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Chapter Two: Attributes and SkillsThis chapter describes the skills your character will use in the Stargate simulation, organized by the attributes that the skills fall under. Each skill will include three pieces of information. Time Taken: This is how long it takes to do something with that skill. Many skills (especially combat skills) can be used in one round--the shortest time measurement in the simulation. More complex skills, like Computer Hacking, may take a couple of rounds, a minute, hours, or even days. These are general guidelines. The supervisor can always customize the time taken depending on the situation. Specializations: You may choose one or more specializations for a skill. The kinds of specializations are explained, and several examples are provided. Information on purchasing and using specializations appears in the Characters chapter. Description: The skill description tells you what the skill governs and gives a few sample difficulties and modifiers. In addition, each skill may include one or more plus skills. These skills receive their own entry, but are alphabetized beneath their parent skill. Plus skills are described in detail in the Characters chapter. XXX BEGIN BOXED TEXT XXX
Skills ReferenceThe following is a master list of all skills in Stargate, grouped under their parent attribute. Specializations appear in parentheses next to the skill title. Plus skills are preceded by a "+:" and appear under their parent skill. The page number of the skill appears to the right.
MuscleClimb (Freehand Climbing, Mountain Climbing) xxJump xx Lift xx Run (Long Distance, Short Sprint) xx Swim (SCUBA Diving) xx
FlexDodge (kind of attack) xx+: Acrobatics xx Firearms (kind of firearm) xx +: Go'ald Staff-Beam xx +: Heavy Weapons (kind of heavy weapon) xx +: Sharpshooting (kind of firearm) xx Melee Combat (kind of weapon, Throw) xx +: Blindfighting xx +: Martial Arts xx Transport xx
SavvyAcademics (Research) xxLanguage xx Mechanical Ops (kind of machinery) xx +: Lockpick xx Medicine (Diagnosis, First Aid, Identify Poison) xx Military Ops (Cartography, Command, First Aid, Navigation, Tactics) xx Persuasion xx +: Con xx SG-1 Ops xx Stargate Theory & Operation xx +: Go'ald Culture xx +: Go'ald Mech/Tech Ops xx Special Ops (Hide, Shadow, Sneak, Survival, Track, Traps) xx +: Demolitions xx Talent xx Technical Ops xx +: Computer Hacking xx +: Security Systems xx XXX END BOXED TEXT XXX
Muscle SkillsMuscle is a measure of your character's overall physical prowess. How strong is he? How long can he run? How much can he lift? The skills that fall under Muscle are general physical/athletic skills. ClimbTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: Freehand Climbing (scaling sheer rock faces with no equipment), Mountain Climbing (scaling sheer rock faces with equipment) Description: This skill governs movement up, down, and across vertical surfaces, such as trees, the sides of buildings, cliffs, ladders (under duress) and other tricky vertical-movement situations. Climb Action Difficulty JumpTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This skills covers leaps in horizontal and/or vertical directions. The difficulty is determined by the distance jumped: +5 for each meter horizontally and +10 for each meter vertically. If, for example, a character wanted to leap two meters forward and one meter upward, the total difficulty would be 20 (5 + 5 + 10 = 20). LiftTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This is a character's ability to lift heavy objects. It's also the character's ability to carry something for a long time. The difficulty number depends on the weight of the object and how long it will be carried. When a character first lifts a heavy object, he must make a Lift check; the difficulty number (by weight) is found on the first chart below. At each interval listed on the second chart below, the character has to make another check to see if he can continue to carry the object or if he is so exhausted that he must put it down. If the character fails a roll, he must immediately put the object down. Lift Weight Difficulty Lift Time Difficulty RunTime Taken: One round or moreSpecializations: Long Distance, Short Sprint Description: This is the character's ability to run and keep his balance, especially in dangerous terrain. The difficulty number is based on the kind of terrain being crossed and how fast the character moves. See the Movement and Chases chapter for more information. SwimTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: SCUBA Diving (the use of SCUBA breathing equipment for depths below thirty feet) Description: This skill measures a character's ability to move efficiently and safely in water. Without this skill, a character in water runs a real risk of drowning. Swim Action Difficulty Flex SkillsFlex is a measure of your character's hand-eye coordination and the speed of his reflexes. Can he throw a baseball accurately? Can he aim and fire a gun well? Can he drive a truck steadily while someone is leaping into it from an adjacent car?DodgeTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: Kind of attack to be dodged, such as Firearms or Melee Combat Description: This is a reaction skill used to avoid any attack, including bullets, kicks, thrown items, and so forth. Characters using the Dodge skill are doing whatever they can to avoid the attack: slipping around a corner for cover, diving behind furniture, dropping to the ground, or any other maneuver to avoid getting hit. When you are attacked and choose to use the Dodge skill, you make a Dodge roll with no difficulty number. Whatever result you achieved becomes your attacker's difficulty number for this attack. Depending on the result of your roll, your attacker might have an easier or a harder time of successfully attacking you. Acrobatics (Dodge plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill is an enhancement to the Dodge skill that allows you to pull off especially tricky maneuvers, such as doing a drop-and-roll to surprise an opponent and come up swinging, or gymnastics moves common in professional competition or cartwheeling entertainment. Whereas Dodge is a purely reactive skill, used when someone is attacking you, Acrobatics can be used at any time to accomplish impressive feats of dexterity and to combine such feats with combat attacks of your own. Acrobatics can be used as an advanced/expanded form of Dodge, which means you can avoid an attack (hopefully) while also pulling off some useful strategic move. Acrobatics Action Difficulty FirearmsTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: Type of firearm used, such as Pistol, Rifle, and Submachine Gun; alternately, a specific firearm such as Desert Eagle .50, Browning Hi-Power 9mm, etc. could be a specialization. Description: The Firearms skill governs the use of any weapon that can be used to attack someone from a distance--a ranged weapon, in other words. Although the term "firearms" refers specifically to gunpowder/bullet weapons, the Firearms skill is interpreted broadly to encompass weapons such as bow-and-arrow, wire-launched tasers, missiles, and anything else that operates on a general aim-trigger-attack mechanism. Weapons that are thrown rather than operated from a distance--such as grenades, shuriken, and throwing knives--are governed by the Melee Combat skill (and by the Throw specialization, if taken). When a character shoots a ranged weapon, the difficulty number is based on the range to the target: the further away the target is, the higher the difficulty number. Each weapon has different ranges; weapons are described in the Weapons and Equipment chapter. If your die roll matches or exceeds the difficulty number, your attack hits. It's not always that simple, however. The target might use his Dodge skill to change your difficulty number, or might be partially protected by cover (he might be poking his head around a corner, for example). Situations such as these are explained in the Combat and Injuries chapter. Go'ald Staff--Beam (Firearms plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill is used to operate the Go'ald staff, an energy weapon of considerable power and precision. Aiming and operating this weapon is a very different process from that of normal firearms, and moreover this skill is only taught by SGC to those already conversant with firearms (which is why this is a plus skill). Difficulty numbers, ranges, and so forth for the Go'ald staff are given in the Weapons and Equipment chapter. The "Beam" designation on this skill indicates that it is only appropriate for use of the Go'ald staff as a ranged firearm. The Melee Combat skill (and the Go'ald Staff-Melee specialization) governs the use of the staff in hand-to-hand combat, where it generally operates like any other staff-type weapon. Heavy Weapons (Firearms plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: The specific class or type of weapon, such as Missiles, Heavy Machine Guns, Mortars, and so forth Description: This plus skill is a military-only expansion of the Firearms skill to cover heavy weapons not encountered in civilian life. Heavy weapons include items such as missiles, heavy machine guns, mortars, and other such devices. Sample weapons are given in the Weapons and Equipment chapter. Sharpshooting (Firearms plus skill)Time Taken: Two roundsSpecializations: The specific type of weapon Description: This plus skill governs long-range firearms attacks. In simple terms, the use of this skill allows the character to make a long-range attack at the short-range difficulty number; medium-range attacks are made at the short-range difficulty number with a +1D bonus to the roll; but it has no effect on short-range attacks. The use of a magnifying scope on the firearm confers additional benefits on any user: someone with a scope and the Sharpshooting skill is even more effective. This skill does not require a scope, however; the use of such equipment is a bonus to an already-impressive level of ability. Information on ranged attacks and scopes is provided in the Weapons and Equipment chapter. Melee CombatTime Taken: One roundSpecializations: A type of weapon, such as Go'ald Staff-Melee or Baseball Bat; Throw for weapons that are hurled at an opponent. Description: This skill governs attacks with any sort of hand-to-hand weapon, such as knives, swords, clubs, throwing axes, or even impromptu weapons such as chairs or vases. Information on melee weapons is provided in the Weapons and Equipment chapter. Blindfighting (Melee Combat plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill is used for melee combat in which there is no light source (such as at night or in a dark room) or in which the character does not have the use of sight (he might be blind, or just blindfolded). Normally, blindfighting would carry a -2D penalty; use of the Blindfighting skill removes this penalty. To attack in a blindfighting situation, first make a Blindfighting skill check. If successful, the character can immediately attack without any penalty for blindfighting. (The use of the Blindfighting skill does not count as an additional action.) Martial Arts (Melee Combat plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill is a generic name for any number of different fighting styles, ranging from street brawling to highly specialized styles such as tae kwon do or judo. It governs melee combat in which no weapon is used--the character is strictly using his body to make all attacks. Transport (X)Time Taken: One round plusSpecializations: None Description: This skill governs the use of vehicles. The term "vehicles" is broadly defined to include horses, cars, boats, planes, and so forth. When you purchase this skill, you must specify the type of transport that you are skilled at (that's the "(X)" portion of the skill title, where "(X)" represents the type of transport you can operate), and each type must be purchased separately. A character with Transport (Horse) has no ability with Transport (Sailboat) unless that skill has been purchased as well. As long as you have this skill for a given vehicle, you don't have to make skill checks for ordinary operation of the vehicle. Skill checks are only required for when you either don't have the specific skill for the type of vehicle you're operating (in which case you make a Flex check at a high difficulty number) or when you do have the specific skill for the type of vehicle you're operating but you're pulling a difficult maneuver. Savvy SkillsSavvy is a measure of your character's intellect, knowledge, interpersonal abilities, alertness and perception. Can you speak French? Can you pick a lock? Can you persuade someone to help you? Can you organize an effective strategic strike? Can you spot the hidden sniper?Academics (X)Time Taken: VariesSpecializations: Research Description: This skill governs different fields of academic learning, such as Ancient Languages or Electrical Engineering. When you purchase this skill, you must specify the academic category that you are skilled at (that's the "(X)" portion of the skill title, where "(X)" represents the type of academia you have studied), and each type must be purchased separately. A character with Academics (Russian Culture) has no ability with Academics (Electrical Engineering) unless that skill has been purchased as well. As a rule of thumb, any area of endeavor in which a character could receive a degree from a university is a valid subject for the Academics (X) skill. The Academics specialization Research is not tied to any one area, but instead represents an educated character's ability to perform effective research on any documented topic. Academics/Research: The user may conduct basic research to learn desired information about a given topic, be it a person, an event, a location, or what have you. If the topic is within the user's own Academics (X) skill area, the user may first make an Academics (X) skill roll; the result is deducted from the difficulty number for the subsequent Research check, thereby reflecting the user's personal knowledge of the topic. The difficulty number to learn the desired information is derived from the following tables. Complexity of Research Subject Difficulty Obscurity of Research Subject Difficulty Strength of Research Sources Used Difficulty Language (X)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This skill allows the character to speak, read, and write in a language other than his native language. When you purchase this skill, you must specify the language that you are skilled at (that's the "(X)" portion of the skill title, where "(X)" represents the specific language you have studied), and each language must be purchased separately. A character with Language (Russian) would have no skill at Language (Italian) unless that skill has been purchased as well. Language Action Difficulty Mechanical OpsTime Taken: VariesSpecializations: The specific type of machinery that the character is skilled at, such as Automobile Repair, Hydraulics, Naval Engine, and so forth. Description: This skill governs a character's ability to operate and repair mechanical systems involving pistons, gears, crankshafts, and so forth. Technical abilities such as electronics, microprocessors, and the like are governed by the Technical Ops skill. Mechanical Ops Action Difficulty Lockpick (Mechanical Ops plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill governs the character's ability to open mechanical locks such as those found in doors, safes, and other mechanical locks. Technical locks involving electronic security systems are governed by the Technical Ops/Security Systems plus skill. Lockpick Action Difficulty MedicineTime Taken: Minutes or hoursSpecializations: Diagnosis, First Aid, Identify Poison Description: This skill governs the use of various techniques, tools, and medicines to help cure the sick or injured of their ailments. A Medicine check may only be made once per day on a given subject. (If a subject has already received a First Aid attempt in the field and is then taken to a facility where a Medicine attempt is possible, the additional attempt is acceptable.) A successful check indicates that the subject's wound level drops by one. Without proper equipment and medicines (at least those of a small clinic or doctor's office--a first aid kit is insufficient), the difficulty number is increased by +5. Current Wound Level of Subject DifficultyMedicine/Diagnosis: The user may examine a human subject and deduce what ailments or injuries are present. Diagnosis Action Difficulty Time RequiredMedicine/First Aid: The user may perform emergency medical procedures in the field using limited equipment and medicines. A First Aid check may be made only once per day on a given subject. A successful check indicates that the subject's wound level drops by one. Without proper equipment and medicines (at least a first aid kit), the difficulty number is increased by +5. Current Wound Level of Subject DifficultyMedicine/Identify Poison: The user may determine whether or not a substance is poisonous. (Determining whether a subject's ailments are caused by some type of poison is governed by the Diagnosis specialization.) Identify Poison Action Difficulty Time Required Military OpsTime Taken: VariesSpecializations: Cartography, Command, First Aid, Navigation, Tactics Description: This skill represents the training acquired from a career in the military. (It can be taken by non-military characters, but only with reasonable justification for the possession of such knowledge.) In general, the skill allows the character to operate as a professional soldier and governs the use of most any area of basic military training. It does not govern more advanced/specialized areas such as firearms, melee combat, vehicle operation, engineering, and so forth--Military Ops is essentially what you learn in boot camp during your first few months of training. The major areas of this skill (each of which can be taken as a specialization) appear below. Note: the skill Special Ops governs more advanced field training appropriate to commando/infiltration units, and the two skills do not overlap; make sure you understand which one governs your area of interest. Military Ops/Cartography: The user may read and create maps of various types, from topographical to political. Cartography Action DifficultyMilitary Ops/Command: The user may convince other characters to do what they're told because of the user's confidence level and authoritative bearing. (It does not work on fellow player characters.) This is often used in combat situations, or anytime decisive action is critical. Command Action DifficultyMilitary Ops/First Aid: The user may perform emergency medical procedures in the field using limited equipment and medicines. A First Aid check may be made only once per day on a given subject. A successful check indicates that the subject's wound level drops by one. Without proper equipment and medicines (at least a first aid kit), the difficulty number is increased by +5. Current Wound Level of Subject DifficultyMilitary Ops/Navigation: The user may use references such as a compass, maps, landmarks, and global positioning systems to accurately and efficiently reach a destination on land, sea, or air. Lacking appropriate references (a common situation on alien worlds), the user works with local landmarks and dead reckoning. Keep in mind that compasses and global positioning devices do not work on alien worlds, and that the night sky will be unfamiliar; use of homing beacons and beacon detectors is standard procedure on all SGC missions, and such items qualify as "adequate navigation devices." Navigation Action DifficultyMilitary Ops/Tactics: The user may deduce how to deploy small military forces and maneuver them to his best advantage. This governs the strategy of effective military engagement, including analysis of likely deployment by a known enemy in a given situation. The difficulty number should be based on various factors of complexity within a battle: how many units or individuals are involved, the terrain, the opponent, and the training level, equipment, and preparedness present on both sides. PersuadeTime Taken: One round or longerSpecializations: None Description: This skill governs attempts to convince a character of something that is true but that may not be known or believed by the character. Persuasion relies on force of will and the confidence that comes from expressing a true statement. Persuade Subject Difficulty Con (Persuasion plus skill)Time Taken: One round or longerSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill is used to trick and deceive characters, or otherwise convince them of something (or to do something) that isn't in their best interest or that isn't truthful. It is identical to Persuade except that where Persuade relies on force of will and the confidence of truth, Con relies on force of will and the feigned confidence of truth. Con Subject Difficulty SG-1 OpsTime Taken: One round or longerSpecializations: Stargate Theory & Operation Description: This skill is taught by Stargate Command to its recruits, and covers both academic knowledge and hands-on practices. In terms of knowledge, SG-1 Ops reflects a basic understanding of the SGC project, stargates, known alien worlds and civilizations, known transplanted pre-industrial human cultures, the nature of the Go'ald, and the procedures of SGC field operations. This includes the operation of SGC equipment, including homing beacons and beacon detectors, the XXX ROVER EQUIPMENT-CARRYING THING XXX, and XXX WHATEVER OTHER TERRAN GIZMOS THEY USE XXX. SG-1 Ops/Stargate Theory & Operation: The user has an advanced knowledge of stargates, may recognize or implement coordinate sets to known destinations, and may analyze and repair defective stargates and dial-home devices with the proper equipment. Go'ald Culture (SG-1 Ops plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill represents a detailed knowledge of the Go'ald, encompassing everything presently known by SGC. Successful use of this skill could allow the user to pass for a Go'ald servant or recognize and understand a Go'ald ritual or event. Go'ald Mech/Tech Ops (SG-1 Ops plus skill)Time Taken: One roundSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill works identically to the Mechanical Ops and Technical Ops skills, but is only effective upon items/systems of Go'ald origin. (The user could repair a Go'ald craft, for example, but would be unable to repair an automobile.) To determine the difficulty number for the usage and/or repair of Go'ald items known to SGC, use the equivalent table entry under Mechanical Ops or Technical Ops. Go'ald items as yet unknown to SGC may also be used and/or repaired, but with a difficulty modifier of +5. Special OpsTime Taken: VariesSpecializations: Hide, Shadow, Sneak, Survival, Track, Traps Description: This skill represents the advanced training acquired from special-forces/commando duty in the military. (It can be taken by non-military characters, but only with reasonable justification for the possession of such knowledge.) In general, the skill allows the character to operate as a professional infiltrator within hostile enemy environments. The major areas of this skill (each of which can be taken as a specialization) appear below. Note: the skill Military Ops governs basic military procedures, training, and tactics, and the two skills do not overlap; make sure you understand which one governs your area of interest. Special Ops/Hide: The user may conceal objects from view. It is used when trying to hide weapons on one's person, conceal goods within luggage, plant objects to be left in a room, cover up an entrance, and other similar tasks. (Hiding yourself is covered by the Sneak specialization.) The result of the Hide die roll becomes the difficulty required for a character to perceive the hidden item with a Savvy check. Special Ops/Shadow: The user may follow a given target without losing sight of the target and without being noticed by the target. Shadow Action DifficultySpecial Ops/Sneak: The user may shroud his movements from the sight and hearing of others, including everything from hand gestures to his entire body. The result of the Sneak die roll becomes the difficulty required for someone to perceive the sneaking character with a Savvy check. Special Ops/Survival: The user knows how to survive in naturally hostile environments such as deserts, jungles, oceans, forests, mountains, and other dangerous terrain. Survival can grant general information about such terrain, as well as specific advice on dealing with native dangers. Survival can help locate the basics of life: shelter, food, water, natural medicines, and so forth. Survival Action DifficultySpecial Ops/Track: The user may follow the markings left by a person or creature. The difficulty depends on the terrain at hand. For each twenty-four hours that have passed since the tracks were made, add a +5 modifier to the difficulty level. Terrain Type DifficultySpecial Ops/Traps: The user may set, locate, and disable simple mechanical traps. Traps involving electronics are governed by the Security Systems plus skill of Technical Ops. Trap Type Set Difficulty Locate Difficulty Disable Difficulty Demolitions (Special Ops plus skill)Time Taken: One round to several minutesSpecializations: None Description: This plus skill governs a character's ability to set explosives for destructive purposes. A stick of dynamite (our basic unit of explosive measurement) lit and dropped does 3D of damage at short range, 2D of damage at medium range, and no damage at long range; using an explosive in this way does not require a Demolitions skill check. If the character wants to damage a specific target by setting and detonating a controlled explosion, use the following rules. (This approach also results in additional damage, since the explosion is prepared for a specific purpose.) The difficulty depends on the object being destroyed: Type of Object DifficultyIf the character beats the difficulty, he adds extra damage dice to the base damage. Find the number of points by which the character's die roll beat the difficulty number: Points Above Difficulty Extra DamageThis bonus is added to the explosive's base damage. Roll the damage against the object's Muscle strength, as given in the Combat and Injuries chapter. If that damage penetrates the obstacle, then the explosion succeeded. Note that if enough explosive is used, the roll becomes almost irrelevant (except in checking for mishaps). Talent (X)Time Taken: VariesSpecializations: None Description: This skill governs most any sort of creative ability or talent, such as singing, dancing, writing, gambling, and so forth. Technical OpsTime Taken: VariesSpecializations: The specific type of technology that the character is skilled at, such as Lighting, Microprocessors, Power Systems, and so forth. Description: This skill governs a character's ability to operate and repair technical systems involving wiring, circuitry, conduits, and so forth. Mechanical abilities such as automobile repair, hydraulics, and the like are governed by the Mechanical Ops skill. Technical Ops Action Difficulty Computer Hacking (Technical Ops plus skill)Time Taken: Five minutes to one hourSpecializations: Type or model of computer. Description: This plus skill governs the ability to override a computer's instructions and use it in ways not otherwise allowed--to access secure data, to malfunction at a designated time, etc. It covers both software and hardware hacking techniques. For computers accessed remotely--such as over the internet or a dial-up line--add a +5 modifier to the difficulty number. Type of Computer Difficulty Security Systems (Technical Ops plus skill)Time Taken: One round to several minutesSpecializations: Type or model of security device--Home Alarm, Coded Door Locks, etc. Description: This plus skill represents a character's knowledge of technical security systems involving electronics such as alarms, coded locks, electronic eyes, video cameras, and so forth. Type of Security Difficulty Other SkillsIn the course of the Stargate simulation, you may encounter situations in which no listed skill is appropriate to the task at hand. When such situations arise, the Supervisor may simply opt to have the attempt governed by an appropriate attribute rather than a skill. If your character is playing basketball, for example, your ability to play could be governed by the Flex attribute, perhaps with a high difficulty number if you have little experience with the game.However, it might be that you'd like to take a Basketball skill (or whatever) that you can improve over time like any other skill, to further distinguish your character's abilities and background. If so, consult with your Supervisor. Working together, you should be able to write up a skill description in the same format as the skills presented in this chapter. Make sure you consider whether your idea might really be a new specialization for an existing skill or perhaps a plus skill, rather than a completely new skill. What's the difference between a specialization and a plus skill? As a rule of thumb, a specialization is simply a focusing of interest within a parent skill's area of expertise. A plus skill, on the other hand, is an expansion of the parent skill into a related but advanced area of expertise.
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