The Abilities
An ability is what you are measured by in the Seven Kingdoms — the sum of your sword arm, your wits, and your name. There are nineteen of them, from Agility to Will, and every one is a number of dice in your hand. The ranks you chose at creation are the measure of the person you walk into the story as; this chapter is what those ranks mean in the world.
What a Rank Means
A rank is dice. Rank 3 in Fighting is 3 test dice — written 3D — and every rank adds one more die to the pool when the Narrator calls for a test (Tests & Dice). This is the ladder the ranks climb:
| Rank | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Lacking | The ability is absent entirely — no tests, no actions, nothing. Humans always have at least rank 1 in every ability; beasts, mythic creatures, and the stranger inhabitants of the world may carry rank 0 in one ability or many. |
| 1 | Deficient | Routine tasks are a challenge — a real effort to accomplish what an ordinary person takes for granted. Generally the result of a physical or mental deficiency: a man paralyzed in the legs (Athletics 1), a simpleton (Cunning 1). |
| 2 | Average | The human baseline, and the measure all others are judged against. Routine tasks are easy, and with time and the proper tools an average hand can manage most challenges. Every starting ability begins here. |
| 3 | Talented | A cut above the average person — a special knack that makes the related tasks come easier. It can also imply a minimum of training: a few hours put in with a sword, a horse ridden a few times in your life. Just enough experience to be dangerous. |
| 4 | Trained | Heavy training joined to natural talent. Far better than the average person: challenging tasks are tackled with confidence, and with a bit of luck, some amazing stunts are pulled off. |
| 5 | Accomplished | Intensive training and natural talent put you leagues above the common man. These people are the best at what they do in most rooms they enter, and better than their peers at their craft. |
| 6 | Master | One of the best in the world at what you do. People seek you out to learn, to improve their training, or merely to meet you. Few reach this rank in any ability; fewer still in two. Jaime Lannister. Barristan Selmy. |
| 7 | Paragon | The height of human potential, the limit of mortal achievement — as high as anyone can hope to climb. These people are considered legends; so few reach it. |
| 8+ | Mythic | The people of the Age of Heroes — Brandon the Builder, Lann the Clever — and the exceptional few of later ages, Nymeria of the Rhoynar, Aegon the Conqueror. The exception to the rule. Beyond the reach of mortals, creatures such as dragons carry ranks higher still. |
For a mortal character, no ability rises above rank 7 — the Paragon ceiling. Beyond it lie the Mythic ranks, the province of legends and of dragons; a man may strive his whole life and still only glimpse that height. And ability dice are only the base of the pool — specialties add bonus dice on top, and an ally at your side adds another (Tests & Dice).
How an Ability Is Tested
When the Narrator calls for a test, they name the ability that governs it and you roll: your rank in test dice, plus a bonus die for every rank of a relevant specialty, minus any penalty dice the world levies against you. Sum the highest retained dice and compare to the difficulty (a basic test) or the opposing score (a competition or conflict test). Every difficulty also carries a minimum rank — a task beyond your training cannot be attempted at all, no matter how the dice fall: a rank 1 hedge knight cannot win a Heroic feat of arms, and a boy who cannot read cannot decipher a maester's ledger. A rank 0 ability cannot attempt anything — the ability simply is not there to be used.
The Abilities That Build Your Sheet
Some abilities do more than roll dice — they are the pillars your sheet stands on. The sheet computes these from your ranks; this is what they mean:
| Statistic | Built From | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Health | Endurance × 3, minus damage taken | How much harm you can take before you fall |
| Composure | Will × 3 | Your nerve under pressure — terror, torture, and courtly assault spend it |
| Defense | Agility + Athletics + Awareness, plus gear bonuses, minus armor penalties | The number an attack must beat to land — your Combat Defense |
| Intrigue Defense | Awareness + Cunning + Status | The number a lie, a lure, or a whispered scheme must beat to land |
| Movement | Base 4 (3 if your Athletics is 1 or less), +1 per 2 ranks of the Run specialty, −1 per 2 Bulk | How far you move in a combat round |
| Wounds | Maximum equal to your Endurance rank | Each wound is −1D on every test; at your Endurance rank in wounds, you die |
| Injuries | Maximum equal to your Endurance rank | Each injury is −1 from every result; you can never carry more than your Endurance rank |
Health and Composure are the two pools the world spends. Defense is what swords must beat; Intrigue Defense is what smiles and lies must beat. Wounds and injuries are the price of staying in the fight (Tests & Dice — attacks against Defense spend them in earnest).
The Nineteen Abilities
Each ability lists its specialties — the exact, named shapes of training available for it. They are the whole list; every one of them is on your sheet (Specialties, below).
The Body
Agility — raw quickness and reflex. Agility adds to your Defense and governs anything that needs the body to move faster than thought: catching a flung dagger, dancing along a parapet, slipping a noose at the last instant. Specialties: agility-acrobatics, agility-balance, agility-contortions, agility-dodge, agility-quickness.
Athletics — the body's strength and conditioning: climbing, running, swimming, lifting, and the long road. Athletics adds to your Defense and sets your Movement. Specialties: athletics-climb, athletics-jump, athletics-run, athletics-strength, athletics-swim, athletics-throw.
Endurance — stamina and hardiness. Endurance is the pillar of your survival: it sets your Health (×3) and the number of wounds and injuries you can carry before death takes you. When the march is long, the winter is cold, or the torturer is patient, Endurance is tested. Specialties: endurance-resilience, endurance-stamina.
Fighting — armed melee combat: sword, axe, spear, shield, and everything that ends a quarrel up close. Attacks with blades and bludgeons are Fighting tests (Tests & Dice). Specialties: fighting-axes, fighting-bludgeons, fighting-brawling, fighting-fencing, fighting-long-blades, fighting-pole-arms, fighting-shields, fighting-short-blades, fighting-spears.
Marksmanship — bows and thrown weapons. A marksman kills from a distance the swordsman cannot reach; every weapon in your hand tests Marksmanship. Specialties: marksmanship-bows, marksmanship-crossbows, marksmanship-thrown, marksmanship-siege.
Stealth — moving unseen and unheard, and hiding in plain sight. Stealth is tested against the watchfulness of guards, the suspicion of a lord's household, and the ears of the night. Specialties: stealth-sneak, stealth-blend-in.
The Mind
Awareness — noticing: reading a room, a face, or a battlefield before it moves. Awareness adds to your Defense and your Intrigue Defense, and it is the ability that decides whether the trap is seen before it springs. Specialties: awareness-empathy, awareness-notice.
Cunning — wit, plots, and cleverness. Cunning adds to your Intrigue Defense and governs the plans within plans: laying a scheme, unpicking one, winning at cyvasse, and thinking two moves ahead of a man who thinks one. Specialties: cunning-decipher, cunning-logic, cunning-memory.
Deception — lies, disguises, and misdirection. Where Persuasion moves hearts honestly, Deception moves them falsely — a lie told to a lord, a forged identity, a face that is not your own. Specialties: deception-act, deception-bluff, deception-cheat, deception-disguise.
Healing — wounds, surgery, and medicine. Healing mends the flesh the other abilities break: cleaning a wound, setting a bone, fighting the fever that follows a bad cut. Specialties: healing-diagnose, healing-treat, healing-ailment, healing-treat-injury.
Knowledge — lore and learning. Knowledge is the maester's art made general: history, heraldry, the laws of gods and men, and the old stories that turn out to be true. Specialties: knowledge-education, knowledge-research, knowledge-streetwise.
Language — tongues and letters. Language is speech and script: reading a letter, writing one, speaking the court tongue of King's Landing or the old tongue beyond the Wall. Language has no specialties — its measure is one.
Will — resolve, faith, and self-command. Will sets your Composure (×3) and governs holding your nerve: staring down a threat, keeping a secret under torture, refusing the fear that would break a lesser soul. Specialties: will-coordinate, will-courage, will-dedication.
The World
Animal Handling — horses and beasts: riding, training, calming, and knowing when a horse is about to bolt. A knight is nothing without his mount, and the Dothraki are nothing without theirs. Specialties: animalhandling-charm, animalhandling-drive, animalhandling-ride, animalhandling-train.
Survival — the wild: hunting, tracking, weather, and game. Survival keeps you fed and alive where roads end — the forest, the mountains, the frozen north. Specialties: survival-forage, survival-hunt, survival-orientation, survival-track.
Thievery — locks, pockets, and sleight of hand. Thievery is the honest trade of dishonest men: picking a lock, lifting a purse, palming a key. Specialties: thievery-pick-lock, thievery-sleight-of-hand, thievery-steal.
Warfare — command, strategy, and mass battle. Warfare is the general's ability: reading a field, giving orders that men obey, siege and counter-siege. It is tested in the warfare chapter's massed battles, not in single combat. Specialties: warfare-command, warfare-strategy, warfare-tactics.
The Court
Persuasion — swaying hearts and minds honestly: a plea before a lord, a speech to a mob, a bargain struck with a man who holds all the cards. Where Deception lies, Persuasion convinces. Specialties: persuasion-bargain, persuasion-charm, persuasion-convince, persuasion-incite, persuasion-intimidate, persuasion-seduce, persuasion-taunt.
Status — rank, title, and the weight of your name. Status adds to your Intrigue Defense and governs the privileges of birth and office: commanding respect, being heard in a hall of lords, and knowing the doors that open only for a name. Specialties: status-breeding, status-reputation, status-stewardship, status-tournaments.
Specialties
Specialties are the sharp edges of an ability — the exact shape of your training — and their names are fixed. Every specialty in the realm is named on your character sheet; the list on the sheet is the whole list, and none are invented at the table. A specialty is written ability-specialty: fighting-long-blades, marksmanship-bows, athletics-run, will-courage. If the sheet does not name it, it is not a specialty.
A specialty you have not trained sits at 0 — not taken. Rank it 1–7 as you spend specialty experience: when a test uses a specialty you have trained, its rank adds bonus dice to the pool — 3D + 2B for a rank 4 ability with a rank 2 specialty (Tests & Dice).
A specialty can never be ranked higher than the ability it comes from: Bows can never outrank your Marksmanship, however finely you were trained. You buy specialty ranks with specialty experience, a pool separate from ability experience — your age group grants a starting pool (Character Creation), and play grants more (Character Creation). There is no limit to how many specialties an ability may hold, only to how high each one climbs — and only to what the sheet names.
The Measure of a Person
Your abilities are the truth of your character on the sheet and off it. The tourney knight is Agility and Fighting; the maester is Knowledge, Language, and Will; the schemer is Cunning, Deception, and Status; the ranger is Survival, Stealth, and Marksmanship. Spend your ranks with intent — the realm will test every one of them. The next chapter tells the story of the luck you were born with: how destiny is spent, earned, and burned.