New Skills For New Punks

Animal Handling (Empathy based) The individual with this skill is experienced in dealing with and controlling animals. He or she can direct and train animals in guard or huinting duties and can controla nd ride beasts of burden and riding animals. All skill difficulties are reduced by the animal's intelligence. to make a trained animal follow a simple command (10) to ride a trained animal at a gallop (15) to shepherd a flock of sheep (12) to train a hunting/guard animal (20) to break a wild horse (25) Berserker (anti-cool based, x2 cost) This is a special ability that is taken by some rare members of various booster gangs and some nomad warriors. It is the raw ability to go unhinged in combat, ignoring damage and fear and rushing in for the kill. To go berserk requires a roll HIGHER than (COOL +2 - Berserk) which can be made every round in combat, or even when insulted or highly irritated. Characters who are berserk gain half their berserker level on all stun saves, and one third on all death saves. They also gain +2 to hit and damage in hand-to-hand combat. Berserkers must make an average (15+) awareness check to notice when the fight is over or they may well turn on their friends or nearby innocents (something which is encouraged by many gangs). BodyArt (Tech based) This skill covers several forms of non-cybernetic body-modification as well as being useable for the implanting of a very select collection of fashionware (light tattoos, fashion nails). This is a catch-all ability covering body piercing (placing metal rings through the flesh), tattooing (pushing pigments below the skin of the recipient to provide permanent designs), body painting (using paints and pigmens to change the appearance of the skin), minor implants (fashion implants, or other implant cyberware at the GMs approval, requiring a very difficult roll since this skill does not specifically include that training), branding (burning the skin / flesh to provide a permanent marking) and scarification (cutting the skin to provide scars in a predesigned pattern). Carousing (Cool based) The ability to have a good time at a party or other social occasion, and to make sure others around you also have a good time. This normally involves a mixture of eating, drinking and good cheer. It can also be used to determine how entertaining and popular the character is at a party or event. Combat Engineering (Int based, 3x cost) The individual with this skill has had a degree of practical training in combat engineering. This involves the rapid construction of field fortifications, fortification camouflage, and the assessment of a fortification's ability to withstand enemy fire or explosives. Combat engineering also involves mine placement and clearance and placement of untended ground sensors and defensive arrays. Combat Engineering does NOT include the use and placement of explosives (as covered by Demolitions) but can be used instead of demolitions to determine the optimal placement of explosive devices to collapse a structure at one difficulty level easier. Communications Tech (Tech based) This is the skill for using, implementing, setting up and patching into advanced communications equipment and systems. At it's basics (+2) it gives an understanding of telephone and computer networking, (+4) closed radio (land line and laser based) systems, and at high levels (+6) it allows for patching into and even (+8) pirating satellite transmitted feeds. This skill also includes understanding why a communications deveice is not working properly as well as being aware of the details and limitations on the device's possible use. Cooking (Tech based) This individual is experienced in the preperations of foodstuffs in an enjoyable and appealing manner. This skill is rarely seen outside of restaurants and hotels in 2020, and is often only found in subsumed in the Steward skill presented below. With this skill the character knows how to make balanced meals (+1), cook standard american fare (+2), cook elegant meals (+4) and even can make kibble look (+5) or taste (+7) edible. Forensics (Int based, 2x cost) The individual is skilled at gathering and interpreting evidence at the scene of a crime or accident. Special forensics equipment is sometimes needed. The character learns to look for fresh blood splatters and footprints (+2), fingerprinting techniques (+4), fibre and hair sampling (+5) and DNA sampling techniques (+7). Gaming (Int based) Also known as "dice-chuckin'" or "card-floppin'", this is the skill of playing or running an effective role-playing game, card game, war game, etc. This skill is purely for entertainment value, and rarely becomes useful in game play. Genetics (Tech based) The individual is trained in the science of organisms. Genetics is a combination of biology and chemistry, and training in Biochem or Biotech (a double cost skill) is considered to include basic Genetics training in addition. Genetecists can determine the species and physical details of a tissue sample (the latter only if it's a well-catalogued species) as well as being able to modify and splice genes. All of these abilities are dependant on access to an advanced lab. Linguistics (Int based, 2x cost) This skill denotes the understanding of languages and language families, not the actual comprehension of other languages. Characters with Linguistics can: Understand something spoken in a dialect of a language they know (average) Understand something explained slowly in a language in the same family as one they know (difficult) Identify the family of a language being spoken (routine) Identify the exact language being spoken (average) Manufacture a new language (very difficult) Make themselves understood using simple communication skills (average) Communicate detailed information as above (difficult) Lip Reading (Int based) This is the ability to understand speech without hearing it, just by watching mouth movements. Though you will not pick up on every word, you can usually figure out the gist of a sentence without too much trouble. You can lip read: Person talking slowly and clearly or in a very loud environment (dif 7) Person talking fairly slowly, or in ideal circumstances (routine) Most circumstances with full concentration (average) Bad conditions (bad light, long distance, pretending not to be watching) (difficult) Recruiting (Emp/Int based) The character is familliar with the more effective means of approaching individuals and presenting proposals for employment, couched in terms most likely to produce acceptance. Recruiting affects both the quality and quantity of recruits who will respond to a request for application. Recruiting can obtain nonplayer character hirelings with skills suited for specific tasks, while Leadership and Charismatic Leadership tend to attract indiscriminately all within the range of the character's personality, skilled or otherwise. Steward (Emp/Int based, 2x cost) The individual is experienced and capable in the care and feeding of passengers and guests. This represnets a general knowledge of cooking, personal care and attention and other areas of experience which will make passengers, guests, crew and employees happy and content with their stay or passage. SuperWeapons (Int & Tech based) The one and only skill for hacking into and firing Orbital Weapons Systems at your friends, neighbours and countrymen. Full rules for it's use and some thoughts on the Weapons Systems themselves are on their own seperate page. Tactics (Int based, x2 cost) This skill is the special ability of most military carreer characters, and is the ability to coordinate and take part in group actions to form functional cover fire, spotting, evasion and coordinating firezones, entrapment maneuvers, etc. In game terms, a group that has some means of communication can pool all their (Tactics-2) levels together, and characters can take points out of this pool as bonuses on their rolls for this turn (a maximum of their tactics level +2 can be used from the pool each turn, and the character must have tactics at +2 or better to access the pool at all) until the pool is empty. The pool refills at the beginning of each combat round. Once this skill reaches level 6 or higher, it also functions as a reduced version of Authority, usually at half level (when the character is in uniform), but at full level in appropriate emergency situations (military-aided relief efforts, warzones, etc).