1. Locksmith (1 pt)

You understand locks the way their makers do.

Core: Open simple locks instantly with proper tools. Assess any lock's quality, age, and difficulty at a glance. Make a working key from any lock you've opened (10 minutes).

Advantage: Complex or reinforced locks, working without proper tools, picking under time pressure, magical locks with mechanical components.

2. Trapbreaker (1 pt)

You see the mechanism, not the danger.

Core: Identify mechanical traps automatically when examining an area. Disarm simple traps without rolling. If you fail a disarm attempt, the trap doesn't trigger. You just don't succeed.

Advantage: Complex traps, magical triggers, disarming under time pressure, traps you can't fully see. You can harvest disabled traps for components.

3. Second-Story Work (1 pt)

Walls are just slow doors.

Core: Climb any surface with handholds at full speed. Identify the weakest entry point of any building within 1 minute. Fit through any opening your head fits through.

Advantage: Sheer surfaces, climbing while carrying loads, climbing in combat, identifying hidden entry points.

4. Fence (1 pt)

You know who buys what shouldn't be sold.

Core: Fence stolen goods at 50% value in any settlement with a market (others get 10-20%). Identify provenance and heat level of stolen goods at a glance.

Advantage: Moving extremely hot items, finding buyers for unusual goods, negotiating better rates, identifying undercover operations.

5. Vanish (1 pt)

You can disappear in a blink.

Core: Move silently at full speed. In any crowd of 10+, you can disappear entirely. Break line of sight for even a moment and you can attempt to hide.

Advantage: Hiding while being actively watched, vanishing in sparse crowds, silent movement on noisy surfaces, escaping pursuit.

6. MASTER THIEF (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Thievery advancements

You've stolen from places that shouldn't be possible.

Core: Open locks without touching them (thin wire, up to 5 feet). Trigger traps safely from outside their range. Case any building completely in 10 minutes. Every entrance, exit, and security measure.

Advantage: Legendary vaults, magical security systems, heists requiring split-second timing, bypassing wards.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Toxicology (1 pt)

You know poisons the way a chef knows spices.

Core: Identify common poisons by sight, smell, or careful taste without being affected. Know onset time, duration, and symptoms. Detect obviously poisoned food or drink.

Advantage: Rare or magical poisons, subtle poisoning attempts, identifying antidotes, detecting residual traces days later.

2. Application (1 pt)

You know where poison goes.

Core: Coat a blade so the next cut delivers the dose. Poison food or drink without leaving obvious taste or smell. Apply contact poison to surfaces (active 24 hours).

Advantage: Leaving no residue at all, delayed-release applications, coating weapons for multiple uses, poisoning guarded targets.

3. Quick Change (1 pt)

You become someone else in moments.

Core: Create a convincing disguise in 10 minutes with basic materials. Change between two prepared disguises in 1 minute. Your disguises hold up to casual inspection.

Advantage: Disguises under active scrutiny, quick changes (1 round), disguising others, working with minimal materials.

4. Shadow (1 pt)

You follow without being seen.

Core: Follow a target through crowds at up to 60 feet without being noticed. After 4 hours of observation, know their routine: where they go, when, who they meet.

Advantage: Following alert/paranoid targets, shadowing through sparse areas, counter-surveillance, following multiple targets.

5. Perfect Cover (1 pt)

You don't just look like them.you are them.

Core: Impersonate a specific individual after 1 hour of study. Mimic their voice, mannerisms, handwriting, and habits well enough to fool acquaintances.

Advantage: Fooling close friends/family, improvising when asked unexpected questions, maintaining cover under interrogation.

6. PHANTOM (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Assassin's Trade advancements

You are whoever you need to be.

Core: Maintain up to 3 separate identities simultaneously, each with consistent history and contacts. Switch between prepared disguises in 1 round. Your poisons leave no trace. even autopsies show natural causes.

Advantage: Creating new identities on the fly, maintaining cover against magical detection, untraceable eliminations.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Read the Streets (1 pt)

Cities speak to those who listen.

Core: When you enter a neighborhood, know who controls it, what's sold there, and how dangerous it is. Spot plainclothes guards, criminals, and people who don't belong. Never get lost in a city.

Advantage: Reading unfamiliar cities quickly, identifying hidden power structures, spotting undercover operatives, navigating during pursuit.

2. Rumor Mill (1 pt)

You hear what people are saying.

Core: Spend 1 hour in taverns or markets and learn 1d4 current rumors. Tell which rumors are deliberately spread versus arising naturally.

Advantage: Tracing rumors to their source, planting rumors effectively, filtering truth from exaggeration, hearing whispers meant to be secret.

3. Find Anything (1 pt)

You know who has what.

Core: In any settlement, locate a specific type of person, business, or goods within 1d4 hours. If it doesn't exist, learn where the nearest one is. Know who to ask without asking the wrong person.

Advantage: Finding things people don't want found, locating illegal goods safely, finding specialists in obscure fields.

4. Safe Houses (1 pt)

You always have somewhere to go.

Core: In any city you've spent at least a day in, you have 1d3 bolt-holes. secure places nobody knows about. Lead others to them without being followed.

Advantage: Establishing safe houses quickly in new cities, securing locations against searches, creating escape routes.

5. Street Eyes (1 pt)

The street sees everything.

Core: In any city, learn if a specific person has been seen in a neighborhood within the last week. Know when someone has been asking about you. Hear about major disturbances within hours.

Advantage: Tracking someone actively hiding, identifying who's watching you, getting real-time intelligence during operations.

6. URBAN LEGEND (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Streetwise advancements

Nothing in the city is hidden from you.

Core: In any city you've spent a month in, know about planned events before they happen. raids, deals, arrivals, departures. Know the real powers behind the official ones. Find anyone not actively hiding within a day.

Advantage: Predicting events in unfamiliar cities, uncovering deeply hidden conspiracies, finding people who are actively hiding.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Tracker (1 pt)

You read the ground like a book.

Core: Follow fresh, obvious tracks at full speed. Determine from tracks: creature type, approximate number, size, and direction of travel.

Advantage: Old trails (hours/days old), tracking in rain, tracking through difficult terrain, reading detailed information (health, emotional state, whether pursued).

2. Trapper (1 pt)

You catch what you can't chase.

Core: Set simple snares using natural materials in 10 minutes. Your traps catch small game reliably. A trap line of 6 snares takes 1 hour and covers a quarter-mile.

Advantage: Traps for large/dangerous prey, concealed traps (requires active searching), traps in difficult terrain, live capture.

3. Silent Stalker (1 pt)

You get close without being noticed.

Core: Move silently through natural terrain at half speed. Approach within 60 feet of wildlife without alerting them.

Advantage: Silent movement at full speed, approaching within 30 feet, masking scent (8 hours), stalking alert/dangerous prey.

4. Read the Signs (1 pt)

Tracks tell you more than direction.

Core: Determine from tracks: how long ago they passed, creature's approximate health, whether wounded. Follow trails up to 1 day old.

Advantage: Tracking across stone/water/hard surfaces, trails 3+ days old, reading emotional state, determining if prey is being pursued.

5. Field Dressing (1 pt)

Nothing goes to waste.

Core: Butcher any creature in 1 hour, extracting usable meat. Identify valuable parts (hide, bones, claws). Preserve meat for 3 days without salt.

Advantage: Fast butchering (30 min), maximum meat extraction, harvesting organs/venom glands, preserving meat for 1 week+.

6. APEX PREDATOR (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Hunting advancements

You are the top of the food chain.

Core: Track any creature across any terrain, even through water or over stone. Traps can hold horse-sized creatures. Butcher creatures in 10 minutes. Identify any creature by tracks, scat, or kills.

Advantage: Tracking magical/planar creatures, trapping legendary beasts, identifying creatures that shouldn't exist.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Flora Expert (1 pt)

You know every plant and what it does.

Core: Identify common plants by sight. Know basic uses: edible, poisonous, or medicinal. Find common useful plants in appropriate terrain within 1 hour.

Advantage: Rare and magical species, subtle distinctions (look-alikes), finding specific plants quickly, identifying plants from fragments.

2. Fauna Expert (1 pt)

You understand how animals think.

Core: Identify common animals by sight, sound, or tracks. Know basic behavior: what it eats, whether it's dangerous, whether it's aggressive.

Advantage: Exotic/magical creatures, predicting specific actions, understanding unusual behavior, identifying creatures from partial evidence.

3. Animal Rapport (1 pt)

Animals sense you're not a threat.

Core: Non-hostile domestic animals trust you immediately. Non-hostile wild animals don't flee from slow, careful approach.

Advantage: Calming aggressive animals, approaching skittish wildlife, soothing animals that are starving/protecting young, befriending exotic beasts.

4. Herbalist (1 pt)

You make medicine from the wild.

Core: Create poultices that prevent minor infection. Make simple antidotes for common natural poisons (1 hour gathering and preparation). Create salves for minor burns, stings, and rashes.

Advantage: Antidotes for rare/magical poisons, medicines that accelerate healing, treatments for serious conditions, working with limited materials.

5. Ecosystem Reader (1 pt)

You understand how nature connects.

Core: Identify obvious environmental problems. recent blight, predator absence, pollution. Know what common creatures are nearby by watching birds and small animals.

Advantage: Detecting magical corruption, predicting seasonal changes, understanding complex ecological relationships, identifying unnatural influences.

6. BEAST FRIEND (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Nature Lore advancements

You speak nature's language.

Core: Communicate with animals through gesture, sound, and patience. They understand simple requests and can convey basic information. Wild animals won't attack you without magical compulsion. Train any natural animal in half the normal time.

Advantage: Complex communication, befriending magical beasts, understanding animals affected by magic, training exotic creatures.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Animal Care (1 pt)

You keep animals healthy and content.

Core: Provide basic care that keeps animals healthy. Recognize obvious illness or injury. Know what common animals need.

Advantage: Stabilizing dying beasts (1 round), healing (restore 1 Vigor per 10 minutes), recognizing poison/magical ailments, etc.

2. Calm the Beast (1 pt)

Frightened and hostile animals trust you.

Core: Calm obviously panicked domestic animals. Approach non-aggressive wild animals without startling them.

Advantage: Panicked animals (instantly), aggressive animals (1 minute), approaching without triggering fight/flight, calming exotic beasts.

3. Animal Messenger (1 pt)

Your beasts carry messages and retrieve objects.

Core: Train animals to return to familiar locations. Have beasts carry simple items or wait at locations.

Advantage: Complex routes, carrying messages, fetching specific objects, patient waiting (days), leading people.

4. Read the Animal (1 pt)

Animals tell you things without words.

Core: Read obvious animal emotional states. Notice when animals have been recently stressed. Understand basic animal body language.

Advantage: Reading recent experiences (fear, predators, humans), trained beasts answering yes/no, wild animals revealing territory dangers.

5. Endurance Handler (1 pt)

Your animals go farther and work longer.

Core: Get good performance from well-cared-for animals. Keep mounts in good condition on normal journeys.

Advantage: 50% farther travel, double work duration, enduring harsh conditions, surviving short rations.

6. BEAST WHISPERER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Beast Handling advancements

You speak the beast's language.

Core: Instantly attempt to tame any beast you encounter. Communicate basic concepts to any animal.

Advantage: Taming hostile/exotic creatures, complex communication, befriending magical beasts, commanding multiple animals.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Researcher (1 pt)

You know how to find answers.

Core: Research any topic in a library in 4 hours instead of 1 day. Know which sources are obviously reliable versus propaganda. Find the relevant section of any organized archive in 30 minutes.

Advantage: Research in 1 hour, finding information in disorganized archives, identifying subtle biases, finding hidden/restricted materials.

2. Polyglot (1 pt)

Languages are just patterns.

Core: Speak, read, and write 3 additional languages. Recognize any language by sight or sound, even if you don't speak it.

Advantage: Learning new languages quickly (1 week immersion), understanding related languages, deciphering pidgins and dialects, communicating across language barriers.

3. Historian (1 pt)

The past explains the present.

Core: Know the major events, rulers, and conflicts of any region you're in. Recognize common symbols, heraldry, and cultural markers. Estimate the age of artifacts and structures.

Advantage: Obscure history, identifying precise origins, dating items accurately, recognizing subtle historical references.

4. Dead Languages (1 pt)

Even forgotten words still speak.

Core: Recognize dead languages and understand their general family/origin. Translate simple texts with 1 hour of study. Recognize when a translation is obviously incomplete.

Advantage: Complex or damaged texts, translation in 10 minutes, detecting subtle alterations, understanding extinct dialects.

5. Perfect Recall (1 pt)

What you learn, you keep.

Core: Remember the gist of anything you've read. Reproduce simple maps and diagrams you've studied. Recall key points of conversations.

Advantage: Word-for-word recall, reproducing complex images, recalling details weeks/months later, remembering under stress.

6. SAGE (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Scholarship advancements

Your knowledge spans civilizations.

Core: Read any dead language instantly. Cross-reference information across multiple sources in minutes. Recognize when a text has been altered, redacted, or forged.

Advantage: Reconstructing destroyed texts, identifying forgeries by master forgers, synthesizing knowledge across unrelated fields.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Arcane Recognition (1 pt)

You see magic where others see mystery.

Core: Recognize when something is obviously magical by observation. Identify common spell traditions when you see them cast. Know the obvious signs of enchantment, illusion, and curse.

Advantage: Subtle magical effects, identifying specific spells, recognizing obscure traditions, detecting magic concealed by other magic.

2. Creature Lore (1 pt)

You know what lurks in the dark.

Core: Identify common supernatural creatures by sight. Know basic weaknesses and behaviors of undead, demons, and fey. Understand basic protocols for dealing with supernatural beings.

Advantage: Rare creatures, specific immunities, obscure weaknesses, protocols for unique or ancient beings.

3. Magic Item Study (1 pt)

Objects reveal their secrets to patient study.

Core: Determine a magic item's obvious properties with 1 hour of examination. Recognize clearly cursed items. Know when an item feels dangerous.

Advantage: Identifying hidden properties (10 min), finding command words, detecting subtle curses, understanding legendary items.

4. Ritual Knowledge (1 pt)

You understand the old ceremonies.

Core: Recognize ritual sites by their layout. Know when a ritual has been obviously performed. Understand basic ritual components and their purposes.

Advantage: Specific ritual procedures, identifying incomplete/corrupted rituals, understanding ancient or unique ceremonies, predicting what could go wrong.

5. Planar Lore (1 pt)

You know where the worlds touch.

Core: Recognize obvious planar phenomena: active gates, summoning circles, creatures obviously from other planes. Know the major planes and their basic natures.

Advantage: Subtle rifts, identifying specific planes of origin, understanding planar laws, recognizing dimensional weak points.

6. RITUAL MASTER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Occultism advancements

You understand magic's deepest workings.

Core: Identify any spell or magical effect by observation, including power, duration, and how to dispel it. Know true name conventions for supernatural creatures. Predict what magical effects will do before activation.

Advantage: Understanding unique/legendary magic, countering magic you've never seen, comprehending reality-altering effects.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Anatomy (1 pt)

You understand how bodies work.

Core: Identify obvious cause of death by examination. Know basic anatomy, where major organs are, where to apply pressure. Determine if someone is visibly ill or faking.

Advantage: Obscure causes of death, identifying poisoning, determining time of death, recognizing subtle signs of illness.

2. Diagnosis (1 pt)

You see what's wrong.

Core: Identify common diseases and injuries. Know if a condition is likely treatable. Recognize when something is obviously unnatural or magical.

Advantage: Rare diseases, identifying specific poisons, determining Medicine thresholds, distinguishing natural from supernatural conditions.

3. Treatment (1 pt)

You keep patients stable.

Core: Provide first aid that prevents wounds from worsening during short rests. Keep stable patients from deteriorating. Clean and dress wounds properly.

Advantage: Stabilizing critical patients, preventing deterioration during travel, treating multiple patients, working without proper supplies.

4. Surgeon (1 pt)

You can cut to cure.

Core: Remove obvious foreign objects with proper tools and time (1 hour). Set simple fractures so they heal properly. Stitch wounds cleanly.

Advantage: Complex surgery (removing diseased tissue, parasites), field surgery without proper tools, setting compound fractures, surgery under time pressure.

5. Disease Expert (1 pt)

Plagues hold no mystery for you.

Core: Identify how common diseases spread. Create basic quarantine protocols. Know standard prevention methods.

Advantage: Rare/magical diseases, creating effective quarantine for unknown diseases, developing treatment protocols, preventing epidemic spread.

6. MIRACLE WORKER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Healing advancements

Your skills border on the impossible.

Core: Know exactly what treatment any patient needs, no matter how obscure. Identify conditions that should be impossible to diagnose.

Advantage: Treating conditions that should be untreatable, surgery that defies medical possibility, diagnosis of unique/legendary ailments.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Etiquette (1 pt)

You know the rules others only guess at.

Core: Know basic forms of address for the culture you're in. Avoid obvious faux pas. Recognize when someone is being deliberately rude versus ignorant.

Advantage: Unfamiliar cultures (1 hour observation), subtle protocol violations, navigating complex hierarchies, recovering from social missteps.

2. Read Intentions (1 pt)

People reveal more than they mean to.

Core: Read obvious emotional states (angry, nervous, pleased). Notice when someone is uncomfortable or evasive. Identify who seems to be in charge.

Advantage: Detecting deliberate deception, reading trained/masked individuals, identifying hidden power dynamics, spotting specific emotions being concealed.

3. Negotiator (1 pt)

You find terms everyone can accept.

Core: Identify obvious interests in a negotiation. Propose reasonable compromises. Remain neutral when mediating simple disputes.

Advantage: Hidden agendas, hostile parties, complex multi-party negotiations, finding creative solutions to deadlocks.

4. Cultural Fluency (1 pt)

You belong everywhere.

Core: Adopt basic mannerisms of a culture after a few days. Know major historical events and heroes. Avoid the most obvious outsider markers.

Advantage: Rapid cultural adoption (1 day), deep cultural knowledge, passing as a native, navigating taboo subjects.

5. Parley (1 pt)

Even enemies will hear you out.

Core: Request a truce that reasonable opponents will honor briefly. Recognize when negotiation is obviously pointless. Stall through discussion.

Advantage: Hostile/enraged opponents, alien minds, buying significant time, parlaying from a position of weakness.

6. PEACE MAKER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Diplomacy advancements

You see the path to agreement.

Core: Identify minimum acceptable terms for each party. Know which concessions seem valuable but cost little. Recognize bad faith negotiation.

Advantage: Seemingly impossible agreements, reconciling blood enemies, multi-faction treaties, negotiations with inhuman entities.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Organizer (1 pt)

You keep groups functioning.

Core: Coordinate a small group (3-5 people) on a task without confusion. Divide labor sensibly. Keep basic schedules and supply lists.

Advantage: Large groups (10+), complex multi-step tasks, maintaining efficiency under pressure, long-term project management.

2. Clear Orders (1 pt)

Your instructions leave no room for confusion.

Core: Give simple orders that people can follow. Communicate basic plans clearly. Ensure subordinates know their immediate role.

Advantage: Complex orders to untrained people, rapid communication (1 minute vs 10), orders that anticipate contingencies.

3. Morale (1 pt)

You understand what keeps people going.

Core: Recognize when a group is obviously struggling. Offer encouragement that helps in simple situations. Tell exhaustion from fear.

Advantage: Groups near breaking, inspiring people facing impossible odds, addressing loss of faith, rallying after defeat.

4. Delegation (1 pt)

You multiply your effectiveness through others.

Core: Train subordinates to handle routine tasks. Brief lieutenants on your general intentions. Organizations continue basic functions in short absences.

Advantage: Autonomous decision-making, extended absences, organizations that adapt to new situations, training leaders.

5. Battlefield Awareness (1 pt)

You see the whole picture.

Core: Track positions of your immediate group in combat. Notice when allies need help. Spot obvious dangers developing.

Advantage: Tracking 20+ individuals, chaotic multi-front situations, spotting hidden dangers, coordinating across distances.

6. LEGENDARY COMMANDER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Leadership advancements

You lead armies, not just parties.

Core: Coordinate hundreds without losing track. Create command structures that function at distance. Plan operations with dozens of contingencies.

Advantage: Armies of thousands, campaigns across continents, operations spanning months, commanding diverse forces.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Performer (1 pt)

You know how to work an audience.

Core: Perform competently for a friendly audience. Read obvious crowd reactions. Recover from minor mistakes without losing the audience.

Advantage: Hostile or distracted audiences, reading subtle reactions, adjusting on the fly, recovering from disasters.

2. Storyteller (1 pt)

Your tales are remembered.

Core: Tell engaging stories that hold attention. Make information memorable through narrative. Know common stories that resonate broadly.

Advantage: Stories people repeat to others, embedding hidden messages, adapting stories to unfamiliar cultures, creating lasting legends.

3. Voice Work (1 pt)

You can sound like anyone.

Core: Mimic voices you've studied (10+ minutes of listening). Project your voice to fill a room. Whisper clearly to a specific target nearby.

Advantage: Brief exposure mimicry (1 minute), throwing voice 30 feet, battlefield projection, perfect mimicry under pressure.

4. Crowd Reading (1 pt)

You feel the audience's pulse.

Core: Sense when a crowd is becoming bored or restless. Identify obvious troublemakers. Know when to wrap up.

Advantage: Predicting hostile turns, shifting crowd mood, spotting hidden agitators, reading massive crowds.

5. Emotional Arc (1 pt)

You control the journey, not just the moment.

Core: Build performances with intentional emotional progression. Know when to push and when to pause. Create satisfying conclusions.

Advantage: Complex emotional sequences, leaving audiences changed, performances that alter beliefs, art that inspires action.

6. LEGENDARY PERFORMER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Performance advancements

You perform at the highest level.

Core: Perform in any style after seeing it once. Adapt any performance to any audience instantly. Audiences react exactly as you intend.

Advantage: Creating new art forms, performances that change history, entertaining inhuman audiences, art as magic.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Field Repairs (1 pt)

You fix what breaks on the road.

Core: Repair simple damage to weapons, armor, and tools with basic supplies. Lash together temporary fixes that hold for days. Identify why something broke and how to prevent it.

Advantage: Complex repairs without a workshop, fixing items mid-combat (1 minute), using improvised materials, reinforcing weak points permanently.

2. Tool Making (1 pt)

You make what the job requires.

Core: Craft basic tools for any trade given materials and time. Turn scrap into functional improvised tools. Your tools don't break during normal use.

Advantage: Specialized tools without training in that trade, tools that last twice as long, improvised tools nearly as good as proper ones, disguised tools.

3. Material Assessment (1 pt)

You know good materials from garbage.

Core: Identify material quality on sight (cheap iron versus good steel). Estimate value of raw materials. Spot flawed or weakened materials before they fail.

Advantage: Identifying rare materials, knowing exact provenance and age, spotting magical materials, finding hidden value in scrap.

4. Improvisation (1 pt)

You make do with what you have.

Core: Craft functional items from scrap and salvage. Work without a proper workshop. Create temporary solutions that hold long enough to matter.

Advantage: Working under pressure, crafting in the field during short rests, using completely improvised materials, jury-rigged solutions that last.

5. Masterwork (1 pt)

Your best work approaches perfection.

Core: Create items noticeably superior to standard work. Sharper edges that hold longer. Better balance. Cleaner lines. Work that draws the eye.

Advantage: Flawless function (edges last months without sharpening), items that feel right in the hand, work that approaches art, repairs that are stronger than the original.

6. MASTER CRAFTER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Crafter advancements

Your work defies normal limitations.

Core: Create items that last generations. Repair items others call impossible. Work any material you can identify. Craft in the field what others need workshops for.

Advantage: Legendary-quality work from scrap, repairing artifacts, inventing new techniques, work that rivals the ancients.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Substance Knowledge (1 pt)

You know what things are made of.

Core: Identify common substances by sight and smell. Know obvious dangers (this is poisonous, this is flammable). Recognize common compounds.

Advantage: Rare/magical substances, subtle dangers, identifying specific compounds, determining what created something.

2. Basic Compounds (1 pt)

You make useful things from simple ingredients.

Core: Create simple useful compounds with time and materials. basic acids, simple smoke bombs, glue, solvents.

Advantage: Faster creation (1 hour), stronger compounds (acid eats locks in 10 min), reliable flash powder, field creation.

3. Reactions (1 pt)

You understand how substances interact.

Core: Predict obvious reactions (acid + metal = bad). Safely mix common compounds. Create simple timers.

Advantage: Complex reaction prediction, delayed triggers (1 round to 1 hour), safely neutralizing dangerous compounds.

4. Extraction (1 pt)

You get the good stuff out.

Core: Extract obvious useful compounds from plants and animals with time and basic equipment. Basic purification.

Advantage: Maximum extraction, concentrating for potency, purifying heavily contaminated materials, extracting from minerals.

5. Preservation (1 pt)

You keep things from rotting.

Core: Preserve organic materials for weeks. Create basic protective coatings. Keep compounds stable for transport.

Advantage: Indefinite preservation, waterproofing/rustproofing/fireproofing, stabilizing volatile compounds.

6. GRAND ALCHEMIST (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Alchemy advancements

You push alchemy to its limits.

Core: Create compounds from substitute ingredients. Work with dangerous substances safely. Analyze and reproduce any compound.

Advantage: Creating from minimal ingredients, handling substances that kill on contact, inventing new compounds.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Mechanical Understanding (1 pt)

You see how machines work.

Core: Understand simple mechanical devices by observation. Identify obvious failures. Operate common unfamiliar machines.

Advantage: Complex mechanisms, subtle failures, operating ancient/foreign machines, understanding at a glance.

2. Structural Analysis (1 pt)

You read buildings like blueprints.

Core: Identify obvious load-bearing elements. Spot major structural weaknesses. Estimate if a damaged structure is immediately dangerous.

Advantage: Hidden spaces, subtle weak points, precise collapse timing, identifying hidden rooms.

3. Construction (1 pt)

You build things that last.

Core: Oversee basic construction competently. Build simple structures that don't leak or settle. Create basic temporary structures.

Advantage: Complex designs (bridges, fortifications), structures that last generations, temporary builds in half time.

4. Siege Craft (1 pt)

You understand how walls fall.

Core: Understand basic siege equipment operation. Know obvious weak points in fortifications. Estimate siege duration roughly.

Advantage: Designing siege engines, identifying subtle weak points, precise siege planning, field repairs.

5. Complex Mechanisms (1 pt)

You create devices that do things.

Core: Build functional locks and simple traps. Create basic mechanical timers. Design obvious secret compartments.

Advantage: Complex traps, reliable clockwork, hidden doors that blend seamlessly, mechanical puzzles.

6. WAR ENGINEER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Engineering advancements

You reshape battlefields.

Core: Design fortifications with interlocking defenses. Identify any structure's point of failure. Build field-repairable siege equipment.

Advantage: Perfect defensive works, breaching "impregnable" fortresses, revolutionary siege designs.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Appraisal (1 pt)

You know what things are worth.

Core: Estimate rough market value of common goods. Spot obvious fakes and misrepresentations. Recognize when a deal is clearly bad.

Advantage: Precise valuations, subtle forgeries, knowing exact worth to specific buyers, identifying disguised treasures.

2. Haggling (1 pt)

You know how to negotiate.

Core: Negotiate basic deals competently. Recognize obvious manipulation tactics. Know when to walk away.

Advantage: Reading seller's true floor, closing reluctant deals, countering sophisticated tactics, negotiating under pressure.

3. Market Knowledge (1 pt)

You understand how trade flows.

Core: Know what common goods are valuable locally. Recognize obvious shortages and surpluses. Understand basic supply and demand.

Advantage: Regional price differences, predicting price changes, spotting hidden opportunities, understanding exotic markets.

4. Trade Routes (1 pt)

You know how goods move.

Core: Know major local trade routes and their basic dangers. Identify where common goods come from. Recognize obvious supply disruptions.

Advantage: Obscure routes, predicting disruptions (1 month advance), identifying smuggling routes, exploiting route knowledge.

5. Rare Goods (1 pt)

You can find what shouldn't be findable.

Core: Know where to start looking for unusual goods in major markets. Identify obvious specialty dealers.

Advantage: Restricted/illegal goods, finding buyers for exotic items, acquiring things not officially for sale, black market access.

6. MERCHANT PRINCE (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Commerce advancements

You see deals others miss.

Core: Identify arbitrage opportunities. Recognize desperation in buyers/sellers. Structure complex multi-party deals.

Advantage: Continental-scale trading, manipulating markets, deals involving nations, creating monopolies.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Seamanship (1 pt)

You understand ships and the sea.

Core: Tie common knots reliably. Handle lines and basic rigging. Crew a ship competently under direction.

Advantage: Any knot/any sail, operating small vessels solo, handling ships in difficult conditions, teaching others.

2. Navigation (1 pt)

You always know where you are.

Core: Navigate by obvious landmarks. Follow established routes. Estimate rough travel time.

Advantage: Navigation by stars/sun/currents, plotting efficient courses, precise arrival estimates, navigating unknown waters.

3. Weather Reading (1 pt)

The sky tells you what's coming at sea.

Core: Predict obvious weather changes (hours ahead). Recognize dangerous conditions developing. Know basic storm safety.

Advantage: 24-hour predictions, knowing when to run vs ride it out, identifying subtle dangerous conditions.

4. Ship Handling (1 pt)

You get the most from any vessel.

Core: Sail competently in normal conditions. Maneuver in open water. Maintain reasonable speed.

Advantage: Difficult conditions, tight maneuvering, extra speed through efficiency, handling unfamiliar vessels.

5. Damage Control (1 pt)

You keep ships afloat.

Core: Make basic repairs at sea. Manage minor flooding and damage. Know when a ship is in serious trouble.

Advantage: Emergency repairs that hold to port, managing multiple crises, saving ships others would abandon.

6. LEGENDARY CAPTAIN (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Sailing advancements

You've sailed where others fear to chart.

Core: Navigate reefs and shoals that would ground others. Sail with half minimum crew. Predict exactly how any ship responds.

Advantage: Impossible passages, sailing skeleton crews, weather that should destroy ships, legendary voyages.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Document Forger (1 pt)

You can create convincing official papers.

Core: Forge basic documents like travel papers, receipts, or writs. Spot obvious forgeries at a glance. Know what official documents look like in major regions.

Advantage: Perfect forgeries that pass thorough inspection, forging while under pressure, recreating seals and signatures, spotting subtle forgeries.

2. Legal Loopholes (1 pt)

You know the gaps between the laws.

Core: Understand local laws well enough to avoid obvious violations. Know when someone else is breaking the law. Find the specific law that applies to any common situation.

Advantage: Exploiting technicalities, understanding jurisdictional boundaries, knowing what's technically legal, predicting how laws will be interpreted.

3. Seal Expert (1 pt)

You recognize genuine authority.

Core: Identify official seals, signatures, and symbols of authority on sight. Tell genuine documents from forgeries. Know the hierarchy of local officials.

Advantage: Forging official seals, identifying who actually has authority versus who claims it, recognizing expired or revoked credentials, spotting stolen seals.

4. Navigate Bureaucracy (1 pt)

You cut through red tape like a blade.

Core: Get through official processes in half the normal time. Know which official to approach for any task. Understand bribery customs and expected amounts.

Advantage: Bypassing delays entirely, finding the actual decision-maker, knowing exactly who to bribe and how much, expediting critical matters.

5. Institutional Knowledge (1 pt)

You understand how organizations really work.

Core: Map the real power structure of any organization within an hour of observation. Identify who makes decisions versus who takes credit. Spot obvious corruption.

Advantage: Finding hidden factions, exploiting institutional rivalries, identifying blackmail vectors, predicting organizational responses.

6. MASTER BUREAUCRAT (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Bureaucrat advancements

Your forged credentials are flawless.

Core: Create perfect official credentials on the spot with minimal materials. Understand continental-scale administrative systems at a glance. Tie up enemies in legal challenges for months.

Advantage: Undetectable forgeries, manipulating institutional systems across borders, creating credentials for positions that don't exist, institutional paralysis as a weapon.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Climber (1 pt)

You move vertically like others move horizontally.

Core: Climb surfaces with good handholds at half speed. Hang for several minutes before tiring. Catch yourself from minor slips.

Advantage: Full speed climbing, hanging indefinitely, automatic catch from any slip, climbing while carrying loads.

2. Swimmer (1 pt)

Water is a medium, not an obstacle.

Core: Swim competently in calm water. Hold your breath for 1 minute of activity. Swim unarmored without difficulty.

Advantage: Full speed swimming, 3+ minute breath holds, swimming in light armor, rough water conditions.

3. Leaper (1 pt)

You understand exactly what your body can do in the air.

Core: Jump 10 feet horizontal or 5 feet vertical from standing. Land safely from controlled jumps.

Advantage: 15 ft horizontal/8 ft vertical, doubled with running start, always landing on your feet.

4. Tumbler (1 pt)

You know how to fall and how to fold.

Core: Reduce fall damage somewhat. Fit through gaps with effort. Escape from loose bindings.

Advantage: Ignore first 20 feet of falls, fit through head-sized gaps, escape ropes (1 min)/manacles (10 min).

5. Sprinter (1 pt)

You can push your body past where others stop.

Core: Run faster than normal for short bursts. Travel efficiently on foot. Function on reduced sleep.

Advantage: Double speed for 1 minute, 50% farther per day, only 4 hours sleep needed.

6. LEGENDARY ATHLETE (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Athletics advancements

Your physical capabilities reach the edge of human possibility.

Core: Climb sheer surfaces at half speed. Ignore first 40 feet of falls. Hold breath 10 minutes. Fit through fist-sized gaps.

Advantage: Superhuman feats, impossible climbs, surviving lethal falls, physical feats that become legend.

TOTAL: 7 points

2. Underground Navigation (1 pt)

You never get lost below ground.

Core: Remember routes you've recently traveled. Estimate underground distances roughly. Notice when paths seem to loop.

Advantage: Perfect route memory, accurate distance estimation, always knowing when you're walking in circles.

3. Hazard Recognition (1 pt)

You see danger before you step in it.

Core: Identify obviously unstable structures. Recognize clearly bad air or obvious gas. Know which common underground creatures are dangerous.

Advantage: Subtle instabilities, gas pockets before entering, dangerous fungi, all underground hazards.

4. Rope Work (1 pt)

Vertical shafts don't slow you down.

Core: Set reliable anchors. Tie knots that hold. Climb and descend ropes safely.

Advantage: Anchors that never fail, full speed rope movement, hauling any weight the rope bears.

5. Underground Survival (1 pt)

You can live below ground indefinitely.

Core: Find water underground with effort. Identify obviously safe food sources. Manage light resources.

Advantage: Reliable water finding, identifying all safe food (fungi, fish, insects), extended stays without resupply.

6. MASTER DELVER (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Dungeon Delving advancements

The depths hold no secrets from you.

Core: Navigate in complete darkness by sound/feel. Sense approaching creatures through vibration. Map complex systems from partial exploration.

Advantage: Perfect darkness navigation, sensing hidden creatures, mapping impossible labyrinths.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Forager (1 pt)

You see food where others see weeds.

Core: Find enough food and water for yourself each day in any normal wilderness. Identify common edible, poisonous, and medicinal plants at a glance. Know if a water source is obviously contaminated.

Advantage: Foraging for a group, finding food in barren/hostile terrain, identifying rare medicinal plants, feeding others in extreme environments.

2. Shelter Builder (1 pt)

You make the wilderness comfortable.

Core: Build weatherproof shelter for yourself in 30 minutes using natural materials. Start a fire reliably in normal conditions. Your shelters last for weeks if undisturbed.

Advantage: Shelter for groups (up to 6), building in extreme weather, fire-starting in rain/wind/with wet wood, creating lasting structures.

3. Pathfinder (1 pt)

You always know where you are.

Core: Determine cardinal directions by sun, stars, moss, or terrain. Retrace any path you've traveled. Estimate distance traveled within 10%. Never get lost in normal wilderness.

Advantage: Navigating featureless terrain, finding specific locations from vague descriptions, pathfinding through magical misdirection, navigating at night.

4. Weather Reader (1 pt)

The sky tells you what's coming.

Core: Predict weather 12 hours in advance reliably. Identify signs of incoming storms, temperature drops, or dangerous conditions. Know when to travel and when to shelter.

Advantage: Predicting magical weather, 24+ hour forecasts, identifying unnatural weather patterns, finding safe routes through storms.

5. Danger Sense (1 pt)

The wild warns you of threats.

Core: Sense approaching creatures within 100 feet in natural environments, their direction and whether they're predatory. Can't be surprised in wilderness you're familiar with.

Advantage: Sensing creatures at greater range (300 ft), detecting hidden/ambushing creatures, identifying specific threats, sensing danger in unfamiliar terrain.

6. APEX SURVIVOR (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Survival advancements

You are the apex predator in any environment.

Core: Natural animals won't attack you unless cornered or magically compelled. Move through any natural terrain at full speed without leaving tracks. Extreme temperatures don't exhaust you. Always know the direction to civilization, water, or shelter.

Advantage: Surviving supernatural environments, thriving where survival should be impossible, leading groups through lethal terrain.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Scene Reading (1 pt)

Scenes tell you their secrets.

Core: Notice what's been disturbed, removed, or added to a location. Tell approximately how many people were present. Recognize when a scene has been obviously staged.

Advantage: Reconstructing specific movements/positions, detecting subtle staging, reading older scenes, understanding chaotic multi-person events.

2. Physical Evidence (1 pt)

Objects tell you where they've been.

Core: Identify obvious origins of materials (this mud is from a riverbed, this fiber is wool). Match a tool to clear marks it left. Notice obvious traces of handling.

Advantage: Precise origin identification, matching subtle tool marks, identifying specific handlers, tracing objects through multiple locations.

3. Body Reading (1 pt)

The dead tell you how they died.

Core: Determine obvious cause of death. Estimate time of death within a day. Notice clear signs of struggle, restraint, or movement after death.

Advantage: Subtle causes, precise timing, detecting drugs/poisons, distinguishing staged wounds from real ones, reading severely decomposed remains.

4. Interview Technique (1 pt)

People reveal more to you.

Core: Recognize obvious signs someone is withholding information. Help willing witnesses recall details they overlooked. Put nervous witnesses at ease.

Advantage: Detecting subtle omissions, perfect witness recall, interviewing hostile/traumatized subjects, catching rehearsed stories.

5. Deduction (1 pt)

Pieces fall into place for you.

Core: Recognize when two pieces of evidence are obviously connected. Eliminate impossible explanations quickly. Organize clues into coherent timelines.

Advantage: Connecting disparate clues, leaps of logic, asking GM one yes/no question about what happened (3+ clues required), recognizing missing pieces.

6. MASTER DETECTIVE (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Investigation advancements

The truth reveals itself to you.

Core: Know when you're missing crucial information. See connections invisible to others. Organize any amount of evidence into coherent narrative.

Advantage: Once per mystery, ask GM "Who did this?" or "Why did this happen?" for truthful answer. Solving cases with minimal evidence.

TOTAL: 7 points

2. Forbidden Lore (1 pt)

You study what others fear to name.

Core: Identify common cults, demons, and undead by their obvious signs. Know general weaknesses of standard fiends. Recognize forbidden texts and ritual components on sight.

Advantage: Identifying obscure cults, knowing specific weaknesses, recognizing subtle symbols, understanding methods to destroy cursed objects.

3. Interrogation (1 pt)

Confessions come easily to you.

Core: Recognize when someone is obviously lying about supernatural involvement. Put witnesses at ease when discussing traumatic dark events. Know the right questions to ask cultists.

Advantage: Detecting subtle lies, extracting information from cultists/possessed victims, questioning those resisting confession.

4. Sanctify (1 pt)

You cleanse what darkness has touched.

Core: Purify a room or small area (10 minutes). undead uncomfortable entering, minor summoning circles broken. Cleanse cursed food or water. Remove taint from mundane objects used in dark rituals.

Advantage: Barring undead entirely, breaking powerful circles, cleansing larger areas, purifying artifacts (not powerful ones).

5. Hunter's Mark (1 pt)

Once you have the scent, prey cannot hide.

Core: Once you've confirmed a creature is undead, fiend, or cultist, recognize their corruption trail. Know when marked prey is nearby (100 feet). They cannot hide from you by simply walking away.

Advantage: Tracking through concealment, following old trails, sensing marked prey through barriers, tracking prey that actively hides.

6. GRAND INQUISITOR (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Inquisition advancements

You are the fire that burns away darkness.

Core: Your presence unsettles hidden fiends and undead. Know the true name of any demon you can see. Recognize any form of corruption instantly.

Advantage: Forcing fiends/undead to save or reveal themselves, declaring something unholy (1/day) to force save or repulsion (10 ft, 1 minute), confronting greater evils.

TOTAL: 7 points

1. Forgery (1 pt)

Your fakes pass as real.

Core: Create documents that pass casual inspection. Match handwriting after seeing a sample. Recognize obvious forgeries instantly.

Advantage: Surviving active scrutiny, matching unfamiliar hands, detecting expert forgeries, replicating official seals.

2. Concealment (1 pt)

What you hide stays hidden.

Core: Conceal small items so casual searches miss them. Know when a room or person has obvious hidden compartments. Create basic hiding spots.

Advantage: Surviving thorough searches, finding subtle compartments, concealing larger items, hiding things in plain sight.

3. Dead Drops (1 pt)

Your messages pass unseen.

Core: Establish a dead drop in any location (10 minutes) that casual observers miss. Tell if a dead drop has been obviously disturbed. Recognize other agents' standard dead drop methods.

Advantage: Drops in surveilled areas, detecting subtle compromise, spotting professional tradecraft, creating untraceable message chains.

4. Codes (1 pt)

Your ciphers don't break.

Core: Create codes that resist casual attempts to break them. Break simple codes in minutes. Know when text obviously contains a hidden message.

Advantage: Unbreakable codes, breaking complex ciphers (hours), detecting subtle steganography, creating codes only specific people can read.

5. Read Tradecraft (1 pt)

You see the invisible war.

Core: Notice when you're being obviously followed or watched. Recognize surveillance setups and security measures. Identify when someone is trying too hard to blend in.

Advantage: Detecting professional surveillance, identifying trained operatives, recognizing counter-intelligence operations, spotting triple agents.

6. MASTER SPY (2 pts)

Prerequisite: 3+ other Espionage advancements

You leave no trace.

Core: Create cover identities with basic histories that survive casual inquiry. Disappear from a location without obvious trail. Know when a cover has been compromised.

Advantage: Identities that survive thorough investigation (histories, witnesses, paper trails), vanishing completely, knowing about blown covers before anyone acts.

TOTAL: 7 points