Skills

Skills are learned abilities that are possessed by all Characters in Vigilantes. Skills cover a wide number of applicable tools that a crime fighter might need: combat, subterfuge, crafting, medical, negotiation, and intimidation. Every character can either specialize in several skills or have a wide arsenal to tackle different tasks, but lacking more powerful options that specialists will eventually gain access to. Additionally, a number of Perks have a minimum required level at a given skill in order to be acquired.

The way skills function in Vigilantes is drastically different to other games in the genre. When the team of vigilantes encounters an obstacle it gives them an opportunity to apply their skills to resolve it. Successful use of skill will yield rewards and a substantial amount of experience in that skill to Sam Contino, while failure to accomplish a task will also yield a modest amount of experience to Sam, but will not award the team additional benefits. Actively seeking opportunities to use various skills (especially successfully) allows Sam to develop his skills and thus level up as his team learns with him.

All secondary playable characters (Ally Vigilantes) level up with Sam Contino and will follow him closely in terms of their experience. Every vigilante besides Sam will have their level equal to **Sam's Level - 1**. Therefore applying a wide variety of skills and doing so successfully will allow the team of vigilantes to develop their skills faster.

## Combat Skills

**Combat Skills** are any skills that can be directly used during Combat Missions in order to inflict damage, status effects and increase the accuracy of Characters' attacks.

* **Close Combat** governs the ability to accurately execute complex melee attacks and effectively deal damage and apply status effects (such as Bleeding or Concussion) in close quarters combat. Close Combat covers both blunt and bladed weaponry, so a Character only needs to learn this skill to be effective in melee combat.
* **Firearms** covers the ability to use and accurately fire all available small arms in Vigilantes. A Character that focuses on dealing damage from afar needs Firearms skill in order to consistently hit difficult targets and perform more advanced attacks associated with specific types of weapons.
* **Explosives** skill allows the Character to effectively and accurately throw high-explosive as well as firebomb equipment in order to deal damage to multiple targets, as well as control the battlefield in a beneficial to Vigilantes fashion. Explosives are typically more expensive to consistently use and will need to be manufactured in order to have enough of.

## Utility Skills

**Utility Skills** are skills that are leveraged in order to obtain advantages both during Combat Missions and on **Strategical Layer** in order to receive additional advantages or in order to complete the primary objective of the game.

* **Bypass** allows its user to effectively pick mechanical and electronic locks to obtain more loot after combat as well as deploy in a more favorable spot before mission start and during the first round of combat. Generally speaking, Bypass allows the team of vigilantes to get an upper hand on their opponents quicker and allows them to obtain more supplies and money.
* **Crafting** is a skill that is responsible for every form of crafting in Vigilantes. With it, Sam and his cohorts can craft weapons, armors, explosives, upgrade modules, bullets and utility items that will give them a definitive edge in their campaign against Reiker City criminals. A large number of craftable gear and supplies cannot be obtained through looting or trading, making Crafting essential, especially in the later stages of the game.
* **Medicine** is a skill that governs effective usage of first aid kits as well as medical supplies to perform complex surgical operations in order to remove injuries from vigilantes. Medical skill can be especially valuable when facing overwhelming force or when engaging in a prolonged combat encounter.
* **Surveillance** is a skill that allows to spot more lootable objects after a combat mission and thus obtain valuable loot, while also allows vigilantes to perform various scouting operations against the criminal organizations of Reiker City. Surveillance also governs the speed of intel acquisition, which is used to identify details of enemy operations on the Cityscape. Upon completion of a combat mission, a prompt to Search Area will be available and will utilize the highest Surveillance character of the party to commence the search for valuable stashes left by the criminals.

## People Skills

**People Skills** are the skills that allow the player to manipulate or convince enemies or independent actors in Reiker City in order to further his agenda. Broadly speaking, **People Skills** are an extension of **Utility Skills**.

* **Trade** is a skill that allows the team of Vigilantes to sell confiscated and otherwise obtained items to Cuda for a higher price and procure items from him for a lower fee. Trade is very useful in the long term, as the team of Vigilantes will constantly sell more and more items to their contact while trying to barter for necessary supplies in return.
* **Presence** governs the ability to convince, intimidate, mislead and negotiate with both neutral and Vigilante characters. Presence typically gives you an opportunity to gain an upper hand prior to a fight or provides a valuable alternative method of resolution. Generally speaking, Sam Contino will not be able to talk his way out of every situation, but having an ability to do so will give him an upper hand against criminals and help him convince potential allies and neutrals to get on his side.

## Bugs & Exploits

* There is a peculiar exploit that allows you to transfer points between characters. This bug is applicable to **Skills** and Core Stats. In order to make use of the bug, you must first increase a certain Skill on one of your Characters and then decrease that same Skill on another Character. Normally, that should not be possible, but due to the bug you can potentially decrease the Skill or Core Stat value of your vigilantes even below zero and optimize their stat distribution. This is especially easy to do when used on two characters that specialize in mutually exclusive Skills or Core Stats such as Arcadi and Emilia. You can keep raising Emilia's Medicine while lowering her Presence while doing the reverse for Arcadi. Even though you are technically not going over the total number of points available to each character you are very much cheating, because such high specialization will overall make your Characters significantly more effective at their tasks than they normally should be.