Mettle: Talents and Skills

I think all actions (ignoring spell-casting for the moment) within an adventure game can be categorized as follows:

Melee (fighting with striking weapons or unarmed)
Marksmanship (throwing and shooting)
Subterfuge (lock-picking, pocket-picking, hiding and detecting hidden things, disarming traps, etc.)
Survival (tracking, foraging, navigation - outdoor survival skills)
Communication (languages, diplomacy, lying, intimidation, persuasion, haggling, etc.)

I will call these generalized skills "Talents". A Talent check is a 4x check: roll 1d6, multiply by 4, compare to related Trait plus Talent bonus.

If a player or GM wishes to create or develop a specialized skill, no problem. The specialized skill (Skill) is a 3x check: roll 1d6, multiply by 3, compare to related Trait plus Skill bonus. Learning or improving a Talent or Skill costs the same amount of XP but a Talent is a 4x check where a Skill is 3x check. Neither Talents nor Skills may be improved past +4.

Some examples...

A character named Bill has Subterfuge+3 but wishes to specialize in Traps. He spends XP and gains Traps+1. His Subterfuge bonus no longer applies when dealing with traps.

If Ted did not have the Subterfuge Talent but wanted to learn how to detect/disarm traps, no problem. He spends XP and gains Traps+1. If Ted later decides to pickup the Subterfuge Talent, no problem. He spends XP and gains Subterfuge+1.

Both Bill and Ted must meet someone willing to teach them their new Skill. However, Talents may be self-taught.

a vertical cavern-crawl map

(potentially for use with my Death Maze / Citadel of Blood inspired game called MoBaD - Maze of Blood and Death)