Fate Core

Default Skill List

Here is a basic list of example skills for you to use in your Fate games along with example stunts tied to each. They’re the ones being used for all the examples in this book, and should give you a good foundation from which to tweak your own lists, adding and subtracting skills as best fits your setting. For more on creating your own skills, see the Extras section.

Each skill description contains a list of game actions that you can use the skill for. This list is not necessarily exhaustive—see our guidelines for what to do with edge cases.

Skill	Overcome	Create an Advantage	Attack	Defend
Athletics	X	X		X
Burglary	X	X
Contacts	X	X		X
Crafts	X	X
Deceive	X	X		X
Drive	X	X		X
Empathy	X	X		X
Fight	X	X	X	X
Investigate	X	X
Lore	X	X
Notice	X	X		X
Physique	X	X		X
Provoke	X	X	X
Rapport	X	X		X
Resources	X	X
Shoot	X	X	X
Stealth	X	X		X
Will	X	X		X

Creating Setting With Skills

Skills are one of your primary mechanical ways to reinforce the setting you’re using or creating for your game. The skills provided in this list are deliberately generic so that they can be used in a variety of settings, and the stunts provided continue this trend by not being tied to any particular setting.

When you’re creating your own setting for use with Fate, you should also create your own skill list. The default list provided is a good starting point, but creating skills specific to your world can help make it seem richer by reinforcing the story with mechanics. Stunts, too, should reflect the kinds of abilities available in your world.

Skills and Gear

Some of the skills, like Shoot and Crafts, imply the need for gear. It is presumed by default that if you have a skill, you also have the tools you need to use it, and that the effectiveness of those tools is built into the skill result. If you want to make gear special, you’ll want to look at the Extras section.