Salt & Steel: The Skill Atlas

Document Type: Design — Progression Systems
Status: Draft v1.0
Last Updated: 2026-04-24
See Also: Classes and Ascendancies | Attributes and Stats | Leveling and Progression | GURPS Adaptation Research

Overview

The Skill Atlas is Salt & Steel's primary character progression surface — a navigable map of over 1,500 nodes representing the full breadth of GURPS character development, visualized as an ancient nautical chart. Where Path of Exile's passive tree resembles a star map, the Skill Atlas resembles what it is: the accumulated knowledge of a thousand voyages, drawn on aged paper, annotated in multiple hands, with new coastlines being discovered at the edges and old routes being reconsidered every time someone returns with better information.

Spending Skill Points on the Atlas is not filling in a grid. It is exploring — pushing outward from known waters into new territory, claiming nodes as waypoints, building routes between regions, and occasionally finding something at a crossroads that changes everything about the journey. Every character is charting their own unique course through the same ocean.

The GURPS Point-Buy Foundation

The Skill Atlas is the visual, spatial implementation of GURPS's point-buy system. Every node on the Atlas corresponds to a specific GURPS point investment with a defined cost, effect, and prerequisite chain. The GURPS costs are preserved as node costs — the point cost of reaching and allocating a node corresponds to its GURPS mechanical weight:

Atlas Cost	GURPS Equivalent	Examples
1 Skill Point	1–2 GURPS pts	+1 HP, minor skill fraction
2 Skill Points	2–4 GURPS pts	+1 skill level (Easy), small stat bonus
3 Skill Points	4–8 GURPS pts	+1 skill level (Hard), technique mastery
4 Skill Points	8–12 GURPS pts	Named advantage component, notable passive
6–8 Skill Points	15–25 GURPS pts	Full minor advantage (Combat Reflexes, etc.)
10–15 Skill Points	25–45 GURPS pts	Major advantage keystone (Weapon Master, Extra Attack)

This scaling creates the same "diminishing returns at high skill levels" that GURPS's bell curve produces: the first points in a region buy significant, immediate power; pushing to the extreme edge of a region's mastery becomes increasingly expensive with increasingly marginal probabilistic gains.

Visual Identity: The Nautical Chart

How the Atlas Looks

The Skill Atlas appears in-game as a massive nautical chart, rendered in the Josh Kirby visual language: aged parchment with visible fibrous texture, hand-drawn coastlines in ink that has faded unevenly, depth soundings marked in tiny numerals, wind roses at the cardinal points, and — at the unexplored edges — the cartographer's traditional marginalia: Here There Be Dragons.

Unallocated nodes appear as locations on the chart that have not yet been visited — unlabeled bays, coastline sections without depth readings, unnamed islands sketched in pencil awaiting confirmation. Allocated nodes are rendered as if you have been there: ink becomes bolder, labels appear, your personal notation system (established through your play) populates the margins.

Compass roses mark the major regions. The chart's center bears the same format as the real historical maps of the Age of Sail — decorative cartouches, sea monster illustrations swimming in the deep-water zones between regions, trade wind arrows, and the particular grandiosity of a document that represents someone's entire understanding of the world.

Players navigate the Atlas using a free-camera view that can zoom from "full chart" (seeing all five regions and their approximate relationships) to "harbor detail" (individual nodes visible with their full descriptions, connection lines clear, and hovering over any node showing a tooltip with GURPS mechanical translation).

The search function operates as a "chart index" — a weathered ledger at the side of the screen that the player types into, returning matching node names, regions, and effects. Results highlight on the chart rather than navigating to them — the player sees where the node is, which is as important as what it does.

Path planning: players can mark a planned path to a distant node using a "charting" tool — the planned path appears as a dotted line on the chart, showing the number of Skill Points the route will cost. This is the Atlas's in-game equivalent of Path of Building's path planning.

Atlas Structure

Five Major Regions

The Atlas is organized around five major regions, each a distinct geographic zone on the nautical chart. Regions are not isolated — they connect via cross-training corridors (narrow channel routes between regions that contain hybrid nodes).

                    TIDE CALLER'S CIRCLE (IQ/Magic)
                          [North-center]
                         /              \
                        /                \
        CROW'S NEST               MERCHANT'S TONGUE
      (DX/Precision)              (Social/Leadership)
        [Northeast]                  [Northwest]
             \                           /
              \                         /
               +--- ATLAS CENTER ------+
                   (Secondary Stats)
              /                         \
             /                           \
         BLADE COAST                SURVIVAL SHOAL
        (ST/Combat)                (HT/Survival/Sea)
         [Southwest]                  [Southeast]
                         \              /
                          \            /
                           +----------+
                              (deep cross-routes)

Class Starting Positions:

Buccaneer: Southwest, deep in Blade Coast
Corsair: Northeast, deep in Crow's Nest
Navigator: North-center, deep in Tide Caller's Circle
Mariner: Southeast, deep in Survival Shoal
Privateer: West-center, between Blade Coast and Crow's Nest
Mystic: East-center, between Tide Caller's Circle and Survival Shoal

The Atlas Center contains the most expensive and universally valuable nodes — the secondary stat upgrades (HP, FP, Will, Per, Basic Speed) that every build wants but that require significant investment from any starting position to reach. This is the "common ground" of Salt & Steel builds.

Region 1: The Blade Coast

Combat skills — melee, ranged, martial arts, maneuvers, active defenses

The Blade Coast is the Atlas's most complex region, containing combat mechanics for every weapon type, fighting style, and tactical approach. It is divided into five sub-regions (capes) that branch out from a central Combat Harbor:

The Combat Harbor (Region Core)

The central node cluster of the Blade Coast contains skills and nodes relevant to all combat:

Brawling-Easy chain (1pt → 2pt → 3pt): Fist damage and grappling foundation
Fast-Draw nodes: Reducing weapon draw time (important for the pistol-combat timing loop)
Tactics (Hard): Seeing enemy patrol patterns, bonus to surprise roll
Combat Reflexes Keystone (8 pts): Cannot be surprised; +1 all active defenses; +6 to Fast-Draw
Basic Speed upgrade nodes (bridge to Atlas Center)

Cape Cutlass (Melee Sub-Region)

The largest melee cluster, organized by weapon type. The GURPS weapon skill tree is implemented here:

Melee Skill Chains:

Broadsword (A): 1pt(skill 9) → 2pt(+1) → 2pt(+1) → 4pt(+1) → 4pt(+1) → 8pt(+1)
Each level is 1 skill point above IQ/DX base; Landmark at Broadsword-15, Broadsword-18
Rapier (A): Same chain, different branching Landmarks
Knife (E): Cheaper chain; branches to Main-Gauche and Thrown Weapon
Two-Handed Sword (A): Requires 4 pts in Broadsword chain first
Brawling → Boxing → Karate chain
Staff → Spear → Polearm progression
Shield (E): Block enhancement chain

Landmark Nodes (Cape Cutlass examples):

Cutlass Mastery (4 pts): Blade weapons you use treat the target's DR as 1 lower. Your cutting attacks cause Bleeding on any roll of 3 or less under your attack skill.
Riposte (3 pts, requires Broadsword-13): After a successful Parry, attack skill is treated as 2 higher for your next strike against that enemy.
Dual-Weapon Technique (3 pts, requires Ambidexterity Keystone): Dual-weapon attacks no longer suffer the normal −2 penalty per weapon.
Boarding Axe Specialist (4 pts): Your Boarding Axe attacks can strike both Cutting and Impaling in the same swing — alternating on each consecutive hit.

Compass Rose Keystones (Cape Cutlass):

Blade Saint (15 pts — GURPS Weapon Master, Blades): All blade weapon Parry values calculated at ½ skill + 3 + 1 (instead of ½ + 3). Blade skill advancement costs halved for levels above 14. Critical success range expanded: crits at skill − 9 instead of skill − 10.
Trained by a Master (12 pts): Unlocks Techniques sub-menu — special attacks normally restricted (Aggressive Parry, Targeted Attack to specific locations, Arm Lock). Each Technique is a separate small node (1–3 pts each).

Cape Pistol (Ranged Sub-Region)

Firearms, thrown weapons, and ranged tactics:

Ranged Skill Chains:

Guns(Pistol) (E): Primary ranged combat chain
Guns(Longarm) (E): Musket and long-range chain
Guns(Artillery) (A): Naval cannon and heavy weapons — expensive, branches to Naval Gunnery
Thrown Weapon (Knife, E): Knife-throwing chain that connects Cape Pistol to Cape Cutlass
Thrown Weapon (Explosive) (A): Grenado and bomb throwing

Landmark Nodes (Cape Pistol examples):

Dead Aim (3 pts): Taking 2+ seconds to aim grants +2 Acc (normally +1 per second). Maximum aiming bonus increased by 1.
Hip Fire (2 pts): The penalty for firing without aiming is reduced from −4 to −2. At Guns(Pistol)-14+, firing from hip has no penalty.
Suppression Fire (4 pts): Fire a burst pattern (3 shots, costs 3 FP) in a cone. Each target in the cone must make a Will roll or take −2 to their next action (suppression).
Powder Monkey (2 pts): Reload time for flintlock weapons reduced by 3 seconds. At Guns(Pistol)-15+, reload is reduced by 5 seconds total.

Compass Rose Keystones (Cape Pistol):

Dead Eye (10 pts — GURPS Gunslinger): No accuracy penalty for firing while moving. No turns required to gain Acc bonus. Reload time halved across all firearms. Misfires (Malfunction rolls) reduced by 2.
Eagle Eye (8 pts — GURPS Targeting): Range penalties to all ranged attacks halved. Can target specific hit locations on enemies at ranged (normally only adjacent).

Cape Parry (Defense Sub-Region)

Active defense enhancement — the most universally valuable sub-region in the Blade Coast:

Defense Enhancement Chains:

Enhanced Dodge 1 (6 pts — GURPS 15 pts): +1 Dodge
Enhanced Dodge 2 (6 pts): +1 Dodge (total +2)
Enhanced Dodge 3 (6 pts): +1 Dodge (total +3)
Enhanced Parry (Specific Weapon) 1 (3 pts — GURPS 5 pts): +1 Parry with one weapon
Enhanced Parry (All Weapons) 1 (5 pts — GURPS 10 pts): +1 Parry with all weapons
Enhanced Block 1 (3 pts — GURPS 5 pts): +1 Block

Landmark Nodes (Cape Parry examples):

Defensive Stance (3 pts): While using All-Out Defense maneuver, gain +3 instead of +2 to active defense rolls.
Parry Chain (4 pts): After a successful Parry against a melee attack, you may attempt an immediate Parry against the attacker's next melee strike without using your active defense for the turn (once per turn, in addition to your normal defense).
Shield Wall (3 pts, requires Shield-12): If an adjacent ally is attacked while you have a shield equipped, you may use your Block to defend them at no additional cost.

Compass Rose Keystones (Cape Parry):

Untouchable (18 pts — requires Enhanced Dodge 2 + Enhanced Parry Any 1): Your total active defense values may exceed the normal maximum of 10. However, while this keystone is allocated, you cannot use All-Out Attack maneuvers — the constant defensive posture precludes full commitment to offense.
Danger Sense (8 pts — GURPS Advantage, 15 pts): A 3-second warning before all ambush attacks. The first attack in every combat encounter, if made by an enemy you were not aware of, still allows your full active defense rather than being denied defense. Perception-based warning icon appears on screen.

Cape Boarding (Grappling and Close Combat Sub-Region)

Boarding, wrestling, and the brutal close-quarters tradition:

Notable Nodes:

Wrestling chain (ties to ST advantage on grapple rolls)
Judo (allows throws — enemy displaced to new position + prone)
Grapple Techniques: Choke (pin to reduce FP), Joint Lock (disarm), Throw
Boarding Specialist Landmark (4 pts): While on an enemy ship (boarding context), all your melee attacks deal +2 damage and your Dodge uses DX+HT/4+4 instead of Basic Speed.

Compass Rose Keystone:

Irongrip (8 pts): Grapple contests use ST × 1.5 (rounded down) for you. A grappled enemy has their active defense reduced to 0 (cannot Dodge or Parry while you have them grappled, only Break Free). You can maintain a grapple while attacking with a free hand.

Region 2: The Crow's Nest

DX and perception skills — accuracy, awareness, acrobatics, ship handling, stealth

The Crow's Nest is named for the ship's lookout position — the highest point, with the widest view, where the first and clearest vision of anything approaching originates. This region's nodes sharpen the character's awareness, precision, and physical coordination.

The Lookout Platform (Region Core)

Seamanship (E): Ship handling, rigging knowledge — gateway to naval-specific nodes
Navigation(Sea) (A, IQ-based): Chart reading, dead reckoning, celestial navigation
Meteorology (A): Weather prediction (14-day forecast mechanic, warning of storms)
Boatswain (A): Crew management, rigging efficiency, reduces ship action costs
Per upgrade nodes (5 pts/level above IQ base)

The Acrobat's Run (Agility Sub-Region)

Physical coordination and movement mastery:

Acrobatics (H, DX-base): Jumping, rolling, ship-deck movement without penalty
Climbing (A): Scaling rigging, cliff faces, boarding from below
Swimming (E): Open-water combat, diving approach
Perfect Balance Landmark (8 pts — GURPS 15 pts): Immune to knockback from environment (ship roll, cannon blast). +4 Acrobatics. Never falls from unstable surfaces without a deliberate push.

Compass Rose Keystone:

Sea Legs (10 pts): Ship movement penalties (rough sea, rolling deck, boarding) do not affect your combat performance. You treat any deck or ship surface as solid ground. +2 to all physical skill rolls made on watercraft.

The Tracker's Thicket (Awareness Sub-Region)

Perception, stealth, and detection:

Stealth (A): Movement without detection, combat positioning
Tracking (A): Following prey, identifying trap locations by ground signs
Observation (A): Detail detection — finding specific objects, reading scenes
Hidden Lore(Pirate) (A): Black-market contacts, code languages, pirate fraternity knowledge
Perception upgrade chain (from Atlas Center connection)

Landmark Nodes:

Treasure Sense (4 pts): Proximity indicator for buried/hidden treasure activates at 25m (base 10m). Activates for items in containers (chests, barrels) the player hasn't opened.
Ambush Awareness (3 pts, requires Observation-12): Automatic Perception roll when entering any room/zone to detect ambush positions. On success, enemy positions visible through walls for 3 seconds.
Shadow Step Approach (4 pts): While in Stealth and moving, your movement speed is not reduced (normally stealth requires slow movement). You can Stealth-sprint at full Move.

Compass Rose Keystone:

Photographic Memory (8 pts — GURPS Eidetic Memory): All nautical charts you visit are permanently fully revealed (no fog of war on return visits). All NPC names and conversation details are retained (relevant dialogue options always available). +4 to all rolls that involve remembering something previously encountered.

The Helmsman's Wheel (Naval Handling Sub-Region)

Ship-specific skill nodes connecting Crow's Nest to naval combat systems:

Sailing (A): Active ship control — emergency maneuvers, ramming, narrow passages
Navigation(Sea) advanced nodes: Celestial navigation, current reading, chart cartography
Knot-Tying (E): Rigging repair, capture/restraint, boarding hook deployment
Ship Handling Landmarks: Specific maneuvers (Controlled Drift, Ram-and-Board, Emergency Heave-To)

Compass Rose Keystone:

Master Mariner (12 pts — Wildcard: Sailor!): All seamanship-related skills (Navigation, Sailing, Knot-Tying, Boatswain, Meteorology, Rowing) are treated as a single Wildcard skill at your highest single Seamanship skill level. Every separate investment point spent in any of these skills contributes to the shared pool.

Region 3: The Tide Caller's Circle

IQ and magical skills — sorcery, navigation, crafting, curse lore, knowledge

The Tide Caller's Circle is the most complex and internally structured region on the Atlas. It mirrors GURPS Magic's college system, with individual spell colleges forming sub-clusters connected by prerequisite chains. Unlike other regions where the player moves freely, the Circle has a mandatory direction of travel — prerequisite spells must be purchased before advanced spells.

The Archive (Region Core)

The scholarly foundation of all magical and knowledge skills:

Occultism (A): Identifying magical items, curse lore, ritual requirements
Thaumatology (VH): The deepest magical theory — prerequisite for advanced spell colleges
Cartography (A): Chart-making, hidden routes, improved map detail
Natural Philosophy (A): Biology, chemistry, physics — crafting and trap-identification applications
Magery Nodes (varies): Purchasing Magery 1, 2, 3 as prerequisite for high-level spells

Core Mechanic Note: All spells in the Tide Caller's Circle are GURPS Magic spells — IQ-based skills with difficulty ratings and FP costs. Their node costs on the Atlas directly correspond to their GURPS point costs (Hard spells cost more to advance than Easy spells).

The Water College (Offensive Aquatic Magic)

The primary offensive magic tree, richest in pirate-relevant content:

Prerequisite Chain (simplified for ARPG): Seek Water → Create Water → Purify Water → Shape Water → Walk on Water → Ice Daggers → Freeze → Ice Sphere → Iceberg → Landmark: Tidal Wave → Keystone: Drowned World

Landmark: Tidal Wave (6 pts, requires Shape Water-14): Summon a wave in a 15m cone in front of you. All enemies in the cone take 3d crushing damage and are knocked prone (HT roll to resist). Costs 8 FP. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Keystone: Drowned World (12 pts, requires Tidal Wave Landmark): You can declare a 20m radius zone as "Drowned Water" for 20 seconds — the zone fills with supernatural sea water that slows all movement by 50%, costs enemies 1 FP per second, and allows you to summon Water College spells at −2 FP cost while within the zone. Requires a moment of stillness (2 seconds) to initiate.

The Air College (Storm and Wind Magic)

Control weather, summon winds, and deploy electrical attacks:

Prerequisite Chain: Create Air → Purify Air → Seek Air → Windstorm (minor) → Lightning → Spark Cloud → Shocking Touch → Ball of Lightning → Landmark: Hurricane Gust → Keystone: Thunderclap

Landmark: Hurricane Gust (5 pts): A 30m-range blast of wind that deals 2d crushing + knockback (5m displacement on failed HT roll). Can be used to push enemies off ship decks into water. Costs 5 FP.

Keystone: Thunderclap (10 pts): Calls a bolt of lightning from above at any visible point within 40m. Deals 4d burning to primary target (bypasses DR from armor — lightning finds gaps). All enemies within 3m of strike take 2d burning electrical damage. Costs 10 FP. Cooldown: 90 seconds. In storm conditions: cooldown 45 seconds.

The Necromancy College (Undead and Death Magic)

For the Navigator and Mystic archetypes specifically; also accessible to any class willing to invest:

Prerequisite Chain: Death Vision → Sense Life → Sense Death → Summon Spirit → Control Zombie → Animate Dead → Landmark: Undead Legion → Keystone: Ghost Ship Captain

Keystone: Ghost Ship Captain (12 pts): You can permanently bind one defeated sea captain as a Ghost Navigator — a spectral crew member that cannot be killed by normal means, provides navigation bonuses, and once per combat can possess an enemy crew member (forcing them to fight for your side for 10 seconds). The Ghost Navigator's GURPS stats are preserved from the enemy captain who was defeated and bound.

The Crafting Atelier (Non-Combat Knowledge)

Connecting magical knowledge to material creation:

Armoury (A): Weapon and armor maintenance and crafting
Alchemy (A): Potions, poisons, alchemical fire compounds
Shipwright (A): Ship repair, upgrade assistance, identifying vessel weaknesses
Enchanting (VH, requires Thaumatology-14): Placing magical properties on items (connects to the Item and Crafting system)

Landmark: Master Enchanter (8 pts): Enchanted items you create have 50% increased effect duration. You can attempt to re-roll an item's magical property (like crafting rerolls in PoE) using the Enchanting skill — success on 3d6 vs. Enchanting changes the property; failure leaves it unchanged.

Region 4: The Merchant's Tongue

Social skills — diplomacy, intimidation, leadership, trading, carousing, faction reputation

The Merchant's Tongue is the game's social skill region — the Atlas area that separates Salt & Steel most dramatically from conventional ARPGs. Characters who invest here are not sacrificing combat power for flavor; they are accessing entirely different gameplay modes: different quest content, better prices, loyal crew, faction-exclusive missions, and intelligence that makes combat encounters easier before they begin.

The Harbormaster's Office (Region Core)

Universal social foundations:

Savoir-Faire (Pirate) (E): Basic pirate culture knowledge — reduces reaction penalties with pirate factions by 1. Gateway to the Merchant's Tongue from any starting position.
Carousing (E): Social bonding through shared drink — gaining contacts, rumors, crew loyalty
Streetwise (A): Criminal network access, black-market pricing, safe houses
Merchant (A): Trade pricing, cargo value assessment, negotiation foundation

The Captain's Table (Leadership Sub-Region)

Leadership and crew management:

Leadership (A): Commanding crew effectively in crisis situations
Strategy (H): Pre-combat tactical planning (bonus on first combat round)
Tactics (H): In-combat positioning and reaction bonuses
Public Speaking (A): Addressing large groups, inspiring massed crew, surrender demand

Landmark Nodes:

Crew Loyalty Bonus (3 pts): Your crew's morale modifier for all actions increases by +2. Crew NPCs are 25% less likely to desert in crisis conditions.
Tactical Briefing (4 pts, requires Tactics-12): Once per combat, you can study the battlefield for 3 seconds and mark one enemy as a Tactical Priority — all allied attacks against that enemy deal +3 damage.
Inspirational Leader (4 pts, requires Leadership-14): Your Leadership rolls can recover crew morale during combat (not just between fights). On a success, all crew within 15m gain +1 to all rolls for 10 seconds.

Compass Rose Keystone:

Infamous Captain (10 pts): Permanent Reputation +4 with all pirate factions; permanent −4 with all naval/merchant/imperial factions. This is a permanent structural social change — not a campaign boost. It closes doors and opens others. You cannot take this Keystone if you have Reputation nodes invested in imperial factions.

The Trade House (Economics Sub-Region)

Commerce, negotiation, and information:

Fast-Talk (A): Rapid persuasion — short-term social wins at risk of later discovery
Diplomacy (H): Careful negotiation — lasting agreements, faction standing improvement
Interrogation (A): Extracting information from unwilling sources
Intelligence Analysis (A): Understanding gathered information — connecting rumors to actual threats
Intimidation (A, uses higher of Will or ST): Fear-based social control

Landmark: Fence Network (4 pts, requires Merchant-13 + Streetwise-11): You have contacts at every major port who will buy stolen goods at 80% of market value (base is 40%). Once per voyage zone, you can get advance intelligence on a specific port's prices before arriving.

Compass Rose Keystone:

The Voice (10 pts — GURPS Voice + Charisma 3): Your voice is unnaturally compelling. All social skill rolls (any skill that involves verbal communication) are made at +2. NPCs who fail a Will roll when you speak to them become predisposed to agree with you for the duration of the conversation. Enemy crew who hear you speak must pass a Will roll or hesitate for 2 seconds before attacking.

The Faction Embassy (Faction-Specific Nodes)

Each major faction has a dedicated node cluster accessible only to characters with sufficient Reaction Score with that faction:

Pirate Brethren Embassy (requires Reaction +2 with Pirate Brethren): Nodes providing crew recruitment bonuses, black market access, pirate code mechanical advantages
Naval Commission Office (requires Reaction +2 with Naval Powers): Nodes providing privateering income, safe harbor access, naval intelligence
Voodoo Network Access (requires Reaction +2 with Voodoo Faction): Nodes providing curse-related bonuses, supernatural information, unique ritual access
Merchant Guild Registry (requires Reaction +2 with Merchant Guilds): Price reduction nodes, trade intelligence, cargo protection

Region 5: The Survival Shoal

HT and survival skills — health, resistance, seamanship, endurance, First Aid, wilderness

The Survival Shoal is the Atlas's endurance and resilience region — the nodes that make characters harder to kill, better at recovering from adversity, and capable of sustained performance in the inhospitable conditions of the sea.

The Surgeon's Bay (Region Core)

Health and recovery foundation:

First Aid (E): Emergency HP recovery, stabilizing dying allies
Surgery (VH, requires First Aid-14): Full medical treatment, removing crippling injuries
Physician (H): Disease treatment, poison identification and treatment
HP upgrade chain (2 pts/HP — most efficient HP investment on the Atlas)
FP upgrade chain (3 pts/FP — efficient FP investment)

The Seasoned Sailor's Route (HT and Endurance Sub-Region)

Experience-based resilience:

HT upgrade nodes (connects to Atlas Center)
Fit Advantage nodes (3 pts each, 3 levels): Each level provides +1 FP and accelerates FP recovery by 20%
Rapid Healing (3 pts — GURPS 5 pts): Natural HP recovery speed doubled. Wounds that would take 2 days to heal take 1 day.
High Pain Threshold (6 pts — GURPS 10 pts): Injury penalties to all rolls eliminated until at ≤ −HP. No stun from non-critical hits.

Landmark Nodes:

Scurvy Resistance (2 pts): Immune to nutritional depletion effects on long voyages. You do not need to eat or drink during combat (relevant for very long encounters).
Pressure Immunity (3 pts): Diving pressure does not apply. You can operate at any underwater depth without penalty. Maximum breath-hold time doubled.
Poison Resistance (4 pts): All Toxic damage types deal 50% less damage to you. Poison status effects halved in duration.

Compass Rose Keystone:

Immortal Sailor (12 pts): You cannot die from a single hit regardless of damage (the "Unyielding" effect — the hit that would have killed you instead brings you to 1 HP once per 90 seconds). Your HT rolls for death and consciousness are made at +6. You recover from the Incapacitated state in 3 seconds rather than the normal time.

The Survival Camp (Wilderness and Sea Survival Sub-Region)

Navigation, hunting, and environmental mastery:

Survival(Sea) (A): Open water survival, navigating without a chart, emergency fishing
Fishing (E): Food acquisition, survival resource generation
Tracking (A, also in Crow's Nest): Finding prey, identifying threats from environmental signs
Naturalist (H): Understanding sea ecology — identifies creature behavior patterns, weak points

Landmark: Sea Knowledge (4 pts, requires Survival(Sea)-14 + Naturalist-12): Creature attack patterns are visible 2 seconds before execution (a distinctive movement tell highlighted by the UI). This is distinct from Danger Sense (which warns of ambush) — Sea Knowledge shows you what the creature is going to do during normal combat, not that it exists.

The Storm Crew's Berth (Extreme Endurance Sub-Region)

The deep endurance content of the Survival Shoal:

Seamanship(Extreme Weather) Technique: No penalty for operating a ship in storm conditions
Climbing(Rigging) Technique: Full climbing speed on a ship's rigging at no penalty
Swimming(Open Ocean) Technique: Extended swimming without FP cost
Will upgrade chain (5 pts/level)

Compass Rose Keystone:

Davy Jones' Nerve (8 pts — GURPS Fearlessness 3 + Horror rules): Immune to Dread accumulation (the supernatural fear mechanic). Automatic success on all Fright Checks (no roll needed — you simply do not scare). Enemy morale-breaking abilities have no effect on you or nearby allied crew within 10m.

Node Types

Bearing Nodes (Small)

The connective tissue of the Atlas — minor stat bonuses that form the paths between significant nodes. Every route the player takes should provide useful Bearing Nodes along the way, not dead traversal cost.

Examples:

"+5 HP"
"+1 FP"
"+2% Cutting damage"
"+1 to Dodge vs. ranged attacks"
"+0.25 Basic Speed (toward next full level)"
"+1 to one specific skill roll"

Bearing Nodes cost 1 Skill Point each. They are the majority of the Atlas's 1,500+ nodes.

Landmark Nodes (Notable)

Named, significant bonuses — the Atlas equivalent of PoE's Notable Passives. Landmark Nodes have proper names (like a named location on a real chart) and provide effects that change how mechanics interact rather than just adding percentages.

Examples (not exhaustive — the full Atlas has 200+ Landmark Nodes):

"The Cape of Two Tides" (Blade Coast/Crow's Nest border): Attacks you make in the 2 seconds after a successful active defense deal +4 damage.
"The Widow's Watch" (Crow's Nest): Your Perception-based rolls in darkness suffer no penalty. You can see in conditions of near-total darkness.
"The Siren's Reef" (Tide Caller's Circle): Your IQ-based social skills work on supernatural entities as well as humans. Sea spirits, ghosts, and water elementals can be negotiated with using the same skill rolls as human NPCs.
"The Quartermaster's Ledger" (Merchant's Tongue): You automatically identify the monetary value of all found items. You never sell items below 80% of their correct value by accident.
"Flotsam and Jetsam" (Survival Shoal): Items found in wreck zones or underwater locations have a 25% chance to be one quality tier higher than their normal roll.

Landmark Nodes cost 3–5 Skill Points each.

Compass Rose Nodes (Keystone)

Build-defining GURPS Advantages that fundamentally change gameplay. Each Compass Rose Node is located at the heart of its sub-region (like an actual compass rose on a nautical chart) and requires significant pathing investment before it can be reached. They are the most expensive nodes on the Atlas (8–15 Skill Points each) and the most transformative.

Full Keystone List (across all regions):

Keystone Name	Region	Cost	GURPS Equivalent	Effect
Combat Reflexes	Blade Coast Core	8	Combat Reflexes (15 pts)	Never surprised; +1 all defenses; +6 Fast-Draw
Blade Saint	Cape Cutlass	15	Weapon Master — Blades	Blade parry bonus; skill cap raised; crit range expanded
Trained by a Master	Cape Cutlass	12	Trained by a Master	Unlocks Technique nodes; superhuman maneuver potential
Dead Eye	Cape Pistol	10	Gunslinger	No move-penalty when firing; no aim-time requirement
Eagle Eye	Cape Pistol	8	Targeting	Range penalties halved; location targeting at range
Untouchable	Cape Parry	18	Enhanced Dodge 3 + Enhanced Parry 2	Defense values exceed normal cap; cannot use All-Out Attack
Danger Sense	Cape Parry	8	Danger Sense	3-sec ambush warning; first surprise attack still defended
Irongrip	Cape Boarding	8	Wrestling specialty	Grapple at ST×1.5; grappled enemies cannot defend
Sea Legs	Crow's Nest	10	Perfect Balance + Seamanship	All ship-surface penalties eliminated
Master Mariner	Helmsman's Wheel	12	Wildcard: Sailor!	All seamanship skills merge into single Wildcard level
Photographic Memory	Tracker's Thicket	8	Eidetic Memory	Full map recall; NPC memory; +4 recall-based rolls
Drowned World	Water College	12	(custom)	Zone control water magic; FP reduction in zone
Thunderclap	Air College	10	Lightning spell	Major lightning strike; bypasses armor
Ghost Ship Captain	Necromancy	12	(custom)	Bind a defeated captain's ghost as permanent crew
Infamous Captain	Merchant's Tongue	10	Reputation	+4 all pirate factions; −4 all naval factions
The Voice	Trade House	10	Voice + Charisma 3	+2 all verbal social rolls; Will-based compulsion
Immortal Sailor	Survival Shoal	12	(composite)	Cannot be one-shot; +6 HT death/consciousness rolls
Davy Jones' Nerve	Storm Crew's Berth	8	Fearlessness 3	Immune to all fear mechanics; crew immune within 10m
Buccaneer's Fortune	Atlas Center	10	Luck	Once per 60 seconds, re-roll any single roll
Iron Constitution	Atlas Center	6	High Pain Threshold	No injury penalties until ≤ −HP
Twin Strikes	Atlas Center	15	Extra Attack 1	One additional attack per action window

Note: Several additional Keystones are placed in the deep interior of each region, accessible only to characters who have invested heavily in that region. These include the most powerful options and are not listed here to preserve discovery.

Burden Nodes

GURPS Disadvantages as Optional Negative Keystones

Burden Nodes are special negative nodes distributed throughout the Atlas — they appear as dark-ink markings on the chart, like warnings from a previous expedition that went wrong. Taking a Burden grants bonus Skill Points to spend elsewhere. Unlike standard nodes, Burdens cannot be deactivated once taken: they are permanent character traits, mirroring GURPS's treatment of Disadvantages as defining personality characteristics, not temporary debuffs.

Players must deliberately path through and activate a Burden Node (it is never automatically allocated). The choice is fully opt-in.

The Burden Point Economy

The maximum total Burden a character can hold is 50 bonus points (GURPS campaigns cap disadvantages at −75 points; Salt & Steel uses a tighter −50 limit to prevent extreme Burden stacking from trivializing the difficulty curve). Each Burden specifies its point value.

Burden Node Catalogue

Burden Name	GURPS Source	Points Gained	Gameplay Effect
The Mark of Davy Jones	Cursed (−75 pts, reduced)	15	Every 10–15 minutes real time, a random catastrophic event: ship damage from nowhere, weapon malfunction, rope snapping, map marker corruption
Seeing Red	Bloodlust (−10)	5	Cannot accept enemy surrender. Must attack downed enemies until dead. Crew morale check required to hold boarding-captured ships
Gold-Sickness	Greed (−15)	8	On encountering unlooted treasure within 10m, must pass HT roll (3d6 ≤ HT) or compulsively move to loot it. If the chest/pile is in a dangerous location, the compulsion remains
The Bottle	Dependency — Rum (varies)	6	FP regeneration halved in combat unless rum has been consumed in the last 30 minutes. Rum items become a required resource
Glass Eye	One Eye (−15)	5	−1 to all ranged attacks. −1 to all Per-based rolls. Cannot take the Dead Eye Keystone
Code of Honor: Pirate's Code	Code of Honor (−10)	5	Must honor parley flags. Cannot betray allies who trust you. Cannot strike surrendered enemies. In exchange: +2 to crew loyalty permanently
Snake Eyes	Unluckiness (−10)	5	Once per 10 minutes, the game engine forces one roll to its worst result (3d6 = 18 or the equivalent). The player is given a 2-second warning that "something feels wrong"
Claustrophobia	Phobia: Enclosed Spaces (−15)	8	−4 to all rolls in enclosed spaces (ship holds, caves, dungeons smaller than 5m ceiling). Must pass Will roll to enter voluntarily. The effect is genuinely disorienting — the camera angle shifts subtly and heartbeat audio increases
Overconfident	Overconfidence (−5)	3	Must pass Will roll to decline a challenge, retreat from combat, or accept that a plan has failed. In exchange: +2 to opening-round attack rolls (the character acts with supreme confidence)
Thalassophobia	Phobia: Deep Water (−10)	5	−6 to all rolls while swimming in open water or diving deeper than 5m. Panic state triggers if submerged without a ship within 50m. Cannot take the Pressure Immunity Keystone or the Swimming(Open Ocean) Technique
Compulsive Carousing	Compulsion (−5)	3	Must spend gold on drink and socializing in every port visited or suffer −1 Will for 24 in-game hours. In exchange: carousing automatically generates one new NPC contact per port visit
Bad Temper	Bad Temper (−10)	5	Must pass Will roll when provoked (enemy taunting, failed equipment, social failure) or immediately attack the nearest valid target. Crew members occasionally provoke this if morale is low

Burden and the Captain's Fantasy

A critical design constraint: no Burden should make the player feel like they cannot be a captain. Every Burden creates a particular kind of captain, not a lesser one. Claustrophobia creates the captain who never goes below decks, who has strange instincts about surface routes, who finds ways around what other captains walk through. Gold-Sickness creates the legendary hoarder, the captain whose treasure room is famous. Seeing Red creates the captain whose enemies do not surrender — and whose reputation reflects that.

The Burdens should generate stories, not dead ends.

Chart Markers (Jewel Sockets)

Chart Markers are the Atlas's equivalent of PoE's Jewel Sockets — special points on the Atlas where external items can be inserted to modify surrounding nodes. Visually, they appear as pin holes in the chart — places where a previous owner has pushed a pin to mark something of note.

The Atlas has 24 Chart Marker sockets distributed throughout all five regions (approximately 4–5 per region).

What Chart Markers Do

A Chart Marker item inserted into a socket modifies all nodes within a radius (typically 5–8 node-hops from the socket). Modifications can:

Increase the effect of nearby Bearing Nodes by 50–100%
Transform the type of a Bearing Node (e.g., "+HP nodes become +FP nodes within radius")
Add secondary effects to nearby Landmark Nodes
Reduce the cost of nearby nodes by 1 Skill Point each

Chart Marker Item Categories

Common Chart Markers (base drop, 2–3 random mods):

"+X% effect to life nodes nearby"
"+X% effect to damage nodes nearby"
"+1 to skill level provided by skill nodes nearby"

Rare Chart Markers (4+ mods, crafting-upgradeable): Multiple modifier combinations. Can be crafted to target specific node types.

Unique Chart Markers (named, fixed powerful effects):

The Black Spot (unique): Removes one Landmark Node from the Atlas permanently (the node is charred out), but grants +5 Skill Points immediately. The Black Spot is a calculated sacrifice — removing a node you never wanted to make room for something you desperately do.
Dead Men's Charts (unique): All Necromancy college nodes within radius are reduced in cost by 2 Skill Points. The radius also adds "+1 Spectral Crew maximum" to the nearest Necromancy Keystone.
Navigator's Compass (unique): The node directly adjacent to this socket (player's choice of which one) is treated as a second starting position — the player can allocate that node without needing a continuous path from their class starting position. Creates an "island" of accessible nodes.

Respec System: The Chart Correction

Reversing Atlas allocations is possible but deliberately costly — in the spirit of GURPS's treatment of Disadvantages as permanent character choices and PoE's Orb of Regret approach.

Normal Respec

Individual nodes can be de-allocated using Chart Corrections — consumable items found during play (in hidden caches, as rare drops, as quest rewards). Each Chart Correction de-allocates one node. As with PoE's Orbs of Regret, de-allocating a node that would disconnect other nodes from the starting path is not permitted — the player must work backward along their path.

Chart Corrections are not rare enough to make respeccing impossible but not common enough to make it free. A partial respec (adjusting 10–15 nodes) is a modest cost. A full respec (100+ nodes) is a significant resource investment.

Burden Respec

Burdens cannot be removed through normal Chart Corrections. The only mechanism for Burden removal is the Trial of Regret — a special challenge dungeon available once per Voyage, which tests the character specifically in the aspect their Burden makes hardest. Completing it successfully removes one Burden of the player's choice. This is designed to feel earned — the narrative implication is that the captain has genuinely overcome their flaw through the trial's challenge.

Full Respec (New Voyage)

When a Voyage ends, the character's Atlas is wiped along with their Voyage Standing. The next Voyage character begins fresh. However, the Captain's Legacy system (see Leveling and Progression) provides returning players with a streamlined rebuild process — a saved build template can be quickly re-allocated in the first 30 minutes of a new Voyage using condensed early-progression rewards.

Atlas Interaction with Active Skills and Gear

Active Skill Scaling

Active skills (the pirate's attacks, spells, and special maneuvers) derive their numerical performance from Atlas-allocated GURPS skill levels. A Broadsword skill node at level 14 on the Atlas means that all active skills tagged "Broadsword" calculate their attack probability using a 3d6 roll vs. 14. Higher Atlas investment directly improves the reliability of active skills — not through an abstracted "+damage %" modifier but through the GURPS probability curve.

Attribute Nodes and Gear Requirements

Gear in Salt & Steel has GURPS-style requirements: a heavy breastplate requires ST 12 to wear without penalty; a masterwork rapier requires DX 13 to use at full skill. Attribute upgrade nodes on the Atlas (primarily located near the Atlas Center and near class starting regions) allow characters to meet gear requirements by investing in the relevant attribute.

This creates a "gearing path" system analogous to PoE's attribute requirements on items: a piece of gear you find may be exactly what your build needs but require one attribute node you haven't taken yet. The node is worth taking — the question is whether the Atlas path to it is efficient.

The Atlas and Faction Reputation

Certain Atlas regions (specifically the Merchant's Tongue's Faction Embassy sub-region) contain nodes that can only be allocated by characters with specific faction Reaction Scores. These are the most powerful social-skill nodes on the Atlas — access to them is gated behind real-world faction standing, creating a meaningful bridge between social gameplay and character progression.

A character who has invested in building positive faction relationships gains access to Atlas nodes unavailable to those who have not. This is not content-gating (the nodes are optional power, not required progression) but it rewards the full-spectrum captain who takes the social pillars seriously.

See Also:
Classes and Ascendancies — how class starting positions relate to Atlas topology
Attributes and Stats — how Atlas attribute nodes affect secondary stats
Leveling and Progression — how Skill Points are earned and when Atlas access unlocks
GURPS Adaptation Research — source documentation for all GURPS cost references