These campaign notes are Copyright © 1999 by Christopher A. Goodwin and are provided under the Open Content License.
Return to Osprey.
Phoenicians will seldom try to kill each other -- it does no good, and if you just wait around, your target will die anyway. More often, if a Phoenician wants to remove another from the picture, he'll drop his target into the bottom of the ocean, freeze him inside an iceberg, seal him up in a cave, and the like. The only way to permanently kill a Phoenician is to scatter his atoms thoroughly, through dropping him in hot lava, hitting him directly with a nuclear bomb, and so on, though sometimes this doesn't even do the trick (Phoenicians killed in this way have been known to return after years).
Dexterity: There are more skills here than advantages for the simple fact that many of the things you would consider to be Dexterity-based advantages are learnable by anyone.
Intelligence: General memory, reasoning, perceptive abilities. Intelligence advantages include things like lightning calculator, improved perception, absolute direction sense, absolute time sense, speed reading, eidetic memory, etc.
Will: Not many skills or advantages are available here, unfortunately -- there are no known psi powers in the universe of the Phoenix Society. Some advantages can include unfazeable (common among Phoenicians), high pain threshhold, will to live.
Social: Partly a measure of the character's charisma and partly a measure of the character's general social status and all around appearance. Social skill points may be spent on advantages such as contacts, favors, money, possessions, as well as appearance, charisma-type advantages, and the like.
Age: Measures approximately how many human lifetimes a character has lived. Normal humans have no Age attribute. Skill points from the Age attribute may be spent on any skills (and these points ignore the doubling-after-default rule). Also, skill points from the Age attribute may be spent on Social and Will advantages.
When buying skills, 1 point gets you a number of points equal to the default level. Once you've spent 5 + (twice the skill's default) points, the cost doubles (except for skill points from the Age attribute). You can use skills at a level equal to the default, if you haven't bought the skill. Buying skills, or using them at default, is always in terms of the dice in the attribute the skill is based on.
Lifting (3) - The science of bringing heavy weights into the air. Studied mostly by bodybuilders, powerlifters, warehouse personnel, and the like. Use this skill instead of your Body when lifting something.
Endurance (5) - This is your "wind" or your stamina. This determines how long you can keep up physical activity.
Throwing (3) - This is the skill of throwing heavy weights long distances.
Riding (4) - Staying on a mount's back and being fairly comfortable in the process, especially when performing stunts.
Combat Body Movement (5) - Gives you the basic combat stance, dodging ability, movement while wearing armor, etc. This is the skill you use in combat to avoid being hit.
Sword (4) - How to swing a single handed sword. Includes short, long, broad.
Bastard Sword (3) - Hand-and-a-half; any sword that can be used with one or two hands.
Two-handed Sword (3) - As the name implies.
Quarterstaff (3) - Using a big stick as a weapon.
Archery (2) - The art and science of firing a bow. Short, long, compound bows.
Mounted Archery (2) - Requires Archery and Riding as prerequisites. How to fire a short or longbow from horseback.
Crossbow (4) - Much easier to learn than Archery. Crossbows are slightly less accurate, do slightly less damage, have a lower rate of fire, but can be used mounted without too much extra training.
Small Arms (5) - This gives you the basic profiency with firearms.
Martial Arts (Style) (2) - Studied, scientific mayhem. This counts as both skill and damage. You can't combine Brawling or Strength damage with Martial Arts; to improve your Martial Arts damage, buy up the skill. Each Martial Arts style is a separate skill. Players are encouraged to be as entertaining as possible when describing the use of this skill.
Fast Draw (1) - The ability to get a weapon drawn and readied in an instant.
Combat Driving/Piloting (3) - Exactly what it implies; handling a vehicle or sea/aircraft of some kind in combat. Must be purchased separately for each type of vehicle. Handling an animal in combat comes under Riding and Animal Handling (see those separate skills).
Sleight of Hand (2) - Magic tricks to amaze and amuse. Card tricks, ring tricks, various types of prop-based tricks.
Pickpocket (3) - Lifting items from an unaware victim. Opposed by the victim's perception ability.
Lockpicking (2) - The ability to open locks. Usually requires tools of some kind.
Deduction (2) - Reasoning ability. How to put facts together into a conclusion.
Animal Handling (3) - You understand animals. This understanding is either natural or learned.
Tactics (3) - Understanding how your opponent, battlefield conditions, weather and so on all interact in order to make the most of a combat situation. Used everywhere from a personal to a battalion level.
Strategy (2) - Understanding how factors such as troop movements, seasonal climate, logistics and supply, etc. together can lead to the desired result in an overall campaign. Very large scale.
Mathematics (3) - Could easily be broken down by type (algebra, calculus, n-dimensional mathematics, etc.). Optionally, higher mathematical skills will have reduced (i.e. more difficult) default levels.
Languages - Default usage of language is 8 for your native tongue; any others depend on the specific language. Some languages have a similarity to others and can have a default level based on those other languages.
Professional Skills (4) - Includes things like shoeshine boy, carpenter, plumber, electrician, teacher, private investigator, hot dog vendor, accountant, receptionist, etc. The default level given is simply an average; not all professional skills will necessarily have a default of 4.
Knowledge Skills (4) - Includes things like woodworking, electronics, metalworking, area knowledges, etc. The same caveat as for Professional Skills applies here also.
Scientific Skills (3) - Biology, botany, chemistry, physics, zoology, etc. Same as for Professional and Knowledge Skills.
Computer Skills (3) - Programming (purchase each language separately), Computer Building, Hardware troubleshooting, Applications knowledge (must go along with a professional skill; office, surveying, scientific applications suites are common), Internet surfing, etc. Ditto.
Basic weapon care (4) - How to field strip a firearm, clean it, and reassemble it; includes how to store it properly to keep dampness from affecting it. If used with low tech weapons, it is how to keep your weapon clean, sharpen it, keep it from rusting, etc.
Pushing (4) - As in pushing yourself. It takes an act of will to continue running, lifting, etc. beyond the point where your body normally tells you "Enough."
Streetwise (3) - Knowing "the street," i.e. who controls what, who is into what, and so on.
Bluffing (2) - Keeping a poker face, using body language to convey the impression that you mean what you are saying.
Bribery (3) - Being able to tell who might take a bribe and who might not. Also being able to tell how much of a bribe is sufficient.
Intimidation (3) - Using body language, overt threats, etc. to get someone to do what you want them to.
Public Speaking (3) - Avoiding nervousness when speaking in front of people, and delivering a convincing speech.
Persuasion (3) - Convincing someone of something without them necessarily realizing you are doing it.
Conversation (2) - Pumping someone for information without them realizing you are doing it.
Interrogation (2) - Using tactics including intimidation and torture to get information out of someone who is actively resisting the process. Conversation is a nice compliment to this skill, as would be Knowledge: Torture Techniques.
Salesmanship (4) - Overtly convincing someone toward a desired result.
0.0.1: Posted mumble-mumble-1999.
0.0.2: Fixed an error in the Perception skill that crept in when
I cut-and-pasted the skill description from a pre-0.2.x Osprey release.
Twiddled the descriptions of a few skills (Professional Skill, Die, Interrogation).