Skills

Skills Tab

To select a Skill, first select the general category in the first popup box in the Select Skill area. This will load the second popup with a number of choices. Choosing one of them will pre-load all the data fields with information about the Skill. By default, level 0 is selected. You should usually purchase at least one level before pressing the Record button.

Any of the fields here are editable, allowing you to create variations of established Skills. When you record these changes the program makes note of this so that it will appear again should you wish to go back and add levels to this Skill at a later time.

Skills Listbox

This is the place where Skills purchased for the character are listed. The listbox in question lies at the top of the window and will initially be empty. As you add more Skills, every other row will be shaded a light blue color for readability.

At the top if the listbox you will see headings for Skill, Level, Cost, XP Cost and Notes. The name of each item you purchase is listing in the Skill column, the total number of levels purchased is listed under the Level column, the number of Character Points spent appears in the Cost column, the number of Experience Points spent is listed in the XP Cost column, and an abbreviation of any Notes you may have recorded is listed in the Notes column.

To edit items already listed in this listbox, simply double-click on the desired item. The fields below the listbox will populate with all the information recorded about the item.

You can remove items entirely by first selecting an item (this will highlight the entire row) and either pressing the Delete button on your keyboard, or by clicking the Remove button under the list box.

Page Reference Codes

UniForge uses a shorthand method for referencing the book and page number that describes the item you are editing. The letters refer to the book and the numbers refer to the exact page in the book. This is handy if you don't remember what the item you have selected it, or need more information. The codes are as follows:

WC = CJ Carella's WitchCraft
MC = Mystery Codex
AB = Abomination Codex
BoH = Book of Hod
A = Armageddon
AFMBE = All Flesh Must Be Eaten

The meanings of any other abbreviations used should be apparent.

Type List

Skills for which you must select a type will have a list of possible types to select from in this popup list. Choosing one of the types listed will replace the text bounded by parentheses "()" in Name field. Of course, if you have your own special Type for the skill, you can enter that in the Name field yourself. Skills that have Type Lists associated with them usually follow the format: "Name of Skill (Type)", where "Type" will be replaced by whatever you select from the popup, unless you change the text manually.

Type

This popup generally will not need to be changed. Each skill listed in the datafile has a field that describes whether the skill is Regular, Special, or Cinematic. Each type of skill uses a slightly different model for buying levels with character points or Experience.

Add a Specialty

You can purchase a specialty automatically by selecting a skill and then pressing the Add a Specialty button. This gives you 2 levels at a cost of 1 character point or 6 Experience points if the character is in play. It also adds the text, "(Specialty)" to the Name field. Replace "Specialty" with whatever your character's specialty is.

Notes

This mulit-line field allows you to type any notes you may want to make on your Skill. For example, if your character has a Skill Specialty, you might like to describe more about it in this space. Be aware, however, line breaks are not preserved here. If you hit return a couple times to put space between paragraphs of notes, those breaks will be stripped once you've saved your character and then come back to it later. For detailed notes, please consider using the space provided for Notes in the Description section.

Levels and Costs

Unlike the other text fields, the Level field can't be edited directly. Use the small up and down arrows to the right of this box in order to increase or decrease the levels of Skill purchases here. You can never have fewer than 0 levels of any Skill.

The Cost field keeps track of how much this Quality will cost you in terms of character points. The XP Cost field works just the same way, but keeps track of Experience spent here instead. If the cost is a negative number, then you know that this is actually a Drawback. These fields are also editable so that you can adjust the cost for special cases such as if the GM grants you a break on the cost of a new Quality, or perhaps you have been awarded a free level or two due to purchasing a group of Qualities in a package, as can be allowed in certain games.

Your Skill
Most data files also contain a category called "User" along with a Your Skill selection. When you want to add a new Skill just for one character, it's usually best to start with one of these and modify it as needed.

If there is a Skill that is being added to your game that isn't listed (perhaps the GM created a new one, or is using Skills from books that aren't included with the included data files) you will be better off customizing a data file by adding the Skill there. Then, you'll have the new item available for any character you make without having to re-enter the information.

Martial Arts and Lucid Dreaming

These two very special skills are available in the wcexpanddata.xml file. When you purchase Martial Arts, a special list box appears. However, before you begin adding to this list box, you should purchase one or more levels of the Skill since you receive a number of points to spend on Combat Moves and Visualizations based on your character's total skill level. When you have finished selecting the desired level, you can proceed with selecting these special sub-skills.

Martial Arts has a list of different styles you can select from in the Type List. When you select a style, it will automatically grant you the Basic Combat Moves you normally get for free with that style. You can then right-click (or control-click if you are using a Macintosh computer with a one-button mouse) to bring up a list of options. To help you customize your selection, you can add new Combat Moves, increase their level, remove them, make a Special Combat Move Basic or make a Basic Combat Move into a Special Combat Move.

There are several differences between Basic and Special Combat Moves. Basic Moves are marked in bold and have an asterisk placed in front of them. These can have a level as high as your Martial Arts Skill level and it costs you nothing to do so. However, Special Moves are bought with points equal to three times your Martial Arts Skill level. If you wish to purchase more than that, you must spend Experience (not character points!) to do so. The XPs column keeps track of how much Experience you've spend on individual Combat Moves. The costs involved are the same as for Regular Skills.

The rules are different for the Visualizations available under Lucid Dreaming. Here, you are provided four times the Lucid Dreaming level in points to spend on Visualizations. You may also have a level in individual Visualizations equal to up to twice your Lucid Dreaming level. The program will allow extra levels to be purchased with Experience just like extra Combat Move levels may be purchased. However, this isn't necessarily strictly a canon Unisystem rule. Please check with your GM to see if it is acceptable before purchasing any extra levels of Visualizations with Experience points.

<<AFMBE is copyright Eden Studios, Inc. 1999-2001. AFMBE and logo are trademarks of Eden Studios, Inc. The AFMBE trademark is used without Eden Studio's permission and Eden Studios is not responsible for the content of this site.>>

<<Armageddon, CJ Carella's WitchCraft, Abomination Codex, Mystery Codex and Unisystem is copyright CJ Carella 1996-2003. Armageddon, CJ Carella's WitchCraft, Abomination Codex, Mystery Codex and Unisystem is a trademark of CJ Carella. Armageddon, CJ Carella's WitchCraft, Abomination Codex, Mystery Codex and Unisystem is published under exclusive license by Eden Studios. The Armageddon, CJ Carella's WitchCraft, Abomination Codex, Mystery Codex and Unisystem trademark is used without Mr. Carella's or Eden Studios' permission and neither of those parties is responsible for the content of this site.>>