Techniques

Each Technique has a Level, between 1 and 5. This determines its power, as well as how much Experience it costs to learn.

Most Techniques can only be learned one time. However, some Techniques are noted as "Re-Learnable". You may learn these more than once, and their effects stack.

Some Techniques list requirements that you must meet to learn them.

You can communicate with animals; not by speaking to them, exactly, but well enough to relay simple questions and ideas, and understand their answers in turn. You can also, in theory, try to manipulate or recruit them to your aid. Any such actions are inherently limited by the animal's cunning, ability, or understanding of anything, which almost always foils anything except the most basic of questions or plans.

You've learned a trick or two for being able to sense things without having to see them. Maybe you have very good hearing, or know how to focus on vibrations in the air to detect things coming near you; regardless, you could win a game of darts while blindfolded. You ignore any problems you'd have because it's dark, or something's covering your eyes, or obscuring the room like a cloud of smoke... you get the idea. You can't see through walls, boxes, or other solid barriers, though.

Thanks to your intuition and training in secretive arts, others rarely manage to eavesdrop on you or notice your machinations. As a result, you ignore Bad Circumstances for anything secret or stealthy you do.

You can safely eat or drink anything without suffering ill effects. Assuming you can actually swallow it, your body will draw (some kind of) sustenance from anything. You still may gain any of the desired effects from booze or other drugs, but their toxic effects are totally nullified.

You might have spent years learning to rock climb, a natural ability to balance and hold things, or you're just really good. Regardless, you have a knack for using all four of your limbs while engaging in acrobatics and climbing. You only need two points of contact to climb, which can be either with your hands or feet. You also have no trouble holding or using objects while climbing or performing similar feats.

Once per Chapter, you can ask the Talespinner for a tidbit of information about something in particular. You don't have any control over the nature of the fact you get, but you can specify the subject to some degree. Faced with a ferocious beast, you could try to recall what it likes - it might be food, or a certain color, or ripping people limb from limb.

You gain a loyal follower such as a squire, assistant, or minstrel. Choose something that they're good; this should be something anyone can do, but maybe that not many people do well. Some good, valid choices might include:

• Keeping the party's equipment organized and ready

• Providing a capable set of hands that can follow instruction well

• Entertaining a crowd and/or busking

Each additional time you gain this Technique, you may either gain an additional follower (with its own talent) or choose another thing for one of your followers to be good at.

You can charm rats, roaches, or other vermin to follow you and do your bidding. They're not capable of much, but can be useful in the right circumstance.

At the start of each Chapter, you have a swarm of vermin following you. Unfortunately, many situations can kill them. Thankfully, if this happens, you can spend 1 Spirit as an Extra Action to gather another one.

As an Extra action, you may lose 1 Stamina to gain 1 Spirit.

You have a warm manner and a knack for catching people's attention. When you first meet someone, even if they'd rather ignore you, they'll listen and hear you out if you have something to say. This might get you an audience with a person who wouldn't normally give you the time of day - assuming they're not important enough to have guards or a secretary or something.

Regardless, this makes approaching new people always a viable option for you, and unless some other circumstance would cause you trouble then you ignore Bad Circumstance while doing so.

Whenever you start talking about something, you have a knack to just... keep... going. Whether or not you're good at keeping that in check is another thing entirely, but it can be a very useful ability to speak extemporaneously basically forever. When you're doing something that is helped by you speaking at length, sounding like an expert or otherwise impressive, you have Good Circumstance. This might be an action to convince someone you're an expert at something, distract them by overloading them with too much information, or get them to leave you alone by ignoring social conventions and rambling on.

As an Extra action, you may lose 1 Willpower to gain 1 Spirit.

Once each Scene, when you would lose Willpower, you may ignore 1 of that loss.

You know how to use virtually anything as a weapon, even if you've never seen it before. As a result, you also ignore Bad Circumstances for using improvised weapons - in your hands, a chair is almost as deadly as a cutlass.

You have an extensive knowledge of magic; not of how to use it, exactly, but how to ruin it. Regardless of your own ability to cast spells, you can recognize when someone else is doing it and what would upset them. As a result, you enjoy the benefits of a Good Circumstance whenever you are directly interfering with a magic user or a magical device.

Once each Chapter, when you would gain a Wound, you may choose whether it's a Stamina or Willpower Wound.

You have learned how to create and maintain a new, fascinating device. Describe your creation: What does it do? How does it work? What limitations does it have? This will help determine what situation it helps in, and what new opportunities it might open up for your Skill(s).

Based on its construction, note which Skill you use to operate it. This will probably be Tinkering or Academics, but certain Professions or other Skills might apply.

Once each Scene, when you would lose Stamina, you may ignore 1 of that loss.

You ignore any Bad Circumstances for trick shots. 'Shots' means anything thrown, shot, fired, or otherwise physically launched at a target. 'Trick' means that it would normally suffer because you're trying to hit a small target, bank the shot off of a wall or do some other ricochet trick, or something like that.

This doesn't prevent penalties because of poor visibility or other things that make the shot harder in that way (unless a trick shot could fix it).

You have a habit of keeping small parts and scraps with you from various projects. Wires, nails, a little wooden block; no real rhyme or reason to it, but it comes in plenty handy in your line of work. Once per scene you can produce enough pieces to make a small contraption, no larger than an average-sized dog, and which will function for the remainder of the scene. This contraption must be somewhat mechanical in nature, but could be some kind of trap or snare, a pulley or winch, or something else of the sort. If for some reason you need parts for a second device, you can spend 1 Spirit to discover you have more than you thought.

In addition, separate from the above, you always have something to pick open locks or otherwise manipulate small devices; this ensures you never suffer Bad Circumstances to such actions.

As an Extra Action, you may spend 1 Spirit and reveal that you have made some useful preparation. This can be remembering to bring an item that's very useful in the current situation, or having had the foresight to do something ahead of time that's paying off now. The preparation must have been realistic to make, although you can come up with any viable reasoning as to how it got done.

The preparation provides a strong case for a Good Circumstance, if someone can explain how it benefits their action. It lasts until the end of the current Chapter, if nothing would otherwise affect it.

Your mastery over your gullet makes even trained firebreathers jealous. You never suffer Bad Circumstance or other penalties for any sort of belching, vomiting, spitting, or anything of the sort. In addition, you can control your spitting/vomiting well enough to use it as a weapon, in all sorts of situations. At minimum, you can probably distract or blind others with your spit. By spending 1 Stamina you can bring forth some disgusting, dangerous acid from your stomach to spit at people for a Round. If you have access to something flammable or otherwise dangerous to spit at people, such as booze, you can do this without spending Stamina.

These uses almost always involve Grit.

You are well-trained in the creation and use of alchemical grenades. These include acid, incendiary flasks, flash-bombs, and similar devices used to attack or damage people and things. These generally use either the Academics or Practical Lore Skills. In addition, you have Good Circumstance whenever identifying or handling such devices.

You can adopt disguises in the blink of an eye, as long as you have a moment of privacy where you aren't being observed by the people you're trying to fool. As long as you can get to a place that's hidden from onlookers and where it wouldn't be obvious it's still you (hiding in a small closet, etc.) you don't need any special preparation to apply a disguise.

Furthermore, if your disguise is partially removed or seen through, nobody will be able to tell who you actually are. As long as some part of the disguise remains concealing part of your face or other important information - your headband stays in place, and any identifying tattoos are still hidden - then onlookers will only know that you're some kind of imposter, and nothing more aside from very basic information about your height, etc. (as far as they can tell).

Once per Scene, as an Extra Action, you can give someone some quick healing; this gives them 1 Stamina, but only if they're below their current maximum Stamina. This can be done with bandages, medicine, magic, or whatever else really.

A master of fire, you enjoy the following:

• You ignore Bad Circumstances when starting fires, and unless something specifically cannot burn you will be able to set it on fire with relative ease.

• You can perfectly control how difficult it is to put out any fire you start. If you desire, you may also make it (or any fire you encourage) much more difficult to stop than usual.

• You are immune to the dangers of any fire you start.

• At a glance, you can instantly tell how flammable a given object or creature is.

You ignore Bad Circumstances when spreading rumors, no matter how credible or accurate. Furthermore, when your actions to do so are successful, the rumors will take on life of their own and continue to spread, even after the current Scene or Chapter. This may allow them to be referenced in the future, to great effect.

Between your cunning and dexterity, you can hide contrband in a way that seems impossible to others. Any of your equipment or belongings can be hidden on your person, making them totally concealed to observers. Furthermore, even an invasive search won't turn them up; you've seen how pat-downs and strip searches go, and know just where to shift items to blend in with your clothing. This only applies to items that you could normally carry on yourself, without the use of a backpack or other large bag. A coinpurse or small pouch is fine, but a larger knapsack or briefcase is too much.

Requires: Hardened Resolve

When you would spend a turn Catching Your Breath, you may instead choose to rack your brain for insight into the events around you. You gain all the normal benefits as though you had Caught Your Breath, and in addition you make a flip with Good Circumstance this Round to contemplate things. This almost always uses Academics, although if you have specific knowledge you want to try to apply to your situation then other Skills might apply. If you succeed on the flip, the Talespinner gives you a hint or some insight to help guide you on the next Round; a way to create a favorable circumstance, or useful knowledge you or a friend could use to gain an advantage.

Requires: Tough It Out

When you act you do so quickly and decisively, sometimes even catching yourself off-guard by how fast you react to things. This gives you an edge in contests of skill and reaction, as well as ensuring you're rarely caught off-guard and can always adapt to new situations. When you take actions or are in a situation where reaction speed is the primary factor, you have Good Circumstance.

For any of your actions, you may have them happen in response to anything that occurred since your actions last Round. This doesn't let you interrupt or change anything that happened as part of the Talespinner's description, however it does open up new opportunities for your action. If someone opens a door and charges into the room, while you can't stop them from doing so, you could use your reflexes to have hidden behind the door as it opened so that you could launch a sneak attack against the person.

When you learn this, work out an explanation of the scheme with the Talespinner, as well as what Skill you use for it.

At the start of each Chapter, you gain some money or other goods from an ongoing grift or scheme. Make a flip using the relevant Skill to determine the extent of your haul; particularly low or high results will bring interesting results!

Even when your infiltration skills fail you, you're hardly out of options. You've perfected the use of a billowing cloak, smoke bombs, or something else that obscures sight of you for just a moment - but that moment is all you need to disappear from sight. Whenever you fail an action to sneak, or if you would be discovered for any other reason while hiding, you can choose to vanish and avoid any extra consequences for being found. This won't necessarily get you any closer to your goal, and whoever found you will still know you're somewhere around, but they will have no idea what direction you went and otherwise have no advantage over someone who's just on high alert for you.

Trained in the deadly arts of infiltration and assassination, when you have the opportunity to strike an unwary target you ensure you only need one hit. You have Good Circumstance whenever making an attack of any kind on an unaware target, whether stabbing with a knife or dropping a chandelier on them in some kind of zany plan. Unaware targets includes anyone unaware that you might be a threat, or who otherwise don't suspect your attack, even if they know you're there.

Further, you can take extra advantage of the trust of others. When attacking someone who believes you to be a friend or ally, your Successes instead count as Excellences.

You are an inspiration to your friends, and manage to lift hearts and steel wills even under strange and menacing conditions. You can Support with Charisma in any situation by just giving a knowing wink, a thumbs-up, a cool speech; it all carries the most emotional gravity you can muster, at least in the hearts of your friends. Additionally, you ignore Bad Circumstances when Supporting with Charisma.

You can don a disguise that looks utterly unremarkable - appearing to be a commoner, soldier, or another type of person who would be completely at place in the current environment. You can decide what your disguise is, though it can't be a member of a specific organization or otherwise include any particular details.

You can do this without any particular tools or resources; you are confident you could accomplish this while completely naked (although you may or may not have tried). The disguise is completely foolproof, failing to be removed by torrential downpour, a hurricane, or anything else. You will never fail to apply it perfectly to yourself, and can always act totally in character while doing so. Finally, while this disguise itself might not convince people to do things for you, if somehow it would be relevant to any of your actions then you have Good Circumstance to that action.

When using your signature weapon for almost anything, you always count as having a Good Circumstance.

When you learn this, choose your signature weapon. This is a type of weapon, such as a particular style of sword, a long spear, or something like that.