*After character creation, these skills can be learned without a teacher.
| BUILD COST | SKILL NAME |
| 10 | Blind-Fighting |
| 5 | Camouflage |
| 7 | Dirty Fighting |
| 10 | Dreaming Focus |
| 10 | Dreaming Potence |
| 7 | Skillful Scrounger |
| 5 | Persistence |
| 7 | Student of the Lotus |
| 5 | Willpower |
GNOME SKILL OVERVIEW:
Blind Fighting
This skill represents specialized, rigorous training of one’s battle senses, melding instinct and skill with the purpose of an impregnable defense. You are now able to successfully invoke melee and ranged defense feats, such as parry or block, against attacks from behind or attacks from hidden assailants. When you invoke a defense, preface it with the word “Blind”. With this skill, you may walk slowly while blinded (instead of staying in place).
Camouflage
Using this skill, you can attempt to hide in a dark area or behind some cover such as a tree or a shrub. Hiding should only be done when there are no enemies in the immediate area (defined as within earshot when outdoors or within the same room if you are indoors). You must invoke “Hiding 1, Hiding 2…Hiding 10” in a firm voice. While hiding, you must crouch low to the ground and have your weapons on the floor. Speaking so will moving from your crouching position will take you out of hiding. Characters with the Sense Hidden Feat or spells that duplicate that effect can use these to detect you. It is best to truly be hidden from view in that case.
You cannot use this skill if you are wearing any kind of metal armor that isn’t chainmail.
Dirty Fighting
With this skill, you inflict one additional point of damage with a melee weapon when striking the back of a target’s torso from a position behind the target. Furthermore, when you use the Assassinate feat, you inflict 5 more points of damage.
Dreaming Focus
This skill allows Gnomes to fully embrace their Dreaming prowess, enhancing the strength of their abilities.
Astral Echo: You no longer need to suffer the effects of a spell in order to reflect it. When using this ability, you may use an Evade feat or similar defense feat to negate the effects of the spell that attacks you before reflecting it upon your assailant.
Whisper Step: now lasts for 30 seconds.
Warp Strike: When you use a spell packet to deliver this ability, you can affect up to 3 targets as though using a wave spell. After invoking this ability, throw a maximum of three spell packets (prefacing each throw with the word "wave") an you can throw only one spell packet at a particular target. This use of Warp Strike lessens the length of Confusion to 5 seconds.
Requires: Dreaming Focus
This skill allows the Dream-singer a measure of mastery over their racial abilities.
Astral Echo: You may redirect the spell's effects to a different target than the assailant. Furthermore, using this ability grants you 1 SP as you siphon energy from the spell you're redirecting.Whisper Step: now lasts for 60 seconds (1 minute). Furthermore, a Whisperling that emerges from his Whisper Step is healed of 10 HP and regains 3 SP.
Warp Strike: When you use this ability, you may spend 1 SP to turn it into a Whirlwind effect, confusing all within weapon reach and a step of you for 5 seconds.
Persistence
When you are affected by a Force effect, it only affects you for half the invoked duration. When you would break out of the effect, invoke this skill.
Skillful Scrounger
This skill can be used in three ways:
- After 60 seconds of searching, you can invoke a “Thorough Search”. A thorough search defeats the conceal item skill or similar spells and effects.
- After 10 seconds of searching, you can invoke a “Quick Search” which will yield as much as a normal search would except with quicker results.
- After 60 seconds of searching, you can invoke a “Search for Traps” which will allow you to determine whether an object is trapped or not.
Student of the Lotus
You can deliver poison through to armored opponents. In order to do so, you must have struck your opponent with damaging attacks twice. These attacks have to be regular attacks. Preface the first damage invocation with “Expose armor 1”. After the second invocation of “expose armor”, you may now use your poison against your enemy and his armor, whether magical or physical cannot protect him from it.
See the section on poisoned weapons for more information.
Willpower
When you are affected by a Charm effect, it only affects you for half the regular duration. When you would break out of the effect, invoke this skill.