Skill Penalties

Ordinarily, a character's chance of performing a skill successfully is determined by his success ratio for that skill. However, when advanced (or alien) technology or pressure situations arc involved. one's success ratio for a given skill is affected. Likewise, psionic attacks, debilitating magic, illness and injury may also impose a skill penalty on the character.

Whether these penalties are accumulative (we suggest they are) is left to the discretion of the Game Master.

• Advanced, Unknown Machines and Technologies: A good rule of thumb is a skill penalty of -30% or -40% when trying to figure out, operate, repair. or use such mechanisms and technologies beyond the normal range of familiar technology. This would include experimental military devices, Techno-Wizard devices, strange magic items. In some cases (G.M.'s discretion), the technology may be so different (or so reliant on magic) that the character will he unable to use the simplest of devices ( -80% to -95% penalty). Likewise, depending on what the item is. a penalty of only -10% to -20% might apply. but the -30% to -40% penalty is typical. The G.M. should always use his/her discretion when dealing with experimental, weird, or sciences.
• Military Technology: Military technology is often (though not always) more advanced and even cutting-edge. Thus. a -15% or -25% skill penalty applies to civilian engineers and Operators trying to work on or with military hardware.
• Pressure Situations: Executing a skill when calm, cool and collected is one thing. Doing it under the gun (or with a snarling monster breathing down your neck) is something else. For the following pressure situations, negative modifiers apply to characters trying to execute any skill, excluding W.P. and Hand to Hand Combat skills.
  • Booby-trap: The item the character is working on is rigged to set off an alarm, explosive, trap, purge data, etc. unless the defense mechanism/ trigger can be circumvented or deactivated first. Depending on the complexity and risk: -10% to -40%.
  • Cheap, faulty and/or unfamiliar tools: -5% to -15%.
  • Confused/uncertain or distracted: -10% to -20%.
  • Countermeasures, traps and alarms are in place: -10% to -15%. depending on their level of complexity and sophistication.
  • Difficult, complex or unfamiliar task: -10% to -15%.
  • Distracted by outside forces: -10% to -20%, depending upon the source of the distraction and how invasive it may be.
  • Encrypted data or firewall: -20% to -40%.
  • frightened, nervous or jumpy: -5% to -10%.
  • Lack of sleep/exhausted: -10% if the character has gone 24-36 hours without sleep and the skill takes 50% longer to perform; -15% having gone 48-72 hours without sleep and takes twice as long to perform, and -30-50% having gone 80 hours or longer without sleep. plus the skill takes three times as long as normal to perform.
• Panic situation: If the character panics and gets hysterical the penalty is -50% on skill performance, combat bonuses are reduced by half, Perception Roll bonuses are reduced to zero, and shooting a gun is ''wild". Bystanders and allies may get injured accidentally from the character's wild and irrational response.
  • Pressure situation, low: -5%; may include being nervous when working in front of a superior, critic. or pretty girl. as well as when showing off.
  • Pressure situation, moderate: -10%; it is important to get the job done quickly and done right the first time.
  • Pressure situation, serious: -15% to -20% when failure means there will be serious consequences or trouble (capture. torture. loss of critical supplies, etc.) or the character himself or several people (perhaps hundreds) will suffer for his mistake.
  • Pressure situation, deadly: -25% to -30%. Time is running out, with dire consequences. If the character fails, he, an ally(s) or innocent people will die. Always a -30% penalty if a loved one or several dozen, hundreds or thousands of lives hang in the balance.
  • Scared: -30% to -50%. The character is so scared he just cannot think straight. plus the skill takes twice as long to accomplish. Increase the penalty to -75% when the subject of the terror is related to a Phobia insanity.
    Note that although the character is wracked with fear, he is trying to deal with it and has not run off in a blind panic.
• Seriously wounded or ill: When a character's Hit Points arc down by 50% or more. concentration is difficult (feels weak, tired. in pain, etc.) and the pain and fatigue are distracting, which impairs skill performance. -20% penalty.
  The penalty worsens to -30% when the character has less than 25% of his Hit points.
  Illness, especially fever, can cause similar penalties. Debilitating illness will usually indicate skill penalties ranging from -10% to -50%. Drugs, magical charms and psionic attack may also stun. confuse or debilitate the character similar to injury and illness. The specific spell, power or drug will indicate the penalties to apply.
• Time sensitive: Skill must be performed in a few minutes (even seconds) or by X time: countdown. -10% to -30%. Trying to do something while moving: -5% to -40%. depending on the situation, speed and the bumpiness of the ride.

Note: The G.M. may also impose a reasonable penalty to any situation where the character faces an unusual or difficult task. A reasonable penalty will range from -5% to -30%. but, at times. a dramatically higher penalty may be appropriate. G.M.s. use your discretion and be fair.

Also see penalties for low I.Q. and other low attributes in the Character Creation section.

Note: Acrobatics and Gymnastics provide similar abilities and bonuses. If both are selected, add the bonuses and pluses to your overall character as explained. However, abilities such as back flip, climb rope, etc., are not added together, nor are educational bonus added twice. The "best" proficiency of a duplicated skill ability is taken and the normal educational bonus is applied. Also, the Prowl and Climb abilities given under Acrobatics and Gymnastics are a part of these skills and do not increase with level unless they are selected as separate, additional areas of training (i.e., Prowl and/or Climbing are also selected as skills). Likewise, a character with a skill as a natural ability (i.e. Climb or Prowl). who also gets that skill in an O.C.C. would use the higher percentage. If the natural score is higher, add the O.C.C. bonus to it as a one-time bonus, but the overall skill would not improve until the character's learned (O.C.C.) skill surpassed their natural ability score.