Skills

Your character's competence is split in two. Attributes are the seven innate traits you're built with; skills are the specific things you get better at by doing them. Almost every uncertain action runs a skill check, which blends two attributes and one skill into a target number and rolls d100 under it. Attributes carry at least 60% of that number and the skill the other 40%, so the skill is the part of any check you grow through play.

This page is a directory of every skill: what it covers, what you'd use it for, and the stats a check leans on. For how skills improve and the XP behind them, see Progression: Skills. For how a check actually resolves, see Skill Checks.

Reading the example checks. Each entry shows one or more checks as a stat split, like climbing — muscle 30% · motion 30% · athletics 40%. The two attributes and the skill are weighted to sum to 100%, and gear and circumstance then shift the result by a bonus clamped to ±30. Some splits below are the exact weights the game uses; others show the standard pattern a skill follows where the specific task or weapon decides the precise numbers. You can watch your own checks as they happen with @prefs +show_checks.

Contents

• Attributes
• General Skills — Athletics, Scavenge, Survival, Security, Hacking, Driving, Repair, Fuck
• Combat Skills — Dodge, Parry, Block, Wrestling
• Weapon Skills — Fists, Blades, Polearms, Whips, Primitives, Pistols, Longarms, Automatics, Heavy, Exotics
• Crafting and Technical Skills — Fabrication, Electronics, Science, Cooking, Tailoring, Artistry, Medic, Surgery, Cybernetics, Genetics

Attributes

Attributes are fixed in character creation and lock in for good once your newbie period ends; after that only ascension lifts them. A score of 30 is average, 55 is exceptional, and an unmodified human rarely passes 60–65. Every check leans on two of them.

General Skills

Athletics

Raw physical movement: running, climbing, swimming, jumping, and hurling things. It carries you over, across, and out of the terrain that's trying to stop you.

• Climbing — muscle 30% · motion 30% · athletics 40%
• Swimming — motion 40% · grit 20% · athletics 40%
• Throwing — senses 40% · motion 40% · athletics 20%

Scavenge

Pulling something worth keeping out of the ruins. Used when you pick over a room, a corpse, or a wreck for salvage that a careless eye would miss.

Scavenging a room — ego 40% · motion 20% · scavenge 40%

Survival

Reading and enduring the wasteland: foraging, finding safe ground, and searching an area for what isn't obvious. Searching a room for concealed ways out runs on this skill, so it's how you turn up hidden exits.

Searching an area — ego 20% · senses 40% · survival 40%

Security

Locks, alarms, and security hardware, both defeating them and fitting them. Used to crack a sealed door or to harden one of your own.

• Picking a lock — ego 40% · security 60%
• Installing security — ego 40% · security 60%

Hacking

Breaking into computers, terminals, and electronic systems, and bending them to your purpose. Used to crack a locked terminal, beat an electronic lock, or pull data that wasn't offered.

Intrusion — ego 40% · senses 20% · hacking 40%

Driving

Operating and controlling vehicles. Used to hold a machine together at speed, take a corner you shouldn't, or push across broken ground.

Handling at speed — motion 40% · senses 20% · driving 40%

Repair

Restoring damaged gear to working order. Used to nurse a failing weapon, mend a worn tool, or bring salvage back from junk.

Repairing an item — ego 60% · repair 40%

Fuck

Skill in sex: pacing, technique, and reading a partner. The full system, including arousal and compatibility, lives on the Sex page.

Sex — moxie 30% · motion 30% · fuck 40%

Combat Skills

These resolve the defensive and grappling side of a fight. The offensive side lives under Weapon Skills below, and how a defended hit becomes lost health is covered in Damage Reduction.

Dodge

Getting your whole body clear of an attack. Used to slip a swing or stay out of a line of fire.

Dodging — motion 60% · dodge 40%

Parry

Turning aside an incoming melee attack with a weapon of your own. Used to meet a blade with a blade rather than take the hit.

Parrying — motion 40% · senses 20% · parry 40%

Block

Stopping an attack with a shield or braced guard. Used to catch a blow on something solid instead of your body.

Blocking — muscle 40% · grit 20% · block 40%

Wrestling

Grappling, holds, takedowns, and close-quarters control. Used to pin an opponent, break free of a grab, or fight where there's no room to swing.

Grappling — muscle 40% · motion 20% · wrestling 40%

Weapon Skills

Every family of weapon trains its own skill, and an attack check pairs that skill with the attributes the weapon rewards. The exact split shifts from weapon to weapon: a shotgun leans on muscle where a hunting rifle leans on senses. Each example below is representative, and the weapon skill always sits at 40%. See Firearms for the ranged-combat side.

Fists

Unarmed striking: punches, kicks, and bare-handed brawling.

Typical strike — muscle 30% · motion 30% · fists 40%

Blades

Knives, swords, machetes, and anything with an edge swung in hand.

Typical swing — muscle 30% · motion 30% · blades 40%

Polearms

Spears, staves, and other long hafted weapons that fight at reach.

Typical thrust — muscle 40% · motion 20% · polearms 40%

Whips

Flexible reach weapons that reward timing and finesse over force.

Typical lash — motion 40% · senses 20% · whips 40%

Primitives

Bows and other drawn or simple weapons. Power comes from the body as much as the aim.

Bow shot — muscle 45% · senses 15% · primitives 40%

Pistols

One-handed firearms, fired fast and close.

Pistol shot — senses 30% · motion 30% · pistols 40%

Longarms

Rifles and shotguns fired braced from the shoulder.

• Shotgun — muscle 40% · senses 20% · longarms 40%
• Hunting rifle — muscle 20% · senses 40% · longarms 40%

Automatics

Fully automatic firearms and submachine guns, fed by sustained fire.

• Assault rifle — muscle 30% · senses 30% · automatics 40%
• Submachine gun — senses 30% · motion 30% · automatics 40%

Heavy

Heavy weapons and ordnance that take strength and steadiness to bring to bear.

Typical burst — muscle 40% · grit 20% · heavy 40%

Exotics

Energy weapons and other unconventional arms outside the usual families.

Typical shot — senses 30% · motion 30% · exotics 40%

Crafting and Technical Skills

Crafting skills turn materials into goods, and each weights its own discipline at 50% over two attributes, most often ego and senses. Components, tools, work time, and how quality is decided live on the Crafting page. The medical skills sit in this group because they run on the same machinery.

Fabrication

Building physical goods from raw stock: weapons, armor, structures, and machinery.

Fabrication — muscle 25% · senses 25% · fabrication 50%

Electronics

Assembling circuitry, wiring, and electronic devices.

Electronics — ego 25% · senses 25% · electronics 50%

Science

Chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and laboratory work.

Scientific crafting — ego 25% · senses 25% · science 50%

Cooking

Preparing food and drink. How meals fill you and keep you healed is on the Food page.

Cooking — ego 25% · senses 25% · cooking 50%

Tailoring

Making and fitting clothing and soft goods, where presentation counts as much as construction.

New garment — ego 30% · moxie 20% · tailoring 50%

Artistry

Creative and decorative work: pieces made to be looked at rather than used.

Typical piece — ego 30% · moxie 20% · artistry 50%

Medic

First aid and field medicine: inspecting wounds and treating them on the spot. What wounds do and how healing works is on the Wounds & Treatment page.

• Inspecting a wound — ego 20% · senses 40% · medic 40%
• Treating a wound — ego 40% · motion 20% · medic 40%

Surgery

Invasive procedures beyond first aid: operating to fix what bandages can't.

Typical operation — ego 25% · senses 25% · surgery 50%

Cybernetics

Fabricating and installing cyberware. The implants themselves are covered under Augmentation.

Cybernetics crafting — ego 25% · senses 25% · cybernetics 50%

Genetics

Genetic engineering and mutation work, the biological side of Augmentation.

Genetic engineering — ego 25% · senses 25% · genetics 50%

See also

• Skill Checks — how two attributes and a skill become a success chance.
• Progression: Skills — how skills improve, the cost curve, and the lifetime XP cap.
• Firearms, Crafting, Wounds & Treatment — systems where these skills get used.