ETERN3.

TXT

SKILLS
Once we have created the raw character by rolling his attributes, we can begin
to determine what sort of character he will be.
The Character generation system of Eternal Soldier is a "Skills system". Most
role playing games use a "Class system", wherein the character chooses to be a
particular class (say "fighter", "thief", etc.) and the skills that come with
that class are predetermined. This means that the character is greatly
limited from the beginning in the way he or she develops. Most thieves are
like all other thieves; most fighters are like all other fighters.
This is a simple system, and handy, but the characters that develop lack
individuality. It also leads to characters that are are constrained to
special scenarios. In addition, if the player wishes to develop a character
that steps at all outside the norm then many special rules become necessary.
With a skills system such as we will be using, characters are not defined by
classes at all. Rather, they choose specific skills that they wish to
develop, and their abilities in these skills advance according to their
personal aptitudes and the amount of effort they wish to apply to that
particular skill.
As a person you might decide to teach yourself weaving, and your development
as a weaver would be affected by your ability to work with your hands, and the
amount of experience you manage to pick up as a weaver. At the same time you
might be teaching yourself physics, and this would be affected by your
intelligence and by the amount of time you spend studying and working on the
subject. At any time you might decide to pick up some new skill, tanning
leather say. You might now be very experienced as a weaver and physicist, but
you'll be starting from point zero as a tanner.

This is much the way skills are chosen for characters in E.S. A character may
at any time begin studying any skill he or she chooses, and his or her
aptitude in that particular skill will be drawn from that character's personal
attributes. If a character were to choose to take up weaving (it's completely
possible in the rules) his or her advancement would depend on manual
dexterity. A character with a high dexterity will advance more quickly than a
character with a low dexterity, though both will advance. Where there are two
or more statistics that might come into play when using a particular skill we
can use a weighted average.

A character can take up new skills at any time. A character might have
advanced to the highest levels as a sword-fighter, and choose to take up
accounting. This character will of course, be a beginning accountant. But if
the determination is there, there is no limit to the heights that can be
achieved as an accountant (especially one with a sword). By the same token, a
gunfighter might also be a skilled picker of pockets and top-notch computer
scientist. (Assuming that the skill of computer scientist exists in the
period of the scenario.)
The Skill Percentage Defined
The skill percentage as applied in Eternal Soldier is generally assumed to be
the character's chance to successfully perform an action that an untrained
character has no chance to do. That is, it is the amount the character must
roll under on D100 in order to succeed at whatever he or she is attempting.
In some cases, such as driving, the skill will come into play only when the
character is doing something unusual in the area of driving, such as pulling
certain stunts or trying to keep from crashing in unusually difficult driving
situations.
In many skills the character's skill percentage not only determines how likely
the character is to succeed at a given action but how well he or she succeeds.
For instance, the amount a baker beats his or her skill by determines the
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quality of the baked good. Only the most highly skilled bakers can produce
the very highest quality baked goods. There is a general chart supplied after
the skills description that can be applied to most skills to determine the
quality of an item produced.
It should be noted that the basic level of a skill may vary with the
technological level. A chemist with five skill points in the the 12th century
will not do the same as a chemist with five skill points in the 20th century.
In this case it is important to recognize that the skill percentage operates
on the technological level of the scenario and this should be kept in mind
when determining what can be accomplished with the skill.
The authors have provided a large set of skill descriptions for a great many
skills. These are descriptions of ways the skills can be used, outside
details that affect them, and their limitations. More than anything, however,
the skill descriptions are intended to provide general guidelines for
developing other skills. It is certain that no matter how many skills are
placed on the list, someone will want one that isn't there. This is
completely within the spirit of Eternal Soldier. Players and referees are
encouraged to develop their own skills. Individuality is the source of the
game. As the Chinese say, "Let a thousand flowers bloom."
Before we go into the various skill descriptions, let's talk about how we go
about . . .

Determining Skill Percentages

A character's skill is determined by combining a character's aptitude for that
skill with a measure of the character's experience in that skill.

Aptitude
Whenever a character chooses any skill the first step is find out what degree
of ability a character has in that skill. This can be referred to as the
character's "aptitude". It will be noted on the skill chart that each skill
has certain multipliers based upon the character's personal statistics. The
skill of "Hand-to-hand" fighting (which refers to the character's skill in
basic fisticuffs) is shown to have an Agility multiplier of 3, and a Dexterity
multiplier 2.

Staying with hand-to-hand, let's assume a very average character. He has an

agility of 10 and a dexterity of 10. His agility multiplied by 3 is 30. His
dexterity multiplied by 2 is 20. When these two numbers are added together we
get a result of 50. We then divide this amount by ten. The result of (50/10)
5 is the aptitude of the character in hand-to-hand.

Let's give the same character an agility of 13, and a dexterity of 17. His
agility multiplied by 3 is 39. His dexterity multiplied by 2 is 34. The two
numbers are added together and we get a result of 73. Dividing this result by
10 shows the character to have an aptitude of 7.3.
The aptitude can be described as the character's ability to advance in a
particular skill. For each degree of attainment achieved in that skill, the
character's measured ability increases by the character's aptitude.
Skill Points
The measure of how much a character has advanced in a particular skill is that
of "skill points". Skill points are bought with experience points. if a
character chooses to advance in any skill, the character simply subtracts a
certain amount from his or her acquired experience points, and takes one more
skill point. Beginning characters are given an amount of assumed experience
at the beginning of the game with which to buy skill points.
The cost of skill points in a skill is determined by the amount of skill
points already acquired in that skill. The cost increases by 100 experience
points with each skill point attained. The first skill point in any skill
costs 100 experience points. The second costs 200, the third 300, etc.
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In most starting campaigns, characters are provided with 2000 experience
points at the beginning of the game with which to buy skill points. A
character might choose to spend 100 on "animal training". The character wants
two more, so he or she spends 200 for the second skill point, and 300 for the
third. The character has now spent a total of (100+200+300) 600 of the
original 2000 provided. He or she has the option of spending 400 for a fourth
skill point in animal training, 100 for the first skill point in a completely
new skill, or saving the remaining 1400 to spend at a later date.

Many skills on the skill chart have "bases". These are set amounts of skill
points that cost nothing, that everybody has in that skill. The amount of
base in a skill is shown on the skill chart. Bases are not counted when
figuring the cost of new skill points. That is, if a skill has a base of 4,
the character is assumed to have 4 skill points in it. If the character ever
chooses to buy another skill point in that particular skill then it only costs
100 expeience points, as it is the first skill point BOUGHT by the character
in that skill.
Bases are used for skills that everyone has some chance to perform, even if
the character has absolutely no training in the skill in question. Bases
might also be used for skills which are so terribly common that it is highly
unlikely that you will encounter anyone without some degree of ability in the
skill. Examples--driving and literacy in the twentieth century.

You don't need to figure out your percentage in each skill that has a base
when you create your character. It is suggested that you only figure your
percentage when you need it and then write it down for future reference.

Whenever necessary, a player may figure out how many experience points were
paid for the last skill point attained. Let us assume that a character has 21
skill points in a skill. By multiplying this by 100 the player finds that the
last skill point he or she bought cost (21 X 100) 2100 experience points. By
simply adding 100 to this the character finds that the next skill point in
that skill will cost 2200 experience points.

Finding the Skill Percentage

For every skill point attained in a skill, the character's skill percentage
goes up by the amount of aptitude the character has in that skill. In our
aptitude example we had a character with an aptitude of 7.3 in hand-to-hand.
For every skill point this character gains in hand-to-hand, the skill
percentage increases by 7.3. We could simply say that the number of skill
points in a skill is multiplied by the aptitude, to achieve the skill
percentage in that skill.
Our character with the 7.3 aptitude in hand-to-hand knows that there is a base
of 4 skill points in hand-to-hand. This means he has a skill percentage of (4
X 7.3) 29.2 before he has ever bought a skill point in hand-to-hand.
This character decides he wants to buy 3 more skill points in hand-to-hand
with his 2000 starting experience points. The first costs him 100, then 200,
and the third costs 300 for a total of (100+200+300) 600 experience points.
He now has (3 + base of 4) 7 skill points in hand-to-hand. This gives the
character (7 X 7.3) 51.1% in hand-to-hand.
He has 1400 of his original 2000 left to spend. His last skill point in hand-
to-hand cost 300; so his next will cost 400. He may choose to buy the next
point, leaving him with 1000, spend 100 points for the first point in a new
skill, or save the remaining points for future use.
Note that fractional skill percentages are likely (such as the .7 on the end
of 65.7). These fractions should be kept on, for they could add to another
fractional point down the road meaning an extra percentage point. Whenever
the skill is being used in the game, however, ignore fractional percentages.
These rules apply to all skill percentages. They are all arrived at in the
same way. The only difference in determining skills is in the multipliers
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used to arrive at them.
We should note here that although skill percentages above 100% are difficult
to achieve, they are by no means unreasonable. It is quite common for
powerful characters to have skill percentages well in excess of 100%. This
doesn't mean they can accomplish anything they choose but rather can most
always succeed at the skill at it's basic level (If you can read most anything
you encounter in your daily life without difficulty then your literacy
percentage is near or above 100%). The GM may apply penalties to the
character's chance of success which will bring it below 100% (for instance if
the character is reading untranslated Chaucer, or Shakespeare written in Pig-
Latin.) Also the success chart remains meaningful well above the 100% level.
Figuring out your skill percentage may seem complicated at this point but once
you've done it once or twice you'll find that its actually pretty easy to do.
In fact, you may find that generating a character becomes faster than the
role-playing games you may be used to.

Making the Skill Roll

As mentioned earlier, when a character wishes to use one of his skills, he
rolls a D100 and compares that to his skill percentage. Generally speaking,
if the number rolled is less than or equal to his skill percentage then he has
been successful.
Often, a character may try something that is within his area of expertise but
is unusually difficult or easy. In this case the GM should decide on a
modifier and tell the player to apply it to his chance of success.

For example, a character with tracking skill wishes to try to track an

elephant who just walked out of a vat of red paint and is now walking through
freshly fallen snow (10 minutes ahead of the character). In this case the GM
may assign a bonus of +99% (there is no reason he couldn't say +150% if he
thought the situation warranted it. Remember, other modifiers may apply) to
the character's chance of success. Assuming the character has any skill at
tracking at all, he is certain to succeed.
Note that characters that have no skill in tracking will have a 99% chance to
track the elephant also.

This is a very useful guideline when applying modifiers. Remember that

whenever you give a character a bonus to succeed at a task you are also giving
that bonus (and hence that skill percentage) to unskilled characters for the
same task.
In the case of more difficult actions penalties may apply. In the above
example the GM may also assign a modifier of say -10% per minute if there
happens to be a blizzard which is covering the tracks.
Choosing Skills

When first creating a character you are faced with many choices. There are
many skills you could take yet each one you choose, in effect, uses valuable
skill points you could apply to other skills.
Once your character's stats have been rolled, try to determine what kind of
things he would be good at and get a handle on his personality. This will, in
most cases, help you determine what sort of skills he should take.
Try to choose them on the basis of what you feel you want your character to be
like without using the chart. This is not to say that you should avoid the
chart but if you try to play the numbers too much you could be scratching your
head all night.
Don't take too many skills or you won't be very good at any of them. Two or
three is a good number for a starting character.

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As you accumulate experience you can take new skills. Usually the characters
can be assumed to have done whatever was neccessary to learn their starting
skills.
In the case of skills taken after the character has accumulated experience,
there should be some reasonable explanation as to how the character was able
to learn that skill.
Usually we are pretty lenient with this but, if desired, it could become one
of the focuses of the game. There may be secret guilds that teach arcane
knowledge or hermit masters on moutain tops. It's even possible that a copy
of 'Chilton's Auto Repair' could become a valuable commodity in a post-
holocaust environment.
SUCCESS, CRITICALS, and FUMBLES

Reference will be made to Criticals, Fumbles, and Skill Roll Differences. As

has been said, success in attempting to use a skill is determined by rolling
D100. A roll beneath the character's Skill percentage in a skill indicates
success.
Often the degree of success will determine how well the character performed
the skill. This is simply the difference between the roll and the
character's Skill percentage. If a character has a skill percentage of 73 in
a skill, and rolls a 45, the skill roll difference is (73-45) 28. If the
character rolls above the skill, indicating failure, the skill roll
difference will be negative. If the same character with a skill percentage
of 73 had rolled a 91 the skill roll difference would be (73-91) negative 18.

The skill roll difference can be applied to a basic success chart for many
skills. Skills that refer to the success chart mention the fact in the skill
description. The first column, "produced items", refers to goods
manufactured by the character. The number under "market value" is an amount
to multiply the current market value of similar goods by to determine the
market value of that particular good. The rest of the categories are just
general indications of the level of success.
Alternatively, the skill roll difference is often used to resolve situations
where two characters are using the same skill (or opposite skills) against
each other. For example lets say that two lawyers face off in the supreme
court arguing the merits of school prayer. The GM would merely have them
make their skill rolls (perhaps after applying modifiers for public opinion
or prejudice) and the lawyer with the higher skill roll would likely gain the
favor of the court. (See "stealth" and "awareness" for an example of how two
different skills can be compared against each other)

Lastly, many references are made to criticals and fumbles. A critical means
that the character has performed the skill surpassingly well, and a fumble
means that the character has completely muffed the attempt.

A character has critically succeeded when the skill roll is less than 10% of
the character's total skill percentage. If the character has 63% in a skill,
then a critical has taken place if the character rolls 06 or less on the
attempt. If the skill is dependent on the skill roll difference to determine
the overall quality of a success, the character may roll again and add any
positive skill roll difference to the original skill roll difference. This
gives the character a chance to perform a skill well beyond his potential.
A fumble is 10% of the character's chance to miss the roll. The character
with the 63% skill percentage has a 37% chance to miss. This means a 3%
chance to fumble. The attempt is a fumble if the roll to succeed results in a
roll of more than 97.
Regardless of the character's skill percentage, A ROLL OF 01 IS ALWAYS A
CRITICAL SUCCESS, AND 00 IS ALWAYS A FUMBLE.
SKILLS LIST

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Here is a list of many of the skills that can be put to use within the game.
This list is of course just an overview. Use it as a guideline to develop any
skills that are not listed, but are desired by the players or referee.
The abbreviations are ST (strength),AG (agility), DX (dexterity), CN
(constitution), IN (intelligence), WI (will), CH (charisma), CM (comeliness).
Multipliers for stats
Skill Name ST AG DX CN IN WI CH CM Base
Accountant -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Acrobat 1 3 1 -- -- -- -- -- --
Actor -- -- -- -- 1 -- 3 1 2
Animal Trainer -- -- -- -- 3 2 -- -- --
Armorer 1 -- 2 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Awareness -- -- -- -- 2 3 -- -- 4
Bard -- -- -- -- 1 -- 4 -- --
Bionics -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Bowyer -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Brewer -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Baker -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Camouflage -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- 2
Card Cheat -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Cartographer -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Climbing Walls 2 2 1 -- -- -- -- -- --
Climbing Mountains 1 1 1 -- 1 1 -- -- --
Cobbler -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Communications -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Computer Science -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Counterfeiting -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Dancer 1 4 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Demolitions -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Disguise -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Driver -- -- 4 -- 1 -- -- -- *
Endurance -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- --
Engineer -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Etiquette -- -- -- -- 2 -- 3 -- --
Extra Language -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Farmer -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Fletcher -- -- 2 -- 3 -- -- -- --
Forgery -- -- 2 -- 3 -- -- -- --
Game Designer/Bum -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Gold/Silversmith -- -- 4 -- 1 -- -- -- --
Hanggliding -- 4 -- -- 1 -- -- -- --
Hiding -- -- -- -- 2 3 -- -- 2
High Jumping -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Horsemanship 1 2 1 -- -- 1 -- -- 2
Hypnosis -- -- -- -- 3 1 1 -- --
Jester -- -- -- -- -- -- 5 -- --
Jet Pack -- 4 -- -- 1 -- -- -- --
Jeweler -- -- 2 -- 3 -- -- -- --
Lawyer -- -- -- -- 3 -- 2 -- --
Literacy -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- *
Long Jumping -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mason -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Mechanic -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Medic -- -- 2 -- 3 -- -- -- --
Merchant -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Mimicry -- -- -- -- 3 -- 2 -- --
Miner 1 -- -- -- 3 1 -- -- --
Misdirection -- -- -- -- 2 -- 3 -- --
Musician -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Navigator -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Orator -- -- -- -- -- -- 5 -- --
Picking Locks -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Pickpocket -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Pilot -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Pharmacologist -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
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Poet -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Powered Armor -- 3 -- -- 2 -- -- -- --
Priest -- -- -- -- 2 -- 3 -- --
Psychogenetics -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Quick Draw -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Robotics -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Sailing -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Scientist -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Scuba Diving -- 2 - -- 3 -- -- -- --
Security Systems -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Sex Appeal -- -- -- -- -- -- 2 3 --
Singer -- -- -- -- -- -- 4 1 --
Skydiving -- -- -- -- -2 -3 -- -- --
Sleight-of-hand -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Sociohistory -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Stealth -- 4 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 4
Swimming 1 3 -- -- -- 1 -- -- --
Tailor -- -- 3 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Tanner -- -- 1 -- 4 -- -- -- --
Tracker -- -- -- -- 4 1 -- -- --
Weapon Maker 1 -- 2 -- 2 -- -- -- --
Weapon Technician -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- -- --
Weight Lifting 5 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
COMBAT SKILLS LIST

Multipliers for Stats

Skill Name ST AG DX CN IN WI CH CM Base
Archery -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Crossbowmanship -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Defense -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4
Hand-to-hand -- 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Heavy Guns -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 2
One-handed Guns -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 4
One-handed Weapon 1 2 2 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Polearms 1 2 2 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Shield 2 1 2 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Thrown Weapons -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Two-handed Guns -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Two-handed Weapon 1 2 2 -- -- -- -- -- 4
Wrestling 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4
EXOTIC COMBAT SKILLS

Multipler for stats

Skill Name ST AG DX CN IN WI CH CM Base
Artillerist -- -- 2 -- 3 -- -- -- --
Bolo -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Boomerang -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Fencing -- 2 3 -- -- -- -- -- --
Gunner -- -- 4 -- 1 -- -- -- --
Judo -- 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- --
Karate -- 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- --
Mounted Lance 1 2 2 -- -- -- -- -- --
Nunchaku -- 2 3 -- -- -- -- -- --
Rocketry -- -- 4 -- 1 -- -- -- --
Sai -- 2 3 -- -- -- -- -- --
Shuriken -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Sling -- -- 5 -- -- -- -- -- --
Whip -- 1 4 -- -- -- -- -- --
* Base for this skill is dependent upon
Time Period of scenario. See Skill
Description.
NEW SKILLS
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As has been said, GM's and players alike are encouraged to design new skills
in order to fit their needs and desires. If you did not find a skill you
desire in the list above by all means consider designing it. We would like
here to offer some guidelines to consider in designing skills.

Let's look at how a couple of the skills from the list above were designed in
order to see how other skills are designed. "Stealth" and "Picking Locks" are
two good examples. We'll take stealth first.

First and foremost we must consider exactly what we wish to define this skill
as. We might be looking for a thiefly sort of skill that will enable us to
hide well and be very quiet. But first we must ask ourselves if these things
really belong together. In truth they don't. They are very different things
which rely on very different abilities. One is already listed on the chart,
and well covered by the skill "Hiding". So what we need is a skill that will
enable us to act as quietly as possible, and we could well call this skill
"Stealth".
Now that we have defined our stealth skill we should ask ourselves what is
involved in performing it. Let's go stat by stat. Does it have anything to
do with strength? No, not at all. How about agility? Now there's something.
It involves a lot of agility--overall physical coordination. We might be
tempted to say it's all agility, but let's be careful to look at all of them.
Dexterity? No, it doesn't involve hand-eye coordination at all.
Constitution? Hardly. Intelligence? Perhaps in knowing when to be quiet,
but not in knowing how. Will? Well, it does involve some degree of self
control, so let's remember that. Charisma? Comeliness? We can rule out
personality and looks so that's that.

A lot of body coordination and some self-control. We decide that it's almost
all coordination so we put almost all of the emphasis there. It is important
to keep the modifiers adding up to five for the sake of game balance. We'll
put 4 multipliers on agility and 1 on will.

Now that we can develop an aptitude and therefore a percentage, we must decide
exactly how it will be used. In this case it's pretty straightforward. The
chance is the chance of performing an action silently.

The last thing we must ask ourselves is if this is an action that can be
attempted by anyone, or if some degree of training is required. Anyone can
try to be quiet and have a chance of succeeding. With practice they'll
improve, but it doesn't require any training to try it.
The basic law of skill percentages states that the skill percentage represents
the chance of a character to perform a task that an untrained character has no
chance to do. So we're in a bit of a quandary here. On one hand we're saying
that anyone has a chance to be quiet but on the other hand you must take the
skill to do it.
There are two ways to deal with this situation. The first way is to redefine
the effects of the skill to make it something truly special. The other way
would be to assign a base to the skill. In this case we would probably (and
did) determine that stealth will be used fairly often and that it would be
useful to have a skill percentage for every character that they can increase.
The base for any physical action is best set at 4, so that's where we'll set
this one. The question that begs to be asked is, "WHY is the base for any
physical action set at 4 ?" Some consideration of the rules will reveal that
a base of 4 gives the average person about a 20% chance of success.
Experience and a lot of play testing (Oh God, a lot) have shown that this is
just the fairest and most workable amount. Or to put it another way, it's
arbitrary (Ok, so we admit it. Alright?) but it works.
Now we'll look briefly at picking locks. We want a skill that will enable us
to use an understanding of mechanical locks so that we will have a chance of
opening most mechanical locks that we might encounter. It involves manual
ability and an education of what is inside locks. A fair amount of both, but
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mostly dexterity. We'll make it 3 dex, 2 int. Now the base consideration.
It is possible for anyone to try, but the chance of success is negligible,
and that only on very easy locks. The experience is likely to benefit the
person only if they encounter an identical lock next time. To be an effective
lockpick is something that really takes training, practice, and experience.
We would be wise to forget the base here. The chance is, of course, the
chance to successfully open the lock facing the character.

There are two points that might be watched for in the design of any skill.
The first is that there is almost no skill which will be altered by
constitution. Constitution might affect the skill in terms of endurance, but
this is better handled through fatigue rules than it is through using
constitution as a multiplier.
The second, and by far more important note, is to watch for skills that are
actually combinations of other skills. Example--there is no such skill as
"Ninja". This is a combination of other skills (stealth, hiding, etc.). This
is definitely something to watch for.
When designing skills try to write the best description possible at the start,
but remember, it's your world, your skill, and your rules. You have every
right to change the skill if your design doesn't give the results it was
intended to. You're in charge, old boy. . . .
We're done now. Honest. On with the next chapter.

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