Ability

An Ability is a character trait that has a level or score, from 0 to infinity. Characters increase the ability's level by acquiring experience in it, represented as a total of Experience Points required to reach a particular level of ability.

Abilities in Fifth Edition are divided into several types:

• General abilities can be learned by any character during character generation. These include a set of abilities that can even be learned in childhood (the first 5 years). General abilities include Guile, Awareness, Intrigue, and so on.
• Academic abilities can only be learned given suitable background, represented in game-terms by particular Virtues and Flaws during character generation. These are largely based on the Latin language. Academic abilities include Artes Liberales, Medicine, and so on.
• Arcane abilities can generally only be learned with the proper mystical training. They are accesible to magi, and to other character with the appropriate Virtues and Flaws in character generation. These include the Parma Magica, the Penetration Ability, and more.
• Supernatural abilities can generally only be gained in character generation by having the appropriate Virtue granting the specific supernatural Ability. They can later be learned by people with The Gift of Magic or similar virtues, but learning new ones on top of existing ones is difficult. Supernatural abilities include Second Sight, Premonitions, and more.
• Martial abilities are skills in the use of weapons. They require specific virtues, or Magus status, in character generation. There are only a few martial skills, divided by weapon type - like Great Weapon, Bows, and so on.

It is generally possible for character to learn an Ability after character generation without any requisite virtue. They would simply need the resources (such as time, teachers, books, and so on) to do so.

Supernatural abilities, however, require some specific virtue to learn in this way, like The Gift, and even then are more difficult to learn - to the point where Hermetic Magi find it practically impossible to learn new supernatural abilities past character generation. Certain Arcane abilities, such as Penetration, may be of little use to characters not otherwise endowed with supernatural powers, while others (such as Parma Magica) might be impossible to learn at all.

Abilities are generally hard to increase, requiring many experience points to reach a given level as compared with the Hermetic Arts. An Accelerated Ability is an Ability that is increased as if it was an Hermetic Art in terms of the experience required to raise it to a certain level. These are generally Supernatural Abilities.

Most Abilities allow for a specialization which, when applicable, makes its results sensibly better.

Abilities may sometimes be used without an actual score, but it is considerably riskier when they are. It is also possible (and advantageous) to have Abilities with a score of zero, although it does cost experience points.

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:ability