Using Attributes Without Skills
"Granted, but I'm still huge."
Characters in After Sundown may be called upon to use skills when they don't actually have training in that area. In this case, the character is called upon to default on the skill. This allows the character to roll a dicepool of their appropriate Attribute (plus zero dice for not having the skill). When defaulting on a Social or Technical Skill, the character suffers an additional -1die penalty for being untrained. When using Technical Skills, that same -1 die penalty applies whenever the character doesn't have an appropriate specialization (even if they do have the appropriate skill). But there are a number of times when you will want to do something for which no skill applies. In that case a mere attribute roll may suffice (obviously with no -1 die penalty). But remember that dice pools without skills are substantially smaller than dicepools with skills attached - so in most cases the MC should try to figure out a way to fit a skill in.
Resistance Rolls
"No one could have survived that."
Characters who are attacked or endangered are often entitled to a Resistance Roll to soak the effects of whatever they are threatened with, whether its the power of a magical assault or a bullet to the stomach. In general, a Physical Resistance roll will usually be just Strength (no skill), a Mental Resistance roll will usually be just Intuition (again, no skill), and a Social Resistance roll will be just Willpower (likewise). Luminaries get a special bonus, where they can add their Edge to Resistance rolls, almost like Edge was the "take less damage from bullets" skill, if that makes things any easier to conceptualize.
Sure Things: Heavy Lifting
"Sure, sometimes you can do all kinds of stuff. But I can always lift a car."
There are things you don't have to roll because they simply are. A character with a high Charisma is charming, a character with a high Logic is smart. Even if they offend someone or fail to solve a problem, they will do so in a charming or intelligent fashion. But probably the thing you will run into most frequently as far as automatic uses of Attributes is Strength. People who have a high Strength are strong, and they can lift heavy things. So to help out with that, here's a table of how much a character might be able to push themselves to lift up, and how much they might be able to carry home without hurting themselves.
| Strength | Max Lift (Kg) | Carry (Kg) | Max Lift (Lb) | Carry (Lb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 | 10 | 66 | 22 |
| 2 | 50 | 20 | 110 | 44 |
| 3 | 100 | 30 | 210 | 66 |
| 4 | 150 | 50 | 330 | 110 |
| 5 | 250 | 70 | 550 | 155 |
| 6 | 450 | 100 | 990 | 220 |
| 7 | 750 | 200 | 1,650 | 440 |
| 8 | 1,250 | 500 | 2,750 | 1,100 |
| 9 | 2,500 | 1,000 | 5,500 | 2,200 |
| 10 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 11,000 | 4,400 |
| 11 | 7,000 | 3,000 | 15,400 | 6,600 |
| 12 | 10,000 | 4,500 | 22,000 | 10,000 |
| 13 | 14,000 | 6,000 | 31,000 | 13,000 |
| 14 | 20,000 | 8,000 | 44,000 | 17,500 |
| 15 | 28,000 | 10,000 | 62,000 | 22,000 |
| 20 | 60,000 | 24,000 | 132,000 | 53,000 |
| 25 | 100,000 | 40,000 | 220,000 | 88,000 |
| 30 | 150,000 | 60,000 | 330,000 | 132,000 |
| 35 | 200,000 | 80,000 | 441,000 | 176,000 |
And yes, things that are really strong are really strong. A creature with a strength of 35 can lift a train right off the track. Although they can only do this by lifting one car at a time and can't really walk off with it. Consider the scene in King Kong where the giant ape (who in After Sundown would be a Kaiju) pulls a train off the tracks by lifting a car and dropping the whole thing. That's not an exaggeration, in After Sundown the giant apes can actually do those things.