Talents

Talents are specialized, widely-applicable Abilities which lend a positive modifier to the use of other Abilities in the same Skill. For example, a "forge knife" Style might be affected by both the familiarity with a specialized technique used to do the shaping and the smith's familiarity with the type of metal being shaped. If a person who has the "forge knife" Style learned the Silversmithing talent, she might be better able to forge a knife out of silver than with a metal she was not as experienced with. Likewise, if a mage has a special talent for ceremony, he will tend to be more successful at spellwork that requires a ritual than someone who lacks that particular Talent.

Examples

Some possible examples of Talents for various Skills:

Skill	Talents
Metalworking	"silver", "steel", "balancing"
Spellcraft	"ceremony", "enunciation", "measuring", "herbology"
Animal Husbandry	"horse sense", "animal empathy"
Movement	"surefootedness", "stealthiness"

Discussion

Orkut's RPG design forum has a thread which deals with some of the same ideas in a more theoretical way. Note that you'll have to be a member to read it because Orkut's just that way.

— Ged The Greys Hain - 20 Jun 2000
— Ged The Greys Hain - 22 Jun 2002 [Unified Knowledges and Abilities pages, relinked.]