The Not-Awaited Witcher TTRPG Review by WiserOdin

[WiserOdin032402]

FOREWORD

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man runs into tables less

I should open this by stating that writing a review that isn't a stream of consciousness ramble is hard for me and that if I go off into incoherence feel free to PM me about it with a suggestion on how to fix it. Following that with three other warnings (we're off to a great start): I'm doing this completely sober because I'm not old enough to drink, I'm currently pushing my way through this current semester of college so this review is going to be a slow boil, and three: I am a biased party.

In spite of all the problems with this game, all the blatant anachronisms in design, the amount of (optional) random generation, the amount of potential GM fiat and the choice of the developers to leave a lot of things up to GM when it comes to certain subjects like skills, I like this game. I think it's one of the best TTRPGs to release in the last four years.

But that's a loaded statement, isn't it? See my pretentious italics to see where I'm going with this. I don't think this game is actually more than mediocre, objectively speaking. 22 to 23 pages of Eratta makes it clear that the game wasn't proofread as well as it could have. For reference, it came out July 29th, 2018. And they've devoted themselves to improving the RPG and sticking with it, and releasing an eratta'd version in the near future. This puts them a cut above the industry as a whole from what I've seen and makes it harder for me to keep up the illusion of objectivity.

So here it is. My long-form admission that D&D 4e, D&D 5e, and Pathfinder 2 ground down my expectations enough for me to like an R. Talsorian RPG.

In this review, I'm going to be focusing on the mechanics of this RPG. There's a lot of fluff here and a lot of it doesn't really have much bearing on player choices, so I'm going to keep it to bare essentials that do affect player choices. It's inevitable that I cover some of it because the game has different eras you can play in, and this can and will change the balance point of certain player choices.

Next post is going to be the dice mechanics and maybe the base stats.

[WiserOdin032402]

Part 1: Stats and Dice

Okay, so the book opens talking about some of the world of The Witcher and the plot of the games with a sidebar on dark fantasy and talking about how there's a huge GM's guide in here, which is true. There's no 'What is roleplaying' but I think that's further on the book (Future WiserOdin here: Past WiserOdin is wrong). There's also a sidebar on the dice we need, which are a d10 and a d6. We're going to skip forward from page 4, where this starts, to page 47, where they talk about what the stats do, skipping over the following:

6 pages of introduction

2 pages of explaining recent history (AKA PLAY THE VIDEO GAME)

8 sheets of important main Witcher plot characters, some of them made with as-yet-unreleased hero rules. We'll get to this. [7 pages]

The start of the character creation section [1 page]

Races [4 pages, mostly fluff]

The Lifepath (we'll get to a full dive of this and I'll even post the tables for it) [6 pages]

Life events and style (more tables, again, we'll get to it) [6 pages]

Professions (read: classes) [10 pages]

Again this was to get to stats. The layout of the PDF is lacking, to say the least. Speaking of those stats, they are:

Intelligence: governs 11 skills, gets you some extra skill points in character creation. A few of the skills are super fucking important (Awareness, Wilderness Survival, Deduction), and one of which is actually kind of broken. We'll get to this.

Reflexes: governs 5 of 7 combat skills, all of which are the melee combat skills, the two vehicle skills, dodge/escape, and is combined with intelligence to get you some extra skill points in character creation
Dexterity: Governs the two ranged combat skills, stealth, sleight of hand, and...athletics...huh.

Body: This is part of your health stat, your strength stat. Holy fuck I'm going to talk a lot about this one. It also governs Physique and Endurance (D&D fortitude saves)...which are skills.

Speed: Multiply it by 3 to get how fast you run (in meters), and then divide the derived run stat by 5 to get how far you can leap in meters.

Empathy: Governs all your social skills. All of 'em. All NINE of them.

Craft: Okay so this is the devoted crafting stat why is it a base stat? Anyhow it governs 7 skills in total including Pick Lock and First Aid. The design decisions get weirder.

Will: Covers all the spell skills. All of 'em. It also covers Courage (D&D will saves), Resist Coercion (WHAT), and Intimidation. This is also combined with Body, the resulting number is divided by two, and then put on a table to determine Hit Points, Stamina, Recovery (Health regen per day), and Stun (which is nonlethal damage).

Luck: I'm pretty sure this is a trap. This here is a pool of points you can temporarily use as a bonus on any roll you want. Any points used are used for the session. 10 luck is 10 points, which can all be converted in one shot to +10 to one roll for the session, or split up to little +1's or +2's or the like, but it has to be used before a roll is made.

Hoo boy where to start. You get what's supposed to be in each stat by rolling 1d10 9 times, rerolling any 1's or 2's. Or you can use the point buy table over to the side which has four different settings: Average (60), Skilled (70), Heroes (75), and Legends (80). Each stat can only go to 10, and you super duper want a ten in your preferred stat. Reflex and Int seem like god stats, and they are, but Body is stupid important and we'll fucking get to that one in combat. Boy do I have a bone to pick with this game's combat.

Technically we haven't even been introduced to how to resolve a challenge but you roll 1d10+stat+skill+bonus/penalty, and if it's not a combat skill then you can't critically succeed and you can't fumble it (Future WiserOdin: Past WiserOdin is wrong and stupid. A critical success and a critical fumble do happen for out of combat skills, they just don't ever spectacularly fail. They just normal fail). Crazy shit. If you are in combat and you fumble you roll a d10 and compare the result to a table and on a 1 to 5 nothing happens. 6 and higher is the land of get fucked based on what you were doing in combat. This applies to magic skills outside of combat too. We'll get into the details with screenshots later.

Oh right the d6 is used for all the different weapon damages in varying amount. Had to resolve that thread before moving on.

Next up: the rest of fucking character creation because no one can format a goddamn RPG book.

[John Magnum]

Vehicle skills...? Like, horses?

[WiserOdin032402]

Like horses. And carts. And boats. Boats get their own separate skill than horses and carts which both use riding. I'll cover this in the skill section, but for now know the book calls the section where you buy your mounts, carts, and boats 'Mounts and Vehicles'

[Whiysper]

Jesus, this is basically Cyberpunk 2020 so far. Ref and Int, BOD for survival, and botches on a 1 in combat leads to retarded shit like shooting yourself in the ass.

Speaking as an amateur designer - do I need to develop the sad condition of being TOTALLY FUCKING UNABLE to learn from my mistakes in order to sell games? Is that the secret?

Or is it actually just a case of maybe publishing a thing for people to buy? I guess that might help, too .

[Longes]

Jesus, this is basically Cyberpunk 2020 so far. Ref and Int, BOD for survival, and botches on a 1 in combat leads to retarded shit like shooting yourself in the ass.

Speaking as an amateur designer - do I need to develop the sad condition of being TOTALLY FUCKING UNABLE to learn from my mistakes in order to sell games? Is that the secret?

Or is it actually just a case of maybe publishing a thing for people to buy? I guess that might help, too .

It has an almost identical lifepath generation to Cyberpunk 2020 too.

[WiserOdin032402]

Jesus, this is basically Cyberpunk 2020 so far. Ref and Int, BOD for survival, and botches on a 1 in combat leads to retarded shit like shooting yourself in the ass.

Well...it kinda is. Minus the guns and with a crafting system. Which is an upgrade in my eyes, and there's less shooting yourself in the ass, which we will get to in the combat section.

Future Wiserodin: This is an edit to let you know The Witcher TTRPG is apparently using a system called Fuzion, which is based on the Interlock system from Cyberpunk 2020. Fuzion is used by games like Dragon Ball Z and Cyberpunk v3.0

Future Future WiserOdin: Holy fuck I'm wrong. This is actually Interlock modified by some lessons learned from Fuzion which means we've come full circle.

Speaking as an amateur designer - do I need to develop the sad condition of being TOTALLY FUCKING UNABLE to learn from my mistakes in order to sell games? Is that the secret?

Or is it actually just a case of maybe publishing a thing for people to buy? I guess that might help, too .

Well, if you can get in contact with the Great Old Ones you too can become the next Mike Mearls and do basically nothing, get praised, tell your fans to fuck off for wanting rules, and get infinite puff pieces about how good your magical tea party game is.

Otherwise you either put out a quality product or put out what people think is a quality simply because it's not a d20 RPG and get them to mind caulk it together. You're kinda fucked outta luck for coasting off of nostalgia and flavor text like White Wolf though.

---

So I'm actually going to be covering the skill system next, it's actually important I do that before I cover professions and skill trees, especially because professions expect you to pick them based on their skill package..

[Josh_Kablack]

Oooh, I have to ask if its repeat the this-number-relates-to-this-combination-of-adjectives table from Champs Fuzion?

[WiserOdin032402]

Not familiar, do you mean like 'This Number means you're Y level of experienced'?

[WiserOdin032402]

Part 2: Skills
2.1: Intelligence

So, god help me I'm gonna be copying chunks of the PDF so you can see the just plain amazing skill writing on display. However I'm going to have to clarify something. There's going to be a concept in here called 'base', and that's the sum of your skill and the appropriate stat added together. This is important because the super cool Media Ambassador and Community Manager I've talked to over at R. Talsorian have suggested that if your group wants to roll less dice and your base meets the DC you should treat it as automatically successful. Otherwise the DCs in here are more of a guideline of what's appropriate. I'm slightly (See: Extremely) miffed that this wasn't in the book.

We're going to categorize the skills by stat and go in order of how the book presents them. I've actually fooled you because this is

Intelligence:

• Awareness
  Noticing things or spotting abnormalities in your environment. At a base 10 you are a relatively aware person, noticing people walking by you and large changes in the environment. At a base 13 you are very aware, noticing small changes in the environment and hearing an average person trying to be stealthy. At a base 16 you are acutely aware, able to pinpoint minute changes in your environment and rarely taken by surprise. At a base 20 you are hyper-aware and nearly nothing happens in your environment without you noticing. Even invisible creatures have a hard time sneaking by you.

  Hey look everyone we're off to a great start with the god skill. This is both listening and spotting someone, and is the only way to detect sneaking people. Now a better game designer would have put in some sweet ability unlocks using that base threshold system, but alas, this is what we get. I'll cover later why getting ambushed is bad but if you've ever been on the receiving end of a sniper rifle in cyberpunk you' know what's up.
  Business
  Starting and operating a business. At a base 10 you can manage a basic lemonade stand. At a base 13 you could probably run a tavern and not go out of business. At a base 16 you are a successful businessman who has probably run businesses in the past and rarely makes mistakes. At a base 20 you are a master of business, capable of running not just a business but a mercantile empire.

  Ah, the problem child of the skill list. Pure MTP on when and where it's used, and there's a debate over whether you can sell stuff with this or persuasion, but as per the eratta:

  We'll have to make a note about sale prices. You can sell items for half the listed price of an item but you can attempt to raise this price by haggling with the business skill, or convincing the person with Persuasion.

  So you can use it to sell things, this will be in the book upon re-release, probably with an associated table. This kind of makes the whole 'making money' thing stupid easy if you're a merchant properly invested, as due to the setting your GM has no reason to not have weapons lying around. There's a war going on and 15 dead soldiers means there's a sudden influx of halberds, combine that with a man at arms with a high teaching skill and polearm skill, get the bard to rally up some peasants and you have a militia all ready to go.
  Deduction
  The skill of deducing a conclusion from clues given to you. At a base 10 you often get hunches that point you in the right direction. At a base 13 your hunches are usually right and you can back them up with logical reasoning. At a base 16 you generally can find what has occurred or what may occur with only a few clues. At a base 20 your deductions are almost never wrong and you can find answers with the barest of clues

  Oh boy it's this fucking skill. The vagueness speaks for itself, really. It lets your character come to the conclusion your DM wants you to...kinda stifling in a game about roleplaying. However if you want to fast forward a mystery through MTP be my guest.
  Education
  The level of formal education you have received. At a base 10 you have basic knowledge, the amount you would get from a parent explaining the world to you. At a base 13 you probably mentored under someone or attended one of the few schools around where you lived. At a base 16 you collect knowledge, probably having gone to Oxenfurt or another such college. At a base 20 you are a highly educated individual who stumps college professors and mage advisors.

  So as useful as this skill could be I'm gonna file it under 'hot garbage' for one big reason. If you use it on a monster, you're going to get superstition on a successful roll. Superstition is usually lies that will you killed really fast. However this does let you identify shitheads like the Scoia’tael (Elven Stealth Archers, don't play games they will butcher you, DC 14 to know their tactics and shit) Otherwise this is basically all of those neat little D&D knowledge checks that no one uses except in edge cases rolled into one.
  Language (2)
  Skill in speaking a specific language. The languages that can be learned via Language are Common Speech (the language
  of the Northerners), Elder Speech (the language of the Nilfgaardians, Skelligers,
  and non-humans besides dwarves), and Dwarven (the language of the dwarves). At a base 10 you know the basics of a language and can read it slowly; when you speak your accent is atrocious and you are slow and ponderous. At a base 13 you know the language well enough to read, write, and speak it but some technical words and slang elude you. At a base 16 you are totally fluent in the language and can even work out some dialects. At a base 20 you are not only fluent in the language but you know all dialects
  and ancient forms of the language.

  Welcome to the first of the (2) skills, you spend double the Improvement Points (you use them to level up, more on that later.) to level this up. You technically get one of this skill for free at 8 ranks, but it's only in your native language. To be honest I kind of like this skill, though I'm weird and like Conan d20 2e where it's perfectly possible for a party to just not have any languages in common.
  Monster Lore (2)
  Skill in discerning information
  about monsters. At a base 10 you can tell a nekker from a ghoul. At a base 13 you know generally which monsters fit into what classifications. At a base 16 you are well-versed in the various weaknesses and strengths of all common monsters. At a base 20 you rarely encounter a beast you can’t analyze in a matter of seconds and even a witcher would be proud.

  This is a big important skill if you don't have a witcher, or even if you do, have it. This gets you the big juicy information on monsters and basically tells you how to kill them. Normally you have to be a Witcher and have that Witcher exclusive class skill to do it. Solid skill, level it up as much as possible without gimping yourself
  Social Ettiquette
  Blending in at social functions and not making a fool of yourself in polite company. At a base 10 you know how to address nobility and can act properly when in a fancy neighborhood. At a base 13 you can attend social gatherings and not stick out like a sore thumb. At a base 16 you appear dashing—a cavalier, knowledgeable in all laws of society, fitting in with ease. At a base 20 you know even the unspoken rules of the highest courts and could probably impress the Emperor of Nilfgaard himself.

  Hey look it's that skill the GM will fuck you in the ass for not having if you ever go to interact with higher society. All things considered, it's got pretty solid 'breakpoints' that are very clearly thought out. Kind of like Language. I'd recommend it tentatively, it's terribly situational but it's the kind of situation where you'd want it.
  Streetwise
  Knowing the streets. This skill is less about knowing a geography and more about knowing how certain areas operate At a base 10 you have enough knowledge to avoid muggers and know where the nice parts of a city are. At a base 13 you can generally pick up what factions hold sway in an area and why. At a base 16 you can glean a phenomenal amount about an area from studying it, identifying the important people in the city and their relationships with ease. At a base 20 you are able to assess a whole town easily, picking up enough to make you effectively a local.

  Okay so if you ever want to like, visit civilization or at least a city, you're going to need this skill. Someone is. This is such a low scope RPG that this is insanely useful with the right GM. It's also not a (2) skill so like, seriously. Get some training in it. Something. Save your life.
  Tactics (2)
  Anticipating enemy movements and planning accordingly. At a base 10 you can figure out the basics of an untrained
  mob’s combat plan. At a base 13 you could probably lead a small battalion of men successfully and could rout an enemy force of equal size. At a base 16 you could be placed in charge of a mercenary band and be a major military force, adapting to all kinds of situations with knowledgeable leadership. At a base 20 you could be a full-on military general, leading whole armies with the tactical and strategic knowledge to win the day against even unspeakable odds.

  It’s important to note that while dice poker requires Gambling, gwent require Tactics.

  This is only really useful if you're allowed to lead groups of soldiers and I haven't seen a mass combat system in here...so yeah. However, looking at the eratta:

  Tactics can actually be a tremendously powerful skill in the right type of campaign. What Tactics allows your players to do is extrapolate the best tactic for going about a combat or guess the tactic an enemy will take. If they roll well they can effectively ask you, “How will the enemy attack us?” or “what would be the best way to siege this castle” or “What units will the enemy bring to the battle.” Effectively, the skill is used to gather information about the enemy in (or more importantly, before) a combat.

  Which is massively important because you know, combat's lethal. Also you can use this to wreck fools in Magic The Gathering Gwent.
  Teaching
  The skill of explaining skills to
  others. This skill is not required to teach other skills, but it makes it a lot easier. At a base 10 you can walk a person through a basic demonstration, though they may not always understand. At a base 13 you can teach the basics of a skill to a diligent pupil with no issues. At a base 16 you could teach even uninterested students the higher levels of a skill with time. At a base 20 you are master of teaching and can connect with anyone. Your lessons immediately make sense and rarely ever have to be repeated.

  This is a god tier skill and probably broken under the right circumstances. Here's why:

  By finding a mentor or a teacher and learning under them, you can learn higher principles in a specific skill and eventually excel in it. However, your teacher must have a higher level in the skill than you and must have the time to teach you. Your GM decides the length of time; usually lessons give 1-5 I.P. each. The Teaching skill sets how far a mentor can take you. The teacher averages their Teaching skill with their own skill in what you’re learning. They can raise your skill to that value. A mercenary with a 10 in Swordsmanship but a 2 in Teaching could still only teach you up to 6th level in Swordsmanship. But a teacher with only an 8 in Swordsmanship but a 10 in Teaching could teach you up to level 8

  Does it require GM Fiat? Yes. Is it horrifically useful? Yes. You spend twice the skill's level in IP to level it up and IP generated by this skill is free. You can get between 1 and 9 IP per session based on vague as shit guidelines, but if you've got some downtime (which you will, as we'll cover in combat and healing and all that great shit) it's an amazing skill for party members to have, especially considering without a teacher you can't even level a skill past 2. Interestingly you can teach teaching.
  Wilderness Survival
  : Surviving outdoors and tracking prey. At a base 10, you know how to make a fire, what common plants are poisonous, and how to follow a trail. At a base 13 you could survive in the wilderness alone with some discomfort and you could earn a living hunting. At a base 16 you could be a hermit or a ranger, living in the wilderness with ease. At a base 20 you know almost everything about the wilderness. There’s no natural environment that you couldn’t adapt to and no prey that can avoid you.

  
  More skills the GM will fuck you for not having at least one person in the party with, if not two of them. There's a forage DC chart off to the side that Future WiserOdin will add into this when he gets home. Needless to say I'm not disappointed, it's a useful skill and the chart's well balanced given that the average base is +10 to your roll.

Holy fuck that's it. It's finally fucking over for the Int skills section. A lot of 'And the GM fucked you for not having this' on the skills, but uh...well my worn-down mind goes to 'at least there's something there ergo it's better than 5e' and I'm inclined to agree, but wow. That's a lot of things running off of Int, on top of the bonus skill points. Get used to the DM fiat and things not always being clearly defined, by the way.

I swear to god I have good taste in games and a good head for design please don't lynch me.

Next up is Reflex.

[Blicero]

So what is the main selling point of an actual mid-budget Witcher tabletop RPG like this? I've played the first two games, and I enjoyed them, and I imagine I'll enjoy the third when I play it. But I couldn't tell you a single thing about the setting or the magic at this point. Do people have a genuine investment in [googles] Redania in the same way they care about Cormyr or Westeros? Is this book's art really good?

The main thing the games have going for them is the choice and consequences thing, which is good but not setting-dependent. I gather what people like about the books is their writing, which is not easy to convey in a TTRPG. You could probably make a pretty good Monster Hunter: The RPG game using the Witcher's system for potions and vulnerabilities and stuff. I would maybe play that, but it would have to be pretty focused. Otherwise, why wouldn't you just grab a Warhammer or OSR game for that grimy low-fantasy vibe?

[WiserOdin032402]

So what is the main selling point of an actual mid-budget Witcher tabletop RPG like this? I've played the first two games, and I enjoyed them, and I imagine I'll enjoy the third when I play it. But I couldn't tell you a single thing about the setting or the magic at this point. Do people have a genuine investment in [googles] Redania in the same way they care about Cormyr or Westeros? Is this book's art really good?

The main thing the games have going for them is the choice and consequences thing, which is good but not setting-dependent. I gather what people like about the books is their writing, which is not easy to convey in a TTRPG. You could probably make a pretty good Monster Hunter: The RPG game using the Witcher's system for potions and vulnerabilities and stuff. I would maybe play that, but it would have to be pretty focused. Otherwise, why wouldn't you just grab a Warhammer or OSR game for that grimy low-fantasy vibe?

You'll see in a....god I don't know how long it's gonna take to get to the section but there's a full Witcher Lifepath generation thing and there's also a bunch of skill trees. This book also has a bunch of setting information in it, as well as some branching story stuff the GM can decide to screw with the setting. It's also got a crafting system. Like an actual honest to god resource-based 'go buy/find the thing and then sit down and make it' crafting system.

Also the art is really pretty. Like really really pretty.

Other than that the combat's detailed enough while at the same time not being as deadly as say, Warhammer. And it doesn't force you to start off as a peasant. There's a lot of magic to go through (and we'll get to that) but first we have to get through the skills. We just fucking have to otherwise shit later will make no sense.

[Longes]

So what is the main selling point of an actual mid-budget Witcher tabletop RPG like this? I've played the first two games, and I enjoyed them, and I imagine I'll enjoy the third when I play it. But I couldn't tell you a single thing about the setting or the magic at this point. Do people have a genuine investment in [googles] Redania in the same way they care about Cormyr or Westeros? Is this book's art really good?

The main thing the games have going for them is the choice and consequences thing, which is good but not setting-dependent. I gather what people like about the books is their writing, which is not easy to convey in a TTRPG. You could probably make a pretty good Monster Hunter: The RPG game using the Witcher's system for potions and vulnerabilities and stuff. I would maybe play that, but it would have to be pretty focused. Otherwise, why wouldn't you just grab a Warhammer or OSR game for that grimy low-fantasy vibe?

Witcher 3 sold 33 million copies, so yes, it's a pretty big name in modern fantasy, getting its second TV show and all. And yes, Witcher TTRPG book has pretty good art.

Now, unlike WiserOdin I think that Witcher TTRPG is total trash. I mean, who does random chargen these days? But there are compelling reasons to pick it over Warhammer or OSR.

First of all, neither Warhammer nor OSR have big name multimedia franchises behind them. That's kind of important in attracting new players.

Secondly, Warhammer mechanics are bad. There've been four editions of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and all of them were bad.

Thirdly, Warhammer setting is also bad. Warhammer Fantasy setting is a very high power high magic high fantasy setting full of racism and don't-have-fun clauses. In Warhammer peasant-level adventurers don't ever matter - it's a setting about immortal elven god-kings riding dragons into battle.
Witcher is actually low fantasy. Geralt is an influential high-level character and he's just a guy with a sword and some magic tricks. In comparison to OSR games the strength of Witcher is that its setting is well known. That's it.

[Longes]

Witcher art is good:

[Trill]

Witcher art is good:
SPOILER

Holy Fuck that's pretty

[Blicero]

Witcher 3 sold 33 million copies, so yes, it's a pretty big name in modern fantasy, getting its second TV show and all. And yes, Witcher TTRPG book has pretty good art.

Now, unlike WiserOdin I think that Witcher TTRPG is total trash. I mean, who does random chargen these days? But there are compelling reasons to pick it over Warhammer or OSR.

First of all, neither Warhammer nor OSR have big name multimedia franchises behind them. That's kind of important in attracting new players.

Secondly, Warhammer mechanics are bad. There've been four editions of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and all of them were bad.

Thirdly, Warhammer setting is also bad. Warhammer Fantasy setting is a very high power high magic high fantasy setting full of racism and don't-have-fun clauses. In Warhammer peasant-level adventurers don't ever matter - it's a setting about immortal elven god-kings riding dragons into battle.
Witcher is actually low fantasy. Geralt is an influential high-level character and he's just a guy with a sword and some magic tricks. In comparison to OSR games the strength of Witcher is that its setting is well known. That's it.

Okay, so you agree with me that the only point of this game is that it has name-brand recognition.

And that is some pretty good art.

[Longes]

Okay, so you agree with me that the only point of this game is that it has name-brand recognition.

And that is some pretty good art.

yes

[Hadanelith]

I will note that this game has one thing going for it that even Shadowrun doesn't: In a stat + skill system, they give you benchmarks for the stat + skill, as opposed to SR's skill-only benchmarks. Pulling out CP2020 (the previous version of this system), this is even an improvement over that, for the same reason. That idea of 'base' is really quite a good one.

[WiserOdin032402]

2.2: Reflex and Dexterity

So, now that we've covered Intelligence I'm gonna do a two for one special of cover Reflex and Dexterity. Remember that Reflex also gives you skill points. For some reason. Not gonna lie, this is mostly fighting skills, and thus the DCs should be taken with a grain of salt. The uses for these skills will be covered in the combat section, and I will also talk about their theoretical applicability and potential eratta.

Reflex

• Brawling
  The skill of fighting hand to hand with fists, feet, and the like. At a base 10 you are a competent fist fighter and probably could win an average fight. At a base 13 you are a skilled fist fighter and will generally beat any common bar room brawler. At a base 16 you are very skilled at hand-to-hand combat. You know many techniques for
  physical combat and can beat even military combatants. At a base 20 you are a master of hand-to-hand combat and can beat almost anyone barehanded. You can even stand up against armed warriors.

  Okay. For reasons related to combat and social standards in the world of The Witcher, this is low-key the best combat skill in the game. It lets you fight without a weapon equipped which is nice, as drawing a weapon eats up a full action. This also lets you participate in fighting pits and hand to hand tournaments to make some quick and easy dosh with no permanent injuries, and should probably the primary way most people in civilized areas should solve combat according to a lot of people I talked to. Also it has access to a bunch of unarmed maneuvers which are pretty sweet.
  
  [11/5/2018] Edit: As per the new eratta, it does not decrease the 'Stun' track, it depletes Stamina, this is important because when someone is out of Stamina they are stunned which is a horrifying condition. Also spells, the extra action, and extra defenses cost Stamina.
  Dodge/Escape
  Dodging attacks and missiles and escaping from holds and grapples. At a base 10 you can dodge telegraphed attacks and escape from weak assailants. At a base 13 you can dodge a spear if you can see it coming and you know how to escape from basic holds. At a base 16 you can dodge missiles such as arrows and crossbow bolts if you can see them coming. At a base 20 you can dodge even things you aren’t completely aware of and can escape from all sorts of
  holds.

  Not much to say. You should probably take it. It's used for dodging attacks and escaping grapples.
  Melee
  Using weapons such as whips, bludgeons, and axes. At a base 10 you can reliably wield melee weapons. At a base 13 you can swing an axe with enough skill to match professional soldiers. At a base 16 you can rival hardened veterans in melee combat. At a base 20 you are a master of melee who can take on multiple assailants at once.

  Okay, this is a pretty broad category skill, it gets you three weapons, but what it doesn't tell you is that it also controls the Block reaction in combat too when you're blocking with a shield and bashing with a shield. While shields are pretty rad in theory, against a monster you are guaranteed to lose your shield if you block with it. We'll get to the weapons before the combat section, I'll probably just put a table in or something, but I'll let you know the best non-relic axe is far cheaper and much nastier in terms of total amount of effects than the best non-relic sword.
  Riding
  Riding horses, and in some cases riding other animals or even monsters. At a base 10 you can ride a trained horse and not fall off. At a base 13 you can ride well enough to jump small obstacles and race. At a base 16 you can handle wild horses and ride bareback without too much issue. At a base 20 you can do trick-riding and even attempt to ride more dangerous beasts.

  While this is normally a skill you take early in D&D and goes out of style later, the type of fantasy The Witcher happens to be means that this is a terribly useful skill. There are two teleportation spells, one which teleports just you to a location you already know but it's only you, and one that makes a standing portal to a place you already know but costs a shitload of stamina to maintain. Due to Spellcasting being an attack skill, it can nat 1. Riding cannot nat 1 in the majority of situations. It's your call if you want to find out what happens when you nat 1 a portal.
  Sailing
  Sailing ships and controlling maritime vessels. At a base 10 you can sail in calm weather. At a base 13 you can handle rough weather and avoid obstacles with ease. At a base 16 you can maneuver in the open ocean and escape sirens and drowners. At a base 20 you can sail a ship through the most dangerous storms with minimal damage.

  This is much more specialized as there's only a few places where you need a boat to get to. This one's highly campaign dependant but someone with the teaching skill could, you know, just teach you. For some money. Because teaching generates free IP.
  Using light weapons such as daggers and cleavers. At a base 10 you can reliably wield small blades. At a base 13 you are a professional and can wield small blades with enough skill to match an assassin. At a base 16 you can rival hardened veterans in knife fights. At a base 20 you are a hardened veteran who can take on multiple assailants
  at once.

  Daggers are...eh...not very big damage, but easily concealable. Okay if you want someone assassinated, but in straight combat these guys aren't gonna do shit.
  Staff/Spear
  Using long weapons such as staves, pole axes, and spears. At a base 10 you can reliably wield pole arms. At a base 13 you are a professional and can wield a pike with enough skill to match professional soldiers. At a base 16 you can face cavalry charges without flinching. At a base 20 you are a one-person wall of wood and steel.

  Staffs are a non-starter for political reasons, mainly because they're very obvious mage tools in this world and people hate mages. However, polearms are some of the best weapons in the game and reach is a godsend in this game. But they're also not weapons you carry casually and hoo boy do you not want to be walking around carrying the medival version of an assault rifle all the time.
  Swordsmanship
  Using swords. At a base 10 you can reliably wield swords. At a base 13 you are a professional and can take the
  field. At a base 16 you win most duels you fight. At a base 20 you are a hardened veteran who cuts a swath through the field.

  This is the skill with the most weapons with it so far. This is an instant pick for Witchers given their starting gear is two swords, the majority of Relic Weapons are some sort of sword, and you can casually wear them around. It also looks real cool. Most swords run the gamut of useful/not useful. Pick one you like, enhance it. Do whatever.

Dexterity

• Archery
  Firing a bow and arrow. At a base
  10 you can string and fire a bow with some accuracy. At a base 13 you are as skilled as any battlefield archer and you can fire in combat with good accuracy. At a base 16 you can hit most targets and quickly make
  shots that most average archers would consider difficult. At a base 20 you are a master archer and you can hit almost any target, no matter the range or size.

  Okay so archery in this game is one of two things depending on what you're doing. In direct combat without a certain elven bow it's mediocre at best. But if you're sneaking around, it's a whole other ball game. This shit goes from mediocre to busted super fast. Scoia’tael are elven bastards who roll stealth as a group and take the highest stealth roll among the group. And then they stealth archer you.
  Athletics
  The skill required for climbing, balancing, thrown weapons, and such. At a base 10 you can climb craggy rock surfaces and hit stationary targets. At a base 13 you can scale buildings fairly easily and can fight on slanted rooftops. At a base 16 you can walk tightropes and throw daggers and the like at chinks in armor. At a base 20 you can perform acrobatic stunts on tightropes, fight on ceiling beams, and climb anything that isn’t greased.

  Not gonna lie those are some hella bases for a game this low fantasy. While this uses dexterity, it's not only an attack skill, it's an evasion skill and a 'fuck your environment' skill. It's also used for throwing bombs, which are super extra useful. Solid investment.
  Crossbow
  Firing a crossbow. At a base 10 you can string and fire a crossbow with some accuracy. At a base 13 you are as skilled as any battlefield arbalist and you can fire in combat with good accuracy. At a base 16 you can hit most targets and quickly make shots that average arbalists would consider difficult. At a base 20 you are a master arbalist and you can hit almost any target, no matter the range or size.

  While bows have a longer range and load faster, crossbows on average deal more damage (outside of that fucking Elven bow) and have better inherent to-hit bonuses. It's also cheaper to get an armor-piercing crossbow. You can also get hand crossbows, which are nice to have in a pinch.
  Sleight of Hand
  Performing stage magic tricks, making small things disappear or appear, pickpocketing and slipping things into people’s pockets. At a base 10 you can do simple tricks such as slipping things out of your pocket as if they just appeared. At a base 13 you can reliably pickpocket people without them knowing. At a base 16 you can slip things into observant people’s pockets, slip small objects out from under people’s noses and such. At a base 20 you can make larger objects disappear, even things like swords and small animals.

  Normally I'd insert a cheap joke about a caster stealing your job but they can't and sleight of hand is a popular party trick. Probably really good on a social character, and it wouldn't hurt to have on a non-social character.
  Stealth
  Moving silently through your surroundings and acting without being perceived. At a base 10 you can sneak by sleeping guards without waking them. At a base 13 you can sneak by guards and quietly draw weapons without people noticing. At a base 16 you are as stealthy as a trained assassin and are rarely caught when you’re sneaking through an area. At a base 20 you can infiltrate secure buildings with ease, sneak by alert guards, and draw blades directly behind people without being caught.

  Given a general lack of autodetection abilities and this being a literal opposed roll on people who have garbage stats my god this skill is broken. it's super useful to have, it's not fun to play against, and is probably one of the best skills to have given the lethality of the system.

Yeah, basically two combat skills. Cover a lot of ground, got the important Athletics skill in there. Sorry this took so long to make. There's a lot of weapon skills, and as you can tell, not all are created equal, especially archery.

Body is up next, probably late tomorrow, and if I'm feeling like extra work other than cutting down tables and derived stats, I'll throw in Empathy. Maybe.

[Longes]

At a base 13 you can swing an axe with enough skill to match professional soldiers. At a base 16 you can rival hardened veterans in melee combat.

This is a really weird way to phrase things. Why not just say that professional soldiers have base 13 and hardened veterans have base 16? Why do this weird comparison to undefined values?

[Trill]

This is a really weird way to phrase things. Why not just say that professional soldiers have base 13 and hardened veterans have base 16? Why do this weird comparison to undefined values?

They are defined. Base is Stat+Skill. So with an Intelligence of 5 and a Business skill of 6 you have a Base of 11.

[Username17]

I understand that people keep wanting to write skill based systems where the weaponry is divided into many weapon skills.



Each weapon skill is worth less to own the more weapon skills you already have. Investing points into Spear when you have Swordmanship is just flushing skill points down the drain. You're paying skill points to be better at using a weapon that you will actively attempt to never use.

Being good at many weapons is mostly a flavor choice, because the end result of using one weapon or another isn't that different. You make attack rolls and inflict damage in combat. That's pretty much the entire thing. By creating multiple nominally co-equal weapon skills, that flavor choice has a massive cost in terms of other relevant adventuring competencies.

What this converges to is every character being good with no more than one or two weapon skills, which in turn results in characters fixating on extremely specific weapons early and never deviating like they were characters in a 4 color comic book or 4th edition D&D. And this has been known like, forever. We had this argument in the 1990s. I don't understand why this is still going on.

-Username17

[WiserOdin032402]

I understand that people keep wanting to write skill based systems where the weaponry is divided into many weapon skills.



Each weapon skill is worth less to own the more weapon skills you already have. Investing points into Spear when you have Swordmanship is just flushing skill points down the drain. You're paying skill points to be better at using a weapon that you will actively attempt to never use.

Being good at many weapons is mostly a flavor choice, because the end result of using one weapon or another isn't that different. You make attack rolls and inflict damage in combat. That's pretty much the entire thing. By creating multiple nominally co-equal weapon skills, that flavor choice has a massive cost in terms of other relevant adventuring competencies.

What this converges to is every character being good with no more than one or two weapon skills, which in turn results in characters fixating on extremely specific weapons early and never deviating like they were characters in a 4 color comic book or 4th edition D&D. And this has been known like, forever. We had this argument in the 1990s. I don't understand why this is still going on.

-Username17

Well, given the existence of the Teaching skill I'd say this is a bit harder to pin down as valid. A more lenient GM who allows for more downtime and higher IP generation via the teaching skill could have players that are easily skilled with every weapon in the game. Granted, that's also true of the teaching skill itself. And weapons themselves in the game are different and have different qualities available in their weapon class.

[maglag]

3rd edition also pushes martial dudes to specialize in a weapon since although at first level you can afford different basic weapons, as you level up you cannor afford to upgrade everything to stay relevant so eventually you just use that +10 sword of doom.

Doubly so if you went for some feat chain specialized in a single weapon.

Entertaining review BTW.

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, the hit point splosion really does a number on a variety of weapons even before things like bypassing DR get involved. Having a lackey around to carry your javelins isn't really the sort of thing people give a shit about beyond level 2 and even then it's just a way to murder goblins in skirmishes without losing your AC bonus.