Stunts

While every character has access to all the skills—even if they are Mediocre (+0) at most of them—your character has some unique stunts. Stunts are the cool techniques, tricks, or bits of equipment that make your character unique and interesting. Where skills are about a character’s broad competencies, stunts are about specific areas of excellence; most of them give you a bonus in particular circumstances or let you do something that other characters simply can’t.

Your character begins with three free stunt slots. You don’t have to define them all right away, and may fill them in as you play. You may purchase more stunts by spending 1 refresh each, to a minimum of 1 refresh.

While in practice there’s no strict difference between “racial stunts” and “skill stunts,” they are organized as such to make browsing for relevant stunts easier. Additionally, some stunt categories have some simple rules governing their uses.

• Skill Stunts: No specific rules govern skill stunts, though individual stunts may have their own requirements.
• Racial Stunts: While in general a racial stunt can only be taken by a member of a given race, an appropriate aspect may give a character access to stunts normally belonging to another race. For example, a Hylian with the Raised by a Sheikah Nurse aspect could reasonably take certain Sheikah-only stunts (though they wouldn’t get any use out of stunts requiring the Jutsu skill).
• Magic Stunts: Every magic stunt belongs to a certain element. This has no explicit effect, but some magic stunts may benefit from choosing other stunts belonging to the same element.
• Item Stunts: No specific rules govern item stunts, though individual stunts may have their own requirements.
• Other Stunts: Most other stunts are tied to specific Extras, and can only be taken by a character with that extra.

While there are dozens of stunts already provided for you to select from, you can also write your own! Broadly, there are two types of stunts.

Bonus-granting stunts: The first type of stunt gives you a +2 bonus when you use a named skill within certain parameters, usually limited to a specific type of action and type of narrative circumstance.

Write this type of stunt as follows:

Because I [describe how you are amazing or have a cool bit of gear], I get a +2 when I use [pick a skill] to [pick one: overcome, create an advantage, attack, defend] when [describe a circumstance].

Example Bonus-Granting Stunt: Because I am a military-trained archer, I get a +2 when I use Shoot to attack when I have a target In My Sights.

Rule-changing stunts: The second type of stunt changes the rules of the game. This is a broad category that includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Swapping which skills are used in a given situation. For instance, a bard might use Performance to perform a ritual, while anyone else would use Knowledge.
• Using an action with a skill that isn’t normally used with it. For instance, allowing a character to use Skulduggery to backstab an opponent from the shadows (which would typically be a use of Fighting).
• Giving a character a different kind of bonus to skills that’s roughly equivalent to a +2. For instance, when a skilled orator creates an advantage with Rapport, it gets an extra free invoke.
• Allowing a character to declare a minor fact is always true. For instance, a survivalist always has survival items like matches on their person, even under unlikely circumstances.
• Allowing a character to make a specific rules exception. For instance, a character might have two more stress boxes or another sticky condition.

Write this type of stunt as follows:

Because I [describe how you are amazing or have a cool bit of gear], I can [describe your amazing feat], but only [describe a circumstance or limitation].

Example Rule-Changing Stunt: Because I don’t believe in magic, I can ignore the effects of a supernatural ability, but only once per game session.