Appendix II: Skills

Alchemy identifies magical properties in mundane substances. Substances are consumed directly or prepared as potions to provide long-lasting benefits like healing and curing disease, water-walking, magical shielding and fortifying attributes. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Alteration is a school of magic that concerns itself with manipulating the physical world and its natural properties. Alteration effects include water breathing and walking, jumping, levitating, burdening, opening and locking and creating shield barriers against physical and magic damage. Governing attribute: Willpower.

Armourer is used to maintain weapons and armour at top effectiveness and to identify the physical traits, the wear and tear of weapons and armour pieces found in the world. Governing attribute: Strength.

Axe helps wield heavy chopping weapons like war axes and battle axes more effectively. Governing attribute: Strength.

Backstabbing is automatically checked when attacking someone from behind. A successful backstab delivers three times the normal damage to a target. Governing attribute: Agility.

Block allows the use of shields to block any physical (melee or ranged) attack. A successful block removes all damage from the attack. Governing attribute: Agility.

Blunt Weapon helps wield heavy bashing weapons like maces, hammers, clubs or staves more effectively. Governing attribute: Strength.

Climbing is automatically and continuously checked whenever attempting to scale a surface. If a character slips, the skill is checked again as they attempt to regain a handhold. Governing attribute: Strength.

Conjuration is a school of magic that concerns itself with the mental domination of mundane and magical creatures, summoning of otherworldly weapons and armour and summoning of daedric or undead servants to serve and protect the caster. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Critical Striking is knowing how to inflict the greatest amount of damage to any target. While this doesn't translate into greater accuracy, if a successful hit is scored, the result will be double damage when compared to a normal hit. Governing attribute: Agility.

Destruction is a school of magic that concerns itself with the purely destructive capabilities of magicka, with spells that can harm living and undead creatures and which include elemental damage, draining, damaging, vulnerability and disintegration magical effects. Governing attribute: Willpower.

Enchant is used in the creation, use and recharging of magical items and to identify existing enchantments of items found in the world. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Hand-to-hand is the martial art of unarmed combat, allowing characters to kick and punching targets with great accuracy and damage. Governing attribute: Speed.

Heavy Armour is used to move and defend while wearing massive and rigid armour like iron, steel, silver, dwemer, ebony and daedric armour. Governing attribute: Endurance.

Illusion is a school of magic that concerns itself with altering the perceptions and thoughts of living subjects. Illusion effects include blind, light, paralyse, silence, calm or frenzy, chameleon and invisibility. Governing attribute: Personality.

Jumping is automatically checked whenever attempting a leap. The higher the skill, the further and higher a character can leap. Governing attribute: Strength.

Languages skill is used when attempting to speak in a different language than the character's native one or to translate text written in a different language. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Light Armour is used to move and defend while wearing light-weight, flexible armour like leather, fur, chitin and glass armour. Governing attribute: Agility.

Long Blade helps wield broadswords, sabres, longswords, claymores, katanas and dai-katanas more effectively. Governing attribute: Strength.

Marksman helps wield ranged weapons like short bows, long bows, crossbows, throwing stars and throwing knives. Governing attribute: Agility.

Medical is the non-magical way to treat injuries through the use of salves, bandages and other mundane methods. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Medium Armour is used to move and defend while wearing durable but flexible armour like chain, scale, bonemold and orcish armour. Governing attribute: Endurance.

Mercantile is the art of buying low and selling high. This skill guarantees lower initial prices for goods, equipment and services and improves the chance of getting better deals while bargaining. Governing attribute: Personality.

Mysticism is a school of magic that concerns itself with the most arcane aspects of magicka and expanding its experiments into a useful range of spells like teleporting of the caster's body, manipulating the world with telekinesis, absorbing or reflecting magical energies or sensing unseen objects at a distance. Governing attribute: Willpower.

Pickpocketing is used when attempting to steal an item off another person or engaging in a little shoplifting. Governing attribute: Agility.

Restoration is a school of magic that concerns itself with healing, restoring and fortifying the body's attributes and abilities and protecting it from other malign influences and curing diseases. Governing attribute: Willpower.

Running is used to cover long distances fast and efficiently. It's also checked when attempting to escape a pursuer. Governing attribute: Speed.

Security allows the use of lockpicks to open locked doors and containers and the use of probes to disarm traps. Governing attribute: Intelligence.

Short Blade helps wield short, quick, thrusting weapons like daggers, tantos, short swords and wakizashis. Governing attribute: Speed.

Spear helps wield long-shafted thrusting weapons like spears and halberds. Governing attribute: Endurance.

Speechcraft is used to influence others by admiring, intimidating and taunting them. Listeners are more willing to divulge information or to entrust important task to the skilled speaker. Governing attribute: Personality.

Stealth is used to move around unseen and unobserved. Governing attribute: Agility.

Swimming gives more endurance and speed while moving through bodies of water, while also enabling its user to hold their breath longer. Governing attribute: Endurance.

Unarmoured is used to avoid or reduce injury during combat while wearing no armour by evading, deflecting or absorbing blows. Governing attribute: Speed.