======Skills======

As part of character creation, you may spend points on a variety of skills for your character. These skills are most relevant in [[Turnsheets and Emails|Turnsheets]], where they will impact your character’s chances of success and failure in the actions they attempt. Skills are important for determining Turnsheet outcomes and may influence interactions with NPCs. 

However, please bear in mind that skills are less likely to affect your conversations with PCs, since other players will not know what skills your character has (unless you tell them), and relationships between PCs are generally determined organically through roleplay. If your character would have understanding of an area that you do not have OC, you are welcome to use the OC gesture to say something like "I describe how to waltz" or ask another player to describe something in more detail.

Skill ranks range from -1 to +2, with 0 representing the level of competence an average person in the setting would be expected to have. More detail on the interpretation of skill ranks can be found in the table below.

Player characters begin with 2 points to spend on skills, but they can increase this to 3 points by taking a skill at -1. Additional negative points taken in skills do not increase the skill point cap. Characters will gain an extra skill point to spend after Downtime 1, to represent them learning from their experiences throughout the social season.

^Skill Rank ^Description ^
|-1|You are actively bad at this skill and likely to make mistakes when attempting to use it.|
|0|You have an average level of competence in this skill that any member of the Ton would be expected to have. Relying on this skill as a crucial part of a plan would not be sensible, but you can use it in simple ways and are unlikely to ruin a group plan.|
|+1|You generally outperform your peers in this skill and are within the top 25% of practitioners. You can almost always use this skill successfully, but you have areas of improvement, so your success may be limited or you may fail at more ambitious goals.|
|+2|You are an expert in this skill, within the top 10% of practitioners. You are able to succeed in almost any sensible application of this skill.|
======Skill List======

=====Accomplishments=====

A well-brought-up member of the Ton will be educated in musical instruments, languages, elocution, literature, crafts, dance, horse riding and a variety of other pursuits. These Accomplishments are primarily taught to make one a more attractive spouse, but they have a variety of everyday uses too. Accomplished characters will also be well-versed in the rules of duelling.

=====Charm=====

You are an excellent conversation partner, the life and soul of the party, with a network of social relationships you can draw upon. Charming characters will find it easier to manipulate NPCs and can make use of their connections in Turnsheets. Active deception (as opposed to just carefully chosen words) is covered by the Crime skill below.

=====Crime=====

Characters at balls are //supposed// to be members of the Ton, but they might not all be. Even the wealthy elite may turn to unsavoury methods out of desperation or perhaps just for the thrill of the game. More details about crime in the Ton can be found [[crime|here]]. Criminal characters may draw on their knowledge in Turnsheets actions and may have contacts they can turn to for support. The specifics of the crime your character is skilled at will depend on backstory, but, for example, this could cover pickpocketing, forgery, assuming a fake identity, poisoning, sneakiness or using weapons.
=====Ingenuity=====

Often characters may find themselves in situations where they will need to make quick decisions under pressure. Characters with ranks in Ingenuity find it easier to come up with creative solutions to the problems they face in Turnsheets (although it is possible that the best solution to a problem will rely on skills that the character does not have themselves). Ingenuity is an important skill when then plan falls apart in unexpected ways.

=====Planning=====

To be a good host, organisational skills are key. The planning skill is most applicable to arranging events, but it can be turned to all manner of projects or schemes a character may wish to enact. However, no matter how well-considered the plan, it may be vulnerable to difficulties that arise in the heat of the moment (where the Ingenuity skill is more useful) or rely on specialist skills that you do not have (in which case, working with others could help).