====== Skills ======

A character may learn any number of skills, including Combat and Martial
Arts.

These skills, abilities in broad areas of expertise such as climbing,
diplomacy, and hunting, have been divided into two categories: 
**General Skills** and **Specialist Skills**.

General Skills include the more common
and easily taught abilities which lend themselves to group instruction
and are split into three classes.

Specialist Skills require more intense training, individual instruction,
and special facilities.

Whenever a character is not on a mission or wounded,
he may spend time training to improve his skills.

However, not all Orca units have access to teachers in all skills.

As a character moves up in the Orca hierarchy more varied skill training
becomes available, as shown in [[Orca Unit Description Table 1.1|table 1.1]] of [[ORCA Military Organization|section 1.1]] under the column
labeled "**Training Class**".

Each Orca member may train in any General Skill
whose classification number is less than or equal to his rank's Training
Class.

Specialist training differs from General Skill training in several ways.

First, it is not in the standard Orca training regimen;

second, it is not available to characters set up in the wilderness;

and third, Specialist training is available only after application and
acceptance.

Any time a character gains a promotion that makes his new Rank (given
on [[Orca Unit Description Table 1.1|table 1.1]]) larger than his prior Rank, he may make an application for
Specialist training in one skill.

The chance of acceptance equals the character's Learning Roll, unless
otherwise specified in the Specialist Skill descriptions which follow.

If accepted, the character enters a six month dedicated training program.

During this time he may not go on any missions and cannot train in any
other skill.

At the end of this period he receives 80 Training Rolls in the specialized
skill and adds the subject to the list of available skills in which he
can train.

Further training in that skill follows the rules of [[Learning Skills|section 3.2]].

If not accepted, he must wait for his next promotion to reapply.

Each General and Specialist Skill is described below to outline the
situations in which each is useful.

<box>
"**Being decimated isn't so bad. It's only ten percent casualties.**" \\
Sindred
</box>

**Class 1 General Skills**

**Balance and Footwork**: Expertise in moving upon uneven surfaces and maintaining balance in a
situation such as tightrope walking.

It aids a character when crossing narrow beams, standing on a moving surface,
or moving on cluttered battlefields.

**Bard**: Overall knowledge of the history and culture of a land through its songs,
ballads, tales, and written history.

This skill includes reading, writing, and basic math, as well as fluency
with musical instruments, dance, poetry, and composition.

**Combat**: Attack and defense using weapons and armor.

Besides fighting, described in [[COMBAT AND MARTIAL ARTS|Chapter 6]], this skill is used to deflect
and block archery projectiles.

**Diplomacy**: Negotiation and communication proficiency.

It aids in gaining employment, bartering, settling arguments, arranging
truces, and avoiding fights.

**Fall Recovery**: Ability to fall properly, minimizing damage and time required to re-
gain footing.

**First Aid**: Medical Aid up to Medical Skill Level 6.

**Horsemanship**: The riding and care of horses.

This skill is required for mounted combat or maintenance of a horse.

**Martial Arts**: Unarmed combat using hand strikes, kicks, locks, holds, and throws.

Unarmed fighting is covered in [[COMBAT AND MARTIAL ARTS|Chapter 6]] and is listed under Combat in
the [[Action Reaction Table|Action/Reaction table]].

<box>
"**If that's the case, decimate them tenfold.**" \\
King Phillip the Heavy Handed
</box>

**Class 2 General Skills**

**Archery**: Firing the bows, ballistae, crossbows, and slings found on the [[Table 3 Archery Data|Archery Data Table (3A)]].

As skill increases accuracy improves and ability to use bows of greater
pull is gained.

Archery in combat is detailed in [[Archery and Thrown Weapons|section 6.4]].

**Climbing**: Free climbing and the use of climbing equipment.

This helps a character scale trees, walls, buildings, and cliffs.

**Hunting**: Knowledge of the outdoors, with emphasis on trapping, tracking, and
stalking.

This skill helps a character move silently and survive in the wilds.

**Infiltration**: Moving quietly and undetected to penetrate guarded or secured areas.

It aids in sneaking up on guards, picking locks, and avoiding traps.

**Perception**: Remembering and detecting details of a situation and the emotions of others.

This talent helps to tell if a person is uneasy or lying.

**Traps and Spotting**: Detecting and building mechanical and tactical traps.

It aids in spotting traps, ambushes, alarms, and hidden objects.

**Class 3 General Skil1s**

**Con/Acting**: The art of acting, impersonation, and disguise.

It also includes skills used in smuggling and forging.

**Espionage**: Training in organizing, compiling, and gathering information by methods
ranging from subtle questioning to forming networks of spies and informants.

It also includes the ability to operate undetected in enemy territory.

**Scouting**: Exploring and mapping unknown territory.

This helps in cutting travel times, detecting danger, and reconnoitering
enemy positions.

**Sleight of Hand**: Manual dexterity with small objects.

It aids in picking locks and pockets, and in doing sleight of hand tricks.

**Thrown Weapons**: Skill in throwing the weapons listed on the Archery Data Table (3A).

**Specialist Skil1s**

**Armorer**: Designing, fabricating, and repairing weapons, armor, and other personal
articles of war.

At low levels this allows the character to make various minor repairs,
while at higher levels he may make plate armor, temper weapons, or forge
weapons of superb quality.

**Art**: Skill in a specific field of art such as painting, sculpture, or dance.

**Construction**: The ability to build or supervise the building of structures and equipment.

At low levels the character may build simple wood structures, while at
higher levels he can supervise the construction of castles, bridges,
cathedrals, and aqueducts.

**Magic**: There are seven subjects of Magic: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Mental Magic, Body Magic, and Astral Projection.

A character studies each of these subjects as different classes and separate
Learning Points are kept in each.

The use of Magic is the subject of [[Magic|Chapter 8]].

**Medicine**: Training in the fine art of healing.

Someone of Medical Skill Level 2 would be a paramedic, while one of skill
level greater than seven, a physician.

Medical aid will vastly improve an injured character's chances of survival.

The importance of having at least one person in the party skilled in this
art cannot be overemphasized.

**Science**: Knowledge and discipline in the physical sciences such as chemistry, physics, and geometry.

**Seamanship**: Mastery of sailing and the sea.

At higher levels this includes ability in complex navigation and combat
maneuvering.

**Special Fighting Forms**: There are four special fighting forms:

Wind, which emphasizes speed;

Earth, a defensive form;

Fire, an attack form;

and Water, a fluid defense to offense counter-attack style.

Each style is learned in a separate class, so in actuality they are four
different Specialist Skills.

There is a percentage chance equal to the Learning Roll for acceptance to
Wind school, Learning Roll divided by two for Earth, and Learning Roll
divided by three for Fire or Water.

These skills greatly augment the Combat or Martial Arts ability of a
character and are discussed in [[Special Fighting Forms|section 6.7]].

<box>
"**Nobody would make a trap this elaborate unless there was something important here. Bury them later, we must go on!**" \\
Darantz
</box>

Skills [R-FRP-8.1.3.1]