skills

Skills of Artheria
Skills in this setting are, for the most part, the same as in 3rd edition D&D. In fact, for the available skills of the normal variety, we quite simply bid you read the SRD which can be found at http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html

But... two new types of skills have been added. magic skills, and Combat skills. Magic skills have already been gone over, in detail, in the magic section. Combat skills are listed below.

Combat Skills:
Characters in Mod D20 do not have a 'Base Attack Bonus'. Instead, they have 'Combat Skills' which are normal skills that add their ranks to any attack rolls with weapons that they cover, just like a normal skill check. Certain combat skills have other, special affects.

Blades(Str): All weapons in which the majority of the weapon is a blade, with a single handle.
These weapons range from small, close-in weapons like a dagger, to much larger weapons, such as a longsword or a two handed sword. They are quite popular for those who operate alone, ranging from the common skirmisher to the assasin, and are designed as such. These are the most popular melee weapon among elves, who like the ability to use grace and finesse in their light bladed weapons, and fight with delicate and flashy fighting styles.

Axes(Str): Any weapon in which most of the length is a handle, but most of the weight is a blade.
Axe weapons range from a small hand-axe or pick to a large double-bladed war-axe. They are popular among woodsmen, who already have the skill in such a weapon and need no training, as well as to a much lesser extent among Dwarves. Dwarves have been stereotyped as prefering Axes, but in reality prefer large swords or bludgeoning weapons; the more metalsmithing to work on, the better. They are a prefered weapon among Orcs, however.

Pole-Arms(Str): Any weapon in which most of the length is a handle, and the blade is relatively light.
Pole-arms range from smaller things like a throwing dart to the somewhat larger half-spear, or the much larger Long-spear. They are the most popular weapon among human soldiers, as they are the most efficient weapons for use in large groups of military formations. Tales of tower-shield and long-spear equipped phalanxs of human soldiers walking head on up to an elven archer unit and chopping through them like a scythe through wheat became legendary.

Bludgeons(Str): Any weapon in which the weight of the weapon does damage, rather than a blade.
Bludgeons range from the simple wooden club or gauntlet to the massive heavy battlehammer made by the dwarves. While not especially effective for any one group, bludgeons are much more effective when attempting to knock an opponent unconscious rather than kill them. As such, warhammers and clubs are the most popular weapons among city guards, of all races but the Dark Elves, who calmly slay criminals on the streets if they resist.

Bows(Dex): Any ranged weapon that does not use mechanics of some sort to fire and load.
Bows range from the small sling or short-bow to the massive, 6-foot longbows. A better definition of them is a weapon that requires constant effort to hold before firing, rather than easy carrying until you simply pull a trigger, like a crossbow. They are commonly used in large groups of archers to hold off cavalry charges, or by single snipers who can't afford the more damaging and longer-ranged crossbows.

Projectile(Dex): Any ranged weapon which uses its own force to fire a projectile.
Projectile weapons range from a crossbow, of any size hand to heavy, to the more advanced projectile weapons. They are universally longer ranged and more damaging than normal bows, but also slower to fire than the others. They are commonly employed by attacking troops and men on horseback, who either can't fire a bow on horse-back, or would be slain if they took the time to knock an arrow and fire. They are also the ideal weapons of snipers and assasins, and can be used while simultaneously moving.

Exotic(???): Any weapon which does not fit into one of the above categories. (Special: You are proficient in 1 exotic weapon per rank in this skill)
What? Expect a detailed description? A chain fits into this, or a whip, or any weapon of the other kind which takes unusual skill to use. At the DM's option, you might need 4 ranks in this to wield martial weapons, to represent they require more training than simpler weapons. After those 4 ranks, however, it would operate as normal.

Dodge(Dex): This skill is a direct dodge modifier to armor class. To take full advantage of it, you must spend a move-equivalent action each round 'manuevering' (basically, using the skill). Otherwise, its benefits are halved. (Cross-class for all characters, except possibly Special)

Hand-to-Hand(Str): Fighting with your bare hands/feet. Training in unarmed combat also improves your ability to deal damage in unarmed combat. For each 4 ranks in the skill, increase the dice size of your unarmed attack damage by one. (Base is 1d2 for small creatures, 1d3 for medium) (Dice sizes: 1d2/1d3/1d4/1d6/2d4/2d6/2d8/3d6/3d8/4d6/4d8/5d6/5d8) (Cross-class for all characters, except possibly Special)

Multiple Attacks:
When your character gets +5, +10, +15, +20, or +25 to a particular combat skill, counting Skill ranks, feats, and dexterity (if the character has Finesse in that skill or its a ranged weapon), he gains an additional attack at a modifier of his most recently gained attack -5. Thus, at +5 in Blades, a character can make two attacks, one at +5, one at +0. At +15, he can make four attacks, one at +15, one at +10, one at +5, and one at +0. Normally, weapons maximize at 4 attacks per round. Certain weapons, such as a Repeating Crossbow, can break this limit.

Special Multiple attacks
Projectile Weapons get extra attacks more slowly. They get an extra attack at every +7 to hit rather than +5. For certain projectile weapons, this can be even slower. Note that if you somehow obtained a repeating crossbow, or a semi-automatic weapon from modern times, they would actually fire faster, at every +2 to hit gaining an extra attack. These weapons firing rates are more limited by the time taken to change clips than the actual time firing.

Note: NON-Optional rule:
Some weapons attack faster, or slower, than others. But regardless of this, they all get THE SAME -5 penalty for each attack past the first. This does not represent weapon speed, it represents aim. While your character with a +10 bonus to hit might fire 5 semi-automatic weapon or repeating crossbow shots in a single round, he would get a -20 penalty on the last one.