Shoptalk: Enabling Abilities

In Scion RAW, there are 24 Abilities listed on the character sheet. Some of these are fine and dandy, they work perfectly. Some have odd and slightly confusing names or descriptions of what they do and do not cover. There are holes in what Scion's RAW Abilities cover. So, in this post, I'll go problem by problem, identifying the issues and offering solutions.

Problem 1: Black Holes
Four of the Abilities (Art, Control, Craft and Science) are broken up into what is essentially an infinite number of Abilities, which becomes extremely annoying for anyone that cares about them and suddenly has to sink dozens of extra XP into their abilities while their friends who aren't interested in Art, Control, Craft or Science only have to deal with the 20 regular Abilities. That's an issue for me. A scientist who wants to know biology and chemistry has to spend a lot more XP than an athlete who wants to be good at both weightlifting and gymnastics.

More than just being an XP penalty to specific types of characters, the difference between a Black Hole and a regular Ability isn't very clear. Why is Academics alright as a single Ability, but not Art? It's somehow easier to learn history, philosophy and literature together than it is to learn painting, drawing and printmaking? Pfft, says I. What about Medicine and Occult, which are easily as broad as Control and Science? Again, pfft.

Solution! Remove this concept from the game. Collapse the Black Holes. Art, Control, Craft and Science become single Abilities, just like Academics, Athletics, Medicine and Occult.

Problem 2: Functional Holes
Scion lacks Abilities that deal with some key topics that can come up frequently. It doesn't have an Ability that clearly deals with lying to people or other forms of deception. A common idea is to use Empathy for such rolls. For me, that does not work. Empathy is also what you use to detect lies and deception. That's like rolling Stealth to avoid notice and to notice people sneaking around. There's no Ability that deals directly with trade, barter, finances or economics. There's also no Ability to deal with using things like computers. It's a toss-up between Craft, for building them and repairing them, or for... I guess Science (Technology) to use them in practical situations? That's really strange.

Solution! Add some new Abilities to cover the largest holes.

1. Technology to cover the creation, maintenance and use of advanced, modern items such as computers, telephones, TVs, radios, etc. 
2. Commerce for anything related to trade, finance, money or exchange of goods and services.
3. Subterfuge will be discussed under Problem 3, but it replaces Politics and exists to be used when deceiving others through lies and trickery.

Problem 3: Fog Ahead!
Some of the RAW Abilities aren't very clear on what they do, or where one Ability ends and another begins. Some examples, you ask! Well, what does Politics do that Larceny, Presence and Empathy don't? Or how about the difference between Command and Presence? Here's a fun one, since it intersects with a Black Hole issue: what's the difference between an Art and a Craft? Where does Woodworking fall? You get the same thing with Craft and Science when it comes to practical Sciences like Technology or Computers. Do you need Craft (Tech) to build a computer, but Science (Tech) to use one? Some of these Foggy Issues can be solved by filling Functional Holes. Others, I prefer to solve more directly.

Solution! Clarify and re-name some of the Abilities. Some of them can keep their names, but have their functions more clearly defined. Others need to be rebranded totally, which essentially amounts to replacing them. Remember, Subterfuge from up in the Functional Holes section?

• Presence becomes Persuasion and models convincing people to agree with you by 'gentle' means such as logical argument, emotional appeal or charm. It applies equally well to groups or individuals. 
• Command takes on a slightly refined role and becomes the Ability used to issue orders to groups or individuals and expect their obedience by brute force of personality. You can intimidate people with Command, threaten them into doing what you want or just bark out instructions and expect them to be followed because of course they'll be followed. 
• Politics is removed and replaced with Subterfuge. Political functions cover a broad variety of skills and can be modelled in different ways. You can use Command, Persuasion, Subterfuge, even Larceny to engage in political maneuvering. Having Politics as its own Ability is akin to having Combat as an ability, it covers too many different ways to achieve the same end.
• Art is narrowed down to cover the visual and performing arts such as painting, singing, animation, dancing, photography and playing music. The physical varieties of art such as pottery, sculpture, woodworking and jewelry-making are moved into Craft, which is the Ability for 'building stuff'. 
• Control is narrowed to making use of artificial means of transportation. Animal Ken will cover riding animals while Control takes care of cars, scooters, airplanes, helicopters, space shuttles, motorcycles and other things that go "vroom". In addition to covering how to ride them, it will also cover how to build and repair them. 

All these changes end with a new list of Abilities. There are now 26 Abilities. The new list is: 

• Academics - knowledge of liberal arts subjects such as philosophy, history, literature, etc.
• Animal Ken - commanding, training, riding and other forms of dealing with animals
• Art - mastery of the visual and performing arts
• Athletics - physical fitness and skill at sports of all kinds
• Awareness - situational awareness and attention to detail
• Brawl - unarmed, hand-to-hand combat
• Command - issuing orders, instructions and threats
• Commerce - making bargains, conducting trade and dealing with finances
• Control - use, maintenance and creation of mechanical vehicles
• Craft - creation of non-technological physical items
• Empathy - understanding and perceiving the emotions and mental state of others
• Fortitude - training to endure pain, deprivation and physical discomfort
• Integrity - mental fortitude and integrity
• Investigation - determined searches for evidence or information
• Larceny - illegal and suspect skills like theft, unauthorized entry and blackmail
• Marksmanship - ranged combat using bows or firearms
• Medicine - treatment of human and near-human bodily disorders
• Melee - armed hand-to-hand combat
• Occult - knowledge of the supernatural and mythological
• Persuasion - using argument, reason and appeal to sway others
• Science - mathematics and scientific disciplines such as chemistry, psychology and biology
• Subterfuge - lies and deception used to mislead others or hide your own feelings
• Stealth - the ability to pass unnoticed and conceal things or people from the eyes of others
• Survival - wilderness survival, including hunting and tracking
• Technology - the creation, use and maintenance of high-tech devices not meant for travel
• Thrown - ranged combat using improvised projectiles or short-range throwing implements