FATEwiki - Skills

Skills are a predefined list of things you can do -- and, by extension, how well you can do them. (FUG 4) They are measures of how you distinguish yourself from others. (FUG 63)

During character advancement you get skill ranks -- four per phase. Skills must be allocated according to The Pyramid (which sounds much more mysterious than it really is). They should be allocated, of course, to reflect (a) what you've been doing, and/or (b) what you're tring to grow your character into (the phase's Character Goal).

If you don't take any ranks in a skill, you can be assumed to know it as Mediocre (unless otherwise noted).

Note that skill points can also be used for Extras; those points are "off the pyramid," which tends to make the pyramid shorter.

My Skill Chart (and welcome to it)

One of the most "FUDGE"-like places in FATE is the need to design your own list of skills (FUG 63). FATE provides some good guidance on the matter, however, even if it can still feel like you're tightrope walking in the dark ...

The rules suggest (FUG 63) that:

There must be enough skills to allow each character an area to excel in.
Skills must be defined in more detail (finer granularity) in areas that are important to the game.

The folowing is my suggested chart of skills for this campaign. I have melded certain skills together from the Spycraft sheet. Other skills (combat ones, for example) are new to the Skill chart. I'm not going heavily into the definitions of each skill because my intent is for them to be analogous to the D20/Spycraft formulations; there's no need here to reinvent the wheel. I've done a bit of tweaking, and have tried to explain the delta instead. Doyce Testerman contributed quite a bit to the development of this table.

The "Group" is purely for organizing the table (generally per FUG 63).

A note on the Combat Skills. A note on Social Skills.

Group / Skill	Notes
Academic /Professional
Computers	Using computers for stuff, or breaking into computerized systems.
Driving	Select your primary vehicle specialty (car, plane, boat). Anything other than that vehicle is at -1 (including at the default "Average" level).
Repair	Do stuff with Electronics and Mechanics to fix, tweak, build, bypass, or otherwise manipulate technology.
Languages	The degree to which you already know or have a talent for various world languages, or speak them well. See Language Rules.
Medicine	First Aid to Brain Surgery.
Education	General knowledge, used for Education Checks (see Profession for actual jobs, including academics). Can be used for appraisal purposes.
Profession	Knowledge of basic office and professional culture. Specify the the profession/industry at +1.
Artistic
Art	Choose one specialty at +1. Includes both creativity and appraisal abilities.
Performance	Acting, declaiming, orating, reciting, etc. Use in Bluff, too.
Athletic
Acrobatics	Combines Tumbling and Balance. Also useful as a defense (Defensive Fighting).
Climbing & Jumping	Combo skill.
Throwing	Baseballs to Grenades.
Running	Sprinting and endurance running.
Sport:	Name a specialty. All other sports are -1.
Survival	Wilderness Lore, tracking, hunting, herbalism, foraging, etc.
Swimming	Includes SCUBA training, etc.
Combat Skills
Hand-to-Hand Combat	Engaging in combat using brawling, boxing, martial arts, etc. Encompasses both attacks and defense.
Melee Combat	Fighting (offensively and defensively) with melee weapons (knives, batons). Yes, foils and sword canes fit in here, too.
Gunfighting	Combat -- both shooting and avoiding getting shot -- using pistols to shotguns to SMGs
Heavy Weapons Use	Combat skills with everything from tripod-mounted MGs to Tanks
Demolitions	Crafting and setting and defusing explosives.
Tradecraft
B&E	Combines Open Locks, and the security systems part of Electronics and Mechanics, not to mention hotwiring and other ways of getting into places you want to get into.
Op Tech	Knowledge of Operations Technology, knowing with and acquiring the equipment that will be needed on a mission. The better this skill, the chance you have the tech you need. Further "stunts" give gadgets you can use. For more information, go here.
Sleight-of-Hand	Fine and covert manipulation of stuff, including concealing things on your person (see Concealing Weapons), pickpocketing, passing off stuff to other agents, etc.
Stealth	How not to be seen (and heard). Combines Hide and Move Silently.
Streetwise	Getting by out on the street, particularly (but not exclusively) amongst the seamy element. Includes fencing of goods, Appraise, scrounging, and Gather Info,
Worldly	Like Streetwise, but for things other than the street -- knowing who's who, customs (and Customs), appraisal of "nice things," making needed contacts in exotic places and among the upper crust, etc. Think of Bond knowing his way through Monte Carlo, familiar with different types of wines, at home in any airport or hotel, etc.
Perception
Alertness	Ability implicitly notice things, to avoid (or recover from) surprise (passive Listen, Spot, innate reflexes), or notice something when not looking for it. A/k/a 'Awareness.
Observant	Ability to explicitly notice things (Search, Spot, Listen).
Social Skills
Bluff	Deceive others, lie, disguise.
Charm	Seduce, charm, Dipomacy, lead-by-inspiration, be Good Cop in an interrogation, Gather Info in nice ways.
Intimidate	Bully, lead-by-fear, be Bad Cop in an interrogation, Gather Info in nasty ways.
Sense Motive	Read tells, see through bluffs and other social skill uses. Ability to pick up information from another's voice, mannerisms, and body language.

Skills vs Aspects

There is, conceptually, a grey area between Aspects and Skills. What is the difference between a Computer Hacker (Aspect) and Computers (Skill)?

The latter is the simple ability to do things with computers (which anyone can learn to do). The former is a broad substitute for the skill, knowledge of the hacker culture, possible contacts with other hackers (or knowing their signature styles), knowledge of computer esoterica and history, etc., as well as the passion and interest that computers have had in your life.

An Aspect is much more flexible and character-driven than a Skill (even though skills are usually picked up based on Aspects). While Aspects can occasionally be used for Skills, Skills are only the distilled outcome of an Aspect.