Where does an adept find the magic to power his talents? Is it an external force to be harnessed, or a light that comes from within, a ray of hope in the face of the Horrors’ darkness?
— Aerleen Hearthshade, Troubadour and Scholar
Talents are the primary way adepts tap into and draw magical energy into the physical world. How they use this energy is what defines their Discipline. Though the talents available to your character are limited by their Discipline, how effectively and creatively they use them is only limited by your imagination.
While all talents are magical, some talents are more blatantly magical than others. Some talents allow an adept to perform feats non-magically gifted folk can only dream of. Others are indistinguishable from their mundane counterpart, but due to their magical nature are easier to learn and improve than skills.
Talents draw on every aspect of the game system: tests, combat, spell magic, and so on. The brief explanations of these elements are referenced to the more complete explanations provided elsewhere.
When an adept uses a talent, they usually make a test to determine how successfully they used the talent. This test can replace other types of tests, including Attack, Damage, or Initiative tests. The Step Number used for the test is usually determined by adding an Attribute Step to the talent’s rank. The Difficulty Number (if any) may be static and listed in the individual talent description, but is often based on the target’s Physical, Mystic, or Social Defense.
Making a Spirit Mount (6) test is shorthand for Difficulty Number 6.
To make a talent test (usually referred to by the name of the talent, e.g., Missile Weapons test), the adept rolls the dice indicated for the talent Step. This can be against a Difficulty Number or open-ended.
For the test to be successful, the result must be at least equal to the Difficulty Number. If the result exceeds the Difficulty Number by a suitable margin, the adept may have additional successes levels, which could improve the talent’s effect.
One advantage talents have over skills is the ability to push them a little harder through the use of Karma.
When an adept uses a talent they learned through their Discipline, Path (this is an extension of their Discipline) or familiar connection, they may spend a Karma Point to roll their Karma Die, adding it to the test result. Spending Karma on a talent doesn't improve the result of other tests that occur as a result unless specified otherwise.
- Bardin, a Warrior, is using his Melee Weapons talent to attack his opponent. Since he learned Melee Weapons through his Discipline, Bardin may spend a Karma Point to increase his chance of success. This Karma Point only affects the Melee Weapons test — if the attack is successful, Bardin doesn't get to roll his Karma Die again on the Damage test.
- Helena, a Cavalryman, has Charge as a talent. This replaces her Strength Step with her Charge Step on applicable Damage tests. Helena may spend a Karma Point and roll a Karma Die with the Damage test enhanced by Charge.
Unless stated otherwise, an adept can spend only one Karma Point when using a given talent, but sometimes multiple talents or other abilities can result in multiple Karma Dice being rolled on a single test.
Gir is a Beastmaster and can spend a Karma Point with Claw Shape and Down Strike (two total) when both are used for a Damage test.
Adepts who follow multiple Disciplines may have talents that are available to more than one of their Disciplines. Regardless of how many Disciplines the talent is associated with, the adept may spend only one Karma Point on a single talent, unless otherwise noted in the talent description.
Talents that are always active (e.g., True Sight), not rolled (e.g., Tiger Spring) or don't enhance tests (e.g., Standard Matrix), don't benefit from the use of Karma.
If an adept has a Discipline ability that allows Karma to be spent on a particular type of test (e.g., a Fifth Circle Warrior may spend Karma on close combat Damage tests), that ability stacks with talents used for that type of test.
A Warrior using Crushing Blow can spend two Karma Points on the Damage test — one for the talent and one for the Fifth Circle Karma ability.
A character may not spend Karma on a talent that isn't learned through a Discipline, Path (which are extensions of a Discipline), or familiar connection. This includes talents available as a racial ability (like a windling’s Astral Sight), learned through Versatility, or granted by a magical item or other effect.
Some talents replace or substitute their Step for the typical or default use.
Air Dance replaces the adept’s Dexterity Step with the talent's Step for Initiative.
If an adept has multiple talents that replace the same type of test, they can only benefit from one of those talents.
If the adept has two talents that replace their Strength Step for a Damage test (e.g., Crushing Blow and Down Strike), they must choose which talent to use.
In the case of knacks which may have multiple action types, the description indicates if they don't count against usage limitations.
Some talents require concentration, requiring the adept to dedicate their Standard Action to maintain the effect. Unless noted otherwise in the talent description, this works the same way as maintaining concentration on a spell (Player's Guide, p. 253).
Because talents are powered by magic, player and gamemaster characters can interrupt or end an opponent’s use of a talent by using magic-disrupting abilities such as Dispel Magic (Player's Guide, p. 139).
The Difficulty Number for dispelling a talent is based on the talent rank.
Only talents with an extended duration can be dispelled this way. Some talents are more or less resistant to being dispelled — these talents note the Dispel Difficulty in their description.
Talents that are always active (e.g., Standard Matrix) cannot be dispelled.
See Dispelling Magic, Player's Guide, p. 265, for more information.
The effects of some talents vary in duration. Many talents have a duration determined by multiplying the talent rank by a given time unit (rounds, minutes, hours, days, etc.).
Engaging Banter lasts for the adept’s Engaging Banter rank minutes.
In most cases, if the adept using the talent is knocked unconscious, the talent’s effect ends. This doesn't apply to talents which cost a Recovery Test, require Blood Magic Damage, or should otherwise reasonbly continue being effective. Disputes about this should be resolved by discussion with everyone present and ultimately the gamemaster's discretion.
Many talents have a variable range based on the talent rank, or a test result to determine a viable target, measure their effects, or determine the area affected.
A character can sometimes extend the duration of heir talent effects by using the talent again on the same target. The duration is extended by the amount of the new result, but overrides any duration that might remain from the prior use, effectively overwriting the prior use of the talent.
Talents frequently manifest their magical nature through special effects — for example, Stealthy Stride deepens shadows and muffles the sound of the user’s movement. Some talents have distinctive visual cues or indicators, and these can be more noticeable if a character spends karma to boost their effect.
Many of the talents listed in this chapter offer suggested descriptions and effects, but players are encouraged to customize or adapt those descriptions to fit their personal style and add flavor to the character’s use of their talents.
The individual talent descriptions in this chapter give detailed rules for using each talent. Any special uses or exceptions to normal talent use are noted in the talent description.
The talent descriptions describe how to use each talent. The text also describes the talent's effects and boldface entries above each description summarize important game information. This information falls into the following categories.
The talent's Step is usually determined by adding the adept’s talent rank to the Attribute Step listed under the “Step:” notation. If the talent requires the adept to make a test, this uses the Step Number to determine the dice rolled.
An adept with Perception Step 6 and Spellcasting rank 3 has Spellcasting Step 9 (6 + 3 = 9). The Step/Dice Table shows Step 9 uses D8+D6.
Some talents indicate only “Rank,” indicating the talent uses the rank for some purpose, but isn't likel rolled. “NA” means there's no test associated with it — the effect is determined differently, as detailed in the talent description.
Certain talents require an adept to perform different types of Actions. Different types of Actions indicate varying types of effort the adept must put into using that talent (and many other abilities).
The action type required to use a talent is indicated in the “Action:” notation in the talent’s characteristics. A talent requires the indicated action every time it is used, which normally means every time a test is made.
There are five action types:
Some talent Actions are shown as NA or not applicable. These talents don't use actions — they're usually active all of the time and typically don't use tests.
Talents that cause Strain drain small amounts of an adept’s life energy to fuel their use.
The “Strain:” notation indicates how many Damage Points the adept takes each time they uses the talent.
An adept always takes full, unmodified damage from Strain — no armor provides protection — and may take Strain damage multiple times from a single talent during a round.
Unless specified, Strain never causes Wounds.
Girr, a windling Beastmaster, knows Claw Frenzy rank 3. She may make up to three attacks per round using this talent. Claw Frenzy has a Strain cost of 1 — if she uses Claw Frenzy to make up to three attacks, she takes 3 Strain.
Many talents can be learned as skills — the mundane version of the same ability. Learning skills is harder, takes longer, and costs more, but allows a character to use a similar version of a talent without magic. This is the most common way for characters to learn abilities unavailable to their Discipline.
There may differences between the magical and non-magical versions of a talent. These are noted at the end of the description.
If a character can learn a given talent as a skill, this indicates “Yes” and the skill learning cost tier in parentheses (e.g., Journeyman). While this uses the same terms as talents, the cost for improving skills is higher. See Improving Skill Ranks, Player's Guide, p. 450, for more information on learning and increasing skills.