For New Players

For New Players

So you have little or no experience roleplaying and you need a hand, right? Well, don't be afraid to call the GM over. Remember that it's their responsibility to keep track of all the rules and finer details in this book. First, read this book from cover to cover (don't be too thorough, just pick out what you find interesting). Unfortunately that could take a few hours which you may not have right now. In fact, chances are you were given this book and told to 'make a character'; since we only have about an hour, let's make sure you get the most out of it.

Chances are, you are familiar with how card games and even how board games operate. Unfortunately, if you've never roleplayed before, it's pretty difficult to describe how it's done. In fact you might think, "what the hell is roleplaying anyway?"

Roleplaying is exactly how it sounds, really. You each will be placed in the role of a character for the story. The GM will then oversee the session (just follow his lead) and you will decide how your character interacts with other places, events, and people. You will likely sit in a chair around a table with your friends, constantly dictating your character's actions and improvising your character's dialogue.

Since all players are participating in this exchange, you have a very interesting phenomenon unfold. It becomes something quite similar to improvisational theatre. All of you are actors on a stage (the stage being the table between all of you), carrying out each scene as best as you can with a character each of you has personally designed.

Costumes aren't necessary, but some roleplayers really get into it. Just remember that it's up to you on how much you're willing to give into your performance. With a good GM however, you may find yourself being carried away without even noticing.

Of course, the stage is empty. How you envision the scene as it unfolds will be shaped by the comments made by your GM. They may describe the forest you are in with various descriptive words: "you stand within a forest made of dark green brush". In that way, you can think of it as having a novel read to you or your GM dictating a text-based adventure game. Once the GM has laid out the scene in front of you, you will take part in it. All 'people' on the stage not portrayed by an existing player will be played by the GM.

Since the character IS NOT actually yourself, you must remember to act and play the part. If your character has a different accent, use it. Consider the mannerisms and speech of your character and act them out for others. Make decisions as your character would (based on his or her personality and not yours) and never be embarassed to do what needs to be done to convince the other players that YOU are that character. The GM is in a way keeping score here; by playing in character you may actually end up scoring more experience.

This probably sounds fairly demanding. The consolation given is that YOU get to design the character you will be using for the GM's story. Therefore, nothing should come as a shock or a surprise while playing. Anything and everything your character can do is up to you, so make a character you know you can handle if this is your first time.

So how do you win at this game? Well, you don't. There is no winning or losing in the grand scheme of this game. This is simply your character's life as it unfolds within the story of the GM.

The nice thing about being a player is you don't really need to remember the rules. The GM is responsible for the plot, all the other characters not taken up by players, how combat unfolds, the various twists and turns, and the description of each scene as it is encountered. Since players are hardly predictable, the GM normally ends up making most of it right there on the spot. As you can imagine, your GM has a much more complex task than yours. So take it easy and try to keep the following in mind:

• Don't whine or pester the GM if he's busy with someone else. Wait your turn unless it's absolutely critical.
• Don't constantly point out flaws or mistakes made with the rules. The GM has the right to rewrite any rules stated by this game.
• Play IN character. This above all else.
• A character is more than a bunch of abilities on a sheet. Don't get hung up on the numbers and power levels.
• All those participating will require a twenty-sided die and two ten-sided dice (1D20 and 2D10).
• All in all, this is about fun. Don't worry too much about it and just try to have a good time!

For New Game Masters

A Word to Game Masters

There are a lot of little rules to roleplaying, rules which the GM must remember. If having to know the system isn't bad enough (as it is very GM-dependent), you need to also know how to handle players. Fortunately, this book is here to help. Still, it will require a lot of time and commitment from the GM to be successful. Of course, as with any roleplaying, it is the quality of the GM that will largely determine the fun to be had with the game.

Here are a few things you should definitely keep in mind when playing this game:

1. Non-Playable Characters are important to make a world come alive. Any citizen of a town or important background characters must be played by you; they will guide and interact with your players. NPCs that are too powerful and influential will belittle your player characters. Players will feel useless and bored if you introduce too many influential NPCs into your campaign.

2. You are the GM. The players are looking to you for guidance in your campaign. It's your job to maintain order amongst your players. The Chaos Fantasy System is specifically designed so that the GM has perfect freedom (and hence incredible responsibility) to mold the rules as he sees fit.

You have a lot of power so use it wisely and with a strong hand. Don't fold to players if you believe yourself correct, but be open to fairness above all. The players should come first before the plot.

3. Momentum is the key. Try to avoid too many out-of-character distractions. Don't feel bad about cracking the whip to get everyone's attention. However, please refrain from pathetic plot contrivances to snap a player's character back to the storyline. The point of roleplaying is that a player is allowed to do what he wishes. If he wants to run off and have nothing to do with the plot, he can hardly blame you for feeling bad later when he's left out of what's going on. Don't give in; they aren't your friends right now, they're your players.

4. Keep your players focused. One way to do this is to make sure that you carefully craft your scenes. Pay attention to detail, but don't go overboard. Using only one sentence to describe a room is probably a good way to lose player interest. However, using an essay is ALSO a good way to lose player interest. If the players' eyes drift when you speak then you're becoming boring.

5. Play your NPCs. Different accents, intonations, or perhaps character quirks are good two dimensional mannerisms which can distinguish one NPC from the last. However, don't forget to also have a layer of humanity beneath them as well. You're here to roleplay a living, breathing world.

6. Don't make someone feel useless. It's one thing to have players which contribute nothing because they can't think of anything; this isn't the issue. When a player comes up with a good idea that oversimplifies the situation (makes it too easy in your mind), don't come up with some stupid explanation of why it doesn't work. Consider this: the player has put effort into making this character; if he doesn't get to use his character in at least some half-appropriate manner, he's going to feel cheated. Try to make your decisions fair and try to design a story which accomodates some or all of each player character. No player wants to feel useless; reward the ones who try.

7. Make sure that you give everyone enough time to play out their actions. This obviously gets more and more difficult as the number of players increase. Because of this, try to keep the number of players below six. Also, don't forget about the abilities of player characters. Take advantage of burdens or anything else you can find to make the character's life more challenging.

8. Make the players care. If the players don't care about the plot or the NPCs, there is little point in playing. You can try to involve the player's character background in the plot or in a related sub-plot. If a player doesn't feel like he really needs to be there (falling into uselessness), he'll probably stop paying attention to what's going on.

9. Be enthusiastic. If you don't want to be there, neither will your players. The more excited and less uninhibited your behaviour, the better time your players will have. Don't be afraid to play out embarrassing scenes. If an NPC sings then that's what they do. So do it. Don't shy away from difficult characters and don't feel shame. YOU are the GM. Challenge the players with your behaviour; the more into the game you are, the more impressed and involved they'll get. Speak loudly and clearly to command their respect and attention.

10. Be experienced. This is a difficult system to learn, so study it carefully. It'll take awhile to get good at GMing; it's not something that happens overnight. Also, read your world book from cover to cover. The world may be a bit strange, but you can do it. If you don't believe in yourself, how can your players believe in your ability to GM?

You are the Game Master. Play the part given to you.

You will require a few sheets of scrap paper and a pencil. Make sure that all your players have pencils and a character sheet.

Cheat Sheet (addendum)

The cheat sheet is meant to be a short form of all the important rules and how to proceed with any roll in the system. Because the system has not yet been finalized, this is currently unavailable.

Making Characters

Making Characters

Alright, now that you have some idea of how to play, it's now a matter of what you should play. You need to design a character, your voice in the world of the GM. But how do you go about it?

There are really only two ways to make a character: either you have one already in your head, or you're doing it from scratch. Strangely enough, it's the first example that takes much more time. Tailoring a character to match what is both in your head and possible by the world book can be a serious pain in the butt. Since this section is intended for beginners to the Source, the latter example will be focused upon. If this is your first time, it would be best to do it completely from scratch.

Step 1: The first thing you need to do is flip through the Source and the appropriate world book to get a feeling for the system and the world. Unfortunately, if this really is your first time ever or you don't have time, then you better skip this step. You'll be flying blind, but at least reading this section should help you a great deal. At least figure out your starting experience and read through the character templates to save yourself some time. Now go grab a character sheet and get started!

Step 2: Primary Statistics. There are ten of them and they give your character a solid background which will help you determine what sort of skills and tasks he would excel at. Having a high Strength and Stamina could mean your character is tough, but slow. A high Beauty and Charisma would make your character a well-loved celebrity. A high Speed and Agility could mean a gun-toting assassin that can handle both ranged and melee, able to read situations quickly. All the stats measure certain aspects of each character; by combining high numbers in just a few of them, you can come up with a basic idea of how your character performs in any given situation. Determine how much each stat means to your character or just a select a few at random. Use a character template to make it go by quickly; manually spending experience is too much work if you don't have the time.

Step 3: Learn the World Specifics. Many world books will present the system with new ways to handle things or restructure what is already there. For example, Behaviour is something that is different in each world book. Find out what is world-specific (ask the GM) and then make sure you pick what is right for you.

Step 4: Choosing Skills. This can be a little tougher than stats. Fortunately, the character templates can help you out a lot here as well. Just as you did with stats, figure out which sections matter to you the most. Then, simply spend as much experience as you feel comfortable with. It's a good idea to spend about a third of your experience on this section, since skills really do come in handy. Once you have the skills and the stats, you now probably have a good idea of what kind of character you're making.

Step 5: Spending All Experience. It's time to look at Martial Arts if you think it fits your character concept, or some of the world-specific powers. Of course, if you'd like to avoid having a supernatural character, Virtues are a great way to round out your character. Taking Virtues will soak up your remaining experience and give you some excellent natural abilities. If you need more experience for your skills and stats, consider taking Burdens to add even more flavour to your character's personality. This step will easily take the longest and you will need the world book to help you out.

Step 6: Resolving Bonuses. Most abilities, some skills, and stats all give you bonuses. All together, they will determine the numbers for your Resists, Vital, and Combat stats. Make sure you don't forget this step as it is the most important!

Step 7: Making a Character. Sure, you've spent all the experience and have now placed a lot of fancy numbers all over the sheet, but that's all it really is. Now it's time to really make the character! First, determine your character's appearance. Simply answer all of the questions posed by the template and feel free to elaborate and improvise other important details. Then do the same with your character's Disposition. These two alone will give other players and a GM a sense of who your character is and what he stands for. If you want to add extra information such as a childhood, his allies and friends, etc. then simply add it to the bottom of your character sheet. Last, but not least, don't forget to take equipment that would be appropriate for your character. The GM will determine what your character would have, depending on the time period and the resources your character would have available (he'll probably just eyeball it).

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Your Character Sheet

Character Sheets

Get the .doc version here!

World books will provide their own specific character sheets; the one shown here is simply the generic one. It still may be used with any world book, but you will likely need to make a few minor changes.

Character sheets that can be filled in with a pencil are still not yet available.

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Behaviour

Behaviour

Here is a section which unfortunately cannot really be expanded upon in the Source. It is a very world-specific stat; each one will handle it with their own rules. Simply put, your character's personality and disposition will offer certain bonuses and abilities which are unique to that particular behaviour. Perhaps your character performs better in certain situations depending upon the way he behaves. Many roleplaying systems ask that players focus on their character's behaviour and yet rule it out as a potential source of bonuses and special abilities. The idea here is that your behaviour with both help and potentially hinder you in the world of your GM's choice.

Example - Race Stat: Some worlds (such as fantasy and sci-fi) will have multiple races beyond just being human. These races may have access to certain instincts and other advantages/disadvantages which make them uniquely different from all the other races. Fortunately, the world book will also recognize humans as their own race stat, giving those that wish to be human something to keep pace with the others floating around in the galaxy.

Example - Archetype: If a world has only humans, it will likely just ignore the idea of a race stat. Instead, you'll be able to focus on two-dimensional archetypes which underline certain aspects of your character. You can normally have multiple archetypes, giving your character some subtle nuances. Different worlds may offer different archetypes, depending on what the world has to offer and how the world decides to split them all up to fit in with the atmosphere.

Example - Stereotype: These are intended to be just as archetypes, but are much more cartoonish and have less depth. They would be appropriate in a world based on Anime or comic books. The only real difference between stereotypes and the others is that they tend to not rely on experience and instead rely on the idea of Pros and Cons (each being different for any given stereotype). Again, the world books will split up the stereotypes depending on the atmosphere and may offer completely new ones.

The Source definitely does not recommend mixing different Behaviours from different books. However, if it is done, then the player MUST choose to follow only one. No player is allowed to mix the ideas of different Behaviours, having both a race stat and archetype for example. Once the player character goes with a certain way of Behaviour, that's the end of it. It is highly recommended that you simply follow the world book given to you.

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Experience & Costs (Player)

Experience

If there were to be any goals in roleplaying, one of the foremost personal goals would be attaining experience. It gives the player's character a chance to grow and adapt to changes in his life. All characters also start with so much experience (basically defining their lives up until you pick them up to play).

For your standard starting character, you will most likely begin with 350 experience. For a more challenging campaign, players could try playing normal mortals; this is usually about 250 experience. A more powerful campaign could demand 500-700 or even as much as 900 experience.

• Human Campaign - 250
• Standard Campaign - 350
• Powerful Campaign - 600
• Munchkin Campaign - 900

Obviously, this book will encourage the first two types, with a heavy emphasis on the standard. Ask your GM just which type of campaign he plans to run. If you have a wish to use the same character again for another campaign, feel free. This book certainly encourages continuing the journey of one character through many different stories. If your GM sticks to one standard for starting experience, you know what to expect when asked to make a character or when you choose to make a random character on your own time.

Now obviously, your character is a Hero in this world and does stand out amongst his peers (at least in some fashion). Most mortals in a campaign are based on 250 experience and trick out at around 500.

Some World books will have a different starting experience depending on power levels in that world and available abilities.

Getting and Spending Experience

For the purposes of starting experience, each section of Stats, Skills, and Abilities should receive a third of your total. This is a simple guideline to help you make a character. You may spend them wherever you wish, but the GM will strongly encourage and perhaps even somewhat force the above guideline in order to make certain of balanced characters and ensure a balanced campaign.

Of course, players may also choose to take any leftover experience and save it for later on in-game.

Experience Costs

Now that you have some idea of what experience is, it's time to spend it. The costs are listed below; you may find it easier to use the Character Templates when making your character. However, if you are interested in updating a character with newly gained experience, the costs are listed below for your convenience.

• Raising Primary Stats - Current Value x 1 to raise it above 5. Ex. To raise Strength from 7 to 8 costs 7 experience.
• Purchasing a Skill - 2 experience per level up to level 5. 4 experience per level up from level 6 to level 10.
• Purchasing a Talent - 5 experience. 5 experience to extend the same talent.
• Purchasing a Bonus - 10 experience. Bonuses may only be taken for every 4 levels in the skill and the same bonus may never be purchased twice.
• Purchasing an Ability (Martial Art) - Current Value x 10. 10 Experience to purchase the first level.
• Purchasing Virtues/Burdens - Each Virtue costs 20 experience. Each Burden grants an additional 20 experience.
• Purchasing Other Stats - These may not be purchased directly, but can be increased by virtues and other areas.
• Anything Else - There should be a listed cost in the world book, if it is different from costs listed here.

You may only spend experience on something if your character had opportunity in-game to learn or train in it.

Limit Breaks

Sometimes, characters hit the roadblock of humanity. They've gone as far as they could ever go within reason. This limit they reach is what separates the exceptional beings from the Legends. Your character has managed to go beyond the "mortal limit" to be a true genius in that area.

It's time to break that limit. These are called Limit Breaks. A few times throughout the book, you'll read that something can only be done if the associated skill/ability/stat has been broken. A GM will only allow, at best, a handful of Limit Breaks on one character. The GM may possibly deny them altogether, unless something really special happens.

Once past the human limit, the cost is no longer exponential. The cost to raise the broken number is now a flat rate which is equal to the Limit Break cost. Breaking the limit is a separate cost and does not actually raise the level of what you are using.

Ex. Stat is 15. Limit Break cost is 15. Breaking the stat costs 15 experience. To go to 16 requires another 15 experience. The final cost from 15 to 16 is 30.

Starting characters will probably not be allowed Limit Breaks.
A stat, even if it's 14+7 is still 15. Once the limit is broken however, this immediately becomes an effective 21.

• Primary Stats - The mortal limit is 15. The Final limit is 25. Limit Break Cost: 15.
• Skills - The mortal limit is 10. Final Limit: 15. Limit Break Cost: 6.
• Abilities - The mortal limit is 5. Final Limit: 10. Limit Break Cost: 50.

Unless otherwise listed, anything else either has no limit upon it or simply no way to break that limit. Once you have reached the Final Limit, you can go no further unless it is explicitly covered in your world book.

Abilities cannot be broken unless rules are specifically stated in the accompanying world book.

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Experience Rules (GM)

Giving Experience

As time goes by, the player's characters should become more and more powerful. Playing in your campaign will give them the experience necessary to grow and become more than what they were before. As the GM, it's your job to determine just how quickly this will happen.

Eventually, if any character is played long enough, they will become Tricked. Once this happens, the character is considered quite powerful and takes much more to grow and no longer gains experience as normal. This will usually happen to a character if used for more than 50 sessions (each session being a night of play). Although they can still gain experience at your discretion, their character no longer learns at such a fast rate.

Your turn, GM. Consider this carefully: does 50 sessions sound like too much or too little? It obviously depends on how often you play. If you do only 1 session a week or you want fast advancement, you may want to bump up the amount of experience you are handing out. If you do it 7 times a week or you want slower character advancement, then it's time to bump down the amount.

By normal standards, the character shouldn't be getting more than 7 or 8 experience per session. Your best players will likely get a lot more. Rewarding your players for their ingenuity is covered by the Experience Chart, read through it so you know how best to give experience to your players.

A good rule of thumb is to give your players 5 or 6 experience just for playing that night. Then add in bonus points from the charts to give the better players a nice reward.

When and How Experience is Spent

Players can't just spend the experience you give them however they wish. Players are only allowed to add levels to stats, skills, and abilities that were used during the campaign. Players are also not allowed to up anything by more than 1 level per session unless you really think it's warranted as a GM.

Players may spend 1 Ki in order to level up any skill/stat on the spot or 1 Chakra to level up any Ability. With the your permission (or encouragement), the player may spend experience to "go up a level" right in the middle of a fight!

At the end of each session, the you as the GM should allow players to spend experience gained so far.

The Powerfully Tricked Character

Once a character reaches 800 experience, the character is considered Tricked. This means that unless you the GM give explicit permission to play the character, it isn't happening. If you determine that the character is too advanced for the campaign, the player must respect this. That character has gained enough experience to seriously upset any starting campaign that is created.

A character that is tricked out should definitely only gain experience when it is really important. In other words, they should not gain anywhere near as much experience per session, simply because they have now realized their true potential; people only fly so high in life. They can still gain experience, but it should only be from things like: saving people from certain death, performing a very difficult skill, self-sacrifice or endangerment, or barely surviving combat even when near or at their best. In other words, they only get bonus experience and only when it's something critical.

This character has seen lots of stuff before, fought many different enemies, and survived many situations. Nothing is really new anymore, so why should he get experience for doing the same old routine? Players with tricked characters should consider getting experience as a blessing, since it will not happen nearly as often for them as it will for the other players.

As the GM, you can decide what the Tricked limit is. You may wish to raise or lower it depending on the power levels you wish to use for your world book. World books themselves may suggest new takes on Experience Rules.

The Experience Chart

You probably have an idea of how much you want to hand out per session. Consider the following to be perks for the better players. If the player does deductive reasoning or good judgment simply because of a skill roll, then it shouldn't count. The experience bonus is more for the player, not the character. This may not seem realistic, but it does add to the fact that this IS a game.

Also, don't give a player too much for one action. Sure they saved a bunch of people and nearly died in the process, but give them the more valuable of the two or up it by another few points or so.

1	Simply waiting it out. If the GM says "two weeks later" and the character was going about his daily business, it is assumed that a character gets 1 experience point every week or so on average.
1	Performing a skill or spell that proves extremely difficult (a severe chance of failure) or is of serious importance to the scene or plan. GMs should consider giving an experience point if the character has performed a number of skills during this session, even if they had only moderate difficulties attached.
1	Coming up with a very clever idea that nearly worked, it just ends up failing or the same player realizes it's weakness.
2	Coming up with a very clever idea that ends up working to the character or party's benefit.
2	Doing a quick action or a quick idea (improvised on the spot...if the player takes time to think, it doesn't count) that proves the character is quick on his feet. There must be a useful and important outcome in the scene because of this action.
4	A plan or action that actually saves multiple lives.
1	Endangering his own life or putting in large amounts of effort for others. This can include daring and brave acts of heroism.
4	Potential self-sacrifice. The character is willing to die to see something through.
1	Managing to negotiate with and convince someone who was first very unwilling.
1	Deductive reasoning ( such as figuring out a somewhat big plot point ).
1	Using good judgment (such as telling if someone is lying, noticing an enemy strategy or weakness, figuring out an ambush, realizing it's a trap, trusting the right person).
1	Playing in character. This should be given only once a session. However, it can become more than once per session if the player does something that is brilliantly in character.
5	Undergoing serious emotional or physical stress (such as close ones dying or he must spend Chakra in order to stay alive or perhaps he must choose who lives and who dies).
1	Defeating a menace with substantial effort, but little real physical harm comes into play. This does not include henchmen. They are worth probably nothing. But a group of henchmen is different.
3	Defeating someone only after playing some serious cat-and-mouse strategies in order to kill eachother. The character has probably taken some serious damage, but he'll recover.
5	The character manages to defeat a menace at the expenditure of most of his Ki, Chakra, HP... you name it. The character could have some serious Red on him and he still manages to win... even if he barely survived.

If the character does not win the battle, still give him some experience for losing.

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Character Templates

Experience Templates

Calculating experience costs can be troublesome; the tables and templates below are meant to speed things up. In fact, using the templates as a place to start for your skills and stats can take a lot of the pain out of spending starting experience.

If you want to take a stat/skill/ability, look at the cost on the appropriate table. All costs are pre-calculated, so just write it down. For example, taking a stat from 5 to 10 means looking at the "10" column and spending that much. If you want to change that same stat again, take it back down to five (removing the cost you paid originally) and then move it back up to the new number. That really would be the fastest way to do it.

Primary Stats: This table has pre-calculated costs for stats.

The letter 'B' stands for Burden; if you want to put a stat lower than 5, it has a special experience cost listed in the Burdens section.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Break
Stats	B	B	B	B	0	5	11	18	26	35	45	56	68	81	95	15

Skills: This is the experience cost for taking a skill.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Break
Skills	2	4	6	8	10	14	18	22	26	30	6

Talents cost 5 experience. Bonuses cost 10 experience.

Abilities: This is the experience cost for taking an ability. If you started with the Ability automatically on your character, reduce the table's cost by 10 experience. World books may have different costs listed, replacing or adding to this table.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	Break
Abilities	10	20	40	70	110	50

Character Templates

These are some simple templates which provide you with a fast way to spend experience on each area. You can mix and match these as you please; they're simply meant as time-savers. If you're completely new to this game, you might consider this a really easy way to make a new character without having to worry too much about numbers. Just pick a template from each section, add up the costs and if you have any experience left over, just read through the world book's Abilities to round it all out.

Section 1: Stat Templates

These templates are meant to affect all your stats. In other words, if you choose a second template it should not affect a stat already raised by the first template.

Low Stat Templates - Cost: ~50 experience

• Average: Raise each stat from 5 to 6. (cost: 50 exp)
• Above: Raise five stats from 5 to 7. (cost: 55 exp)
• Balanced: Raise two stats from 5 to 8. Raise three stats from 5 to 6. (cost: 51 exp)
• Over: Rase one stat from 5 to 10. Raise another stat from 5 to 8. (cost: 53 exp)
• Extreme: Raise one stat from 5 to 11. Raise another stat from 5 to 6. (cost: 50 exp)
• Unbalanced: Raise one stat from 5 to 12. (cost: 56 exp)

Average Stat Templates - Cost: ~100 experience

• Average: Raise each stat from 5 to 7. (cost: 110 exp)
• Above: Raise five stats from 5 to 8. Raise a stat from 5 to 7. (cost: 101 exp)
• Balanced: Raise two stats from 5 to 10. Raise three stats from 5 to 7. (cost: 103 exp)
• Over: Raise one stat from 5 to 11. Raise one stat from 5 to 12. (cost: 101 exp)
• Extreme: Raise one stat from 5 to 13. Raise two stats from 5 to 7. Raise two stats from 5 to 6. (cost: 100 exp)
• Unbalanced: Raise one stat from 5 to 15. Raise one stat from 5 to 6. (cost 100 exp)

High Stat Templates - Cost: ~150 experience

• Average: Raise six stats from 5 to 8. Raise four stats from 5 to 7. (cost: 152 exp)
• Above: Raise five stats from 5 to 9. Raise 1 stat from 5 to 8. (cost: 148 exp)
• Balanced: Raise three stats from 5 to 10. Raise four stats from 5 to 7. (cost: 149 exp)
• Over: Raise three stats from 5 to 11. Raise a stat from 5 to 8 (cost: 153 exp)
• Extreme: Raise one stat from 5 to 13. Raise one stat from 5 to 12. Raise one stat from 5 to 9. (cost: 150 exp)
• Unbalanced: Raise one stat from 5 to 15. Raise one stat from 5 to 12. (cost 151 exp)

Section 2: Skill Templates

Feel free to choose multiple templates in order to round out your character. So once you pick one, pick another template for even more skills. Do NOT add levels to a skill you already chose from another template; these levels listed are meant to be the final numbers for each skill you choose. If you wish to raise a skill after taking it in the template, spend experience for it as normal by the table above.

Recommended: All Trades + Savant, Student + Professional.

Skill Templates - Cost: 50 experience

• Master of None: Take twelve new skills at Level 2. Take one new skill at Level 1.
• All Trades: Take seven new skills at Level 3. Take one new skill at Level 4.
• Student: Take five new skills at Level 4. Take one new skill at Level 5.
• Amateur: Take five new skills at Level 5.
• Practiced: Take three new skills at Level 6. Take one new skill at Level 4.
• Professional: Take two new skills at Level 8. Take one new skill at Level 3.
• Career: Take one new skill at Level 10 and two new skills at Level 5.
• Savant: Take one new skill at Level 12 (cost: 48 exp)

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Primary Statistics

Introduction

What is a Primary Statistic?

The use of a primary stat is to determine the quality of a character's performance in related situations. Together, all ten stats will outline the type of activities any character excels in.

All Primary Stats begin at 5. It is up to the player if he wishes to raise or lower a stat. A stat cannot be lower than 1 and goes up to a limit of 15. To lower a stat below 5, take the appropriate Fault.

When listing a primary stat on your character sheet, be sure to distinguish between purchasing it directly and getting a bonus. If it is purchased directly, then it should be added normally to the stat. Anything from skills and abilities should be listed as a total bonus.

Ex. Agility is 7 + 3. The 7 is the stat base and a result of direct purchases. The + 3 is from skill bonuses or other sources.

Only primary stats should be recorded as X + Y. This is not necessary for anything else in the game.

For spending experience, look at the stat base and do not include the bonus as part of the experience cost. The limit on a stat is still 15, regardless of the bonus. So 14+3 is still 15 unless the limit on that stat is broken.

In general, for every 4 points you have in a stat, you get +1 to any skill roll involving that stat. You may write down that bonus in the Skills section on your character sheet. Consult the skills section to see how rolling skills works.

0	The stat does not apply to this object.
1-2	Completely incapable of doing anything effective with this stat.
3-4	Not really useful. This is like a little girl's strength.
5-6	Normal average human.
7-8	Slightly gifted.
9-10	Will likely pursue professions based on this stat.
11-12	An athletic level in this particular stat.
13-15	Unbelievable capability, making this stat a genius trademark of the character.
16-20	Nearly inhuman in ability and considered amongst the best of the best.
21-25	Legendary to others and unbelievable to see firsthand.

Introduction to the Ten Statistics

Here is a brief description of each statistic. Read it carefully to determine which ones are important to your character. Once you are done all of your character, use the sections on each stat in order to calculate all of your bonuses.

Physical

• Strength -The character's ability to lift, pull, throw, and grip onto anything needed. Characters with high strength have some serious muscle going on.
• Stamina - How long can the character stand physical fatigue? Just how hard is it to cause physical pain to this character? Characters with a high stamina have the raw ability to simply keep standing.
• Agility - How fluid is the character in close combat? Characters with a high agility can bend with the best of them and can pull off acrobatics even in the most awkward of places.
• Speed - Speed is about reflexes, but focuses on how quickly those reflexes can be carried out. Speed is also about how quickly a character can move his limbs to cover great distances.
• Beauty - Quite simply the character's physical appearance. Characters with a high beauty always attract social attention.

Mental

• Intelligence - This is the character's capability to learn and train. Intelligence is about the discipline of knowledge within the mind and will determine your character's mental strength in handling supernatural abilities. Characters with a high intelligence will have an excellent range of skills. Many skill rolls will involve this stat.
• Fortitude - The character's mental ability to endure pain and psychological torture. Characters with a high fortitude have tremendous willpower and are considered extremely tough nuts to crack.
• Wisdom - A character's understanding of his inner nature. This can reflect quite highly upon their magic. Characters with a high wisdom do not give easily to their more carnal natures and always get the most out of any life lesson.
• Perception - A character's ability to notice the slightest of details can have life-saving consequences. This is definitely one of the most important mental capabilities of a warrior. A character with high perception is never fooled and his aim is always true.
• Charisma - Being charming can be quite useful in society and this attribute reflects on the character's ability to lead as well as persuade. Characters with high charisma are naturally capable in matters of the state and matters of the heart.

---

Strength

Strength

Your character's muscular strength depends entirely on this stat. If you wish to have opposing strengths in different limbs, consider taking a Burden or a Virtue to detail this condition.

Bonuses

Max Lift - This is your strength x 10 in kilograms.

Max Carry - This is equal to half of your Max Lift.

Max Throwing Distance - This is equal to your Max Carry in meters for trivial weights.

If you reach a strengh of 8, you receive +1 damage. You receive this same bonus for every 2 additional points of strength.

If you reach a strength of 10, you receive +1 penetration. You receive this same bonus for every 4 additional points of strength.

For every 4 points of strength, add 1 to your strength skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 strength, melee weapons have half the penetration and damage on all attacks.
At less than 3 strength, unarmed attacks normally do no damage. The character fails all strength checks.

Strength Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Damage	S	S	0	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7
Penetration	S	S	S	S	0	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3
Max Carry (kg)	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100
Max Lift (kg)	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120	130	140	150	160	170	180	190	200
Max ThD (m)	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Maximum Throwing Distance (Max ThD) -

This determines how far the character can throw an object of minimal weight (about 10% of your Max Carry). Consider that Max ThD is also affected by skills that involve throwing (Athletics or an appropriate weapon skill). If the character has an object that is near his Max Carry, he can only throw it a few meters at best. Heavier than this, the character cannot effectively throw it and can only drop it. For all other situations, it's the GM's call based on the character's strength (an object around half the max carry gets 1/3rd the max ThD for example).

Maximum Carry -

How much the character can carry on him without suffering penalties to movement and combat. If the character is around his Max Carry, the character is now doing light physical stress. The character must then put the object down and take a small break or begin making Stamina checks at his limit. If the character is in combat while doing this heavy work, he will suffer combat penalties (covered in the Combat section) and is now under heavy physical stress.

Maximum Lift -

While doing a Maximum Lift, the character is under heavy physical stress. While keeping this up, he is hardly capable of any other action. The character cannot possibly lift more than this without sustaining some serious damage. If the character lifts more than normal or keeps it lifted for longer than normal (regardless of using Ki or not), the GM should consider some penalties. The character has a reduced Strength for the remainder of the scene, for example. If it goes on much longer than the GM thinks the character can handle, feel free to do 1 point of Red Damage to an arm.

---

Stamina

Stamina

This stat measures how well your character can stand up against damage before it even starts to really hurt him. At the higher levels, his body has been toned to handle damage and is therefore near impervious to weak attacks.

Bonuses

For every additional stamina point over 5, you receive +4% to Resist Knockout/Death.

Your hitpoints are equal to your stamina x 3.

At a stamina of 12, you receive +1 PFb. Repeat this bonus for every 3 additional points past a stamina of 12.

For every 4 points in stamina, add 1 to your stamina skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 stamina, this character suffers from +1 blood loss on all major injuries. This is determined by the GM.
At less than 3 stamina, this character's Red damage and hitpoint recovery rate are cut in half. Fails all stamina checks.

Stamina Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Hitpoints	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30	33	36	39	42	45	48	51	54	57	60
PFb	-2	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3
Resist Knockout (%)	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52	+56	+60
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Physical Endurance -

This is how well the character can put up with continual physical stress. Each time the character tests the limits of his Stamina, he must then take a break. The break must be considerate so that the character is well-rested (for some activities, like jogging, the rest may only need to be an hour or so).

If the character simply jumps into another physical activity without taking a sufficient break, most or half of the time spent doing the last activity will count against him (it's the GM's call, depending on how short a break the character takes).

When doing an activity, the character can normally keep it up for minutes, hours, or any other length of time. Multiply the character's Stamina by 5. This is how long the character can carry out a physical activity. For continued work (such as heavy construction, jogging, swimming, or other mildly strenuous activities), the character can go for minutes. For harsh tests of strength and stamina (holding breath, sprinting, lifting), he can keep it up in seconds.

If the character chooses to go beyond his limits, he will have to make Stamina checks. The Stamina checks will come with increasing penalties (GM's discretion, but try to make the difficulty go up by 1 each time you ask for a roll. The check should happen every several minutes or seconds, depending on the activity).

If he fails, he must stop immediately. The character must then roll Resist Knockout. If he succeeds, he is simply out of breath and completely exhausted. If he fails, he may pass out or at least fall over unable to react further. More information is available in the Stat Checks section.

If the character collapses from exhaustion or keeps up physical stress for far too long, he may have to rest for an entire day or two to fully recover. If the character collapsed, but the exertion continued (perhaps he ran out of breath underwater), the GM may choose to do Red damage to whatever area was affected.

Lifting, Sprinting, Holding Breath, or other Heavy Physical Stress - This can be done for his Stamina x 5 in seconds. Make checks every few seconds past that.

Carrying, Jogging, Climbing, Swimming, or other Light Physical Stress - The character can do this for his Stamina x 5 in minutes. Make checks every 5-10 minutes past that.

---

Agility

Agility

This stat is a measure of your character's dexterity and balance. Using this stat, your character will try to bend into awkward positions, make his way through a series of dangerous traps, or engage in melee combat with an opponent.

Bonuses

At an agility of 6, add +1 to Strike, Parry, and Dodge. Repeat this bonus for every two additional points of agility.

At an agility of 8, add +1 to Tumble. Repeat this bonus for every two additional points of agility.

For every additional agility point over 5, you receive +4% to Resist Stun.

For every 4 points of Agility, add 1 to your Agility skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 agility, the character always has Awkward penalties.

At less than 3 agility, the character will miss automatically on a roll of 6 or lower. All agility checks fail.

Agility Values

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

S,P,D

-3

-2

-1

0

0

+1

+1

+2

+2

+3

+3

+4

+4

+5

+5

+6

+6

+7

+7

+8

Tumble

-3

-2

-1

0

0

0

0

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+3

+3

+3

+4

+4

+4

+5

Resist Stun (%)

-20

-15

-10

-5

+0

+4

+8

+12

+16

+20

+24

+28

+32

+36

+40

+44

+48

+52

+56

+60

Skill

0

0

0

+1

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+2

+3

+3

+3

+3

+4

+4

+4

+4

+5

Jumping Ability -

The character's jumping ability is determined by Speed, Agility, and Strength. If the character can't get a bit of a start, he is doing a standing jump. This jumping ability can obviously be increased with skills.

Running Jump Distance: Speed + Strength + Agility / 5 in meters.

Jump Height: Running Jump Distance/4 in meters. If you do a standing jump, your distance is equal to your height.

Speed

Speed

This stat represents your character's ability to move in any given situation; whether it's climbing ropes, swimming across a lake, or moving in combat, the character's raw speed is represented by this aspect.

Bonuses

At a speed of 6, add +1 to Initiative. Repeat this bonus for every 3 additional points of speed.

At a speed of 7, add +1 to Evade and Quick Parry. Repeat this bonus for every 2 additional points of speed.

At a speed of 7, add an additional Action. Repeat this bonus for every 4 additional points of speed.

At a speed of 11, lower your Interval by 1. Repeat this bonus for every 6 additional points of speed.

For every 4 points in speed, add 1 to your speed skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 speed, the character randomnly fails speed or balance checks at the GM's whim.
At less than 3 speed, the character goes at tick 10. Fails all speed-related stat checks.

Speed Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Initiative	S	S	-4	-2	+0	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5	+5
Evade, Quick	-2	-1	-1	0	+0	+0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+7
Actions	-1	-1	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4
Interval	+2	+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-2	-2	-2	-2
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Sprinting - Everyone can run 25kph at a Speed of 5. For each additional Speed, add 1kph to your sprint.

Jogging - Everyone can jog at a third of their Sprinting speed.

Swimming - Everyone can swim at half their Jogging speed.

Climbing - Everyone can climb at half their Swimming speed.

Beauty

Beauty

Just how much attention does your character physically attract? This stat represents your character's ability to distract and awe others with your presence.

Bonuses

At a beauty of 10 and 20, add +1 to any skill roll involving Charisma or Beauty. This goes beyond the limit for bonuses.

At a beauty of 6, add +1/+10% to Distract for Charm/Fear rolls. Repeat this bonus for every 2 additional points of beauty.

At a beauty of 6, add +3% to Charm. Repeat this bonus for every additional point of beauty.

For every 4 points of beauty, add 1 to any beauty skill check.

Penalties

If your beauty is too high, you may Charm others without even trying (GM's decision).
Your beauty may exceed the limit of 15 if it is added to by other forces or items (supernatural or fashion).

At a beauty less than 5, your charisma becomes equal to your beauty if strangers get a good look.
At a beauty less than 3, the character is picked on or severely ostracized based on their appearance.
A character will find it difficult or impossible to succeed at social skill checks based on poor appearance.

Beauty Values

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Skill Rolls

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+2

Distract (pp)

0

0

0

0

0

+1

+1

+2

+2

+3

+3

+4

+4

+5

+5

+6

+6

+7

+7

+8

Distract (%)

+0

+0

+0

+0

+0

+10

+10

+20

+20

+30

+30

+40

+40

+50

+50

+60

+60

+70

+70

+80

Charm

-15

-10

-5

0

0

+3

+6

+9

+12

+15

+18

+21

+24

+27

+30

+33

+36

+39

+42

+45

Skill

0

0

0

+1

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+2

+3

+3

+3

+3

+4

+4

+4

+4

+5

Charm -

This is a percentage rating which is applied as a difficulty when the target victim has to Resist Primal Nature against your 'charms'. The victim has to make a standard Primal Nature resist using your Charm as a penalty. The penalty can be further increased with subterfuge and other skills. If the victim loses, he will find you somewhat trustworthy and definitely worth talking to. Getting information and loyal followers is a lot easier with a higher Charm.

Charm only works against targets that would find you attractive (so insects, animals, and monsters are likely immune). If a skill adds to Charm against a creature, use that new charm bonus only.

Awe -

This is what happens if someone fails a Charm resist by more than 30%. For those that fail, they simply adore you and wish to do whatever you command (within their own ethics, they aren't completely spellbound unless they really failed the roll miserably). With many successful Awes on a single target, you can slowly bend them to your way of thinking.

Distraction -

Both those that are beautiful and those that are charismatic can affect entire crowds at a time instead of a single targeted person. Just by walking by, they will attract an audience. Those that are weak against it or merely interested will likely approach the character. Some may offer to help. The point is that Distraction makes the character the centre of attention. The way they look and how they move can affect the mood of even the toughest crowds.

Simply put, when the character turns on the Charm, just how many people can he affect at once? People nearby will have to make a roll, even if they aren't the intended target. If the character actually speaks up to grab the attention of an entire audience, the Distraction(%) is used to determine how many people decide to listen to the character. The character can sway the moods of crowds, encouraging them to calm down or perhaps make things much worse. This is the GM's discretion, but Distract is intended to make socializing and leading come very naturally, convincing even the most kind-hearted man to join a murderous mob with sweet words against a weak mind.

If the character's Distraction is higher than 100%, he has +10% Charm against those nearest to his speech.

Intelligence

Intelligence

This stat reflects your character's ability to learn new tricks or to make connections in sticky situations. Your character's memory, knowledge, and ability to connect pieces of theory together could very well be the deciding factor in whether you live or die.

Bonuses

Maximum of INT Talents and Bonuses for skills section. Therefore an intelligence of 5 will allow up to 5 Talents and/or Bonuses.

At an intelligence of 8, you receive a free basic Talent. Repeat this bonus for every additional 2 points of intelligence.

At any time, you can save up 2 basic Talents and trade them for an extended Talent or a skill Bonus.

For every additional intelligence point over 5, you receive +4% to Resist Distraction.

At an intelligence of 6, you receive +1 Command. Repeat this bonus for every additional 2 points of intelligence.

For every 4 points of intelligence, add 1 to your intelligence skill checks.

For every 10 points of intelligence, add 1 to all mental skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 intelligence, the character is easily distracted and performs new skills at higher difficulties.
At less than 3 intelligence, the character takes an enormous amount of time to learn *anything*. Fails any related stat checks.

Intelligence Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Max Talents/Bonuses	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Free Talents	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7
Command	-3	-2	-1	0	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+7	+8
Resist Distraction (%)	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52	+56	+60
Intelligence Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5
All Skill	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2

Learning Ability -

This is how capable the character is at researching and absorbing the material he is presented with. This can be done with stat checks, but the GM should always consider that a character may pick up on training more quickly and easily based on his intelligence.

Fortitude

Fortitude

Just how well can your character take the pain? Fortitude is a measure of the ability to withstand enormous mental torment and to push onwards regardless of the crippling injuries and torture.

Bonuses

For every additional point of fortitude over 5, the character receives +4% to Resist Poison.

Starting Ki is equal to the value of fortitude.

At a fortitude of 7, add +1 to Red Limit. Repeat this bonus for every 3 additional points of fortitude.

For every 4 points of fortitude, add 1 to your fortitude skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 fortitude, the character easily succumbs to any kind of pain and panics easily from it as well.
At less than 3 fortitude, the slightest pain will make him crumble. Automatically fails any related stat check.

Fortitude Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Ki	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Red Limit	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+0	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5
Resist Poison (%)	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52	+56	+60
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Mental Endurance -

This is how well the character can put up with continued mental stress. If there is an adequate break between stress periods then the character will not be affected by stress building up from earlier on.

Fortitude is similar to Stamina; the character can deal with light stressors for his Fortitude x 5 in minutes. For high stressors, he can deal with it for his Fortitude x 5 in seconds. Past that, the character must make stat checks with equivalent rules to the Stamina section.

Light Stress - A constant taxing on the character's abilities and thoughts. The character must make difficult calculations or other serious mental thoughts (performing difficult skills). If the character is ignoring hunger, thirst, or sleep, he will have penalties to his stat checks. For each time the GM asks for a check, the penalty increases by 1. A stat check failure means he must roll Resist Concentration Loss. Failing means the character simply zones out and gets nothing further done of any use to him.

Heavy Stress - Extreme mental exertion (torture, gun threats) are ruining the character's mind. If the character fails a stat check, he must Resist Primal Nature or completely cave in to the situation. the character has gone through this kind of pressure many times in the past and has a reasonably high Fortitude, heavy stressors may be instead considered light stressors (spies which are trained to withstand torture, for example). More information on how to handle fortitude stat checks are in the Stat Checks section.

Pain Reaction -

This is just a general guideline. Characters with a high mental fortitude may be able to laugh it off, while low fortitude characters just feel lucky to be alive. These details make all the difference to the player, so make sure to include them.

Deprivation - The character insists on ignoring hunger, thirst, sleep. If the character starts to feel tired or stressed, the GM can ask for a Fortitude check to see if they stay up; the check should be done every hour or so with increasing penalties.

Wisdom

Wisdom

This attribute describes your character's ability to adapt to the unexpected and the emotional maturity of your character's ego. How well your character can control his natural instincts and useage of supernatural abilities all lie in the strength of his spirit.

Bonuses

At a wisdom of 8, add +4% to Resist Magic. Repeat this bonus for every additional point of wisdom.

At a wisdom of 6, add +4% to Resist Primal Nature. Repeat this bonus for every additional point of wisdom.

Starting Mana is Wisdom x 3.

At a wisdom of 7, add +1 to your Experience Bonus. Repeat this bonus for every 2 additional points of wisdom.

For every 4 points of wisdom, add 1 to your wisdom skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 wisdom, the character finds it difficult to learn and control advanced supernatural techniques.
At less than 3 wisdom, the character is incapable of learning or understanding anything supernatural. Fails all wisdom checks.

Wisdom Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Resist Magic (%)	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+0	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52
Primal Nature (%)	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52	+56	+60
Mana	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30	33	36	39	42	45	48	51	54	57	60
Exp. Bonus	0	0	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+7
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Magic Attunement -

This is really meant as a stat check. The GM should consider how much of an innate "6th sense" the character has about magic based on his wisdom rating. He may get certain premonitions, automatically notice minute supernatural influences or perhaps read important events out of something completely mundane.

Perception

Perception

The perception statistic is a measure of your character's attention to detail. Your character is able to absorb the details of his surroundings in a more meaningful manner with a higher perception, giving him the edge in an ambush or in long range combat.

Bonuses

At a perception of 6, add +1 Aim and Parlay. Repeat this bonus for every 2 additional points of perception.

At a perception of 6, add +1 to Initiative. Repeat this bonus for every 3 additional points of perception.

At a perception of 6, add 1 metre to Effective Range. Repeat this bonus for every additional point of perception.

For every 4 points of perception, add 1 to your perception skill checks.

Penalties

At less than 5 perception, the character can only recall or realize vague details about any given object or event.
At 3 or lower, the character never goes first and will instead go second in a new combat round. Fails all perception checks.

Perception Values

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Initiative

-6

-5

-4

-2

+0

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+3

+3

+3

+4

+4

+4

+5

+5

+5

Aim, Parlay

-2

-2

-1

-1

+0

+1

+1

+2

+2

+3

+3

+4

+4

+5

+5

+6

+6

+7

+7

+8

Range (m)

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

+1

+2

+3

+4

+5

+6

+7

+8

+9

+10

+11

+12

+13

+14

+15

Skill

0

0

0

+1

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+2

+3

+3

+3

+3

+4

+4

+4

+4

+5

Assessment -

For characters who must assess situations, combats, and intentions, this stat is extremely important. The GM should be careful about what kind of information he gives to players based on this stat check. Those with a higher perception are more likely to notice minute details in any given situation.

Charisma

Charisma

This attribute reflects your character's ability to blend into social situations. Charisma can make you a great leader of the people, persuading others with your ideas and beliefs. At higher levels, the character will naturally attract followers who believe in his cause.

Bonuses

At a charisma of 6, you distract +1 person or +10% of an audience. Repeat this bonus for every additional 2 points in charisma.

At a charisma of 6, add +2% to Charm and +4% Fear. Repeat this bonus for every additional point in charisma.

For every 4 points of charisma, add 1 to your charisma skill checks.

Penalties

At 4 or lower, many people will be quick to dismiss and misjudge this character.
At 2 or lower, this character is inept when trying to actively pursue social situations.

Basically, a character finds it difficult or impossible to succeed at social situations if they rely on their personality.

Charisma Values	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Distract (pp)	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8
Distract (%)	0	0	0	0	0	10	10	20	20	30	30	40	40	50	50	60	60	70	70	80
Charm	-10	-10	-5	-5	+0	+2	+4	+6	+8	+10	+12	+14	+16	+18	+20	+22	+24	+26	+28	+30
Fear	-20	-15	-10	-5	+0	+4	+8	+12	+16	+20	+24	+28	+32	+36	+40	+44	+48	+52	+56	+60
Skill	0	0	0	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5

Flunkies - This number is equal to the Charisma stat. Simply put, these are people who would try to help the character more than is necessary. When making a plea to a crowd, this is simply how many helpers the character will likely attract. The helpers are only useful for mundane tasks and can barely do anything else with any competency.

If the character has an excellent Charisma, he may attract one or two useful Allies instead of a bunch of faceless henchmen.

Charm/Fear -

Charm and Fear are two separate rolls, but they are two sides of the same coin. It is a percentage penalty which is applied when someone attempts to make a Resist Primal Nature (works as described in beauty section). You can make friends or put fear into your opponent; what you choose will be important in future situations. Fear has something similar to Awe called Horrify. These people will back down from you and will give you the right of way or perhaps scream; in either case, they are genuinely terrified of your presence.

Making Stat Checks

Stat Checks

There are times when the GM simply can't think of an appropriate skill to roll. And why should he? Not all events and important clues in a plot will fall back on some skill you may have. Sometimes it's all about natural ability. In these circumstances, the GM will ask you to make a stat check.

When the GM asks you to make a stat check, roll a D10 and add your stat to your final number. You'll use that number to determine if your character was successful or not. It's the GM's discretion just how wildly successful or ridiculously poor your performance is based on your roll against the target number.

Stat checks are very fast rolls that players can make to keep the game moving. Sometimes the GM won't want to bother going through all the motions of a skill check because the situation calls for raw ability. GMs, take advantage of stat checks to give players guidelines on just how their characters handle the next scene.

How to Use Stat Checks

A Stat Check is a great way to determine which way a scene may go. Does your character make the appropriate connections between items in the room? Can your character handle what needs to be done next? When you're in a hurry, you can fall back on the Stat Check as a kind of 'catch-all'.

Sometimes two people are fighting against eachother in a particular stat. They could be wrestling (strength vs strength), using locks and holds (agility vs agility), or trying to fake eachother (perception vs perception). When a contested stat roll occurs, do NOT use this section. That is covered in the combat section, so go there.

Beyond contested stat checks, you really should only use stat checks to determine if player characters have the ability to perform certain tasks. In other words, stat checks are used to determine the possibility or outcomes of actions. If the player is instead *reacting* to a situation, this is instead handled by the Resistance chapter.

Here are some examples of what to do and what to avoid when asking for stat checks.

Beauty, Charisma - These are adequately covered by other rules; there should be no reason to use these in stat checks.

Stamina - If the character insists on continuing with something exhausting or is going past his limits, he must make stat checks to see if he can keep it up. Failure means the character must roll Resist Knockout. A good idea is to make the stat check 1 or 2 points harder every time it comes up for the same scene. How much he fails by could be -10% for each point. Even if he resists Knockout successfully, he should still be stopped in his activities.

Fortitude - This is pretty much the same as above. Torture and interrogation are resisted by making successful stat checks; once the character fails a check, he has penalties to resist Primal Nature and must continue resisting until the source of mental anguish is gone. If the character fails on Resist Primal Nature, he's likely reduced to a former shell of himself. If the stress is rather light or skill-related, roll Resist Concentration Loss instead using the same rules.

Strength - Make a Strength check when you need to grip onto something; maybe it's a cliff or the back of a car, either way your character has to roll to try and hold on. Strength can also be used for pushing and pulling (trying to get a car out of the ditch, for instance). Don't use a stat check for Lifting or anything else already covered by Quick Information.

Agility - Trying to fit through a doorway, trying to grab something just out of reach, trying to balance on a rickety object, these can all depend on Agility. It can also be used for moving from one place to the next if there is some difficulty involved (jumping from car to car for example). Don't use it for holds or locks as those are contested combat rolls (in the combat rules section). Also use agility checks to see if a character keeps his balance on a rickety ledge.

Speed - How well does your character cover distance trying to run through snow or a forest? Maybe you aren't able to keep up full-speed, but the GM can guess more easily just how closely you can get to your Sprint from your Stat Check (or perhaps you trip and fall). Catching someone when they trip could either be a parry roll (which is admittedly a bit odd) or just a simple Speed check.

Intelligence - Does your character make a connection between two seemingly unconnected events? How quickly does your character learn new skills and abilities? Can your character focus on the task at hand under pressure? A stat check could mean the difference between hours and days when it comes to learning something new.

Wisdom - How well your character notices supernatural (magical) events comes into play here. Your character may suspect that an object or a person is magical; wisdom gives you the ability to gauge the power of supernatural happenings around you. Consider it a prickly and vague sixth sense.

Perception - Well, this really is the big one. You'll probably be asked to make perception checks more often than anything else. Does your character suspect that a friend is lying? Are you being followed? Do you notice that weird guy in the back of the nightclub? Just what color tie WAS that guy wearing? Any time the GM wants to see if you pick up on certain details in a scene (an odd smile, a stranger in the background), he'll ask you to make a perception stat check. GMs, feel free to use these checks to flesh out a scene and to make players acutely aware of just how much their characters notice their surroundings.

Difficulties

Not all situations are made equal; the standard target number for the average situation is 10. If the GM wants to make it easy for you, he can (although then there doesn't seem much point in rolling). If the GM believes that the situation would be harder for the average person or the player has some penalty against him, the GM will raise the target number. For every point of Red damage, add 1 to the target difficulty.

The target number must be made clear to the player before the roll is made.

11-13	It's an average situation that isn't in your favour; there are a few small factors working against you. Picking someone out in a crowded room, pushing a car out of a ditch, or some other inconvenience.
14-18	There are a lot of small details and a few major factors blocking your attempt. Picking someone far away in a dark crowded room, pushing a car out of a deep ditch, running through a dense brush or crowd.
20-25	Trying to run through a dense forest down a slope, picking out a stranger in the rain, or other tasks that would be impossible for most people.
Beyond.	Good luck. Even the best would need it in what seems to be an impossible situation.

Target Number

When you make your roll, your final number determines just how your character's stat holds up in the situation. GMs, use this chart to give the player guidelines on just how the next situation may proceed because of the roll made.

If the player fails by 1 or 2, perhaps he gets the gist of something or comes very close. If the player succeeds by 1 or 2, he manages the situation by just enough. For each point over a bare success, the player should get some bonus or detail which would increase his performance in the situation.

Strength - Each point over a bare success shows how many rounds the character can hold onto the back of a car before needing to check again (unless the driver tries to make it difficult for him). Each point shows how solid the character has a grip on someone or something for a round. Penalties could come from the car swerving or the ground around you collapsing as you try to climb up over the edge of the cliff. These checks are generally used for footing, grip, or awkward positions while lifting.

Agility - Each point shows just how many centimetres a character manages to gain by twisting his arm to grab something on the other side. Each point shows how many minutes you cut trying to walk or climb over delicate edges. Penalties could come from how rickety or thin the edge is or just how tight a squeeze the situation is putting on you. These checks are generally used for balance or twisting.

Speed - The GM should probably start you at your jogging speed for the situation. Each point could be an extra 1 or 2 kph up to your full Sprint (a great roll would give you near your full sprint). Penalties stem from sinking far into the snow or being tangled in branches. These checks are generally used for maintaining speed through crowded brush or crowded streets.

Intelligence - Each point gives your character another small clue (or hint from the GM) in your current dilemma. Each point could cut hours, days, or even weeks (in the longest circumstances) from your training time in a new ability/skill. Penalties could come from your character being under mental stress, recently failing a Resist roll, or even an ever nagging time-limit (that bomb is about to go off). These checks are generally used for training or connecting pieces of a puzzle.

Wisdom - Each point could give your character another small clue (or hint from the GM) about some magical object or person. You may get a vague sense of what sort of power they have or a sense of what's about to go down. Penalties could come from magic messing with your ability to read the situation. These checks are generally used to vaguely sense magic.

Perception - Each point should give your character another detail about the situation. You notice a person sitting at the bar; you notice a man; you notice a man with a tie; you notice that man that was following you for a few city blocks the other day. The GM will feed you more information based on the success of your roll. Penalties could come from other distractions in the area (lighting, noise, crowds, other annoyances) or the fact that someone is purposely avoiding you (Stealth skill or some other way to conceal). These checks are generally used to see if your character notices a detail about a current scene.

Introduction

Vital Statistics

Your vital statistics are the most subject to change during the course of combat. They'll go up and down, depending on your physical and mental reserves. As you can imagine, the more you lose of any vital stat, the more of a weakness shows itself in your character's physique. All of your vital statistics (and actually any stat that isn't primary) are completely determined by anything you buy with experience. For example, your hitpoints may be a combination of bonuses from your stamina, certain skills, virtues, and abilities. In any case, you can't simply directly buy up your hitpoints. Instead, your vital statistics are important reflections of your character's training and experience; they'll tell you what you can and cannot do in the middle of combat. So make sure you have a pencil during combat so you can mark any changes that happen.

Each vital stat has been given it's own section to tell you how and when to use them. Since all vital statistics have starting numbers (they do not all start at zero), make sure you put the starting numbers on your character sheet before you start adding any bonuses. It may sound like a lot of work, but thankfully the GM is there to help and not all vital stats are absolutely necessary at all times; some are only used in very unique circumstances.

Some world books may have different starting numbers for the secondary stats. You may also start off with some abilities depending on the setting.

Hitpoints (Shock)

Hitpoints

Coming from any other game, you might think that hitpoints are the most important vital stat you have for taking damage. While it is true that when you get hit with damage of any sort you lose hitpoints, they are simply scratches and bruises which represent a buffer before getting seriously injured. In other words, they aren't actually too important. They are used to measure how long your character can last against lighter attacks. It's possible to die and still have quite a few hitpoints left. It's also possible to still be alive even after you are reduced to zero hitpoints.

Whenever an attack hits a character, reduce his hitpoints by the amount of damage caused (sometimes referred to as white damage). If hitpoints are ever reduced to zero, it means your character has taken about as much as he can stand and is starting to feel woozy and very out of it. Once you reach this point, it will take a lot of effort just to remain in the fight (the GM will start hitting you with Resist Knockout rolls among other things).

The most important useage of hitpoints is that it determines your Shock value. If you are reduced to zero hitpoints, you cut your Shock value in half until hitpoints have been recovered. You cannot ever have less than zero hitpoints.

Hitpoints start at zero.

Shock

This is a much more important statistic for determining how much damage your character really takes. When you are hit by an attack which reduces your hitpoints, you need to be careful. If you take too much damage, you'll end up with a serious injury (also referred to as Red damage). You don't want that for sure, as it will seriously debilitate your character.

The simple rule is that if you take damage equal to your Shock value, you end up with Red damage. Consult the Damage section for the complete list of rules.

Your Shock value starts at zero and goes up by 1 for every six hitpoints you have. In other words, it is exactly 1/6th (round down) of your Hitpoints rating. If you end up with a starting Shock value of less than 4, please raise it to exactly 4. If your Shock value is lower than 4 due to Burdens or other penalties, that is fine.

Your Shock value is cut in half when you reach zero hitpoints.

Recovery

A character recovers his Shock value in hitpoints whenever he gets sufficient rest. Depending on the quality of the bedding, the character may have to spend more time to get decent rest (this is up to the GM). Also, lounging about and taking it easy will allow you to recover your Shock value in hitpoints over that same period of time.

So if your Shock Value is 4, when you sleep and wake up rested you have recovered 4 hitpoints. If you take it easy over the day, you'll recover another 4 hitpoints after perhaps five or six hours.

You recover hitpoints 2-3x faster if being medically cared for and attended.

Potential Force Blocked (PFb)

Potential Force Blocked

As you can imagine, the name for this vital statistic is quite descriptive of it's function. It literally represents the amount of force that you can potentially block from any given attack. Another way to think of it is that it represents your natural armour. But PFb isn't just about the thickness of your skin. It also represents your character's natural ability to "roll with the punches" which goes beyond an actual prepared Tumble. When your character flinches and pulls away from the incoming damage, instinctively, this is what PFb is all about. To put it another way, getting hit in the stomach hurts a lot more when you aren't prepared for it.

Raising your PFb depends on your Stamina, since it reflects physical training for the toughness of your body. It starts at a value of 3.

Your PFb is not on automatically and must be activated by spending 1 Ki. It is then active until the end of the scene/combat or until it is forced off. Each time you get hit with an attack that does any damage, your PFb goes down by 1. If you take Red damage from an attack, your PFb is immediately turned off. You may recharge or reactivate your PFb at any time by spending another 1 Ki. Your PFb helps to stop incoming damage and can mean the difference between a nasty bruise and a broken arm; consult the Damage section for all the rules.

Ki

Ki

Ki is a measurement of your strength of will and to martial artists it represents a flow of power that, from focusing that discipline, allows them to do amazing things. Anyone can spend Ki even without training. An easy way to look at it is that your character spends Ki when he is trying really hard to accomplish a single task.

By spending Ki, your character can seriously raise his chances of success. This is his willpower to keep up a good fight. A character may spend up to 2 Ki on any given action (this includes both rolling and resolving the action). All effects are cumulative. Ki is normally spent before any rolls are made for an action.

Each point of Ki you spend can do one of the following:

• Add 10% to your next Resist roll.
• Add 1 level to your next Skill roll. This cannot be done more than twice on a single roll.
• Add 1 to your stat for the purposes of quick information or stat checks. This can go over the stat limit.
• Add 2 to any combat bonus of your choice for one roll (this includes Command).
• Add +1 to damage on a successful strike. This is spent after your roll. This is non-cumulative.
• Add +1 to penetration on a successful strike. This is spent after your roll. This is non-cumulative.
• If you have finished your Actions this round, spend 1 Ki for one additional Action. This is non-cumulative.
• Recover 1 hitpoint. This can only be done at zero hitpoints, but can be done at any time (to avoid penalty to Shock).
• Activate your personal PFb in order to take less damage. This can be spent at any time.
• Make an offhand attack within the same Turn (consult Combat Rules).
• Spray Fire as part of a Turn (consult Combat Rules).

Ki is equal to your Fortitude plus any other bonuses.

A character will recover all of his ki only if he has sufficiently rested. The rest need not be too long, but there must be a lull in the story for the character to relax and refocus. The recovery is all at once.

Chakra

Chakra Expenditure

Chakra is the character's very soul. Chakra will endow him with superhuman ability and allow him to survive perhaps a bit longer. Chakra cannot be spent if the character is caught off guard. Also, the GM may restrict the use of Chakra if the character is sufficiently unprepared or perhaps isn't really stressed yet. Spending Chakra is an action which costs 6 ticks. Using all of it will kill you; since it is so powerful, it can only be used if the character has no other options for survival.

Unless used by an Ability, you can only spend Chakra when it is absolutely necessary. If you spend Chakra, you may not spend Ki for the remainder of the round.

One point of Chakra will do the following:

Automatically succeed any initial Resist and have +40% to that Resist for the remainder of the scene (after a Resist has been boosted, it cannot be boosted again by Chakra for the same scene or effect).

Completely regenerate Ki. Your Ki is restored to full.

Completely regenerate Hitpoints.

Completely regenerate Mana.

Affect the strength of your magic. This is explained in a world's magic system if it is available.

+10 to a combat bonus for the remainder of the round, or +4 for the remainder of combat (including Command).

Upon a successful strike, do critical damage to your target.

Completely ignore Red Damage on your body for the remainder of combat or scene (the Red damage no longer imposes penalties or counts towards your limit other than blood loss). This is canceled if you take any damage.

Chakra is not something to be taken lightly. Expending this stat means your character is significantly weaker. Recovering Chakra during the course of a campaign is likely not an option you have from the GM, so be sure to use it wisely.

Everyone starts with 4 Chakra. Recovering it during the course of a campaign is difficult and will require special activities or abilities. The GM will likely give you back Chakra if a new story is started or a significant amount of time has passed.

Because Chakra has such nasty side-effects and can be so powerful, a character is only allowed to spend Chakra when he believes there is no other option. Perhaps he is in a futile struggle or has taken a lot of damage; whatever the case, a GM should not give permission to use Chakra unless the character really needs it just to barely make it through. In any case, you may not use more than 1 Chakra per scene/combat unless important or many lives truly do hang in the balance.

If the character has only 2 points of Chakra, he will be completely exhausted and will fail any roll that has a difficulty attached. The character has no combat bonuses at this stage.

If only 1 point of Chakra remaining, he will simply fall over from exhaustion at the end of the scene. He must fight to stay awake (Resist Knockout every so often).

If the character is at 0 Chakra at any point, he will die. No Resist. He has perhaps a few minutes to live.

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Red Limit

Red Limit

By now, you might have heard inklings of critical injuries called Red damage. When you get shot in the gut, sliced by a sword, or set on fire, you'll likely need to deal with the prospect of crippling pain. Your Red Limit is just how much crippling pain you can take before you're finally down for the count.

If you were wondering what determined your character's ability to stay in the fight, look no further. Red Limit is in this game what you would expect hitpoints to be in any other game. Once you take enough Red damage to meet or exceed your Limit, your character is on the verge of death and likely out of the fight. The rules for handling Red damage are described in the Damage chapter. Recovering from Red damage will depend on the nature and severity of each injury.

Everyone has a starting Red Limit of 6. If you take 3 or more points of Red to the head or chest area, you will have to roll Resist Death and are quite possibly out of the fight. Once you reach the Limit, you'll have to consider other options (such as Chakra) to stay in the fight.

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Blood

Blood

There is a vital stat to represent your internal functions and this is it. You can see the Blood stat representing exactly what it describes. All characters start with 20 Blood.

Sometimes you will receive enough of an injury to an area that it causes blood loss. When this happens, the GM will tell you that you lose 1 (or perhaps 2) Blood at the end of each round. Just like Chakra, if this stat ever reaches zero you are dead without any chance to resist. Make sure you pay attention to this stat if the GM starts to warn you that your blood loss is too heavy. If you drop out of the combat, the blood loss will slow to happening only once every minute. Seek medical attention if you start to become woozy from it.

Your character will recover 1 Blood for each hour after the bleeding has stopped.

GMs, there are rules for Blood Loss in the Red section of the Damage chapter.

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Mana

Mana

Mana may have a different name in a world book, but it's function is always essentially the same. Mana is a measure of how much supernatural power your character can command. Whenever you engage in a supernatural ability, it will cost mana. If you reach zero mana, you may no longer be able to use those abilities until you recover. Whether it comes from focusing magical essence through your soul or using the power of the mind, this stat is dependant upon your wisdom.

Your mana is your wisdom x 3 plus bonuses from other areas. The recovery of mana is dependant on the rules of the world book.

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Effective Range

Effective Range

This is how far your character can throw or shoot something and still easily hit a large target. Once something moves outside of your effective range, you'll have penalties to try and attack it. Effective range can also determine the distance you can distinguish important details; those with a higher effective range will be able to discern small differences in objects from a longer distance.

You may receive bonuses to your effective range from skills (such as Athletics to throw a baseball or football) or from built-in bonuses to equipment (balancing and targeting on a gun).

Just because something is outside of your effective range, doesn't mean you can't shoot at it. You can still throw up to your maximum throwing distance and you can still shoot as far with a gun as it's range will allow.

All characters begin with an Effective Range of 10 metres.

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Experience Bonus

Experience Bonus

Here's a nifty little bonus you get from having a high wisdom (it may also come from supernatural sources). The experience bonus shows just how much faster you learn from your mistakes and discoveries over other individuals. Having a high wisdom literally means you gain more experience than everyone else; this bonus even applies to Tricked experience that you may get later on with this character!

It's simple; every time you get a total of 10 in-game experience, also add this bonus to it. Those with an experience bonus of +10 will be able to get double the experience than other characters.

You may not have an experience bonus higher than +10. It starts at +0.

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Resistance

Resist Rules

Resistance

There are times in the game where a particular event may have some effect on your character, but it's not quite damage and it wouldn't be a penalty to any of your rolls. Instead, the event somehow affects your character's mental and/or physical state. It may be drugs, magic, blood loss, or sheer emotional torture; whatever the event is, your character needs to fight back. In order to fight off these sustained events, you will try to "resist" the effects. That's where the idea of Resistance comes in. Resistance is meant to determine your character's "reactions" to external factors and events. Use stat checks if you want to see your character perform their own actions.

In order to make a Resist roll, you'll need percentile dice. In other words, roll a high D10 and a low D10. Literally put the numbers together (1+1 is not 2, but 11). The general rule of thumb is to choose two differently coloured D10s or to consider that the furthest away from you after the roll is the high number. The number put together is a number between 00-99 (00 is low).

If you roll a 00, it is considered a critical success and you succeed even if it may not have been possible for you before. Also, your GM may be nice and give you some bonuses or let you fight off the effects even better than you would have normally.

If you roll a 99, it is considered a critical failure and you fail even if it wasn't possible for you before. The effects may be comical or disastrous, depending on the tastes of your GM.

When the GM asks you to make a resist roll, look at your appropriate resist that he asks for. What you're trying to do is match or roll lower than the number stated on your character sheet (minus any penalties the GM throws at you).

There are 6 different kinds of events that can be resisted. You can roll to resist Stunning effects on your character from incoming attacks. You can try to resist awkward or annoying distractions in order to perform your skills or abilities (Resist Distraction). You will Resist Magic if there is a magical spell trying to take ahold of you (the spells will list if they can be resisted this way or not, some simply do direct damage). You will Resist Knockout/Death if you are hit with blinding pain or some other disastrous injury. You will Resist Poison to try and fight off the effects of gases, toxins, and any other hazardous materials. And last but not least, you will Resist Primal Nature in order to keep your emotions and/or instincts in check. All of them are described in their own section.

All of your Resists begin at 50%. Put that down directly on the character sheet; you may receive bonuses to these Resists from their supporting stats or from other areas.

• Distraction (Intelligence)
• Stun (Agility)
• Magic (Wisdom)
• Primal Nature (Wisdom)
• Knockout/Death (Stamina)
• Poison (Fortitude)

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Stun

Resist Stun

This is for when you get thrown off balance from incoming damage or a special attack. Your character may stumble or outright fall. If you fail, then you are currently stunned (follow stun rules in combat section). This isn't just falling from a trip (as you can continue to attack from the ground), but rather being thrown off your game by some external force.

So if your character falls a great distance, gets knocked back or knocked down, or an attack is actually specifically a Stun or does Red damage, you must make this Resist. Make your Resist Stun roll after resolving the action to see if your character bounces back from the attack or if he winces in pain and is out of the combat for a little while.

-10% for recovering from knockback or falling. This should stack if you were sent reasonably far.

-30% when you take a hit in combat that causes a point of Red Damage. This stacks for each point.

Attacks will list penalties for Resist Stun if they have that effect (stuns, trips, and other moves).

Roll this at the end of each stun, trip, knockback, fall, or any time you take Red damage.

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Distraction

Resist Distraction

If your character is distracted at all, hit during battle, or is interrupted in any way, this is his ability to resume the skill or ability without having to re-roll or start over again.

The GM will ask you to make this roll before you attempt a task or action requiring concentration. In this case, he will only ask if the action has an attached difficulty or you are attempting it under duress (loud noises, busy movement, someone distracting you).

Also, the GM will ask you to make this roll to avoid being interrupted by combat. If you fail Resist Stun, you automatically fail this Resist as well.

GMs, this is how to determine difficulty of the base roll:

If the character had to roll Resist Stun, apply the same penalty from that roll to this one.

-10% from serious distractions (loud noises, blinking lights).

-20% if your character is physically or mentally exhausted from previous activities.

-20% if your character currently has an Awkward or Disoriented penalty (so hanging upside-down).

-30% when someone is shaking you and trying to stop you from doing something without hurting you.

Make this roll before you attempt a difficult action or if someone tries to stop you from completing your task. You may have to start over again, depending on the length of the task and the GM's discretion; otherwise, you'll have to wait until you can resume.

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Magic

Resist Magic

The world book may opt to give it a different name (resist psychic, psionic, supernatural, etc), but the function remains the same. Resist Magic is done when you are attempting to fight off the effects of a supernatural ability. Each world book will have it's own way of handling this resist, and so there is nothing to write here. Your GM will let you know how resist magic works for the setting he has chosen.

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Knockout/Death

Knockout/Death

You will make this roll frequently if taking a lot of punishment in combat or other circumstances.

• -30% if missing half your blood.
• -20% for each Red damage sacrificed in an opponent's knockout blow (Knockout only).
• -20% if you are victim to a knockout blow in an ambush attack (Knockout only).
  
  
• +10% if someone is trying to help you stay awake.
• +20% if someone is giving you immediate medical attention.
• +30% if in paramedic care.
• +50% if in emergency care.

The GM may determine other penalties (coming from Red damage or perhaps abilities currently affecting you). GMs, don't just knock out your players if they fail the roll; consider just how badly they failed. If it wasn't much of a failure, perhaps they are just stunned. If they fail by a moderate amount, knock them out but only for a round or two. If they failed by more than 30% then... yeah, they're toast for the combat.

An important question is, when is it Resist Knockout and when is it Resist Death?

It is Resist Death if the character is asked to make the roll and:

• He has just reached his Red Limit. He is now out of the fight regardless of the performance of this Resist.
• He is at his Red Limit and then is again attacked.
• he has received 2 points of Red Damage to the skull and takes more Red damage to the head.
• He has received 2 points of Red Damage to the chest and takes more Red damage there again.
• He has only 5 blood remaining. At this point, he must roll every time he loses another blood point.

If the character fails a Resist Knockout, then he is out like a light. He may attempt to re-awaken if someone tries to rescuscitate him or he may try every hour (or few minutes/rounds, depending on the GM's situation). Each time, he gets +10% until he succeeds.

If the character fails a Resist Death, he is in imminent danger of dying. Unless someone tries to actually save him, he is dead and nothing more can be done. If someone helps him stay alive, he gets the appropriate bonus from their help and is allowed to attempt a re-roll. If no one is helping him, he may expend one point of Chakra in order to stay alive for another hour until someone helps him. How long he can keep this up depends on his Chakra and how badly damaged he is.

• If a character is reduced to 0 Chakra or 0 blood, death is imminent and likly unavoidable.
• If a character receives 4 red damage to the head or chest, death is imminent and very likely, regardless of resists or Red Limit.
• If at zero hitpoints or 3 points of Red to the chest or head, he must roll Resist Knockout whenever he takes damage to those two areas.
• If a character fails Resist Knockout at zero hitpoints, he is likely Stunned (combat rules) unless he failed miserably.

---

Poison

Poison

There are many things to consider when resolving this Resist roll. Resist Poison is easily the most complex resist because of the intricate nature of many poisons and toxins.

If poison enters the character's system, then you must first consider how difficult it is to save against.

Base Penalties

+20%	The character has built a resistance against this poison over time.
+10%	If the poison has affected the character recently.
-30%	If any poison is injected directly into the bloodstream.
0%	Weak Alcoholic drinks, counter medication, relaxants.
-10%	Strong alcohol, morphine (other strong sedatives), minor nerve toxins.
-20%	Crack, Heroin, most illicit drugs.
-30%	Arsenic, Cyanide; anything meant to be lethal or extremely overwhelming.

Serving

The Base penalty is for what is considered a single Serving of the poison. If the character ingests any more poison, the base roll is -10% for every serving thereafter. If there is a significant number of Servings ingested, increase the Immediate Effect level as appropriate (GM's call) and the number of Active Resists. For many poisons, an indicator (in grams) is given per Serving.

Duration

How long until the player must roll Resist again. For powerfully fast poisons, Duration could mean 1 second between Resist rolls; slow-acting poisons could take days.

Active Resists

This is the number of Resists that the player must make (unless the poison is prematurely removed). Until the player makes enough Resists, the poison is still actively attacking his system.

Let's say the number of Active Resists is 5. The player makes 5 rolls at designated times (according to the Duration). Once he has completed all 5 rolls, the poison starts to leave his system and the player stops Resisting Poison.

Every time the player succeeds to Resist Poison, his next roll is another -10% and the Immediate Effect is lowered.

For every time the player fails to Resist Poison, his next roll is another +10% and the Immediate Effect is felt and then raised for the next roll.

If the character passes out he must continue to Resist Poison. If the effects of the drug are fatal enough, the character may have to Resist Death.

Immediate Effect

Once a character fails a roll, he feels the Immediate Effect of the drug.

Certain Poisons may have an upper limit on how bad the Immediate Effect can be. No matter how much the character ingests (eg, a tranquilizer) the effects may never go beyond a certain level. This is up to the GM or may be listed by the poison.

Each time the player fails, the Immediate Effect penalties stack. This means that for each failure, the character will be hit with new penalties as specified by the poison (or GM) ontop of old ones.

You'll notice that some poisons will have a listed 'First Effect'. That means that despite what Immediate Effect Level you're currently at with the poison, the first time you fail, this is the first penalty to hit your character. It only hits you once, but stays with you until the poison is gone. Also, the poison may have a listed penalty that you should use as part of the Immediate Effect level.

Effect Levels

No Effect	The poison may still be in the character's system, but he doesn't notice it.
Minor	The character is going to be fuzzy with 'Immediate:small' penalty for the next few hours.
Slight	Same as above.
Somewhat	'Immediate:Major' penalty.
Considerable	Same as above.
Serious	Might Resist Knockout. 'Immediate:Extreme' penalty.
Unconscious	The character must Resist Knockout (-20%). 'Immediate:Extreme' penalty which may last for a few days.
Dangerous	The character must Resist Knockout (-40%). 'Immediate:Crippling' penalty for a few hours.
Possibly Fatal	The character must Resist Death(-20%). 'Immediate:Crippling' penalty which may last for a day.
Lethal	The character must Resist Death(-40%). 'Immediate:Crippling' penalty for up to a week.

Resolve the Red Damage immediately.

Immediate Penalties

GMs, don't be afraid to have a penalty to be on Resist Poison. The drug could make them delirious, making it that much harder to continue resisting the drug.

It is up to the GM (or in the poison's description), but try to choose two or three effects that seem to fit the nature of the poison and inflict them upon the character. Remember, come up with your own penalties if you see none that fit the amount of punishment you deem necessary. Also, an Extreme reaction can be a few Major or Small penalties instead of one Extreme penalty.

Small

• The GM may decide to do things such as increased difficulties on all rolls.
• Disorient penalties or dizzy behaviour.
• Lose some hitpoints and fail Resist Balance every once in awhile.

Major

• -20% and -4 to all rolls.
• Disorient and Awkward penalties.
• Reduced Shock value.
• Half PFb.
• 1 Red damage or some decent hitpoints damage.

Extreme -

Some resists automatically fail.
• The character cannot perform any rolls with attached difficulties.
• Experience violent reactions (including blood loss and spasms).
• The character can no longer spend Ki.
• 1 Red damage.

Crippling

• The character has a few Stats lowered to 1 (temporary).
• Can no longer spend Chakra.
• No PFb and half shock value.
• May spout incoherently and be completely unaware of the situation.
• May lose all mental and/or physical control.
• This injury may cause 2 Red damage immediately or over time.

Lethal

This will knock you to the ground and may even cause up to 3 Red damage immediately. You must Resist Death and even if you somehow manage to wake back up (say in a number of hours or a day), you'll likely wake up in Crippling pain.

Lasting Effect

The Lasting Effects of a poison are usually listed in hours or days. This is usually some penalty that occurs in the aftermath (a hangover or numbness from a toxin). More damaging poisons may have lasting effects that do further damage. Each hour (or day) that passes, the character rolls Resist Primal Nature. Each time he fails, he gets +10%. Once he succeeds, the lasting effects are gone and the poison has completely left his system.

EXAMPLE

Name: Arsenic
Immediate Effect: Lethal
Resist Penalty: -30%
Active Resists: 4 Resists
Max. Effect: Lethal
Duration: 1 Round
First Effect: None.
Penalties: None specified, but do some damage.
Lasting Effects: None Specified.
Serving: 1g

What this means is that the character will be required to resist the arsenic every round (look at the Duration) for 4 rounds.

Fred has a Resist Poison of 90%. This arsenic is -30%; Fred has to roll 60 or lower.

Every time Fred successfully resists, the Effect is lessened by one level (remember, it won't actually hurt the character until he fails).

Fred rolls his resist and succeeds. The Immediate Effect of the Arsenic is now Possibly Fatal. He rolls again at 50%. He succeeds and the effect is now Dangerous. Next time it's 40%, he rolls and fails. Fred has landed on Dangerous Effect. By that, he must now Resist Knockout (and succeeds). Fred now experiences a Crippling Penalty. The GM decides that Fred vomits blood and finds it difficult to focus (and therefore nearly incapable of combat or clear thought). The Immediate Effect of the poison goes back up to Possibly Fatal.

Fred succeeds on his next Resist Poison roll; the effect moves back to Dangerous. Fred is now done all of his active resists, the Arsenic will start to leave his system. So Fred has experienced Crippling Penalties and luckily nothing stacked ontop of that. And that's it! Fred makes some Resist Primal Nature rolls (each time getting another +10%) to get rid of the lasting effects as decided by the GM; he may take some more damage, but it likely will not kill him.

So Fred did take some Red damage in the process. Since there weren't any Lasting Effects specified, the GM was nice and left Fred in pain but not in any persisting agony from the poison (other than the Red damage).

EXAMPLE

Name: Snake Bite
Immediate Effect: Slight
Resist Penalty: 0%
Active Resists: 20 Resists
Max Effect: Dangerous
Lasting Effect: Days, 3 damage per failure.
First Effect: -30% Resist Poison.
Penalties: -10% to Resist Poison for each Immediate Effect Level.
Duration: 1 Hour
Serving: 1g

Let's take Fred again. He has a Resist Poison of 90%. This is really good, let's see if it helps him.

Fred has to make a Resist Poison every hour (look at Duration) for 20 hours.

Fred rolls and succeeds. The effect is now reduced to Minor. Rolling again, brings it down to No Effect. And it has No Effect...at least for the moment. Unfortunately, the poison Effect can never be reduced to less than that and eventually, Fred starts failing. After several hours, Fred is rolling at -70% on No Effect.

He fails, but at least he gets +10% for the next roll right? The GM notices that the poison specifies a penalty to -30% Resist Poison upon the first failure. This makes it a lot harder. In fact, Fred's Resist Poison is now at 0%. He fails again, obviously. And again. And again. Every time Fred fails, the poison gets harder to resist. Even though he gets +10% each time he fails, the Immediate Effect on the poison makes it harder by -10%; his Resist Poison NEVER goes up.

So Fred keeps failing time after time, until the poison becomes Dangerous. The poison starts to do real damage to his insides and he realizes that if this keeps up...he'll die. Even if he does survive, the lasting effects are for Days! That means that for the next few days, Fred will find it difficult to even stand. Rolling Resist Primal Nature is difficult and his insides start getting churned up by the Lasting Effects.

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Primal Nature

Resist Primal Nature

This resist represents the instinctive nature of your character. As such, it may be different things that set you off. Whenever a situation greatly appeals to your emotional state or ethics (this includes mental stress or terrible events), you must resist Primal Nature. There are four main events that can appeal to your Primal Nature (the GM may make you roll for other related situations as well).

Fear: When your character stumbles upon a brutal murder scene or there is the reeking stench of a corpse, it's time to roll this Resist. Failing could mean your character simply can't operate within the scene due to the massacre or horrible distractions. If the scene is horrifying (perhaps a strange cold wind or a terrible sight flashes in the darkness), your character may run away or simply cower in terror frozen in position. If someone is trying to intimidate you, you may be visibly afraid of them and start to back off. Being Horrified means your character literally wets himself in a screaming panic.

Charm: There are times when someone will try to get you to trust them. And unless there is a glaring flaw in their lie, your character may take it as truth if he fails his resist. A lot of times you might be willing to go along with it, but sometimes being seduced or charmed isn't in your character's best interest; he just can't help himself. Roll this as well if your character is staring at objects or inanimate beauty (works of art) to see how your character is entranced.

Torture: If friends are being threatened, your character is held at gunpoint, or if mental or physical torture is involved, your character will start to break down. When that happens, makes this Resist roll. If it fails, your character will give into whatever emotion seems appropriate (this could be a blind rage or sobbing acceptance of the consequences).

Morals: It's generally assumed your character has natural limits to his humanity. Lying to hurt someone else, cheating a widow out of money, torturing someone for information, and especially killing in cold blood are general no-nos. When your character attempts to do something immoral (especially just for the sake of being pure evil), it's time to make a Resist check. Of course, there are those among us who have no qualms whatsoever about doing these things, even just for fun. Check the Virtues section for more information on that.

GMs, only have players make this roll when it's important to the plot or scene. It shouldn't be something simple like "Oh, I burnt the toast again." unless it's somehow strangely in-character for the player.

Here are some guidelines for penalties; the GM should feel free to adjust it based on the situation and the affected character:

+20% against Charm if you know the person is full of it.

Another +20% against Charm if you know they want something from you and you don't like them anymore.

+20% against Fear if you know the person means you no harm.

-10% against emotional manipulation. This is likely a particular recurring emotion.

-20% against hallucinations. These may be caused from the effects of poison, high mental stress, or magic.

-30% against harsh torture. The character will comply with his torturer to do whatever is necessary to stop the pain.

When being charmed or feared, apply the opponent's Charm/Fear as a penalty to your Resist Primal Nature roll.

-60% for a personal crisis. Example: the character fails a roll and someone close dies.

-70% for a serious crisis. Example: destroying the character's life (killing family, friends) or pushing him over the edge.

How much your character fails or succeeds by should be considered as a factor. If a character barely fails, he should get a chance to try again relatively soon. If he fails miserably, it should reflect on just how crazy he goes. If he succeeds by quite a lot, his opponent may not get a chance to try to charm or fear him again; he's just that calm.

Characters are assumed to be fairly inexperienced and are not yet accustomed to the sight of death, war, and other naturally traumatic experiences. There are Virtues which can be bought to reflect your character's experience with grisly situations or just how few morals your character now possesses after so many years. The behaviour stat may provide bonuses and penalties for certain situations.

Rolling Skills

Rolling Skills

Players should know what number is the bare minimum for success before they make their roll.

Skill levels range from 1-10. This can be broken past the limit up to 15. Look at Limit Breaks in Experience for more information.

If a skill penalty is too high, your character may not be allowed to attempt it. In other words, you don't even get a chance to roll! This is up to the GM, but he will need to gauge your character's past experience based on the scene he is currently handling. If he doesn't believe your character is up to the task (regardless of your skill level), he doesn't have to let you roll.

In order to make a skill check, you'll need 1D10 where you will be rolling from 1 to 10 (0). The formula is somewhat simple; your skill level (and bonuses) determines your target number. You must match your target number or roll lower.

Stat to Skill Bonus

All skill rolls are affected by a stat when you attempt it. The GM will tell you what stat you are relying on for the purposes of the skill roll. The higher the stat, the better your skill bonus.

For every 4 points in a stat, add 1 to your skill level. This goes for every stat when added to any skill roll. You may want to record these bonuses on your character sheet.

Let's say you have a Strength of 12. That means you get to add 3 levels to any skill whenever the GM asks you to roll Strength + (chosen skill).

No matter what bonuses you get from ki or your stat, they may not add more than 5 levels to your skill roll.
Other bonuses can still affect your roll.

If the character wishes to perform a skill while being distracted, threatened, or is simply in combat, he must roll Resist Concentration Loss first. The effects of this Resist roll last the entire combat round or for a few minutes. If the character fails, performing a skill right now is impossible. The character may try again later or next round.

If the character takes damage or is otherwise messed with while performing a skill, he must roll Resist Concentration Loss. Consult the Resistance section for more details on this.

If the character ever fails a resist Primal Nature roll, skill performance is impossible.

Difficulty

First off, let's discuss Trivial Difficulty. This is when the player is attempting a skill which he actually doesn't have. So maybe a character is trying to drive a car when he doesn't actually have the skill. For most situations, driving a car isn't all that hard even if your character doesn't know it. This is what is known as Trivial Difficulty. If you run into this situation, simply allow the character to proceed with zero quality points. If the character tries to compete with someone that has the skill or the skill roll is no longer considered trivial (pulling into fast highway traffic), he outright fails. The GM may allow a skill roll based on the stat alone, if he thinks it's at least a possibility.

If for any reason, you are required to make a combat roll during a skill performance (playing football with buddies and catching the ball), you are Awkward at all times. If your buddies have the Athletics skill (to get bonuses from Quality), you may be in trouble.

Otherwise how does the GM determine the difficulty of a roll? Well, in most instances, the skill roll may require no penalty. For many situations, a difficulty is not necessary. Only in truly trying moments should the GM consider looking at the chart below.

Difficulty	Meaning
-1 or -3	Perhaps just a small snag in the task at hand. Something may have come undone or your character must worry about two menial tasks simultaneously. This could be doing math equations, fixing a stubborn car engine, or anything else requiring a bit of experience.
-4 to -6	This is something that requires precision. The roll itself requires some intimate knowledge of the skill. This could be rappeling down a very dangerous cliff, swimming in a strong current, trying to stop internal bleeding in a patient, etc.
-7 to -11	Only the lucky amateurs and professionals handle these tasks. This could be delicate surgery, working with nanotechnology, doing a complex gymnastics routine, dodging incoming traffic at high speeds, etc.
-12 to -15	Only the best will do; this task requires rare knowledge and impeccable skill. It could be researching some ancient mythology, inventing a new surgical technique, seeing a small blood stain inside a cigar stain on a carpet; these are penalties that would completely discourage most and are meant to challenge only the finest of this skill.
Beyond.	Unbelievable. If the GM sicks this on you, it's because you're trying to do something absolutely insane. Trying to translate an alien language or working with completely alien technology, achieving cold fusion; anything that could be considered impossible by any reasonable person.

Examples of rolling a skill:

As stated before, the GM will ask you to add any stat he feels appropriate to the skill roll. Agility + Handguns could be fancy gunplay, Intelligence + Handguns could be to recognize a model, Perception + Handguns to notice defects in the chamber; there are many different possibilities.

Let's say that Joe wants to analyze some ancient language. Well, he has Ancient Languages at Level 6 with a basic talent in Cuneiform. His Intelligence is 8.

Because he has an Intelligence of 8, he may add 2 skill levels to any Intelligence-based skill roll. He is asked to roll Intelligence + Ancient Languages to decipher some cuneiform.

Intelligence = +2 skill levels.

Ancient Languages = +6 skill levels.

basic talent = +2 skill levels.

Joe has a Skill Level of 10 for the roll. The GM states that Cuneiform is quite old and the tablets aren't entirely clear as they've been worn away by old age. Given the nature and importance of these tablets to his campaign, he makes the difficulty -9. Joe balks in disgust and decides to spend 2 Ki on this skill roll; his target number is now 3.

Is there anything else Joe can do to assure success? Read the next section to find out.

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Expert Skills

Expert Skills

If you're reading this section, it means you want more to your character's skills. Perhaps you want a way to customize your character's skills to suit very specific needs or you are just looking to get more out of skills as a whole. Either way, the next few sections will show you how to capitalize on your current skills and even how to optimize your skill rolls so that when you succeed, you can customize exactly how the skill itself is performed.

Many world books will offer the chance to lower experience costs on a few skill sections; take advantage of this by ensuring that your character has a number of skills in any areas offered or chosen.

Talents

Talents are a really great way to enhance a skill on your character. When you take a Talent, you get it as the Basic Talent; if you take the same Talent again, then it becomes Extended. An Extended Talent is the same as the Basic Talent, but is more powerful.

The number of talents or bonuses a character can have is limited by his intelligence. So if you have an intelligence of 8, you may have up to only 8 talents and/or bonuses. You may get free talents from a higher intelligence, but these still count towards your total maximum.

If you cannot add any more talents to your character, consider instead just upgrading the existing ones.

When you roll an Extended Talent, your skill is considered broken at the time.

Definition: Talents are used in order to further detail how a character has learned to use his skill. In other words, your character may be really good at repairing cars, but he's especially talented at handling the engine block. So he would have the skill Automotive Mechanics with a talent in Engines. The Basic Talent will add 2 skill levels to your skill before the required roll. The Extended is +3 skill levels. Because this is a Talent, you *may* exceed the limit on your skill with the talent. So Automotive Mechanics is 10. You roll for an engine repair; since you have Engines as a basic talent, you have a skill of 12 (notice how this is over the usual limit of 10). It is not considered a broken skill for the roll though, since you are using only a basic talent.

You may come up with your own skill talents for a skill, if you don't find the listed ones appropriate. When you write down your talents, simply write them down below the skill, using an (*) to indicate if it's extended. Example:

Automotive Mechanics Level 10
-Engines, Street Mods*

Skill Bonuses

Many skills have listed bonuses for them. You don't get them automatically for having the skill. You must pay extra to get your hands on them. For every 4 levels in the skill, you're allowed to buy one skill bonus. You may not take the same one twice unless explicitly allowed by the skill.

Each bonus costs 10 experience. A skill bonus (usually to a primary and a secondary stat) is then added to your character. This shows that the training your character has in the skill has reflected itself in other areas of your character's development.

Expert Performance

Sometimes you may have an excellent skill level or just a really great roll. In other words, your professional performance actually gives you some advantages. You may get combat bonuses, skill bonuses for future rolls, or higher stats for the remainder of the scene.

Expert Performance reflects the Quality and the Pace of your roll. Here's how it works:

For each point you beat your skill roll by, you may choose to take 1 Quality or 1 Pace. For each Quality point you take, your Expert Performance is increased.

Unless the skill is broken, your character cannot have higher than 5 Quality from the performance. Even then, you may not have more than 7 Quality points. Certain abilities or other world-specific bonuses may ignore these limits.

If a stat or skill is increased past the limit as a side-effect of Expert Performance, then it operates past that limit for now. Ignore the limit on a stat or skill while Expert Performance is in effect.

You will frequently see +X in the Expert Listing for each skill. Replace 'X' with the number of Quality points you earned from the roll.

GMs, feel free to come up with your own Expert Performance of a character when he wildly succeeds at his skill performance. If you find that the bonuses provided in our sections are inappropriate or unreasonable, just scale or completely change the information provided.

Pace & Quality

How long does it take to perform the skill? How well is it performed? Does it meet or exceed expectations?

Okay, so you beat the target number. It's time to spend success points on Quality and Pace. Please only do this carefully if the skill was of severe importance. You can just say 'all pace' or 'all quality'. Whatever. Hurry it up, because other players are waiting.

For a standard roll, the Quality and Pace start at 0. If the player failed, reduce his Quality below zero to determine the disastrous (and possibly hilarious) consequences.

Players may receive penalties to Quality and Pace because of Burdens or low stats, or they failed the roll by a lot and the GM feels like giving them a really bad day. For penalties to Quality, just look at the Expert Performance and however much they fail by, apply it as a penalty instead (or come up with your own hilarious or disastrous penalty).

For Pace, you may want to use the following chart to determine how much time the skill performance takes:

Pace

-3	You take five to six times longer. Loser.
-2	You take three or four times as long.
-1	It takes twice as long as expected.
0	Well, a little longer than expected, but alright.
1	You were able to shave it down a bit.
2	This takes three quarters of the time asked.
3	Woah...did that actually take only half the time?
4	Done and done. A quarter of the time asked.
5	A fifth of the time for what any professional could ever ask.

Keep in mind that sometimes a character may not realize he has failed the skill, even if the player has. Poisoning your guests with food, or failing to screw a tire on properly... they'll find out later.

Slowing It Down

Okay, Pace is all well and good, but how does the GM know how long a job takes? Well, he's gonna need to use intuition. Building a car from scratch could take a week of straight work and would require many skill rolls. Each time the character sits down to accomplish a task (say installing a particular piece), it's the GM's job to determine how long it would take. Some skill rolls will require minutes while others could require hours. Each skill roll will have a different timeframe associated with it; it's up to the GM to determine just what that is.

If the player isn't concerned about Pace in his roll, he is allowed to reduce his Pace for skill bonuses. If you decided that painting a small picture would take about two hours, then that's the timeframe. The character may double the timeframe (reduce his Pace by 1) to get +1 to his target number for his roll. The player may only reduce his Pace in this way twice; just because you take more time doesn't mean you'll be that much better at it.

If the player chose to take longer, he may only increase Quality on a successful skill roll.

---

Remember Joe?

It seems he can slow down his Pace when analyzing those ancient tablets; this could get him up to another +2 if he takes the time. The GM determines that it would probably take about 6 hours just to figure everything out. So Joe decides to do an entire's day worth of work (doubles it twice = 24 hours) for the task, probably pulling hair and being generally frustrated while he performs his skill. He has a target number of 5 now and he manages to just barely make it. He did the job, as crude as it might be at 0 Quality; he could be missing some details but he got as much as anyone could expect from him.

How Weapon Skills Work

Weapon Skills

Weapon skills have a much more complicated use. Sure, you can use your weapons skills to determine your character's knowledge of a certain weapon, if they can reload it without a jam, if they can clean them, etc. But the nice thing about weapon skills is that they also give you combat bonuses without needing to roll (unlike some other skills which depend absolutely on your Expert Performance).

That means that when you use a weapon that falls underneath your weapon skill, you get to add the combat bonuses listed for that weapon skill.

These are the combat bonuses you should list beneath your weapon skill:

• Level 1: +1 Strike (+1 Aim if a long-range weapon).
• Level 2: +1 Parry (+2 Initiative if a long-range weapon).
• Level 3: +1 Parlay (+3m Effective Range if a long-range weapon).
• Level 4: +1 Penetration.

From levels 5-7, just repeat the bonuses above a second time. For level 8, you instead get +1 damage.

For levels 9 and 10, you may choose from the following chart at each level. You may not take the same listed bonus twice for a weapons skill or a related sub-weapon skill:

• Lower critical by 1 with this weapon.
• Non-offensive Actions take 1 less tick with this weapon (parrying, reloading, recoil, drawing).
• You have +2 Actions with this weapon.
• +1 Penetration or +1 Damage.
• You have +2 to a combat bonus of your choice. This may be taken again, but for a different bonus.
• The effective range is increased again by 5m (long-range weapons only).
• The character has +1 damage if using it in his offhand (melee weapons only).

Any time you use a weapon that falls underneath a category that you own, you'll get a bonus with it according to your level. Write down the bonuses your character would have with that category under his skill.

Skill talents do not exist for weapons. Instead, you purchase a specific sub-weapon as a separate skill. So you can have 2-Hand Striking at 5, Katana (a particular type of 2-handed sword) at 3, and Broadsword at 2. If your sub-weapon skills get high enough, you may choose bonuses for them (which only apply to the sub-weapon skill). When you use a sub-weapon in combat, you get to add both the bonuses from your sub-skill and your weapon category skill together.

Talents and bonuses do not exist for weapons skills.

Your sub-weapon may be a higher level than the general category. If you wield a katana, but with one-hand, you get your bonus from Katana but you add your bonus from one-handed strikes instead. If you wield a staff or a pole-arm with one hand, that is simply Awkward and does not fall under another category. GMs, be sure you know what category the player's fighting style falls under for each combat; if they use a two-hander as a one-hander, it will likely just be Awkward unless the player character is large and strong enough.

Another thing is that when you are asked to make a non-combat roll that falls under a sub-weapon skill, it's handled thusly: Add them together, obeying the skill limit (10 if unbroken, 15 otherwise) for your sub-weapon skill.

Your skill in a weapon category must be 6 or higher to dual-wield it.

Choosing Skills

Choosing Skills

The skills you choose for your character will determine a lot about who he is and where he is going. Be certain to select the skills you believe emphasize the idea behind your character. If a particular skill is a very important part of your character's life, consider buying talents and bonuses to round it out and add some depth.

Expert Performance

All skills have a listed Expert Performance. There may be other ways to use a skill expertly; negotiate it with the GM given the current situation and the player's own wishes. Here are some common ways to handle expert performance:

• Pieces of art or other creative endeavours have +(X*4)% to Charm onlookers.
• Performing a skill to outwit or outmaneuver others usually gives +X to a stat or -X to a stat/combat roll on victims for the scene.
• You might get +(X*5)% to resist something you've encountered with that skill before.

If a performance ever says X/2, round up. If a skill ever says to "combine" with another skill, choose the lesser skill level of the two different skills and then roll.

Skill List

The skills listed here are meant as a generic reference. All world books will take this skill list and make changes or add new skills to it. In other words, be familiar with the changes your world book has made to this section before making a character. All skills are listed with an Ancient, Modern, and Future description. Choose the description that suits your world book. Some skills simply do not exist in certain time periods (ex. energy weapons in the past); your world book will make it clear what is available and what is not in their setting.

Most skills have 2 or 3 listed Bonuses which may be purchased for an additional 10 experience spent on the skill. You may only purchase a Bonus for every 4 levels in that skill. You may not take a bonus more than once.

If you feel a skill is missing, send it in to us and we'll consider the details with you. In the meantime, it's between you and your GM.

Technical Archaeology Business Culture Economics History Language Law Military Politics Psychology Research Teaching	Science Architecture Biology Chemistry Earth Sciences Investigation Mathematics Medical Response Medical Surgery Ocean Sciences Physics Veterinary Medicine	Wilderness Agriculture Animals Artisan Botany Carpentry Fishing Hunting Masonry Navigation Tailoring
Physical Acrobatics/Gymnastics Aerial Sports Athletics Climbing Dancing Extreme Sports Kinetics Massage Running Swimming	Creative Coitus Cooking Fashion Gaming Literature Singing Theatre Play Instrument Visual Arts Writing	Espionage Crime Disguise Escape Forgery Interrogation Sleight of Hand Stealth Subterfuge Tactics Tracking
Technology Communications Computer Operations Electronics Genetics Hardware Robotics Television Security	Mystical Ancient Language Meditation Mystical Practices Occultism Philosophy Theology	Engineering Armoursmith Demolitions Fuel Cells Gunsmith Key/Toolsmith Machinery Metallurgy Warfare Weaponsmith
Pilotry Boating Chariot Driving Flying Heavy Machinery Military Motor Sports Spaceflight	Melee Weapons One-Handed Strike Two-Handed Strike Dagger Chain Polearm Staff Whip Shield	Ranged Weapons Archery Assault Handgun Heavy Weapon Rifle Shotgun Throwing Turret

Creative

Creative Skills

Coitus

This is your knowledge of techniques, fetishes, and instruments which lead to heightened sexual activity. It takes skill and experience to achieve remarkable passion. Every few 'sessions' between two persons may give them a skill bonus towards each other if they're invested in learning.

Talents
• Toys.
• Oral.
• Positions.
• Domination.
Perks
• Even rigourous sexual activity is considered easy work.
• You have +2 to Agility checks involving awkward and contorted positions.
• +10% Attract, +2 Charm.
Expert Performance
• All participants have a (X*5)% chance to recover 1 Chakra after a particularly long session.

Cooking

This is your ability to create a decent meal. Given ingredients, tools, and techniques, you can prepare some interesting surprises. You know how to combine flavours and textures effectively. Used with Visual Arts or Fashion, you can dazzle others with a fancy plate.

In ancient times, you'll have trouble finding exotic spices or good tools. Those highly skilled likely perform for noble courts. In any time period, it's often Visual Arts in the presentation that separates the real chefs from the runner-ups.

Talents
• Fast food.
• A particular ethnicity or region.
• Improvisation (usually comes with penalties, based on what's available.)
Perks
• You can simulate some missing ingredients (removing most penalties) and food has +2 to Charm.
• +1 to Pace when preparing multiple courses or meals for multiple people.
• +1 Speed.
Expert Performance
• A full meal has a (X*5)% to recover 1 Chakra when it is finished.

Fashion

Your aesthetic sense has been honed with a variety of colour combinations, appropriate patterns, lighting, and angles. You know how to design and effect a mood for rooms, clothing, and other decorated items. You are also familiar with cultural traditions involved in the look and feel of things.

This skill can be used in combination with Disguise, Botany, Tailoring or any other appropriate skill when you are interested in the quality and look of your presentation.

Talents
• A particular region.
• Make-Up.
• Clothing.
• Interior Decorating.
• Flower Arrangement.
Perks
• +1 Perception.
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 to the Charm of scenery or people you decorate.
Expert Performance
• The fashion adds +X/2 Charm to people wearing it or +X Charm to the scenery.

Gaming

You know the rules to many different popular games. You have experience playing them and at higher levels may be quite skilled. You also pick up new games quite quickly and have a taste for eccentric or forgotten games. It is recommended to take a basic talent for a genre. An extended talent applies only to one game.

Basic Talents
• Card games.
• Strategy games.
• Gambling.
• Video games.
Extended Talents
• A particular board game like Go.
• A particular card game like Bridge.
• A particular gambling game like Roulette.
Perks
• +20% chance to win in any game.
• +10% chance to win against the same opponent after failing (non-cumulative.)
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• You have +(X*10)% chance to win in any game (does not include gambling.)
• +X to Perception checks against bluffs and ambushes.

Singing

You have good technique for vocalizing music in different styles. It's likely you are only familiar with local works, but at higher levels you are quite experienced in many different forms. To write decent lyrics requires the Writing skill.

Talents
• A particular style (Opera, Choir, Folk.)
• Musical Theory.
Perks
• You may sing more than one pitch range (eg. Alto and Bass are now possible.)
• You may sing more than one pitch range (stacks with above.)
• You have perfect pitch and a great ear for music, reproducing it easily.
Expert Performance
• +X to Charm others after or during a performance.
• Those charmed have a (X*10)% chance of regaining 1 Chakra after a complete performance.

Theatre

You are well-studied in portraying various emotions and mimicking body languages. You're likely familiar with certain plays (may also depend on a related Media skill.) If combined with Subterfuge, Theatre definitely helps sell a con. Enhanced with Disguise, you may be entirely unrecognized in the crowd. You're definitely familiar with the lifestyle of the green room.

Talents
• Impersonation.
• Puppetry.
• Comedy.
Perks
• +2 to Charm or Fear.
• +2 Ki.
• Impersonating (even voices) is done with half penalties under Disguise.
Expert Performance
• Gives another -X/2 to Perception against you when combined with Disguise.
• +X to Charm others with a performance.

Theatre

You are well-studied in portraying various emotions and mimicking body languages. You're likely familiar with certain plays (may also depend on a related Media skill.) If combined with Subterfuge, Theatre definitely helps sell a con. Enhanced with Disguise, you may be entirely unrecognized in the crowd. You're definitely familiar with the lifestyle of the green room.

Talents
• Impersonation.
• Puppetry.
• Comedy.
Perks
• +2 to Charm or Fear.
• +2 Ki.
• Impersonating (even voices) is done with half penalties under Disguise.
Expert Performance
• Gives another -X/2 to Perception against you when combined with Disguise.
• +X to Charm others with a performance.

Theatre

You are well-studied in portraying various emotions and mimicking body languages. You're likely familiar with certain plays (may also depend on a related Media skill.) If combined with Subterfuge, Theatre definitely helps sell a con. Enhanced with Disguise, you may be entirely unrecognized in the crowd. You're definitely familiar with the lifestyle of the green room.

Talents
• Impersonation.
• Puppetry.
• Comedy.
Perks
• +2 to Charm or Fear.
• +2 Ki.
• Impersonating (even voices) is done with half penalties under Disguise.
Expert Performance
• Gives another -X/2 to Perception against you when combined with Disguise.
• +X to Charm others with a performance.

Writing

You express yourself through writing. You have learned several methods, likely showing preference for a few styles. Journalism, narrative, poetry, all of it is featured in this skill. At the highest levels, you are a true wit with a pen.

Combine this skill with Academia to write manuals and documentation.

Talents
• Editing.
• Journalism.
• Poetry.
• Narrative.
Perks
• You can type well over 140 words per minute.
• Creative works have +2 Charm and those charmed have +20% chance to regain Chakra.
• Those charmed by your work have +1 to their XP Bonus until it is used. This is non-cumulative unless a better work is later read.
Expert Performance
• A meaningful piece has X*2 Charm. Charmed targets have an X*10% chance to regain a point of Chakra.
• You have an X*10% chance to regain a point of Chakra if you bare your soul in your writing.

Engineering

Engineering Skills

Armoursmith

This skill specializes in forging and repairing extremely tough plating. You know what it takes to armor a vehicle, even specializing in plastics to create durable light-weight covers. Whether the armor is to be especially resistant to fire, bullets, explosives, or other dangerous forces, you got the know-how. You should take the Blacksmithing and other related skills first.

In ancient times, you're likely designing heavy armour for both horses and knights. In the future, this skill determines your ability to repair the hull of a starship.

Talents
• Light personal armour (such as ringmail).
• Heavy personal armour (half-plate and full-plate suits).
• Light vehicle armour.
• Heavy vehicle armour.
• Designing armour against a specific type of damage (choose the attack or damage you wish to specialize in).

Perks
• +1 Soak to any armour made.
• +5 Prevent to any armour made.
• +1 Prevent.

Expert Performance
• Light Personal Armour created has +X/2 Prevent, +X/3 Soak.
• Heavy Personal Armour has +X Prevent, +X/2 Soak.
• Light Vehicle Armour has +X*3 Prevent and +X Soak.
• Heavy Vehicle Armour has +X*4 Prevent and +X*2 Soak.

Demolitions

You can create, detect, disarm, and safely dispose many types of bombs. At higher levels, you are experienced with depth charges and land mines. Bombs that are wired to explode requires an electrical background. Complex chemicals will require a combined roll with Chemistry. You'll likely need many Science skills to back up this difficult discipline.

In ancient times, this is often just subtle applications of black powder and other basic chemistry. Substances like wax, gunpowder, and anything flammable can be jury-rigged to make primitive traps.

In modern times, there are many applications ranging from proximity mines to missile payloads. If it explodes, you understand it. You can measure the range, the overlap between charges, and estimate the effects on the area given the dimensions, materials, and type of explosive being used. Combined with Visual Arts, you can set the stage for a brilliant setpiece.

Talents
• Missiles.
• Proximity Mines.
• Disposal.
• Underwater.
• Jury Rigging.
Perks
• Diffusing bombs has +2 to Pace.
• You automatically Tumble with foreseen explosions.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• Explosives have their area effect and damage increased by (X*10)%.

Fuel Cells & Engines

You design and repair engines to all sorts of vehicles. The skill is concerned with machines that run on steam, coal, oil, and other combustible sources. This requires Machinery if you want to design and build new systems using such principles. Otherwise, you're just a handy greasemonkey.

In ancient settings, fuel doesn't really exist (although steam or coal may be available.) Still, you can design aquaducts, and other large engineering marvels of the times. At the highest levels, you can design the framework for siege weapons and large moving vehicles (such as a heliopolis). Consider this skill as an advanced form of Machinery in the distant past.

Talents
• A particular type of machine (like an automobile.)
Perks
• Vehicles maintained regularly have +1 to all driving checks and +1 to combat rolls.
• Take the one above a second time.
• Vehicles maintained regularly have +20% to safe driving speed and maximum driving speed.
Expert Performance
• Modified engines are (X*5)% more efficient (mileage) and run (X*10) days longer without a tune-up.
• Pilots get +X/2 to driving checks and +X to combat bonuses.

Gunsmith

A gunsmith isn't just about pistols, but any firearm. You can perform work that a regular blacksmith would find astounding. Your tools allow you to create special bullets, cannons, and all the working parts of a firearm. You require Blacksmithing to take this skill. You or an assistant must have the appropriate weapon skill to get bonuses to your creations. This skill covers the use of plastics in complex cutting-edge weaponry at the highest levels.

In ancient times, the best you could do is fireworks, primitive cannons, and perhaps flintlock rifles if history allows for it. In the future, weapons may rely on energy propulsion and other techniques which require a good understanding of electric systems and technology.

Talents
• Pistols.
• Rifles.
• Extended talents are for a particular design of weaponry (like pump-action shotguns.)
Perks
• +1 Aim.
• Weapons created have +1 Aim and +10% metres to Range.
• +5 metres to Range.
Expert Performance
• Guns created have +X/2 Aim and +X*2 metres to Range. Special clips can hold X more bullets.
• Bullets do +X/2 points divided evenly amongst damage and pierce.
• Special rounds (eg. incendiary) are (X*10)% more effective.

Machinery

You have a good understanding of simple machines for all sorts of functions. Levers, pulleys, clockwork, can all add up to tremendous feats of engineering. Think of the ancient siege weapons, devious traps, and other marvels of history. All of them were designed by the highest level of this skill (usually combined with supporting skills.)

Although clearly a valuable skill in ancient times, people often forget that the basics haven't changed. This skill is required before any advanced Engineering skills can be taken.

Talents
• Siege.
• Clockwork.
• Simple Machines (lever, pulley systems.)
• Incredible (Rube Goldberg) Machines (lining up a series of events.)
Perks
• +1 Shock.
• Equipment maintained or built will never critically fail.
• +1 Pace to all successful skill rolls involving or related to machinery.
Expert Performance
• When a machine is maintained, it will function perfectly for X*5 days.

Metallurgy

Training in the techniques used to purify ore and combine them into powerful metals. You know how to forge particular blends for an appropriate result (heat-resistant, bendable, conductive, etc.) It's your job to get the metal used by many other skills (like advanced smithing.) You can shape steel through various processes (casting, forging, sintering, etc.) Combined with Earth Sciences or Masonry, you can analyze and mine for elements specific to the area. You also know how to sift, purify, and appraise valuable gems and other precious materials.

At the highest levels, this should include the blending of plastics and special fibres with metals. This skill wasn't very advanced in ancient times and it may be best to roll it into Masonry.

Talents
• Heat-Resistant Metals.
• Conductive Metals.
• Smelting.
Perks
• Your metal is lighter and produces less Armour penalties. It weighs 20% less.
• You take 1 less Burning damage each time it affects you.
• Thick metal produced has +8 Prevent and +4 Soak for large machines.
Expert Performance
• Smiths using your steel have +X/2 Quality to anything produced (ignoring limits.)
• Large metal covers are +X Soak value against a particular attack (bashing, piercing, fire, etc.)

Warfare

This skill requires Demolitions, Gunsmith, and Fuel Cells & Engines all at Level 5 or higher. You'll also need other support skills and related Science skills for combined skill rolls involving Warfare. With this most advanced of fields, you can engineer devestating heavy weapons. Rocket launchers and other personal weapons at the low levels and weapons of mass destruction at the higher levels. And you can mount it all to the top of a van.

Missile guidance systems, nuclear bombs, satellite guided lasers, any skill can be granted a sinister edge when combined with Warfare. Even simple machinery can become torturous (like an iron maiden) or massive (firing hundreds of arrows in a single pull.) This skill elevates your capabilities to destroy the lives of thousands, perhaps even millions of others.

Talents
• Railguns.
• Personal Launchers.
• Siege Engines.
• Missile Systems.
• Biological.
• Nuclear.
Perks
• +2 against Fear rolls.
• +1 Intellect.
• Weapons created have +10% to their range, area of effect, and damage.
Expert Performance
• The weapon created has range, area effect and damage increased by (X*5)%.

Espionage

Espionage Skills

Crime

You can handle yourself amongst the criminal population. You know how they dress and act because of your experience. This isn't really a skill you learn at school. Your familiarity with city streets makes it easier to track down illegal goods and to find information otherwise unavailable.

You know common tricks and tools of the trade, enhanced by other Espionage skills. You're adept at bribing the right people and are familiar with the syndicates operating in any well-traveled area.

Talents
• Gang Politics.
• Contraband.
• Trafficking.
• Bribes.
Perks
• Seeing through Espionage skills performed by others is at +2 Perception.
• +2 to Resist Poison.
• +1 Charisma.
Expert Performance
• +X/2 to Charm or Fear a single target for the scene.

Disguise

You're good with make-up and prosthetics, able to drastically change one's appearance. This skill is more than just appearances, including body language and voices. Combined with Theatre, you know how to imitate your target. At higher levels, your imitation could be a total duplication (within physical limitations.) Combined with Fashion, you can create extravagant and startling creatures of make-up for the audience.

Talents
• Voices.
• Stage.
• Prosthetics.
• Drag.
Perks
• You have +2 to Perception checks on people.
• Seeing through your disguise is +2 to difficulty for onlookers.
• +2 Ki.
Expert Performance
• +X to the difficulty of Perception checks for onlookers.

Escape Artist

Following in the footsteps of stage magic, you can escape from even the most devious devices. Chains, handcuffs, ropes, all of it is no trouble. You can disarm primitive traps, hold your breath a long time, and pick devious locks. Sometimes tools may be required for your delicate work. In general, this skill represents your ability to bypass a constricting environment.

In a modern or future setting, you may need related technology skills to bypass access to electronic security.

Talents
• Pick Locks.
• Traps.
• Handcuffs.
• Rope Tying.
• Holding Breath.
Perks
• +1 Agility.
• +1 Gambit.
• Others have +2 difficulty to Perception checks against your behaviour/activities.
Expert Performance
• Onlookers have +X to their Perception difficulty against your tricks.
• You can hold your breath for another (X*10) seconds.

Forgery

You can forge signatures, documents, and other paperwork. Taken with the Visual Arts and other Creative skills, you can mimic presented works. At higher levels, your forgeries are nearly indistinguishable from the original.

In the future, you may need to combine with Technology skills to beat security measures or duplicate electronic hardware.

Talents
• Documents.
• Artwork.
• Signatures.
• Money.
Perks
• +3 to your Perception to see through fakes.
• Investigating your work adds +2 to the difficulty.
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• Investigation has a +X difficulty against your work.

Interrogation

This is a brutal area of knowledge. You have been trained in psychological and physical techniques which can be used (sometimes illegally) to torture someone for information. You push Stress on a target, eventually Fearing them if you're effective. Combining with Psychology will reduce the time needed for a confession.

This skill can be learned via personal experience. Information retrieved under duress is often inaccurate or completely false.

Talents
• Drugs.
• Simple Intimidation.
• Machinery.
Perks
• +2 to Fear.
• +2 against emotion checks.
• +1 Fortitude.
Expert Performance
• Victims have -X to their Fortitude to withstand stress.
• Victims have an (X*10)% chance to lose a point of Chakra if it goes on long.

Sleight of Hand

You can discretely take and hide objects with your hands, using quick fingers to pull off dubious acts or put on a simple show. Flipping pens or coins through your fingers, slipping into pockets, hiding cards, you know all the tricks.

Talents
• Pick Pockets.
• Palming.
• Street Magic.
• Cheating (using trick cards or dice.)
Perks
• +1 Agility.
• +1 Speed.
• Perception penalties are cut in half if they are imposed by a person (instead of a situation.)
Expert Performance
• Detecting the sleight has -X to Perception. Special tricks may have increased difficulties to detect.

Stealth

This is skill to move without detection. You know how to conceal yourself in a given area, prowl silently to escape detection, and are generally not seen or heard. Your movement speed is reduced when you stealth. You may have to cause a distraction to remove attention from your direction of travel.

You also make an excellent shadow. You know how to safely follow others, either by foot or vehicle. You always stay on the high ground to observe a stationary target. You can lose an unwanted shadow with this skill.

Talents
• Shadowing.
• Prowl.
• Camouflage.
Perks
• +1 Perception.
• Opponents are +2 to their Perception difficulty on your Stealth.
• You can move at swimming speed without penalty to this skill.
Expert Performance
• To see through your stealth adds X+2 to the difficulty.

Subterfuge

Sometimes you need to lie or seduce others to reach your goal. You know how to tell a story or build a scene to get your way. Because of this, you recognize subterfuge more easily than others. You're good at turning on the sexy or designing a cover story. This skill is more devious than Theatre, but combining both will really sell an act.

Talents
• Lying.
• Seduction.
• Detection.
Perks
• Victims are -2 to contesting stat checks with your ruse.
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 against emotion checks.
Expert Performance
• +X Charm or Fear on victims.
• +X to Perception to see through a subterfuge that isn't your own.

Tactics

With a survey of the area, you know how it can be used to ambush. There are tell-tale signs and indications you may pick up on if danger is imminent. You also recognize good spots for traps or enclosure points for aiding an army.

In any setting, you have a deep knowledge of successful strategies from the campaigns past, can identify weaknesses in an enemy's approach, and know how to safeguard your own supply lines.

Talents
• Ambushes.
• Military.
• A particular terrain.
Perks
• +2 Perception to see through other tactics.
• You do not lose dice when ambushed.
• Enemies have +2 to their difficulties to see through your tactics.
Expert Performance
• Enemies have +x to difficulties to see through your tactics.
• You have +X Perception to see through other tactics.
• You have +X*2 Initiative for the ambush round, regardless of who starts it (if you saw through it.)
• The entire party gets +X initiative for the rest of combat, if they are following a great plan of attack.

Mystical

Mystical Skills

Ancient Language

This is your skill with the dead language of a dead culture. At the higher levels, you have an appreciation of linguistics and can track the evolution of languages from your studied root language. You understand the idiomata and how it relates to the rituals of that culture when combined with Archaeology. Although you must choose an ancient language as your most studied, you may be crudely familiar with other related ancient languages in general.

In ancient times, these civilizations are not so buried in the past. How much you could possibly know, given the primitive standards of the setting, is quite limited and possibly based on myth. In the future, the skill would be aided and tracked using computers; it would be best to combine this skill with a good background in Technology.

Languages
• Akkadian
• Hieroglyphics
• Sinitic
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 Perception.
• +2 Pace when combining this skill with Academia.
Expert Performance
• The understanding and number of important details gathered from ancient texts is increased by X (GM's discretion.) Usually, the skill will rely on Pace, since deciphering a long text could take many days or weeks otherwise.

Meditation

You are versed in the culturally differing meditation techniques used to enhance one's spiritual connection to Kushti. You are familiar with rituals, being a master at the higher levels. Meditation has many goals: better health, faster recovery from ailments, and the calming of spirit and mind. At the higher levels, you know the spirituality and religious inspirations behind many techniques.

Talents
• Vipassana.
• Muraqaba.
• Simran.
Bonuses
• +1 to any Mental Stat. You have a +10% chance to regain Chakra.
• +12 Mana.
• +3 Ki. +1 Initiative.
Expert Performance
• Successful meditation is as effective as sleep for recovering Mana.
• You have an X*3% chance to regain 1 Chakra after a long session.

Mystical Practices

You have studied mystical practices, being familiar with a variety of techniques. Tarot readings, scrying, and other spiritual rituals from many different cultures. At the higher levels you are familiar with the oldest and most obscure practices.

Talents
• Ofuda
• Astrology
• Feng Shui
• Tarot Readings
• Seance
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• +1 Perception.
• +1 Command.
Expert Performance
• +X/2 Charm when attempting to sell someone on the idea of the practice.

Occultism

This area is much darker than general theology. You know the scattered knowledge and gossip surrounding many religions of the past. This skill is the Archaeology of religions, the ancient customs of Mystical Practices now dead to modern culture. How much you know about the dark underbelly of mysticism is determined by this skill. You would combine this with Theology to know the secret practices of a specific religion/mythology.

Talents
• A particular country.
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 Perception.
• +4 minutes/hours of Stress.
Expert Performance
• You recall X more details about a particular rumour.
• +X Command to perform a lengthy and difficult ritual.

Philosophy

This skill is a Media skill, singled out as an example for making your own Media skill. It is your understanding of many different types of philosophies. The great philosophers, the questions, the types of moral analyses, and all the teachings are well studied. At the highest levels, you are familiar with logic and the thinking structure involved in the academia of many cultures. The skill of philosophy gives you background knowledge to debate at great lengths with the toughest minds.

Talents
• Sudhra
• Warrior Codes
• Naturalism
• Predestiny
Bonuses
• +1 Intellect. +5 Mana.
• +1 Charisma. +1 to stat checks involving emotion.
• +1 Wisdom. +1 Command.
Expert Performance
• You have +X Charm in an academic setting or debate.

Theology

This is your familiarity with a particular religion. Like Media or Language, you take this skill to represent your knowledge of each major religion. You know the branching history, evolution, rituals, and cultural influence of that religion. At the highest levels, you are an expert on obscure teachings and strange symbology. You know the history behind many religious figures and their cultural impact. You are able to inspire hope and faith once you know what 'notes' to hit with an audience.

This skill can be taken for ancient major religions (such as Greek) as well. Combine with Occultism to know the dark mysticism that dogs any religion's past.

Talents
• Choose a particular branch. For example, Christianity would have Lutherans.
• Choose a particular pantheon (like Zeus stories and varations for Greek mythology.)
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 Ki.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• +X to Charm those in a religious setting or with those who are religious.

Physical

Physical Skills

Acrobatics

This skill hones athletic agility and balance. You are trained in a variety of fast and flexible moves involving both your feet and hands. This skill also covers gymnastics (movement over difficult terrain) and all inherent motions.

Similar to the Armour skill, the GM may decide to cancel penalties in combat related to awkwardness. Whereas doing a backflip can be dangerous, one sufficiently skilled in Acrobatics has no penalty to perform the maneuver. A good rule is every 3 or 4 levels in this skill removes one such combat penalty.

Example: An opponent comes from behind and you're face-down in quicksand. You want to dodge and encircle the opponent. The GM figures this is all worth at least three penalties (the sand, the encircling, attacking blind.) Your skill is level 8. The GM decides to cancel two penalties, but that Acrobatics does not help fighting an unseen opponent.

Talents
• Balancing on thin lines (tightropes.)
• Swinging (ropes, rings, etc.)
• Flipping and somersaulting.
Perks
• +1 Agility.
• +1 Dodge.
• +1 Gambit.
Expert Performance
• For every 3 or 4 levels in this skill, you cancel one penalty resulting from restricted movement or awkward maneuvers this scene.
• Rolling will often be related to Pace when moving over difficult terrain (like cliffs and ropes.)

Aerial Sports

This skill involves the knowledge and ability to accurately carry out aerial maneuvers. Whether it's hang-gliding, parachuting, or any other sport involving high winds, you can properly handle yourself. Even with just the basic skill, you can at least tumble properly from a great height.

This skill is not available in Ancient settings. It would be mostly unchanged between Modern and Future settings. This skill is also used for piloting hand-operated flying machines.

Talents
• Hang-gliding.
• Parachuting.
• Paragliding.

Perks
• +1 Agility.
• +1 Strength.
• +2 Ki.

Expert Performance
• You move X*2 kph faster or slower during aerial maneuvers.
• X*10% chance to recover 1 Chakra when finished a particularly tense jump.

Athletics

This is similar to the gaming skill, but instead represents your physical training for various physical competitions. Normally these competitions present a ball and rules of play. You know how to effectively train and the tricks to styles of play. A Media skill would know the history and stats of all popular sports (with Talents for each sport.)

Similar to Acrobatics, every 3 or 4 levels in Athletics can cancel penalties related to exhaustion and stress. If you are suffering from hunger, fatigue, worn-out arms, this skill makes you last just a little longer.

Talents
• Any single sport.
Perks
• Your Work is +20 minutes/seconds.
• +1 Strike.
• +1 Prevent.
Expert Performance
• +X to "combat" rolls for the purposes of a game. Normal combat bonuses do not apply to the sport; use this bonus only to play the game out.
• Add the Quality of all teammates together. Whichever team has the highest Quality wins this period or round. Use this to avoid explicitly playing out the game.

Climbing

You know how to safely move over incredibly difficult terrain. You're familiar with climbing gear and know how to use ropes safely for tying and climbing. Hiking tough terrain, climbing mountains and trees, sidling a ledge, it all falls into this skill.

When fighting from a precarious position (hanging off a cliff, sidling a ledge, or hugging the roof of a vehicle), every 3 or 4 levels of this skill may cancel a penalty at the GM's discretion.

Talents
• Hiking.
• Scaling.
• Rappeling.
Perks
• +1 Gambit.
• Climbing or hiking at half speed will never make you tired.
• You move at Climbing speed over difficult terrain without penalty.
Expert Performance
• +X Speed for climbing speed.
• Others being helped to climb have X/2 rerolls for climbing.

Dancing

This skill covers the knowledge of certain styles, what works well together, and general improvisation for dances. The bulk of this skill is your experience in moving your body. If you encounter a style you haven't seen, you'll pick it up pretty quickly. Combined with Acrobatics, you can pull off some absolutely stunning maneuvers on the stage.

This skill might sometimes be effective in canceling combat penalties, similar to Acrobatics.

Talents
• A particular style.
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• +1 Dodge.
• +1 Stamina.
Expert Performance
• +X Charm while dancing to an audience.
• (X*5)% chance to recover 1 Chakra when finished a night of dancing.

Extreme Sports

Whether it is on wheels or skis, you can perform various stunts under extreme conditions. Mountainbiking, Skateboarding, Waterskiing; all of these sports fall under this skill instead of Athletics. Even without actual experience in one of these sports, you will pick it up much faster simply by having this skill. Consider it your knowledge of operating and maintaining personal pedal vehicles or other such sports. At the highest levels, you can safely perform incredible-looking stunts.

If combat occurs during this activity, then every 3 or 4 levels in this skill could cancel a combat penalty arising from the activity.

Talents
• Skating.
• Skiing.
• Skateboarding.
• Cycling.
• Mountainbiking.

Perks
• +1 Agility
• +1 Stamina.
• +1 Free dice.

Expert Performance
• You move X kph faster through rugged or closed terrain without penalty.

Kinetics & Nutrition

You have studied the techniques and proper nutrition which go into building the body and maintaining energy. You know how to stretch, prepare for lifting, how to care for aching muscles, and what food lends itself to improved performance. At the higher levels, you are experienced in effective training techniques to build endurance in a student.

This skill may help deal with combat penalties related to exhaustion and pain. Like any skill, every 3 or 4 levels may cancel one penalty with GM's discretion.

Talents
• Endurance Training.
• Weightlifing.
• Nutrition.
Perks
• +1 Strength.
• +1 Stamina.
• +1 Speed.
Expert Performance
• Trainees recover more quickly from injury and develop muscle faster using Pace.
• You have +X/2 Strength or +X/2 Stamina for the next stat check.

Running

You are trained to move over most terrain, running and stopping properly without injury or worry. This is your practiced ability to simply run.

At the GM's discretion, every 3 or 4 levels in this skill could cancel a combat penalty related to movement or terrain.

Talents
• Sprinting.
• Jogging.
• Distance Jumping.
Perks
• +1 Speed.
• +1 Speed.
• You can jog for +1 hour and sprint for +1 minute.
Expert Performance
• You have +X*5 to your Work for sprinting and jogging.
• +X to Speed for the purposes of distance jumping.
• +X/2 to Speed checks over tougher terrain.

Swimming

There are many different types of swimming which arise out of the basic techniques. You know how to float, tread, breathe, and move properly through the water. With these techniques, you can escape currents, dive properly (and beautifully if combined with Acrobatics), and study the depths of the ocean.

If combat occurs in the water, every 3 or 4 levels of this skill could offset one combat penalty incurred by the act of swimming. This is at the GM's discretion.

Talents
• Diving.
• Competition Swimming.
Perks
• You have +30 seconds to holding your breath.
• You can dive 20ft deeper without ill effects.
• +2 kph to swimming speed.
Expert Performance
• You can hold your breath for X*3 more seconds if absolutely necessary.
• +X/2 kph to your swimming.
• You can keep up your max swimming speed for X*3 more minutes.

Pilotry

Pilotry Skills

Boating

This is your ability to direct a boat. Whether by paddle or by sail, you can follow the rhythm of the current and the wind in order to pick up speed. This can be combined with Navigation over long periods of time. Combine with Carpentry to construct vessels. Modern boats use engines and the future may bring about simple submersibles.

Talents
• Canoe.
• River Rafting.
• Sailing.
Perks
• You have half penalties for handling a boat in tough currents or storms.
• +1 Strength.
• +1 Agility.
Expert Performance
• The boat moves X kph faster without penalty.
• In combat, you have +X/2 to all combat bonuses with this vehicle.

Chariot/Carriage

This is your ability to handle any vehicle drawn by an animal. Obviously this is meant for an ancient setting, although it can be found today and there may be strange animals in the future to do such work on alien worlds. If Pilotry does not exist as a category (often in the distant past), this is a Trade skill.

Talents
• A particular design or type of chariot or carriage.
Perks
• Animals controlled by this character will not startle easily.
• Fighting atop a moving vehicle is no longer Awkward.
• +1 Strength.
Expert Performance
• The chariot moves X kph faster without penalty (although will likely tire the animals much faster).
• +X to all combat bonuses if using this vehicle in combat.

Driving

This is your skill to handle land vehicles that seat multiple passengers easily. Jeeps, trucks, or other automobiles would fall underneath this category. You have a general understanding of how a vehicle functions and some basic maintenance (may be able to diagnose, but cannot repair it.) You are good with traffic laws and can perform stunts safely at the highest levels. You cannot handle any very large land vehicle that is over 1 ton without Heavy Machinery. For specialized equipment, you may need Military.

This skill would not exist in an Ancient setting. Future settings may have hover and other 'near-ground' options.

Talents
• Trucks.
• Jeeps.
• Racing Cars.
• Sedan.

Perks
• +1 Perception.
• Ignore one condition that causes a driving penalty (flat tire, crowded roads, etc).
• You may drive these vehicles at 5kph faster without penalty.

Expert Performance
• The vehicle moves X*3 kph faster without penalty.
• +X/2 to combat bonuses (likely Command) using this vehicle.

Flying

Any engine-driven vehicle meant to fly would fall under this skill. You likely have a pilot's license, meaning you can fly any helicopter or small plane. You can perform a lot of stunts safely and can fly very close to the ground if this skill is quite high. You understand the radio lingo used to co-ordinate planes and can follow air-traffic laws. You cannot handle any large aircraft to seat over a dozen people without Heavy Machinery.

Likely in future settings, piloting crafts outside an atmosphere requires Spaceflight.

Talents
• Gyrocopter.
• Helicopter.
• Propeller.
Perks
• +1 Perception.
• Ignore one condition that causes a small flying penalty (stalling, bent wing.)
• You may drive these vehicles at 30kph faster without penalty.
Expert Performance
• The vehicle can move (X*5)kph faster at a safe speed.
• +X/2 to all combat bonuses (likely Command) with this vehicle.

Heavy Machinery

This is your skill with heavy machinery. Siege engines, construction vehicles, and other large industrial mechanics. This skill concerns itself with operation, not design. When combined with other pilotry skills, you can handle large ships, buses, and other awkward heavy vehicles.

If taken in an ancient setting, it's likely an Engineering skill instead.

Talents
• Big Rig.
• Oceanliner.
• Bobcat.
• Bulldozer.
Perks
• +1 Strength.
• +1 Fortitude.
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• The vehicle can move at +X kph safely.
• +X to all combat bonuses (likely Command) with this vehicle.
• Every 3 or 4 levels in a skill should cancel a penalty related to sluggish handling or awkward size when combining with a related pilotry skill.

Military

This is your understanding of military procedure and training. Combined with Politics, you would have extensive military administrative experience (and likely an important rank.)

This skill represents knowledge of military rules (both local and foreign) and how militaries co-operate with governments. You also know the names of important targets and persons involved in any current military event. In a way, this skill is about your level of clearance regarding Intelligence operations. Combined with the Tactics skill, you are an excellent leader for an army.

Talents
• Choose a country or military organization.
Perks
• Stress is increased by 4 hours/minutes.
• +1 to all skill rolls involving Climbing, Athletics, and Swimming.
• +1 to all skill rolls involving Tactics, Interrogation, and Politics.
Expert Performance
• +X Charm or Fear with subordinates for the scene.

Personal Motor Vehicles

With this skill, you can operate any personal vehicle meant for just one person. This means snowmobiles, jetskis, motorcycles and other personal vehicles meant to be driven in such a fashion. At the highest levels, you can perform stunts with such vehicles.

Obviously this isn't available in ancient times.

Talents
• Snowmobile.
• Jet-Ski.
• Dirt Bike.
• Scooter.
• ATV.
Perks
• Performing stunts and other daring maneuvers (jumping rooftops) come at half penalty.
• Ignore one condition that causes a driving penalty (flat tire, crowded roads, etc).
• +1 Strength.
Expert Performance
• The vehicle moves X*3 kph faster without penalty.
• +X/2 to combat bonuses (likely Command) using this vehicle.

Spaceflight

With this skill, you can handle rocket-propelled vehicles in a low or no gravity environment. You are able to safely dock and land such vessels, even in space. Any sort of spaceflight is covered by this skill, although for complex maneuvers in an atmosphere, you'll need Flying. Using ships that can carry more than a dozen passengers will require Heavy Machinery.

Although non-existent like most Pilotry skills in the distant past, our space-faring future could find this skill quite valuable.

Talents
• A particular model of ship.
Perks
• +1 Intellect. Maneuvers with this ship take less time to execute.
• Cut penalties in half for flying close to objects or through tight spaces.
• +1 to all combat bonuses involving these vehicles.
Expert Performance
• +X/2 to all combat bonuses with these vehicles.
• You can move (x*4)% faster at a safe speed around obstacles.

Science

Science Skills

Architecture

This is the study of how buildings and other important structures are designed. You may not know the nuts and bolts of construction outside of building codes, but you can envision and analyze existing designs. At the highest level, you are familiar with the design techniques of many cultures and know how to combine them effectively for a given environment.

In ancient times, you would be accustomed to the designs and techniques used locally, familiar with stone supports and obsidian tools. You know how to haul massive stones up great heights with pulley systems. With a high level in architecture and a background in engineering, your buildings are detailed and glorious as if guided by the hands of Gods.

Nowadays, high levels in Architecture lends itself to the building of megastructures. The tallest and most impossible skyscrapers can be modeled with a computer. You'll also likely have Visual Arts and a background in landscaping and decor. The future will bring impossible materials and stunning advancements into the mix.

Talents
• Fortification.
• Bridges.
• Infrastructure (like roads.)
• A particular culture.
Perks
• Your buildings take 20% more weight.
• Your buildings last 50% longer (in years.)
• Your buildings have +3 Charm.
Expert Performance
• You improve stress reduction on a building design, giving it +X*5% to Soak.
• If reworking a building to withstand attacks, you can fortify it for +X*5% to Prevent.
• If designed for elegance over fortitude, the building instead has +X Charm.

Biology

Biology is about the underlying theories to cells, the growth of life, and the basic processes involved in any organism. Combined with Animals, you know the particular issues of wildlife. Combined with Medicine, you make excellent diagnoses of patients and understand the spread of disease (and protocols to contain it.) Combined with Surgery, you are well-versed in performing autopsies. You likely have Math and Technology skills. To perform complex tasks (DNA sequencing and other top-line techniques) will require Genetics.

In an ancient setting, germ theory and other advanced theories simply do not exist. In a future setting, you'll likely have to contend with alien life and bizarre circumstances.

Talents
• A particular region or environment.
• A particular genus.
• Humans.
Perks
• Analyzing lab specimens takes half the time.
• By reducing Pace twice, you have half penalties analyzing unknown life.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• +X to Perception when making Perception checks to determine biological behaviour.

Chemistry

The study of chemicals and their interactions in an environment. With this skill, you know how to create dangerous and useful chemical compounds. You also know the tools used to observe and create such concoctions. You're good at separating ingredients and recognizing ill-fated combinations.

In ancient settings, this is alchemy. You know some useful compounds, but hardly have the accuracy or knowledge of today. Combined with Botany, this is about as good as ancient medicine can get.

Talents
• Analytical.
• Organic.
• Pyrotechnic (requires Demolitions for complex or large explosives.)
• Biochemistry (requires Biology of equal skill.)
Perks
• The useful yield of a wanted chemical is increased by 10%.
• +1 Fortitude.
• +1 to this skill when the situation is delicate and dangerous.
Expert Performance
• Chemicals created are -X to resist Poison.
• Explosive chemicals and toxic gases are +X metres in area effect.

Earth Sciences

The formation of the very landscape is what is studied here. You'll likely combine with other skills (such as Biology) to achieve more specific goals. At its heart, it is the science of Geology. When combined with other skills (eg. from Science or Engineering), it becomes a worldy view and understanding of the greater chaotic disciplines.

Talents
• Vulcanology.
• Gemology.
Perks
• You can determine the date of a pending natural disaster within a few days accuracy.
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 when combining this skill with another.
Expert Performance
• You can predict the pathing of the terrain and mineral veins with (X*10) + 20% accuracy.

Investigation

Although it gets gruesome, you have a general background in criminal investigation. Clues such as blood, powder burns, and other various evidence are stimulating. You're trained in techniques for uncovering clues and using information to track down suspects. You may also have criminal informants when combined with Crime. It's all about tracking down answers in the end. This skill is more for knowing the tools of scientific analysis and doesn't replace deductive reasoning.

In ancient settings, a detective rarely had more than his wits and watchful eyes to deduce clues from a scene. Nowadays, criminal forensics has become quite powerful and will greatly aid the investigator in reaching appropriate conclusions.

Talents
• Bloodwork.
• Arson.
• Drugs.
Perks
• +2 against emotion checks.
• +1 Fortitude.
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• +X Perception for uncovering clues during this scene.

Mathematics

This describes Number theory, statistics, patterns, series of equations, and other methods of solving math problems. At the lower levels, algebra and perhaps even a little probability is known. At the highest levels, you have mastered the art of making numbers fit. This skill will be needed for complex rolls to finish math problems that arise in science, engineering, and technology. It is a crucial skill for anyone planning on difficult work.

Just assume everyone is capable of basic arithmetic, unless they don't seem the type.

Talents
• Statistics.
• Fractals.
• Number Theory.
• Geometry.
• Matrix Algebra.
• Vector Calculus.
Perks
• You don't need technological aids for complex equations.
• +1 Pace to any skill combined with this one.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• This will be necessary for solving math roadblocks on other skills. It's likely all Pace.

Surgery

This skill requires Medicine. It's your ability to use instruments to insert and remove objects from one's body. You'll have to watch for blood loss, any internal damage, and warning symptoms. For stitching serious wounds, you'll need this skill at a lower level. You need delicate hands and plenty of practice to be a good surgeon. Many specialize with an extended talent in one particular area of the body.

This skill was quite primitive with much lower success rates in ancient times. If you combine this skill with Animals, you'll be able to perform surgery there as well.

Talents
• Brain
• Heart
• Any other part of the body.
Perks
• All medical and biological skills have +1 to their skill rolls.
• +1 Fortitude.
• Ignore one Size penalty either for this skill or for close combat.
Expert Performance
• The patient has +X to Resist Death if he was on the verge before.
• Patients recover from internal injuries (X*10)% faster than the regeneration charts specify.
• Helpful surgery on a terminal subject will increase their lifespan by +X months. The difficulty of performing this skill on the terminal subject in the future is increased by X.

Ocean Sciences

This skill is about the aquatic aspect of life. With Biology, you can study and dissect underwater life; with Botany, you knows aquatic plantlife; with Animals, you may treat aquatic animals. Even with Technology and Engineering skills, this is your ability to work with machinery underwater and have it work properly without being damaged.

This skill is meant to enhance other skills, although on it's own it is the study of ocean currents and a general familiarity with water (including general locations of wildlife.)

Talents
• Tides and Currents.
Perks
• You can dive 10 feet further without ill effect.
• You can hold breath for 30 seconds longer.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• +X/2 to your next related skill roll for underwater work.

Physics

You have spent a great deal of time studying the physical universe as described by textbooks and found by empirical observation. You have a good feel for situations which involve natural forces. This skill relies and often combines with Mathematics. It's the study of astronomy, the appreciation of electromagnetism, and the math behind the mechanics. If taken at the highest level, it means you have an understanding of the very small to the very large.

Talents
• Motion.
• Cosmology.
• Sub-atomic Theory.
• Thermodynamics.
• Fluid Mechanics.
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• Solve diagrams and do arithmetic calculations without paper or other aids.
• You can handle 4 more hours/minutes of Stress.
Expert Performance
• Physics, like Mathematics, is required for roadblocks on other skills (like complicated uses of Machinery.)

Technical

Technical Skills

Archaeology

You have an interest in uncovering the past. You know how to properly analyze and retrieve artifacts, dating them and placing them within an historical context. You know all the hotspots and, at the higher levels, as much as anyone about the ancient civilizations that birthed modern culture. You're also well studied in the development of culture for at least one region.

In a future setting amongst the stars, it might be best to have this skill apply to an entire planet.

Talents
• A particular country's founding history.
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 Perception.
• +3 to Perception checks during research or investigations involving this skill.
Expert Performance
• Recall X more important details when asked to roll for Archaeology.

Business

You have the know-how for business. This includes allocating resources, networking with new businesses, handling trouble employees and potential office emergencies. You're good at basic legal issues and can handle investors with ease at the highest levels. With this skill, you're great at selling people on items or even selling your own skills. Combined with Law, you have formidable knowledge of using loopholes in contracts and representing large corporate policies.

Talents
• Small Business and Contracting.
• Brand Management & Advertising.
• Franchising.
• Book-keeping.
• International Contracting.
• Corporate Business.
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• Deals negotiated give you 15% more funds/supplies than expected.
Expert Performance
• +X/2 to Charm and Fear during a financial situation.

Culture

You know how to conduct yourself properly in matters of cultural importance. You know the etiquette of social situations and remember even the most trivial details to separate you from the tourists. You have a cordial manner with socialites, governments, and businesses. In a lot of ways, this skill represents your familiarity with the anthropology of modern cultures (as opposed to archaeology's ancient history.)

Talents
• Any particular culture, country, or region.
• Analysis (of unknown cultures.)
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 to Pace when learning new cultural mannerisms.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• +X to Charm when blending in with a culture. This only offsets penalties.
• You have an (X*5)% chance of determining the meaning of an unknown and unclear mannerism.

Economics

You understand the nuances of transactions, taxes, and financing. You can analyze the stock market trends in any industry and make decent predictions at higher levels. Your way with money and understanding of such financial procedures is determined by this skill.

In an ancient setting, this is likely not an advanced discipline and should be rolled into Business. In the past, this skill would have been referred to as Mercantile.

Talents
• Stocks.
• Appraisal.
• Banking.
• Accounting.
• Taxes.

Perks
• +15% chance of choosing a very worthwhile short-term stock.
• Research involving Economics (looking at accounts) have +2 to Pace.
• +1 Intellect.

Expert Performance
• You make or save (X*3)% on your next financial affair or taxwork, due to keen senses.
• Picking stock has a +(X*4)% to random chance of turning small short-term profits.

History

This is the study of recent events and politics that shape the modern landscape. It can be combined with any skill to represent your understanding of how it's changed over the centuries. If history truly does repeat itself, you have some inkling of future events to come. In general, this skill is about studying the patterns in the flow of history.

Talents
• Choose a specific region.
• Choose a specific race (for an alien future setting.)
Perks
• +1 Intellect. +5% Charm and Fear in a political environment.
• +1 Intellect. +1 to any skill combined with History (Media, sciences, etc.)
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• You recall appropriate historical facts with X more details.

Language

When you learn any language, simply put Language: {name}. This skill represents how well you understand it. Level 5 is enough to get by politely, even if it's sometimes apparent that you're a tourist. At higher levels, you're familiar with slang, local idomata, and can reproduce all related accents. You're also familiar with the regal and poetic forms of that language if well-studied.

Language skills cannot be broken (as ten means completely fluency.) Speaking a related dialect (like how speaking Italian relates to Spanish or French) is -5 to your level.

Everyone has a natural language at Level 10, free of cost. Write it down if you like.

Languages (ordered by popularity)
• Mandarin
• Spanish
• English
• Arabic
• Hindi
• Portuguese
• Bengali
• Russian
• Japanese
• German
• Korean
• French
Talents
• Etymology.
• Regal.
• Rhyming.
• Slang.
Perks
• You are only -2 instead of -5 for speaking related dialects.
• You get to reroll this skill once if it fails.
• +3 Charm against penalties if you are considered a foreigner.
Expert Performance
• +X to Charm natural speakers of that language (cancels out penalties only.)

Law

You know the laws and procedures to handle a variety of civil matters. Country disputes, foreign rights, tax law, contracts, property, you've learned it all at the highest levels. You know the criminal code and are aware of legal tensions between countries. You also know police procedure as it relates to the case and are familiar with the politics of the courts.

At the highest levels, you're fit to be a judge (but likely need Politics to back you up.) You will have penalties for working with laws not of your home (unless the GM decides you've had enough time to acclimatize.)

Talents
• Police Procedure.
• Environmental.
• Family.
• Arbitration.
• Criminal.
• Corporate.
• Civil.
• Judgment.
Perks
• +2 to Perception checks to see through Subterfuge.
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 against charm rolls.
Expert Performance
• +X to Charm or Fear during an important statement to the jury or judge.

Military

This is your understanding of military procedure and training. Combined with Politics, you would have extensive military administrative experience (and likely an important rank.)

This skill represents knowledge of military rules (both local and foreign) and how militaries co-operate with governments. You also know the names of important targets and persons involved in any current military event. In a way, this skill is about your level of clearance regarding Intelligence operations. Combined with the Tactics skill, you are an excellent leader for an army.

Talents
• Choose a country or military organization.
Perks
• Stress is increased by 4 hours/minutes.
• +1 to all skill rolls involving Climbing, Athletics, and Swimming.
• +1 to all skill rolls involving Tactics, Interrogation, and Politics.
Expert Performance
• +X Charm or Fear with subordinates for the scene.

Politics

You are well aware of the political systems used in the world. You know all the issues and persons involved. At the higher levels, you know who's who in terms of international and corporate influence. You know government protocol and hierarchy for each country and may even have some influence. You're good at appealing to politicians and voters alike with your own ideals. With this skill, you have the ability to bring together the divided for a common goal.

Talents
• Local to a particular region.
• A particular country's federal politics.
• International organizations and their politics.
• Diplomacy.
Perks
• +1 Charisma.
• Whatever the reason, Perception checks made against you are +2 difficulty.
• You have +2 Perception when Espionage skills are used against you.
Expert Performance
• You have +X/2 to Charm during a speech (stacks with the Writing and good roleplaying.)

Psychology

You have studied social works and may have gone as far as a doctorate in Psychology. You are trained in subtle body language and tones in order to determine motives, emotions, and personalities. You can encourage people to trust you and you understand trauma and sensitive matters. At the highest levels, you understand the influence of instinct and incentive on group behaviour.

Talents
• Diagnosis & Medication
• Research
• Emotional Empathy
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 Charisma.
• +2 to Fear.
Expert Performance
• +X to Perception checks made against lying or manipulation.
• +X/2 Charm or Fear for the remainder of the scene.

Technology

Technology Skills

Communications

You know how to operate equipment designed for message transmissions. You understand the basics of radio and can connect and route wiring to get a signal. At higher levels, you're good at working with satellite and digital signals. You also know how to bug a room. Combined with Mathematics, you're a wizard at cryptography. Combined with TV/AV, you can setup complex theatre systems and handle all the different standards.

This skill does not exist in the past. In the future, the technology and range of communications is likely quite great. Even in the future, this skill is meant to represent the character's ability to handle communications devices and any systems based on optics (or a futuristic equivalent).

Talents
• Radio.
• Bugs.
• Telephony.
• Wire tapping.
Perks
• +1 Pace when decrypting unknown transmissions.
• +1 to this skill when using unknown or alien instruments.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• Signals sent are (X*5)% more effective in range and clarity.
• Decrypting signals your signals are -X to the appropriate skill check.

Computer Operations

This is how you handle computers and other computer-operated devices (digital cameras, pdas, smartphones, etc.) You can handle operating systems, databases, and common operations over the internet. At the highest levels, you can hack into existing software and connected devices. You also have an understanding of computer networks on a software level and can possibly track and modify packets with the right tools. This skill can be combined with Visual Arts to produce computer graphics, and that's just one example.

Although unavailable in ancient times, one is hard-pressed to imagine a more important skill today.

Talents
• Connectable Media
• Networks
• Databases
• An Operating System
• Hacking
Perks
• Use unknown programs without difficulty (and half penalties if a foreign language.)
• +1 Intellect.
• You have +4 hours to Stress when on a computer.
Expert Performance
• Once into a system, all further hacking rolls are at +X/2 for this skill.

Genetics

You must have Biology Level 6 at the very least. You have cutting-edge knowledge of DNA and the tools used to manipulate life on the level of four-letter assembly code.

Talents
• Splicing.
• Cloning.
• Gene Switches (found in Junk DNA.)
Perks
• +1 Fortitude.
• +2 against emotion checks.
• +1 Intellect.
Expert Performance
• Subjects created last (X*10)% longer than normal.
• In a futuristic setting, enhanced beings have +X points distributed evenly to physical stats and +X points distributed evenly to mental stats.

Computer Hardware & Networking

This is your skill at assembling and repairing computer hardware. You know how everything fits together and what works best and what doesn't. At lower levels, this is just for personal devices. At the higher levels, you understand super computers, servers, and custom machinery. When combined with Electric Systems and a good lab, you can make improvements to micro-processors and other delicate technologies. Designs based on Quantum computers would require an amazing array of Science skills to back you up.

Talents
• Servers.
• Routers.
• Personal Hardware.
• Sabotage.
Perks
• Detecting a hardware intrusion on a network is -2 to skill difficulties.
• Systems designed operate 10% faster than normal.
• Diagnosing a hardware problem takes half the time expected.
Expert Performance
• Systems built by the character operate (X*4)% faster than normal.

Robotics

This skill can be considered a type of electrical engineering and computing. Specifically, this field deals with the creation and repair of robots. Or more specifically, it provides the electrical components and underlying design to the robot. The robots in question are normally assembly machines or extremely sophisticated laboratory equipment.

This skill also deals with the handling of mechanical mapping to humans, cybernetics, nanotechnology, and anything related to transhumanism. Robotics is meant to give systems a resemblance of intelligence and self-operation. Nanotechnology miniaturizes aspects of technology created by other skills. Transhumanism is the replacement of limbs and introduction of cybernetic implants to an organism.

The number of support skills required is enormous. Pretty much every Science and Technology skill that exists.

Talents
• Nanotechnology
• Interfacing
• Artificial Limbs
• Biomechanics
Perks
• +1 Intellect.
• +1 Quality to this skill when successful (goes beyond limit).
• +2 to emotion checks.
Expert Performance
• Robots designed have +X to each stat.
• Parts meant to enhance human performance are +(X*10)% more effective.

Security

Use this skill to bypass electrical security devices (such as motion sensors) and set up your own traps with special detection devices. Using different technologies, you can carefully monitor an area for intruders. You're familiar with light amplification, sound detection, retinal scanning, cardlocks, and even military systems. When combined with other Technology skills, you can design or improve such technology.

Talents
• Motion Sensors
• Visual Aids (ultraviolet, infrared, nightvision, etc.)
• Camera Placement
Perks
• +1 Perception.
• This skill and Stealth are both +1 to Pace when they are successful.
• Breaking through your security has +2 difficulty.
Expert Performance
• You have +X to perception to notice hidden security.
• Those infiltrating your security have +X difficulty to the skill.

Weapons (Melee)

Melee Weapon Skills

One-Handed Strikes

When using a single hand with a simple weapon design, your attack will fall under this skill. Short swords, small maces and small axes are covered here. Talents include:

• Scimitar.
• Rapier.
• Hammer.
• Pick.
• Cleaver.
• Tomahawk.

Two-Handed Strikes

These are long and difficult to wield. Heavier weapons will require a minimum of 3-4 Strength or more to use properly. The big weapons are normally used in a slashing motion (with a bashing intent.) The long weapons are normally used for piercing attacks. Talents include:

• Claymore.
• Flamberge.
• Battle Axe.
• Katana (may also be considered a one-handed Talent if used that way instead.)

Daggers

These weapons are extremely small, usually held against the wrist, and are designed to be very fast. Talents include:

• Switchblade.
• Rondel.
• Stiletto.
• Curved Dagger.

Chains

These weapons normally have two or more heavy parts connected by a chain. They do not flow or wrap easily like a whip. Talents include:

• Nunchaku.
• Flail.

Polearms

These are very long and require two hands. They are normally used as stabbing weapons in mounted combat or thrown from the ground. Talents include:

• Spear.
• Scythe.
• Trident.
• Pike.
• Lance.

Staffs

These are normally blunt two-handed weapons used across the body. These weapons are unwieldy and used defensively, therefore not falling under Pikes. You will rely on their bendable nature to propel yourself through combat. Talents include:

• Quarterstaff
• Bo Staff
• Short Staff

Whips

These are long bendable weapons normally used to entangle opponents and handle livestock. Talents include:

• Nine Tails.
• Bull Whip.
• Chain Whip.

Shields

Shields can be used offensively and may sometimes require two hands to use properly. When used defensively, they may provide a Blocking bonus or more. Talents are based on a style from a particular region. They include:

• Norman (A medieval shield with a kite-like shape.)
• Pavise (a shield providing cover for archers.)
• Pelta (half-moon leather shield.)
• Round (Used by barbarians, bound by leather and wood with an Umbo or Boss to use in attacks.)
• Bucklers (designed to protect the feet and break sharp weapons.)

Weapons (Ranged)

Ranged Weapon Skills

Archery

These are bows used to fire arrows at long range. The arrows may offer bonuses or effects because of technology. Talents include:

• Short Bow.
• Compound Bow.
• Cross Bow.
• Ballista (requires Turret skill as well.)

Assault

Assault weapons are meant for rapid and spray fire. Talents include:

• Sub-machine pistols such as an MP5.
• Light machine guns such as an FN Minimi.
• Assault rifles such as an AK-47.

Handgun

These weapons are normally used with one or both hands. They are small personal weapons designed to fire a small number of shots using gunpowder. Talents include:

• Revolvers like a Magnum.
• Semi-automatic pistol like a Beretta.

Heavy Weapon

These personal weapons command incredible power. They are normally designed for extreme damage over a large area. In the future they could be nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass devestation made hand-held. Talents include:

• Railgun
• RPG Launcher
• Missile Launcher
• Flamethrower

Shotgun & Rifle

Shotguns are normally used at a close distance for maximum effect. Hunting with a shotgun is only effective against fast small targets. Rifles are very accurate at a distance and can even be equipped with sniper lenses to take down a target. Talents include:

• Break-action Shotguns.
• Pump-action Shotguns.
• Lever-action & Turn-Bolt.
• Straight-Pull Rifles.
• Blowback Action Rifles.
• Recoil Action Rifles.
• Sniper Rifles.

Throwing

These are normally small one-handed weapons used for throwing. Talents include:

• Darts.
• Cards.
• Throwing Axes.
• Throwing Knives.
• Slings.
• Shuriken.

Vehicle/Mounted Turrets

These weapons can be either electrical or mechanical as mounted on a vehicle: Jet turrets, tank turrets, etc. This covers the operation of any mounted weapon. Talents include:

• A particular Pilotry skill.
• Gatling Gun Stand-alone (mounted on a solid surface.)
• Missile Stand-alone (mounted on a solid surface.)

Wilderness

Wilderness Skills

Agriculture

This is how you care for a large bulk of land. You know how seasons and weather patterns affect crops, what crops can be grown together, and various tricks and tools which can be used to take good care of tilled land. You know how to process grains, pick vegetables, and techniques for producing stronger yields.

Talents
• Irrigation.
• Crop Cycles.
• Harvesting.
• A particular cash crop.
Perks
• You have +20kg to your Max Lift.
• +1 Shock.
• Expected harvest is increased by 15%.
Expert Performance
• You increase expected harvest by X%. This cumulates (not compounds) as it is used each week before the actual harvest.

Animals

This skill involves the taming, training, and domesticating of any animal. At the higher levels, you can determine the desired food sources and stimuli for strange creatures with some observation. You also have some empathy, recognizing sickness and pain. If their injury or illness is grave, you will need to combine with Medicine or some other skill that can aid them.

In the future, on alien worlds, there could be some strange beasts indeed.

Talents
• Zoology.
• A particular category or genus of animals.
• A specific region.
Perks
• +3 Perception for checks when interpreting animal signals and emotions.
• +1 Command.
• +1 Charisma.
Expert Performance
• Training an animal takes less time by using Pace.
• +X Charm with animals.
• Animals recover (X*10)% faster from injury and illness under care.

Artisan

You create wooden and stone works with your own hands. Pottery, handles, and small tools are just some of the things you do. You know how to make leather, strings, bows, any item of wood, clay, or tanned furs. You don't work a forge, but other devices (such as a cutting wheel) to create your goods.

You combine with Visual Arts for sculpting, Construction for beautiful patterned walls, Metallurgy or Blacksmithing for necklaces, and Tailoring to create leather and cloth armour. You can also make basic mace weapons and whips.

Talents
• Pottery.
• Woodcrafts.
• Jewelry.
• Leather.
Perks
• +1 Strength.
• You can handle 20 more minutes/seconds of Work.
• +1 Perception.
Expert Performance
• Any tools made will give the user +X/2 to Pace on their own skill rolls.
• Any artwork made will have +X Charm.
• Leather armour has +X/2 to Prevent and Soak.
• Weapons have +X/2 damage.

Botany

This is the study of plants, including flowers and fruits, to know what types will grow together. You also know the lifespan and season of many different varieties. You understand and can identify the various plants in a given habitat. At higher levels, you have also studied fungi, moss, and subterrenean plantlife.

Botany can have a greater scientific approach by combining with Chemistry. Your concoctions are medicinal or poisonous in nature. At the lower levels, you at least know what's edible and what's dangerous in familiar areas.

Talents
• Any particular genus of plant.
• A category within fruits or vegetables.
• Poisons.
• Holistic medicine.
• A particular region or habitat.
Perks
• You add 2 to the Active Resists of any poison/medicine made.
• New breeds grown have +3 Charm when properly consumed or simply seen.
• +2 against poison checks.
Expert Performance
• Plants cared for have improved health and resilience by (X*10)%.
• Plants grown have +X Charm to impress onlookers (or potential gourmands.)

Fishing

This is the ability to track, identify, and clean fish. The only real difference between this skill and hunting, is that this one takes place on water. You know how to operate equipment to handle bigger targets and how to use a net to catch fish. You also know what fish are in season and their usual migration patterns.

Talents
• Netting.
• River.
• Bottom-Fishing.
• Preserving.
Perks
• +2 to Strength checks for pulling.
• +2 Ki.
• +1 Strength.
Expert Performance
• Fish meat keeps fresher for (X*10)% longer.

Hunting

You can track game, identify creatures based on tracks and nearby clues, and can skin and prepare a carcass. At the higher levels, no animal escapes you as a resource. You know how to use every part of it. You also know all the associated traps, what animals are good to eat, and which are too dangerous. This can be used to hunt humans.

You'll need to combine with Animals to deal with predators and may need Navigation to avoid being lost in the wilderness.

Talents
• Skinning.
• Trapping.
• A specific habitat (desert, jungle, tundra.)
Perks
• You have +2 Perception against ambushes in the wild.
• +1 Speed.
• +2 against poison checks.
Expert Performance
• Skins and preserved food last (X*10)% longer than expected.
• Cut this skill in half to hunt in an urban setting.

Masonry

This is the study of mining and marbling rocks to create tiles. You can identify many different types of rocks and can determine which are suitable for the work required. You know the techniques and technology involved in efficient and safe mining and the identification of precious metals, ores, and gems. This skill would be required at lower levels for sculpting (in Visual Arts or Artisan.) Combining this with Earth Science, you can track veins to follow in his pursuit of precious metals. Combine this skill with Artisan for cutting jewels. Combine this skill with Construction to build structures out of stone and clay.

Talents
• Marbling.
• Ore processing.
• Mining.
Perks
• A mining project yields 20% more ore/stone by the set date.
• Striking a stationary target has no called shot penalty.
• +1 Stamina.
Expert Performance
• The amount mined is increased by x% (cumulative every few days of hard work).
• Rock molded is +(X*5)% Prevent.

Navigation

The study of stars, ocean currents, and maps is what this is about. By using various instrumentation and a honed sense of direction, you know how to make it through any environment. You always find the way. In the water, you know how to chart a course for a ship. On land, you can track water and use landmarks to efficiently get across terrain or find appropriate shelter. Combined with Hunting, Botany, and Fishing, you have excellent wilderness survival skills.

Talents
• Sea.
• Urban Zones.
• A particular type of terrain (jungle, desert, mountains, etc.)
Perks
• You have +1 to any skill roll as it pertains to basic survival.
• +1 to Perception checks involving long-distance sight or hearing.
• When you go the wrong way, you figure it out in half the time.
Expert Performance
• +X to Speed checks over difficult terrain.

Tailoring

You can make and stitch clothing. Silk, wool, linen, cotton, leather it's all here. You stitch, weave, and knit with the best of them. You know the techniques and tools used in the trade and know how to produce base materials from animal fur or other found resources (though tanning leather may require Artisan or Chemistry.)

Combining with Fashion or Visual Arts gives you good insight into colour-coordination and appealing outfits. You can also make shoes (combined with Artisan) and other articles (such as curtains) from common materials.

Talents
• Knitting
• Sewing
• Weaving
• Quilting
Perks
• Anything you make has +2 Prevent and lasts twice as long.
• Anything you make has +1 Soak and gives the wearer +1 Charisma.
• Heavy clothing (as armour) you make has 4 less in penalties.
Expert Performance
• Heavy cloth has +X/2 Prevent.
• Leather has +X Prevent.