What should adventurers be able to do?

[tombowings]

As a side trek from the Do Futuristic/Sci-Fi Games Need Skills thread, which activities should we assume starting adventurers of all types know how to do?

I will start:

Riding a Horse
Making a Fire
Bandaging Wounds (not that it will necessarily give you any hit points back)
Swimming unarmored in moderately calm waters

[Deleted]

-maintain and make minor repairs to equipment specific to their class

[tombowings]

- sailing a ship (at least within sight of the coast)
- tying knots
- climbing ropes
- driving a cart

[bestialwarlust]

basic wilderness survival
appraisal
stealth
spot/search (maybe bonuses for being an elf or thief if you use thieves)

[Zulgyan]

Adding to the ones said, I can think of right now:

- setting ambushes
- painting themselves for camuflage
- setting simple traps (like in Conan movie - Battle of the Mounds scene)
- climbing and mountaineering
- riding chariots, wagons, carts
- hunt, forage and cook
- basic carpentry (enought to build a barricade or crude wall, por example)
- find which way is north by looking at the stars
- identify normal materials and metals
- rowing boats efficiently
- greaseing themselves to avoid grappels
- general lore about the world

[JMiskimen]

Anything that he would be capable of ...

[strangebrew]

I guess it depends on the level of the character. I think most of us follow the paradigm of low-level characters are almost complete novices, 4th level characters are well-seasoned "heroes" and name-level characters are virtual demi-gods, at least in the eyes of normal men. So the simplest of the above tasks, like the ones tombowings (1st post), Cameron, and bestialwarlust mentioned for example, would be low-level skills, where as others (Zulgyan and tom's 2nd post) I would attribute to more "hero" level characters.

I wouldn't really use any kind of a system for this, but rather hand-wave the whole thing based on group consensus.

[Porphyre]

 My answer would be: anything that the PC not knowing I find would make the game tedious.

Player: "OK, gang! Now whe have enough gold to by a cart and two horses and hed on to the ruins we gathered rumours about"
Referee: "Nope, sorry. Nothing in your character's concept/background/skills list (*) says you can drive a cart"
P (sighting): "Well, I suppose we must now go to the tavern and hire a cart driver..."
R: "Mak a reaction roll. But you must roleplay it!"

(*) If -horresco referens!- you have a skill system

[talysman]

My short list is:

1 - Recognize, Appraise, Discuss, Troubleshoot any object/animal/task
related to their background
2 - Recognize, Examine, Discuss, or Troubleshoot any object/animal/landmark/problem
in an area they've lived in
3 - Perform Movement, Attack, or Defense based on simple unassisted
physical movements
4 - Make/Use Any Simple Tool that can be used for #3 (five moving parts
or less)

In other words, they know how to do just about anything related to the Props and Places belonging to their profession, homeland, and other familiar locales, and anything related to simple body movements and makeshift tools that amplify such movements. I figure there's a lot of "Never done this before, but I think it would work this way..."

I realize that's not quite the kind of list you are suggesting, since it's broader, less specific. You might want to add Recognize, Appraise, and Discuss skills for some objects, though. For example, if anyone can sail a ship, as Tom suggests, they ought to be able to recognize a ship's quality, recognize well-known ships (King's Flagship, frex,) notice potential problems, recognize workmanship of famous shipwrights or ship-building cultures, or discuss the fine points of sailing or famous voyages with nobles at a party who love the sea.

[Zulgyan]

No, I wouldn't write down an exhaustive list of skills that are assumed to be know (I would provide some examples to players thought), but I would have an adventurer-hero standard in mind, not common folk ( cause the PCs aren't).

[librarylass]

My rule of thumb is "All adventurers made it to Eagle Scout."