Missing Talents

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

The rules are here; let's change them.

Next, I take up Talents. I really like abbreviated skill lists and, all-in-all, I think the ZEFRS Talents are nice. But, they seem to be some missing ones. Some seem rather essential (Stealth); others just seem flavourful (Gambling). I'd propose to add the following:

• Appraise
  
• Art of Memory
  
• Beastmastery
  
• Bureaucracy
  
• Concentration
  
• Culture*
  
• Deception
  
• Gambling
  
• Investigate
  
• Mounted Combat
  
• Nature's Speech
  
• Pass without Trace
  
• Pilot
  
• Profession*
  
• Stealth
  
• Streetwise
  
• Theology

Talents marked with an asterix are generic and could take specialties. I'd propose that "Profession*" is better than having specific Talents such as "Goldsmith" and "Blacksmith".

Have I misconstrued some existing Talents? Overdone the list? What do you think?

[markkrawec]

Doc

Adding Stealth sounds like a good idea. You can use Observation to follow someone undetected, but there's no Talent for just sneaking around quietly. But why bother to split Stealth & Pass Without Trace? Distinguishing "make no noise" from "leave no footprints" is just a bit on the granular side for my tase.

I like the idea of a simple Profession that's a catchall for everything you need to know to pursue a mundane career - horticulture, light carpentry, a bit of meteorology &c. for farmers, for instance.

I'm not sure what the point of some of the others is. Artisan can already be used to appraise items the artisan can make. Do you envision a separate Appraise used by, say, merchants to eyeball the value of what's being traded?

What's the difference between Beastmastery & Animal Handling?

What do Nature's Speech & Mounted Combat do? I had assumed that you would use the regular weapon rating for fighting whether you were on foot or horseback.

Come to think of it, Pilot what? Is this for Thongor-type worlds where aircraft may come into play? 'Cause I can see it in that case. Similarly, the more "civilized" skills would be good for campaigns in which the heroes are urban adventurers rather than hairy wildmen from beyond the frontiers.

Mark

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

markkrawec said:

Adding Stealth sounds like a good idea. You can use Observation to follow someone undetected, but there's no Talent for just sneaking around quietly.

That seemed an odd oversight to me too.

But why bother to split Stealth & Pass Without Trace? Distinguishing "make no noise" from "leave no footprints" is just a bit on the granular side for my taste.

One of the slightly confusing things about ZEFRS Talents is that most of them are mundane abilities, but some (such as Telepathy) are supernatural. I was thinking of "Pass Without Trace" as, at least, semi-supernatural for a jungle-man kind of guy. Maybe a bit specific though.

Artisan can already be used to appraise items the artisan can make. Do you envision a separate Appraise used by, say, merchants to eyeball the value of what's being traded?

Ah, I missed that use of Artisan. Thanks.

What's the difference between Beastmastery & Animal Handling?

Beastmastery is another jungle-man idea. But, you know, maybe it could just be handled with high levels of Animal Handling.

What do Nature's Speech & Mounted Combat do? I had assumed that you would use the regular weapon rating for fighting whether you were on foot or horseback.

Nature's Speech is another (semi-)supernatural talent that allows talking to animals. It's for, you know, jungle-men.

I'm on the fence with Mounted Combat. Part of me thinks that it's really a separate skill that would replace Weapon when fighting mounted. Aquilonian knights and the like would have it to make them distinct. It would also cover the use of the lance.

But, I could see modifying your Weapon by your Ride talent. Not sure. Part of why I posted it is to discuss.

Come to think of it, Pilot what? Is this for Thongor-type worlds where aircraft may come into play? 'Cause I can see it in that case.

Yes and no. Yes, in that I am trying to get this together to run a game in Atlantis: the second Age, which has flying machines and vril-powered chariots. But no, in that I would use it to drive wagons and the like in a more mundane setting.

Similarly, the more "civilized" skills would be good for campaigns in which the heroes are urban adventurers rather than hairy wildmen from beyond the frontiers.

Yeah, I like urban S&S.

[gt8595b]

Hey guys, I'd like to add the "jungle-man" type superpowers and a few others from the OP's list. Any recommendations for what general trait to use with them?
Beastmastery
Deception
Gambling
Nature's Speech
Pass without Trace
Stealth

Thanks!
-Mike