Instead of pre-defined groups of abilities, d00M™ gives players the freedom to choose what their characters excel at. Want a hero that is good with a blade and proficient in the arcane arts? Simply advance the appropriate skills.

USING SKILLS
Skills are specific applications of a character’s attributes. Whenever a character makes an ability check, they add the number of levels obtained in the appropriate skill(s) to their roll.

Example: Logan is trying to pick a lock. The Difficulty Rating of the lock is 50 (Average), so he must roll at least a 50 on his d100. He has 4 levels in Burglary, giving him a +4 bonus to his roll.

TALENTS
Every character has a set of skills he is naturally good at. This set is known as the character’s talents. A player chooses five skills as talents when creating their character.

Talents provide two benefits. First, all talents start with one (1) level. Second, talents advance quicker than normal skills, requiring only half the Experience necessary to normally purchase the next level.

SKILL ADVANCEMENT
Characters start with one (1) level in each of their talents and zero (0) levels in all other skills. Skills can be advanced by the expenditure of Experience. A skill’s maximum level is 10. A player may advance a skill more than one level at a time, but they must pay the Experience cost of the intervening levels.

Example: Chris wishes to advance his character’s Sword skill level from one (1) to four (4). Chris must pay a total of 19,000 Experience (3000 + 6000 + 10000 for 2nd, 3rd and 4th level).

Table 3.1 – Skill Advancement Costs

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS
Skills are divided into three categories: Combat, General or Magic. A skill’s category determines what feats a player can choose from as their skill advances (see Feats). The modifier of the governing attribute for the skill can also be added to any ability checks made using that skill. The category and governing attribute for each skill is listed in brackets following the skill’s name.

The rest of the skill’s description also explains different ways the skill can be used, typical DRs, if using the skill costs Action Points, if any synergies exist between the skill and another, or if there are any restrictions on the use of the skill.

Table 3.2 – Skills

FEATS
Feats represent specific ways in which a character utilizes a particular skill. They provided bonuses to certain ability checks, allow skills to be used in unique ways, or grant characters special attacks.

ACQUIRING FEATS
Skill levels are divided into three ranges of expertise (see Table 4.1). Each time a character attains a new level of expertise in a skill, she can select a feat of equal or lesser expertise from the same category as the skill. Players choose five Apprentice feats, one for each talent, when creating their characters.

Table 4.1 – Skill Expertise Level Ranges

Feats can also be purchased as the character gains experience. A character must have a skill that is in the same category and is of the same or greater expertise level as the desired feat. A player must spend 1000 Experience to purchase an Apprentice feat, 4000 Experience for a Journeyman feat and 10,000 for a Master feat.

FEAT DESCRIPTIONS
Feats are divided into three categories, just like skills: Combat, General and Magic. Feats are also grouped by level of expertise: Apprentice, Journeyman or Master. Some feats have a prerequisite, such as a certain attribute score or another feat, which must be met before it can be selected.