There are ten skills in the current draft of CRE8: Athletics, Brawn, Charisma, Dexterity, Gadgetry, Knowledge, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Wisdom. I'll write later about what kinds of tasks each of them covers, but the first thing to notice is that they are ... rather broad categories! There are dozens more skills in 3.5e, which makes it seem like CRE8 is losing something in specificity compared to its competition.
To fix that, CRE8 lets you specialize your skill use to apply to certain tasks, using a multitude of Talents called "skill tricks." If you have an appropriate skill trick, you can apply a skill to a task; if you don't have a skill trick, you can't even attempt the task at hand.
Just kidding.
Everyone can try anything, but ...
I have no significant background in lockpicking, but if you hand me a paper clip and give me a need to get through a locked door, I can certainly start jamming the paper clip into the lock and trying to unlock it, even if my chances of success are miniscule (i.e., "DM fiat only").
So if you try to pick a lock in CRE8 without having the Lockpicking talent, or track a foe without having the Tracker talent, or identify an Ooze without the Dungeoneer talent, you can roll a die to determine your success. CRE8 penalizes your roll, in this case, in two main ways:
- Capped skill rolls: Your skill check modifier is limited, on a Capped roll, to your Heroic Bonus (i.e. half your character level). Effectively, this means you make your non-Talented skill check using either your applicable Skill, or your Heroic Bonus, whichever is lower.
- Coasting forbidden: Even if you're in a calm, non-stressful environment, sometimes you can't perform a task in a steady, reliable way if you haven't had the proper training. Anyone can use their Athletics skill to climb a rocky cliff (it's not a Capped task), but you can't Coast suck a check unless you've got the Practiced Climber talent. (Note that this is a particularly effective limitation with skill checks that have hazardous results for failing badly, such as climbing.)
Even if a Talent allows you to Coast skill checks for certain tasks, note that it may not allow you to Coast those same skill checks when you are under pressure, such as during combat. Read individual Talent descriptions for details.