Character Actions

Narrow Skills
In Isekai a character can do (or at least try to do) anything at all without needing any rule or mechanic. If the action needs to be expressed as a die roll, however, the action will normally be treated as a Narrow Skill or as a Saving Throw.

A Narrow Skill is an abstraction representing a character's training and experience, and is measured in the number of dice which it adds to his die pool. (All values in Isekai are measured in dice.) Most actions can be made even if Bob has 0 dice in the corresponding Narrow Skill. Normally a relatively small number of Narrow Skills cover Bob's actions, but some campaigns may required additional skills. (For more detail see Narrow Skill Descriptions)

Saving Throws
A Saving Throw is a Defense Roll representing a character's General Skills and Attributes. While they work in most respects like Narrow Skills, they use derived die values and cannot be improved directly.


 * Fortitude Save represents physical health and stamina. Fortitude is also used for tests of strength.
 * Reflex Save represents alertness and dexterity. Reflex is also used for dodging attacks.
 * Will Save represents determination. Will is also used for morale checks.
 * Magic Save represents resistance to magical attacks.

General Skills and Attributes
In addition to its Narrow Skill dice, most rolls get dice from 1 General Skill and 1 Attribute. (For NPCs see NPC Abilities)

General Skills contribute a number of dice representing a broader area of training and experience to a die pool.
 * Melee (MEE) represents training in close combat.
 * Missiles (MIS) represents training in throwing and ranged weapons.
 * Awareness (AWA) represents alertness to surroundings.
 * Athletics (ATH) represents training in physical prowess.
 * Magic (MAG) represents training is arcane arts.

All of Bob's abilities are measured by the number of dice which they add to his roll. Attributes and General Skills applie to a broad array of actions. For normal humans, Attributes range from 1 to 7 dice with 3 dice as the human average, and General Skills range from 1 to 9 dice.

Attributes are Muscles, Nerves and Spirit, and the sum of Bob's attribute dice is his Hit Points.
 * Muscles (MUS) contributes might and toughness to a die pool. Muscles is like strength and parts of constitution in other games.
 * Nerves (NER) contributes agility, quickness, and hand/eye coordination to a die pool. Nerves is like dexterity and parts of wisdom in other games.
 * Spirit (SPI) contributes intuition and luck to a die pool. SPI is used for magic and the supernatural.

The Basic Die Pool
In theory a Narrow Skill or Saving Throw uses whatever 3 values from skills and Attributes best represent the situation, but in practice it is faster to use abstractions which are already defined. Still, if no Narrow Skill or Saving Throw adequately represents Bob's action, and that action is not common enough to become a new Narrow Skill, an ad hoc selection of 3 values from General Skills and Attributes can form the die pool.

Bonus Skills
Bonus Skills Bonus Skills also represent specialized training, but they grant dice which are in addition to the basic die pool. In most other respects they are like Narrow Skills.


 * Martial Arts is a bonus to all melee attack and parry rolls, but only unarmed attacks and parries get the full benefit of Martial Arts. Using any weapon reduces the Martial Arts dice by ½ (round down). Martial Arts dice cannot exceed Brawling dice.
 * Hunting is a bonus to Tracking used for acquiring food and/or furs. Hunting dice cannot exceed Tracking dice. For Fishing use Hunting instead of Tracking as an ordinary Narrow Skill.

The Final Die Pool
Bob's final die pool may include dice for such things as as armor, spell effects, Bonus Skills and environmental factors, all in addition to his Basic Die Roll. Action and Defense Rolls get a minimum of 3 dice in their final die pool; thus you always have enough dice to take an action. Characters who are unconscious, bound, etc. cannot act, but still get 3 dice if for some reason a roll is needed.

Useless Skills
Bob may also acquire "Useless Skills" such as singing or playing an instrument. The defining characteristic of Useless Skills is that they have no mechanical effect on the game -- they cannot increase combat abilities, spell casting, combat encounter reaction rolls, etc. They can, however, affect the story such as by impressing an NPC, getting the attention of a crowd, joining a guild, etc.