Skills are divided into three broad general categories--physical, mental and racial. This system describes how a player selects the skills his character knows at first level, and how a character can acquire new skills as he or she advances in level.

A key to understanding this system is to forget everything you already know about the AD&D weapon and non-weapon proficiency system. It completely replaces the existing AD&D system.

A character begins at first level with a set number of mental and physical skill points which are calculated based ability score statistics. Physical skills are calculated using the abilities of Strength, Dexterity and Constitution and Mental skills are calculated using the abilities of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Both mental and physical skills are modified by the character's class and the character's Ego score which represents in part the character's aura and luck. Racial skill points are assigned based on race and may be divided among the character's racial skills in any manner desired.

A character receives a set number of mental and physical skill points each time he or she advances in level. These skill point totals are known respectively as Base Mental Skill Points and Base Physical Skill Points. Determining the base points that a character receives each time he or she advances a level requires some calculation (this might be a good time to get your calculator out) but fortunately it needs to be done only once. The only time the base skill scores will change is when an ability score increases or decreases. When an ability score changes only future skill points are affected. Skill points already allocated do not change.

The first step to calculating base skill points is to determine the Ego multiplier. To obtain this value divide a character's Ego by 4 (rounding down). Thus a character with an Ego of 16 receives a 4x multiplier. All characters have a minimum multiplier of 1x regardless of their Ego score. For convenience Ego multipliers have been listed on the table below.

The second step is to determine the character's rough mental and physical skill scores. To determine the rough skill scores, the Ego multiplier is multiplied by the average of a character's mental ability scores, (Intelligence + Wisdom + Charisma)/3, and physical ability scores, (Strength + Dexterity + Constitution)/3, to generate two numbers. (When averaging round up decimals of .5 or greater to the nearest whole number, otherwise round down.) These rough scores will later be multiplied by a modifier based on class to generate the base mental and physical skill scores of a character.

For example, Lorig the Fighter has a Str 18, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 8, Ego 14. His rough skill scores before modification for class would be calculated as follows:

Physical skill score = (18+17+16)/3 or 17 x 3 (Ego Multiplier) = 51
Mental skill score = (14+10+8)/3 or 11 (round up 10.66) x 3 (Ego Multiplier) = 33

The rough mental and physical skill scores are multiplied by modifiers based on the characters class to generate the base mental and physical skill score. This is done to reflect the training emphasis of the various classes. Wizards naturally focus on mental skills, while warriors concentrate on the physical. Rogues on the other hand are more balanced and focus equally on both types of skills. Consult the following tables to determine the mental and physical skill score class modifiers.

For example, Lorig the fighter has a rough physical score of 51 and a rough mental score of 33. With his class modifier, he would have the following base scores:

Physical Skill Score = 51 x 1.25 = 64 (63.75)
Mental Skill Score = 33 x .75 = 25 (24.75)

Had Lorig been a Mystic instead of a fighter his base scores after class modification would have been as follows:

Physical Skill Score = 51 x .5 = 26 (25.5)
Mental Skill Score = 33 x 1.5 = 50 (49.5)

At first level a character multiplies his Mental and Physical base scores by five to determine the number of skill points available to purchase beginning skills. Thus, Lorig would have a total of 320 physical and 125 mental skill points to allocate at first level. Physical points are needed to purchase skills based on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, and Mental points are need to purchase skills based on Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and Ego. Skills based on Observation require both mental and physical points to purchase. Some skills require both mental and physical points.

Multiclass characters may choose the class multiplier they desire from among their classes, but the mental and physical multiplier must be from the same class. Alternatively, a multiclassed character may choose a x1/x1 modifier. Multiclass characters divide the skill points the receive as the advance in level between their classes in the same way as hit points are divided. Thus if Lorig was a multiclass Fighter/Thief and chose a x1/x1 class modifier, he would receive 26 physical and 17 mental skill points each time he advanced a level in either class (round skill points up).

A character who choses to become a dual-class character receives a bonus to his skill points when he begins to train for his new class to reflect the new skills learned during that training period. A dual-class character multiplies the mental and physical base scroes for his new class by three and to calculate skill points which must be used immediately to purchase skills for the new class. For example, if Lorig later in his life decided to become a thief he would calculate new base mental and physical skill scores, giving him a total of 51 physical and 33 mental skill points. Multipling the new base skill scores times three gives Lorig a total of 153 physical and 99 mental skill points which must be used to purchase skills pertinent to his new class.

A dual-class character gains no additional skill points for new skills until his level in his new class exceeds his level in his old class.

After determining starting skill points it's a simple matter to allocate them. Most skills require one physical or mental skill point to improve the skill by one percent. However, there are some skills that require two, three and even four skill points to increase the skill by one percentage points. Some skills require both mental and physical skill points to acquire. A mental 1, physical 1 skill requires one mental and one physcial skill point to increase the skill score by 1%. These multi-point skills are indicated in their description.

Characters of some races have a greater ability to perform certain skills which people of their race excel in. Likewise they are penalized in their attempts to use other skills. Racial modifiers are listed in the description of each skill and summurized on Racial Modifiers for Skills Table.

Bonuses and penalties to skill scores are also awarded based on the character's ability scores. High ability scores result in positive modifiers, while low ability scores result in negative modifiers. The bonus or penalty depends on the primary ability associated with the skill. For example, a Dexterity/Aim skill would be modified by a character's Aim score. An ability score modifier sometimes appears after the relevant ability score and must be applied to the ability score before determining the bonus or penalty. For example, if Lorig where to learn a nonweapon skill that had a relevant ability score of Dexterity/Aim -1, his relevant ability score would be 16 for purposes of calculating his bonus. Bonuses and penalties for high and low ability scores are listed on the table below.

Characters who use kits will find that they have certain bonus and recommended skills. Bonus skills receive a +60% bonus to the skill score and recommended skills receive a +30% bonus to the skill score. In order to receive the bonus for recommended skills the character must expend enough skill points to bring the skill score to 10%.

A character may chose to increase a skill score on a particular skill beyond 100% for a number of reasons. However, to do so is more costly and time consuming than initial training in the skill and requires a larger outlay of points. The cost in skill points doubles when a character increases a skill score beyond 100%.

Some skills require that a character learn other basic skills before pursuing the more advanced skill they desire. For example, a character that wishes to acquire the Armorer skill must first learn Blacksmithing and Leatherworking. A character must have a skill score of at least 50% in a prerequisite skill before he may train to learn an advanced skill.

Some skills are so basic that everyone has some chance to perform the skill without the benefit of formal training. These skills are known as default skills. Characters may use these skills at the default values, plus any modifiers for race or ability/subability scores, without additional training. However, if a character chooses to train in a skill that has a default value, the default is added to the character's final skill score.

All skills that are considered purely weapon proficiencies in the AD&D game are considered physical skills under this system and it costs 50 physical skill points to acquire one weapon proficiency slot. For example, if Lorig wished to obtain proficiency in a broad weapon group (3 weapon proficiency slots), he would have to spend 150 physical skill points to do so.

Sometimes a character may wish to focus more on mental or physical skills than his point allocations would normally allow. A character may at his option trade two physical skill points for one mental skill point or two mental skill points for one physical skill point.

A skill check is made by rolling percentile dice and comparing the number rolled to the character's skill score (a percentage). A number lower than the skill score indicates success, a higher number indicates failure. However, a skill check is not normally required for a simple task performed by a character who has a skill score of at least 50% in a skill. Skill checks for characters with a score of 50% or higher are only required if the character must use the skill in an exceptional manner. For example, a character with a 50% skill score in Cooking would not need to make a skill check every time he cooked a meal, but he would need to make a skill check if it was important that the meal impressed those he was serving. A character with a skill score below 50% must make a skill check every time he uses the skill.

A roll of 01-05% is considered a critical success and results in the immediate increase of the skill in question by 1%. A critical failure occurs anytime the character makes a skill check and rolls a natural 96-00. (When a skill check is required the dice must always be rolled, even if the skill in question has a skill score of 100 or more.) The results of a critical failure are largely up to the DM, but usually involve the destruction of an item if the character was attempting to create one or other unsavory effects.

Skill checks can be modified by environment, situation and difficulty of the task to be undertaken at the DM's option. Typical modifiers to skill checks are listed on the table below.