Finding uses for PC skills

Dirigible

Explorer
Greetings, my wise and rat-bastardly brethren.

Can anyone give any suggestions for uses for some of the secondary (ie, not adventure-related) skills of a PC? He’s a rake, a duelist, a former monster hunter, a former revolutionary, and currently an apprentice physician / murder-mystery-solver. The setting is a magicified Europe around the early 1800’s, specificially London.

It’s not d20, but the skill names should be pretty self explanatory still.

Dancing: (this is not so esoteric as it sounds. the PC is perhaps the finest dancer in Europe, and his aptitude with this skill was the trigger for the very first adventure. his skill has reached a level where he has ‘masterclassed’ it, gaining a semi-supernatural ability associated with it; he has saved a woman from a vampire’s enthrallment and warded a Cypriot village from demons with his arcane dances.)
* The second finest dancer in Europe comes a-calling, envious and insubordinate. A Royal Ball becomes the scene of an impromptu and unofficial dance competetion as they attempt to outdo each other. The rival could become a reoccuring character, showing up in they employ of various villains and trying to worm out the PC’s secrets and weaknesses.
Stealth:
* Sneak into an ambassador or official’s office during a party to busy work day and snaffle an important communique.
* Get past the mob of rough lads lurking outside a pub where the PC wants to meet a contact.
Occultism:
* The PC is attmepting to inflitrate a club of bored, idle young aristocrats who fancy themselves devil-worshippers. The PC, with his greater and first-hand experience with the supernatural may be able to stage a coup d’ etat of wits and take over the club.
Fine Art:
* There are two copies of Raphael’s La Donna Velata hanging in a gallery; a genuine and a forgery. The forgery has a message or map written on on the back in segments, so it must be cut up and reassembled. The forgery is imperfect, however. After breaking or bluffing into the gallery, the PC has only a few unobserved moments to determine which is the forgery and retrieve the missive. “Aha! There are only ten stones visible on her necklace! This is the fake! Riiiiiip!".
* The PC must butter up a political potentate who is an amature painter with a vastly overinflated view of his talents. Flattering his ‘art’ is the obvious tactic, but the catch is the man is well-educated, so the flattery must be likewise informed... “What? You compare my masterpiece to the syphilitic scrawlings of that hack Titian? Imbecile! My style is clearly more reminiscent of Rubens, you buffoon!”
* Hanging in someones office is a copy of Durer’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. An examination reveals that his eyes are not looking where they should be... and following his gaze, it shows the location of a secret safe in the opposite wall.
Literature:
?
Accountancy:
?
Shiphandling:
?

Any other GM’s who have PC’s with skills they want ideas for? Speak up! let the mighty jar-brains of ENworld do their best!
 
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Dancing: Strictly Ballroom
Literature: The PC must decipher a coded message which uses a semi-famous text as a key.
Accounting: Detection of embezzlement and tracing of money-laundering could provide important clues.
Shiphandling: The PC is the only one who can take command of a ship on which the party is traveling, after a serious accident kills most of the officers, or when the crew mutiny in shoal-littered waters and take off in the lifeboats.
 

As the finest dancer about, this means the character will be the object of desire by all nobles. The shear offers that the PC will recieve for parties, lunches and request for teaching will be high. This means the skill could be used with gather information for contacts or such. It opens doors.

Sealth - well the PC has the body and the fame of a dancer, now the skill to avoid being seen by others at those parties. Call it a graceful exit.

Occultism - Reading of palms, the stars, knowledge of devils and deamons, horoscope and weejee (sp) boards. Social functions.

Literature - the ability to reconize and quote passages.

Accountancy - Follow the money, books and book-keeping. Investments, taxes, laws.

Shiphandling - Sailing on a lake, the command of a ship, harbor pilot, to control of a condella (sp).



Overall all the skills together make for a social animal, and looks to be noblish or merchant, think Marco Polo.
 
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Homebrewed, Jeph.

All the ideas you've shared so far have been thought provoking, but this...

As the finest dancer about, this means the character will be the object of desire by all nobles....
... I can't believe I overlooked this idea! Once his reputation gets out, he'll become a piece in the endless jockeying for position. Every noble will want himf or thier events (well, the women will, anyway... the men won't want him within one hundred miles... did I mention he has pretty high Seduction, too? :evil:). That means someone is bound to get snubbed... that means trouble.

The accountancy ideas are handy, too... I've been looking for a way to involve an evil, lycanthropic aristocrat left over form a previous campaign arc... some crooked business dealings might be the a good clue.

Thanks, guys... and anyone else in need of similar inspiration, go ahead.
 

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