Skills

Skills are the basis for an Acolyte’s capabilities and the
ways in which he can interact with the Warhammer 40,000
universe. They form an integral part of all characters in
measuring their ability and competence at tasks, and allowing them
unique options during game play. More often than not, when
the Game Master asks a player to complete a task or overcome
a challenge, the player’s character will need to pass a skill test to
determine the outcome.
Skills indicate abilities that an Acolyte has learned either
through his education or through the more practical applications
that are part of service to the Inquisition. Characters in DARK
HERESY automatically begin the game with a number of skills as
part of their origin. Players can select additional skills during the
latter stages of character creation when they spend experience. Over
the course of their careers, characters are certain to hone those
skills and improve upon them through selecting skill advances with
earned experience. These elements represent the accumulation of
knowledge and expertise.
For some characters, the skills they possess at the beginning
of their careers are a strong indication of those they may use
throughout their lives. In other instances, an Acolyte’s path might
diverge from his origin as he explores new fields of expertise.
Characters can be effective pursuing either path, but both are
dependent upon players identifying the most opportune ways and
times to exploit the skills that their characters have developed.

## Using Skills

Throughout the course of a game session, the Game Master
frequently calls upon players to make skill tests for their
characters. These should be conducted in any circumstance
where success or failure might have a meaningful impact upon the
scenario. Routine tasks attempted under normal conditions should
never require a test. However, if there is a reasonable chance of
failure due to environmental conditions or circumstance, even a
routine test might be relevant.
When a character uses a skill to perform a task, he must
succeed at a skill test. The procedure follows the test rules
presented in Chapter I: Playing the Game (see page 21): the
player rolls, compares the result to the characteristic best suited to
the task and, if the result is equal to or less than the skill rating,
the check succeeds. Modifiers are applied to take into account
any environmental factors, as well as the character’s rank with the
applicable skill.

It is unlikely that a character will be trained in the use of every skill,
instead focusing on the mastery of a few and a general knowledge
of a handful of others. A character can, however, still use skills in
which he has no training when needs must, such as attempting to
hide from a slavering group of mutants or frantically deciphering
the coded messages in an ancient tome. In these instances, the
character makes a skill test as normal but suffers a –20 penalty in
addition to any other modifiers.
The only exceptions to this rule are Specialist skills (see below)
which require a level of ability that simply cannot be attempted by
the untrained. These could include knowledge of ancient rites of
the Adeptus Mechanicus, commanding a Mars Class Cruiser, or
speaking fluently with an Eldar Corsair in its own xenos language.
Specialist skills are indicated as such.

## Specialist Skills

Some skills are not just one skill but many, representing a
specialisation within the skill itself. These are known as Specialist
skills, and whenever a character learns a Specialist skill, he must
choose a particular specialisation within it. Specializations represent
such things as specific knowledge of places, people, and events;
the ability to control, drive, or pilot particular types of vehicles
and equipment; the ability to read and understand maps, as
well as the ability to plot a course across a world or the stars
themselves; and the ability to speak, read, or understand one of
the countless languages, codes, or glyphs used by the races of the
41st Millennium.
A character can take a Specialist skill more than once, taking
a new speciality each time he takes the skill. If he takes a Specialist
skill more than once (each with its own speciality), then these are
treated as separate skills and must be advanced in rank individually.
A list of the individual specialities within each Specialist skill
can be found within the individual skill descriptions

## Time and Skill Tests

The amount of time required for a skill test may vary substantially
based both upon the skill used and the particular instance of its
use. A Tech-Use test to clear a weapon jam might take only a few
moments, though one to perform a basic repair on a vehicle could
take hours. Similarly, a Commerce test to negotiate the price of
supplies for a journey might be resolved quickly, but a complex
negotiation to establish a trade agreement between two powerful
mercantile groups could take days. For more information on time
within the context of conflict, refer to page 215.Each skill entry includes guidance on the average amount
of time that skill usually takes to perform. These values are either
measured in actions (in the case of skills that can be performed
during a round of structured time), or minutes/hours. Some skills
are most commonly used in reaction to, or in combination with,
another skill. In these instances, the amount of time required is
identical to the skill it is used to oppose or assist. Keep in mind
that these values serve as guidelines but are not always fixed. Game
Masters must alter the time required for a skill use based upon the
overall complexity of the task involved

### Trying Again

Many tasks can be attempted repeatedly with few consequences
until a character finally succeeds. A character using Inquiry to
research vital information might decide, for example, he will
keep examining data until he finally finds the vital clue necessary
to answer a crucial question. In such a situation the GM could
determine how long this might take based on a single roll, with the
character’s only cost the narrative time and effort involved, rather
than have the player make a series of rolls until he is successful.
Other tasks can have serious repercussions if failed. A character
attempting to bypass an alarm system might trigger a response on
a failed Security test, and further attempts might have to be made
while avoiding a patrol sent to investigate the first failure.
Some tasks can only be attempted once, and there is no second
chance. A character attempting to leap a chasm could face serious
damage or even death on a failed Athletics test. If a character uses
Operate to land an Arvus lighter and rolls poorly, the craft might
crash into the docking bay, destroying the ship and its crew.
Where appropriate, a skill entry lists whether it can be attempted
more than once, and gives suggestions for the consequences of
failure. GMs must be familiar with these options, but can temper
them given the particular circumstance of the attempt. A character
who failed a test that normally only has a single opportunity might
have an additional chance if there are mitigating circumstances.
Similarly, a test that could normally be repeated indefinitely might
have situational constraints that prevent further opportunities

## Skill Descriptors

Some skills fall into broad categories that use common rules. Skill
descriptors allow players to quickly identify the appropriate rules
section from Chapter I: Playing the Game for what kind of test is
needed and how it is resolved. These categories include

* Combat
* Crafting
* Interaction
* Investigations
* Movement

### Combat

Skills with this descriptor are used in the heat of battle. They are
often made in reaction to an enemy’s blows, with a basic skill test
and the resulting degrees of success or failure determining how
well the user acquitted himself in the attempt.

### Crafting

Skills with the Crafting descriptor allow Acolytes to fashion things
from parts or raw materials. These can vary from exotic drugs and
custom weapons to disturbing works of art and fiendish traps. The
GM sets up an appropriate Extended test for the task, and its resolution
follows the guidelines in the Crafting Page.

### Interaction

All skills with the Interaction descriptor involve interplay with
others. The difficulty of these skill tests depends on the individual’s
disposition towards the character, as defined by the GM in
accordance with the circumstances of the encounter. See page
277 of Chapter VIII: Narrative Tools for more information on
NPC disposition.

#### INTERACTION SKILLS AND CROWDS

===== It is possible for a veteran commander or masterful orator to
influence or control a number of people at the same time. When a
character uses a skill with the Interaction descriptor, he can (if he
chooses) affect a number of people up to ten times his Fellowship
bonus, provided they can all clearly hear and understand him. If
it is an Opposed test, then the character only makes one roll and
compares the result to a roll for the group of people (or its leader)
he is trying to affect to determine success. =====

### Investigations

Most of the skills with the Investigation descriptor allow characters
to collect information from various sources, and also require
Extended tests as Acolytes try to gather detailed intelligence on
their suspects or their mission. The GM sets up the proper time
period for the test, as it takes far longer to uncover the secret base of
a rival cult than it does to spot the location of an armoured column.

### Movement

Skills with the Movement descriptor all relate to a character’s
mobility, anything from daring leaps across chasms to climbing up
sheer cliffs. They involve the ability to move across, through, over,
or between elements of a character’s environment. Movement skills
are all adversely affected by reductions to the character’s mobility
(such as crippling injuries to limbs) or environmental factors as
detailed on page 229

## Gaining Skills

As characters survive adventures and develop during game play,
they naturally become more competent, and the range of their
abilities grows and strengthens. A Player Character learns new
skills and improves existing ones, getting steadily better and gaining
access to new options during play and new ways of overcoming
challenges. Skills, like other kinds of advances, are gained during
character creation or bought during play by spending experience
points. The amount of experience points a skill costs depends
upon its rank and which aptitudes a character has, as detailed in
Chapter II: Character Creation.

### Skill Ranks

Simply knowing a skill is very different from having mastered
its use, and different characters can use different skills at varying
levels. To represent this, all of a character’s skills are ranked from
1–4, representing his level of ability. The benefits of having a skill
at a higher rank are detailed above on Table 3–1: Skill Ranks
below. Characters only use the highest bonus available to them;
for example, an Acolyte with Rank 3 in Intimidate gets +20 on all
tests with the skill, not +20 for Experienced and +10 for Trained.

## Alternate Characteristics

Every skill has a base characteristic indicated in its description
which is used to test against when making a skill test. Most of the
time this is the one a character uses to determine success or failure.
In many circumstances when setting a skill test, though, another
characteristic could be more fitting.In such cases, the GM is highly encouraged to use the
characteristic which best suits the situation; Table 3–3: Skill List
includes possible alternative characteristics as suggestions. The
decision to use them could substantially impact the character’s chance
of success, and must be made before the character attempts the test.