Skills and Stats Guide

Vitality multiplied by 20 determines the amount of health a character has. Strength multiplied by 5 determines how much a character may carry in pounds **indefinitely** without penalty. A character may carry up to 10 times their strength but suffers a -2 penalty to all checks while doing so. Endurance multiplied by 20 determines how much stamina a character has. Observation multiplied by 2 plus Perception (without a dice roll) gives passive perception which influences what a character can see (stealthed enemies, objects, locations, etc) without a check.

Explosives governs the use of grenades, land mines and explosive charges. Grenades may be thrown without a skill check but use scatter dice when this is done rather than landing exactly at the target. A miss with explosives still uses scatter dice. Heavy weapons governs the use of rocket launchers, machineguns and other large weapons. Sometimes a heavy weapon can be loaded onto a ship and used as a mounted gun. In that case the GM/ST may, at their discretion, decide that other skills may be used in place of heavy weapons though heavy weapons is always an option for these types of weapons. Melee weapons govern the use of hammers, swords and axes be they one handed or two. The melee weapon skill can also be used to block melee attacks but not projectiles under most circumstances. Pistols governs the use of submachineguns and pistol type weaponry. Rifles governs the use of assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and automatic rifles. Some pistols may be able to attach a stock. Doing so means that while the stock is attached they use the rifle skill.

Gunnery is used for ship to ship weaponry. Some ship to ship weapons can also use heavy weapons though these are primarily light ship weapons and point defense. Navigation is used to plot courses through FTL, find the location of a ship when it is lost and without a navigation computer as well as find likely trade routes and profitable trade routes. Piloting is used both defensively and offensively. When piloting a fighter a pilot may use piloting (assuming their weapons are either fixed or gimbaled) instead of using Gunnery to attack an enemy. Likewise, a pilot uses Piloting to avoid an enemy's attack whenever they are fired upon.

Mechanics is the skill used to repair, construct and analyze mechanical devices. Medical is the skill used for patching up injured individuals and for preventative medicine. Computers is used to hack, program and remove hacks from computers. Science is understanding of a scientific field (examples include biology, zoology, chemistry, etc)

Cooking is ability to what to cook and how to cook it safely. Skullduggery encompasses skills such as lockpicking and general thievery. Tracking is used to find where someone or something went when it is no longer present; except for in space. Sometimes a dialogue will be necessary rather than actively tracking the subject. Stealth is used to sneak up on people though a line of sight makes stealth irrelevant.

Speech skills are used to persuade others to see your way or do what you want them to do. Between player characters using these skills is optional. Not all characters will respond the same to the same type of persuasion. Some NPCs are easier to intimidate but others are more easily charmed. Many factors go into this such as NPC personality, sexual orientation, belief systems and more.

Saves are how your character avoids damage and effects. They use the same points pool as skills when creating a character. Reflex is used for avoiding physical attacks though without taking cover most firearms will still hit the target. Fortitude is used to avoid effects from poisons, venoms and other biological effects such as diseases. Perception is used to find hidden items, people and to avoid being sneak attacked. Willpower is used to resist psionic influence and avoid damage from psionic attacks.