Skill Scale Down 2021

This skill has been impacted by the Skill Scale Down. The impact of this for this skill is as follows:

• This is a new skill.
• All knowledge for Acrobatics, Running and Climbing now counts as Athletics Knowledge.
• For how to deal with XP, please see the page Skill Scale Down 2021 for links, information, and a player guide.
• The scope of this skill includes what was previously covered by Acrobatics, Climbing, and Running. Please ensure that you take this into account going forward.

Acrobatics

Acrobatics is a skill that focuses on a character's agility, flexibility, and endurance to move and balance. This skill helps a person dive, flip, jump, roll to avoid attacks, and overcome obstacles within their path. While assisting in movement across terrain, the Acrobatics skill can be used for multiple purposed in combat and entertainment and is not limited to any one thing. Some examples of this are softening falls, walking or running over uneven ground, quieting one's foot-fall, spins and flips within a dance routine, and much more. Having a decent acrobatics skill can be very beneficial to players, especially in tough situations. Related skills include Unarmed Combats, Field Craft, Stealth, Dance, and Endurance.

Actions & Movement

Listed below are detailed actions and movements that the Acrobatics skill affects. If you are unsure what is included in the acrobatics, please look below for guidance. Further questions may be sent to any prophet.

Agility

This effects one's movement in any given situation. To survive and endure, one must react quickly as to avoid any danger. Agility also plays a part in the fluidity of one's movements and can be used to draw the eye or trick it.

Flexibility

To be successful with the Acrobatics skill, one must also become flexible and pliable. Along with Agility, one must be able to bend to avoid attacks, move around obstacles, and mesmerize an audience. The more experience a character gains in Acrobatics, the better their flexibility and movement will become.

Endurance

This is a key ability in Acrobatics as the skill requires a lot of endurance to be able to maintain any kind of physical control. Endurance assists in giving energy and strength to the character which helps them move quicker, farther, longer. This is a highly important skill to maintain which is why it is classified in it's own page.

Dives Falls and Tumbles

Are also classified under this action. Dives are used to avoid attacks, projectiles, or blasts. They may also be used in dance routines and other kinds of performance pieces. If a character doesn't have proper Knowledge of a dive skill then they may suffer injuries should they attempt to perform such an action.

Spins & Twists

Are included in this action as well. Spins, like dives, may be used to dodge oncoming attacks or objects. However, spins are mainly used with the Dance skill to add grace and fluidity in routines and performance pieces. Twists may be used in the same fashion, though this action can help players maneuver through tight spaces.

Running

The ultimate in terrestrial locomotion! As ancient as breathing itself! Running is the art and craft of moving very rapidly on foot, and often including moments where all feet are off the ground while continuing momentum (contrasted to walking where one foot is often kept on the ground).

Running involves techniques and even styles of combination with other skills, but only to those who take it on. Most people think of running as what their body naturally does when trying to get away from danger, but running can be a lot more than a way to escape! It can be used to win a chase, or deliver an urgent message, or to find someone or something in good time, or to reach a location before missing some event, or to make it to civilization after a mount perishes and before rations expire, or to clear the mind and meditate while in motion, or... the applications go on.

Techniques of Running

Speed

Running can range from a nice, gentle jog around a city block to an all-out sprint across the twisted terrain of a forest. Footspeed, or sprint speed, is the maximum speed of a mundane humanoid runner.

Stance & Swing

Force absorption, propulsion, initial swing and terminal swing are all determined through the footstrike, midstance, propulsion phase, and swing phase.

Posture

An upright or equally firm posture is absolutely mandatory for accomplished running. In addition, leaning forward avoids landing on the heel and facilitates the spring mechanisms of the foot to make it easier to avoid a loss of momentum. A relaxed frame with a stable core is best, as a body that is too rigid or tense can lead to injury to the runner. A common mistake of novice runners is tilting the chin up and scrunching the shoulders.

For the upper body, each leg's movement through the various swing follows a paired stance with the opposite arm to counterbalance the body. Most effective is when the elbow joint is at approximately 90 degrees or less, hands swing from hips up to mid-chest level with the opposite leg. The torso should remain stable to avoid wasted energy and to increase potential speed of momentum.

Footstrike

When a plantar portion of the foot makes contact with the ground. Common footstrike types include forefoot (ball of the foot), midfoot (ball and heel) and heel strike types. The knee should be flexed on footstrike with the ankle slightly in front of the body. Between many expert and masterful runners, there will be debate about the best footstrikes for various swings and to accomplish different speeds of running for various terrains.

Stride Length and Rate

The length of stride impacts the force propulsion and thus, the momentum of the swing while running. This comes down to the flexibility of the hip and knee joints of the runner and usually where their skill in Acrobatics resides. The better the flexibility, the greater potential for acceleration and velocity despite great stride lengths. Using the hip is preferable over the knee, as using knee extension to increase stride length results in a slowing of momentum while a hip extension results in an increase in speed.

Stride rates for expert and masterful runners tend to be between 185 and 200 steps per minute, with the difference being in the length of stride rather than the rate of stride for long- and short-distance runners. This is called cadence (steps per second).

Less frequent, the appraisal of property manages estates and usually decides any taxes if applicable to the area of residence. This is a specialized field, but incredibly useful when it comes to figuring out the management of homes and buildings within cities. This can also include things like seafaring vessels.

Types of Running

Sprinting

Sprinting and dashing is running as fast as the individual possible can, over a short distance in a limited period of time.

Hurdling

This is basically running with the use of obstacles to get in the way. It is essential to have Acrobatics as a skill for this, and involves leaping over objects such as roots, fallen trees, large rocks, wagons, crates, etc. without slowing momentum of the run down.

Relay

Relay can be long-distance overall, but essentially it involves a team of runners that each take turns in completing part of the journey or course. Couriers without mounts, or messengers between units/armies, frequently make use of this technique to deliver packages or urgent information.

Cross-Country Running

A long course often over natural terrain that varies over the distance of the run. This often involves weather conditions, running through things such as rain, sleet, and snow. This sometimes can also require Navigational skills so one does not become lost while running in nature.

Trail Running

Can include level or incline paths, but trail running often includes steep gradients and includes anything that isn't cobblestones or brick-laid surfaces.

Mountain Running

A specific branch of cross-country running, this often also includes hiking and field craft, as it can take many trials to run a mountain - either up, down, or around. It is one of the more dangerous challenges for a runner to take on.

Tower Running

This is an unique branch that utilizes Acrobatics and sometimes Climbing to run up man-made structures, either through stairs or even on the outside of the buildings.

Terrains

Terrain can range from natural to man-made. Examples of man-made terrains are inner city grounds such as cobblestones, paved bricks, flattened dirt, gravel, stone, hardened mud, etc. Examples of natural terrains are hills, woodlands, meadows, dry grasses, deserts, snow, ice, sand, short grasses, long grasses, thickets, steep gradients, gradual slopes, rocky terrain, etc.

Skill Ranks

Novice (0-25)

At novice, the Acrobat has just discovered the potential for flexibility of the physical body. Agility requires a great deal of preparatory stretches and paying attention to form, sometimes with the help of a partner or safety precautions to help avoid injury. The novice Acrobat must focus on developing both flexibility and core strength, and shifting one's center of gravity through controlled momentum and balance. At this level, stretching is a must! Without stretching before performing acrobatics at novice, some form of injury is guaranteed to occur.

Basic gymnastics that a novice can practice are things like somersaults, dodge rolls, cartwheels, handstands and bridges. A novice gymnast must be prepared to fail, and experience mistakes in their coordination, balance, strength, agility, and flexibility as they discover the limits of their body. At this level, an acrobat will have some difficulty incorporating their moves into combat, and are best advised to keep things simple with regards to their fighting style. Nevertheless, the added conditioning, speed, and flexibility will doubtless be a benefit without direct use of acrobatics.

Competent (26-75)

The competent Acrobat knows the limits of their physical body, and they have started to practice to progress those limits farther. Tumbling has become simple for them, anything that was involved in their novice level practice, and they can now perform those same maneuvers with increasing limber maneuverability. At competent, they must still pay attention to their form while they go through the motions and requires warm-up to avoid potential injury. However, there is a chance that they might only get minor injuries if not stretching beforehand, rather than the major debilitating injuries that could occur at novice tier.

Transitional moves become available at competent, able to move between spins and rolls, handstands to bridges, kickovers, running cartwheels and somersaults and jumps. The competent acrobat will find that they must start to spend time on strengthening their endurance to hold positions for longer or to accomplish successive moves in quick time. For these things (holds and successive moves), the competent acrobat is prone to mistakes, accidental trips or losing awareness of environment (collision is a potential if moving through a space), and accidental injury from overextension or prior mentioned errors.

At competency, an acrobat engaging in combat will have begun to incorporate more of their maneuvers into fights. Usually these involve simple rolls, dodges, and staying light on their feet. The increased conditioning of their training will lend them growing prowess when it comes to agile combat.

Expert (76-150)

At expert, the acrobat knows how to respect the limits of their body and yet progress flexibility, agility, strength, balance, and coordination without accidental injury through doing so. They are aware of the feedback from their muscles, and respect when their body needs to rest or stretch. A well-cared and respected body is key to being able to successfully perform advanced acrobatic moves.

The expert acrobat has mastered tumbling, novice and competent practices, and has progressed to the point of being capable of both swift successive moves and prolonged holds of agile stances. Handsprings, round offs, dives, controlled falls, twists and spins have a great degree of dexterity for the expert acrobat. Also, acts of controlled momentum through center of gravity, such as the performing of loops on a high bar. An example of this is reflected in an escape by jumping from a high point and grabbing a flagpole or tree branch to shift inertia and propel oneself to a safe spot across an empty space.

Practice for the expert acrobat consists of intense drills, sometimes with partners and safety measures to avoid potential severe injuries from high-level moves. These can range in specifics depending on why the individual is practicing acrobatics; from dodges for combat, to twists and spins for dance, to rolls for more stealthy sorts. The expert's body retains increased flexibility, so they need steadily less and less stretching in preparation of advanced moves.

At this level, acrobatics can easily be included to support combat skills. In some cases, the maneuverability of acrobatics can make the difference in a fight that could have otherwise been a draw whether through dodging or landing a strike. Regardless of the specific practice, all expert acrobatics focus on increasing the capability of their body's endurance, strength, and speed.

Master (151-250)

The master Acrobat is known for the wonders they are capable of displaying with their body. These are the contortionists, the professional gymnasts, the highly trained combat fighters and duelists, and so on. Their body is limber and capable of the most complex, difficult maneuvers of tumbling, dodging, dancing, or whatever else that requires immense agility and flexibility.

Working with another acrobat at this level is incredibly common, whether with another master Acrobat or an expert Acrobat, to help continue to stretch the limits of body or to simply keep up on practice to maintain the body's limber mobility. Even the most masterfully acrobat, if they do not keep a regular practice to maintain the flexibility of their body, will find that they cannot perform great amounts of successive agile moves after long periods of not practicing. In this case, they may seem expert level but given time for their body to warm-up, will be back to their mastery level of understanding soon.

To avoid having to do this, most master Acrobats include routines in their lives, or seek opportunities, to maintain the mastery they have obtained. When practice is maintained, through frequent physical routine, the master Acrobat is virtually always prepared to perform amazing feats of agility and balance with no over-extension backlash.

Progressing Athletics

• Capstones
• Grandmasters
• Tier 2 PCs

Athletics Knowledge

The collapsible below has examples of Skill Knowledge for this skill. If you are unsure of what Knowledge is, please check the Knowledge Primer for details. Please remember that our Peer Reviewers will be checking to make sure that your Knowledge claim is appropriate to what you have learned in the thread and ensuring that you are not duplicating knowledge.

A guide to knowledge can be found here (this link takes you to the site) and the person reviewing your thread will do so following the steps laid out in the [Peer Reviewer Guide]. If you wish to use one of these knowledge in your request, please ensure that it is appropriate to your thread.