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Acrobatics (Acrobat — AGL): This is the ability to exercise precise control over body motions and actions. For example, an attempt to jump from a moving helicopter and land on the back of a running horse would be a Formidable test of Acrobatics. Acrobatics is also extremely helpful in melee combat.  Characters with Acrobatics skill may use their Acrobatics asset in place of the Agility attribute in any of the melee combat tasks usually rolled against Agility alone.

Act/Bluff:  This is the ability to convincingly pretend you are something you are not, or believe or intend to d something.  For actors, it means portraying a fictitious character, of course, but it also covers such things as effectively pretending you are holding a winning hand at poker or convincing voters that you will fulfill your campaign promises, or that you even know what they mean.

While Act/Bluff can be used in shady dealings like smuggling, confidence games, and the like, this skill can also be used as a vocational skill to artistically manipulate an audience's emotions by a professional actor or actress.

Admin/Legal (Economics — EDU) [Law = Low+]: The individual has experience with the rules and assumptions of how administrative and legal agencies work, and understands the requirements of dealing with and managing them.

There are tens of thousands of different worlds, and each of these will have different specific laws and bureaucratic assumptions. The character with Admin/Legal skill can navigate through this morass of red tape to solve problems. Several examples include: Easy: Admin/Legal to find the right person at a starport to answer a specific question. Average: Admin/Legal to fill out and file a bill of lading, customs form, or flight plan upon arriving at or departing from a world. Difficult Admin/Legal to understand a standard legal contract Formidable: Admin/Legal to understand an unusual legal contract

Characters with Admin/Legal can function as lawyers on their homeworld, but also on other worlds if other members of their party have been arrested. The difficulty level increases on a world with different laws. For this reason, rolls against Research, Interrogation, and Liaison, or use of these as enabling skills is often required for the character to understand the local laws well enough to successfully argue them.

Aircraft Mechanic (Technician — AGL) [Tech = Industrial+]:  The ability to repair and maintain aircraft. Tasks using this skill are similar to normal Mechanic skill tasks, but are applied only to aircraft.

Animal Empathy (Empathy — EMP):  Animal Empathy s a sixth sense that allows a character to perceive the mental and emotional state of animals (humans are much more difficult to sense, because of their more complex cognition and their habit of hiding their thoughts and emotions; for this reason, there is a separate Human Empathy skill, and it is more difficult to acquire expertise in it).  The exact amount of information perceived depends upon the type of creature being scanned and the power level of the scanning character's success.

Simple success reveals the presence and basic emotional state of one creature within a sphere centered on the sensing character and with a radius, in meters, equal to the power level of the success.

Each additional stage of success allows the character to improve that information in one of three ways: (1) double the sphere's radius, (2) reveal all creatures of one species, or (3) reveal the exact emotions and thoughts of a single target creature.

For example, a character who gained a Stage Three success might choose to perceive on creature within four times the normal radius (doubled twice), or know the exact emotions and thoughts of two creatures within the original radius, or perceive the exact emotions and thoughts of one particular creature while keeping tabs on all creatures of a particular species within the original radius.

Bargain (Interaction — CHR): When trying to buy information or equipment, or get a higher price for his or her services, bargaining comes in handy for a character. Although bargaining should be role-played out between the referee and player, the referee should give in more easily to PCs with a higher Bargain skill, or let the player know critical information about the bargain. For example, he might tell the player that the NPC seems nervous, as if there's more to this job than meets the eye. Or the NPC seems anxious that you not see the left side of the car you're bargaining for.

Bargaining may be used to estimate resale value of items.

Business (Economics — EDU):  The Business skill indicates a familiarity with business practices.  It includes a knowledge of bookkeeping procedures, an awareness of resources necessary to conduct different businesses, and familiarity with methods of locating or attracting customers.

Carousing:  The individual is a gregarious and sociable individual who is well adapted to meeting and mingling with strangers in unfamiliar surroundings.  When used in conjunction with Interrogation skill. as an averaged or enabling skill, Carousing can be used to gain information from people in a social setting, often without their realizing that you are even looking for information from them.

Computer (Technician — EDU) [Tech = Pre-Stellar+]: Computer indicates a familiarity with the use of computers. While most any character from a technological background of Early Stellar+ can use a computer to retrieve data that is freely available, Computer skill is required to circumvent the computer's programming.  Computer skill is required to program a computer.

Computer Empathy (Empathy — EMP or Psionics — PSI): With the Computer Empathy skill, a character can sense the flow of data within a computer or computer network. This allows the character to react more quickly and smoothly to changes in the data flow, making Computer tasks easier. The character must be physically touching a computer (whether keyboard, screen, or processor) in order to initiate the task. When the character makes a test of this skill, psionic power level determines how much the Computer skill is enhanced.

Basic Success means the character can sense the interior workings of the single computer that is being touched, revealing any interior damage or any problem areas in its electronic flow. Stage Two success allows the character to psionically “read” any data the computer is accessing, which lowers by one level the difficulty rating of all Computer tests the character is doing (one can even “read” the computer without looking at the screen). Stage Three allows the character to sense the interior workings of any one computer to which his or her own is connected (by data link), or to “read” all data stored within the computer being touched, even data that is not presently being accessed.  A Stage Four success means the character can “read” any data being accessed by a computer that is in communication with the one being touched. Stage Five allows the character to psionically “read” data stored within that distant computer. Stage Six means the character can perform Computer tasks at two levels of difficulty lower than normal (Difficult becomes Easy, for instance).

When dealing with self-aware computers (especially those infected by Virus), this talent is used the same as Telempathy is with an organic sentient being, but the referee will need to assign an effective INT attribute and Willpower skill level to the AI system. When dealing with Virus, Basic Success is enough to determine whether the computer is infected (although the referee may rule that certain infections are so good at hiding themselves that higher stages of success are required to detect them). Stage Six success or better is required to psionically “read” data from a computer inhabited by a non-cooperative strain of Virus.

Gunsmith (Technician — AGL) [Tech = Pre-Industrial+]: The ability to construct and repair weapons.  Fit telescopic sight to rifle (includes sighting-in): Difficult. Fit starlight scope to rifle: Average. Fabricate zip gun: Difficult. Make crossbow if bow provided (Difficult).  Reload cartridges, given brass, bullets, primers and powder: Difficult.

Human Empathy (Empathy — EMP):  Human Empathy is similar to Animal Empathy, except that it allows a character to perceive the mental and emotional state of other humans, rather than animals.  The exact amount depends upon the quality of the empathic character's die roll.

Basic Success reveals the presence and basic emotional state of one person within a sphere centered on the sensing character with a radius, in meters, equal to the final power level.

Each additional stage of success allows the empathic character to improve that information in one of several ways: (1) the radius of the sphere can be doubled; (2) an additional person can be sensed; (3) the level of mental activity can be increased, proceeding from emotional state, to surface thoughts, to deeper thoughts.

For instance, an empathic character who made a Stage Three success might choose to monitor three people's emotional states within the basic radius, or one person's surface thoughts within double the basic radius, or any of several other combinations.

Note that the referee may impose additional levels of difficulty based upon specific situations.

Instruction (Interaction or Social Science — CHR):  A character with skill in Instruction is able to effectively teach skills to other people (see Skill Improvement).

Language (Interaction — CHR):  This is a special cascade skill which does not function according to the normal cascade rules. Receipt of the Language skill allows the character to select either a particular language (French, German, Vilani), or the cascade Linguistics.

All characters are assumed to already automatically have a skill level of 10 in their native language. However, this level 10 skill is considered separate from the Language skill, and does not give the player knowledge at half this level of any other language cascades.

Communicating in a language which is shared by both characters, but which is not the native language of both characters, is a Difficult task vs. the average of the two characters' Language skill levels. If one of the characters does not speak the language, but is trying to communicate by drawings or sign language, the task becomes Formidable vs. the average of the two Charisma attributes. Both of these tasks become one level easier if only simple concepts are being communicated ("I'm hungry").

Identifying a Language is Easy if the identifying character speaks it, Formidable: CHR if the identifying character has at least heard it spoken.

Linguistics as a cascade of Language also does not follow the normal rule for cascade skills. Like other skill cascades, Linguistics may be selected as a specialty separate of other languages already chosen. However, characters who have not selected Linguistics do not use it at one-half the level of the highest specialty of the Language cascade. Rather, players who have skill in two or more languages other than their native language take the average of those languages (round to the nearest whole number; thus 10÷4 = 3) and cut the result in half (again rounding to the nearest whole number). This is the default level of Linguistics skill for the character. Any selections of the Linguistics specialty are added to this number. For example, a character has received Language eight times, breaking it down as:  Vilani 4, Aslan 2, Vargr 1, and Linguistics 1. Her level of Language (Linguistics) is therefore 4+2+1=7, 7+3=2, 2+2=1, plus the Linguistics level 1 equals an effective Linguistics skill of 2. If she had no foreign languages, the Linguistics level would be simply 1.

An individual with the Linguistics cascade has the ability to quickly learn and understand an unknown language based on understanding the common structures of languages.

Leadership (Determination — CHR): Leadership is the use of force of personality to convince others to obey you. Different people have different manners of leading. Some do so by barking out orders, while others simply inspire loyalty in their followers. Players who choose this skill for their characters should consider their character's personality when role-playing its use, and also consider the effect of other related skills. For example, a character with Leadership and Willpower skills, but no Persuasion or Carousing skills, would most likely be a harsh leader, while one with Persuasion and Carousing would use a more inspirational style.

It is typically an Average difficulty task to use the Leadership skill to convince NPCs to follow your orders.  The referee may adjust this, of course, depending upon other factors.

Leadership is also used when organizing the actions of a group of characters (usually NPCs) into cooperative actions. For example, supervising a group of laborers to construct a building would be a task rolled against Leadership and Construction. If the character had a number of assistants, foremen each with Leadership and Construction skills who could be relied upon to handle much of the detailed supervision, the character could use his Leadership skill alone.

Luck (Charm — CHR):  Some people just seem to have fortune looking out for them whatever they do.  The Luck skill is intended to reflect this innate ability to beat the odds.  Whenever in an adventure session a character fails a check against some other skill, the player may ask the referee for a Luck check.  If the Luck roll is successful, the player may re-roll the original skill check.  It is possible to check Luck repeatedly, hoping to gain a second roll on the original skill.  However, as characters press their Luck, it deteriorates.  The first time that Luck is checked in a session, the difficulty level is Easy.  Each time thereafter the difficulty increases by one level. 

For example, Consuela, a Mexican pilot, is trying to pull her damaged plane out of a nosedive.  The referee decides it is a Difficult check vs. her Pilot (Fixed Wing) skill, and she fails.  She asks to test her Luck for the first time in this adventure session, hoping for a second chance at the Pilot roll, and the referee agrees.  But Consuela fails the easy roll versus her Luck.  Desperate, she asks for a second Luck check, now at Average level, and again, the referee agrees.  She makes her roll this time, and as a result gets a second try at the pilot skill, at which she also happens to succeed.  If Consuela uses her Luck skill again in this adventure session, the check will be at Difficult level.  The first time she uses it in a later adventure session, however, it will be at Easy level once again, and so on.

Medical (Medical — EDU): The Medical skill allows for the treatment of wounds and diseases. It is broken into three cascades Diagnosis, Trauma Aid, and Surgery.

Diagnosis reflects a familiarity with injuries, diseases, allergies, and other maladies, and their treatments. Diagnosis also covers pharmaceutical knowledge that allows the prescription of drugs and knowledge of their interactions.

Trauma Aid reflects expertise in first aid, shock treatment and the stabilizing of patients for transfer to a location where more comprehensive care is available. This is the cascade of choice for combat medics and corpsmen.

Surgery is the aspect of the Medical skill that allows repairs to be made to injured bodies, as well as more advanced procedures such as transplants, implants, biological modifications, and twisted applications like vivisection. This skill is used in combination with Electronics skill to allow cybernetic implants.

To attempt a Medical task on an unfamiliar form of life is a Formidable or Impossible task, depending upon what is being attempted. If the organism is broadly similar to terrestrial animals (i.e., a carbon-based, oxygen-breathing, water-drinking creature), a Biology roll of at least Difficult level can enable the task. If the creature is radically different from terrestrial animals (for example, a creature that metabolizes ammonia or combusts in an oxygen atmosphere), the Xeno-Biology skill must be used instead. Failure of either of these rolls can indicate that there were no materials (drugs, breathable atmosphere, plasma, saline solution, etc.) that were compatible with the creature that could be used during the procedure, or that figuring out how the creature worked took too long, and it just died.

For purposes of Medical skill, humans and Terran organisms are considered to be the default for the expertise of human characters. The Aslan, Vargr, Droyne, K'kree, and Hivers are all broadly terrestrial in that they have nerves, blood, internal organs, etc., that work in similar fashions. While a Medical task on a Vargr would not require a Biology enabling roll for a human doctor, a task on any of the four other races would. Likewise, a doctor must make a Biology roll to enable an operation on a human.

For the treatment of wounds, see the Wounds and Damage section for details. Diseases are left to the referee's discretion.

Observation (Perception — INT): Observation reflects a quality of alertness and/or a training in noticing important things in one's surroundings. It is most importantly used for visually sighting objects using the naked eye or visual enhancement devices. It is also useful for such diverse things as detecting ambushes, discovering hidden compartments in luggage, and finding one important file within an entire drawer full of them.

Persuasion (Charm or Social Science — CHR): Persuasion, a skill at convincing other people to act as you wish them to, includes such things as haggling for a bargain, rousing a crowd to action, and convincing an enemy to let you go. The referee will set the difficulty level based upon the specific situation and exactly what sort of a speech the player makes.

This is only used to convince NPCs; all attempts to persuade other player characters are argued by the players themselves.

Prescience (Empathy — EMP or Psionics — PSI): Characters with the Prescience skill are prone to receiving impressions of events before these events actually take place. Sometimes this precognition happens days before the events occur. Other times, it is merely a second's worth of warning. Sometimes, the prescience manifests itself as a dream. At others, it comes as a waking hunch. Sometimes the warning is terribly vague. At others, it is crystal clear. The exact results are left to the referee's discretion, based upon story situation and quality of the Prescience power level rolled.

Psychic Healing (Empathy — EMP or Psionics — PSI): Unlike Regeneration above, Psychic Healing allows characters to improve the healing rate for wounds which they or other characters may have taken. Basic Success lowers a wound’s healing time by one day, and each additional stage of success further lowers that time by another day (to a minimum time of one hour).

To heal oneself, an Psychic healer need merely make a task roll against the Psychic Healing skill. In order to heal another character, the empath/psion must first establish a psionic link by use of a Human Empathy/Telempathy task. The stage of success of this Telempathy task then becomes the maximum success stage that can be used in the following Psychic Healing test.

For example, suppose that Crayson, who has PSI 6 Telepathy (Telempathy) 6, and Psionic Healing 5, is trying to treat three wounds on Winfield Jackson, who has an INT of 6 and Willpower of 4. The surroundings are normal stress (combat is over, but the situation is still distracting), so all Psychic tasks are Difficult. Crayson succeeds at his Telempathy task (target number 12, rolls an 8), and rolls a 9 on 1 D10 for a final power level of (6+6+9-6-4=11), a Stage Two success. On his first Psychic Healing test, he succeeds and rolls a 9 on 1D10, just barely scoring a Stage Two success (6+5+9-6-4=10). Rolling for the second wound, he fails the skill test, but not Catastrophically (target number 11, rolls 13). For the final wound, he scores an Outstanding Success (target number 1 1, rolls 1 ), followed by a roll of 9 on 1 D10, for a Stage Three success (6+5+9-6-4=10, 10x2=20). The first wound's time improves by two days (one day for Basic Success, plus one day for the additional success level). The second does not improve at all, because he failed his Psychic Healing roll.  The third also improves by two days, despite the Outstanding Success at healing, because the success is limited by the Stage Two success scored for the telempathic link.

Note that only one Psychic Healing test can be performed for each wound, whether or not it was ultimately successful.

Screens (Space Tech — EDU) Tech = Early Stellar+]: The individual is skilled in the operation of a variety of protective equipment developed for starships. This is a cascade skill consisting of Nuclear Dampers, Meson Screens, Sandcaster, and Black Globe.

Scuba (Explore — CON) [Tech = Pre-Stellar+]:  The ability to use an aqua-lung or rebreather. Skill level may not exceed character's Swimming skill. Avoid a mishap while using an aqua-lung or rebreather is Average. Navigate underwater is Average. Avoiding detection from watchers on the surface is Difficult with an aqua-lung or Average with a rebreather.

Service (Charm — CHR): The individual is experienced and capable in the care and feeding of passengers aboard ships, guests at hotels, diners at restaurants, etc.  Service skill represents a general knowledge of cooking, personal care and attention, and other areas of experience which will make guests, passengers, and crew happy and content with the conditions of their stay or passage.

Survival (Explore — INT):  There are a lot of different worlds, each of them as distinct as any terrestrial environment, and most of them as varied as the range of terrestrial environments.  Possession of the survival skill indicates familiarity with a broad variety of environmental conditions  This allows the individual to live off the land and stay alive in situations where most individuals would have trouble finding food, water, or shelter.

The likelihood of Survival skill (n matter how good) allowing a character to find breathable air in a vacuum is rather slight, but Survival would allow an individual to use any tools at hand to build an adequate shelter or to locate caves or natural features which could assist in survival  Survival also allows the fashioning and use of such environmentally-appropriate equipment as skis, snowshoes, protective hats, etc.  Certain equipment makes Survival tasks less difficult:  water test kits and purifiers, atmospheric sniffers and chemical analyzers.

Warhead (Technician — AGL) [Tech = Pre-Stellar+]:  The ability to arm, disarm, and repair both conventional and nuclear I warheads.  Arm/disarm weapons from the character’s own military: Average. Arm/disarm foreign weapons is one level more difficult.  Repair a faulty nuclear weapon from the character’s own army: Formidable. Catastrophic Failure results in accidental detonation.