The Skill System

To accurately compare characters, especially in combat threads, we use a skill sheet for every character. Each character has six skills: durability, speed, strength, martial skill, willpower, and a class-specific skill based on their chosen class. These skills guide combat interactions but are not absolute. As this is a narrative-based site, you and your writing partner can collaborate to conclude your stories. However, be mindful that having a character unrealistically outclass a clearly more powerful opponent is considered meta-gaming and should be avoided.

After your character is approved, a staff member will assign your skills based on the content of your application. When describing your skills, be concise and avoid unnecessary details. You can also justify your character's skills within their history by describing moments of achievement, challenge, failure, and success. Long applications are tedious to grade, and excessive length does not impress. Please keep your word count in mind when submitting your application.

Skill List

Durability: Durability represents your character's toughness, endurance, and ability to resist injury, sickness, and poison. Typically, physical and magical attacks will test a character's durability. When pushed to their limits, a character's body may begin to fail, causing them to grow weaker and more exhausted. To increase a character's durability, it must be tested. Therefore, avoiding injury entirely will hinder your character's durability growth.

Speed: Speed represents a character’s movement and agility. It measures their ability to evade, run, and react quickly. Typically, speed is challenged by speed. To increase a character’s speed, it must be pushed to its limits through training and challenges. A character who effortlessly evades all attacks is considered unchallenged and won't have the opportunity to grow.

Strength: Strength represents a character's physical power, including the force of their attacks, their lifting capacity, and their grip strength. Typically, a character’s strength is tested by the durability of what they are attacking. At the higher end, they can crush rock in their hands, punch through stone, or lift fallen trees effortlessly. To increase a character's strength, they must engage in challenging feats of physical might. If a character's strength always yields the desired result the character’s strength will not be given the chance to grow.

Martial Skill: Martial Skill represents your character’s knowledge of martial techniques dealing with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Martial skill is increased through rigorous training and studying. Though it seems like a physical skill, it is actually a mental skill. Your knowledge of martial techniques is what gives your character the knowledge of how to attack, while speed and strength give them the physical capability of pulling these techniques off. To increase a character’s martial skill, they must prove themselves through techniques used in battle.

Willpower: Willpower represents a character’s drive and determination. It can help them push through pain, fight off compulsions, and push themselves beyond the limits of their current capabilities. In some cases, Willpower can be used to give a character a short-lived “second wind” that lets them continue their fighting until their body completely gives out. Typically, willpower will be challenged by the magic stat of a class in order to resist specific types of abilities. In order to increase willpower, a character’s will and determination must be tested.

Class Skills: See your chosen class for this information.

Skill Levels

Remember that Tales of Telmarus is a narrative based site. We try not to make anything “absolute.” Most descriptions will be done in ranges, where the skill can cover a broader spectrum. To give a somewhat numbery example, assume that every skill gains somewhere between a 50% to 100% increase in efficiency with every increasing level. We are also aware that some of the words used below might mean the same thing or are very similar. We understand that, but we wanted a specific number of levels and this is what we decided on.

Impaired: A character that is impaired in a skill is at a deficit. For some reason, whether that be a disability, a curse, or something else, their ability to utilize the skill is below normal levels. For example, having osteoporosis would greatly impact their durability.

Inexperienced: An inexperienced character has put practically no training into the skill. They live their lives as normal people, living a normal life. These are your shopkeepers who live to sell products or your farmers, gardeners, or anyone else who does not actively train the skill.

Novice: A novice character is at proficient human levels. This is where you find your skilled athletes or academics, those you would be impressed by in high school or college. For magical ability, you're a student, just starting out in your craft.

Trained: A trained character has spent a good amount of time honing his craft, practicing his skill. This is at minimum a year into actively training a skill. This is also the level at which our young “prodigy” characters come in. A prodigy with no training would land here.

Apprentice: The physical skill is hitting Olympian levels. The best of the best in humankind. Definitely standing out among their normal peers. For magic, the skill and power is on average levels. You could make a decent career out of it, but it's nothing special at this point.

Human levels stop at APPRENTICE. The rest are magic-enhanced only.

These skills have brief descriptions. As noted earlier, each subsequent skill can be assumed to be 50-100% more effective than the previous one. Creating detailed descriptions for each skill is difficult because of how many there are. Reminder that the numbers here are at large ranges because they are not meant to be absolutes, but ranges and comparisons. They represent maximum skill ranges, so you can slow down or hold back punches at your whim.

Intermediate: ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~400-500lbs [Lift aGrand Piano or Sport Motor Cycle]
- Speed: ~30-35mph [Speed of Grizzly Bear]

Skilled: ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~600-800lbs
- Speed: ~55-70mph

Proficient: ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~900-1200lbs [Lift a Telephone Pole or a Sailboat]
- Speed: ~85-110mph [Faster than a cheetah]

Adept: ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~1350-1800lbs
- Speed: ~130-170mph

Advanced [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~2025-2700lbs
- Speed: ~195-260mph

Expert [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~3000-4000lbs [Lift a Car, Large Missile]
- Speed: ~390-520mph [Faster than bullet trains]

Master [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~4500-6000lbs [Lift Empty Cargo Container or Forklift]
- Speed: ~585-780mph [Note: The high end of this breaks the sound barrier]

Grandmaster [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~6700-9000lbs
- Speed: ~870-1170mph

Legendary [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~10,000-13,000lbs
- Speed: ~1300-1750

Ascended [Locked] ~50-100% better than previous skill.
- Strength: ~15,000-20,000lbs
- Speed: ~2000-2500mph

What are human levels? What is magic-enhanced?
A “human level” is a skill level that a magic-less humans can reach. Any level above apprentice is considered magic-enhanced, meaning they are stronger, faster, etc... than a regular, non-magic human. If a character loses access to magic, their skills will drop to Apprentice because the magic did everything else for them.