Attributes, Abilities & Specialties

ATHLETICS

Description: Athletics covers basic physical fitness and coordination, along with any formal training in sports or other physical endeavors, such as lifting, climbing, jumping, swimming and throwing – even flying, if the character possesses wings. A character with high Athletics might be a trained athlete or a naturally rugged individual (such as many supernatural creatures).

Allowed Specialties: Biking, Climbing, Flying, Jumping, Lifting, Parkour, Running, Swimming, Throwing, (Specific Sport)

Rules: Assuming there are potential handholds, any character can climb trees, cliffs, walls and so forth. Doing so requires one or more rolls using Dexterity + Athletics. The roll’s difficulty depends on the surface and condition of the climb. A simple chain link fence might be difficulty 5 or 6 (depending on how flimsy it was), whereas a mostly sheer surface, or anti-climb barbed wire fencing might be difficulty 10.

• A dedicated cyclist might take the Biking specialty, which allows them to add the sum of their Dexterity and Stamina to the final result of their Safe and Max Speeds. (e.g., a character riding a mountain bike with Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 and Athletics 3 would have a Safe Speed of 15 and a Max Speed of 30.)

Vehicle	Safe Speed	Max. Speed	Maneuver	Durability	Structure
Mountain Bike	3 x Athletics	8 x Athletics	5	2	4
Racing Bike	4 x Athletics	10 x Athletics	6	2	3

• In order to scale truly great heights, a character requires the Climbing specialty to make use of advanced climbing technique and special equipment, which can potentially turn even a seemingly suicidal ascent into a more methodical, endurance-based feat.
  
  
• The Flying specialty allows you to roll Athletics to perform aerial maneuvers – provided you have wings, (thus typically restricting this specialty to creatures like Corax, or Mages with extremely strange Life rotes).
  • The Flying specialty doesn’t benefit from double successes – it’s a prerequisite to even be allowed to fly at all.
    
    
• The Jumping specialty allows normal characters (usually mortals) to add their Athletics ability to the Strength pool when attempting running leaps. Otherwise, a non-Olympian mortal has a negligible vertical clearance, although a ST might choose to let them spend a Willpower in particularly dramatic circumstances. (See +explain Strength for more on jumping).
  
  
• A character with the Lifting specialty is considered a power lifter, and may add half their Athletics, rounded up, to their Lift capacity on the Strength chart. (See +explain Strength). This only applies to prepared and controlled feats of weight lifting (not throwing motorcycles or such).
  
  
• The Running specialty allows a character to attempt the ‘long run’ of the Kalahari Bushmen or modern marathon run. (See +explain Stamina for endurance running mechanics).
  
  
• The Parkour specialty bonus may be applied to Pursuit rolls (both chasing and escaping), if taking place amidst suitably urban terrain. (See +explain Stamina for pursuit mechanics).
  
  
• While anyone with at least 1 dot of Athletics is considered coordinated enough to not drown themselves in a swimming pool, the Swimming specialty is required for moving faster in the water than a Golden Retriever, utilizing specific diving techniques or scuba equipment, or surviving getting tossed overboard in a stormy sea without a life jacket. Characters can typically swim 4 + their Dexterity rating in yards per turn. A trained swimmer can add their Athletics rating to this, and make Stamina rolls to potentially double this speed over short (yet exhausting) distances.
  
  
• The Throwing specialty is required for throwing weapons (or really anything) in combat without penalty. Although there is still a penalty for throwing weapons that were not intended to be thrown.
  
  
• You may take a specialty in a (Specific Sport), if your character is a professional athlete or Olympian. When engaged in a strictly ‘by the rules’ competition, non-specialized participants do not get to add their Athletics to contested rolls with you. They may still add their Athletics as normal when contesting other, non-specialized opponents, even in official competition.