Hmm... I think it's time I make another of these. Slightly more complicated rules than usual though! Essentially, while success/failure is still determined by a simple die roll, skills and items do not give bonuses to that roll(Usually. Some things will give +1s, but never more than that. and even that is rare) Instead, skills give you extra abilities that can modify your roll in a number of ways. ie: Say you have the skill "Marksman". By mentioning you wish to use the skill in your post, you can take a -1 to your damage roll, in exchange for +1 to hit. (Items work similarly, though their effects MUST be applied when using them, instead of being optional)
Master mage: Allows you to apply skills applying to any sort of magic to any other kind.
Skilled: You can use two skills in one action!
Sneaky: If spotted while trying to stay hidden, you get a free reroll to try and avoid being seen.
Setup: You all are recent graduates of a prestigious academy. The place teaches everything from swordfighting to magic, and has turned out a number of successful graduates. Oh, and the faculty insists it's a coincidence that 90% of those graduates tried to take over the world. Your group in particular has received an old abandoned tower with minimal furnishings as a graduation gift. Clearly this has NO connections to world domination plans. Nope. None at all.
Status:Bob B. Boberton/Robert the Terrible
Inventory:
Incendiary sticks: Your training makes these largely useless beyond a toy, but by spending a turn lighting these on fire, you can use them to greatly expand the range of your fire spells.
Fire proof clothing: your specially treated clothing is completely immune to fire, reducing all damage rolls from fires by 1. Unfortunately magic is a game of opposites, so water-based attacks deal +1 to you.
Skills:
Pyromancer: You are a true master of flame. Not only can you use fire magic, you may produce small flames for non-combat purposes without using up your action.
Burn proof: Fire still hurts. Quite a good deal in fact! But it can't seem to actually do any lasting damage to you, so it'll never actually be fatal on it's own.
Great chef: Your meals are the stuff of legend! So good in fact, that anyone who eats one of them suffers a -1 penalty against you for the next 2 turns.
Shargas
Inventory:
Bone Staff: Apart from being a great fashion statement, this staff makes a much better weapon than one would think, and is perfect for channeling death magic through to enhance the blows.
Jet Ring: Innocuous enough. Looks nice too. On a completely unrelated note that I'm sure will never come up, Jet is perfect for trapping souls in. And it holds tons of them before getting filled up.
Skills:
Life Eater: There is great power in blood. And for every drop you spill, you may grow stronger. The turn after harming an enemy in combat, you can use this skill to try and steal some of the spilled lifeforce, healing on a 4 or higher roll.
Soul Eater: Souls are even tastier than blood, and with enough of them not even death is too much of a setback. As long as you have enough souls handy when killed, you will revive the next turn. Unfortunately you have no idea how many it takes. And they are all consumed upon your revival.
Dream Eater: Dreams are important to the living for some reason. Not too nourishing, but you can consume the dreams of any sleeping being you can see, causing them to be extremely groggy and off-balance when they awaken.
Derm
Inventory:
The die of ten thousand faces: Sometimes ordinary dice just aren't enough of a gamble. You aren't quite sure what this magical artifact does, but your fortunes have always seemed more extreme than most. (You roll d8s in place of d6s)
Sorcerers staff: With this staff there are few magical feats you cannot accomplish. If you can control it... By taking a -1 on your roll, you can attempt to enhance your spells to otherwise impossible levels of power. Might be wise to keep your distance when trying that though.
Skills:
Lucky!: Your luck is better than most. A maximum of once every 3 turns, you reroll all 1s in your action.
Extended Elemental Eminence: You have mastered all the basic elements of magic, and in doing so learned to tap into more complex energies. You may freely combine elements in your spells, creating more complex effects without penalty.
Sight2: If you look closely, you can see things most can't. You can see enchantments as clearly as mundane things, though it still takes magic to see much detail about what they do.
Ahngem
Inventory:
enchanted vials: These vials may, given some time, replicate any potion within them until it fills them completely. they can create one dose of any alchemical formula they have a sample of every turn, to a maximum of 3 doses.
magical herbs: Alchemy is a fickle thing, but these herbs help to control it. All alchemy rolls above 4 are reduced by one, while all rolls below 3 are increased by one.
Skills:
mad alchemist: You have no time to be careful! Not with SCIENCE at stake! You may brew two alchemical potions with a single action. Just hope you don't roll a 1...
used to pain: A few too many explosions in the lab have killed off your sense of pain. All damage you receive is reduced by 1, but you take a bit longer to heal than normal.
herbalist: You know what almost every herb there is does, no need to even roll. Too bad you've gotten a bit cocky, and are sure to falsely identify the few powerful magic herbs you haven't seen...
Franklin Freman
Inventory:
Gun: Pretty basic. Apart from the obvious advantage of range, this weapon has been custom-modified to fire a much larger variety of rounds than most.
Bag of Scrap Parts: You need it you have it. Every part imaginable(And some not) is in this thing. You won't run out of parts for your creations any time soon. the stuff in here is pretty... 'well used' though, so any failures might be even more catastrophic than normal.
Skills:
Inventor: You are a genius! And you will show all those fools, oh yes... Er, anyway. You are an endless creative wellspring, and can plan new creations almost instantly. By activating this skill you can design a device on the same turn you build it.
Tinkerer: You are a master of modifications, tinkering and changing things until they hardly look like what they once were. You can reconfigure any machine you have built into practically anything else of the same size.
Craftsman: If you actually take your time, you can make some impressive stuff. Regardless of your roll when creating something, you can spend another action trying to improve it. A roll of 3 or higher increases the previous roll by 1, while a 5 or 6 increases it by 2.
Robid Hoon
Inventory:
Bow and Arrow: It's a bow and arrow. Not too impressive on it's own, but you're pretty darn good with it.
Green Hat: For some reason people seem to think this thing makes you a hero. It's complete madness, but hey, anything to keep their suspicions low.
Skills:
Archery: Your skill with a bow is nearly impossible. so what if it's impossible to disarm someone with an arrow without hurting them, and cutting a rope with one is just silly. You've done it.
Stealth: (these are hard to write so many of. So...) If spotted while trying to stay hidden, you get a free reroll to try and avoid being seen.
Learned Economist: You ruin economies for fun... I have absolutely no idea what sort of effect this should have.
Ulspa of the house of the Heavenly Dungeons
Inventory:
Iron Rapier and stone dueling pistol: Ready both at range and up close, you are almost impossible to get an advantage against in a fight. Attempts to surprise attack you take a -2 penalty unless magically enhanced.
Skills:
Fencer: Your finesse is amazing. you can take any size penalty to your damage roll, gaining an equal bonus to the roll to hit.
Masonery: you lead workers well, constructing things twice as quickly as most. gotta roll for both halves though...
gunman: Your cross-training has paid off well, and you can apply the same bonuses/penalties to rolls at range as with your fencer skill.