Mano a Mano:Abilities

Abilities

Abilities allow a character to do certain types of actions, or do them better. Every game using the Mano a Mano should have it's own ability list, adapted to the needs of the game and it's setting. Characters can try to use (or fake) many abilities they don't have, but some special abilities, like flight, cannot be imitated without the right abilities or equipment. These abilities often have a special CP value. (See Game Design/Template CP.) Ability Level - Each of a character's abilities has an ability level, which is added as a modifier to success rolls when a character tries to use the ability to do something difficult. Abilities can also give the character other advantages based on ability level. Natural Abilities - A Template may give characters natural abilities and ability levels. A character's level in each ability is their natural ability level (from the template) plus any extra levels they have personally developed. A game may limit which abilities can be personally developed. Availability Availability describes which characters can have which abilities, and how they can be developed. Availability can be different for each template. Some abilities are not available at all to certain templates, and others have a maximum modifier. Some abilities can vary between individuals while others are the same for every character who uses the template. Some abilities can be developed at any time while others can only be changed while creating a character. Athletic Abilities Athletic abilities can increase a character's health. (See Action/Damage and Health.) Athletic abilities do not include fighting abilities such as Hand to Hand or Marksmanship, but do include movement abilities such as running, swimming and climbing. (See Action/Movement.) In the example ability list, the abilities followed by an asterisk ("*") are Athletic abilities.

Example ability list: Acrobatics * Art Acting Agriculture Animal Handling Climbing * Detection Dance * Cooking Craftsmanship Language Law Marksmanship Medicine Music One-handed weapons Piloting Regeneration Running * Sleight of Hand Science Stamina * Stealth Strength * Swimming * Teaching Two-handed weapons Thrown weapons Unarmed combat Yoga * (* Athletic ability)

Examples

Unarmed combat

A character's unarmed combat modifier is added to their close range fighting bonuses with grappling techniques or natural weapons. A martial-arts themed game might have more than one unarmed combat ability, with a different set of techniques for each of these abilities.

Regeneration

Improves the character's ability to heal quickly. The character recovers one extra damage point each week for each point of their regeneration modifier.

Strength

An athletic ability which also affects a character's arm strength (AS). (See Character Creation/Arm Strength.)

Running

An athletic ability that improves a character's ability to move on the ground. (See Action/Movement.)

Swimming

An athletic ability that improves a character's ability to move in water. (See Action/Movement.)

Climbing

An athletic ability that improves a character's ability to climb. (See Action/Movement.)

Flight

An athletic ability that improves a character's ability to move in the air. Usually characters may not develop the flight ability unless their template also has this ability. (See Action/Movement.)

Disabilities

While other Abilities have a positive effect on a character, disabilities have a negative effect. Disabilities affect a broad range of success rolls. One disability can interfere with the use of several Abilities.

• Farsighted - affects close range actions, particularly hand to hand and craftsmanship.
• Nearsighted - affects long range actions, particularly navigation and marksmanship.
• Deaf - affects sound-dependent actions, particularly detection and communication.
• Lame - affects movement abilities such as acrobatics, running, swimming, and climbing.
• Ignorant - affects any action for which you do not have a specific ability modifier.
• Thumbless - affects any action using a tool or weapon that is not part of or mounted on the character's body (so that the character cannot easily remove it by himself.) This disability is important for generating Templates that do not naturally use tools.

Disability Levels - Disability levels are similar to normal ability levels, but disability levels are subtracted instead of added to success rolls. Disability Level modifiers are cumulative: If a character has 3 levels of Thumbless and 4 levels of Nearsighted, then he has a total of -7 to use a crossbow (-3 for using a weapon and -4 for doing a ranged attack.)

Unless otherwise specified, disabilities have a maximum level of 4 (a modifier of -4/negative four.)