SKILL BASICS

Skills are learned abilities, a combination of training (the skill) and natural talent (an ability rank).
Each skill has a rank, used as a bonus to the die roll when using the skill. To make a skill check,
roll:

[d20 + skill rank + ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers]

UNTRAINED SKILL CHECKS

Generally, if you attempt a task requiring a skill you don’t have, you make a skill check as normal.
Skill rank doesn’t apply because you don’t have any ranks in the skill. You do get other modifiers,
however, such as the skill’s ability modifier. Many skills can only be used if you are trained in them.
Skills that cannot be used untrained are marked with a “No” in the “Untrained” column on the
Skills table and listed as “Trained Only” in their descriptions. Attempts to use these skills untrained
automatically fail. In some cases, a skill may have both trained and untrained aspects; if you do not
have any ranks in that skill, you can only use the untrained ones.

INTERACTION SKILLS
Certain skills, called interaction skills, are aimed at deal-ing with others through social
interaction. Interaction skills allow you to influence the attitudes of others and get them to cooperate
with you in one way or another. Since interaction skills are intended for dealing with others so-
cially, they have certain requirements. First, you must be able to interact with the subject(s) of the

1/2 Skills Basics

skill. They must be aware of you and able to under-stand you. If they can’t hear or understand you
for some reason, you have a –5 circumstance penalty to your skill check (see Circumstance
Modifiers in The Basics). Interaction skills work best on intelligent subjects, ones with an
Intellect rank of –4 or better. You can use them on creatures with Int –5, but again with a –5
circumstance penalty; they’re just too dumb to get the subtleties of your point. You can’t use
interaction skills at all on sub-jects lacking one or more mental abilities. (Try convincing a rock to
be your friend—or afraid of you—sometime.) The Immunity effect (see the Powers chapter) can
also render characters immune to interaction skills. You can use interaction skills on groups of
subjects at once, but only to achieve the same result for everyone. So you can attempt to use
Deception or Persuasion to convince a group of something, or Intimidation to cow a crowd, for
example, but you can’t convince some indi-viduals of one thing and the rest of another, or
intimidate some and not others. The GM decides if a particular use of an interaction skill is effective
against a group, and may apply modifiers depending on the situation. The general rules for
interaction still apply: everyone in the group must be able to hear and understand you, for example,
or you suffer a –5 on your skill check against them. Mindless subjects are unaffected, as usual.

MANIPULATION SKILLS
Some skills, called manipulation skills, require a degree of fine physical manipulation. You need
prehensile limbs and a Strength rank or some suitable Precise power effect to use manipulation
skills effectively. If your physical manipulation capabilities are impaired in some fashion (such as
having your hands tied or full use of only one hand), the GM may impose a circumstance modifier
based on the severity of the impairment. Characters lacking the ability to use manipulation skills
can still have ranks in them and use them to oversee or assist the work of others (see Team
Checks, page 16).

2/2 Skills Basics