I have a question about skill checks and I'm hopeful someone can provide clarity. I'll reference specific page numbers but also try and summarize the check.

GM adventure booklet page 13, 16, 17 etc

There are some skill checks described as TN 2 Command [Fire 1, Air 3]. What does the Fire or Air numeric value mean? Is it a competitive check?

Many other times throughout the book they give a TN, a skill and then different rings with different numbers

On page page 23 of the core rulebook it gives a fairly detailed summary of a check. The GM selects the ring.

What is the number suppose to represent next to the ring value listed throughout the adventure...wouldnt this be determined by the player value listed on their sheet.

Any help would be appreciated.

It means it depends on what ring the character making the check uses.

In your example, TN 2 Command [Fire 1, Air 3] , means it's a TN 3 check when using the Air ring, a TN 1 check using Fire, and a 2 using anything else.

What @JBento said.

Additionally, to clarify:

4 hours ago, Yivrael said:

On page 23 of the core rulebook it gives a fairly detailed summary of a check. The GM selects the ring.

What this means is that the GM selects the ring that goes with the approach the player describes. Any check can be made with any ring. Which ring is used depends on the approach the player chooses, which is another way of saying how the character deals with the challenge set. In the example on p. 23 the player describes her character as going in pursuit in a reckless manner: being reckless corresponds with a Fire approach, so the GM determines the Fire ring is used for the check. Approaches and rings are explained in detail in the book on pages 32-34 and 142 and following.

In practice this really means the player selects the ring, assuming he or she knows what each of the approaches means. If you want to use your Earth ring for a check, you say you are being deliberate or patient or thorough; if you want to use Fire you say you're being reckless or aggressive; and so on.

7 hours ago, nameless ronin said:

What this means is that the GM selects the ring that goes with the approach the player describes. Any check can be made with any ring.

If the player can come up with a logical way (in the situation) that you're using that approach. Which, depending on the outcome they want, may not be the case.

Social interactions are a good example of this - and of varying target numbers.

You can in theory make a social skill check with any ring.

However, sometimes what you're trying to achieve pre-defines an approach; if you're trying to mislead someone without them noticing, and technically without saying anything which isn't arguably true, it's Air. If you're trying to motivate a beaten army for 'one last charge', it's fire.

Equally, demeanours of NPCs will vary the difficulty of approaches because of the personality of the individuals. Taking examples from In The Palace Of The Emerald Champion:

• Ryu is a peasant servant.
  • His demeanour is Shrewd (+2 Air, -2 Fire).
  • This means that trying to trick or deceive him is harder (because he's a smart cookie himself) but just intimidating the poor thing is easy (because he's a peasant and you're a samurai).
• Goro is a Bandit leader
  • His demeanour is Ambitious (+2 Fire, -2 Water)
  • This means that he's much harder to intimidate - he's already a violent criminal so he's less scared of you than most - but trying to talk him into something by playing to his greed and ego is a much better plan.

23 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

However, sometimes what you're trying to achieve pre-defines an approach; if you're trying to mislead someone without them noticing, and technically without saying anything which isn't arguably true, it's Air.

Well... "Trying to mislead someone" is the check; doing it without them noticing and without outright lying is what makes it Air. If you bully them or get them riled up it's arguably Fire, and if you confuse them or seduce them it's probably Water. You're correct in that it's sometimes very hard to find a particular approach for what you're trying to do though, and there's often one or two approaches that are a more natural fit - these would be the ones with a lower TN.

If there's one thing I'd have liked more examples of in the core book it's differentiating TNs for different approaches - in in the modules, a very brief indication of why one approach is harder or easier than another. It's not that I can't make an assessment on my own, but a bit more of an explanation would make it easier and some of the TNs in the modules seem a little arbitrary - if there's a logic behind them, I'd like to know it.

11 minutes ago, nameless ronin said:

If there's one thing I'd have liked more examples of in the core book it's differentiating TNs for different approaches - in in the modules, a very brief indication of why one approach is harder or easier than another. It's not that I can't make an assessment on my own, but a bit more of an explanation would make it easier and some of the TNs in the modules seem a little arbitrary - if there's a logic behind them, I'd like to know it.

Agreed. Varying TNs is one of the main handles which the GM has to control the "just-use-your-best-ring-for-everything" attitude some players have, but the varying TN has to have some connection to "this way is actually easier because" otherwise it's just meaningless fiat. I seem to remember some of the resistance checks for some techniques being rather bizzare TN choices.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I simply had no idea what the value/formula was. If they had provided even a brief description of why the value was lower or higher..or just different then it would have been obvious...at least obvious to me.

4 hours ago, Yivrael said:

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I simply had no idea what the value/formula was. If they had provided even a brief description of why the value was lower or higher..or just different then it would have been obvious...at least obvious to me.

I have little to add to everyone's helpful advice, save for directing you to Page 296 of the core rulebook which explains this exact thing.