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1 HERO SYSTEM SKILLS A Supplement for the HERO System Author: Steven S. Long Editing and Developing: Darren Watts Layout & Graphic Design: Andy Mathews & Bill Bunny s Got Mad Skillz Keyes Cover Illustration: Brendan and Brian Fraim Interior Illustration: Brett Barkley, Nate Barnes, Storn Cook, Robert Cram Jr., Andrew Cremeans, Keith Curtis, Jonathan Davenport, Brendan and Brian Fraim, Malcolm Harrison, Erich Von Hase, Nick Ingeneri, Sam Kennedy, Eric Lofgren, Roberto Marchesi, Cara Mitten, Terry Pavlet, John Ridley, Scott Ruggles, Klaus Scherwinski, Greg Smith, Chris Stevens, Derrick Thomas, Frank Walls Special Thanks First of all, special thanks to the Skill Squad Hero fans with knowledge of various subjects covered in this book who chipped in their own learning, experiences, and ideas to make it as good as possible: Gordon Cell Phone Man Feiner; W. Scott Navigating Forgery Field; Robert P. Gorham; Scott Dr. Anomaly Gray; Brian Hatch; Daniel Ionizing Radiation Scans Kassiday; Randy The Paramedic Madden; Tom McCarthy; Jennifer Mistress Of Disguise McCollom; A. Mark The Engineering Guy Ratner; and Jason JmOz Wedel. Second, we d like to thank all the fans who took the time to visit the Ultimate Skill message boards and post their comments, suggestions, and ideas. We appreciate your willingness to help make this book even better! HERO System TM is DOJ, Inc. s trademark for its roleplaying system. HERO System Copyright 1984, 1989, 2002, 2009 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved. The HERO System Bestiary Copyright 2002, 2010 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved. Champions, Dark Champions, and all associated characters Cryptic Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. Champions and Dark Champions are trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. Champions and Dark Champions are used under license from Cryptic Studios, Inc. Star Hero, Justice Inc., Danger International, Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, and Pulp Hero Copyright 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or computerization, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher: DOJ, Inc., 226 E. 54th Street, #605, New York, NY Produced and distributed by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. Stock Number: DOJHERO1008 ISBN Number:

2 INTRODUCTION... 4 CHAPTER ONE: SKILL RULES BUYING SKILLS... 6 SKILL COST STRUCTURES... 6 SKILL COST CALCULATIONS... 6 Changing Skill Costs... 6 COMBINING SKILLS... 9 SKILL PERIOD SKILL ROLLS STANDARD SKILL ROLLS Altering The Skill Roll Smoothing The Skill Roll Curve SUCCESS AND FAILURE Successful Skill Rolls Failed Skill Rolls Hiding Skill Roll Results UNTRAINED SKILL USE SKILL VERSUS SKILL CONTESTS COMPLEMENTARY SKILLS SKILL SPECIALIZATIONS EXTRAORDINARY SKILL ROLLS BASE TIMES LEARNING SKILLS How To Learn A Skill Time To Learn A Skill Improving Existing Skills Skill Atrophy SKILL MODIFIERS GENERAL MODIFIERS... MODIFIERS FOR SKILL CATEGORIES Agility Skill Modifiers Intellect Skill Modifiers Interaction Skill Modifiers Perceptive Skill Modifiers Technological Skill Modifiers EVERYMAN SKILLS CREATING EVERYMAN SKILL LISTS EVERYMAN SKILL LISTS BY GENRE SKILL ENHANCERS THE ENHANCERS Other Skill Enhancers Universal Enhancers Other Ways To Buy Lots Of Background Skills OTHER GAME ELEMENTS PERKS TALENTS POWERS POWER ADVANTAGES POWER LIMITATIONS POWER FRAMEWORKS Table of Contents CHAPTER TWO: THE SKILLS SKILL CATEGORIES Agility Skills Background Skills Combat Skills Intellect Skills Interaction Skills Other Skill Categories THE SKILLS ACROBATICS ACTING ANALYZE ANIMAL HANDLER AUTOFIRE SKILLS BREAKFALL BRIBERY BUGGING BUREAUCRATICS CLIMBING COMBAT DRIVING COMBAT PILOTING COMBAT SKILL LEVELS COMPUTER PROGRAMMING CONCEALMENT CONTORTIONIST CONVERSATION CRAMMING CRIMINOLOGY CRYPTOGRAPHY DEDUCTION DEFENSE MANEUVER DEMOLITIONS DISGUISE ELECTRONICS FAST DRAW FORENSIC MEDICINE FORGERY GAMBLING HIGH SOCIETY INTERROGATION INVENTOR KNOWLEDGE SKILL LANGUAGE LIPREADING LOCKPICKING MARTIAL ARTS MECHANICS MIMICRY NAVIGATION ORATORY PARAMEDICS PENALTY SKILL LEVELS PERSUASION POWER PROFESSIONAL SKILL RAPID ATTACK RIDING SCIENCE SKILL SECURITY SYSTEMS SEDUCTION SHADOWING SKILL LEVELS SLEIGHT OF HAND STEALTH STREETWISE SURVIVAL SYSTEMS OPERATION TACTICS TEAMWORK TRACKING TRADING TRANSPORT FAMILIARITY TWO-WEAPON FIGHTING VENTRILOQUISM WEAPON FAMILIARITY WEAPONSMITH NEW SKILLS ARMORSMITH DIVINATION FEINT HOIST INSTRUCTOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FAMILIARITY PARACHUTING POISONING RESEARCH CHAPTER THREE: SKILLS AND EQUIPMENT SKILLS AND EQUIPMENT AUTOMATONS COMPUTERS VEHICLES BASES Laboratories SKILL GEAR CHAPTER FOUR: ADVENTURING WITH SKILLS SKILLS IN COMBAT ENTERING COMBAT FIGHTING ENVIRONMENTS GRAVITY UNDERWATER

3 4 Introduction Hero System 6 th Edition INTRODUCTION ABBREVIATIONS This book uses the following abbreviations to refer to other HERO System books: 6E1: The HERO System 6 th Edition, Volume I: Character Creation 6E2: The HERO System 6 th Edition, Volume II: Combat And Adventuring APG: The HERO System Advanced Player s Guide HSB: HERO System Bestiary HSMA: HERO System Martial Arts Since the earliest days of the HERO System, the Skills have been one of the most important parts of the rulebook. Skills factor into every single genre particularly the Heroic genres, where they may form the bulk of the characters abilities. After all, one of the ways gamers and fans of adventure fiction tend to define hero is a person of great skill and competence. Think about how many characters are described as being superb shots with a gun, the world s best cat burglar, tops in the field of demolitions/security/computers/ whatever, and so on. All of those abilities are represented, in HERO System terms, with Skills. Despite this, Skills have received relatively little attention in published products. The Hero genre books and a few other supplements have touched on the application of given Skills in specific situations or settings, but no book has talked about the subject of Skills in general. HERO System Skills was written to make up for this lack. It examines the subject of Skills from numerous perspectives. It addresses Skills not only in general terms as a major game element within the HERO System as a whole but specifically, on a Skill-by-Skill basis, with new information and rules about every Skill (and several new optional Skills). As always, all the new and expanded rules in this book are strictly optional. Check with your GM before using them to create characters. Chapter One, Skill Rules, provides general rules for Skills in the HERO System. It reviews all aspects of Skills buying them, making Skill Rolls, Complementary and Extraordinary rolls, Skill Modifiers, and more in detail, providing not only more information about them but expanded or variant rules for the GM s consideration. Chapter Two, The Skills, contains the bulk of the book. It discusses the HERO System Skills one by one, providing detailed information about what characters can do with them, specific modifiers that apply to them, and how they work in various genres. After reviewing the existing Skills, Chapter Two provides several optional new Skills that players and GMs may want to use in their games. Chapter Three, Skills And Equipment, covers the topic of how Skills apply to and are bought for/by equipment such as Vehicles, Bases, and Automatons. It includes a section on laboratories and some examples of equipment that improve a character s chances to use various Skills. (You can also find equipment pertaining to some Skills in those Skills sections of Chapter Two.) Chapter Four, Adventuring With Skills, concludes the book with some information on how characters use Skills in combat and similar situations. The text of HERO System Skills includes all the text from 6E and APG Usually the text has been expanded or rewritten to the point where it s effectively new, but in places where no further elaboration was necessary or desireable, the text is reprinted as-is so that all the information about Skills in the HERO System is in one easilyreferenced volume.

4 Ch a p te r One : skill Rules

5 6 Skill Rules Hero System 6 th Edition BUYING SKILLS ODDS ON 3d6 As you evaluate the various options for Skill costs and calculations, it may help you to consider the odds of rolling a certain number or less on 3d6: Roll Odds on 3d % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % In the HERO System, a roll of 3 always succeeds, and a roll of 18 always fails, unless the GM rules otherwise, or a specific rule indicates a different result. See also the Modifier Effects table on page 32. Skills are abilities characters have learned or were trained to perform; in some cases, characters may be born with them. Examples of Skills include lockpicking, spaceship piloting, knowing all about politics, and fencing. While all characters possess basic knowledge of the world around them (they can speak their native language, do simple arithmetic, and so forth; see Everyman Skills, page 41), they do not all have the ability to pick locks or fire a gun. They must purchase such Skills with Character Points the same Character Points used to buy Characteristics and Powers. A character may obtain a Skill by paying the Character Point cost listed (usually 3 points). Once a character has bought a Skill, he may use that Skill over and over without paying any more Character Points. However, improving the character s ability in the Skill costs more points. The HERO System groups Skills into five categories for ease of reference when creating characters. The categories are: Agility Skills (Skills based on DEX); Background Skills; Combat Skills; Intellect Skills (Skills based on INT); and Interaction Skills (Skills based on PRE). These categories are discussed further beginning on page 62. Characters may have Skills from any or all categories. Skill Enhancers (see page 46) lower the cost of certain Skills. SKILL COST STRUCTURES The HERO System has five cost structures for Skills. Standard Characteristic-Based Skills The most common is the standard Characteristic-based Skill model: for 3 Character points, you get a base roll of (9+(CHAR/5)) or less; +1 to the roll costs +2 Character Points. Categorized Characteristic-Based Skills Characters buy some types of Characteristicbased Skills, such as Forgery, Gambling, and Survival, by limited categories. These Skills cost 2 Character points for a base roll of (9+(CHAR/5)) or less with one category, or 1 Character Point for that roll with a specific subcategory; subsequent categories also cost 2 Character Points. Improving the roll by +1 with all categories costs +2 Character Points. Three Skills (Animal Handler, Navigation, and Weaponsmith) differ slightly the first category costs 2 Character Points, and each subsequent category costs 1 Character Point. Background Skills Background Skills such as Knowledge Skill, Professional Skill, and Science Skill cost 2 Character Points for a base 11- roll. Characters can upgrade the base to a Characteristic Roll (typically an INT-Based roll) for +1 Character Point. Improving the roll by +1 costs +1 Character Point. Weapon And Transport Familiarities Weapon Familiarity and Transport Familiarity have a slightly different cost structure. The ability to use one subcategory (such as Blades or Camels) costs 1 Character Point. Knowing how to use an entire category of weapons or vehicles (such as Common Melee Weapons or Riding Animals) costs 2 Character Points... assuming characters are allowed to buy entire categories at once. Set Cost Skills Lastly, some Skills, such as Combat Skill Levels, Cramming, and Two-Weapon Fighting, have a set cost. These Skills typically don t have rolls. SKILL COST CALCULATIONS Most Skills consist of three components a character pays for: the base roll (9- in most cases); the bonus from the related Characteristic (typically CHAR/5); and the cost for increasing the roll (+1 to the roll for +2 Character Points for most Skills). By altering the cost and/or method of calculation for a Skill (or for Skills in general), you can make them more (or less) easy for characters to use, more (or less) common in the campaign, and so forth. Changing Skill Costs The existing Skill costs set forth in the standard rules are generally the best way to buy Skills, but not necessarily the only way. For some games the GM adjusts the cost structure to better represent the nature of the campaign setting, the GM s or players preferences regarding Skill purchase and use, or other factors. (See also the discussion on page 12 of Altering The Skill Roll, including disconnecting Skill Rolls from Characteristics, and the sections on unifying and/or subdividing Skills in each Skill s description in Chapter Two.) NO SUBDIVIDED SKILLS One of the anomalies in the current Skills cost structure is the existence of several Characteristic-

6 Hero System Skills Chapter One 7 Based Skills that characters must purchase by category: Animal Handler, Fast Draw, Forgery, Gambling, Navigation, Survival, and Weaponsmith. This represents a trade-off between realism /logic (for example, Why should someone who knows how to survive in the arctic have any inkling about how to survive in the Sahara? ) and the general dramatic action focus of the HERO System. For games that want to emphasize dramatic action or de-emphasize precise Skill use, this sort of subdivision of Skills may be unnecessary. In that case, the GM can simply rule that all those Skills are ordinary Characteristic-Based Skills, giving a character who buys them full access to all listed categories for the standard base cost of 3 Character Points. ALL SUBDIVIDED SKILLS Conversely, in campaigns that want to emphasize realism and heighten the distinctions between Skill-based characters, GMs may want to subdivide more Characteristic-Based Skills, if not all of them, so that they re bought and used like Gambling, Navigation, or Survival. Alternately, some GMs may find it worthwhile to split a single broad Skill into two or more Skills; for example, a GM could divide Security Systems into two Skills, Find Traps and Disarm Traps. The individual Skill descriptions in Chapter Two provide suggestions for categorizing or splitting most Skills. SKILL MAXIMA In some campaigns GMs confront the problem of Skill inflation of characters buying high Skill Rolls so that they rarely fail, thus skewing the game and making it difficult to realistically challenge them. To avoid or diminish this problem, some GMs use Normal Skill Maxima rules. Similar to Characteristic Maxima, a Skill Maxima places an upper limit on the level of ability a character can have with a Skill. The GM sets the upper limit; in most campaigns it s 13-. To raise a Skill Roll above the limit requires twice as many points as normal (and GM approval). For example, suppose Desdimona, an elegant and well-spoken chatelaine from a noble family, wants to raise her Conversation from 13- to 14-. This costs 4 points, rather than the normal 2. If a character has a Characteristic that s so high that he acquires a roll of 14- or higher by paying the standard Skill Cost, the cost of the Skill remains unchanged. However, if he wants to improve the Skill Roll, the Normal Skill Maxima rule applies. Skill Levels Since they would provide an inexpensive work-around for Normal Skill Maxima, characters in a campaign that uses Normal Skill Maxima may not buy Skill Levels unless the GM specifically permits them (which he rarely should). The exception is equipment that provides Skill Levels, such as a set of finely crafted lockpicking tools (+2 to Lockpicking rolls with the Focus Limitation). Penalty Skill Levels In the absence of Skill Levels, and with the increased cost of raising a Skill above 13-, Penalty Skill Levels become an important way for a character to improve his ability with a Skill (assuming the GM uses the optional rule that allows characters to buy PSLs to counteract negative Skill Modifiers). They allow a character to learn how to use a Skill in certain situations that ordinarily hinder people. (See page 248 for more information.) Spending Experience Points During the course of a campaign, a player may spend Experience Points on one of his Characteristics and as a result increase his Skill Roll. In this case, Normal Skill Maxima still applies, and the player must spend twice as many points to raise the Skill above 13-. Points previously spent on the Skill are not lost; they simply don t raise the roll until the total points spent raises it as per the rules above. Example: Sylarin has DEX 17 and Lockpicking 13- he spent 3 Character Points on Lockpicking, and another +2 points to increase the roll by 1, to 13-. After a few adventures, he spends 3 Experience Points to increase his DEX to 18. That s enough to increase his base DEX Roll to 13-, and his base Lockpicking roll to 13- as well. Since his base roll is now at the Normal Skill Maxima, the +2 Character Points previously spent to increase his Lockpicking roll now have no effect he still only has a 13- roll with Lockpicking. To raise it to 14-, he ll have to spend another +2 points (for a total of 4 points), per the Normal Skill Maxima rules. Increasing Skill Difficulty You can also apply Normal Skill Maxima rules, or something like them, to make it harder for characters to learn Skills with high rolls, reflecting the fact that acquiring basic knowledge of a Skill is fairly easy, but the more advanced one s study becomes the harder picking up new abilities can get. For example, maybe buying a Skill to 13- or less has the normal cost. Paying to increase the roll to 14- or 15- costs 3 Character Points per +1; increasing it to 16- or 17- costs 4 Character Points per +1; and any increase beyond 17- costs 5 Character Points per +1. SKILL COSTS BY GENRE In some cases, the GM may want to alter the cost of Skills according to the genre or setting of the campaign. In other words, he makes some Skills (the ones most appropriate or relevant to the genre/setting) cheaper so characters are more likely to buy them, and makes inappropriate Skills more expensive to discourage characters from purchasing them. In some ways you can think of this as a Template or Skill Enhancer that provides a savings for buying genre-/setting-appropriate Skills. For example, in a Dark Champions game where the GM wants to encourage a lot of fast-paced gunplay, he might reduce the cost of Autofire Skills, Fast Draw, Rapid Attack, and Two-Weapon Fighting.