Body Building

These are the skills that you need to become stronger, tougher and healthier. These Skills help in physical combat and spell casting but are not vital for survival.

Physical Enhancement

This skill category reflects the amount of training you have given to your character's body to enable them to resist physical damage. The higher the level of proficiency, the more Total Body and Location Points they have. If you do not spend any skill points on this Skill Category, your character will have Body 0. The table below shows the number of Total Body and Location Points that your character would have at each level of proficiency in this skill category. Characters with Physical Enhancement of VII or greater are so resilient to physical damage that it takes a 15-point triple or greater blow to break bones.

Dexterity Enhancement

With this Skill Category your character can train their body to be more dexterous in combat situations so that they can partially dodge blows aimed at you. It also enables them to be more accurate when using Thrown or Projectile Weaponry so that you can inflict extra damage with them.

Another advantage of this Skill Category is that it enables you to prevent the spells FUMBLE MINOR, FUMBLE MODERATE and TRIP from working on you. It is not possible to teach you how to avoid physical blows from weapons, so to artificially reflect this ability, the PAC of all your body locations is increased.

Once you have acquired any of the skills in this category, their advantages apply automatically to you, if you are in control of your actions and fully capable of moving. If you are under the influence of a spell that restricts your movement or you are unconscious, the bonuses gained from this skill category do not apply.

Physical Armour worn can interfere with your characters Agility and Dexterity, lighter armours such as leathers or silk have almost no noticeable impact while heavier armours such as Chainmail or Plate can restrict movement to the point of negating your enhanced Dexterity completely.

Mechanically the level of armour worn limits your effective Dexterity skill to a maximum level of skill as follows. Any Spells, Rituals or Items which increase your effective Dexterity do not bypass or remove these limits, and may therefore result in reduced or no benefit while armour is worn.

• No Armour / Armour 1 – The character may benefit fully from any level of Dexterity without limit.

• Armour 2 – The character may not benefit from Dexterity above level 2.

• Armour 3 – the character may not benefit from Dexterity above level 1.

• Armour 4 – the character may not benefit from Dexterity above level 0.

If your Dexterity bonus is two or greater you can resist the effects of FUMBLE I and TRIP.

If your Dexterity bonus is three or greater you can resist the effects of FUMBLE II.

With a Dexterity bonus of four, you can also attempt to catch or dodge missile or thrown weapons.

Characters cannot buy the skill Dexterity V, VI or VII but the skill Racial Mutation, Magical items or Spells can increase a character's Dexterity above IV.

Strength Enhancement

This skill category reflects the amount of training you have given to your character's body to enable them to increase their strength and to apply it more effectively when using hand held weapons or resisting certain types of magical forces. The result is that you gain the bonuses shown on the table below. All these bonuses are cumulative. Characters cannot buy the skill Strength V, VI or VII although the skill Racial Mutation, Magical items or Spells can increase a character's strength above IV.

Strength Contests

It is permissible for two people to roleplay a test of strength, in this case there should be no actual strength put into the move, but you can roleplay attempting to push a target away.

1. Whilst roleplaying call out your Strength level - no ranks in the Strength Enhancement skill = Strength zero.

2. If the contestants are of equal strength then they should roleplay a stalemate.

3. If there is a difference of strength:

   • • If the difference is 1 level, the character with the lower score should take a step back and roleplay appropriately. The victor should also roleplay winning, and not immediately follow, giving time for the loser to safely move. The victor may choose to advise the loser in which direction they wished to push them, but it is ultimately the losers choice how they react*.

     • For a difference of 2 levels, as above except the loser should take two steps back.

     • For a difference of 3 levels, as above except the loser should take three steps back.

     • etc*

4. Some monsters will have a special ability of "Strength of the X" (Earth, Unliving, etc), in this case they are always deemed to have a strength score one higher than their opponent(s).

5. An assisting character can add one level of strength to the overall strength score of their ally. This can be used to help characters resist some spell or item effects, although remember that the boost to their strength only applies whilst they are receiving assistance.

The number of steps is a guideline, the loser may decide to take more steps if they wish to add more drama, and/or choose to fall to the ground if it seems more appropriate - or even run and roleplay being thrown through the air if they think its appropriate. For example a Str 0 healer being pushed by a Str 7 Troll may decide that actually running twenty feet back and pretending to bounce off a tree to land on the floor is an appropriate response, equally they may simply step back the 7 steps as per this guideline, it is their choice. However they should always take care to move safely - if there is a step or a cliff behind them they may choose not to move at all, and indeed should not if it is not physically safe for the player.

*Tol Galen uses a physical combat system which does not allow grappling, this is a safety concern and under no circumstances should a player use their real out of character strength to push, pull or grapple another player in combat.