Skills

The Athletics skill represents your character’s general level of physical fitness, whether through training, natural gifts, or genre-specific means (like magic or genetic alteration). It’s how good you are at moving your body. As such, it is a popular choice for nearly any action-y character.

Athletics is all but ubiquitous among every genre appropriate for Fate—it would only be unnecessary in a game that focused exclusively on interpersonal interaction and had no physical conflict.

Sprinter

You move two zones for free in a conflict without rolling, instead of one, provided there are no situation aspects restricting movement.

Hardcore Parkour

+2 to overcome actions with Athletics if you are in a chase across rooftops or a similarly precarious environment.

Dazing Counter

When you succeed with style on a defend action against an opponent’s Fight roll, you automatically counter with some sort of nerve punch or stunning blow. You get to attach the Dazed situation aspect to your opponent with a free invoke, instead of just a boost.

The Burglary skill covers your character’s aptitude for stealing things and getting into places that are off-limits.

In genres that rely on the use of a lot of technology, this skill also includes a proficiency in the related tech, allowing the character to hack security systems, disable alarm systems, and whatnot.

Always a Way Out

+2 on Burglary rolls made to create an advantage whenever you’re trying to escape from a location.

Security Specialist

You don’t have to be present to provide active opposition to someone trying to overcome security measures you put in place or worked on. (Normally, a character would roll against passive opposition for that.)

Talk the Talk

You can use Burglary in place of Contacts whenever you’re dealing specifically with other thieves and burglars.

Contacts is the skill of knowing and making connections with people. It presumes proficiency with all means of networking available in the setting.

Ear to the Ground

Whenever someone initiates a conflict against you in an area where you’ve built a network of contacts, you use Contacts instead of Notice to determine turn order, because you got tipped off in time.

Rumormonger

+2 to create an advantage when you plant vicious rumors about someone else.

The Weight of Reputation

You can use Contacts instead of Provoke to create advantages based on the fear generated by the sinister reputation you’ve cultivated for yourself and all the shady associates you have. You should have an appropriate aspect to pair with this stunt.

Crafts is the skill of working with machinery, for good or ill.

The default skill is called Crafts because it’s what we use in the examples, but this skill might vary a great deal depending on the setting and what kind of technology is available. In a modern or sci-fi setting, this might be Engineering or Mechanics instead.

Always Making Useful Things

You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you have the proper tools for a particular job using Crafts, even in extreme situations (like being imprisoned and separated from all your stuff). This source of opposition is just off the table.

Better than New!

Whenever you succeed with style on an overcome action to repair a piece of machinery, you can immediately give it a new situation aspect (with a free invoke) reflecting the improvements you’ve made, instead of just a boost.

Surgical Strikes

When using Crafts in a conflict involving machinery, you can filter out unwanted targets from whole-zone attacks without having to divide up your shifts (normally, you’d need to divide your roll between your targets).

Deceive is the skill about lying to and misdirecting people.

Lies upon Lies

+2 to create a Deceive advantage against someone who has believed one of your lies already during this session.

Mind Games

You can use Deceive in place of Provoke to make mental attacks, as long as you can make up a clever lie as part of the attack.

One Person, Many Faces

Whenever you meet someone new, you can spend a fate point to declare that you’ve met that person before, but under a different name and identity. Create a situation aspect to represent your cover story, and you can use Deceive in place of Rapport whenever interacting with that person.

The Demon skill determines your level of demonic prowess.

Demonic Feeling

Your attunement to the demonic energies allows you to sense the presence of other supernatural entities or magical phenomena. Once per scene, you can use your Demon skill instead of Notice to detect hidden magical influences or the presence of beings from other planes. This heightened sensitivity to the arcane grants you an edge in navigating the mystical currents of your surroundings.

Hellfire Infusion

You can channel demonic energy into your attacks, infusing them with hellfire. When attacking, you can choose to add +2 to your damage, representing the corrosive and malevolent nature of the demonic power behind your strikes.

Infernal Resilience

Once per scene, when facing a physical attack, you can call upon your demonic nature to reduce the damage by a significant degree. This reflects your inherent toughness derived from your demonic lineage.

The Drive skill is all about operating vehicles and things that go fast.

Like Crafts, how the Drive skill appears in your games is going to depend a lot on how much action you intend to have inside of vehicles or other forms of transportation, and what kind of technology is available in your setting.

For example, a low-tech setting (like Hearts of Steel) might have Ride instead of Drive, because the main transportation is animal-based. A futuristic setting revolving around people in a space opera military might have Drive (for cars), Pilot (for starships), and Operate (for tanks or heavy military vehicles). Different Vehicles, Different Skills

The advice is the same as for Crafts—don’t go nuts with reskinning this skill unless it makes a real, tangible difference in your game. Especially consider the option of having one skill that’s modified by stunts (see Building Stunts).

Hard to Shake

+2 to Drive whenever you’re pursuing another vehicle in a chase scene.

Pedal to the Metal

You can coax more speed out of your vehicle than seems possible. Whenever you’re engaged in any contest where speed is the primary factor (such as a chase or race of some kind) and you tie with your Drive roll, it’s considered a success.

Ramming Speed!

When ramming another vehicle, you ignore two shifts of damage. So if you ram and hit for four shifts, you only take two yourself.

Empathy involves knowing and being able to spot changes in a person’s mood or bearing. It’s basically the emotional Notice skill.

Lie Whisperer

+2 to all Empathy rolls made to discern or discover lies, whether they’re directed at you or someone else.

Nose for Trouble

You can use Empathy instead of Notice to determine your turn order in a conflict, provided you’ve gotten a chance to observe or speak to those involved for at least a few minutes beforehand during this scene.

Psychologist

Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence by one level of severity (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing at all) by succeeding on an Empathy roll with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You need to talk with the person you’re treating for at least half an hour in order for them to receive the benefits of this stunt, and you can’t use it on yourself. (Normally, this roll would only start the recovery process, instead of changing the consequence level.)

The Fight skill covers all forms of close-quarters combat (in other words, within the same zone), both unarmed and using weapons. For the ranged weapons counterpart, see Shoot.

Heavy Hitter

When you succeed with style on a Fight attack and choose to reduce the result by one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation aspect with a free invocation instead.

Backup Weapon

Whenever someone’s about to hit you with a Disarmed situation aspect or something similar, spend a fate point to declare you have a backup weapon. Instead of a situation aspect, your opponent gets a boost, representing the momentary distraction you suffer having to switch.

Killing Stroke

Once per scene, when you force an opponent to take a consequence, you can spend a fate point to increase the consequence’s severity (so mild becomes moderate, moderate becomes severe). If your opponent was already going to take a severe consequence, he must either take a severe consequence and a second consequence or be taken out.

Investigate is the skill you use to find things out. It’s a counterpart to Notice—whereas Notice revolves around situational alertness and surface observation, Investigate revolves around concentrated effort and in-depth scrutiny.

Attention to Detail

You can use Investigate instead of Empathy to defend against Deceive attempts. What others discover through gut reactions and intuition, you learn through careful observation of microexpressions.

Eavesdropper

On a successful Investigate roll to create an advantage by eavesdropping on a conversation, you can discover or create one additional aspect (though this doesn’t give you an extra free invocation).

The Power of Deduction

Once per scene you can spend a fate point (and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Investigate roll representing your potent deductive faculties. For each shift you make on this roll you discover or create an aspect, on either the scene or the target of your observations, though you may only invoke one of them for free.

The Lore skill is about knowledge and education. As with some other skills, we called it Lore because that fits the particular flavor of our examples—other games might call it Scholarship, or Academics, or something like that.

If your game has a reason to prioritize different fields of knowledge as being separate from one another, you might have several skills that follow the same basic template. For example, you might have a Lore skill that’s reserved for supernatural and arcane knowledge, and a Scholar skill for more traditional education.

I’ve Read about That!

You’ve read hundreds—if not thousands—of books on a wide variety of topics. You can spend a fate point to use Lore in place of any other skill for one roll or exchange, provided you can justify having read about the action you’re attempting.

Shield of Reason

You can use Lore as a defense against Provoke attempts, provided you can justify your ability to overcome your fear through rational thought and reason.

Specialist

Choose a field of specialization, such as herbology, criminology, or zoology. You get a +2 to all Lore rolls relating to that field of specialization.

The Magic skill gauges your proficiency in acquiring and casting spells, as well as the extent of your mana reservoir.

Your maximum mana is equal to n × n, where n is your Magic skill level.

Mana Surge

Your connection to the mana pool is exceptionally potent. Once per session, you can draw on an extra reserve of mana to boost the power or range of a spell. If you choose to boost a spell, you spend 1 additional mana, in return you get a +2 bonus to attack roll and double the range of the spell.

Spellweaving Adept

You excel in interweaving multiple spells for a combined effect. Spend 1 fate point to combine two different lower-level spells into a single, more potent effect under specific circumstances. Neither spell's level can be higher than half of your Magic skill level (rounded down).

Arcane Insight

Your understanding of magical phenomena enhances your strategic awareness. You can use your Magic skill instead of Investigation to detect hidden objects. If the object is magical in nature, you get a +1 bonus to your roll.

The Notice skill involves just that—noticing things. It’s a counterpart to Investigate, representing a character’s overall perception, ability to pick out details at a glance, and other powers of observation. Usually, when you use Notice, it’s very quick compared to Investigate, so the kinds of details you get from it are more superficial, but you also don’t have to expend as much effort to find them.

Danger Sense

You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting danger. Your Notice skill works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where someone or something intends to harm you.

Body Language Reader

You can use Notice in place of Empathy to learn the aspects of a target through observation.

Reactive Shot

You can use Notice instead of Shoot to make quick, reactive shots that don’t involve a lot of aiming. However, because you’re having a knee-jerk reaction, you’re not allowed to concretely identify your target before using this stunt. So, for example, you might be able to shoot at someone you see moving in the bushes with this stunt, but you won’t be able to tell if it’s friend or foe before you pull the trigger. Choose carefully!

The Physique skill is a counterpart to Athletics, representing the character’s natural physical aptitudes, such as raw strength and endurance. In our example game, we have this skill broken out as something separate in order to create two distinct types of physical characters—the nimble guy (represented by Athletics) and the strongman (represented by Physique).

In your game, you might not find this distinction necessary to make with separate skills—though you might still let players make that distinction with stunts and aspects.

Grappler

+2 to Physique rolls made to create advantages on an enemy by wrestling or grappling with them.

Take the Blow

You can use Physique to defend against Fight attacks made with fists or blunt instruments, though you always take 1 shift of stress on a tie.

Tough as Nails

Once per session, at the cost of a fate point, you can reduce the severity of a moderate consequence that’s physical in nature to a mild consequence (if your mild consequence slot is free), or erase a mild consequence altogether.

Provoke is the skill about getting someone’s dander up and eliciting negative emotional response from them—fear, anger, shame, etc. It’s the “being a jerk” skill.

To use Provoke, you need some kind of justification. That could come entirely from situation, or because you have an aspect that’s appropriate, or because you’ve created an advantage with another skill (like Rapport or Deceive), or because you’ve assessed your target’s aspects (see Empathy).

This skill requires that your target can feel emotions—robots and zombies typically can’t be provoked.

Armor of Fear

You can use Provoke to defend against Fight attacks, but only until the first time you’re dealt stress in a conflict. You can make your opponents hesitate to attack, but when someone shows them that you’re only human your advantage disappears.

Provoke Violence

When you create an advantage on an opponent using Provoke, you can use your free invocation to become the target of that character’s next relevant action, drawing their attention away from another target.

Okay, Fine!

You can use Provoke in place of Empathy to learn a target’s aspects, by bullying them until they reveal one to you. The target defends against this with Will. (If the GM thinks the aspect is particularly vulnerable to your hostile approach, you get a +2 bonus.)

The Rapport skill is all about making positive connections to people and eliciting positive emotion. It’s the skill of being liked and trusted.

Best Foot Forward

Twice per session, you may upgrade a boost you receive with Rapport into a full situation aspect with a free invocation.

Demagogue

+2 to Rapport when you’re delivering an inspiring speech in front of a crowd. (If there are named NPCs or PCs in the scene, you may target them all simultaneously with one roll rather than dividing up your shifts.)

Popular

If you’re in an area where you’re popular and well-liked, you can use Rapport in place of Contacts. You may be able to establish your popularity by spending a fate point to declare a story detail, or because of prior justification.

Resources describes your character’s general level of material wealth in the game world and ability to apply it. This might not always reflect cash on hand, given the different ways you can represent wealth in a particular setting—in a medieval game, it might be tied to land or vassals as much as gold; in the modern day, it might mean a number of good lines of credit.

This skill is in the default list to give you a basic, easy way to handle wealth as an abstraction without getting into minutiae or bookkeeping. Some people might consider it odd to give a static skill rating for something that we’re used to seeing as a finite resource.

Money Talks

You can use Resources instead of Rapport in any situation where ostentatious displays of material wealth might aid your cause.

Savvy Investor

You get an additional free invoke when you create advantages with Resources, provided that they describe a monetary return on an investment you made in a previous session. (In other words, you can’t retroactively declare that you did it, but if it happened in the course of play, you get higher returns.)

Trust Fund Baby

Twice per session, you may take a boost representing a windfall or influx of cash.

The counterpart to Fight, Shoot is the skill of using ranged weaponry, either in a conflict or on targets that don’t actively resist your attempts to shoot them (like a bull’s-eye or the broad side of a barn).

Again, as with Fight, if it’s important to your setting to make a distinction between different types of ranged weaponry, you might separate this out into skills like Bows, Guns, Energy Weapons, etc. Don’t go nuts with this unless it’s key to your game.

Called Shot

During a Shoot attack, spend a fate point and declare a specific condition you want to inflict on a target, like Shot in the Hand. If you succeed, you place that as a situation aspect on them in addition to hitting them for stress.

Quick on the Draw

You can use Shoot instead of Notice to determine turn order in any physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.

Uncanny Accuracy

Once per conflict, stack an additional free invoke on an advantage you’ve created to represent the time you take to aim or line up a shot (like In My Sights).

The Stealth skill allows you to avoid detection, both when hiding in place and trying to move about unseen. It pairs well with the Burglary skill.

Face in the Crowd

+2 to any Stealth roll to blend into a crowd. What a “crowd” means will depend on the environment—a subway station requires more people to be crowded than a small bar.

Ninja Vanish

Once per scene, you can vanish while in plain sight by spending a fate point, using a smoke pellet or other mysterious technique. This places the Vanished boost on you. While you’re vanished, no one can attack or create an advantage on you until after they’ve succeeded at an overcome roll with Notice to suss out where you went (basically meaning they have to give up an exchange to try). This aspect goes away as soon as you invoke it, or someone makes that overcome roll.

Slippery Target

Provided you’re in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth to defend against Shoot attacks from enemies that are at least one zone away.

The Vampirism skill determines your level of vampiric prowess.

Vampire stunts are listed in the Vampire race description page.

The Will skill represents your character’s general level of mental fortitude, the same way that Physique represents your physical fortitude.

Strength From Determination

Use Will instead of Physique on any overcome rolls representing feats of strength.

Hard Boiled

You can choose to ignore a mild or moderate consequence for the duration of the scene. It can’t be compelled against you or invoked by your enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back worse, though; if it was a mild consequence it becomes a moderate consequence, and if it was already moderate, it becomes severe.

Indomitable

+2 to defend against Provoke attacks specifically related to intimidation and fear.