Sage Ability

A large set of secondary skills that are available to character classes, distributed according to level and the amount of knowledge that a character possesses. The term "sage ability" refers to the specific knowledge, capability or applicable skill the character can apply to a given task or circumstance. Gaining a level increases the amount of knowledge that a character can possess.

Abilities are organized under the heading of sage studies, which comprise a wider area of knowledge, such as having knowledge in, say, geology, matters of faith, mercantilism, the art of murder and so on. Different classes have access to different studies, which in turn have different sage abilities attached.

Studies, in turn, are organized under the heading of sage fields. These are very large areas of study, such as mastery of arms, skullduggery, the study of animal or plant life, or civics. Typically, a given character class will have three or four fields, from which the player will pick when rolling up a character.

Abilities, within studies, are also organized according to how much knowledge a character possesses. Having no points at all indicates complete ignorance ~ which applies to most characters with regards to any field or study outside their character class. Having between 1 and 9 points indicates that a character has a small amount of useless, trivial knowledge, or is relatively unskilled. This can be useful, particularly in athletics, as the character at least knows how skis work or can at least dog paddle (which respect to swimming).

Once a character accumulates 10 points of knowledge in a given study, the character is an "amateur." This will empower the character with the bare minimum of the sage abilities within that study (see individual sage studies pages for the various classes, of which there are many).

Once the character accumulates 30 points, the character is an "authority" and more abilities are awarded. With 60 points, the character is an "expert," with yet more abilities. Finally, with 100 points, the character is a "sage," with all the possible abilities associated with that study.

Below are lists of sage fields and studies associated with each class. On these pages, it can be seen how many points per level a character earns both in and out of field, and how many the character begins with, depending on the class the character is:

[note: at this time, full notes have not been written except for the cleric and druid characters; at the present time, the cleric should be treated as a default for all the classes except druid in this regard]