A skill in RBF is the primary player character attribute, measured with a number between 0 and 6. Skills symbolize a player character's knowledge, ability, and intuition with all aspects of a certain craft, trade, or vocation. Skills are used to accomplish most types of perilous challenges in a typical adventure, such as navigating, negotiating, investigating or fighting. When skills are used in uncertain situations where success or failure could be interesting, a skill check might be rolled to see how it goes. This is generally rolled as 2d8 + skill level.
There are three main categories of skills.
Skill Categories:
Professional Skills are broad areas of employable competencency.
Combat skills represent your ability to do violence and survive danger.
Arcane Skills are powerful supernatural abilities that allow you to bend reality.
Arcane skills can only be used by players that take the Mage Path or the Arcane Prodigy talent.
Professional Skills
This skill covers all communicative interactions with life-forms of less than sophont consciousness (i.e., mobile life without the ability to speak). Expert riders, trainers, and xenobiologists rely on understanding of subtle cues and body language to bond with animals. The question of difference between animal and monster is entirely in the eye of the beholder.
Direct mechanical effects:
Generally, animals are wild, tamed, or trained. Tame animals will loosely follow their trainer, while trained animals will obey simple commands from their trainer.
To attempt to tame a wild animal, roll this skill with 12 hours of work.
To attempt to train a tame animal, roll this skill with 12 hours of work.
Roll this skill when commanding a trained animal to attack, and add to its damage.
Roll this skill to perform maneuvers when riding a mount animal, as you would with Pilot for vehicles.
Main usage:
Use for training, riding, and bonding with animals, as well as to sense an animal’s mood or concerns, what other animals it is related to, learn facts about unknown species, cook with animal products, etc. A trained animal can follow commands within its intelligence and training, complex commands require a skill check.
TN
Animals Feats
Effortless
Stroking a well-trained, socialized, well-bred and friendly pet, feeding ducks in a pond, playing fetch with a dog who is begging for it.
10
Learning to ride a small, tame pony, getting a cat to come out from under a bed, teaching a lazy, stray dog to fetch
12
Learning to ride a large, trained warhorse, taming a stray dog or cat, making observations on wild animals, harvesting animal products such as honey, milk, silk, meat
14
Training a dog, training a medium sized mount, mollifying a guard dog, getting close to a large or predatory wild animal, cooking a good non-vegan meal
16
Taming a large wild herbivore animal, studying / harvesting the corpse of an undiscovered species. Giving a trained animal a command that is complex relative to its intelligence.
18
Training a large wild herbivore, Taming a large wild predator. Calming a large sized guard animal
20
Training an undiscovered predator, researching alien parasites, ordering a bonded animal into a suicidal mission
Impossible
Animals cannot be directly controlled, even with a critical success. You cannot command an animal in combat without spending a combat action. You cannot use this skill on sophont beings, or use this skill in place of medicine.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Your target animal learns an unintended lesson from your failed interaction: to steal from or betray you or others, etc
2
The animal becomes hostile and violent towards you.
3
The animal learns to become afraid of you.
4
The animal damages something and makes a mess.
Adventurers are often measured by their sense of style. From feathered caps to punk vandals to master filmmakers, visual arts in the hands of daring souls have had a powerful effect on the history of the Blue Flame sector. Art skills are also a key pathway to enhancing ritual magic.
Direct mechanical effects:
For basic commission work with any visual medium, where x is a number up to your skill level, you can spend 2x hours and use materials to create a work worth $ 5^x. Better results require rarer materials. Requires safe & calm conditions.
When you aim for a specific reaction from an audience, roll this skill ONLY at the moment of reveal to the audience.
Main usage:
Drawing, painting, videography, makeup, fashion design, art history, architecture, ceramics, sculpting, acting, dance, ritual symbols, analysis of all of the above.
TN
Animals Feats
Effortless
Drawing stick figures, drawing a simple map in the dirt with a stick
10
Drawing a basic, required ritual circle without mistakes, quick-sketching an ugly but recognizable picture of a celebrity or politician
12
Accurate quick sketches of a person or environment, recognizing the artist of a famous work
14
Attractive quick sketches of a person, place, description or dream, identifying materials used in an unknown work
16
Religious sculptures that gain a bishop’s approval, portraits fit for a pompous duke, identifying origins of materials in an unknown work, powerful ritual circles
18
Works that the wealthy elite will compete over, viral iconography that creates a subculture, deducing the creation process of ancient statues
20
Effectively arcane works that rouse or offend the gods, designing a poster that fuels a revolution, learning hints about an artist’s life from a million year old sculpture
Impossible
For literary arts such as poetry, writing, and eloquence, use Literacy. For deception and lying use a social skill. For cooking, use Animals or Plants according to which is more prominent.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Your tools break and your materials are wasted.
2
The work has the opposite of the intended effect on the audience.
3
The work is so bad that it is subtly cursed in an arcane way.
4
The work is met with universal indifference and is ignored by everyone.
Athletics is an important skill for explorers in RBF. While recovering a sunken ship, forcing a jammed door, or climbing a cliff, this skill will often come in handy, as well as for its direct usage in adding to health and carrying capacity.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum Health Points.
Carrying Capacity is 5+2*skill items.
You can choose to use this skill for your movement (3 + athletics).
Some minimum athletics levels are required for the use of heavy weapons and armor.
Main usage:
Used for climbing, jumping, swimming, lifting, throwing things with your own muscle power. You can also use to attack with thrown weapons such as grenades, javelins and shuriken.
TN
Athletics Feats
Effortless
Walking around, climbing secure ladders, opening doors, jumping safely into a swimming pool, exercising at a gym
10
Opening a stuck pickle jar, accurately throwing a stone at a fixed target, performing pull-ups or mantling a rough surface, retrieving a dropped item from a cold pond
12
Safely kicking a locked wooden door open, safely climbing a tall iron or chain fence, accurately throwing a weapon at a slow, soft target, swimming down 10m
14
Safely climbing a tall barbed-wire fence, accurately throwing a sticky grenade at a target of moderate agility, lifting a broken and crumbling stone door, swimming 20m down or against a strong current
16
Safely climbing a 50m tree in an insect infested jungle, kicking open a locked, rusty iron door, damaging a large robot by throwing a heavy object at it. Swimming 30m down or against waves
18
Free-climbing a crevice in a skyscraper, leaping to the top of a high fence, lifting or pulling 750 pounds, 30m high dive, swimming at 40m depth, swimming in a storm
20
Meeting and exceeding world records: Holding breath for 30 minutes, lifting over 2000 pounds, jumping over 2.5m vertically unaided, sequential wall-jumps over 2 stories, dives over 50m, swimming down to 50 meters depth
Impossible
Generally performing functions for which you do not have the right body parts, such as flying, breathing water, leaping like a cricket, biting things in half. Also note that this skill is not used for punching or shoving people - use Brawl skill
Failures with Athletics mean you can't accomplish what you want in this circumstance. For critical failures:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You fail and take damage and hurt yourself appropriate to the risk.
2
You fail and become physically exhausted.
3
You fail and damage the environment or your items.
4
You become stuck, fall past where you started, or are swept away.
Computers, electronic social networks, artificial intelligences and automated databases are the life blood of every inter-planetary nation. They are so important, and so vulnerable, that core subsystems are generally locked down to local access only. Explorers who want to hack the system are going to need to get in as physically close as possible to core network mainframes before making their move.
Direct mechanical effects:
Cracking a door access code or robot will require a hardwired connection.
Disabling a core system will require access to that system’s core terminal
See the Skill Checks Page for specific hacking and cracking action details.
Main usage:
Cracking access, hacking systems, programming, and rapid data analysis.
TN
Computers Feats
Effortless
Access and using computers for which you are credentialed and familiar with. Unopposed programming projects commensurate with your skill.
12
Retail stores, small town sheriff offices, small time law or finance offices. Modifying database entries or requisition parameters.
14
Non-critical system logins in factories, starships, and sleepy military outposts, corporate branch offices, hospital databases. Temporarily disabling or distracting robots or automated security/doors
16
Cracking logins at Large military bases, powerful law and accounting offices, large corporate starships. Shutting down one robot/turret/door lock, using a factory crane as a weaponn
18
Cracking credentials at megacorporation HQ systems, military starships and central governments. Seizing control of a robot or defense cannon.
20+
Accessing ancient alien biotech, systems owned by divine hyper-computer AIs. Setting an engine or power plant to overload
Impossible
Any electronic lock which you cannot access via hard wire local connection. Any log-in for which you are not local. Any hack from long distance or from the wrong network terminal.
Failures with Computers mean you can't accomplish what you want in this circumstance. For critical failures, you make zero progress and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Feedback and damage to your equipment and yourself.
2
Alarm is raised, security is en route to your location.
3
Your own vital data is erased permanently.
4
Hidden security countermeasures activate immediately in this area.
From the gleaming orbital shipyards of Cinteria to the sooty blacksmiths of lost worlds in the Nightfall Reach, crafting is a skill desperately needed for survival of civilization in the galaxy, and it is just as handy for explorers as it is for inventors, politicians and entrepreneurs.
Direct mechanical effects:
When crafting with sufficient time, space, materials, and skill, rolling is not needed. Risky or inadequate factors require a roll.
You can craft up to 1 modification on each tool, weapon or vehicle.
Modifications to tools, weapons or vehicles will require appropriate components and will provide +1 to a statistic, such as HP, accuracy, or repair checks.
Long guns, masterwork weapons, powered motor vehicles, computers
5
18
1 week
Runic weapons and armor, heavy cannons, all weapon/vehicle mods, all non-space vehicles.
6
20+
1 month plus
All vehicles. Can attempt legendary items and flawed ultra-tech, such as teleportation machines, given materials.
Impossible
You can't make something from nothing or from inappropriate materials. You can't invent a technology that is disallowed by the game's setting, without the GM providing an opportunity.
Failures with Crafting mean you cannot build or change what you want in these circumstances. Start by looking for more materials. For critical failures, you make zero progress and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Your tools shatter, now useless.
2
You take damage due to a sudden spark, hidden sharp edge, explosion or other accident.
3
Your materials shatter, now useless.
4
You realize you can't even attempt this without hand-holding from a master - you lack the intelligence.
Much can be learned from watching. It is said by some that every person’s life is written all over their face, and with keen enough eyes, their secrets can be read. Those skilled in Insight have gained powerful careers and hidden secrets from simple, quiet observation. In a socially interconnected galaxy, this may be the only skill you need to get ahead.
Direct mechanical effects:
You may roll insight up to once per target per scene.
Main usage:
Observing another person’s nonverbal cues during a conversation or from a distance, to gain implied secrets and insights. You can also roll this skill to get a clue on alternative ways to approach a general problem.
TN
Insight Feats
Effortless
Noticing a person's loudly and openly displayed emotions.
10
Knowing if a street vendor is willing to bargain or not, knowing a child's hidden mood.
12
Knowing if an adult has had a good or bad day, noticing someone hiding their pain.
14
Sensing an adult's favorite type of conversation, food or music, their goals, or their lies
16
Sensing the lies, goals and hidden truths of professional lawyers, enforcers or actors
18
Sensing the specific hidden weaknesses of gangsters, politicians, CEOs based on a conversation
20+
Sensing hints of the goals of strange aliens and arcane entities.
Impossible
This skill cannot be used to read minds. Telepathy would be the appropriate skill for that. The skill also does not function as a binary lie detector, it gives you clues depending on available hints and what you’re looking for.
Failures with Insight tell you nothing, and critical failures tend to worsen your social relationships.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
The target grows suspicous.
2
The target is offended by your staring.
3
The target perceives you as obsequious and insincere.
4
The target comes to believe that you hate or envy them.
Whenever people are together, even as little as two souls lost in a wilderness, there is a yearning for a reassuring voice, a firm hand pointing the way, the simple promise that everything is going to be all right. This skill has obvious value in business, politics and the military, but even expeditionary science teams, exiles, refugees and lost travelers need and hope for this inspiration.
Direct mechanical effects:
Among your party, you can make a 1+ minute speech and roll the skill vs. their task's TN to attempt to give an ally +1 on their check, even if you do not have the skill they will use.
More actions are possible with the Expert Leader talent.
Main usage:
Roll to motivate others to follow a cause, or perform public speaking/ storytelling.
TN
Leadership Feats
Effortless
Commanding a robot to clean a bathroom, ordering food from the menu at a restaurant.
10
Ordering soldiers to perform vehicle maintenance duties, evacuating a small cafe due to an actual fire.
12
Ordering soldiers to clean toilets, safely evacuating a restaurant due to fire, persuading a small town cop to go look at something
14
Ordering soldiers into direct combat, safely evacuating a theater due to smoke, getting the attention of multiple shop owners in a market by shouting
16
Bluffing to corporate employees that you are a new manager, evacuating a crowded establishment when there is no evidence of fire, gaining a following in a small town hall meeting speech.
18
Being competitive in regional politics without wealth, ordering surly soldiers to fight a superior force, persuading citizens to resist an enemy that is chasing you.
20+
Performing a national or global election-winning speech or debate performance, rousing a fleeing army platoon to make a suicidal last stand.
Impossible
This skill cannot be used as mind control, that requires high-level Telepathy. It will not make anyone instantly blindly loyal, and it cannot be used on animals, that’s Animals.
Failures with Leadership are met with indifference or ignorance, and critical failures worsen your standing.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
The audience receives the opposite of the intended effect, usually becoming discouraged rather than inspired.
2
The audience perceives you as weak, silly, and naive.
3
The audience perceives you as an arrogant bully and begins to resent you.
4
Though most ignore you, one member of your audience is so offended that they move to punch or slap you.
Literacy, as a broad topic, covers a wide area of cultural and historical knowledge, familiarity with common languages, and overall speed in reading and writing. The scandals of powerful megacorporations, the details of failed rebellions, languages of minor species, and the legends about worlds deep in the nightfall reach are just a few of the facts a well-read explorer can bring to bear in their missions.
Direct mechanical effects:
Most information recall questions will not require a roll. Simply ask the GM what your explorer knows based on Literacy skill level.
Only roll for obscure facts, research, or difficult translations. When you do, the player should not look at the dice, so as to not give away misinformation.
Main usage:
Recalling non-secret information your character knows about topics of history, culture, various languages, as well as quick and skilled reading and writing.
Language Level
TN
Literacy Feats
0
Effortless
You know all basic information and languages associated with your background and other trained skills. You can read and write.
1
10
Knowing the top corporations in a specific industry or region, knowing the leaders of various nations.
2
12
Recalling reputations of leaders and corporations, the official homeworlds of each species or nation, and basic facts about those.
3
14
Knowing regional languages of common ethnicities, knowing scandals of politicians and corporations, knowing local legends and folklore.
4
16
Knowing which legends are likely based in fact, archaic dialects of regional languages, differentiating between natural and arcane phenomena.
5
18
Knowing obscure one-species languages like Ying and Lapin, writing (not giving) an eloquent speech over a day , recalling obscure facts about public figures.
6
20+
Attempts to translate dead languages, research moldy ancient tomes, write an eloquent essay in minutes, search a library for one footnote in an hour.
-
Impossible
You cannot instantly learn a new language or instantly read or write a book. You can’t roll to know secrets that would obviate an adventure, although you can roll to try a hint of where to learn them.
Failures with Literacy give no information. Critical failures result in mistranslations, miscommunications, and grave misinformation.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Mistranslations and misinformation that causes new conflicts.
2
Mistranslations and misinformation that leads to direct harm.
3
Source material is accidentally lost and destroyed.
4
No progress and you realize that what you know thus far on this topic is worthless.
Every day, ordinary people scattered across countless worlds hanging in the cold and lonely night are hurt, sick, and in pain, hoping desperately to meet a healer who understands and cares. Arcane healers are rare and unreliable, so capable professionals who know how to bind wounds are an invaluable asset.
Direct mechanical effects:
Medicine actions by default each consume and expend 1 Medicine Kit.
First Aid: You spend 5 minutes to heal [skill level] in HP to a biological patient’s untreated wounds, thereby treating them. No roll required.
Surgery: Spend 1 hour to try to bring someone back from the dying condition. TN varies based on cleanliness, type of wound, available equipment, etc.
Main usage:
Diagnosis of unknown conditions, installing implants and prosthetics, forensic autopsy, DNA testing, anatomy, corpse identification, and microbiology.
TN
Medicine Feats
Effortless
Healing potions and prepackaged painkillers can be used without medicine skill. If you are on fire: stop, drop and roll. However, performing surgery untrained is not advisable.
10
Diagnosing a common illness like giardia or streptococcus. Taking care of someone who fainted due to choking, heat exhaustion, or knockout gas.
12
Identifying the effects of street drugs and STDs, surgery on someone who had bones broken in a bar-room brawl.
14
Identifying & treating military poisons and toxins. Surgery on someone who was stabbed in a knife fight or shot with a pistol. Treating drug overdoses.
16
Identifying & treating unknown alien diseases similar to known ones. Surgery on someone who was sprayed with a flamethrower or shot with an energy blast.
18
Identifying & treating unknown, bizarre alien diseases. Surgery on someone who was hit by an explosion or torn apart by a heavy machine gun..
20+
Using medical work-arounds to stop the spread of arcane infections. Surgery on a dying person who has completely lost major limbs/organs or has been infested by demonic rotworms.
-
Impossible
You cannot treat conditions instantly. You can only perform first aid once. Exhausted people need rest. Minor infections may have no mechanical effect, but major infections, diseases and poisons will require rest in addition to medical care.
Failures with medicine mean that, in the current circumstance, you cannot help and learn nothing. Critical failures worsen conditions.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
There is nothing you can do, and all your medical supplies are spent and wasted.
2
Your efforts are useless and the patient's condition becomes worse.
3
No progress, and you catch an infection from the patient, microbe or corpse.
4
No progress and you realize that there are actually multiple diseases that you did not notice before.
There are many who believe that the arts have no place in the exploits of rangers, mercenaries and far travellers. But countless stories, both of long ago legends and recent close shaves, prove that the power of song and dance can aid a bold adventurer in unexpected situations. A passionate performance can bring the admiration of strange characters in a lonely trading post, catch the eye of a powerful authority figure seeking refinement, or bridge a gap with uncontacted aliens who are otherwise near impossible to communicate with.
Direct mechanical effects:
Performing music and dance using voice or other instruments
Writing catchy songs to be played by electronic instruments or other people
Accurately hearing unusual sounds or tones and repeating them.
Main usage:
Diagnosis of unknown conditions, installing implants and prosthetics, forensic autopsy, DNA testing, anatomy, corpse identification, and microbiology.
TN
Music Feats
Effortless
Humming a popular song poorly.
10
Singing most of a pop radio song, competently.
12
Knowing and being able to perform the main genres of song that are popular among major cultural groups.
14
Knowing subgenres and secondary genres of music among all known cultural groups.
16
Improvising a song to entertain an otherwise unknown culture. Accurately reproducing tones played by robot programming.
18
Recognizing fine recording details by hearing rough and garbled radio transmissions. Music that gains you a long term fandom.
20+
Legendary performances that swoon crowds and get you invited to the halls of fame, power and wealth. Effectively magical performances
Impossible
It’s not possible to totally control other people by imitating voices, but if someone cannot see you or cannot compare, you might persuade them you are a certain pop star by similar performance.
Failures with music mean that, in the current circumstance, you cannot achieve your goal. Critical failures worsen conditions.
1d4
Critical Failures
1
The performance has the opposite of the intended effect on the audience, usually offending them.
2
Your instrument breaks and/or you temporarily lose your voice.
3
You are completely ignored by the audience as if you had done nothing at all.
4
You accidentally cause 2 points of sonic damage to all those listening.
For a weekend getaway along the shining highways of Cinteria Prime, navigation can be automated, delegated, even forgotten. But for explorers, investigators, fugitives, and refugees, navigation is your primary skill. When you need to a less obvious way into a suspicious barren-world chemical plant, when you need to find a new hyperlane to a dimly visible brown dwarf star, when you have leapt off an underground train into the grimy, forgotten tunnels beneath high office towers of the ecumenopolis moon, when you find yourself trapped inside a massive star-freighter that is severely damaged and about to crash into a planet, you must navigate.
Main usage:
Finding alternative routes, recognizing tracks and trails, noticing secret entrances, seeing clues about what lies in each direction. Works in all environments and can represent your understanding of various environments. Applies to any vehicle/mount as well as on foot. Can be used to find crafting ingredients.
TN
Navigation Feats
Effortless
Finding the bathroom in a chain restaurant, activating a vehicle’s auto-pilot system in a highly civilized and ordered planet, walking towards a tall tower visible in the distance.
10
Locating the entrance to an illicit club in a large city given directions, knowing the way to the coast within 1 mile without a map
12
Locating all normal entrances to any place of business, finding a small amount of common herbs in a forest or field, finding a body of water in 2 miles without a map.
14
Knowing where to find illegal activity in a city by looking at a map, locating improvised entrances to factories, forts and other compounds, inferring caves and tunnels.
16
Quickly escaping a desert/ocean/glacier, finding rare mushrooms in a forest, knowing the likely locations of buried ruins without a map, surveying for mineral deposits.
18
Cross-referencing an ancient star map to the modern galaxy, navigating bombed city ruins on a toxic-fog world in a heavy pressure suit, finding rare hyperium deposits.
20+
Escaping an arcane and extradimensional labyrinth, navigating hyperspace with no lane coordinates or navigation system, surviving hyperspace storms
Impossible
This skill shouldn’t be used to ask people for directions–that’s Talk; it should not be used to find general useful items–that’s Perception. Navigation is mostly about knowing the way to get to a desired destination.
Failures with navigation mean that, in the current circumstance, you cannot locate your goal. Critical failures worsen conditions:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
The route you took has led to a dark and ominous dead-end which reveals a serious problem you didn't know about.
2
You've stumbled into an area filled with hazards that won't be easy to exit.
3
You've gone the wrong way into an violent ambush by enemies or raiders.
4
You get lost, and have an accident which hurts you and destroys all of your fuel or supplies.
Even the darkest corners of the Nightfall Reach are populated with people, and whenever there are people, there are disagreements. Explorers, rangers, mercenaries and fixers all must rely on negotiation when stealth and arms have failed to overcome a superior force. Whether it is a question of placating an angry tribal leader, launching a lawsuit against a politician based on secret evidence, or deceiving a sadistic security brute on a planet far from orderly Alliance civil procedure, you must negotiate.
Main usage:
Negotiating prices, contracts and business deals
Negotiating legal matters, criminal disputes
Making bribery and blackmail arrangements
TN
Negotiation Feats
Effortless
Buying a product at a shop for the listed price, using a valid coupon, explaining your actions to a security officer or jury based on your own recollection, refusing an offer.
10
Invoking an expired coupon or not-quite-applicable promotional discount with a salesperson.
12
Remaining cool and steady in denial while a police officer attempts to serve you a bogus citation, convincing a convenience store clerk that you are an agent of a reputable brand.
14
Using misdirection to evade a policeman's inquiry, getting an unadvertised discount on a purchase, getting a bureaucrat to overlook one missing requirement on a legal process
16
Negotiating favorable venture capital agreements, negotiating a small settlement for a serious crime, confusing a group of low ranking security officers.
18
Negotiating the end to a war, colonial independence, ending a combat in progress with a bold offer, getting away with murder
20+
Bargaining with gods and archdevils, speech that gives a genocidal warlord pause in his slaughter
Impossible
You can negotiate a dinner check or a divorce settlement, but you cannot negotiate love, attraction, or friendship. You can lean on someone's good faith, but once trust is betrayed, it may never return.
Failures with negotiation mean that you are denied the benefit of the doubt. The counterparty refuses, and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You gain a reputation as greedy and selfish.
2
You gain a reputation of pathetic obsequiousness.
3
The counterparty becomes offended and angry.
4
You are perceived as a hostile bully and your party is asked to leave, never to be trusted.
Anyone can see what is directly in front of them. But to notice what is relevant to your question, to observe a small detail that seems odd and out of place, to realize that a plain fact stated by everyone is actually totally without evidence, that takes Perception. And no explorer, ranger, mercenary or inspector should be surprised when their mission leads them into a place of darkness, literal or otherwise, where it is will take all their powers of perception to find the right way through.
Direct Mechanical Effects:
By default, the perception TN to notice an ambush by enemies is equal to the enemy's basic TN.
Main usage:
Noticing small details, seeing further in the dark
Finding useful items, rare resources, important clues and evidence
Noticing odd coincidences and strange circumstances
Applications overlapping with other skills include running planetary survey scans, searching through public computer data or accounting documents
TN
Perception Feats
Effortless
Seeing what’s in front of you, getting the minimum clues you need to continue your mission, seeing a single meter in the dark or fog, taking explicit search actions such as "I look under the rug".
10
Noticing a child hiding behind a tree, finding some military supplies in an abandoned post, noticing someone’s dirty, ripped or torn clothes
12
Sensing an ambush by boorish thugs. Noticing that a cheaply constructed robot is vulnerable to a certain type of damage.
14
Finding a useful machine part in a garbage dumpster. Finding a false rock near a suburban home that hides a key. Noticing an ambush by security officers
16
Sensing something behind a painting or carpet with only a glance around the room. Finding a jewel in a haystack. Noting that an opaque container does not contain what its label says.
18
Identifying particular brands of drink, food and drugs purely by smell or color. Noticing that a vehicle has a fault by observing it. Seeing physical evidence of lies.
20+
The work of a master detective whose methods seem almost supernatural and inexhaustible.
Impossible
No amount of Perception will let you see in the dark without special technology or psionics. You can’t solve a murder simply by rolling once, because the fun of the game is intended to be following and discovering clues step by step. You aren’t guaranteed to find loot simply by rolling, either.
Failures with perecption mean that your searching worsens the situation. You find nothing, and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
An unexpected danger harms you: sharp edges, a spider bites in self-defense, a statue collapses, etc
2
A group of well-hidden enemies surprises your party.
3
You find a baleful omen: The severed head of a friend, proof that your mission is in vain, sudden evidence of a new crime or disaster, etc.
4
Caused by yourself or bad luck, the environment becomes damaged, polluted, soaked or ruined, destroying anything of value here.
The invention of the wheel enabled “civilized” peoples to cover ground and conquer their neighbors. Rotating wheels soon led to engines, rotor blades, impulse drives and more. To an ace pilot, these are all sides of a single skill. It’s not about your body or mind, but about a focus, a melding into the vehicle that lets you swerve, drift, leap and overtake with a gentle press of the controls like a pure extension of your will.
Direct Mechanical Effects:
If you are attacking by ramming a vehicle, or dodging with a vehicle, roll Pilot.
Main usage:
This skill is primarily rolled for performing dangerous maneuvers in powered vehicles, specifically in vehicle chases, combats and escapes.
You can use Pilot skill for tactical maneuvers with starships, cars, boats, submarines, etc. This skill covers all vehicle types because the game is intended to move between environments without requiring characters to retrain.
The skill is primarily rolled for specific maneuvers rather than long journeys, but it could be rolled if you’re taking risks in order to beat traffic on your way into a city.
TN
Piloting Feats
Effortless
Driving a vehicle in normal conditions in good weather or calm traffic.
10
Smoothly jumping a curb in a ground vehicle for a short advantage over traffic, with only minor damage.
12
Driving up alongside an enemy vehicle of similar power that is trying to escape you to enable your passenger to hop over.
14
Performing effective vehicle ramming / swiping attacks that do more damage to them than you. Performing jumps with ground vehicles.
16
Safely outrunning traffic at high speed. Performing vehicle jumps with improvised ramps. Hard-brake or spin-drift maneuvers that put your vehicle right behind your enemy.
18
Ramming an enemy vehicle through a guardrail off a bridge. Safely diving your starship alongside a large carrier to deliver a bomb or drop pod into a hangar.
20+
Jumping a ground vehicle onto a flying aircraft, taking only partial damage from an enraged leviathan, temporarily driving faster than Death itself on a motorcycle.
Impossible
This skill can’t make a vehicle perform a function that it is not equipped for, such as run without a power source. High-end vehicles will perform better than cheap ones with the same pilot. Ground vehicles usually cannot jump without help. Most fancy maneuvers will damage your vehicle regardless of roll.
Failures with perecption mean that your searching worsens the situation. You find nothing, and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
An unexpected danger harms you: sharp edges, a spider bites in self-defense, a statue collapses, etc
2
A group of well-hidden enemies surprises your party.
3
You find a baleful omen: The severed head of a friend, proof that your mission is in vain, sudden evidence of a new crime or disaster, etc.
4
Caused by yourself or bad luck, the environment becomes damaged, polluted, soaked or ruined, destroying anything of value here.
In the far future, Science is just as critical a skill as today. Skilled chemists and physicists can prospect for rare minerals and spatial anomalies, brew healing drugs, adhesives, acids and improvised explosives, and craft batteries out of household materials. The higher echelons of the skill enable the distillation of substances that many would consider unnatural.
Direct Mechanical Effects:
If you have good conditions, good time and good supplies, you can brew skill-appropriate results without rolling.
If you do not, brew the chemicals, but do not roll until it’s time to use it, to find out if it works.
Main usage:
Scientific analysis of chemical, physical and astronomical phenomena.
Brewing of drugs, adhesives, acids, bombs, fuel and other chemicals.
Skill Required
TN
Est. Work Time
Science Feats
0
Effortless
A few minutes
Making tea, sangria, or mixing paint. Doing basic math.
1
10
1 hour
Anti-toxin drugs, disinfectant, soap, distillation of oil, petroleum, alcohol
2
12
2 hours
1d4 healing & mana drugs, small acid or fire bombs, smoke and flash bombs of 1m radius
3
14
4 hours
2d4 healing & mana drugs, medium bombs including freeze bombs of 3m radius, small batteries for tools, portable cures for paralysis, blindness, disease, etc
4
16
6 hours
3d4 healing & mana drugs, large bombs including poison and EMP bombs of 5m radius, vehicle power cells, minor temporary mutagens
5
18
8 hours
4d4 healing and mana drugs, large aerial bombs of 50m radius, major temporary mutagens
6
20+
10 hours
Healing & mana elixirs, weapons of mass destruction, permanent mutagens, experimental mad science that is effectively arcane.
Impossible
This skill focuses on scientific information gathering and the brewing of useful chemicals. To construct machines will require crafting skill, and to perform emergency surgery will require Medicine skill.
Failures with Science mean that you don't know the answer, or you cannot brew what you want in these circumstances. Start by looking for more and rarer materials. For critical failures, you make zero progress and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
Your ingredients fizzle into ash, now useless.
2
You take damage due to a sudden spark, explosion or other accident.
3
The brew has a drastic unintended effect.
4
You realize you can't even attempt this recipe without hand-holding from a master - you lack the intelligence.
For explorers, space rangers, inspectors, investigators and mercenaries, stealth is a critical skill. The galaxy is full of far too many enemies to fight, and if you can simply bypass them, you can make your profit without that cost. On the other hand, if you are interested in murder, surprise attacks are quite advantageous.
Direct Mechanical Effects:
Declare your intent to sneak anytime, but only roll at the moment of potential discovery.
By default, you need full cover or full darkness to begin hiding, and you cannot hide during a battle.
When you successfully surprise an enemy from stealth, you get 2 free actions (1 free turn) immediately, during which the enemy can only react.
Your first attack from stealth gets +1 to hit and +1 to damage.
Main usage:
Sneaking yourself past enemies and guards unnoticed. Usually, enemies' TN to notice you is their normal TN, unless they are unusually sensitive or insensitive.
Stealing items that do not belong to you.
You can also roll this skill to conceal things or use vehicles stealthily.
TN
Stealth Feats
Effortless
Even with no stealth training, you can hide behind a full, solid wall and try to listen (using perception) without needing to roll stealth.
10-20+
Target numbers for Stealth correspond to the TNs and general awarenes of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details. To steal something from someone's belt or pocket will usually be +2 difficulty.
Impossible
You can’t hide when you are in plain sight of your opposition - that requires invisibility. You can’t hide during a battle after you just revealed yourself - you must exit the scene first.
When you fail to meet stealth TNs, enemy awareness and alarm levels rise steadily. For critical failures, your actions and intents are plainly obvious and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
The alarm is raised immediately to the highest level.
2
There's much more guards and security than you anticipated.
3
The enemy was only pretending not to notice you--they surprise attack you, instead!
4
You realize this location is too heavily watched, and the party will not be able to attempt stealth here in the future without a major diversion.
In a socially interconnected galaxy, personal charisma is perhaps the most powerful skill of all. There is little that someone wouldn’t do for a deeply trusted friend, from granting jobs, loans, overlooking misdeeds or crimes, lending priceless artifacts or expensive custom vehicles, and more. Most people say that friends in high places result in the best rewards, but the history of the sector is filled with small figures who made a big impact. You never know when a friend will make a difference, even if you are venturing on your own.
Main usage:
This skill, in contrast to Leadership and Negotiation, is used specifically when you want to build friendly relationships with casual and positive conversation, one to one. It is also used for when you are asking a friend for a favor or two.
You roll the skill at the point where the outcome of an NPC's decision would become clear. If face-to-face, when they reply. If you sent them an invitation, roll when the event begins, etc.
TN
Talk Feats
Effortless
Even without this skill, you can still talk and potentially make friends with other people, and friends may send you a gift on your birthday, but asking for a favor will have low prospects.
10
Getting more than half of people who know and like you to come to a party you are hosting.
12
Convincing a common police officer that you are a friendly normal person as opposed to suspicious. Asking an interested and motivated person on a date.
14
Getting a friend to back up your project or proposal at a business or political meeting. Getting a friend to come to a religious meeting. Making a good impression with a stranger on a train or bus.
16
Asking a friend to join your political cause. Asking a friend to sign a contract or swear a pledge. Asking a friend for a loan. Making a good impression on a stranger on the street.
18
Asking a friend to put the power of their business, family or religion to help you. Asking a friend to do a contract commission job for free for you. Making a positive impression in a suspicious context, such as conversing with a stranger with bloodstains on your clothes.
20+
Befriending a divine or abyssal being. Asking a friend to risk death and insanity for your safety.
Impossible
This skill is not mind control. Whether the target is played by a player or Game Mystic, they can always simply choose to refuse or say no, regardless of rolls. Also, you cannot instantly become best friends with a 5-minute conversation, it takes weeks at the least, especially if you want to change someone's mind about major issues.
When you fail to meet talk TNs, you fail to make a good impression and do not receive any favors. For critical failures, they refuse, disengage, and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You are viewed as whiny, desperate, pathetic.
2
You are viewed as greedy, selfish, and manipulative.
3
The counterparty concludes you are a strange fool who can never be taken seriously.
4
Your counterparty is sharply offended and angered.
Combat Skills
The only combat skill that can always be relied upon is the art of brawling. From raging brutes to elegant masters of form, everyone must learn to understand the ancient language of a swift fist, a harsh shoulder check or a punishing kick.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum Health Points.
Base damage per hit is 2 * skill level.
You can choose to use this skill for your movement statistic (3 + Brawl).
You can choose to roll this skill for initiative.
Main usage:
Covers all punching, kicking, martial arts and wrestling. Can also be used to intimidate people or destroy things with a feasible unarmed demonstration. Special attacks include disarming opponents, shoving, grappling, choking, tripping and throwing enemies.
TN
Brawling Feats
Effortless
Swatting a single mosquito or bedbug.
TNs 10 to 20+
Target numbers for Brawl correspond to the toughness of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details.
Impossible
Brawl is not used for nonviolent feats of strength or speed, that's athletics. It also cannot be used to represent defense. Brawl is for attacks, intimidation, and striking things.
Standard failures with Brawl result in you dealing half damage. For critical failures:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You miss completely and fall prone.
2
You miss completely and smash your limb against the floor or wall, take 5 un-reducible physical damage.
3
You miss completely and sprain your limb, becoming physically exhausted.
4
You miss completely, stumble and the enemy gets a free, instant retaliation attack against you.
For any explorer who hopes to avoid or survive energy blasts, rusty blades, bullets, bombs, falling rocks, furious claws and/or apocalyptic bombardment, it is vital to do one's best to avoid such things. Dodge is the first and most often rolled defense skill, in and out of combat.
Direct mechanical effects:
A critical fail means you receive a critical hit and your armor is ignored.
A fail means you take full damage, minus your armor value if relevant.
A success means you take half damage, minus your armor value if relevant.
A critical success on Dodge means you take no damage at all and are not hit.
Main usage:
TN
Dodging Feats
Effortless
Backing away from a hissing goose, avoiding an oncoming vehicle seen from far away.
TNs 10 to 20+
Target numbers for Dodge correspond to the toughness of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details.
Impossible
You can't dodge pervasive radiation, intense heat, and similar hazards in an area (requires Resilience), nor can you dodge direct psychic assault (requires Meditation).
This skill focuses on five mechanical uses, related to defense and arcane energy. You can also roll Meditation to get clues, ideas or conclusions on general topics.
Direct mechanical effects:
Your maximum EP increases by +1 for each level of skill in Meditation.
You recharge your EP at a rate of (1 + Meditation) per 8 hours of rest.
When your concentration on an ongoing spell is threatened, you must make a binary Meditation roll to maintain the spell.
Meditation Skill can be rolled as a defensive skill, representing calmness in the face of harm, especially psychic or mental assaults.
Critical success: You take no damage to HP and only 1 damage to EP. Concentration is maintained.
Basic success: Incoming damage is halved, then reduced by relevant armor, and applied to your EP, with excess going to HP. Concentration is maintained.
Basic failure: You take full harm, reduced by relevant armor, to your EP or HP (your choice). Concentration is lost; all your ongoing spells end.
Critical failure: You take a critical hit to your HP. Concentration is lost and you lose control of your ongoing spells.
TN
Meditation Feats
Effortless
Focusing on a mental task in a calm and quiet office.
TNs 10 to 20+
Target numbers for Meditation correspond to the toughness of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details.
Impossible
You can't concentrate when you are unconscious, asleep or dead.
Even in the far future, keeping a blade at the ready is quite handy. On starships, stay gunfire risks catastrophic decompression or serious systems damage. Around secure corporate and military facilities, automated firearm detectors will bring security onto you in no time. And often, bringing a knife, sword or axe to a gun-fight can be just crazy enough to give you an edge.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum Health Points.
Damage per hit is equal to weapon damage + skill level.
You can choose to use this skill for your movement statistic (3 + Melee).
When you roll a basic failure with Melee, you deal half damage to your primary target. Only complete misses deal no damage.
Main usage:
Covers all use of low, medium and hi-tech melee weapons from a simple stick to a projected plasma blade. Can also be used to intimidate people or destroy things when it makes sense. Special attacks include disarming, shoving, breaking armor, lacerating, blinding, and slashing attacks that hit 2 enemies at once.
TN
Melee Feats
Effortless
Hitting a large stationary object with a stick.
TNs 10 to 20+
Target numbers for Melee correspond to the toughness of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details.
Impossible
It’s not possible to cause a car to explode by swatting it 50 times with a butter knife. Attacks with melee should make sense given the context and relative material of weapon and target.
Standard failures with Melee result in you dealing half damage. For critical failures:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You miss completely and lose grip on your weapon, it tumbles away.
2
You miss completely and hurt yourself with your weapon, taking 5 un-reducible physical damage.
3
You miss completely your weapon breaks, it will need to be repaired before further use.
4
You miss completely, stumble and the enemy gets a free, instant retaliation attack against you.
In the Blue Flame sector, there are many sources of hurt that you just can’t dodge. Starships or submarines can be depressurized, volcanoes blast out superheated ash waves, orbital bombardment can turn an atmosphere to poison, and many planets are simply extremely hot, cold, toxic or suffocating. For all of these hazards, a ranger must be resilient. Even when you inevitably fail to dodge a bullet, Resilience is there to heal you in time.
Direct mechanical effects:
Your maximum HP increases by +1 for each level of skill in Resilience.
You recharge your HP at a rate of (1 + Resilience) per 8 hours of comfortable, healthy rest.
Resilience must be rolled in the face of un-dodge-able physical hazards such as pools of acid or lava, radiation, electric arcs, ion storms, vacuum, etc.
High rolls minimize but do not nullify hazards.
Resilience Skill can be rolled to defend from attacks, representing focused toughness.
Critical success: You take minimal harm from hazards. Versus attacks, triple your armor, to a minumum of 1 damage.
Basic success: You take half harm from hazards. Versus attacks, incoming damage is reduced by 2x your total armor value. Relevant armor such as heat or radiation resistant suits can be applied to hazards.
Basic failure: You take full harm from hazards and attacks, reduced by relevant armor.
Critical failure: You take a critical hit. Maximum damage plus a severe condition.
The below table describes examples of environmental hazards that would prompt a Resilience roll at each TN. If your roll meets the TN then you take half the effects of the hazards listed.
TN
Resilience Feats
Effortless
Spending a short time in a room filled with ammonia or paint fumes, staying focused after a can of beer, swimming in cold water for a few minutes.
10
Working for an hour in a room with mild chemical fumes. Standing for 10 minutes in freezing rain. Staying conscious after a small spider bite.
12
Remaining focused after several beers, dancing for several hours without exhaustion, experiencing only dizziness and nausea in a mildly irradiated basement
14
30 minutes in a blizzard without a jacket, staying conscious after a bite from a viper or cobra spit, running for 2 hours straight
16
Remaining conscious after a car crash, enduring superheated air in a flaming house, diving into arctic water, enduring sedative toxins from poisoned drinks or darts
18
Enduring an acid spray from a bio-weapon, escaping a reactor meltdown, surviving 6 seconds of vacuum unprotected, reaching into molten steel
20+
Surviving a starship crash, swimming in a lake of acid, enduring the gaze of the Searing Horror
Impossible
The most you can endure with resilience is equivalent to the most that any human from history has endured. You cannot survive or minimize things that would kill any human or similar humanoid.
Shoot skill covers every projectile launching weapon from a slingshot to a battleship mounted tachyon lance. The ability to potentially harm others while staying safe at range is powerful, but remember well: If you aim at the king, you must not miss.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum Health Points, and ranged weapon damage.
In melee combat, two-handed ranged weapons cannot be used, and 1-handed ranged weapons have disadvantage to hit.
When you roll a basic failure with Shoot, you hit something near or past the target. Critical misses are shown below.
Main usage:
Covers use of all low, medium and hi-tech projectile-launching weapons, but not thrown weapons (that's athletics). Shoot can also be used to intimidate people or destroy things when it makes sense. Special attacks include breaking armor, causing bleeding, pinning attacks and piercing attacks that hit 2 enemies.
TN
Shooting Feats
Effortless
It does not require skill or rolls to shoot a securely bound or unconscious person or a docile animal with a ranged weapon, or to reload a ranged weapon, though it costs an action.
TNs 10 to 20+
Target numbers for Shoot correspond to the toughness of the enemy combatants you are facing. Check out the Enemies page for details.
Impossible
Attacks and special techniques with ranged weapons must make sense given the context. Accurate long range shots will require rifles, buckshot will have essentially no effect on heavy armor, small arms will have little use against an animated statue, you can ignite with a flare gun or laser gun but not a pistol, etc.
Standard failures with Shoot result in you hitting something near the target but leaving the target unharmed. For critical failures, it's a complete miss and:
1d4
Critical Failures
1
You miss completely and lose grip on your weapon, it tumbles away.
2
You miss completely and hurt yourself with your weapon, taking 5 un-reducible physical damage.
3
You miss completely and your weapon breaks or jams, it will need to be repaired before further use.
4
You realize that all of the ammunition you loaded is faulty and useless.
Arcane Skills
Arcane skills are much more powerful than mundane skills, yet also highly unpredictable, because there are no abilities to force a success and very few that can increase your arcane rolls without cost. But their effects, good or bad, are awesome.
Chronomancy is an arcane skill that allows a psychic the potential to see and manipulate more of time than a simple mundane. For this reason, it is high risk and its experts tend to have few or no close relationships. Masters are recorded in legend, but no current masters of the skill are known. What becomes of those who master time itself?
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill's level to your total maximum EP.
All future visions are conditional, all future and past visions are hazy and unfocused.
When going back in time, it is possible to change or erase your own existence by taking actions that would make your current status unlikely or impossible.
Main usage:
Viewing of other times and timelines, manipulation of time, travel to the past and future. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but your physical age changes by 1d4 years in casting it (Even = younger, odd = older). Your mind, skill, etc are the same.
Instead of your spell, you cast a different spell that another mage cast in the same spot in the past, and get a vision of the circumstance, briefly appearing as them yourself to your allies.
2
Your spell is cast, but in addition to it, you receive a vision of an unfortunate accident in the near future that is impossible to prevent.
Instead of casting your spell, you summon your future self from a terrible timeline who furiously and successfully obstructs you from casting and thereby erases themself with paradox.
3
Your spell is cast, but the fabric of the timeline is altered in minor ways, such as slight environment and biome features, the exact identities and aims of major figures, etc.
Instead of casting your spell, your entire party is jumped forward in time, allowing enemies to advance their plans.
4
Your spell is cast, but the environment within 10m around you ages instantly, as if it was left alone and unbothered by people for 10 years.
Instead of your spell, your entire party is jumped backward in time, and must avoid their former selves or risk paradox.
5
Your spell is cast, but you are personally slowed to half your usual speed (only 1 action per turn), for 10 minutes.
Instead of your spell, you accidentally send your party far into the distant future. If you can find a familiar landmark or artifact, you can perform a ritual to return.
6
Your spell is cast, but a vision of possible horrible futures deals you 1d8 non-reducible psychic damage.
Instead of your spell, you cast the last spell that you witnessed someone else cast, but on your selected target for your spell (Self if no target).
Cryomancy is an arcane skill that deals with all types of water, cold and ice effects. Most applications of the method are used to freeze and destroy enemies or protect allies, but a variety of practical spells allow a creative caster to shape many situations to their advantage.
Direct mechanical effects:
Cryomancy spells create arcane ice. Unlike real ice, it is more vividly blue, and melts into nothingness a few seconds after it is used.
Critical hits on enemies will arcane-freeze them. This means that for one round, they take double physical damage, cannot react, and their initiative is 0 (at which time, they melt and return to normal).
Each level in this skill adds +1 maximum energy point.
Main usage:
Chilling and freezing people, objects and environments, shaping water and ice. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but instead of ice, it's cast with solid crystals of a random color that persist after casting, as stone.
Instead of your spell, razor sharp ice crystals burst out from your hands, dealing 10 damage and arcane-freezing everything and everyone within a 10m radius, including you, for 1 full round.
2
Your spell is cast, but you freeze solid, taking 5 cold damage, for the duration of your next full turn.
Instead of casting your spell, you freeze yourself solid in a block of arcane ice, indefinitely until someone melts you out with the application of heat.
3
Your spell is cast, but your EP becomes frozen. The next time you spend any EP, it will shatter to 0 unless you are spiritually thawed first.
Instead of casting your spell, you unintentionally curse the area within 20m with arcane cold, indefinitely. All liquids become solid and cannot be melted, all biological life takes 2 cold damage per round.
4
Your spell is cast, but a wave of chill saltwater, summoned from another dimension, floods this area to 2 inches, dealing 2 cold damage to everyone it touches. It then disperses according to gravity, seeping in to the environment.
Instead of your spell, you summon a surly creature of frost. 1d4: [Direwolf, Yeti, Ice Devil, Wendigo]
5
Your spell is cast, but the room fills with a chill, opaque wet mist. No one can see farther than 1m for 5 minutes.
Instead of your spell, a fountain of chill seawater begins to rapidly fill the room with arctic ocean water and ice from another dimension, at a rate of 6 gallons per second for 1 hour, to a total volume of 20,000 gallons (roughly one swimming pool).
6
Your spell is cast, but at half effectivenes, the effect comes out as steam rather than ice.
Instead of your spell, you accidentally freeze one of your allies in a solid block of ice, where they will remain indefinitely until thawed.
Electromancy is an arcane skill that deals with electricity, magnetism, energy and lightning effects. Many effects are used to shock, disable or destroy enemies, but practical applications allow a psychic to manipulate electrical devices as well.
Direct mechanical effects:
“Shock”: Many spells can cause this condition. A shocked enemy takes 5 extra damage from the next hit they receive. Otherwise, it fades after 1 round.
Unlike most arcane attacks, electromantic attacks can deal nonlethal damage, at the caster's free election.
Each level in this skill adds +1 maximum energy point.
Main usage:
Shocking and electrocuting enemies, disabling machines and erasing data, transferring energy. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but instead of lightning, it's cast with a spray of sticky, entangling silk spider webs.
Instead of your spell, an arc of lightning hits yourself and instantly jumps to the the nearest 5 lifeforms or machines, dealing each 10 damage and shocking them.
2
Your spell is cast, but you are electrocuted. You take 5 electric damage and the next attack or spell against you within 1 minute will be at least a hit.
Instead of casting your spell, the entire area with 20 meters of you becomes highly charged. If anyone moves or attacks within 1 minute, an explosive arc discharge will deal 12 damage to everyone.
3
Your spell is cast, but your EP is spiritually shocked. Your next spell will cost an additional 5 EP.
Instead of casting your spell, you accidentally tear open a 3m radius dimensional portal on the floor to a place of storm clouds, high winds and sheet lightning. It has no apparent land, only sky, and lasts for 30 minutes.
4
Your spell is cast, but everyone except yourself in the room takes 1 electric damage and becomes shocked.
Instead of your spell, you summon a surly creature of sparks. 1d4: [mephit, thunderbird, giant scarab, storm titan]
5
Your spell is cast, but the EP of everyone within 5m of you is decreased by 5, not including you. This also drains nearby batteries and shuts off electronic devices
Instead of your spell, a miniature arcane storm cloud fills the area within 20m of you, randomly striking people and objects with lightning bolts for 10 damage once per round, for 5 minutes.
6
Your spell is cast, but high winds fill the area within 20m, blowing people and things around.
Illusion is one of the Dark Three arcane skills often viewed as being borne of some evil nature, along with Telepathy and Necromancy. Indeed, many heinous crimes have been committed under cover of invisibility, arcane darkness or with near perfect disguises. The reality that one could step on a bridge with no substance, that one’s true love could be replaced with an identical impostor, that all that one perceives could be a cruel joke serves to fire anxieties and prejudices against psychics everywhere. But the power of illusions remains unquestioned.
Direct mechanical effects:
Illusion spells are not mental effects; they instead are arcane phenomenon that affect senses and sensing devices.
Most illusions primarily affect the visual senses of lifeforms and robots. Other senses are affected where specified.
Each level in this skill adds +1 maximum energy point.
Main usage:
Creating false and intangible sights, sounds and sensations, hiding the sensory evidence of real things and people. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but your vision is blinded by strange sights for 1 minute afterward, making it near impossible for you to perform visual tasks.
Instead of your spell, a loud, mocking laughter resounds that everyone can hear within 40m.
2
Your spell is cast, but you notice the appearance of Zia, a strange entity always wearing a red dress, that only you can perceive. She gives you dubious advice, then dispels an illusion, revealing a new obstacle to your goals.
Instead of casting your spell, you summon Mr. Grin, a sharply dressed humanoid entity that only you can perceive. Mr. Grin mocks you, then snaps his fingers to reveal that all your party experienced in the last hour was entirely illusion, and your true situation is much worse.
3
Your spell is cast, but a painful sonic screech rings out, dealing 3 sonic damage to everyone within 20m.
Instead of casting your spell, you are overwhelmed with intense visual, audio, tactile and olfactory sensations that only you can percieve, making you unable to use skills for 5 minutes (though you can still perform basic tasks and use consumable items).
4
Your spell is cast, but the area within 20m is covered with bright and rapidly flashing lights of various colors, giving disadvantage to peform any task relying on sight.
Instead of your spell, you summon the Fearful Symmetry. This horrific entity will create a nightmare mirror copy of 1 person and 1 thing per round until banished with symmetrical attacks.
5
Your spell is cast, but it turns out your illusion is actually permanent, any objects involved are real and cannot be dispelled.
Instead of your spell, a set of three large, bizarre, malformed, and entirely real objects and entities are summoned to your presence.
6
Your spell is cast, but you cannot hear anything for 1 minute afterward.
Metaphysics is the direct study of arcane forces themselves. The greatest sorcerers of the legendary past used it to great effect, forging eternal enchantments, training armies of mages, and surpassing the inherent risks and costs of the art. Perhaps most importantly, this skill allows a cunning warlock the ability to counter his rival’s spells. Why, then, does there appear to be no longer any living master of Metaphysics today?
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill's level to your total maximum EP.
Main usage:
Sensing arcane forces, enchanting spells upon items or within other spells, dispelling and countering spells, upgrading spells, combining and triggering spells. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but the arcane forces harden against you. Further casting of any spell increases in difficulty by +2 TN for 4 hours.
Instead of your spell, you cast a completely random spell of the same level from another arcane tradition.
2
Your spell is cast, but at exactly double the normal EP cost.
Your spell has the opposite of its intended effect: empower instead of dispel, destroy instead of enchant, etc.
3
Your spell is cast at half effectiveness, and a random object nearby begins to glow, float, and spin for 1 hour.
Instead of your spell, the area within 50m becomes permanently enchanted to prevent all spellcasting, with sigils appearing on surfaces.
4
Your spell is cast, but leaves a sparkling field of unstable magical energy in a 10m radius for 1 day. Further spellcasting in this area has disadvantage.
Instead of your spell, the area within 50m becomes permanently enchanted to overcharge all spellcasting, with sigils appearing on surfaces.
5
Your spell is cast, but it attracts the attention of a divine being that begins to appear to you in dreams, mirrors, and in the distance.
Instead of your spell, all non-player-controlled plants and animals within 50m become permanently enchanted and empowered with arcane abilities.
6
Your spell is cast, but afterward the energy becomes volatile. It hangs crackling in the air for 1 round, then explodes violently in a 20m radius for 10 damage.
Instead of your spell, two Chaos Orbs are cast at random targets in your line of sight.
Necromancy, sometimes known as Witchcraft, is the one school of psionics which is almost always hostile to living things. In addition to costing EP, spells also exert a toxic effect on the environment when successfully cast. Many believe it is inherently corrupting. Some of the most cursed and haunted worlds of the sector show phenomena similar to its effects, and its study is banned from all formal arcane academies. Learn even the first trick of this path and there is no turning back.
Direct mechanical effects:
Casting any necromancy spell will cause some corruption in any environment. Dying plants, spirals appearing in stone, metal that twists and oozes, water grows murky, sand changes color.
Each level in this skill adds +1 maximum energy point.
Main usage:
Sensing death, inviting death, murder, curses, poison, bone shaping, and summoning entities of rot. All usages drain life and/or pollute. See the spells list for details.
Failing to properly cast necromancy spells is especially dangerous. When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but afterward you become cursed with Chaos: a spiral sigil appears on your palm. All further spell casts will be made with -1 disadvantage die until the curse is lifted.
Instead of your spell, the spirit of a dead enemy or rival appears as a ghost. Only you can see them. They promise to make you suffer in revenge, hiding and occasionally casting spells against you until destroyed.
2
Your spell is cast, but the corruption of the environment around you becomes much more pronounced, reaching up to a 15m radius with protrusions of hungry mouths, toxic pools and grasping appendages.
Instead of your spell, your entire party is indefinitely cursed with vulnerability. A spiral sigil appears on their backs and they have disadvantage to defend themselves from physical and toxic harm, until the curse is lifted.
3
Your spell is cast, but three separate swarms of rot-worms pour out of cracks within 10 meters of you, creating worm piles in the room that are infestation hazards.
Instead of your spell, you become infested with rot-worms, requiring immediate medical intervention as you begin coughing up worms. You take the first instance of 5 damage immediately as the worms bite you.
4
Your spell is cast, but you become cursed with vulnerability. A spiral sigil appears on your neck and all attempts to physically or venomously harm you are at an advantage until the curse is lifted.
Instead of your spell, you tear open a dark portal to an utterly dead place. Dead things crawl out of this portal, seeking prey. Duration 1 hour or until dispelled.
5
Your spell is cast, but the spirit of Death touches your EP afterwards, setting it straight to zero.
Instead of your spell, the area within 20m fills with a spray of toxic gas that is corrosive and infectious to all materials and entities.
6
Your spell is cast, but nearby you notice the shadow of Death. The next instance of harm against you is guaranteed to be a critical hit, overriding all other features.
Instead of your spell, a hateful undead creature is summoned and will perform evil deeds. D4: [ghast, banshee, heartbreaker, rot prince].
The ability to call arcane flame is among the most spectacular of psionic disciplines, and known for being the divine heritage of the Cinterian race. Psionics students who choose to focus on this discipline are referred to as “hotheads” by masters - the consequences of improper casting or even careless successful casting of Pyromancy are obvious, and it is extremely rare to meet a conscientous firemage.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill's level to your total maximum EP.
Critical hits with Pyromancy will ignite enemies. This means they will take 1d10 damage ignoring armor at the start of each subsequent turn until they submerge in water or drop prone and roll.
Main usage:
Heating and burning things, blasting enemies, summoning smoke or infernal creatures. See the Spells page for pyromancy spells.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but you are ignited.
Instead of your spell, a fiery explosion occurs, centered on your hands, for 15 damage with a radius of 5 meters, igniting everything flammable.
2
Your spell is cast, but arcane flames ignite part of the area in a 2m radius, spreading if fuel is present.
Instead of your spell, the area fills with arcane flames as high as your shoulder in a 10 meter radius.
3
Your spell is cast, but your EP is ignited with soul-fire and burns similar to physical burning unless you are magically doused.
Instead of your spell, choking, opaque smoke fills the area in a 50 meter radius.
4
Your spell is cast but also affects an unintended target in addition to the intended target.
Instead of your spell, you unintentionally summon a surly creature of flame nearby, and they know you have summoned them. 1d4: Salamander, Horned Devil, Ifrit, Searing Horror.
5
Your spell is cast, but your hands are severely burned in the process, and you can't use them effectively until they are medically treated.
A fountain of magma begins spraying 5m in front of you, filling the room with molten ore for about 10 minutes. Infernal creatures may surface from it.
6
Your spell is cast in the form of arcane water rather than fire.
Telekinetics is most simply the ability to move objects with the power of one's mind. At a basic level this can replicate and sometimes surpass athletic ability, but at higher levels, an adept can be surrounded by spinning shields, can summon a storm of shrapmetal or transmute material on the level of subatomic particles. For this reason, a natural but untrained telekinetic is extremely dangerous. On worlds that cannot support or do not trust psychic institutions, children that accidentally harm others with untrained telekinetics are often euthanized.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill's level to your total maximum EP.
Starting with level 1, you can roll to have an object(s) floating nearby you at all times. This requires your concentration.
Main usage:
Moving and lifting objects without touching them, from one small object to many heavy objects at one. Transmuting and reshaping materials with psychic power. See the Spells page for telekinetics spells.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but you accidentally move another object in an unintended and harmful way.
Instead of your spell, a powerful accelerating force pushes all people and unsecured objects within 10m away, by 10m.
2
Your spell is cast, but you accidentally move an ally in an unintended and harmful way.
Instead of your spell, the following effects occur within 20m of you: All glass shatters, all wood splinters, all metal bends, stone begins to crack and crumble. Does not affect objects that people are wearing or carrying.
3
Your spell is cast, but two of your valuable possessions break and shatter.
Instead of your spell, the material substance of objects and surfaces within 10m of you changes: metal to jelly, stone to cushion, earth to flesh, plants to metal, wood to cheese. Does not affect items that people are wearing or carrying.
4
Your spell is cast, but it requires intense strain from you, leaving you physically exhausted.
Instead of your spell, a powerful accelerating force suddenly pulls all people and unsecured objects directly up against you. Damage depends on the objects and is reduced by your armor.
5
Your spell is cast, but one of your items is flung out across the room.
The weather in the local are becomes extremely windy, blowing objects and people around and causing damage for 1 hour.
6
Your spell is cast, but gravity ceases to function within 20m for 10 minutes.
Telepathy is, for normals, one of the most feared psionic disciplines. As long as a casting is successful, most victims will not know that they are even being targeted without personal skill in telepathy or metaphysics. The idea that one could not be secure or in control of their own thoughts and actions is terrifying and enough to induce the worst kind of disabling mental illness: one that is entirely rational.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill's level to your total maximum EP.
Telepathy spells will not function on robots, but will work on animals.
For all failed Telepathy castings upon enemy targets, despite other effects, the target will instinctively know that you attempted to manipulate them.
Main usage:
Reading minds, suggesting thoughts, psychic damage, mind control. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but your mind is disturbed : you will be unable to benefit from rest or from active meditation for the next 12 hours.
Instead of your spell, all non-player life forms in a 20m radius become extremely, instinctively, confidently suspicious of you.
2
Your spell is cast, but only at half effectiveness or half clarity.
Instead of your spell, an alien spirit enters through your mind, either greatly empowering your enemies or taking control of you for 1 minute to perform strange and evil deeds.
3
Your spell is cast, but your mind is scorched by arcane emotions for 5 non-reducible psychic damage.
Instead of your spell, you suddenly regain suppressed memories from within the past 24 hours that an enemy psychic stole your party's key items and sabotaged your plans.
4
Your spell is cast, but for your next 1 full turn, your mind has been switched with that of a random person from another place, time, or dimension.
Instead of your intended spell, you now must now speak only with total honesty for 1 hour.
5
Your spell is cast, but all your allies within 10m receive 2 non-reducible psychic damage due to feedback energy.
Instead of your spell, an invisible psychic fog forms around you in a 30m radius for 1 hour, causing intense headaches and making it impossible to focus on intellectual or arcane skills.
6
Your spell is cast but it leaves you paralyzed for 1 full turn - conscious, able to think and perceive, but unable to act.
Teleportation is a discipline that offers powerful benefits for people who wish to infiltrate or escape with stolen goods. Those that take this discipline are feared by individuals who want to hide or protect something - information or otherwise. Some teleporters are employed to offer protections against their own services. Teleporters who understand the risks of their craft will either prepare their castings with elaborate rituals or simply prepare for the chaos that their sudden appearance my cause. Whatever the case may be for the teleporter, their skills are feared, respected, and in high demand.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum EP.
Valid teleport target locations are safe places you can see, or have been and that are physically similar to your last visit. You cannot TP into a moving vehicle or a solid object.
All teleports have a default cooldown time of the distance in meters in minutes.
Main usage:
Instantly transporting yourself, and other people and things, from one place to another by way of sub-space interstices. Finding, making and traversing portals to other planes, dimensions and realms. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but your destination is slightly off target by 5-10 meters.
Instead of your spell, a mysterious wave of energy flows out from you. Nothing initially appears different, but you and everyone within 10m have been shifted to an endless dimension based on this biome or room. A way back is somewhere nearby but may take time to find.
2
Your spell is cast, but you unintentionally bring a large object or chunk of wall along with you.
Instead of your spell, you teleport alone into a random dark and strange place within 100m of your starting point.
3
Your spell is cast, but you unintentionally teleport a person nearby your starting point to your new location.
Instead of your spell, a mysterious wave of energy flows out from you. All people and animals within 15m of you are randomly teleported to different places within 50m, but not you.
4
Your spell is cast, but some important items are accidentally left behind in the teleport.
Instead of your intended spell, you tear open a two-way portal to a random world, plane or dimension. This portal remains open for 30 minutes or until dispelled.
5
Your spell is cast, but all of your posessions not held in your hands are randomly teleported to different places within 10m.
Instead of your spell, your party is teleported to a random unknown world, plane or dimension. A way back is somewhere nearby but may take time to find.
6
Your spell is cast but random lifeforms from a different plane or dimension are summoned to this location. 1d4: 8 small creatures, 4 medium creatures, 2 large creatures, 1 huge creature.
Dominance over nature is traditionally provided by civilization and technology, but practicioners of the Verdancy school of psioncs empower and merge with nature instead. They may take on animal forms, walk secret ways through wilderness, and at the height of their power can summon allies from the Wilds and call upon the rage of nature to mass-destroy the artifacts of industry.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum EP.
Shapeshifting spells have several requirements and limitations, by default:
All shapeshifting spells require a 10 minute ritual, last for 4 hours with concentration, require a 10 minute de-transition period, and cause physical exhaustion in the target after the detransition.
When a target transforms, its HP is rescaled to the same proportion of the new form's HP, and the same when detransitioning.
While transformed, you can make the animal's attacks using your choice of Brawl or Verdancy skill. You cannot cast spells while transformed.
You must have sufficient free space to transform or de-transform. Missed or failed detransitions risk further exhaustion, harm, permanency, mutation or loss of sapience.
Main usage:
Transforming people into animals, plant-based attacks, buffs and debuffs, fey rituals. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but you gain a fungal infection which makes you unable to be healed until cured.
You fail and arcane fungus proliferates on all surfaces within 10m of you, creating a cloud of toxic spores that causes a chance for confusion and a chance for poison.
2
Your spell is cast, but arcane plants grow profusely within 3m of you, making it difficult for anyone within 10m to see or move.
Instead of your spell, thorny arcane vines spring up from the ground around you and restrain you tightly, constricting you with thorns for 2 damage now and at the start of each future round.
3
Your spell is cast, but afterwards your left arm becomes a 1d4: [whale flipper, tiger paw, tree branch, snake] for 1 hour.
Instead of your spell, you transform yourself into a 1d4: [squirrel, crab, skunk, goose] for 1 hour as if you had cast Shapeshifting with that animal in mind. No concentration required.
4
Your spell is cast, but you also cast Plant Growth in a random area nearby, costing an additional 3 EP.
Instead of your spell, you magically summon 4 animals: 1d4: [ monkeys, geese, boars, cobras ] They are surprised and confused by the sudden transition.
5
Your spell is cast, but the plants or animals you invoke are of the wrong type in a way that is less effective.
Instead of your spell, you summon large amounts of and animals made of blown glass in a 2m radius around you.
6
Your spell is cast, but in addition, a flood of rodents pours out from your shoes into the area. Everyone in the area takes 1 damage from rodent bites if they are standing on the floor, with a chance for disease.
Many religions of the Blue Flame sector feature prophets, saints and demigods who were masters of this arcane discipline. The ability to heal instantly at a touch is as miraculous as it is rare and difficult to master. Countless suffering poor families pray that a holy angel will come to relieve their ailments with a gentle embrace. Because doctors are in high demand and short supply, the skills of a talented Vivithurge are so desired that it borders on worship. But if you accidentally cause a patient to grow horns, the reaction may be different.
Direct mechanical effects:
Add this skill to your maximum EP.
Healing and curing spells do not work on robots, constructs or undead, but do work on animals, aliens and monsters.
Main usage:
Healing the injured and sick, temporary and permanent bodily mutations, performance enhancing buffs. See the spells list for details.
When spellcasting fails or critically fails, start by rolling 1d6 to add a dramatic miscast effect that changes the situation. Once you are accustomed to the standard effects, improvise your own of an appropriate severity level.
1d6
Fails
Critical Failures
1
Your spell is cast, but your EP begins to bleed from your eyes as a blue fluid. -1 EP per round until 0 unless you meditate for a full 10 minutes.
You fail and realize that your arcane methods cannot accomplish this goal in this exact situation, medicine/science is needed instead.
2
Your spell is cast, but it drains 4 of your HP immediately as you cough up blood.
Instead of your spell, you cause the situation to become worse, generally the opposite of the intended effect.
3
Your spell is cast, but causes you to begin bleeding profusely from your nose: 1 damage per round until treated.
Instead of your spell, you cause a minor mutation in the target (or yourself if no target): 1d6: [horns, fur, scales, long tail, gliding wings, talons]. The mutation fades if you refrain from Vivithurgy for 2 hours.
4
Your spell is cast, but you gain 1 level of physical exhaustion.
Instead of your spell, you accidentally summon a surly creature of shaped flesh: [bull demon, blood elemental, doppelganger, shoggoth].
5
Your spell is cast, but you cannot cast any more Vivithurgy spells for 1 hour.
Instead of your spell, you open a portal to a random dimension, world or realm of flesh and blood, which lasts for 30 minutes or until dispelled.
6
Your spell is cast, but the flesh of this world grows wary of you. The difficulty for all Vivithurgy spells increases by +2 for 4 hours.