TUNNELS & TROLLS:
The Skill System!
Copyright 2001 by Tori Bergquist, all rights reserved
Premise: Skills are a staple of modern fantasy gaming, and they serve to enhance the appearance, flexibility, and general coolness of your character. Tunnels & Trolls 5th edition is pushing twenty two or so in age, and should be forgiven for not including a skill system. As I see it, there are two ways to resolve the issue. First, you can scrounge around used book and game stores looking for a copy of Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes which ha sa serviceable modern day skill system that could be customized for T&T. Or....you can use my handy new skill system listed below!
The emphasis in this, the “Tunnels & Trolls Pipe Dream 6th Edition Skill System” edition, is to provide a set or rules and choices that keep with the spirit of the T&t game. Why on earth should T&T be just like all the other games out there, when we know it is in a class all it’s own? To this effect, I operate from the following idea:
1. T&T skills should be short, sweet, and uncomplicated.
If you need a chart or more than a paragraph of text to understand what needs to be done with the skill, something has gone horribly wrong.
2. T&T skills don’t just need to be “skills you learn,” they can be talents, traits, and other hip options.
A lot of games include this things, which are basically lumped under advantages and drawbacks. Why not have these options? If you can get an extra 5 skill points for taking a gimpy leg, then go for it!
3. Skills should not hamper solitaire play, the should enhance it.
The idea here is that much of T&T’s never-ending appeal is the large base of solo adventures to support it. As such, a skill system should be easily defined in such a way that t’s use in the context of a solo adventure is implicit, or darn close. If you, for example, are making a L1 Sr Dx and the text is clear that it’s because you’re juggling fire plugs or something, you know you can immediately go to your Juggle skill and use it to modify the SR without feeling guilty or confused. In those cases where it’s not obvious a skill would be relevant, or the saving roll is cryptic prior to getting the results.....then you’re on your own, bubba.
Rules: The rules for skills are simple. Follow these easy steps:
Figure your Skill Points: Skills are based on knowledge, so it follows that your IQ determines your skill pool. Ergo, the smarter you are, the more you know.
Buy your skills: Skills buy and sell on a one-to-one basis. If you buy a level in Juggling, for example, you now have Juggling +1.
Buy drawbacks: You might decide you want to pick a few problems for your character, things which will make him a sorry hombre during play, but which will give you that critical slight edge right now. When you pick the drawback, you actually gain the skill points it is worth, and may spend them on advantages and other skills. I suggest that a starting character cannot have more than 20 points of drawbacks.
Choose Advantages: You may spend some, none, or all of your skill points on advantages. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you cannot spend more than 5 skill points derived from IQ on advantages, but can spend a many skill points derived from drawbacks on advantages as you want.
Using your skills: Each skill gives you one level for each skill point spent on it. These figure in to a skill level, which is a bonus you receive on a certain attribute linked to the skill if you have to make a saving roll that is tied in to the focus of that skill. This is a GM judgment call in some cases, while in other cases it is pretty obvious. If you have Hiding +3, then try to hide in a back alley to escape detection, it is obvious the skill will add to your attribute for purposes of making the saving throw.
The attributes are not a given, however, when it comes to which ones are paired with the skills. If you try to hide in a crowd, for example, the GM could tell you to make a L1 SR on CHA, and modify it with your skill, while hiding in the alley might be a save on DEX, and so on. These are subject to the nature of the event, and are not predetermined.
Increasing skills with level advancement: A character who advances a level may choose to increase his or her IQ, and if that is done, you get an increase in skill points equal to the amount your IQ went up by, which you may spend immediately. Optionally, a generous GM may grant you 1 skill point at each level, if you seem to have deserved it, to be spent on a skill you have used in prior adventures. A GM could incorporate this in to a luck roll: Make a L1 SR LK for every three levels your character already has, and if you make the roll, you gain 1 skill point (so, a level 7 Rogue would make a L3 SR LK when he advances to level 8 to see if he get s a bonus skill point).
At the very least, characters might have a new reason to increase IQ when going up a level!
The Difference Between Skills and Advantages: The difference is, a skill should require some effort to use, and an advantage is “always active,” in that it requires no effort to use, and will come in to play with out being called upon. Not a hard and fast rule, but a good rule of thumb.
Buying Back Drawbacks: You may decide to buy back a drawback and get rid of it, which might also require an in-game story reason. To buy them back, when you go up a level, you may negate a number of negative drawback modifier points equal to the level you just advanced to. You may also spend earned skill points (due to IQ increases) one a one-for-one basis to negate drawbacks. Drawbacks that lose value become flaws and quirks of no discernible effect. If it’s something dramatic, like a missing limb or something, the GM may require you to provide an explanation for how it grew back, and disallow buying it off without an in-game reason.
Example: Horus the Assassin is a Rogue, fresh off the assembly line. He rolled a 13 for IQ, which gives him some range to work with. He speaks Greek and Egytian for base languages (because of IQ). Now he buys his skills with his 13 skill points.
Horus needs to be clever, quiet, and efficient to be an assassin, so he picks Sneaky at +2, Escaping at +2, and Profession: Assassin at +3, and Hunting and Tracking at +2. Killing Blow +4 seems like a great idea, and Search at +1 seems useful. He wants to speak Latin and write all of his languages, too, and the GM has declared literacy is separate, so he spends 4 skill points to get literacy in all three languages plus latin. He Now has spent 18 points. He wants one other bonus, Naturally Quiet, at +2. That makes it 20 skill points. He only had 13, so now he buys drawbacks. For drawbacks, Horus gets Paranoid at -4 (+2 skill points), Evil Reputation -2 (+2 skill points), and Decides on One Eye (Gimpy Limb) for -3 as a cool side effect (we’ll figure he lost the eye in assassin school, and wears a patch to look cool). Horus is now done!
Skills:
Good With Animals
You are good with animals! Add this when dealing with fuzzy critters.
Cunning and Guile
You can talk your way through a brick wall.
Sneaky
You can hide and avoid detection like the best of them.
Escaping
You can flee and get away real darn good.
Horsemanship/Riding
You are good at riding a horse, even in combat or under tough conditions. The beast likes you (unless you fail your save).
Mechanical Knack
You have a knack for things of a technical nature, such as locks, traps, or what-not.
Good at Making Stuff
You have a craft you should pick which you are talented at. Examples include: Tinkering, tailor, cloth making, sewing, tanning, black smithing, weaponsmithing, armoring, etc.
Reading and Researching
You can find out things if given some time and a library that the GM doesn’t want you to know.
Ventriloquism
You can throw your voice. Good for parties. And dummies.
Professional
You have mastered a professional trade and can claim to be an expert in the field (or at least well-informed). Examples include: guardsman, sailor, moneylender, scribner, historian, soldier, Alchemist, Assassin, Mercenary, etc.
Lore Master
You pick an item of esoteric lore and get really good at it (magic, monsters, kingdoms, etc.).
Hunting and Tracking
You will never starve or lose track of your prey.
Prestidigitation
You can do tricks of sleight of hand, and make stuff seem to disappear or reappear.
Diplomatic
You have a suave finesse in dealing with people.
Entertainer
You can make em laugh or cry s you see fit.
Cartographer
You are talented at map making, a common talent for dungeon delvers.
Martial Arts
You beat people up exceptionally well when fighting bare-handed or with appropriate martial arts weapons. Add to any special strikes, all out attacks, etc.
Killing Blow
You are exceptionally keen at ferreting out your enemy’s weak spot. Add to any killing blow shots.
Survivalist
Pick a terrain you are really good at surviving in.
Language
You can spend 1 IQ point to learn one additional language on top of your starting pool of languages that you get in the regular rules.
Literate
If your GM declares everyone is illiterate until proven otherwise, here’s your chance to do it. Literacy costs 1 point for literacy in one language, and works like languages do in the rules, except now you can read them, too.
Search
You are good at looking for minutiae, facts, clues, and hard to find stuff.
Advantages:
Alert
You are really aware of your environment. Use this to spot ambushes, escape narrowly, and sense you are being watched.
Keen Senses
Your sense of sight, smell, hearing or whatever is especially keen, and when something related to that sight comes up, this bonus comes in to play.
Mind of a Sleuth
You are naturally good at puzzling out clues, oddities, and any mystery which might boggle you but not your character.
Good Memory
Your keen memory insures your PC will remember something even when you don’t.
Slippery
You are a squirmy, hard-to-grab kind of guy, and can get out of tight spots bigger people can’t even try for.
Wire-Fu Master
Your sense of the dramatic is remarkable, and you can get bonuses for immense acts of creativity in combat. Sometimes called the Erol Flynn Effect. Only applies to Saving rolls.
Naturally Quiet
You are preternaturally quiet when sneaking around or moving about, even if you aren’t trained for it.
Heroic Reputation
Your reputation precedes you, whether it is justified or not. Could also be a family reputation. This aspect works in your favor, adding to Charisma in times when you want a favorable response because of who you are.
Ambidextrous
You are talented at working with both hands. In combat situations that call for a saving roll, this might help. You can also use this to aid in Parry related saving rolls (see combat tricks).
A Natural Charmer
Your naturally amazing personality helps you out all the time. You might be an uncharismatic boor, but you’re so pathetic everyone wants to help you. Also called the Shreck effect.
Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a form of supernatural alertness. Use this to figure out when something unnatural and supernatural is going on and you aren’t quite sure.
Affinity for the Dead
You can sense dead people! You are also better than usual at seeing spirits, perhaps even communicating with them.
Magically Resistant
You have a natural resistance to magic. You may add this to any saving roll you need to make against a spell effect. You can also choose to roll a saving throw using this advantage only (no other number) equal to the difference of the spell level cast from your character level (if your level is higher, the save is level 1), and if you actually make it, then the spell fizzles and dies! A cool effect, but you’d ned a lot of points in it for good effect.....
Drawbacks:
Gimpy Limb
You have an old war injury that hampers you in some way. The number of bonus points you want is the negative modifier this grants you for tasks that would be affected by the missing limb (-5 points of Missing One Eye means -5 on all sight related saving rolls, for example).
Loud and Clunky
You couldn’t sneak up on a barn full of animals in heat. Every bonus skill point nets a minus one negative modifier.
Bad Senses
You are poor of one or more senses, and the number of bonus points you want determines the negative modifier you get when using that sense.
Not right in the head
You’re one screwed up little puppy, dude. You have a mental problem, caused by natural events, trauma, trepanning, or some other means which means you don’t think straight and have issues when dealing with people. Bonus points received determine the negative modifier you get when doing tasks your mental state would make difficult.
Sees Things
You see things that aren’t really there. This gives +2 skill points, and the GM gets to have a lot of fun with you.
Paranoid
You are paranoid, and this affects how you work with your team mates and react to people. Works like “Not Right in the Head,” but grants +1 skill point per -2 modifier, due to the fact it’s fairly specific, and most delvers are paranoid anyway.
Shell Shocked
You have a problem with violent scenarios or loud noises due to some previous trauma. Works like “Not Right in The Head,” when around the conditional. Grants +1 skill point per -2 modifier, however.
Bad Temper
You get pissed off easily, and might even have a tendency to go berserk. For each skill point, you get a -1 modifier to restrain yourself in antagonizing situations.
Pacifist
You are easily cowed by violence, and do not like to take part in it. Works like Bad Temper, but you get a negative modifier to your chance to try and actually take violent action (usually IQ based).
Slow on the Uptake
You don’t catch on quickly. If you have a brilliant idea, the GM will make you roll a save on IQ to see if you actually got it, or stifle the thing. One bonus point generates -2 modifier points.
Accident Prone/Unlucky
This is evil luck, and once per game session, during a Luck roll, if you roll doubles, the GM will declare that you have actually critically failed, due to your bad luck! GM may be arbitrary. Grants +4 skill points, has no modifier.
Evil Reputation
You have a bad reputation that follows you like a dead cow stench. You get a bonus skill point for each negative point in this drawback, and modify charisma checks when dealing with the public.
Wanted by Authorities
Like “evil reputation,” except that when dealing with the law you have a chance of setting them off after you. It grants +1 skill point for each -2 modifier.
Oath
You have an oath of fealty, protection, or something similar to someone or thing that often interferes with your usual routine. Each skill point bonus you get gives you a -2 modifier, which comes in to play as a permanent modifier in actions which go against your oath, and only goes away when you step back in line.
Magic Magnet
As a magic magnet, the stuff just seems to love you, even the stuff you really don’t want to get hit by The negative modifier is subtracted from attributes being saved on to avoid magical effects. For every bonus skill point you get a negative one modifier in this.
