Chapter 4: Skills

Skills represent a character’s abilities and knowledge in specific areas, allowing them to effectively perform tasks, overcome challenges, and interact with the world. They reflect both learned expertise and innate capabilities, ranging from combat techniques and academic knowledge to social influence and survival instincts. Skills are typically developed over time through experience and training, and their effectiveness is determined both by a character’s proficiency level (ranks) in a skill and that skill’s governing attributes.

Skill groups: Skills are grouped into six broad categories (there are no Magic or Matrix categories in 2297 AD). These categories have no special significance unless specifically referenced by rules or abilities.

Skill specializations: Any skill with a rank of 5 or higher can have a specialization. Within the field of specialization, you treat your rank as 1 higher than it is. At 8 skill ranks, the increase is 2, and at 10 ranks, your effective ranks go up by 3 (so basically 13).

What constitutes a specialization is deliberately free-form, but should be narrow enough that it does not come up all the time, but not so niche that it never comes up. For example, your Stealth specialization might be (Jungle or Martian), and your Tactics spec could be (Armored Assault or Aerospace Fighters). It’s mostly for flavor; don’t abuse it.

Alternate key attributes: Each skill has two key attributes that are added to the skill rank to get the final skill modifier. On rare occasions, the GM may declare (or the player may request the GM) that the governing attributes be changed. For example, if an Athletics check involves pure strength, maybe changing the modifier to ranks + 2xST is appropriate.

Skill overlap: Sometimes, it can be unclear what skill is applicable—or two skills might seem equally applicable. In these cases, it’s up to the GM to make a ruling by either declaring which skill must be used or that either skill can work and whether or not one skill or the other would make the task easier. For example, getting information from an NPC could be a Challenging Charm—if the player character is female or an elf—but a Difficult Deception for anyone else.

Unskilled challenges/Virtual skills: In some cases, characters want to do something that either isn’t skill-based at all or the skill would be so niche that it doesn’t exist in the game.

This can be resolved in two different ways:

·         Make a Success check based on 2x key attributes + 1x another relevant attribute.

·         Assign the acting character with a virtual skill rank (based on the character's background and capabilities) and assign key abilities to the virtual skill.

Opposed checks: This is when multiple characters are engaged in opposed activities not covered by the combat or defense rules, such as a duel of wits or a debate over magical theory. The GM assigns each character a TN (which could be the same but need not be). Whoever gets the higher MoS wins.

Extended checks: Success, even great success, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve completed your task. In some cases, the GM may call for Extended checks. A typical example is information gathering; others include research or crafting.

If you succeed, your MoS counts toward a goal (possibly known to you, often not) set by the GM. For example, you might need 25 MoS on a number of Mechanic checks to finish the latest modifications to your combat drone, with each check requiring 4 full hours of work. The TN isn’t sky-high, so you will eventually finish the project, but it will take time.

Combining opposed and extended checks makes it possible to represent two (or more) characters competing to finish first. Maybe once you’ve completed that drone, you’ll race another rigger for fame and money. Whoever gets first to 30 MoS on Operating checks wins, with your TN being slightly lower due to all the mods you added to the drone.

General skills

General skills encompass abilities that have broad applications across various scenarios and environments. These skills are versatile, covering areas such as Computer use, Stealth, and Streetwise knowledge. Characters rely on General Skills to navigate the world, solve problems, and adapt to a wide range of situations.

Administration (IN/PR)

Administration involves successfully organizing and managing ventures, from small projects to large-scale operations. It includes tasks such as planning, coordinating resources, overseeing staff, and ensuring that goals and deadlines are met efficiently. Administration is key to maintaining order and achieving success in various organizational contexts.

Use Cases: Managing teams or operations, securing funding or resources, planning missions or logistics, overseeing businesses or criminal enterprises, coordinating long-term projects.

Suggested Specializations: Colonial Government, Corporate Management, Financial Administration, Logistics, Military Administration, Project Management, Shipboard Administration.

Computer (CU/IN)

Computer proficiency covers general familiarity with computers and their usage. This includes understanding operating systems, software applications, and basic troubleshooting. It is distinct from skills related to Matrix systems, focusing instead on everyday computer tasks and functions.

Use Cases: Operating and troubleshooting standard systems, researching online, handling office software, bypassing basic computer security, interfacing with common digital devices.

Suggested Specializations: Communications Systems, Data Analysis, Expert Systems, Information Retrieval, Office Systems, Programming, Security Systems, Shipboard Computers.

Demolition (DX/IN)

Demolition lets you safely and effectively manage explosive devices and other methods for destroying structures or objects. Demolition involves placing, timing, and detonating explosives to achieve desired results, such as breaching barriers or causing controlled collapses. This skill requires precision, timing, and planning to ensure the successful and safe execution of explosive operations.

Use Cases: Setting charges to breach doors or walls, rigging vehicles or devices to explode, executing controlled demolitions, defusing bombs, identifying structural weak points.

Suggested Specializations: Bomb Disposal, Breaching Charges, Controlled Demolition, Improvised Explosives, Mining Explosives, Ordnance Disposal, Structural Sabotage.

Espionage (CU/IN)

Espionage is the art of covertly gathering information, infiltrating secure locations, and executing secretive operations. Espionage covers everything from planting bugs and intercepting communications to undermining enemies through sabotage or misinformation. It is essential for those involved in intelligence work, corporate spying, or high-stakes covert operations.

Use Cases: Infiltrating secure facilities, gathering intelligence, planting surveillance devices, extracting sensitive data, conducting sabotage and counterintelligence efforts.

Suggested Specializations: Counterintelligence, Covert Surveillance, HUMINT, Infiltration, Intelligence Analysis, Signals Intelligence, Sabotage, Tradecraft.

Forgery (CU/IN)

You have the skills to create convincing fake documents, credentials, and other forms of identification, both in the physical and digital realms. This includes replicating handwriting, official seals, or digital signatures, as well as fabricating electronic records and hacking databases to insert forged data. Forgery requires acute attention to detail, an understanding of the systems you're working within, and the ability to adapt quickly when the circumstances demand it. Whether creating a fake passport or tampering with a security clearance, this skill helps you pass the false off as real without raising suspicion.

Special: Forgery in 2297 is primarily digital. Consider using DX/CU instead of CU/IN if working with physical materials.

Use Cases: Creating fake IDs, doctoring paperwork or credentials, altering digital records, forging signatures or seals, embedding false data into secure systems.

Suggested Specializations: Biometric Records, Colonial Documents, Corporate Credentials, Digital Records, Identity Documents, Military Credentials, Physical Documents, Travel Papers.

Medical (CU/IN)

Medical encompasses general medical practice, including basic first aid and emergency care. This involves diagnosing and treating common injuries and illnesses, performing basic medical procedures, and administering initial care in urgent situations. While not as advanced as specialized medical fields, this skill ensures effective handling of health issues and injuries until professional help can be obtained or more advanced treatment is possible.

Use Cases: Stabilizing wounded allies, treating common injuries, administering first aid, identifying symptoms, preventing infections or complications, assisting with emergency surgery.

Suggested Specializations: Emergency Medicine, Field Medicine, General Practice, Low-Gravity Medicine, Psychiatry, Surgery, Trauma Care, Xenobiological Medicine.

Mechanic (CU/IN)

Mechanical skill covers the understanding and manipulation of mechanical systems. This skill involves working with engines, gears, hydraulics, and other mechanical components. Whether repairing a vehicle, maintaining industrial equipment, or assembling complex mechanical systems, this skill is essential for hands-on, practical tasks that don’t involve digital or electronic systems.

Use Cases: Repairing vehicles or machinery, assembling mechanical devices, performing maintenance on mechanical equipment, diagnosing mechanical failures.

Suggested Specializations: Agricultural Machinery, Ground Vehicles, Heavy Equipment, Industrial Machinery, Life-Support Systems, Power Plants, Robots and Drones, Spacecraft Systems.

Skulduggery (DX/CU)

Skulduggery involves the ability to execute covert and often unscrupulous activities. This skill includes tasks such as lockpicking, sleight of hand, forgery, and other activities requiring dexterity and cunning. It is essential for those involved in espionage, thievery, or other secretive operations.

Use Cases: Picking locks, concealing objects, planting or stealing items unnoticed, cheating in games of chance, escaping restraints, manipulating small devices silently.

Suggested Specializations: Concealment, Escaping Restraints, Lockpicking, Pickpocketing, Sleight of Hand, Smuggling, Tampering, Traps.

Strategy (IN/RE)

Strategy represents a character’s ability to understand and direct warfare beyond the immediate battlefield. It governs long-term planning, logistical awareness, force disposition, and the orchestration of multiple assets toward a coherent objective. A master of Strategy sees the shape of a campaign before it unfolds—and bends it accordingly.

Use Cases: Campaign planning, identifying enemy weaknesses, anticipating enemy strategic intent, high-level unit coordination, managing supply lines, gaining positional or informational benefits before an engagement begins, recognizing and disrupting enemy plans at a macro level.

Suggested Specializations: Aerospace Warfare, Colonial Warfare, Insurgency, Interstellar Logistics, Naval Warfare, Planetary Defense, Political Warfare, Strategic Intelligence.

Streetwise (CU/PR)

Streetwise involves understanding and navigating the complexities of urban environments and social networks. It includes knowing where to find resources, how to interact with various types of people, and how to handle potentially dangerous situations in city settings. This skill is vital for surviving and thriving in gritty, urban landscapes.

Use Cases: Finding black market contacts, identifying gang territories, knowing where to lay low, knowing how to negotiate with street-level players, recognizing scams and urban dangers.

Suggested Specializations: Black Markets, Criminal Organizations, Docklands, Frontier Settlements, Nightlife, Smuggling Networks, Spaceports, Underclass Communities.

Survival (CU/RE)

Survival is the skill required to endure and thrive in wilderness or harsh environments. It includes finding food and water, building shelters, navigating through the wild, and dealing with environmental hazards. Mastery of this skill is essential for staying safe and maintaining well-being in remote or challenging natural settings.

Use Cases: Tracking animals, foraging for food, building shelter, navigating wilderness terrain, avoiding natural hazards, identifying signs of danger in unfamiliar environments.

Suggested Specializations: Arctic, Desert, Forest, Jungle, Martian, Mountain, Oceanic, Swamp, Tundra, Vacuum Habitats.

Tactics (CU/PR)

Tactics reflect battlefield awareness and the ability to make rapid, effective decisions under pressure. It governs unit maneuver, timing, coordination in the heat of combat, and the exploitation of fleeting opportunities. Where Strategos sets the stage, Tacticus wins the fight.

Use Cases: Battlefield maneuvering, target prioritization, unit coordination, responding to enemy moves or battlefield changes, exploiting openings, maintaining cohesion.

Suggested Specializations: Armored Assault, Aerospace Fighters, Boarding Actions, Close-Quarters Battle, Infantry, Reconnaissance, Small-Unit Actions, Space Combat, Urban Combat.

Movement skills

Movement skills focus on a character’s ability to control and maneuver their body or vehicles in various environments. These skills include everything from athletic feats like running, jumping, and acrobatics, to specialized skills like flying an aircraft or riding horseback. Movement Skills are crucial for physical navigation, evasion, and reaching objectives.

Athletics (ST/AG)

This skill encompasses a range of physical activities and feats of strength. It covers tasks such as climbing, jumping, lifting, running, and swimming. Athletics is crucial for overcoming physical obstacles and performing demanding tasks in various environments.

Use Cases: Climbing walls or buildings, leaping across gaps, sprinting long distances, breaking down doors, swimming across bodies of water, hauling heavy objects or people.

Suggested Specializations: Climbing, Endurance Running, Jumping, Lifting, Low-Gravity Movement, Sprinting, Swimming, Zero-G Movement.

Diving (ST/AG)

This skill covers the techniques necessary for underwater operations, including swimming in challenging environments, managing breathing apparatus, and handling the pressures of deep dives. This skill encompasses both free diving and the use of specialized equipment such as SCUBA gear.

Use Cases: Navigating underwater ruins or wreckage, maintaining control with diving gear, swimming in zero-visibility conditions, performing tasks under pressure (literally), avoiding decompression sickness or drowning.

Suggested Specializations: Commercial Diving, Deep Diving, Free Diving, Ice Diving, Salvage Operations, Submersible Escape, Underwater Construction, Wreck Diving.

Driving (DX/CU)

Driving is the skill required to operate all types of ground vehicles, such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Mastery of this skill ensures smooth handling, maneuvering through various terrains, and the ability to respond to different driving conditions.

Use Cases: Navigating high-speed chases, performing sharp turns or evasive maneuvers, controlling vehicles in off-road or urban environments, maintaining control during collisions or under fire, stunt driving or tailing another vehicle unnoticed.

Suggested Specializations: Heavy Vehicles, High-Speed Driving, Motorcycles, Off-Road Vehicles, Tracked Vehicles, Wheeled Vehicles, Urban Driving.

Mobility (AG/CU)

Mobility focuses on fluid and agile movement. It includes acrobatics, maintaining balance, executing catfalls to minimize damage from falls, and performing contortionist maneuvers. This skill is essential for navigating complex terrain, dodging attacks, and performing impressive physical feats.

Use Cases: Performing flips or rolls in combat, dodging hazards or attacks, walking tightropes or narrow ledges, squeezing through tight spaces, surviving falls with minimal injury, parkour-style movement in urban terrain.

Suggested Specializations: Acrobatics, Balance, Contortion, Catfalls, Low Gravity, Parkour, Tight Spaces, Zero Gravity.

Operating (DX/CU)

This skill pertains to the control and management of specialized drones and other remote-operated devices. It includes flying drones for surveillance, performing maintenance tasks, or handling complex remote operations that require precision and technical knowledge.

Use Cases: Piloting surveillance drones in recon missions, deploying repair bots in hazardous zones, manipulating robotic arms or devices remotely, engaging in remote combat or support tasks, evading enemy countermeasures while maintaining drone control.

Suggested Specializations: Combat Drones, Construction Equipment, Manipulator Arms, Mining Equipment, Remote Vehicles, Repair Drones, Reconnaissance Drones, Salvage Equipment.

Piloting (DX/CU)

Piloting covers the operation of various types of flying or hovering craft, such as helicopters, jet fighters, and spacecraft. This skill involves navigating, controlling, and ensuring the safe and effective use of these vehicles in different scenarios.

Use Cases: Executing evasive aerial maneuvers, navigating through dangerous airspace, engaging in dogfights or space combat, performing aerial landings in hostile zones, managing reentry or launch under duress.

Suggested Specializations: Aerospace Fighters, Atmospheric Craft, Interface Operations, Orbital Craft, Rotary-Wing Aircraft, Spacecraft, Stutterwarp Vessels, Vertical-Lift Craft.

Riding (AG/DX)

Riding is the skill needed to handle and control mounts or creatures, whether they are horses, magical beasts like griffons, or mythical creatures like dragons. It includes managing the animal’s movement, maintaining control, and performing tasks while mounted.

Use Cases: Guiding a mount through chaotic terrain or battlefields, performing mounted combat maneuvers, taming or calming frightened beasts, executing tricky jumps or dodges while riding, racing or chasing across rough landscapes.

Suggested Specializations: Camels, Exotic Mounts, Horses, Pack Animals, Riding in Combat, Riding Beasts, Unfamiliar Xenofauna.

Stealth (AG/CU)

Stealth is the ability to move undetected and avoid detection by others. It involves moving quietly, blending into surroundings, and avoiding making noticeable disturbances. This skill is crucial for covert operations, evading pursuit, and approaching targets without being seen.

Use Cases: Sneaking past guards, tailing someone without being noticed, hiding in cover or shadows, silently escaping combat, avoiding drone surveillance or sensor detection.

Suggested Specializations: Crowds, Forest, Industrial Facilities, Jungle, Martian Terrain, Night Operations, Shipboard, Urban, Vacuum Installations.

Perception skills

Perception skills involve a character’s ability to sense and interpret their surroundings. These skills range from using technological sensors to maintain situational awareness to heightened vigilance and even extrasensory perception.

Perception Skills are key to detecting threats, uncovering hidden details, and understanding the environment.

Insight (CU/PR)

This skill lets you intuitively understand and interpret people’s behaviors, emotions, and motives during interactions. Insight is crucial for reading social cues, understanding underlying intentions, and gaining a deeper understanding of others in conversations or negotiations.

Use Cases: Detecting lies or emotional distress, reading nonverbal cues in conversations, sensing ulterior motives, gauging a person’s true reaction, understanding group dynamics in tense situations.

Suggested Specializations: Detecting Lies, Emotional Distress, Interrogations, Negotiations, Romantic Intentions, Group Dynamics, Military Personnel, Criminal Behaviour.

Investigation (CU/IN)

You excel at actively searching for and analyzing clues to uncover information. This skill is essential for piecing together evidence, solving mysteries, and conducting thorough inquiries, whether in a crime scene or a complex puzzle.

Use Cases: Examining crime scenes for evidence, following paper trails, uncovering hidden compartments or items, analyzing patterns in behavior or data, reconstructing past events from available clues.

Suggested Specializations: Crime Scenes, Financial Records, Forensics, Missing Persons, Political Corruption, Research, Smuggling, Technical Accidents.

Sensors (CU/IN)

Your proficiency lies in operating and interpreting data from various technological sensors, such as radar, infrared, or other scanning devices. This skill enables you to gather and analyze data from these tools to assess situations or detect hidden objects and threats.

Use Cases: Scanning areas for life signs or movement, identifying cloaked or camouflaged enemies, interpreting drone or vehicle sensor feeds, operating security systems, detecting environmental anomalies or traps.

Suggested Specializations: Aerospace Sensors, Electronic Warfare, Environmental Sensors, Ground Surveillance, Life-Sign Detection, Navigation Sensors, Planetary Survey, Shipboard Sensors.

Vigilance (CU/RE)

You have an exceptional ability to maintain constant alertness and focus on your surroundings despite distractions. Vigilance is vital for staying aware of your environment over extended periods, ensuring you are prepared for potential threats or changes in your surroundings.

Use Cases: Spotting ambushes or snipers, staying alert during long stakeouts, reacting to sudden movements or noises, detecting subtle changes in the environment, noticing details others might overlook in real time.

Suggested Specializations: Ambushes, Bodyguard Duty, Combat Zones, Crowds, Guard Duty, Shipboard Security, Stakeouts, Wilderness Threats.

Weapon skills

Weapon skills represent a character’s proficiency in various forms of combat. Whether firing a gun, engaging in unarmed combat, wielding a sword, or mastering archery, these skills determine a character’s effectiveness in battle. Weapon Skills are essential for characters who must defend themselves or engage in offensive actions.

Archery (DX/CU)

You are trained in the use of ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows.

Use Cases: Bows (shortbows, longbows, compound bows), crossbows (standard, repeating), and exotic variants such as elven or awakened bows.

Suggested Specializations: Bows, Compound Bows, Crossbows, Hunting Bows, Military Bows, Primitive Bows.

Brawl (ST/AG)

You excel in close-quarters, unarmed combat. Brawl is used for any form of hand-to-hand fighting, allowing you to engage effectively in physical confrontations without weapons.

Use Cases: Fist fighting, grappling, martial arts strikes, kicks, headbutts, claws (natural or implanted), horns, tails, and other body-based attacks—including cybernetic enhancements like shock knuckles or monofilament whips.

Suggested Specializations: Boxing, Dirty Fighting, Grappling, Improvised Weapons, Martial Arts (Judo, Karate, etc.), Restraint Techniques, Striking.

Gunnery (DX/IN)

You are skilled in operating large weapon systems mounted on vehicles.

Use Cases: Vehicle-mounted machine guns, autocannons, missile pods, railguns, anti-aircraft turrets, naval guns, drone-mounted weaponry, and similar heavy weapon systems.

Suggested Specializations: Aerospace Weapons, Autocannons, Defensive Weapons, Direct-Fire Weapons, Missiles, Naval Weapons, Point Defence, Spacecraft Weapons, Vehicle Weapons.

Melee (Brawn) (ST/AG)

You are skilled in wielding traditional melee weapons such as swords, spears, and clubs. This skill involves combat with weapons that require substantial strength and technique, making you effective in close combat situations where heavy, durable weapons are used.

Use Cases: Swords (broadswords, greatswords), axes, hammers, spears, halberds, maces, clubs, staves, and similar heavy melee weapons, including two-handed variants.

Suggested Specializations: Axes, Clubs and Maces, Polearms, Spears, Staves, Swords, Two-Handed Weapons.

Melee (Finesse) (AG/DX)

You are adept at using melee weapons that emphasize speed and agility over brute force, such as knives and other swift, lightweight weapons. This skill relies on fast, precise strikes and quick maneuvers, ideal for rapid engagements and evasive combat.

Use Cases: Daggers, knives (combat and throwing), rapiers, short swords, batons, escrima sticks, whips, chains, monofilament razors, and other light or flexible melee weapons.

Suggested Specializations: Batons, Knives, Flexible Weapons, Rapiers, Short Blades, Sword-and-Dagger, Technical Fencing.

Ranged (Close) (DX/CU)

You are skilled in handling and firing pistols and other close-quarters firearms, such as shotguns. This skill covers the use of handguns in combat, emphasizing precision and control in engaging targets at closer ranges, where speed and accuracy are paramount.

Use Cases: Pistols (semi-auto, revolvers, machine pistols), hold-out weapons, tasers, sawed-off or compact shotguns, and other concealable or close-combat firearms.

Suggested Specializations: Hold-Out Weapons, Machine Pistols, Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Submachine Guns, Tasers.

Ranged (Precision) (DX/CU)

You have expertise in operating rifles and similar long-range firearms. This skill involves the use of these weapons to engage targets at medium to long distances, requiring a steady hand and a keen eye to maintain accuracy over extended ranges.

Use Cases: Assault rifles, sniper rifles, designated marksman rifles (DMRs), hunting rifles, Gauss guns (handheld), and other long-barreled precision firearms.

Suggested Specializations: Assault Rifles, Carbines, Hunting Rifles, Marksman Rifles, Military Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Sporting Rifles.

Ranged (Support) (DX/CU)

You are proficient in using large, powerful firearms such as machine guns and grenade launchers. This skill covers the handling and firing of weaponry designed for significant impact and area control, often requiring considerable strength and training.

Use Cases: Light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers (single or multi-shot), autocannons (portable), miniguns, and other heavy or suppressive support weapons.

Suggested Specializations: Automatic Grenade Launchers, Flamethrowers, Grenade Launchers, Heavy Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Man-Portable Missiles, Recoilless Weapons, Squad Automatic Weapons.

Throwing (AG/DX)

You are proficient in accurately and effectively launching projectiles. Throwing encompasses the use of spears, knives, grenades, and other throwable objects, allowing you to engage targets from a distance with precision and skill.

Use Cases: Thrown knives, throwing axes, javelins, spears, chakrams, bolas, grenades (frag, smoke, flashbang, EMP), and improvised thrown weapons.

Suggested Specializations: Grenades, Improvised Objects, Javelins and Spears, Knives, Nonlethal Weapons, Precision Throwing.

Social skills

Social skills relate to a character’s ability to influence, persuade, and interact with others. Whether through charm, negotiation, coercion, or leadership, these skills determine how effectively a character can navigate social situations, build alliances, and achieve their goals through interpersonal interactions.

Charm (CU/PR)

You possess a natural charisma that makes you likable and engaging. Charm is used to influence others through friendliness, flattery, or genuine appeal. This skill is ideal for making a positive impression, winning people over, or creating a favorable atmosphere.

Use Cases: Making a good first impression, diffusing tense social situations, seducing or endearing yourself to others, building rapport quickly, convincing someone to do you a favor without direct gain.

Suggested Specializations: Carousing, Diplomacy, First Impressions, Flirtation, High Society, Hospitality, Making Friends, Reassurance.

Coercion (RE/PR)

You are skilled at using intimidation or pressure to achieve compliance. Coercion involves applying threats or leveraging fear to get others to act against their will or disclose information. This skill is helpful in situations where persuasion through force or intimidation is necessary.

Use Cases: Forcing a confession, intimidating witnesses or enemies, asserting dominance in a confrontation, extracting information through threats, compelling obedience in high-pressure scenarios.

Suggested Specializations: Interrogation, Legal Pressure, Military Authority, Physical Intimidation, Psychological Pressure, Threats, Underworld Reputation.

Deception (CU/PR)

You excel at lying and misleading others. Deception is used to craft falsehoods, disguise your true intentions, or manipulate perceptions. This skill is crucial for creating believable cover stories, hiding your motives, or tricking others into believing false information.

Use Cases: Lying convincingly under scrutiny, maintaining a false identity or persona, forging believable excuses or cover stories, planting misinformation, feigning emotions or intentions.

Suggested Specializations: Cover Identities, Disguising Intentions, Feigned Emotion, Impersonation, Misdirection, Official Scrutiny, Poker Face, Tall Tales.

Instruction (IN/PR)

You are effective at teaching and training others. Instruction involves imparting knowledge or skills to individuals or groups. This skill is useful for educating, mentoring, or providing guidance, and it requires clarity and patience in communication.

Use Cases: Teaching skills to other characters, mentoring apprentices or trainees, giving effective tactical briefings, running workshops or educational programs, guiding others through complex tasks.

Suggested Specializations: Academic Teaching, Basic Training, Flight Instruction, Military Training, On-the-Job Training, Physical Training, Technical Instruction.

Leadership (RE/PR)

You have the ability to inspire and direct others. Leadership is used to motivate, organize, and guide teams or groups toward common goals. This skill is essential for managing groups, making strategic decisions, and fostering teamwork and morale.

Use Cases: Rallying allies in stressful situations, coordinating team actions, boosting group morale, maintaining order in chaos, giving commands that others follow instinctively, resisting fear or panic in others.

Suggested Specializations: Crisis Leadership, Crew Command, Inspiration, Military Command, Morale, Political Leadership, Small Teams, Shipboard Command.

Negotiation (IN/PR)

You are skilled in reaching mutually beneficial agreements and resolving conflicts. Negotiation involves discussing terms, making concessions, and finding compromises. This skill is used to broker deals, settle disputes, and facilitate agreements between parties with differing interests.

Use Cases: Settling disputes peacefully, brokering contracts or deals, mediating between rival factions, bargaining for better pay or terms, convincing someone to change their mind or stance.

Suggested Specializations: Commercial Contracts, Diplomacy, Hostage Negotiation, Labour Disputes, Legal Settlements, Military Surrenders, Purchasing, Underworld Deals.

Performance (CU/PR)

Performance encompasses the ability to entertain and engage audiences through the performing arts. This includes skills in acting, music, dance, and other forms of artistic expression. Mastery of this skill allows individuals to captivate and influence audiences in various entertainment settings.

Use Cases: Acting or impersonating convincingly, performing music or dance for income or distraction, drawing crowds for social or political influence, manipulating emotions through artistic expression, enhancing a disguise with flair or stage presence.

Suggested Specializations: Acting, Comedy, Dance, Oratory, Singing, Storytelling, Specific Instrument, Stage Magic.

Knowledge skills

In a world where the Matrix has made data and knowledge universally accessible, the ability to reference and collate information from online sources is commonplace. However, the sheer volume of information available can be overwhelming, and the ability to filter, analyze, and apply this data in practical, meaningful ways remains a precious skill. Specialist knowledge, particularly when applied to real-world situations, is in high demand, as it requires a deep understanding and the ability to synthesize and implement information effectively. Knowledge skills represent a character’s ability to not only recall facts and theories but also to use that information in practical, impactful ways.

Applied Knowledge (CU/IN) focuses on practical skills and abilities to use information in real-world scenarios, whereas Theoretical Knowledge (2xIN) deals with understanding, recalling, and analyzing academic or abstract concepts. Whether the success check is Applied or Theoretical depends on the situation, not the skill used.

Knowledge skill specializations:

Knowledge skills can be specialized in a narrower subject within the broader field. A specialization might represent a particular discipline, historical period, geographic region, culture, industry, legal system, technology, or professional application.

As with other skills, a specialization should be broad enough to come up occasionally but narrow enough that it does not apply to most uses of the skill.

Examples include:

·         History (Twilight War)

·         Engineering (Stutterwarp Drives)

·         Medicine (Trauma Surgery)

·         Anthropology (Colonial Cultures)

·         Law (French Military Law)

·         Business (Interstellar Shipping)

·         Political Science (European Diplomacy)

·         Xenology (Kafer Psychology)

·         Local Knowledge: Aurore (Port Howard)

·         French (Military Terminology)

Knowledge specializations may overlap with other Knowledge skills. This is acceptable, as long as the specialization represents expertise within the character’s existing skill rather than granting an entirely separate field of knowledge. For example, Engineering (Spacecraft) and Professional Knowledge: Spacecraft Engineering might both apply to some questions, but they reflect different educational or professional backgrounds.

Academic Knowledge

These skills are based on theoretical knowledge and reflect formal education and scholarly expertise. Theoretical knowledge often takes longer to process in real-time situations but can provide the critical insight needed in planning or research.

·         Anthropology: The study of human societies, cultures, and their development over time.

·         Chemistry: Knowledge of chemical reactions, compounds, and processes, useful for explosives, poisons, or chemical creation.

·         Engineering: Expertise in designing and building mechanical, electronic, or structural systems.

·         History: Understanding of past events, historical figures, and the development of nations or organizations.

·         Literature: Knowledge of written works, including novels, plays, poetry, and other forms of storytelling.

·         Magical Theory: Scholarly understanding of how magic works, including traditions, formulae, and the metaphysical structure of spells.

·         Mathematics: Understanding of mathematical principles, from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus, applicable to a variety of technical fields.

·         Medicine: Knowledge of human and metahuman anatomy, diseases, and medical procedures.

·         Political Science: The study of governments, political systems, and public policy, especially in relation to mega-corporations.

Interest Knowledge

Interest skills are based on applied knowledge and reflect personal interests and hobbies. These skills can be valuable in social situations, recreational activities, or niche industries.

·         Cooking: Expertise in preparing meals, understanding recipes, ingredients, and culinary techniques.

·         Fashion: Knowledge of current trends in clothing, accessories, and styles, useful in social situations or infiltration.

·         Music Genres: Familiarity with different types of music, musicians, and the cultural significance of various genres.

·         Popular Media: Understanding of current entertainment, including movies, TV shows, trid broadcasts, and celebrities.

·         Sports Teams: Detailed knowledge of specific sports, teams, players, and current or historical standings.

·         Street Art: Familiarity with graffiti, murals, and other urban artistic expressions, often tied to local subcultures.

·         Vehicles and Racing: Expertise in ground vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and racing strategies.

Languages Skills

Language skills represent both applied and theoretical knowledge. Speaking a language fluently (CU/IN) reflects applied use, while formal writing and deeper understanding (2xIN) can reflect more theoretical learning.

·         Cantonese: Spoken primarily in southern China and Hong Kong, useful in certain underworld dealings and megacorporations.

·         Draconic: The ancient language spoken by dragons, particularly those who survived from the 4th age. It is rarely spoken aloud and is often considered esoteric knowledge.

·         English: The most widely spoken language in many parts of the world, including Seattle and the UCAS.

·         Filipino: The official language of the Philippines, with many speakers across Southeast Asia and expatriate communities.

·         French: Spoken in France, parts of Canada (especially Quebec), and many former French colonies. Important in diplomatic and international business dealings.

·         German: Spoken in Germany, a country with a strong economic and magical presence in the Shadowrun world.

·         Japanese: The official language of Japan, home to several powerful megacorporations like Renraku and Mitsuhama.

·         Spanish: Widely spoken across the Americas and Spain, important in areas like Aztlan and the NAN.

·         Sperethiel: The ancient language of elves, used in formal settings and among the Elven Nations.

·         Vietnamese: The official language of Vietnam, useful in dealings in Southeast Asia and with Vietnamese expatriates.

Local Knowledge

These skills represent applied knowledge of specific communities, environments, or cultures. This is the kind of knowledge that comes from direct, lived experience.

·         Corporate Etiquette: Knowledge of the unspoken rules, hierarchy, and behavior expected in corporate environments. Includes navigating office politics and understanding power structures.

·         High Elven Culture: Deep understanding of the traditions, rituals, and etiquette in elven nations. Focuses on how elves operate within their own societies, including power structures and societal expectations.

·         Street Culture: Knowledge of the social dynamics and norms of life on the streets in Seattle, including gangs, black markets, and urban legends. Useful for navigating street-level power structures.

·         Tribal Knowledge: Familiarity with customs, traditions, and societal structures among Native American Nations or other indigenous groups, especially those connected to nature and magic.

·         Urban Metahumans: Insight into how different metahuman races (elves, orks, trolls, dwarves) adapt to and live within urban environments, particularly in cities like Seattle. Covers cultural blending, social dynamics, and how metahumans fit into (or rebel against) mainstream urban life.

·         Urban Subcultures: Understanding of various niche subcultures within a city (punk, goth, hacktivist groups), including their customs, dress codes, and social networks.

·         Underground Networks: Knowledge of hidden social or criminal networks within the city, including underground clubs, music scenes, and safehouses. Useful for operating in a city’s shadow economy.

Professional Knowledge

These skills represent both theoretical and applied knowledge of specialized professional fields. These skills often have direct real-world applications in jobs and tasks.

·         Architecture: The knowledge of designing and constructing buildings, useful for planning heists or urban exploration.

·         Bioware Modification: Modification, enhancement, and repair of bioware implants.

·         Business: Understanding corporate structures, marketing, finance, and the general operations of businesses.

·         Combat Tactics: Expertise in strategic planning and execution of military or paramilitary operations.

·         Corporate Law: Knowledge of legal systems and regulations as they apply to corporations, useful in navigating corporate politics.

·         Cybersecurity: Involves protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks.

·         Cyberware Modification: Modification, enhancement, and repair of cyberware implants.

·         Drone Engineering: Expertise in the design, construction, and modification of drones, particularly useful for riggers and tech specialists.

·         Environmental Engineering: Designing and managing solutions to environmental challenges.

·         Law: A more generalized understanding of legal systems, including criminal and civil law, applicable in a variety of social situations.

·         Matrix Protocols: Understanding of how the Matrix operates, including software, security protocols, and data retrieval methods.

·         Magic Research: Deep academic knowledge of magical phenomena. It allows characters to study and advance the theoretical aspects of magic, including developing new spells, rituals, and enchantments.

·         Psych Warfare: Manipulating the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors of others to achieve a strategic advantage.

·         Security Procedures: Knowledge of standard security measures, protocols, and systems, including locks, alarms, and guard patterns.

·         Social Engineering: Manipulating people into giving up confidential information or bypassing security systems through deception and psychological tactics.

·         Tech Research: Expertise in cutting-edge technological fields, from artificial intelligence to nanotechnology.

·         Vehicle Engineering: Expertise in the design, construction, and modification of vehicles, particularly useful for riggers and tech specialists.