Areas of Knowledge are the skill system for Jewel-Delvers of Nagor Kadir and the Scimitar System.
The beauty is that anything that can be applied to a test, can be an area of knowledge. Here are some examples of areas of knowledge:
Every time a test is required, and the player can use the area of knowledge, they get a reroll of 1 dice.
If you gain the exact same named area of knowledge, it provides additional ranks. If you have three areas of knowledge with the exact same named you can reroll 3 dice in a related test.
Synergistic Areas of Knowledge
When you can apply areas of knowledge to a test that do not have the exact same named they are called synergistic. You gain a reroll of 1 dice for the first area of knowledge, and a +1 die modifier for each synergistic area of knowledge.
Example: An elfin hunter has Woodland flora & fauna (Yithmyr Elfin) and Land-based fauna (Yithmyr Hunter). He is attempting to identify some spilled animal entrails on a forest path which require passing a 1COG Test rolled using his COG score of 3. He rolls 3d10 scoring a 1, 3 and 5, a failure. For his rank in Woodland flora & fauna he re-rolls the 1 getting an 8, still a failure. Now for his Landbased fauna synergistic AoK roll he applies the +1 modifier to the 8 getting a 9, granting 1 success. He passes the test and discovers it’s a brown bear’s entrails. Remember, all AoK re-rolls and SAoK modifiers are optional unless a rule states otherwise.
Applying Rerolls
Area of knowledge rerolls generally only apply to Core attribute tests (STR, AGI, END, COG, PER, and OCC).
If an area of knowledge can be applied to a Secondary attribute test (H2H, RANG, THRO, MANI, HNDL, and CRFT) they are enclosed in square brackets with the related test in superscript afterwards.
[Scimitar mastery]H2H
Example 1: The Mergalese Swordmaster profession has [Scimitar mastery]H2H, and the Street Brawler profession has [Unarmed fighting]H2H, which are enclosed in square brackets. This allows their characters to re-roll dice on each of their H2H Tests (this includes a re-roll for each attack). The Mercenary profession has Combat tactics, which isn’t in square brackets so cannot be used to influence their attack tests.
Example 2: The Elryth Sorceror profession has [Summoning]MANI, and is able to re-roll MANI Tests when manifesting summoning spells, or other summoning-related MANI tests.
Grab the Current Rules
If you want to grab the current version of the play-test rules, then head to the feedback form here and download them from the link provided:
Thanks all, Glynn
