This is the cost of the skills available. Any skill with a cost in parens is unavailable in the Land of five Elements.
| Skill | Cost/level | Skill | Cost/level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobatics | 2 | Mechanics | 2 |
| Administration | 1 | Medical | 2 |
| Animal Training | 1 | Meta-Science | 3 |
| Architecture | 1 | Military Sciences | 2 |
| Area Knowledge | 1 | Navigation | 3 |
| Artisan | 1 | Occult | 3 |
| Biological Sciences | 2 | Performing Arts | 1 |
| Boating | 1 | Physical Sciences | 2 |
| Burglary | 2 | Piloting | (1) |
| Climbing | 2 | Poisons | 1 |
| Computers | (1) | Police Sciences | 2 |
| Controlled Breathing | 2 | Powerlifting | 2 |
| Cultural Arts | 2 | Riding | 1 |
| Demolitions | 1 | Seduction | 1 |
| Disguise | 2 | Sleight of Hand | 2 |
| Domestic Arts | 1 | Social Sciences | 2 |
| Driving | (1) | Sports | 1 |
| Electronics | (1) | Stealth | 2 |
| Etiquette | 1 | Street Sense | 1 |
| Foreign Culture | 2 | Swimming | 1 |
| Forgery | 2 | Urban Tracking | (2) |
| Gaming | 1 | Visual Arts | 1 |
| Interrogation | 2 | Wilderness Survival | 2 |
| Intimidation | 2 | Wilderness Tracking | 2 |
| Languages | 2 | Writing | 1 |
| Law | 2 |
New and Modified Skills
Language
There are approximately 7,000 human languages, and that's just on this planet. Assuming that we're just an overly confused race and most worlds have only a fraction of that number, that still leaves millions of potential languages that could come up in game. That's a huge headache, and in the source material it never seems to be a problem. For simplicity's sake, each world will have a single common language for purposes of this skill. Because of this, Language is never affected by the Unfamiliarity penalty (see below). This does not preclude a world from having rare, obscure, or secret languages (though most of the secret languages worth knowing will extend beyond one world).
New Specialties
Occult: Demon Arts, Inversions, Spells, Magic, Slights, Skips, Summons, Techniques, Waves, Wrinkles
Navigation: Portal, Thread, Weave Ship, Weird Way
New Skill
Meta-Science
Specialties: Data, Heart, Fae, Judgements, Malice, Spirits, Summons, Temporals
Knowledge of the magical beings that exist throughout the multiverse.
Unfamiliarity
Pillars is a game that spans the multi-verse. Instead of requiring immense bookkeeping for both the players and GM by creating a new version of the knowledge based skills for each world, the skills are broadened to encompass the endless variety of the multi-verse. However, when in a substantially different world these skills receive a Significant (-3) penalty until such a time as the character has come to terms with the new world. Characters without these skills receive the same penalty, but this penalty does not fade until the character acquires some degree of the skill. This penalty never applies while the character is in their home world.