Special abilities | Character development The Banner Saga Guide

You should take some time to become familiar with every new character.

Each character has two special abilities. In most cases it's one active and one passive skill (only Eyvind has two active skills). An active skill is one that you have to turn on by yourself and it costs some willpower points. A passive skills doesn't require any action from the player and it can be for example dealing damage to enemies close to the attacked opponent or ability to run through a tile where your allies stand.

It's a good idea to use special abilities from time to time when you have enough willpower points. You should know that they are upgraded every time a character gets a higher rank, thanks to it they may get additional properties (e.g. Bigger range of an area attack). You don't have to spend any points on it because it happens automatically. You can always choose if you want to use a regular or special version of the ability (it uses more willpower points).