploma.
tion to situational modifiers and Specialties, Skill rolls Possessed by: College graduates, executives, lawyers,
gain bonus dice if your character uses high-quality or spe- librarians, scholars, students
cialized equipment when performing a feat. For example, Specialties: Anthropology, Art, English, History, Law,
a driver with a high-performance sports car has an edge in Religion, Research
a race over someone in an old pickup. See “Equipment,”
p. 139, in Chapter 6 for more information on the gear Roll Results
available to your character. Each task presented in this Dramatic Failure: Your character fails to remember
chapter lists a variety of tools that could provide bonus crucial facts, incorrectly informing his actions. A charac-
dice to your Skill roll. These lists are by no means exhaus- ter with a history background may remember an incorrect
tive. You’re encouraged to employ other types of tools or set of dates that completely alters his theory on a certain
equipment to assist in performing a task, but the Story- event, or a former art student might incorrectly identify a
teller is the final arbiter on what bonus, if any, gear pro- painting as a worthless copy instead of a priceless origi-
vides. It’s possible that using poor-quality tools might even nal.
make a task more difficult to perform, so choose wisely. Failure: Your character is unable to summon the nec-
essary information. It’s on the tip of his tongue, but the
Mental Skills name, date or reference eludes him.
Success: Your character is able to summon the nec-
essary knowledge to serve his needs.
Mental Skills are applications of a character’s insight, Exceptional Success: Your character recalls or knows
acumen and focus, such as examining a crime scene for especially obscure or detailed facts that give him addi-
clues, unraveling an enigma or diagnosing an illness. These tional insight into the matter at hand. She not only identi-
Skills are almost entirely gained from a period of formal fies a particular work of art but recalls that the artist was
education, and most characters with high Mental Skills renowned for his fascination with demons and the occult.
can claim a degree or even a doctorate in their field of
study. These traits are generally associated with your Research
character’s Mental Attributes, but can also be paired with
Physical Attributes for hands-on applications such as per- Dice Pool: Intelligence + Academics + equipment
forming surgery (Dexterity + Medicine) or computer re- Action: Extended (3-10+ successes; each roll repre-
pair (Dexterity + Crafts). sents 30 minutes of research)
Untrained Skill Use: If your character doesn’t have Researching information is a fairly straightforward
the necessary Mental Skill required for an action, she can task that involves querying libraries and databases. Roll
still make the attempt. Roll her Attribute alone, but with Intelligence + Academics + equipment. The number of
a -3 penalty. successes required depends on the complexity and/or ob-
scurity of the desired information. A simple set of facts
might demand three successes to obtain, while a little-
known or difficult-to-find reference might demand 10 or

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MENTAL SKILLS- ACADEMICS