The Abilities extension allows Actors to spend Build Points on special abilities instead of Attributes. Each Ability is a custom Action Tag and allows an Actor to do something not allowed by the Core Rules. Some allow a new Ability Card to be played in place of an Action Card. Others change an Action card, such as allowing a different Attribute to be bid. Abilities are named for function, not flavor (“Ranged Attack”, not “Fireball”), because Content Packs define flavor.

Extension Summary:

• Depends On: nothing (Core Rules)
• Problem Solved: gives Actors additional powers beyond those of Actions.
• Mechanics Added: extends Actor Stat Block, provides Capabilities required by Things
• What changes: Actors may spend Build Points on Abilities in addition to Attributes.
• Complementary Extensions: Armor, Weapons.

Each Ability is defined by these Properties:

1. Name: the name of the Ability
2. Attribute: which Attribute is Bid to to use this Ability.
3. Prerequisite: some other Ability or Concept the Actor must have already acquired with Build Points to acquire this Ability
4. Description: a brief description of what the Ability is or how it can be used in the game.
5. Game Mechanic: how to adjudicate use of the Ability in the rules during gameplay.
6. Build Points: how many Build Points the Ability costs to acquire during Character Creation, or through spending XP.
7. Tag: a category the Ability belongs to.
8. Time [Extension]: a unit of Chronological Time that it takes to perform the ability, like Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, etc.

Each Ability may be acquired by allocating 1 Build Point.

An Actor may bid no more than their Trine Score (TS) on an Ability that takes the place of an Action Card.

Abilities should be added to the Actor's Stat Block as a comma separated list of <Ability–TS#>, as a second line under the main Stat Block, and the “AbSpent” number on the main Stat Block should be incremented by 1 for each Build Point spent on Abilities. For example, an average human who spent 2 BP on the Craft Ability would have a Stat Block that looked like this:

R1/0(29/2)-M3(3/3/3)-B3(3/3/3)-S3(3/3/3)
Abilities: Craft (carpentry)-3, Craft (stonemason)-3

Tags are a category that the Ability belongs to. Tags limit which Actors may have an ability.

• Capability– a power that cannot be learned but can be acquired by meeting some prerequisite specified in the Capability description.
• Combo– a Combo Ability depends on one or more other Abilities to function. They depend on other specific Ability Tags, not specific other Abilities. Each Combo Ability will also have one of these three tags: Method, Effect, or Target. For example, the “Damage” Effect Combo Ability needs a Method Ability like “Melee” to effect another Actor in the game.
  • Method–this is the Action or Verb used to initiate a Combo ability, like “Projectile,” or “Throw,” or even “Gaze” as a supernatural example.
  • Effect–this is the Outcome or Adjective that describes what the ability does when effective. The “Damage” example was used above, but for magical abilities this could be something like “Charming,” or for a laser gun could be a special damage type like, “Light.”
  • Target–this is Who the Combo Ability effects, or the Noun. It is often omitted when a target is implied, like shooting a gun with the Projectile Damage Combo Ability, where the target the player names is sufficient, but Target could be something more specific from a Target Combo Ability, like “Weapon(Type)” where the ability only effects specific types of weapons, or “Cone” where the Combo Effect Ability targets a Cone in front of the Actor.
• Modifier–changes some other Capability, must be played together.
• Skill– something the Actor can learn. An Actor must possess the Knowledge Attribute to learn a Skill

Below are lists of Abilities that are enabled by the Abilities Extension: