There are three different classes of abilities that make up a character: Attributes, Skills, and magical Talents.

Attributes are the four statistics Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity and Health. These values are fixed once you create your character, and may not be increased save for an act of powerful magic or a god. They may be decreased due to illness, injury or certain Disadvantages.

Skills are the ability to perform certain tasks. Your character starts out with a certain number based upon his Intelligence Attribute. All starting Skills begin at Novice level, although the Humans’ Race Skill allows exceptions. These Skills can be improved, and new ones learned, through practice. If your character practices a skill during the thread, his skill level will eventually improve. Improvement is likely to be faster if you describe his actions in more detail. Higher levels of a Skill take longer to attain. New Skills can be learned by practicing under the eyes of someone trained in the Skill, or sometimes just by practicing.

Talents start out dormant. That is, the beginning character has the potential to learn certain types of magic, but is unaware of this fact. The number of Talents a character can have is based upon his Intelligence Attribute, as well as his Race. However, he has no access to the magic at that time. Something must happen to the character to activate the magic within. Usually this is achieved with the assistance of a skilled wizard, but sometimes, stressful experiences can shock them to activity. At this point, the Talent is Awakened, although still not usable on a conscious level. Practice is required to bring the Talent to the level if Initiate, at which point it can be used freely. Just as with Skills, practice is required to increase the power of a Talent. See the section on Magic for more information.