Most of the skills in this section are not new skills, they ar skills explained for this campaign and the various environments that will be common. The skills in question still carry all of the same meaning that they would in a normal D&D campaign, however they also take on some new meanings given the context of the world.

• Air Lore

  This skill is the air traveller's version of the standard Wilderness Lore skill. It will help an adventurer guide a party safely through the skies of Hetwah, identify signs of dangers in the sky such as predatory birds, and be able to recognize the dangers of storms and such like. The only thing this doesn't really mimic in regards to wilderness lore is surviving in the open air (finding food and water and so on - see Survival below).

• Balance

  On ships travelling through the sky there are many opportunities for clumsy characters to fall. In the Hetwah strata the common storms add to this idea even more so. Climbing a wet mast and walking along wet rigging is an opportunity for even dexterous players to fall! As such, this skill is likely one that will come into play and any character that has spent a lot of time on a ship should consider it.

• Climb

  Certainly players who want to climb rigging should consider this one. Although climbing rigging (which is typically designed with climbing in mind) is not all that hard, but every bit of help will help!

• Craft (boatbuilding)

  Building large ships requires the skills of a shipwright (see Knowledge), but building smaller, simple ships is covered by this skill. With this skill you can build anything from a small canoe-like vessel, to a tenders. Basically any boat that a single person can build falls into this category.

• Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering)

  Since building a large vessel requires the work of many people, it goes beyond the craft skill. Your average ship requires wood workers, metal forgers, air magics of various types, rope makers, sail makers, and so on. Only knowledge of the architecture and engineering of ships will help towards this type of project.

• Profession (Sailor)

  This skill covers a variety of abilities from simple tasks such as steering and setting sails to smart shiphandling, tactical maneuvers, and handling a ship in a storm. Below is a list of ranks and the position on a ship that each job would be expected to have:

  • 1-2 Ranks: Simple Deck hand
  • 3-7 Ranks: Petty officers, officers or tech. experts such as boatswains
  • 8+ Ranks: Expert Ship Handlers

• Survival

  This entails surviving in the open air (on a ship) without food or water in the stores. It is tough to survive in the open air, so if your character has done so or plans to do so, you might need more than a few ranks in this...