Editing Jeweled Amber Skill Points (section)

=='''Rationale on Skills in ADRPG'''==
One of the base concepts in the game is that if an Amberite wants to know how to do something he can go out into shadow and learn it. Drive a car, pilot a plane, juggle, do sleight of hand, cook pasta right, build a house, manage an elephant as a mount. They find a shadow and find someone to teach them. Do it awhile, and they can manage it. So Amberites and their ilk can have a wide range of things they know how to do if the need arises. 
However; Learning a skill is not Mastering it. It isn't even being an expert. It isn't necessarily being really good at it. Its being able to do it.

So '''''“Skills”'''''.

I allow my PCs and NPCs to allocate points toward mastery of a skill. 
*1 pip makes them an expert, but there are lots of experts at things in shadows. 
*2 pips makes them great, but there are lots of people who are great at things. 
*3 pips makes them rare, and there are long lists of people with rare abilities. 
*4 pips makes one a virtuoso. 
*5 pips is a nearly unique skill coming along once in a generation.
*6 Pips are for the people in shadow who are the very best at some skill. 

==='''Example-Sewing'''===
I can sew well. I've even made some excellent looking costumes for SCA wear. I've done it off and on for 30 years. I might, possibly, have 1 pip in sewing. But i'm not an expert. I know experts. Nearly all of them would fall in the 1 to 2 pip zone. Someone who has worked for years in a sweatshop sewing clothes all day is solidly a 2 pip seamstress. 
**A professional costumer who makes their living sewing and creating costumes for theaters, TV, and movies is a 3 pip seamstress. 
**An academy award winning costume designer is 4 pips. 
**Edith Head is a 5 pip costume creator.

==='''Example-Guitar'''===
Learning how to play the guitar, even spending a couple years in shadow getting good with it, doing shows even, does not make even an Amberite able to show up Jimmy Page on stage. Nor Carlos Santana, Brian May, Muddy Waters, or Johnny Lee Hooker. Certainly not either Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. 

*Rolling Stone published a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. ''Find it here-[[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/]]''The list is daunting. So call anyone on that list having at least 3 pips in Guitar. This would translate to playing most stringed instruments similar to a guitar, like mandolins, balalaika, Sitars and ukuleles at a 2 pip level, and probably even pianos and harpsichords at a 1 pip level. Familiarity and expertise might also translate to being able to play any musical instrument at least a little. So i'd call anyone on the list at least 3 pips. 
**Anyone in the top 20 might be 4 pip guitarists. 
**5 Pip Players: Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendricx, Eric Clapton, Kieth Richards, B.B. King, and George Harrison are all 5 pip players. 
**Carlos Santana is # 20 on that list but I would put him in the 5 pip zone personally but maybe he is a 4 pip player, a nudge away from being a 5 pip players. Just waiting for one more perfect solo to join the 5 pip players.

==='''Example-Horsemanship'''===
Most Amberites know how to handle a horse if it was some part of their past. Care and feeding, grooming, riding, even racing. Certainly riding them in battle is something they probably can do if they are a militant character.

*But if they put a pip into Horsemenship they have invested part of their life and interest into specifically being well versed in dealing with and riding horses. 
**2 pips might mean they are knowledgeable with breeding, training, and teaching. 
**3 pips is circus and trick riding level. Its masterful cavalry combat expertise. 

*In my games Benedict may be the best warrior but Julian has 5 pips in horsemanship. He spends a great deal of time in the saddle every day. He is amazing at managing breeding for the horses his rangers use. Benedict comes to him for advice on horse and animals. Julian has melded his combat style firmly into treating his horse as a partner as well as a weapon. And most of all, he found and befriended the greatest horse in shadow.

==='''Languages'''===
Thari is the base language of Amber as well as Chaos.  As Amberites travel they pick up languages pretty well.  If they spend a significant amount of time in a shadow they can pick up languages easily.   But even a few years does not make them experts in nuance and the history of the development of a language.
*1 pip makes a person an expert in dialects, accents, and variations. Slang, and jargon come easy to them. 
*2 pips makes one speak like a native.  Few detect their speech as learned
*3 pips is a scholarly understanding of the language in it historical context. Able to to expound on the detail of the language with native scholars.