Skill list
Academic Skills
Lore - You're educated. You know legends, history, folktales, the great myths of the major religions. You've studied it all. Given that the people of most fantasy settings don't differentiate between fact and fiction, you may have trouble actually applying this knowledge, but gosh darn it, you know stuff.
Student of (___) - You've studied some particular subject much more than your average person, be it history, numerology, mathematics, or the Wines of the Southern Valley.
Decipher Script - You can decipher writing in an unfamiliar language or a message written in an incomplete or archaic form. It helps if you have at least a passing familiarity with either the language the text was written in, or at least something related to it.
Concentration - You can remain focused on the task at hand despite being distracted by such things as uncomfortable chairs, inclement weather, or being stabbed.
Research - Given access to some large body of knowledge, a library or the insides of an ancient vampire's mind for example, you can scour it for the information you're searching for.
Speaker of (____) - These are the languages you know, from such things as Common to Orcish Hunting Calls, if someone uses it to communicate with you can learn it. (I'm thinking of making it a feat for native level proficiency, otherwise you need to roll to see if you're understood or accidentally insult someone, maybe?)
Heal - You know how to keep people from dying. Used to provide care when you have time that people aren't actively trying to kill you, otherwise see combat medicine.
Agricultural Skills
Handle Animal - You know how to deal with animals, whether it's teaching them a new trick or helping a mare foal, you can handle it.
Herbalism - You know what plants are good for a particular task, whether that task is eating, helping to heal a wound, or poisoning your rival. You also know how to properly prepare said plants to perform that task better, be it seeping the willow bark in warm water or making a highly condensed nicotine solution out of tobacco leaves.
Athletic Skills
Run - You know how to effectively run, whether it's a 100m dash or running a full marathon. This skill also allows you to cover more land on foot than an untrained person would be able to.
Climb - You can effectively travel vertically over surfaces, whether it's up a sheer rock wall or a rope.
Balance - You can avoid falling over, especially when it's important, like walking across a bottomless chasm on nothing more than a 40' long 2x4 with a crosswind.
Jump - You can jump. I really don't know what else I can say about this, it seems like a fairly obvious skill.
Swim - Whether it's diving to the bottom of a river to retrieve the One Ring, or swimming to Alcatraz during a storm, if it happens in the water this is most likely the skill you'll use.
Tumble - Whether you're rolling between the Ogre's legs to avoid being smashed by that tree trunk he's swinging, or using Parkour to turn that 30' drop into forward momentum, this is what you'll use.
Criminal Skills
Disable Device - You can open locks and disable traps, no place is safe from your thieving fingers.
Hide - You can make yourself unseen, whether you're hiding in the shadows while guards are wandering around yelling "Taffer" or in a Gilly suit in the brush.
Move Silently - You can walk quietly, whether you are stalking your prey like a shadow or trying to sneak up on someone while wearing one of those Jester suits with all the bells on it.
Forgery - You can create forgeries, whether it's a copy of the Mona Lisa to sell to someone, or making up documents to say that you were on the King's business and should be immediately released.
Disguise - You know how to make yourself appear to be someone else, a true master could convince his own mother that she was talking to a Thai hooker.
Escape Artist - You can get out of restraints, whether you're popping your shoulder out of its socket to
Sleight of Hand - Hiding things on your person, that nifty thing where you make a business card appear from no where, and picking pockets are all under this skill.
Gamble - Whether you're throwing bones on the street corner or playing high stakes poker this is your skill.
Interpersonal Skills
Bluff - You're a liar and a d**n good one at that, you could convince your own sweet mother that she was a man, it's also used for feinting in combat.
Perform (___) - Whether it's playing a lute or freestyle interpretive dance, you can entertain people and generally get them to give you praise, applause, or money.
Sense Motive - You can tell when someone trying something fishy.
Gather Information - You can get information out of people, even when they don't really know that they have it, whether it's finding out where a fence is or getting a description of a suspect out of a witness, you which questions to ask to get the most information out of someone.
Intimidate - You can convince people that you are not to be triffled with, it doesn't really matter why they think that, be it fear of a beating, political backlash, or the belief that you'll turn them into a newt.
Diplomacy - You know how to sweet talk people into seeing things your way,.
Graces - This is your knowledge of how to be a good guest, or host, and covers a wide range of things every courtier must know, such things as never presenting your bare hands to a Nyrthian to when or when not to belch. Of course, social graces are a two-way street, and you can be at your best trying to impress that Nyrthian diplomat, but because he's such a boor, he picks up on all the little things that you got wrong, like the fact that you crossed your left foot over your right as you were sitting at the dinner table and decides to recommend to his Emperor that they wipe your pathetic nation off the map. Cheers.
Mercantile Skills
Appraise - Using your knowledge of the subject at hand, you can accurately value an object upon examining it, or determine if it's a forgery.
Craft (____) - Whether it's blacksmithing or underwater basket weaving, this is the skill used for making things.
Haggle - You are an expert at getting a bargain, whether it's through brow-beating, indignation, cajoling, or pretending that you have a highly communicable disease, you can get the best prices when you buy and sell goods.
Military Skills
Tactics - You can accurately size up a location and determine such things as choke points, high ground, potential ambush sites, or what direction the horde of Orcish Berserkers are most likely to come from.
Combat Medicine - Where the healing skill seeks to cause the body to heal quicker, combat medicine just tries to get the wounded back onto their feet so they can continue fighting, even if it means that their chances of survival will drop drastically.
Paranormal Skills
Eerie - You are adept at feeling what active magic feels like. It's hard to describe, it's like the electroreception that sharks and fishes have, except with magic.
Spellcraft - You are a studier of dark tomes of grim magic, you might not have figured out how to make stuff happen yet, but you will, and then they'll be sorry.
Perception Skills
Streetwise - You understand how crowds of people work, you know what to look for in a crowd to figure out if they're spoiling for a fight or terrified that someone is about to get shanked.
Spot - This skill covers how good you are at picking up subtle visual clues, like that little red dot that flashed on the edge of your monitor just now. It looked an awful lot like a laser pointer, didn't it?
Listen - This skill covers how good you are at picking up subtle, or not so subtle, audible clues, how good you are at localizing what direction they came from, and identifying what they most likely were.
Search - Whether you're casing a manor for every little piece of loot you can find or trying to follow the tracks of a fleeing fugitive over a sheet of granite, this is the skill that covers it.
Traveling Skills
Survival - You know how to find shelter, food, water, and heat when stranded in the wilderness with just the clothes on you back.
Navigate - You know how to read a map, use a compass and a sextant, you can figure out which way is north merely by the stars, and on a cloudy night you know how to use the moss on trees to figure out what direction you're traveling in.
Use Ropes - You can tie knots, there's not a whole lot of things to say about this skill, other than it's actually a lot more complex than this description would have you believe.
Ride - You know how to stay mounted when traveling through rough terrain, how to ride a horse for long distances without breaking it, and potentially how to ride even more exotic mounts, like a dire shrew.
