Skills marked with * cannot be used at the beginner level (rank 0) and require character to be at least apprentice.<br/><br/>Martial domain (Metal)<br/><br/>Art of War: Skill in strategy and tactics<br/><br/>Bangshu (stick): all kind of staves, from short sticks to long fencing ones.<br/><br/>Hand-to-Hand: this skill covers any unarmed combat style<br/><br/>Chuishu (mace): clubs, hammers, maces and other heavy blunt weapons<br/><br/>Daoshu (dagger): for the purpose of this game nearly all small weapons it seems - knives, daggers, small hatchets, short swords.<br/><br/>Dunshu (shield): shields obviously.<br/><br/>Gongshu (archery): any bow but not crossbow.<br/><br/>Improvisation: Improvised weapons, chopsticks, fans, broken furniture, coins, strip of cloth, rope...<br/><br/>Jianshu (fencing): All types of swords, this includes sabers and two handed swords as well<br/><br/>Throwing: daggers, darts, javelins... everything that is thrown at the opponent including a flying guillotine. :)<br/><br/>Qiangshu (spears, etc): spears and polearms<br/><br/>Nushu (crossbow): The crossbow<br/><br/>Physical domain (Water)<br/><br/>Acrobatics: jumps, tightrope walking, complex acrobatic moves.<br/><br/>Craft (specialization): Choose a specific craft, some examples are pottery, rope-making, leatherwork, carpentry, weaving, bow-making, cooking, farming, animal-breeding...<br/><br/>Stealth: ability to move silently, find places to hide, use surrounding to stay unnoticed and so on.<br/><br/>Horsemanship: ability to ride but also train animals, covers not only horses but other animals that can be ridden such as mules, camels.<br/><br/>Climbing: climb walls, trees, and ropes<br/><br/>Dodging: ability to dodge an attack<br/><br/>Forge *: forge weapons, armor and components for those.  Skill can only be used if character has access to a proper workshop and the right tools.<br/><br/>Theft: pick pocketing, picking locks, but also forging documents and counterfeiting<br/><br/>Swimming: self-explanatory<br/><br/>Survival (specialization): ability to navigate, find shelter, food, water and otherwise survive in a chosen environment<br/><br/>Social domain (Fire)<br/><br/>Arts (specialization): painting, sculpture, poetry, theater... and more<br/><br/>Acting: Work when character need to perform on stage but is also useful to lie convincingly or to disguise oneself<br/><br/>Trade: haggling, appraising and so on<br/><br/>Dance: self-explanatory<br/><br/>Diplomacy: ability to resolve the situation without violence.<br/><br/>Eloquence: persuasiveness.<br/><br/>Etiquette: knows how to behave at court, official ceremonies, and so on<br/><br/>Heraldry : knowledge of the emblems and symbols of the different states, organizations, noble families, guilds, etc<br/><br/>Intimidation: scare others into doing what you want<br/><br/>Games: gambling<br/><br/>Languages *: any language used under heaven has to be learned with this skill, language of other state, barbarian tongue or sign language of a secret society.<br/><br/>Music (specialization): Choose an instrument, you can play it, maybe be even compose for it. Singing can be chosen as a specialty.<br/><br/>Seduction: This skill is used for any attempt to charm others... And for actual seduction as well of course ;)<br/><br/>Mental domain (Wood)<br/><br/>Architecture *: plan and design buildings including fortifications.<br/><br/>Bureaucracy *: character knows how the administrative system works, how to make do what he/she needs, and how to take advantage of it if need be.<br/><br/>Calligraphy *: part literacy, part art. It is also used to decipher ancient or obscure scripts.<br/><br/>Herbalism: knowledge of plants, herbs, minerals, animal products and other natural products used in medicine and alchemy<br/><br/>History: knowledge of history of Zhongguo might help you in many ways, from tracking the ancient tomb, to identifying the monster, to solving puzzles<br/><br/>Investigation: Anything involving searching for clues, analyzing those, interrogating people and so on.<br/><br/>Literature *: You know classical work of literature and have ability to compose your own.<br/><br/>Law *: knowledge of laws and legal system<br/><br/>Medicine *: diagnoses, treat illnesses and wounds, establish the cause of death and so on. Includes first aid, acupuncture and massage.<br/><br/>Navigation *: You can pilot a boat and not get lost in the sea.<br/><br/>Perception: whenever you are using characters senses this skill comes into play<br/><br/>Learning (specialization): free academic skill essentially, pick any subject - “fashion”, “local history”, “names and achievements of the great heroes of old”, “forestry”, “philosophy”, “geography”, or “Xiongnu tribes”... not you have learned this subject :)<br/><br/>Science *: Any scientific knowledge - mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry,<br/>astrology.<br/><br/>Mystical domain (Earth)<br/><br/>External Alchemy *: brewing potions, ointments, poisons and so on.<br/><br/>Internal Alchemy *: through meditation and certain ritual you can make your body do amazing things, from resisting or purging poisons to generating fire or water shields around you.<br/><br/>Divination *: divine future but also commune with spirit and forces of nature.<br/><br/>Empathy: part psychology, part intuition.  Ability to read others, understand their emotional state, tell when they are lying<br/><br/>Exorcism *: This skill teaches you to fight evil ghosts, demons and other supernatural threats.<br/><br/>Legends: similar to History but operates through the knowledge of mythology rather then history<br/><br/>Meditation: ability to regenerate inner power.<br/><br/>Taoism *: understanding of Taoist philosophy, pre-requisite to many other things such as magic powers for instance.<br/><br/>Theology: knowledge of many Gods and Religions of the Zhongguo, can help in many things from not insulting your host by saying or doing something against his religious believes to dealing with some deity or other.<br/><br/><br/><br/>The Taos<br/><br/>Taos are special abilities, the fun parts of wuxia :) . Some Taos offer passive bonuses, some modify/improve character actions, some give you new abilities, generally Taos can be combined (used together in one action) although there might be exceptions.  You also need to spend Chi points to power up your Taos, the Chi cost depends on the level of Tao and if you combine several Taos the cost is cumulative.<br/><br/>Tao of the Six Directions<br/><br/>Tao of movement, mastery of this Tao will allow character to run faster, jump higher and so on.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Light Step<br/><br/>This Tao allows character to perform amazing feats of balance.<br/><br/>With this Tao you can balance easily on a bamboo branch (Hidden Dragon) although to jump up top that branch in the first place you will need to use different Tao (Six Directions)<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Strengthened Body<br/><br/>Control over his body to increase various resistances.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Destructive Breath<br/><br/>This is the Tao that allows martial artists to shatter rocks and break steel weapons.  Tao works with bare hands as well as with weapons (energy is channeled through the weapon)<br/><br/><br/>Tao of Inspired Creation<br/><br/>When creating an object of craft or art you hand is guided by the very forces of the universe.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Sudden Lightning<br/><br/>Your reaction times are better, so is your ability to anticipate opponent’s actions, this also a danger sense Tao.  This applies only to combat and physical activities, that doesn’t mean you can anticipate opponents move when say gambling.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Invisible Shield<br/><br/>You know how to be where enemy strikes aren’t.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Ten Thousand Hands<br/><br/>Perfect body control and economy of the motion.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Inner Eye<br/><br/>Basically increased perception and situational awareness.  Most people rely on the sight to say detect an attack and even then only in their direct field of vision.  A master of this Tao takes full advantage of all the senses and all the clues, in combat and out.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Hidden Shadow<br/><br/>Stealth related Tao<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Thousand Bees<br/><br/>You can scan you environment in a flash and find since to use to your advantage.  Basically that translated into finding things to throw at you enemies and doing it efficiently.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of Yin and Yang<br/><br/>Basically your understanding of Yin and Yang forces gives you more control over the YY Roll.  Can’t create criticals or cancel critical failures though.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Breath of Power<br/><br/>A hero can imbued an ordinary object with his chi to make it a potent weapon and use it with Improvised Weapons skill.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Clear Mind<br/><br/>Ability to focus on mental tasks and ignore and shutoff destructions.<br/><br/><br/>Tao of the Serene Presence<br/><br/>Social Tao, help in reading other and in projecting necessary effects on them.<br/><br/><br/>The expansion takes the Taos to level 6, but I don't think anyone is quite on that level to start with ;)