Abilities, Actions, and Augments

Table of Contents

An Ability is a type of knowledge or training which is directly related to performing a specific type of activity. Each Class grants access to three Abilities, and additional Abilities may be learned through formal education, instruction from a trained professional, or even just repeatedly trying to figure it out.

Ability Details

All Abilities have the following traits.

Ability Rank

Each Ability is measured in Rank, which is increased by spending Ability Points. When making a System Check, an individual adds the Rank from one and only one Ability to their roll. Thus, having a higher Rank improves the chances of making a successful Check.

Key Attribute

Every Ability has a Key Attribute and Key Aptitude. When making a System Check, an Ability’s Key Attribute is added to the roll for the Check.

In unusual situations, a System Check may use a different Attribute than an Ability’s Key Attribute. For example, an Ability focused on melee combat that uses Might as its Key Attribute may instead require the use of Intellect when making a Check to teach the Ability to a student.

Key Aptitude

Every Ability is also tied to a Key Aptitude, which limits the maximum Rank that an Ability may reach. This means than an individual can spend exactly enough Ability Points to advance their Ability to a Rank equal to the Key Aptitude and not a single point beyond.

Exclusive and Preferred Abilities

Class Exclusive and Preferred Abilities

Some Abilities are exclusive to a particular Class. This means that only individuals who possess that Class can learn that Ability. If an individual changes Class, all Class-Exclusive Abilities from that Class are lost, but this does not reduce an individual’s Level.

Each Class also has preferred Abilities common to individuals with that Class. These Abilities can be learned by members of that Class through dedicated effort without need for a specialized trainer. Abilities which are not preferred typically require some form of extra training to learn.

World Exclusive

Some Abilities are unique to a particular world, metasphere, or System Instance. These Abilities are only available to individuals who are currently within that specific location. Should an individual leave the related location, all such Abilities become unavailable and may not be used.

Ability Classification

Each Ability is classified into a particular category based on that Ability’s main focus. Some categories have special rules that apply to all Abilities within that category, while others are used primarily to make the list of Abilities easier to read and understand.

Ability Types

Actions and Augments

Basic Actions

Basic Actions are available to all individuals and are not inherently part of any Ability. However, some Classes and Abilities may provide alternative or improved versions of these Basic Actions.

A list of Basic Actions can be found here.

Aspects

Most Actions and Augments have one or more Aspects. These are terms used to reference common rules so that the way an Action is intended to function can be determined at a glance without the need to reprint large amounts of rules text. For example, magic spells have the Spell Aspect while Actions that allow an individual to move as part of that action have the Movement Aspect.

Complexity

Most Actions and Augments have are rated as Basic, which means anyone has the potential to learn them. Other Actions and Augments have a higher complexity rating. In order, complexity is Basic, Advanced, Mastery, and Grandmastery. Each of tier of complexity has a minimum Ability Rank requirement before you can learn Actions and Augments of that tier. You cannot invest any AP into these options until you meet the minimum Ability Rank requirement.

Basic Actions and Augments can be learned at Rank 1. Advanced can be learned at Rank 5, Mastery at Rank 10, and Grandmastery only at Rank 15.

Default Action

Each Ability has a Default Action. If no other Action is specified, this is the Action activated when that using that Ability. The Default Action has no Rank of its own, instead using the overall Rank of the Ability for all purposes.

Additional Actions

There are a number of additional Actions available to each Ability which expand the ways in which the Ability can be used. Each additional Action can only be advanced up to a Rank equal to its parent Ability’s Rank. To further increase the Action Rank, the parent Ability’s Rank must first be increased.

In some rare cases, an individual may receive an Ability whose Default Action has been replaced with of the other Actions available to that Ability. This exchanged Action becomes the new Default Action when that individual uses the Ability. These variant Abilities are often viewed as great blessings or horrible curses depending on what benefits or hardships they bring.

Augments

Each Ability also possesses a number of Augments which improve the use of that Ability in some way or changes how one or more Actions function. As with the additional Actions, each Augment can only be advanced up to a Rank equal to its parent Ability’s Rank.

Unless an Augment explicitly states otherwise, the benefits of that Augment apply only when using the parent Ability. For example, an Augment that increases damage when using a particular weapon doesn’t increase that weapon’s damage if a completely different Ability is used to attack.

Only one Ability and its Augments can be used at a time.

List of Known System Abilities