# Best Skill-based TTRPGs

Skill-based games define characters through capabilities, ratings, specialties, or learned expertise rather than broad classes alone. They are useful when what a character can specifically do should drive problem-solving.

## Guide

Skill-based games define characters through capabilities, ratings, specialties, or learned expertise rather than broad classes alone. They are useful when what a character can specifically do should drive problem-solving.

## Games

- [Cyberpunk 2020](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/cyberpunk) - Rank #2. Explore Cyberpunk 2020 as a tabletop RPG: Night City, Interlock rules, combat, netrunning, campaign tone, and who should play it today.
- [Avatar Legends](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/avatarlegends) - Rank #24. Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game allows players to immerse themselves in the rich world of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "The Legend of Korra." This tabletop RPG captures the essence of the animated series, focusing on storytelling and character development. Players can create their own Avatar stories, exploring themes of balance, power, and identity, while engaging in elemental bending battles and deep narrative adventures.
- [Blue Planet: Recontact](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/blueplanetrecontact) - Rank #45. Dive into the depths of a water-covered world in Blue Planet: Recontact, a tabletop RPG where players explore the mysteries of an alien planet while facing environmental challenges and political intrigue. With its focus on sustainability, exploration, and intricate world-building, this sci-fi game offers a unique experience where players must navigate the delicate balance between progress and preservation.
- [Call of Cthulhu](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/callofcthulhu) - Rank #72. Call of Cthulhu plunges players into the eerie world of H.P. Lovecraft, where they become investigators of the supernatural and the unknown. Using a skill-based system and a critical sanity mechanic, players experience profound psychological horror as they uncover chilling mysteries and face indescribable entities.
- [Cosmere RPG](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/cosmere-rpg) - Rank #255. The official RPG for Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe featuring Stormlight Archive and Mistborn settings. Uses a d20-based system with talent trees, skill-based magic, and a unique "plot die" that raises narrative stakes. Players can create Knights Radiant, Mistborn, or worldhoppers traversing multiple realms.
- [Neon City Overdrive](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/neoncityoverdrive) - Rank #1009. Neon City Overdrive thrusts players into a cyberpunk metropolis teeming with high-tech gadgets, corporate espionage, and neon-soaked intrigue. With its focus on fast-paced, action-packed storytelling and player-driven world-building, this game offers a unique blend of futuristic aesthetics and gritty, street-level drama that will keep players on the edge of their seats.
- [Legend of the Five Rings](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/legend-of-the-five-rings) - Legend of the Five Rings is a samurai fantasy RPG of duty, honor, courtly pressure, and violence in a mythic version of Rokugan.
- [Mutants & Masterminds](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/mutants-masterminds) - Mutants & Masterminds is a modern superhero RPG built around flexible power construction, broad genre coverage, and campaign-ready capes play.
- [Trail of Cthulhu](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/trailofcthulhu) - Trail of Cthulhu is an investigative cosmic horror RPG built on GUMSHOE, designed so clue-finding keeps mysteries moving while stability and sanity track the cost of knowing too much. It excels at 1930s conspiracies, occult research, and slow-burn descent into the Mythos.
- [Villains and Vigilantes](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/villains-and-vigilantes) - Villains and Vigilantes is a classic superhero RPG built around comic-book action, pulpy powers, and old-school campaign play from the hobby's early supers era.
- [Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/warhammer-fantasy-roleplay) - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is a grim fantasy RPG of careers, corruption, bad odds, and surviving a world where mud, bureaucracy, and horror all feel equally dangerous.