I'll be posting skills necessary to develop the Neathar here as I go. I'll update this top post with more skills and add replies as and when I update.
Neathar Skills
by Cab DavidsonWhile in some ways the technology of the Neathar is simple, the people themselves are just as intelligent and of necessity more ingenious than those of other cultures. This is reflected in the specialist skills they have developed to produce the essential tools of their lives. Some of those skills are detailed here, but the myriad clans and tribes of Neathar is so varied that it is impossible to list all such skills.
AtlAtl (Dexterity): A skill common to many Neathar societies, an atl-atl is a spear thrower that acts as a lever, or an extension of the arm. A successful check will allow a javelin to inflict extra damage at short or medium range (+1d4) and adds the stun ability to a javelin (as for a spear) from skilled mastery upwards. To load an atlatl requires two hands, and the user cannot use a shield.
Animal Crafting (Intelligence): Neathar make use of every part of the animals they hunt, including the blood, organs, skin, flesh, bones, horns, hooves, antlers and intestines. Animal crafting is the complex skill of using simple tools to turn such creatures into products that the Neathar need, everything from bone and antler tools to sinew bow strings, furs for warmth and shelter, blood and manure based daub, etc.. While there is a general form of this skill, allowing a character to make good use of components of most creatures, there are also specific forms known to several tribes allowign them to make more remarkable and idiosyncratic items from individual animals, for example Mammoth Crafting, Triceraops Crafting, Auroch Crafting, Pilot Whale Crafting, etc.
Knapping (Dexterity): The craft of shaping flint, obsidian or other fracturing rock to make any of a broad range of tools or weapons. This may, in the case of a tool that can be made from a single flake, be very rapid, or in the case of very high quality daggers and arrowheads take hours or even days. Hammerstones, wood, antler and bone tools may be employed. Neathar take great pride in being able to fashion simple tools for almost any job, and any Neathar with this skill can spend one turn repairing any of the tools they carry. Typically the wear from ten rounds of fighting with any weapon can be repaired in one turn.
Pottery (Intelligence): Neathar pottery is made by various coiling techniques, with clay being worked to long, finger-thick strands that are coiled to make round or flat bottomed containers that may be highly decorated. All Neathar understand the principles of this, and those skilled understand how to work clay, dry, and fire robust pottery vessels for a range of uses.
Stone Tool Woodworking (Intelligence): The ability to construct useful items, from shelters in which to live, rafts and canoes through to spears, blowguns and hand axes using simple stone tools. Note that while some of the fine detail and complex joints known to other cultures may be beyond the capacity of Neathar using more primitive tools, the principles of solid wooden joints and the correct selection of wood for different purposes are both key elements of Neathar woodcrafting.