Gaining Greater Competency with Competencies

Success is in the details-- and it pays to know the benefits of the secondary FACTs of RISE.

As homage to the logic that governs the imagination inherent to RISE, the process of character construction is delineated by the acronym FACT: Focus, Ancestry, Class, Theme. Within the larger FACTs is a second set of smaller but still pivotal FACTs: Features, Acumen, Competencies, and Talents. It is to the second FACTs that I turn, and specifically to the C--Competencies.

Competencies can be used in a variety of situations. Etiquette, Music, and Politics collide in the encounter above.

Recently I heard tale of an optimistic fledgling player who constructed a character entirely without acumen. As someone who frequently chases the heady rush of high modifiers in Diplomacy and Education (yes, I'm generally a bard), I inquired the reasoning and he said that he didn't really get why Acumen would be important. And in all seriousness, if your character is a tank, or a number of other character choices, you might not choose to spend much time, if any, dallying in the delightful realms of acumen. Alternatively, perhaps you prefer to invest your time in Competencies, which are essentially more specialized Acumen. And, as I am coming to realize, you almost can't afford to be without Competencies in RISE, as they afford many benefits.

Behold yourself on the ramparts of a more-or-less deserted castle with the rest of your party, a horde of raging orcs streaming down the mountains toward your stronghold. Your character wants to build a trebuchet, and in a hurry! You could try your luck with a basic acumen in labor or mechanics, but you'll get much further (literally and metaphorically) if you build your trebuchet using an Engineering competency. (On the other hand, you'll have more luck in picking all of the non-razed wheat around the castle if you have Labor than if you have Engineering. RISE is designed so that each decision has good and bad components, as in most things in real life.)

But let's assume you were wise enough to take that Engineering competency. Competencies are governed by a specific attribute score (you have a choice of two), and closely related to two acumen. We see that Engineering is governed by the attribute scores of Agility and Intelligence, and formally related to the Mechanics and Thievery acumen. Thievery as an acumen is essentially manual dexterity, though of course its most common application is in skullduggery, but a savvy player can invest points in Thievery without partaking in theft while still acquiring good benefits. This becomes important because whenever you invest a point in your chosen competency, you are entitled to a bonus +1 to one of the two governing acumen. So, essentially, you can get a +1 in Thievery by simply investing it directly into acumen as you level up, or, more wisely, you can advance your engineering and get the +1 in Thievery as a free consequence, making your 1 point do the work of 2 points. Worth noting: You will have to invest in both acumen categories as you progress further up the ranks of your competency, so don't discount the value of both related acumen as you choose your competencies.

So competencies are powerful allies in making your points work harder. They have yet another benefit compared to acumen: the competency check entitles you to an attribute-score-based bonus to your check! Say you have a +3 to Engineering (and thus probably a +1 to Thievery and a +2 to Mechanics, or whatever combination of +1 bonus for each level that you fancy, as discussed above). Since your Engineering competency is based off of your Agility or Intelligence, you may add any bonuses for whichever attribute score you chose to use--generally you choose whichever is higher! So, a character with a +2 bonus to Engineering and a +3 to Agility would claim a +5 to any Engineering roll. And, since competencies are considered to have required more time, effort, and skill, a +8 in Engineering would be expected to yield a higher bounty than a +8 bonus to Mechanics. This means you can expect to kill many more orcs per capita in this particular skirmish, all the while enjoying your bonus acumen.

As you investigate specific competencies, the choice of which to pursue can be narrowed according to your innate talent (as suggested by your attribute scores), your own interests as a character, and the needs of your party (we shouldn't all be engineers, or, Heaven forbid, specialists in poetry...but no personal stories). As you rise through the ranks of Novice, Apprentice, Adept, and Master, each level after Novice allots you an additional boon, sometimes in the form of a Talent or a Power, and at Master, you are awarded a Reputation point and a catchy title that coveys your mastery, such as "Lord of All Angles," "Wonder-maker," or "Queen of Cogs." Knowledge always pays off in RISE. Definitely know (and love) your acumen, but don't forget to delve deeper with competencies.