Skills have two components: Rating and Dice. The Rating is the actual representation of how skilled the character is, and ranges from 1 to 10. The Dice is the number of dice rolled for the Skill, and increases based on the Rating. Some circumstances or special abilities may grant extra Dice, but in general the Dice is determined by the Rating, and is only recorded as a matter of convenience. As may be noticed, at lower levels of Skill, Attributes play a much more important role, but greater Skill quickly overwhelms an opponent with better Attributes. The number of Skill Dice for each Rating is given in table 1.2.
As each Skill is usually based on two Attributes added together, the Skill Base is also recorded. This allows a quick tally of all the necessary numbers when making a Skill Roll.