Assassination Techniques: This skill includes the ability to calculate drop and wind resistance when firing a weapon from long ranges. On a successful roll, the character gains +3 to strike and automatically hits the enemy at a key place in the head or heart and counts as a “point blank” shot. On an unsuccessful roll, the character is –3 to strike and normal damage is inflicted. Each use of this skill counts as a melee attack.
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Binding: This is the practiced art of knot making and binding. Characters will know the best way to tie someone/thing down tightly and securely. The character will know a wide array of knots, the abilities of each one, and when each one should be used. Anyone tied up in this manner will find it nearly impossible to escape (-15% for escape artists.) This skill also adds a one time bonus of +5% to climbing since superior knots are used.
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Bluff/Fast Talk: The ability to smooth talk oneself out of danger or potentially embarrassing situations, and the ability to come up with a completely bullshit explanation for any occurrence. This is the art of making lame-ass excuses and being able to get away with it.
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Climbing/Scale Walls: Knowledge of the tools and techniques forclimbing up sheer surfaces, be they natural mountains or man-made.Players should roll once for every 20 feet (6.1 m) of a vertical climb. Ifthe roll fails, it means he is losing his grip; however, every "skilled"climber gets a chance to regain his grip, roll again. Two consecutivefailed rolls means the character falls
Base Skill: 50+5% per level of experience.
Concealment: The practiced ability to hide small items on one'sbody or in hand, usually by continually moving it around from hand tohand or place to place unnoticed. Objects must be no larger than 14inches in height or length, and six inches in width. The weight must alsobe 10 pounds or less (4.5 kg). The smaller and lighter the object, such asa knife, gem, key, credit card, etc., the easier it is to conceal (add a bonusof +5%). Larger items, such as a book, scroll, club, statue, or similarlylarge or heavy object, are more difficult to conceal on one's personfor obvious reasons
Base Skill: 20+5% per level of experience.
Detect Ambush: Training which develops an eye for spotting locations and terrains suitable for ambushes and being ambushed. It also provides a rudimentary knowledge of guerrilla tactics used by the enemy.(+5% to Guerrilla Warfare)
Base Skill: 50+5% per level of experience.
Detect Concealment/Traps: This is a skill which enables the individual to spot and recognize camouflage, concealed structures, buildings, shelters, and caches of equipment, as well as concealed traps. Detecting a trap enables the character to avoid or safely "spring" it without injury to himself or those around him. He cannot otherwise deactivate or reset traps. Reduce the character's skill by half when looking for secret doors and compartments.
Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Disarm/Set Traps: Training in the design and application of traps used in anti-personnel and defense tactics. With readily available materials and simple tools, including shovels, knives, sticks, wire and rope, the character can build fiendish traps. Other traps can be used as alarms, or even as diversions to distract the enemy while the character escapes.The greatest drawback of traps lies in the amount of time required to prepare them. It can take hours to prepare rock slides, large pits, etc., even with magic. But this time can be shortened with help from others, as only one character needs the skill, in order to successfully direct others in the traps’ construction. Ingeniously prepared traps can, and often do, shift the advantage of a battle to the side that prepared the field for combat. Also allows character to spring a trap without injury to himself or those around him and preserve it for reactivation if it is not a one time trap.
Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Disguise: The character knows how to apply make-up, wigs, skin putty, dyes, and other special effects in order to alter or conceal his true appearance or that of somebody else. The ability to disguise oneself is different than impersonation (see below). Reduce the character's skill by half when he tries to determine whether or not somebody else is wearing a disguise.
Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Escape Artist: The methods, principles, and tricks of escape artists. Includes muscle control (tensing and relaxing muscles), flexing and popping joints, knowledge of knots, and the ability to conceal small objects on the person. The character can try slipping out of handcuffs, chains, ropes, straightjackets, etc. Note: Picking locks is a separate and distinct skill. To escape from locked chains and manacles, the character must have the lock pick skill as well. Note that an escape artist does NOT need to see the knots, locks or manacles that hold him. Escapes and lock picking can be done by touch and/or sound as well as sight.Time Restrictions and Penalties:Although the sleight of hand skill provides added skill and nimbleness of hands, the character is still restricted by time and the odds against him. The following penalties apply whenever the character tries to pick a lock or escape his bonds. They generally reflect the complexity and difficulty of the job. In some cases, more than one penalty may apply. For Example: The character may be handcuffed, arms and legs/feet tied, and then locked in a chest (total darkness,) for a cumulative penalty of –25%. ALL penalties are cumulative. Note: ALL the locks and vaults may be of the highest quality and supposedly unpickable; however they are not super sophisticated. A failed skill roll means that the time has been spent in a futile attempt. Try again! The same attempt by any character other than the stage magician will take tree times as longEscape and Pick Lock Penalties
- -0% Rope and typical knots: 1 melee
- -5% Rope and superior knots: 1d4 melees
- -0% Key padlock: 1d4 melees
- -5% Combination Padlock: 1d6 melees
- -15% Security combination lock: 2d6 melees
- -5% Typical door key lock: 1d4 melees
- -10% Security door key lock: 2d4 melees
- -5% Any standard key lock (doors, chests, etc.): 1d6 melees
- -5% Handcuffs: 1d4 melees
- -20% Straightjacket: 2d4 melees
- -15% Jail cell door: 2d6 melees
- -25% Lack of proper tools; use inferior/improvised tools, like a pin or buckle.
- -50% No tools at all.
- -10% Total darkness
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Forgery: The techniques of making false copies of official documents, signatures, passports, I.D.s, wax seals, and other printed or hand made documents, crests, or seals. The forger must have an original copy to work from (or have total recall) in order to make an accurate copy. Literacy in one or more languages is a plus, otherwise the character is making a visual copy with no understanding of what the document says and is -15% on his skill roll. [Literacy or Art/Drawing over 75%]
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Impersonate/Imitate Voice: The ability to imitate the voice, accent and expressions of another person or regional dialect. This skill is common among thieves and assassins, as well as demons and other villains. The first number indicates the character's ability to change his voice and imitate accents, inflections and expressions from other regions. A successful roll means he has disguised his normal/true speaking voice and accent, and convincingly sounds like he is from another region or part of the world. The second number indicates the character's ability to accurately imitate the voice, inflections and attitude of a specific person! This is much more difficult, and the character will either need to know the person being imitated very well, or have spent hours studying him/her. Impersonation Note: When combined with the disguise and intelligence skills, the character is able to completely impersonate a specific person or person of a particular occupation (soldier, knight, wizard, priest, etc.). This is likely to include knowledge of the subject being impersonated, military procedure, dress, heraldry/rank, and will usually require speaking the language fluently. This means the character can convincingly impersonate a general type of person/soldier/advisor with an accurate disguise, proper action, and language. A failed roll means some element of the impersonation is flawed, most likely some incorrect behavior or character trait, or lack of information about the person being impersonated ("Tell me again what you said that night," etc.). Such "holes" will give the character away sooner or later. Thus, the longer a character remains under the eyes of others, the more likely that something will happen to reveal the character is an impostor. This is fun to role-play, so take advantage of it.
Base Skill: 36/16+5% per level of experience.
Intelligence: This is specific training in the practices and principles of recognizing and analyzing sources of information about the enemy, observation techniques, counterintelligence measures and proper procedure. This includes the practical assessment of sights and sounds, estimation of ranges, what to report, handling prisoners of war, and handling captured documents and equipment (tagging and reporting to group leader or proper authority). This means the character will be able to accurately estimate distances, the number of enemies, direction, purpose, and assess the importance of specific information. Further intelligence training includes a working knowledge of indigenous guerilla warfare, enemy practices, appearance, and current activities. This enables the character to recognize suspicious activity as guerilla actions and identify guerilla operatives and spies. For Example: A particular type or design of a booby trap, weapon, armor, mode of travel, or method of operation may be indicative of a particular race (wolfen, ogre, goblin, etc.) or a particular group of bandits active in the area. It may be up to the character to confirm the existence of the enemy and their strength, numbers, and current location. Another area of training made available to intelligence is the identification of enemy troops, officers, and foreign advisors. This means the character learns the many distinguishing ranks and marks that identify specific military units, special forces, groups, gangs, and leaders of the enemy. Such identification can pinpoint and confirm enemy operations, goals, and movement, as well as confirm outside intervention/aid. Note: A failed roll in any of the areas of intelligence means that evidence is inconclusive, or that the character has incorrectly assessed the information/situation and is uncertain. A failed roll involving individual clues may mean the character has dismissed it entirely as being meaningless (G.M.s use your discretion).
Base Skill: 45+5% per level of experience.
Interrogation: This skill is common among policemen,intelligence officers, and assassins/spies/bounty hunters. The characterknows the techniques to get information from (typically unwilling) subjects.This includes such old methods as "good cop, bad cop" (one interrogatoris threatening and intimidating, the other is sympathetic andfriendly), deceiving and misleading the subject into giving away information,and similar methods. The character also can judge if the subjectis lying (the game master might assess bonuses and penalties dependingon how good a liar the subject is, and/or on the victim's M.E., M.A. andP.B; the higher any or each of these, the more convincing the lies). Thisskill also includes some basic knowledge on methods of torture, frombasic tactics like depriving the subject of sleep, to the old "medieval"instruments, and drugs. Note: Only evil characters will engage in tortureroutinely.
Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Lie Detection: is the skill of determining whether someone is practicing deception. Activities of the body not easily controlled by the conscious mind are compared under different circumstances. Usually this involves asking the subject control questions where the answers are known to the examiner and comparing them to questions where the answers are not known.
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Lip Reading: The character knows how to interpret the spoken word through the movement of the mouth. Characters can observe targets from a distance and understand what they are saying. The target's mouth must be in line of sight and cannot be obstructed by anything. If the moving lips are partially obscured the GM should apply a penalty he/she thinks is appropriate to the situation. This type of art requires the character to speak the language he is attempting to lip read and to have a 80% proficiency or above in that language. Characters must also select this skill in relation to their common tongue first. Other languages selected after this will count as a new skill and must meet the 80% proficiency requirement. Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Palming: Simply the ability to pick up and seemingly make a smallobject, such as a coin, key, playing card, dagger, etc., disappear by concealingit in one's hand. Adds a bonus of +5% to the pick pocket andcardsharp skills.
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Pick Locks: The character knows the methods and tools for picking/opening key and basic tumbler type locks. The character can also try to deactivate a trap, if he knows about it in advance, but does so at half his normal lock picking skill ability. It takes 1D6 melee rounds for each attempt to pick a lock. A failed roll means the lock holds; try again. A second failed roll means that the lock is beyond the character's present skill level and cannot be opened! The character can try again after a week or so but at -10% (psyched out). He can try again at full skill proficiency after reaching a new level of experience. The character can try to deactivate traps without triggering them at half his normal skill ability.
Base Skill: 35+5% per level of experience.
Pick Pockets: An ability to remove items form a person without their being aware of it. If a pick pocket attempt fails, the item has NOT been removed and there is a 67% likelihood of the intended victim recognizing the intent of the action. The character can try to deactivate traps without triggering them at one third his normal skill ability.
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Prowl: This skill helps the character to move with stealth; quietly,slowly, and carefully. Techniques include balance and footing, shortsteps, pacing, body positioning, prone positions for low visibility, andcrawling. A failed prowl roll means that the character has been seen orheard. If the prowl roll is successful, then the character is not seen orheard and may make a sneak attack or spy.
Base Skill: 40+5% per level of experience.
Psychological Warfare: This is the art of manipulating the mind to get the desired reaction from the victim. The character could attempt to say or do something to influence a target with the end-result of the victim doing something the character intended. Characters with the same skill may make counter-rolls when someone makes a failed attempt to manipulate them. A successful roll would simply tell them that they noticed something suspicious in the saboteurs approach. It is suggested that the GM perform these type of rolls for the players (as they should not be aware of any weird going-ons unless the roll succeeds and even then it is limited) and announce nothing unless the roll is successful. [Psychology]
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Seduction: This ‘skill’ involves considerable practice and experience in this difficult game of con artistry. This character will have studied extensively the nature of the fe/male mind (and anatomy) so as to understand how to best seduce a potential sexual partner. Though this skill may be useful to prostitutes, massagers, and even psychologists, it is mainly used as a deceptive ploy to gather information from someone when they are at their weakest. Intended targets will not necessarily be turned into putty, even if the roll is successful. The GM should take all mitigating circumstances into account when tabulating bonuses and penalties. If the victim suspects that he is being manipulated and resists, then there is almost no chance of success. (Also consider sexual orientation and compatibility.)
Base Skill: MA+PB +5% per level of experience.
Sign Language: Regardless of whether it was developed as a standard language for trade or as a means of communication, due to a lack of hearing or vocal ability, sign languages have a common basis in their standard signs, but a difference in source languages and alphabets. If a character chooses to learn a sign language, the specific language or source of the language must also be given. For every 10 words (or letters, for spelled out words)(doubled for every 5% over 50%)"signed," the sender of the sign language must roll to successfully transmit the message. Likewise, the interpreter must also roll versus their skill in sign for every batch of 10 words (doubled for every 5% over 50%). A failed roll on either end means a misunderstanding. (+10% to Drow Sign Language)
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Sleight of Hand: This skill counts as two skills. A skill that involves the manual dexterity of hand and finger manipulation to perform certain feats. One of the tricks or gimmicks, of sleight of hand is to distract the observer(s) with one hand and palm or otherwise manipulate an item with the other hand. Techniques include hand positioning, tensing, and popping joints in and out.(+4% to Card Sharp, +5% to Palming, Pick Pockets and Concealment)
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Smuggling: A skill in sneaking goods or persons past a point where prohibited, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of the law or other rules
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Sniper: This skill represents special training in long-range bow and arrow attacks and marksmanship. Any type of long-range bow (300 Foot/91.4 m range or better) can be used for sniping. [W.P. with Archery type] Base Skill: Adds a bonus of +2 to strike on a carefully aimed shot —counts as two arrow shots.
Streetwise: This skill instills an understanding of the darker side ofcity life and the scoundrels who roam those streets. The streetwise characterwill be able to recognize gang members and bandits by their actionsand philosophies, gang colors (emblems and clothing that denotemembership to a particular organization), gang symbols and mannerisms,and dangerous locations and gangland haunts. The individual willalso recognize a potential brawl situation, assess a bandit or gang member'srank/power in the organization, and know some of the hangouts,modes of operation, practices, ethics, and perhaps even notorious criminalleaders of the more infamous gangs.This skill also includes the ability to recognize and locate fences,pawnshops, drugs and arms dealers, thieves and thieves' guilds, thugsfor hire, places of ill repute, and similar criminal and illegal outfits.(Gives +15% to Research)
Base Skill: 30+5% per level of experience.
Surveillance: The study of the operation, methods, and techniques used in surveillance and taking a strategic position. Including the use of common magic items, magic potions, and magic scrolls/spells. This skill also includes the art of tailing, or following someone without being noticed, and includes stake-out procedures and some basic stealth practices (same as prowl). A failed surveillance roll indicates that the tail was spotted and the subject of surveillance is aware of being followed/observed. Bonuses: +5% to recognize others in disguise, and +5% on the following skills (if known): disguise, detect ambush and imitate voices/impersonation.
Base Skill: 35+5% per level of experience.
Torture Methods: Training in the questioning and torture of prisoners, this skill includes placing wood under fingernails, use of the rack, and a very general knowledge of medical procedures (+5% to First Aid, Interrogation.) Three successful rolls will extract a bit of information, but three consecutive, unsuccessful checks will result in death of the prisoner (with no save)! All patients will die after 3d4 days of intense torture (around 8 rolls can be made every day.)[Biology]
Base Skill: 25+5% per level of experience.
Tracking: Visual tracking is the identification of tracks, and following the path of men or animals by the signs they leave on the ground and vegetation. Tracking is a precise art, requiring much practice. The skill includes the evaluation of tracks, indicating whether the person being tracked is loaded down with equipment, running, moving slowly (by measuring the space between steps), and so on. By this means, the tracker can estimate the person's rate of movement, apparent direction, the number of persons in the party, and whether the person knows he is being followed. Other methods of tracking require recognizing other telltale signs, such as blood and other stains, broken and displaced vegetation, overturned rocks, waste, litter (such as bits of clothing, empty bottles, butts or ash from cigars or pipes, food scraps and bones, wrappers, soiled bandages and signs of a campfire), and even odors carried by the wind. Likewise, the tracks of riding animals and wagons can reveal much, such as the size and type of the animal or wagon, the weight of its load, speed, direction, etc. Counter-Tracking techniques are also known, such as covering one's trail, misdirection, parallel trails, avoiding obvious pitfalls like littering and so on. A failed roll means that the signs are inconclusive, vague or misleading. Additional signs must be found to verify or clarify (roll again). Three consecutive failed rolls means the tracker has completely lost the trail. Roll once every 40 yards/meters when following a trail, unless it is very obvious (like a caravan of wagons, or company of soldiers/120+ troops). Characters attempting to follow a skilled tracker who is deliberately trying to conceal his trail suffer a penalty of -25% to stay on him. However, the character engaged in counter-tracking techniques travels at slow speeds, about half that of a casual rate of speed (or 1/4 his maximum speed).
Base Skill: 35+5% per level of experience for both the tracking and counter-tracking abilities.
Use/Recognize Poison: People with this skill are trained in theuse of poisons and toxins of all types. This includes the use and preparationsof poison from plants, roots, mushrooms, animals and insectvenom, and other deadly substances, as well as antidotes. Types of poisonsinclude ingestive (must be eaten), contact (is absorbed through theskin) or blood (enters the bloodstream by cut or injection). The use ofpoison can be dangerous. The first percentile number indicates the successratio of using and administering poison carefully and properly. Ifthe person fails to make his success ratio, there is a 1-30% chance ofhaving inflicted himself (is an antidote handy?). The second number indicatesthe character's ability to recognize food, drink or items that havebeen poisoned. Add +4% if the character also knows holistic medicine. Restriction: Onlycharacters of an evil and anarchist alignment can use poison to inflictbodily harm on others. Also note that many poisons inflict damage andcause ailments and pain, but do not automatically or instantly kill thevictim.
Base Skill: 35/25+5% per level of experience.
Ventriloquism: The practiced ability to throw one's voice. This canbe used to create the illusion of not speaking while making a voice orverbal noise appear to be coming from someone something else, such asa puppet, a tree, box, chair, etc. Maximum range is 10 feet (3 m) away.A failed roll means the voice is not well thrown or the ventriloquist'smouth is seen moving, so the trick does not work
Base Skill: 20+5% per level of experience.
