Detailed Description: Skills
A skill represents expertise gained with intensive training or study. If you make a skill roll, your Protagonist is doing something that would leave untrained people lost.
Anyone can attempt a DEX×5 test to keep from falling over in an out-of-control semi trailer; only someone who’s been trained in the Drive skill can steer the battered vehicle away from the grasping, howling thing tearing at its cabin.
Roll your Protagonist’s skill or lower on 1D100 to succeed at using the skill under dire circumstances. Skills improve through practice and experience.
Base Rating
Every skill lists its base rating. If a skill has a base rating of 1% or greater, anyone can attempt to use it. A skill at 0% can’t be used at all. No skill can be higher than 99%.
Rating What the Rating Represents
- 01% to 19% Dabbler.
- 20% to 29% A dedicated hobbyist; with a foreign language you can have rudimentary conversations.
- 30% to 39% Equivalent of a dedicated basic training.
- 40% to 59% Equivalent of a dedicated advanced training or years of practical experience; with 50% in a foreign language you have native fluency.
- 60% to 79% Decades of experience, or equivalent of the highest level of advanced training.
- 80% to 99% A lifetime’s pursuit or equivalent of multiple related training qualifications.
How Skills Work
For details of specific skills, see the listing in SKILL DESCRIPTIONS starting on page 29.
When your Protagonist uses a skill, sometimes you roll dice and sometimes you don’t.
USING A SKILL WITHOUT A ROLL: When circumstances are calm and controlled, you don’t roll dice to have your Protagonist use a skill; the Game Moderator just needs to know how high your Protagonist’s rating is.
For example, driving a truck when things are calm might simply require a certain amount in the Drive skill.
Using a skill without rolling means randomness is not a factor. It’s about having the right skill, looking in the right place, and asking the right questions. The more subtle the clue, the higher the skill your Protagonist must have to figure it out.
USING A SKILL WITH A ROLL: Roll skill dice only when the outcome is in doubt. That usually means there’s a crisis or the circumstances are not under your Protagonist’s control. The higher the skill rating, the better your Protagonist’s chance of success. For details, see USING SKILLS on page 37.
Common Knowledge
Most Protagonists picked up some basic knowledge as they grew up. Because of this, they have some basic understanding of common things like how their society works and what types of jobs do what; and some basic abilities like how to flee danger. These don’t require specific skills. Skills represents deep, specialized training or education, but Protagonists can sometimes get by on common knowledge. Calling on common knowledge requires an INT×5 test or having a certain level of INT. Charming someone with unskilled art is usually a CHA or DEX test. Other efforts use other stats. The Game Moderator decides whether a task requires the general ability of a stat or the specialization of a skill.
Improving Skills
We learn from failure. If your Protagonist has at least 1% in a skill (any except Unnatural), it can improve when your Protagonists attempts to use it and fails. Gaining an entirely new skill requires special training (see DOWNTIME on page 77).
On the character sheet, next to every skill except Unnatural, there is a check box. When your Protagonist tries to use a skill and fails, put a checkmark in that skill’s box. At the end of each game session, add 1D4 percentage point to every skill that has a check next to it and erase the check.
FAILING WITHOUT ROLLING: If your Protagonist attempts a challenging task that requires a certain level of skill but not a roll, and fails because the task requires more skill than your Protagonist has, put a check in the box.
Modern Day Skills
Base Ratings for Skills
| Administration (10) Alertness (20) Anthropology (0) Appraise (10) Archeology (0) Art (Type) (0) Athletics (30) Charm (20) Craft (Type) (0) Disguise (10) Dodge (30) | Drive (20) Firearms (20) First Aid (10) Foreign Language (Type) (0) Forensics (0) Harangue (10) Heavy Machinery (10) History (10) Insight (10) Law (Type) (0) Medicine (0) | Melee Weapons (30) Military Training (Type) (0) Natural World (10) Navigate (10) Occult (10) Persuade (20) Pharmacy (0) Pilot (Type) (0) Psychoanalyze (10) Regional Lore (Type) (0) Research (10) | Ride (10) Science (Type) (0) Search (20) Stealth (10) Surgery (0) Survival (Type) (10) Swim (20) Technology Use (0) Track (10) Unarmed Combat (20) Unnatural (0) |
|---|
Administration
Base Rating: 10%
A knowledge of how bureaucracies work and what kinds of forms, paperwork, journals, etc. it invariably generates. Use it to sift through detailed financial records or proceedings of club meetings to find that one quirky point that just doesn’t seem to fit the usual pattern.
Use this skill to rapidly navigate your way adeptly through administrative records to find what’s important. Note that this skill is primarily about interpreting information you have; if you need to actively go out and track down books, records, etc. that would be covered by the Research skill.
Alertness
Base Rating: 20%
Alertness detects danger. Use it to hear a safety being weapon being readied, to understand the mumbling on the other side of a wall, to spot a concealed item hidden under a jacket, or to catch someone who is trying to escape notice using Stealth.
Anthropology
Base Rating: 0%
The study of living human cultures. Use it to understand morals, religious beliefs, customs, and mores, and to identify (but not translate) obscure languages. Where History is about the distant past and Archeology studies physical artifacts, Anthropology is about the behaviors of living cultures and how they relate to each other and the past.
Appraise
Base Rating: 10%
The ability to quickly determine the true (intrinsic) value of an item. This is an important skill in ensuring that bartering exchange deals are favorable to you. It is also helpful in know what items or resources others might be willing to trade to obtain.
Archeology
Base Rating: 0%
The study of physical remains of human cultures. Use it to analyze a ruined structure to determine useful information about its purpose long ago or the circumstances of its destruction. Where Anthropology is about living cultures and History is a broad study of the past, Archeology discerns meaning from the artifacts left behind.
Art (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Expertise at creating or performing a work that sways emotions and opinions. It also encompasses knowledge of techniques and trends in your field, and the ability tell a particular creator’s real work from a fake. Anyone can draw a rough sketch; the Art skill reflects knowledge, practice, and talent. Each type of Art is a separate skill: Acting, Dance, Forgery, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, Singing, Storytelling, etc.
Athletics
Base Rating: 30%
Your Protagonist trains to get the most out of his or her strength and agility. Strength and Dexterity cover raw physical power and manual dexterity; the Athletics skill represents long practice doing things like running, jumping, climbing, and throwing.
Use Athletics to:
- Outrun someone (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 41).
- Jump an intimidating gap.
- Climb in a crisis.
- Land safely in a fall of up to three yards.
- Hit a target with a thrown knife or put a grenade exactly on target.
- Catch something without warning, such as intercepting a thrown grenade.
Charm
Base Rating: 20%
Changing someone else’s viewpoint or convincing them to do something for you through guile, cunning, “buttering-up”, or other such subtle techniques. It’s not about threatening them (that’s covered by the Harangue skill) or using cold logic to convince them (that’s Persuade) but covers all those other soft-touch methods. With Charm you might be able to connect with an individual on a more personal level – maybe even seduce them – and such changes can become long-held attitudes or beliefs. If the target of the skill starts from an antagonistic viewpoint, some form of OPPOSED TEST will probably be needed to overcome their negative impression.
Craft (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Making and repairing sophisticated tools and structures. A job that most people could figure out does not require the Craft skill, only an INT or DEX test. Use Craft for specialized work that needs training: Craft (Mechanic) to get a broken apparatus working — or to sabotage one beyond repair; Craft (Locksmith) to open a lock without a key, and so on.
A common specialization is Craft (Jury-Rigging) which represents an ability to create lash-ups of equipment to perform a function when the proper tool for the job is unavailable.
The Game Moderator decides whether a task requires Craft. Each Craft type is a separate skill: Blacksmith, Carpenter, Farmer, Jury-Rigging, Locksmith, Mechanic, etc.
Disguise
Base Rating: 10%
Alter your Protagonist’s appearance, voice, posture, body language, and mannerisms to avoid recognition without drawing attention.
Dodge
Base Rating: 30%
Evading danger through instinct and reflexes. Use Dodge to avoid an attack. Against firearms and explosives, Dodge is only useful to get to cover (see DODGING RANGED ATTACKS on page 48).
Drive
Base Rating: 20%
Handling any ground-based vehicle or conveyance safely in a crisis. Unless the Game Moderator says otherwise, every Protagonist can drive safely in normal conditions. Use this skill to keep a vehicle safe in a tense pursuit or on dangerous terrain.
Firearms
Base Rating: 20%
Safe and accurate shooting with common firearms in combat. Use it to hit a target despite the adrenaline, panic, and shock of violence interfering with hand-eye coordination.
First Aid
Base Rating: 10%
The initial treatment and stabilization of injuries. Use it to help a character recover lost Hit Points. By comparison, Surgery corrects a severe wound and Medicine ensures long-term recovery. (See HEALING on page 49.)
Foreign Language (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Fluency in another language. Each foreign language is a distinct skill. Having 20% allows halting conversations; at 50% your Protagonist speaks and reads like a native. The greater the skill, the greater the complexity of the information your Protagonist comprehends and the less time it takes. You don’t need to roll a Foreign Language skill unless the Game Moderator says the situation is exceptionally difficult.
Forensics
Base Rating: 0%
Gathering detailed information and evidence based on an assessment of human remains. Use it to hypothesize about the cause of a fire, trace the trajectory that a bullet followed, or determine whether a pool of blood is consistent with a major or minor injury.
Harangue
Base Rating: 10%
The art of browbeating someone into agreeing with your point of view or agreeing to do something you want them to do. This technique is not a subtle attempt to engage with their good nature (that’s covered by the Charm skill) or their logical reason (that’s Persuade) – instead it’s all about bluster, shouting, and threats. But sometimes these can be more successful than other techniques, although the individuals on the receiving end are unlikely to enjoy the interaction quite so much.
Heavy Machinery
Base Rating: 10%
Safe operation of a tractor, crane, thresher, steam train, or other big machine in a crisis.
History
Base Rating: 10%
Uncovering facts and theories about human antiquity. Use it to remember or find a key fact about the distant past, recognize an obscure reference, or comb through records that nobody without your deep education could find. While Anthropology is about living cultures and Archaeology studies the meaning of ancient relics, History is a broad study of humanity.
Insight
Base Rating: 10%
Insight obtains information about a person — especially information the subject would rather conceal — through observation, conversation, or examining patterns of behavior and relationships. Use Insight to recognize signs of dishonesty from verbal cues and body language, gauge attitude and intentions, cultivate sources of information about a subject, determine what it would take to get a subject to cooperate, or recognize clues of what a subject wants to conceal.
Insight can notice signs of mental illness but Psychoanalyze would be needed to assist with a specific malady. A subject who deliberately tries to deceive your Protagonist can attempt an opposed test comparing their Persuade against your Protagonist’s Insight (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 41).
Law (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Use this skill to understand and manipulate the power structures that exist within society, to either influence outcomes or bullshit your Protagonist’s way out of trouble.
Different societies have their own systems of law – the understanding of each is a separate skill. Because all societies are based on common human behavior, you can attempt to use your Law skill at half chance to navigate the vagaries of a an entirely new and unfamiliar social order.
Medicine
Base Rating: 0%
The study and treatment of injury and illness. Use it to diagnose the cause of an injury, disease, or poisoning, identify abnormalities such as toxins or diseases, identify the cause and approximate time of death, identify a dead person’s last meal, or prescribe proper long-term care. By comparison, First Aid keeps a patient alive until surgery is possible, and Surgery corrects a severe wound. (See HEALING on page 49).
Melee Weapons
Base Rating: 30%
Lethal use of melee weapons in combat. Use it to hurt or kill an opponent with a knife, axe, club, or other hand-held weapon.
Military Training (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Many people spend a part of their careers in some form of military service to a crown or other empire – whether as part of an army or navy, or even on boats in coastal waters. A great many people are also employed in the giant bureaucracy that keeps the military supplied and functioning. This skill represents first-hand training and experience obtained through time spent in one such military service. Use it to apply military tactics or strategies to a situation, to recall specific details about a particular military unit or corps, or to know your way around common military-issue equipment.
Natural World
Base Rating: 10%
The common understanding of the natural world as practiced by farmers, fishermen, and others who make a living based upon the changing patterns of the weather, tides, etc. It also covers the broad understanding of the natural habits of animals, as well as the different uses of specific plant species. Use this skill to determine whether observed behavior of natural forces or creatures is consistent with “normal” or common patterns, or not.
Navigate
Base Rating: 10%
Finding your way quickly with maps, charts and tables, orienteering, compass, or dead reckoning.
Occult
Base Rating: 10%
The study of the supernatural as understood by human traditions, including things like magick, folklore, and secret societies. Use Occult to examine and deduce the intent of a ritual, or to identify occult traditions, groups, grimoires, tools, symbols, or legends. Occult can never tell a Protagonist what’s genuinely unnatural and what’s just superstition or mythology. That’s the province of the Unnatural skill.
Persuade
Base Rating: 20%
Changing another’s deeply held decision or desire. Use Persuade to get your Protagonist’s way when the subject is so stubborn, what your Protagonist wants is so valuable, or the deception is so flagrant that Charisma isn’t enough.
With Persuade, your Protagonist might convince a witness that what she saw was innocuous and not unnatural, talk a compound leader into helping you cover up an outbreak to avoid a mass panic, or draw useful information out of an unwilling subject. This skill also allows your Protagonist to resist persuasion and interrogation in opposed Persuade rolls (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 41).
Pharmacy
Base Rating: 0%
Knowledge of drugs and herbal remedies, from their ingredients and creation, to their effects, uses, and misuses. Use it to identify and produce medicines and antidotes — as well as poisons.
Identifying a drug or medicinal herb requires at least 20% skill. Preparing a particularly powerful treatment safely, such as one with psychoactive effects, requires at least 40% skill or a successful roll. Misusing Pharmacy is a quick way to kill a patient (see POISON AND DISEASE on page 57).
Pilot (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Piloting, navigating, and captaining waterborne, or airborne vehicles. Use it to keep a vessel safe in a crisis, such as through a storm or in a dangerous pursuit. Each vessel type is a separate skill: Airplane, Drone, Helicopter, Airship, Small Boat, Ship, etc.
Psychoanalyze
Base Rating: 10%
The diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Use it to identify a mental disorder, help a patient recover, talk someone down when a disorder begins to take over, and treat mental illness in the long term. You cannot use Psychoanalysis on yourself. Using Psychoanalysis to aid someone who suffered exposure to Cthulhu Mythos forces might cost the therapist SAN; see THREATS TO SAN on page 67.
Regional Lore (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Most educated people know a little bit about every place, but if you’ve spent a long time living in (or studying) a specific region you learn so much more. This skill represents a deep understanding of the people, places, and common practices that are unique to one particular region. Use it to recall folktales that villagers tell, unique local words, or unusual ruins and earthworks found in the region. It can also cover quirky superstitions and rites that are particular to the region.
Research
Base Rating: 10%
The ability to find specific information in a large repository or buried in files, records, or ledger books. Use this skill to navigate a library catalogue system, pull out buried details in account records, or otherwise locate whatever relevant information lies buried.
Ride
Base Rating: 10%
Handling, training, and riding an animal—horses, donkeys, camels, whatever. Use it to keep safe on an animal in a crisis and to keep riding animals safe, calm, and healthy.
Science (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
The deep study of the processes of the world. This is more than common schooling; anyone can attempt an INT test to remember facts from whatever (rudimentary) schooling they received. Science is used to find a key insight about the way the universe works — or at least, the way it’s supposed to work. Each Science is a separate skill: Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Engineering, Genetics, Geology, Mathematics, Meteorology, Physics, Planetology, Zoology, etc.
Search
Base Rating: 20%
Finding things that are concealed or obscured from plain sight. Searching an abandoned dwelling may not require the Search skill, only time and effort, or a sufficiently high INT. Use Search to find an object that was hidden with the Stealth skill or is otherwise so well hidden or disguised that it needs an expert. The Game Moderator may roll the Search attempt, so you don’t know whether your Protagonist succeeded or failed.
Stealth
Base Rating: 10%
Concealing your presence or activities. Use it to hide a weapon, camouflage a position, conceal an occult amulet, pick a pocket, move silently, follow without being seen, or blend into a crowd. A Protagonist attempting Stealth can be detected only by an opposing Alertness or Search skill (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 41).
Surgery
Base Rating: 0%
The treatment of an injury or abnormality, by invasive means. By comparison, First Aid keeps a patient alive until surgery is possible, and Medicine ensures long term recovery. (See HEALING on page 49)
Survival (Type)
Base Rating: 10%
Knowledge of the natural world. Use it to plan an expedition, predict weather, recognize when fauna or flora are unusual, use the environment to gather other information, or find food, water, and shelter. Each type of Survival is its own skill. Common types are Desert, Jungle, Tundra, Urban.
Swim
Base Rating: 20%
Most Protagonists can swim for leisure. Use the Swim skill in a dangerous crisis: going a long distance in choppy water, keeping a friend from drowning, or getting to a boat before the tentacled thing below grabs you.
Technology Use
Base Rating: 0%
Nobody needs to make a skill roll to use devices and technologies that are in common use in the era and setting of the game. However, making effective use of highly-specialized or technical apparatus is a different question. In the hands on the untrained, such devices are at best useless, and at worst dangerous. Technology Use is an umbrella skill allowing your Protagonist to successfully use all manner of common technical devices.
Track
Base Rating: 10%
Use this to locate the tracks of a specific creature or person and follow them. A test must be made to locate the trail and then again once every ten minutes they are being followed. Penalties or bonuses may apply depending on how long it was since the tracks were made, what the ground is like, what the weather conditions have been since the tracks were made, etc.
Unarmed Combat
Base Rating: 20%
Self-defense. A fight between untrained combatants often involves more shoving and shouting than real violence. Use Unarmed Combat to hurt or kill an opponent with your Protagonist’s bare hands (or feet, elbows, teeth, or head).
Unnatural
Base Rating: 0%
Knowledge of the fundamental, mind-shattering secrets of the universe. The things that slithered in the dark corners of the world and the cosmos beyond. Use it to remember, recognize, or research facts about the things humans consider unnatural. This goes far beyond the occult, because the Unnatural skill represents things that are real. Use it to sift through the darkest parts of myth and folklore and recognize which of it is true.
Medieval Age Skills
TODO
Jazz Age Skills
TODO
Future Age Skills
Base Rating for Skills
| >> Skills and Base Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Administration (10) Alertness (20) Appraise (10) Art (Type) (0) Artificial Intelligence (0) Athletics (30) Charm (20) Cosmology (10) Craft (Type) (0) Disguise (10) Dodge (30) Drive (20) Firearms / Beam Weapons (20) First Aid (10) Foreign Language (Type) (0) Forensics (0) Hacking (0) Harangue (10) Heavy Machinery (10) History (10) Insight (10) Law (Type) (0) Medicine (0) | Melee Weapons (30) Military Training (Type) (0) Navigate (10) Occult (10) Persuade (20) Pharmacy (0) Pilot (Type) (0) Planet/Station Lore (Type) (0) Psychoanalyze (10) Research (10) Science (Type) (0) Search (20) Stealth (10) Surgery (0) Survival (Type) (10) Swim (20) Technology Use (0) Track (10) Unarmed Combat (20) Unnatural (0) Xenoarchaeology (0) Zero-G Maneuvering (0) |
Administration
Base Rating: 10%
A knowledge of how bureaucracies work and what kinds of forms, databases, biometrics, etc. it invariably generates. Use it to sift through detailed financial records or archived surveillance footage to find that one quirky point that just doesn’t seem to fit the usual pattern.
Use this skill to rapidly navigate your way adeptly through administrative records to find what’s important. Note that this skill is primarily about interpreting information you have; if you need to actively go out and track down records, storage, etc. that would be covered by the Research skill.
Alertness
Base Rating: 20%
Alertness detects danger. Use it to hear a weapon being readied, to understand the mumbling on the other side of a wall, to spot a concealed item hidden under a jacket, or to catch someone who is trying to escape notice using Stealth.
Appraise
Base Rating: 10%
The ability to quickly determine the true (intrinsic) value of an item. This is an important skill in ensuring that bartering exchange deals are favorable to you. It is also helpful in knowing what items or resources others might be willing to trade to obtain.
Art (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Expertise at creating or performing a work that sways emotions and opinions. It also encompasses knowledge of techniques and trends in your field, and the ability tell a particular creator’s real work from a fake. Anyone can draw a rough sketch; the Art skill reflects knowledge, practice, and talent. Each type of Art is a separate skill: Acting, Dance, Forgery, Holography, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, Singing, Storytelling, Videography, etc.
Artificial Intelligence
Base Rating: 0%
Most high-tech devices employ a degree of artificial intelligence, even if the average user has no real understanding of how these apparently “smart” gadgets perform their reasoning. This skill represents the deeper knowledge required to:
- Build an AI-powered device or system, either from first principles or using pre-written tools.
- Tell whether a fragment of text, image, video, or sound was generated by an AI.
- Manipulate the functioning of an AI device or system to cause it to act in a particular way.
- Confound an AI with logical or ethical conundrums to cause it to freeze or halt or malfunction.
- Bypass any security or guardrails placed by the makers or the AI to prohibit certain forms of use.
Athletics
Base Rating: 30%
Your Protagonist trains to get the most out of his or her strength and agility. Strength and Dexterity cover raw physical power and manual dexterity; the Athletics skill represents long practice doing things like running, jumping, climbing, and throwing.
Use Athletics to:
- Outrun someone (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 44).
- Jump an intimidating gap.
- Climb in a crisis.
- Land safely in a fall of up to three yards/meters.
- Hit a target with a thrown knife or put a grenade exactly on target.
- Catch something without warning, such as intercepting a thrown grenade.
Charm
Base Rating: 20%
Changing someone else’s viewpoint or convincing them to do something for you through guile, cunning, “buttering-up”, or other such subtle techniques. It’s not about threatening them (that’s covered by the Harangue skill) or using cold logic to convince them (that’s Persuade) but covers all those other soft-touch methods. With Charm you might be able to connect with an individual on a more personal level – maybe even seduce them – and such changes can become long-held attitudes or beliefs. If the target of the skill starts from an antagonistic viewpoint, some form of OPPOSED TEST will probably be needed to overcome their negative impression.
Cosmology
Base Rating: 10%
The common understanding of the natural forces, ecology and laws which shape all aspects of the dynamics of a planet, star, or other astronomical object. It covers everything from the basic understanding of how objects orbit one another, how life-giving resources like atmosphere and water come into existence, or are sustained, through to the changing patterns of activity on planets or celestial bodies. It also covers the broad understanding of weather patterns and natural forms of life that are known to exist, common habitats, and which may constitute a threat. Use this skill to determine whether observed behavior of natural forces affecting a celestial body is consistent with “normal” or common patterns, or not.
If the technology level of the game covers techniques for terraforming planets, this skill confers a detailed understanding of the mechanisms, requirements, and time-frames involved with such methods.
Craft (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Making and repairing sophisticated tools and structures. A job that most people could figure out does not require the Craft skill, only an INT or DEX test. Use Craft for specialized work that needs training: Craft (Mechanic) to get a broken apparatus working — or to sabotage one beyond repair; Craft (SecurityTech) to bypass biometrics devices by physical means, and so on. [Note: bypassing security by remote or electronic means is covered by the Hacking skill].
A common specialization is Craft (Jury-Rigging) which represents an ability to create lash-ups of equipment to perform a function when the proper tool for the job is unavailable.
The Game Moderator decides whether a task requires Craft. Each Craft type is a separate skill: Blacksmith, Carpenter, FoodTech, Jury-Rigging, SecurityTech, RoboTech, etc.
Disguise
Base Rating: 10%
Alter your Protagonist’s appearance, voice, posture, body language, biometrics and mannerisms to avoid recognition without drawing attention.
Dodge
Base Rating: 30%
Evading danger through instinct and reflexes. Use Dodge to avoid an attack. Against firearms and explosives, Dodge is only useful to get to cover (see DODGING RANGED ATTACKS on page 50).
Drive
Base Rating: 20%
Handling any ground-based vehicle or surface-skimmer anti-grav safely in a crisis. Unless the Game Moderator says otherwise, every Protagonist can drive safely in normal conditions. Use this skill to keep a vehicle safe in a tense pursuit or on dangerous terrain.
Firearms / Beam Weapons
Base Rating: 20%
Safe and accurate shooting with common firearms (projectile or laser/plasma beam) in combat. Use it to hit a target despite the adrenaline, panic, and shock of violence interfering with hand-eye coordination.
First Aid
Base Rating: 10%
The initial treatment and stabilization of injuries. Use it to help a character recover lost Hit Points. By comparison, Surgery corrects a severe wound and Medicine ensures long-term recovery. (See HEALING on page 52.)
Foreign Language (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Fluency in another language (human, alien, or synthetic). Each foreign language is a distinct skill. Having 20% allows halting conversations; at 50% your Protagonist speaks and reads like a native. The greater the skill, the greater the complexity of the information your Protagonist comprehends and the less time it takes. You don’t need to roll a Foreign Language skill unless the Game Moderator says the situation is exceptionally difficult. In some future settings, computer programming languages may qualify as foreign languages.
Forensics
Base Rating: 0%
Gathering detailed information and evidence based on an assessment of human remains. Use it to hypothesize about the cause of a fire, trace the trajectory that a bullet or beam followed, or determine whether a pool of blood is consistent with a major or minor injury.
Hacking
Base Rating: 0%
Access to places – physically or virtually – is tightly controlled in high-tech societies, with a range of electronic measures designed to allow authorized individuals and deny everyone else. But no system is perfect, and for those who know their weaknesses the security protecting doors, data repositories, and communication systems is more a temporary complication than a barrier.
This skill represents practical knowledge of techniques for hacking well-known electronic security systems or controls, as well as the real-world skills needed to successfully employ that book-learning in practice. It also represents abilities to use (or even create) special anti-security devices or “active content” (viruses, worms, etc.).
Harangue
Base Rating: 10%
The art of browbeating someone into agreeing with your point of view or agreeing to do something you want them to do. This technique is not a subtle attempt to engage with their good nature (that’s covered by the Charm skill) or their logical reason (that’s Persuade) – instead it’s all about bluster, shouting, and threats. But sometimes these can be more successful than other techniques, although the individuals on the receiving end are unlikely to enjoy the interaction quite so much.
Heavy Machinery
Base Rating: 10%
Safe operation of a tractor, crane, mecha, steam train, or other big machine in a crisis.
History
Base Rating: 10%
Uncovering facts and theories about human antiquity. Use it to remember or find a key fact about the distant past, recognize an obscure reference, or comb through records that nobody without your deep education could find. While Xenoarchaeology studies the meaning of ancient (possibly alien) relics, History is a broad study of humanity and other known intelligent species.
Insight
Base Rating: 10%
Insight obtains information about a person — especially information the subject would rather conceal — through observation, conversation, or examining patterns of behavior and relationships. Use Insight to recognize signs of dishonesty from verbal cues and body language, gauge attitude and intentions, cultivate sources of information about a subject, determine what it would take to get a subject to cooperate, or recognize clues of what a subject wants to conceal.
Insight can notice signs of mental illness but Psychoanalyze would be needed to assist with a specific malady. A subject who deliberately tries to deceive your Protagonist can attempt an opposed test comparing their Persuade against your Protagonist’s Insight (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 44).
Law (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Use this skill to understand and manipulate the power structures that exist within society, to either influence outcomes or bullshit your Protagonist’s way out of trouble.
Different societies have their own systems of law – the understanding of each is a separate skill. Because all societies are based on common intelligent norms, you can attempt to use your Law skill at half chance to navigate the vagaries of a an entirely new and unfamiliar social order.
Medicine
Base Rating: 0%
The study and treatment of injury and illness. Use it to diagnose the cause of an injury, disease, or poisoning, identify abnormalities such as toxins or diseases, identify the cause and approximate time of death, identify a dead person’s last meal, or prescribe proper long-term care. By comparison, First Aid keeps a patient alive until surgery is possible, and Surgery corrects a severe wound. (See HEALING on page 52).
Melee Weapons
Base Rating: 30%
Lethal use of melee weapons in combat. Use it to hurt or kill an opponent with a knife, crowbar, stun baton, power sabre, or other hand-held weapons.
Military Training (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Many people spend a part of their careers in some form of military service to a polity or group – whether as part of an army or navy, or even on pirate fleets. A great many people are also employed in the giant bureaucracy that keeps the military supplied and functioning. This skill represents first-hand training and experience obtained through time spent in one such military service. Use it to apply military tactics or strategies to a situation, to recall specific details about a particular military unit or corps, or to know your way around common military-issue equipment including power armor.
Note that the use of heavy military weapons relies on skill with the Military Training (Heavy Weapons) specialty and the skilled placement of explosives is governed by the Military Training (Demolitions) specialty.
Navigate
Base Rating: 10%
Finding your way quickly with maps, charts and tables, orienteering, compass, or dead reckoning.
In settings which incorporate spacefaring, the GM may optionally decide to create separate specializations of this skill to cover the different abilities to navigate planet-bound environments and the inky blackness of space (sometimes called “astrogation”).
Occult
Base Rating: 10%
The study of the supernatural as understood by human traditions, including things like magick, folklore, and secret societies. Use Occult to examine and deduce the intent of a ritual, or to identify occult traditions, groups, grimoires, tools, symbols, or legends. Occult can never tell a Protagonist what’s genuinely unnatural and what’s just superstition or mythology. That’s the province of the Unnatural skill.
Persuade
Base Rating: 20%
Changing another’s deeply held decision or desire. Use Persuade to get your Protagonist’s way when the subject is so stubborn, what your Protagonist wants is so valuable, or the deception is so flagrant that Charisma isn’t enough.
With Persuade, your Protagonist might convince a witness that what she saw was innocuous and not unnatural, talk a compound leader into helping you cover up an outbreak to avoid a mass panic, or draw useful information out of an unwilling subject. This skill also allows your Protagonist to resist persuasion and interrogation in opposed Persuade rolls (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 44).
Pharmacy
Base Rating: 0%
Knowledge of drugs and herbal remedies, nanomedicines and medical devices, from their ingredients and creation to their effects, uses, and misuses. Use it to identify and produce medicines and antidotes — as well as poisons.
Identifying a drug or nanotherapy requires at least 20% skill. Preparing a particularly powerful treatment safely, such as one with psychoactive effects, requires at least 40% skill or a successful roll. Misusing Pharmacy is a quick way to kill a patient (see POISON AND DISEASE on page 61).
Pilot (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Piloting, navigating, and captaining waterborne, airborne, or spaceborne vehicles (or in fact any vehicle which maneuvers in 3 dimensions). Use it to keep a vessel safe in a crisis, such as through a storm, meteoroid shower, or in a dangerous pursuit. Each vessel type is a separate skill: Airplane, Drone, Drop Ship, Fighter, Starship, etc.
Planet / Station Lore (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
Most educated people know a little bit about every place, but if you’ve spent a long time living in (or studying) on a specific planet, asteroid, or space station you learn so much more. This skill represents a deep understanding of the people, places, and common practices that are unique to one particular locale. Use it to recall urban legends that locals tell, unique local words, or identify unusual artifacts found in the region. It can also cover quirky superstitions and rites that are particular to the place.
Psychoanalyze
Base Rating: 10%
The diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Use it to identify a mental disorder, help a patient recover, talk someone down when a disorder begins to take over, and treat mental illness in the long term. You cannot use Psychoanalysis on yourself. Using Psychoanalysis to aid someone who suffered exposure to Cthulhu Mythos forces might cost the therapist SAN; see THREATS TO SAN on page 71.
Research
Base Rating: 10%
The ability to find specific information in a large repository or buried in files, records, or obsolete databases. Use this skill to navigate a file system, pull out buried details in account records, or otherwise locate whatever relevant information lies buried.
Science (Type)
Base Rating: 0%
The deep study of the processes of the universe. This is more than common schooling; anyone can attempt an INT test to remember facts from whatever (rudimentary) schooling they received. Science is used to find a key insight about the way the universe works — or at least, the way it’s supposed to work. Each Science is a separate skill: Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Engineering, Genetics, Geology, Mathematics, Meteorology, Physics, Planetology, Quantum Mechanics, Xenobiology, Zoology, etc.
Search
Base Rating: 20%
Finding things that are concealed or obscured from plain sight. Searching an abandoned dwelling may not require the Search skill, only time and effort, or a sufficiently high INT. Use Search to find an object that was hidden with the Stealth skill or is otherwise so well hidden or disguised that it needs an expert. The Game Moderator may roll the Search attempt, so you don’t know whether your Protagonist succeeded or failed.
Stealth
Base Rating: 10%
Concealing your presence or activities. Use it to hide a weapon, camouflage a position, conceal an occult amulet, pick a pocket, move silently, follow without being seen, or blend into a crowd. A Protagonist attempting Stealth can be detected only by an opposing Alertness or Search skill (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 44).
Surgery
Base Rating: 0%
The treatment of an injury or abnormality, by invasive means. By comparison, First Aid keeps a patient alive until surgery is possible, and Medicine ensures long term recovery. (See HEALING on page 52)
Survival (Type)
Base Rating: 10%
Knowledge of challenging natural or artificial environments. Use it to plan an expedition, predict weather, find usable water or air in a toxic environment, maneuver and avoid dangers in an orbital station, or find other ways to eat, drink or breathe. Specific types also cover knowing how to survive and operate in dangerous environments such as vacuum or high-gravity planets. Each type of Survival is its own skill. Common types are Desert, Jungle, Orbital, Tundra, Urban, Zero-G, etc.
Swim
Base Rating: 20%
Most Protagonists can swim for leisure. Use the Swim skill in a dangerous crisis: going a long distance in choppy water, keeping a friend from drowning, or getting to a boat before the tentacled thing below grabs you.
Technology Use
Base Rating: 0%
Nobody needs to make a skill roll to use devices and technologies that are in common use in the era and setting of the game. However, making effective use of highly-specialized or technical apparatus is a different question. In the hands on the untrained, such devices are at best useless, and at worst dangerous. Technology Use is an umbrella skill allowing your Protagonist to successfully use all manner of common technical devices, as well as interface with the limited intelligent systems used to control them.
Note that the detailed design or adaptation of AI-based technology is covered by the Artificial Intelligence skill instead, and technologies specifically designed to defeat electronic security is covered by the Hacking skill.
Track
Base Rating: 10%
Use this to locate the tracks of a specific creature or person and follow them. A test must be made to locate the trail and then again once every ten minutes they are being followed. Penalties or bonuses may apply depending on how long it was since the tracks were made, what the ground is like, what the weather conditions have been since the tracks were made, etc.
Unarmed Combat
Base Rating: 20%
Self-defense. A fight between untrained combatants often involves more shoving and shouting than real violence. Use Unarmed Combat to hurt or kill an opponent with your Protagonist’s bare hands (or feet, elbows, teeth, or head).
Unnatural
Base Rating: 0%
Knowledge of the fundamental, mind-shattering secrets of the universe. The things that slithered in the dark corners of the universe and the cosmos beyond. Use it to remember, recognize, or research facts about the things humans consider unnatural. This goes far beyond the occult, because the Unnatural skill represents things that are real. Use it to sift through the darkest corners of myth, folklore, and social media and recognize which of it is true.
Xenoarcheology
Base Rating: 0%
The study of physical remains of cultures of intelligent species. Use it to analyze a ruined structure to determine useful information about its purpose long ago or the circumstances of its destruction. Where Xenology is about living cultures and History is a broad study of the past, Archeology discerns meaning from the artifacts left behind.
Zero-G Maneuvering
Base Rating: 0%
The ability to gracefully move in low or zero gravity environments, and not float around as an uncoordinated tangle of flailing limbs. In a crisis situation or during a space-based pursuit this coordination can be the difference between escaping an enemy, crashing into the superstructure during a spacewalk, or embarrassingly stumbling into an asteroid crater.