Athletics (sage study)

Athletics is a sage study in the field of Training, encompassing a range of foundational physical skills that the characters are able to cultivate through dedicated practice and hard work. Between moments of the game's play, the character is assumed to have invested time and effort into improving these skills deliberately.

Each ability demands specialised agility and physical conditioning involving the individual's dedication to attaining capabilities associated with flexibility, precision, speed, strength, stamina, equilibrium, attentiveness and timing. The roster of athletic disciplines comprises:

• Cliff Diving
• Free-diving
• Hurling
• Ice Sailing
• Kayaking
• Martial Arts
• Running
• Sailing
• Scrambling
• Skating
• Skiing
• Surfing
• Swimming

Many combat-related athletic disciplines, such as wrestling or horseback riding, are categorized within different areas of study. Furthermore, certain sports that might appear suitable, like dog sledding, are non-existent in a pre-Industrial era setting.

Each form of athletic is counted as a "sage ability" — however, they should be regarded as separate endeavors categorized under the overarching study "Athletics." When knowledge points are allocated to a specific ability, the character's proficiency in that pursuit advances; however, this advancement confers no advantages in other athletic disciplines.

Assigning Points

The study of Athletics gathers knowledge in the same way as any other. However, when acquired, this knowledge can be assigned by the character to enhance their proficiency in the specific pursuits they choose. Points can be entirely dedicated to a single pursuit or distributed across multiple endeavors. Some characters may opt not to invest any points in certain pursuits, deeming sage abilities with fewer than 10 points as unworthy of their attention — as "amateur-status" can be desirable.

For example, Samuel begins at 1st level with 12 pts. of knowledge and assigns them to himself as an "amateur" Runner. At 2nd level, he rolls the dice and finds he has three more pts. — he assigns them to Sailing. At 3rd level, he gets six points; he assigns 3 to sailing and 3 to Running. At 4th level, receiving ten points, he gives 4 to sailing, becoming an amateur, and 6 to Running, for a total of 21 points. If he'd given every point to Running, he'd have become an "authority." The process is deliberately sparse, so the character's forced to concentrate on two or three choices ... but with time and multiple levels, a real strength can be built in various directions.

It can be seen that Athletics represents many "sage studies" under a single rubric. Becoming a jack-of-all-trades is possible, but it's very hard to excel at more than one thing.

Skill Levels

Unskilled describes zero points of knowledge in the particular Athletic. While most characters are able to run, jump or hurl objects, a lack of knowledge in these things confirms a lack of breath, technique or good judgement ... essentially, the character's minimum ability; with regards to hurling, the rules of missile weapons apply.

Talented is demonstrated by having 1 to 9 points in the Athletic. The character has no serious training and is somewhat raw in their technique, but they have sense and tenacity which they can apply to the activity.

Skilled characters have an amateur-status, or better, in the Athletic. Their status determines the degree of ability they possess.

See also,
Fighter Sage Abilities
Ranger Sage Abilities