Clues, warnings, and rewards can be built into the very structures of a character’s surroundings. Determining if a certain portion of a structure was built at a different time than the surrounding construction, determining if a passage shifts or slopes gradually, detecting if a particular structure is unsafe to travel in/on, determining what culture or even specific method of construction was used for any specific structure, all of these things (and more—this list merely illustrates some possibilities) can be important in keeping explorers alive and/or helping them achieve their goals of unlocking ancient mysteries.
Any character has a 1 in 6 chance to note any of these features in the surrounding architecture. Use of this skill is not passive; the character must spend one turn examining the structure.
See Getting Lost and Foraging & Hunting for details on how to use the Bushcraft skill
All characters have a base 1 in 6 chance to use the Climb skill, which allows a character to climb walls and other sheer surfaces without obvious handholds. Characters (except Specialists) must be unencumbered to make this attempt. Failure means that the character falls from a random point in the climb. Characters with two free hands can climb ropes and ladders with no die roll needed.
Most Characters are assumed to begin play being fully fluent in their native tongue, and are literate as well if they have an Intelligence of 7 or greater. Elves and Dwarfs will know the local human tongue in addition to the tongue of their particular clan (Halflings use the local human language).
When a character comes into contact with another language, his chances of knowing the language is 1 in 6, with the character’s Intelligence modifier applying. If a character has a Languages skill at a greater level than 1 in 6, use that as the base chance instead.
There is a –1 penalty if the language is not local to the culture (Spanish, French, Swedish, English, and German would be part of the same “cultural group” to use a real-world example). The penalty is –2 if the language is considered to be exotic (English versus Japanese, for example, or the tongue of a different race to use a more common game situation), and –3 if it is an ancient, dead language.
A character gets one attempt to know any particular language. If that one attempt fails, the character simply does not know the language.
Magical languages cannot be known using this method.
Many items and features of interest are hidden from open view, with secret doors or compartments being the classic example. To find these things, characters must search for them. Under normal conditions, searching takes one turn per character per 10' of area searched. Hidden items or features have a base 1 in 6 chance of being found per turn of searching. The Referee can create hidden elements that are more difficult (or easier) to detect at his discretion. If a character’s Search skill is greater than 1 in 6, use that as the base chance to find something during a search.
Note that finding a secret door does not automatically grant a character an understanding of how it works. The Referee may require additional rolls or other actions to be taken before the door can be opened.
Picking the pockets of an unaware person, hiding a small object from a search, readying a weapon without any observers noticing, swapping out an object on a weight-sensitive plate with a similarly-weighted bag of sand, these and more are examples of Sleight of Hand. A character has a base 1 in 6 chance to successfully perform such an activity.
For most characters, Sneak Attacks are merely attacks made by surprise. A Specialist or Alice can multiply the damage done by a Sneak Attack by allocating points to this skill. Assume that the damage multiplier is × 1 for all characters, but for every point allocated to the skill by a Specialist, the damage multiplier is increased by one. If a Specialist or Alice has any points in Sneak Attack, then he also gets a +2 bonus to hit above any other bonuses he already has when performing a Sneak Attack.
Stealth allows a character to sneak around and hide. In order to use the Stealth skill, those that the character wishes to hide from must not already be aware of the character’s presence, and there must be somewhere to hide. Stealth is not invisibility! For example, if the character hears enemies coming down a bare hallway, he would not be able to simply hide because of the lack of available cover. In a room with furniture, the character would be able to use Stealth to hide, but if someone were to conduct a search of the room, the character would be found.
If a character attacks after successfully using Stealth, that attack is always considered to be a Surprise attack, even if the enemy is already engaged in battle.
Manipulating small mechanical objects is an activity called Tinkering. Tinkering is often used to open locks or remove small mechanical traps. Note that only mechanical locks where the character has access to the keyhole (or other opening mechanism) are able to be manipulated in this manner. Only traps which have been found, and which have Adventuring: The Rules of the Game 41 a mechanism that is accessible to the character, can be disarmed. For example, a tripwire is a trap which a character can attempt to disarm, as is a lock with a poison needle. A pressure plate which, when pressed, collapses the ceiling, would be an example of a trap that the character could not disarm, because the mechanism itself is behind the walls, floor, or ceiling.
Other uses of Tinkering (setting traps, for example, or jury-rigging impromptu devices) should be adjudicated by the Referee on a case-by-case basis.
A character gets one attempt to use Tinkering on any particular object. If that one attempt fails, the character must gain a level before attempting to manipulate that object again.
The base chance of success for Tinkering is 1 in 6.