Lore Stunts
Beasts
Animal Affinity
Pick a particular type of animal (cats, rodents, horses or the like). At the start of any scene, if that type of animal could reasonably appear in the location where the scene is set, you may make a Lore check against a difficulty of Fair (+2). If you succeed, there is an animal of this type in the scene. (Peter Blake)
Animal Friend
Pick a particular type of animal (cats, rodents, horses or the like). You can communicate with animals of this type using a combination of speech and gestures. This doesn’t connote a special level of intelligence on the part of the animals, so the communication may be relatively simple. You also gain +2 to your rolls when interacting socially with animals of this type. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.28.1)
Kindred Beast
(requires Wild Empathy.) Choose a type of animal. You gain a further +2 to create advantage or overcome when you try to calm or communicate with animals of that kind. (Peter Blake)
King of the Beasts
(requires Animal Friend.) This stunt functions as Animal Friend does, but the character may speak to an entire broad category of animals, rather than just one type. For purposes of this ability there are three main categories – creatures from or from near the sea (fish, whales, seabirds), creatures from the land (dogs, primates, cats, birds) and vermin (bugs, rats and other small scuttling things). There is loose overlap between these categories – pigeons are in all three – and the GM is encouraged to be generous in her interpretation. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.28.1)
Wild Empathy
+2 to create advantage or overcome with Lore when you try to calm or communicate with animals. (Peter Blake)
Languages
The Blessing of a Thousand Tongues
You may learn any language quickly. With tutelage, it takes only a day. With only the opportunity to read or listen, it takes a week. If the source material is especially sparse, it may take as long as a month. (Fate System Toolkit, p.94)
Gift of Tongues
(requires Linguist). There is no “mainstream” earthly language you cannot read or speak. Not only that, but you read and speak languages you have no business having learned, such as languages from lost cultures. You may spend a fate point to declare that you know any particular language, no matter how strange. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.1)
Linguist
You know a wide range of languages. +2 to Lore whenever reading, writing, speaking or translating an unusual language. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.1)
Shared Humanity
Once per scene, you can communicate a short message to another human even if you do not speak a common language. (Peter Blake)
Memory
Photographic Memory
(requires Walking Library.) +2 to Lore rolls whenever you lack direct access to research materials and the answer you seek lies in something you have read before. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.2)
Studied Recall
(requires Photographic Memory.) Your photographic memory extends outside of books. Once per scene, you may spend a fate point and roll Lore against a difficulty of Mediocre. Each shift you generate may be used to specify a target that you wish to memorize as you might a book – returning later, in your mind, to assess new details (using an appropriate perception skill, usually Investigate). (This ability differs from Investigate’s Eye for Detail stunt in that Eye for Detail covers the entire location, after the fact, whereas Studied Recall requires you to specify which individual pieces of a location you are studying, while you are still in that location.) (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.2)
Walking Library
Your prodigious reading has paid off in spades, and you are able to recall minute details from even the most obscure literary works. You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you have the proper tools for research using Lore, even in extreme situations (like being imprisoned and unable to access a library). This source of opposition is just off the table. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.2)
Medicine
Drinking from the Jug
You pause to take a swig of wine from your jug, fortifying yourself for the battle. When you have a drink during a fight, clear your lowest stress box. This requires you to take an entire action drinking. (Fate System Toolkit, p.150)
Forensic Medicine
You can use Lore in place of Investigate when the subject involves medical evidence. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.25.1)
Heal Thyself
(requires Scholar, Healer.) +2 to treat your own physical consequences with Lore. (Peter Blake)
Herbal Remedies
+2 to Lore rolls related to gathering plants suitable for treating the sick or injured. (Peter Blake)
Plastic Surgeon
(requires Scholar, Healer.) You know how to rearrange someone's face permanently. When you operate on a patient, you may use Lore to inflict physical stress on them. The greater the change you wish to make, the graver the consequence you must successfully inflict. (The GM decides what level of consequence is required for each change, and the consequence acts as justification for the patient to change an aspect to one relating to physical appearance at the next milestone. To alter an aspect against a character's will requires you to inflict an extreme consequence.)
Pouring Wine
(requires Drinking from the Jug.) You take out a cup and pour a drink from your jug. This elaborate and difficult task causes a pause in the battle. No one may attack you while you pour, and you remove your lowest stress mark. This technique requires an entire action, and you may not perform the technique more than once in a row. (Fate System Toolkit, p.150)
Scholar, Healer
Can make physical recovery attempts with Lore. (Fate Core, p.300)
Surgeon/Medical Specialist
(requires Scholar, Healer.) You are a respected authority in a specific field of surgical or therapeutic medicine; define it at the time you take this stunt. Possibilities include heart or brain surgery, transplant operations, disease pathologies, and so on. You get a +2 to all Lore rolls relating to that field. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.25.1)
Scholarship
Dizzying Intellect
(requires Specialist.) Your area of knowledge is so advanced, there’s usually no one around who can tell if you’re making things up. You may use Lore in place of Deceive to tell lies related to your field of specialization. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.3)
It's Academic
(requires Specialist.) Once per scene you can spend a fate point (and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Lore roll representing a flash of insight. For each shift you make on this roll you discover or create an aspect related to your field of specialization, on either the scene or the target of your observations, though you may only invoke one of them for free. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.2.3)
Secrets of the Stacks
Pick a specific library or other large information resource. You are intimately familiar with this resource's quirks, and gain a +2 to Lore whenever you have sufficient time to consult it. (Peter Blake)
Specialist
Choose a field of specialization, such as herbology, criminology, or zoology. You get a +2 to all Lore rolls relating to that field of specialization. (Fate Core, p.115)
Tutor
+2 to create advantage on an ally with Lore when you spend an hour or so coaching them on an appropriate topic. (Peter Blake)
Survival
Caveman Lifestyle
You know how to live naked in the wilderness. When you undertake survival activities, you never suffer increased difficulty due to a lack of tools.
Due North
You always know which direction north is, flawlessly, even underground, without a compass or stars to guide you. You gain a +2 to Lore rolls whenever trying to find your way out of a place. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.28.2)
Forager
Choose a natural habitat (e.g. forests, grasslands, deserts, oceans, or caves). You gain +2 to Lore when gathering food in that habitat. (Peter Blake)
Natural Dowser
+2 to create advantage with Lore when you seek sources of water. (Peter Blake)
Pathfinder
Navigating on foot with your Lore skill works impeded by poor visibility or difficult terrain. (Peter Blake)
Scout the Path
+2 to create advantage with Lore when blazing a trail through the wilderness. (Peter Blake)
Self-Sufficient
You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you are able to find enough food and water for yourself, even in extreme situations (like being dumped in the middle of the desert and separated from all your stuff). This source of opposition is just off the table. (Peter Blake)
New Actions
Advanced Ritualist
(requires Ritualist.) You gain a +2 bonus when you use Lore in place of another skill during a challenge. This allows you to use Lore twice in the same challenge. (Fate Core, p.94)
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Dealing with animals, who don't talk, has given you an excellent grasp of body language. You may use your Lore skill instead of Empathy to defend against attempts to attack or create advantage with Deceive.
Animal Magnetism
It's a bit demeaning to equate seduction to animal training, but in your experience there isn't all that much difference between the two activities. You may use Lore instead of Provoke to seduce people.
Cracker
You may use Lore in place of Burglary to defeat computerised security.
Formal Logic/Master of Riddles
Your intelligence lets you run circles around those you talk to. This may take the form of actual riddles, or perhaps just complex logical arguments. You may use Lore to make attacks that inflict mental stress and to create advantages related to confusing and overaweing people. Such actions can be defended against with Rapport, Lore, or Empathy.
Frontiersmen Have To Improvise
Making stuff out of the things around you is an integral part of wilderness survival. You may use Lore in place of Crafts to build things out of scavenged materials.
Outdoorsman
Your extensive field experience helps you operate in the wild. You may roll Lore instead of Stealth whenever you are in the wilderness, and may also roll Lore instead of Investigate for tracking in those areas.
Pre-Prepared Counterpoint
You’ve heard that argument before, and you know how to defeat it. You may use Lore to defend against Rapport.
Professional Teacher
You may use Lore in place of Rapport to interact with your students.
Ritualist
Use Lore in place of another skill during a challenge, allowing you to use Lore twice in the same challenge. (Fate Core, p.91)
Shield of Reason
You can use Lore as a defense against Provoke attempts, provided you can justify your ability to overcome your fear through rational thought and reason. (Fate Core, p.115)
Theory in Practice
(requires Specialist.) Once per scene you can spend a fate point to use Lore in place of any other skill for one roll. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.25.2)
They're In the Trees
Basic wilderness survival includes a great deal of stealth. You may use Lore in place of Stealth as long as you are outdoors.
Well-Travelled
You may use Lore instead of Rapport when you have visited the homeland or home state of the person you are speaking to. (Peter Blake)
Other
Arcane Expert
Gain a +2 bonus to create an advantage using Lore, whenever the situation has specifically to do with the supernatural or occult. (Fate Core, p.90)
Bletchley's Finest
+2 to overcome with Lore when cracking a code. (Peter Blake)
Dealer in Antiquities
+2 to create advantages with Lore based on the monetary value of archaeological finds. (Peter Blake)
Experimenter
While others are content to read the journals, you have the training and drive to perform cutting-edge research. +2 to Lore whenever you run original scientific experiments or gather original research data.
The Eye Sees All Paths
You may not know everything, but you always know how to find out. When looking for a fairly specific piece of information, you may give the GM a fate point to be told the closest place you can go to find out, no matter how obscure or lost the information is. In short, you can never hit a wall when trying to find something out. There are no guarantees of how easy it will be to get the knowledge, but that’s what adventure is for. (Fate System Toolkit, p.93)
I’ve Read about That!
You’ve read hundreds—if not thousands—of books on a wide variety of topics. You can spend a fate point to use Lore in place of any other skill for one roll or exchange, provided you can justify having read about the action you’re attempting. (Fate Core, p.115)
Keeper of Folklore
+2 to Lore when recalling the history or legends of your people. (Peter Blake)
Legal Eagle
+2 to overcome or create an advantage with Lore, whenever you are finding or exploiting loopholes in the law. (adapted from Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.18.2)
Meteorologist
You are trained as a meteorologist and so you are skilled at weather prediction. +2 to Lore when creating advantages to do with the weather.
World Court
(requires Legal Eagle.) Your exposure to international law is so extensive that you’re at ease in any situation involving legal wrangling, wherever you are. You never suffer any increased difficulty from a lack of familiarity with the laws of your locale; your experience is so broad that you’ve either know it already, or can make highly educated guesses about how it functions. (Spirit of the Century SRD, §6.18.2)