Skills

Skills are rated in terms of "Rank" - a numerical rating where a higher value means your character is better at using the Skill in question.

Someone who has just picked up a skill begins at 1 (Familiarity), a Novice is 2. Competence is a 3 or 4. Mastery is 5+. It is theoretically possible to have a Skill Rank as high as 8 but a score higher than 6 is very rare and indicates legendary ability.

During character creation you may take one Skill at Rank 3, two at Rank 2 and three at Rank 1.  

The nine Gateway skills are Athletics, Combat, Influence, Linguist, Lore, Pathfinder, Perception, Stealth and Tinker. The three "Saves" - Agility, Endurance and Resolve are also skills (bringing the total to 12). Magic is a 13th Skill only possessed by characters who have taken the Caster Trait.

For more about how Skills are used refer to the Skill Test page of the Game Mechanics section.

Subskills refer to uses of the Skill that can be improved by acquiring certain Feats. For example, trying to Climb something requires an Athletics test but if you have the Climbing Feat, you automatically succeed if the Difficulty is 9 or less.

Athletics: Test to resolve physical actions. Subskills include Climbing, Jumping, Riding, Running, Strength and Swimming.
Combat: Test to attack or defend.
Influence: Test to resolve social actions. Subskills include Barter, Deceive, Intimidate, Lead, Perform, Persuade and Teach.
Linguist: test to get a sense of what someone speaking a language you don’t know is saying. Feats give you command of specific languages and the ability to speak and understand them without testing.
Lore: Test to see if you know something. Subskills include Appraisal, Arcana, History, Legends, Medicine, Religion, Strategy and Streetwise.
Pathfinder: Test for outdoor/ranger stuff. Subskills include Beastmastery, Cartograohy, Guide, Nature, Scout, Survival and Tracking.
Perception: Subskills include Awareness, Insight, Notice, Search, Sense and Wake.
Stealth: Subskills include Conceal, Skulk (move without being seen), Sleight and Sneak (move without being heard).
Tinker: test to disarm traps, open locks and for mechanical stuff like building and repairing things.

The following 3 skills are “saves” so are always tested as a reaction to something - never as an action.

Agility: used like a Dex save
Endurance: used like a Con save
Resolve: an expression of willpower - used like a Wis save