How Skill Checks work in Sovereign Syndicate

The addition of tarot cards to represent character traits is an innovative idea that works well with a steampunk 19th century city of London. However, learning a new system can be challenging, so here is a guide on how skill checks work in Sovereign Syndicate.

What are Minor Arcana cards in Sovereign Syndicate?

The game switches narrative between three characters: Atticus, Clara, and Teddy. Each of them has a different set of four skills, each skill related to a minor arcana deck (seen in the image).

These decks are what decide the outcome of your skill checks. You have the four decks of cards, and you draw a card from one of them when you attempt a skill check related to that ability.

For Clara, for example, attempting an Intuition skill check will have her drawing a card from the swords yellow deck. Likewise, Atticus would draw from the same yellow deck when he listens to his Animal Instinct skill, and Teddy will do so when follows his Impulse.

Skill checks explained

Each deck of cards has 16 cards: numbers from 1 to 14, plus one critical success card called The World, and a critical failure card called The Fool. The number from the drawn card is added to the skill of the character and the total is compared to the Difficulty of the Skill Check, having success on a tie or higher. (This is all depicted in the image at the top of this guide.)

Drawing The World is a certain success, and drawing The Fool always means failure. It is important to know that decks are only reshuffled after you draw The World or The Fool, so whichever numbers you draw are discarded and not available in successive checks until you hit a critical success or a critical failure. Only then the deck is reset.

Why do my skill checks fail?

In some occasions, a successful skill check may still result in a negative outcome. This is because some decisions are inherently bad, and succeeding at the check just mitigates the damage.

Failing at the same check would have had an even worse output, such as when Atticus tries to resist the Masked Stranger in the alley: if he succeeds, he still takes some hit to his Hope points, but if he failed, he would have suffered even more.

The same goes for some skill checks where you can fail, but still get through the obstacle. That's because the design of Sovereign Syndicate is based in the concept of Failing Forward.

This means failing at a particular skill check does not have to mean complete failure, but rather paying a higher price for the same action. An example is when Atticus tries to break the padlock that leads to the warehouse: he can still do so with a failed check but will hurt his hand in doing so.

Related: Official Major Arcana Card Unlock Guide – Sovereign Syndicate

What are Major Arcana cards in Sovereign Syndicate?

There are 20 tarot cards in the game which represent character traits, such as The Tower making your character Insightful, The Emperor making them Stubborn, or The Wheel of Fortune making them Retrospective.

These character traits unlock unique dialogue lines that may reveal new side quests, or could give new interactions with objects, or help extract more information from certain NPCs.

From these 20 cards, each character begins the game with one (which one depends on the Archetype you chose for them), and they can unlock more as they succeed certain scripted skill checks.

For example, making Clara threaten Greenstreet twice will give her the card Justice which makes her Vengeful; succeeding Atticus' attempt to recall the cantrip from his opium dream will unlock the card The High Priestess and give him the trait Illusionist; or having Teddy look at his bookshelves and decide it may be time to lend them to other people will give him the trait Insightful.

In some cases, the cards unlocked in dialogue could change depending on which Archetype you chose; since there are four cards that are available to you at the start, the reward may change to give you a tarot card that you don't already have.

As a final note, cards are unique, which means a card obtained by one character becomes unattainable for the rest.

For more on Sovereign Syndicate, check out Sovereign Syndicate Chapter 2 Walkthrough here on Pro Game Guides.