Skills

Skillz that killz

Tools of the Trade

When it comes to skills, you start with 100 freebie points. Additionaly, you can also buy other things using these points, such as spells if you are a unicorn.

However, you may only increase a skill equal to your attribute score in them, plus 5. For example, if you have 10 Int, you may max increase an Int based skill with 15. Skills that have a split attribute score count as the first mentioned for the purpose of skill bonuses. If this would be First Aid, for example, you would add your Int to it.

Note: If your skill has a sub-tree in it, the further training goes in on only one of them as you spend time specializing with ex: one weapon type. If you choose to raise all 3 in a sub tree, you can do so for a cost of 2,5 per 1 rank in each. (rounded up once you have raised it to the point you are either satisfied or you've reached the maximum)

If a skill has equal amounts of an attribute in them, however, you take half of each, and round over to nearest whole number. Ex, Unarmed: If you got 9 Str and 5 Agi it would be 9 and 5, so the score would be 7 in that case. This can be important to remember.) A GM might also decide to just use the "primary attribute" (first mentioned) as the only one to count to lessen the fancy mathematics to muddle the issue. Or they can choose to divide it up even more (ex: First aid: 66,6 % Int, 33,3 % Wis. If they'd be that evil now that is. Remember: They are only playing their alignment.

Having training/tagged in a skill will give you a +15 bonus for primary, and a +7 for your secondary (+18 to primary if EP, and +10 to your 2 extra bonus skills) and allow you to roll a +1 die size when rolling to increase in that skill. (d4>d6>d8>aso) Things that are not covered within a skill you can either make an attribute check upon, relocate it to a existing skill since "it makes sense" to have it there. Or just decide that a player should not be able to do that. (althou, this should be done carefully. Freedom to do whatever the buck they want is an important part of RPG's. If they want to try and have intercourse with a heap of radioactive bones, let them. But make damn sure they'll suffer the consequences.)

Skills bellow marked with "*" means there is either a sub-tree of the skill, or a specialisation you must pick. You can "split" a training however. Gaining a +7(9 for EP) bonus to 2 skills in the same tree and the increased die on both. (They will for the record be raised simultaneously so to not be to much of a pain) Tagging all 3 raises it with 4 in each (5 for EP) and has the same mentioned effect as above. Every skill might be focused in a certain specialization with the freebie points even if they normally don't have a sub tree. For example: While empathy doesn't have a required "path" to pick. You can choose to spend points in raising it to only affect ex: Mares, unicorns. Or another species, such as griffon or zebra. This will increase the amount it's raised by 50 %. (8 points would become 12, 12 would become 18 etc) Delving even further within a skill such as: Female zebras or juvenile griffins would double the points spent. (5 would be 10, 10 become 20). Keep in mind this bonus however ONLY fully applies to the specific subject chosen (for balance reasons). So if you would have spent x2 in single projectile: Shotguns, combat shotgun. You only get the bonus for that type of shotgun. (However, for the purpose of making sense you gain 40 % of your total spec points towards similar subjects of the same category. Ie: other shotguns in this case)

Raising your current rank in a skill work the following: When you roll to use a skill and succeed, you count as having a success in said skill. Under 50 (specialisation or perk bonus not included) in a skill, you only need one success in a day to get to try and roll for a increase in it. If you roll above your current number in the skill, you get to raise it with a dice (usually a 1d4) and then increase it with the result of the dice. Tag skills profit from getting to roll a d6, as well as having their Int mod as the minimum number this skill can be raised. In addition, tag skill also have a +6 on confirming a roll to raise your skill. Once above 50 ranks you need 1 successes of a "hard" skill check, (ex: disarming a active lethal bomb, taking a long range shot with only once chance to make it or clearing a difficult negotiation) 3 average (disarming some semi-lethal traps, taking some challenging shots at mid range or striking some good deals with someone) or 5 easy tasks. (disarming some stray low-power mines, just hitting something or doing some barters without loosing to much profit) 80 and above, these numbers increase to 3 hard, 7 moderate and 12 easy. You get to roll to increase skills after sleeping for at least 6 hours (or a 24 hour period since first mark in worst case) Mark the box with a "X" if you get to try and raise, and fill the box if it was a crit.

Getting a critical/flawless roll however count as all your needed rolls for the day and grants you +25 on your confirmation roll to raise your skill. A fumble/botch however cuts your current progress, and you do not get to raise it that day, even if you have the required amount. Instead you'd have to wait until the next day. You can still collect more successes however (if above 40 and need more then one) but only to the maximum limit. Once at ex: 3 average success on a 40+ skill. It stays at 3, and once upon raising the skill, all progress in any of the others 2 categories are reset as well. Only exception is if you have all required rolls, then get a critical/flawless (not that you do not have to "confirm" these with the second roll, if you do confirm however, the bonus increase with an additional 20 to confirm if you get to raise it or not.) roll, then you will get to re-roll if you failed to get an increase with a +10 bonus. If a character has failed 3 raises in a row, they get a +50 modifier for all rolls to increase (stacks with any other bonus) until they get to increase their skill, then it goes away.

A character can also practice to gain access to a skill increase. Simply ~5 minute tutorial/explanation ranks 1-15, Around 30 minutes of practice/performing the task when around 16-40 ranks. 2 hours for 41-70 and 10 hours for 71-95. Cost for any materials that might be needed to use will have to be supplied. GM will have to deem what would be a "required" amount. Items will take durability decay as normal. Reading a book on the subject will count as a "unconfirmed critical" (+25) as well as give +5 in addition to any result whether or not the raise was a success. Characters with more then 75 is a skill may not learn anything from a book. And if raised to above 75, the maximum rank they can gain is 80. A character can reach more then 100 in a skill. For advancing above 100 the character has to roll above "100-Primary attribute for the skill" So for example a character with 10 Agi would need 90+ as a result to increase their skill in Small guns further (said rule also applies once a character pass over 90 with a skill, assuming their attribute is higher then the normal result. A character with ex: 93 first aid and 2 Int would be allowed to roll against 93 instead of 98.) All bonuses of flawless/critical still applies after 100, but they are cut in half. Since it is hard to master perfection after all. (Specializations does not count towards the current rank as noted)

Available Skills You May Use

● Small guns*: 5 + 4xAgi
1. Slugs/Single projectile
2. Rifles
3. Automatics

● Big guns*: 0 + 2xAgi+½Str
1. Heavy
2. Gatling
3. Flamers

● Magical Energy weapons*: 0 + 1½xAgi+½Int
1. Beams
2. Orbs
3. Goop

● Unarmed: 30 + (1Agi+1Str)x2

● Melee weapons*: 20 + (1Agi+1Str)x2
1. Blunt
2. Piercing
3. Slashing

● Throwing: 5 + 3xAgi

● Medicine*
1. First Aid: 5 + 2xInt+2xWis
2. Doctor: 0 + 1Wis+½Int+½Per

● Lore*: 5 + 2xWis+1Int
1.Medical Science
2.History
3.Knowledge
4.Arcana/Magical reasearch

● Larceny*
1. Stealth: 5 + 3xAgi
2. Lockpick: 5 + 1½xAgi+1½xPer
3. Sleight of hoof: 0 + 3xAgi

● Traps: 5 + 1Per+1Agi+½Int

● Evasion: 10 + 1½Agi+½Luc

● Science*: 0 + 4xInt

● Repair*: 0 + 3xInt

● Pilot: 0 + 2x(Agi+Str)+Per

● Perform* (Any): 5 + 3½xCha(+?)

● Profession*: 0 + 3xWis+???

● Craft* (Any) 0 + 2xInt+1½Wis(+?)

● Empathy: 10 + 2xCha+1Wis

● Speech* 5 +
1. Bluff: 3xCha+1Int
2. Diplomacy: 3xCha+1Wis
3. Intimidate: 3xCha+1Str

● Barter: 0 + 3xCha+1Int

● Gambling*: 0 + 4xLuc+½Int

● Outdoorspony: 0 + 2xWis+1(End+Int)

● Cultivation: 5 + 4xWis

● Hidden skill: (Monocle): You can use this roll once per
day instead of any other chosen roll. First choose "lower"
or "higher", then roll a d100, then roll under or above
said number you choose before. If you are wearing a
monocle, you can add or subtract from this number
equal to your wis or cha score.

In depth of each skill

Small guns:
This includes all smaller hoof or mouth held (and telekinetic) weapons that counts as firearms. (some The first section covers the following: Pistols, shotguns and any minor contraption such as the dartgun. (some non-firearms counts to) The second section covers rifles, carbines, snipers and any other long range (often) single shot weapon. As long as it's more "aim" then "fire", it belongs in the 2'nd section, otherwise it's the 3'rd. The third section covers anything "small" with a rate of rapid fire such as automatics, SMG's, Uzi and the like. If you are unsure if your weapon would be 2 or 3, just compare the amount of bullets in the magazine to the weapons ability to fire accurately.

Big guns:
Almost all the weapons in here require a battle saddle to use. At least if you plan to haul them around and fire somewhat accurately without penalties up the flank. The first section covers any heavy, single (often) shot weapon such as rocket launchers, anti-tank guns, anti-air, etc. The second covers the heavy stuff that prefers to perforate and barrage with tons of lead in rappid succession, such as: gatling guns, miniguns, pretty much anything that can dish out more then 2 shots per round. (speaking both of ammo and turn wise) The third covers anything that spews fire, or any sort of non-solid, non-magical material.

Magical Energy weapons:
Perhaps the most feared of the weapon types (at times), mainly due to the fact that you can't put a bandage over being turned to ash or sludge. These weapons are either enhanced with spells in gems, crystals, talismans and/or powered by spark batteries. Almost all ME:W are constructed or had aid by unicorns. Some few by zebra incantation or earth pony intuition. The First section covers the most well known type, lazers, beams and overall, any fast moving stream of light. Railguns fall into this category as well. The second category covers the often slower moving orbs, sphere and other particle canons. As long as it's somewhat cylinder shape and likely prismatic, it goes under here. The third and last one is "goop". This might sound odd, but this is really the best name we got for it. When you fire a gob of wibbly wobbly, slimy wimey... stuff that does... things, it's a bit hard to exactly file it under a category. If your weapon shoots, sprays or spews anything that is not a beam or a sphere, it should likely be in this category.

Unarmed:
This covers all hoof to hoof brawling, bucking and pretty much whatever you can come to think of. Want to bite something? Use unarmed. Anything you do with your body (with the intention of harming other things) goes under unarmed assuming you are not using any aid. Then it would be melee. Any part of your character can be used to attack with like stated, however, you might get a few penalties depending which part, and on the situation. If you try to slam your hindquarters down on somepony's face, it would be penalties unless they'd be prone on the ground right behind you. Melee weapons: This covers any and all blunt, sharp, triangular, floppy and/or flail-able objects your character could get their hooves or mouth on... or in... and to not make it to complicated, both light, medium and heavy weapons are accounted for in the same "training" to avoid to many skills. The first category covers anything not directly pointy such as bat's, pipes, maces or the like. If it has more chance to impact and break bones then cut open the skin. It is likely a blunt weapon. The second covers stabby, but not choppy weapons such as daggers, spears and the like. Weapons that rend and tear, but just aims to puncture skin or slash arteries goes under this category. The third covers the slice and dice department, anything that can gut or disembowel with relative ease are in here. Swords, axes cleavers, you name it.

Melee weapons:
This covers any and all blunt, sharp, triangular, floppy and/or flail-able objects your character could get their hooves or mouth on... or in... and to not make it to complicated, both light, medium and heavy weapons are accounted for in the same "training" to avoid to many skills.
The first category covers anything not directly pointy such as bat's, pipes, maces or the like. If it has more chance to impact and break bones then cut open the skin. It is likely a blunt weapon.
The second covers stabby, but not choppy weapons such as daggers, spears and the like. Weapons that rend and tear, but just aims to puncture skin or slash arteries goes under this category.
The third covers the slice and dice department, anything that can gut or disembowel with relative ease are in here. Swords, axes cleavers, you name it.

Throwing:
Anything you want hurled away from you, into something or just want to see how long you can make it go. Is covered by throwing. For simplicity, despite it being different to toss, every item goes under the same skill when it comes to throwing. Whether it is a dagger, grenade or horseshoe, you toss or hurl it with throwing.

Medicine:
(can cover both tags in one if GM desires, normally separate)
This skill covers the healing skills First Aid and Doctor skill. First aid is the more simple of the two and covers how to apply bandages, set up leg splints, stop bleeding with pressure wraps and overall treat minor wounds. Pulling out and treating minor weapon damages can be covered with first aid, but also survival in some cases. Such as pulling out a dagger, stinger or even arrow. For the more heavy duty work, you need the doctor... skill. It covers any surgery, major lodged object (such as an axe up your ass) or overall sowing back limb or the like. Even if healing can be used for these things. You generally need to have the limb at least back against the rest to be able to re-apply it. As and said, you might run out of healing items, but you're less likely to run out of your doctor. Just like a bandage compared to a healing potion. Even if the healing potion is better and generally more versatile, the bandage can always be relied on, and has more practical uses. It also doesn't become useless once the magic runs out.

Lore:
Lore covers about all knowledge skills crammed into a single skill. Whilst knowledge of medicine and engineering are ofc in the medicine and repair skill. Having it as your trained knowledge would give you access to more advanced detail. For example, having medical science as a knowledge as a lore skill, you'd have access to more complex operations earlier, or more unique ones perhaps unavailable to those without the knowledge. For example, if you and a friend both had doctor as a tagged skill, same rank. But you had medical science. You would have a much greater knowledge on exactly how long a sedative might last, how long an operation would take. Or even how to do something they couldn't, like a sex change operation... althou, how and what exactly you delve into is up to you. Bellow is a more deeper explanation to what kind of knowledges you may take and what benefit it would give.

Medical Science:
The know how of how medical spells and drugs work, as well as certain procedures. You gain expertise within an area of medicine (ex: Surgery) which grants a +10 bonus within that certain procedure. As well as the ability to perform two unique operations (ex: sex chance, lobotomy) someone without this knowledge would just "know" how most things work. You 'd both know what that drug does. But you would know it's chemical components and how long each dose would last. Or what something as rare as a rejuvenation talisman would be. As well as how it would work.

History:
You have delved deeper into Equestrian history. You know who the ministry mares were, how the war started as well as general knowledge of society before the downfall. Now, you might say that this would be something everypony would -> {C -> know. Well, it isn't very few actually too the time and effort to learn about civilization before the megaspells, or the war even. Mainly since it is the past, and of little use to you now. As you can imagine, knowing how long gone machines and laws worked an were is not something considered common knowledge now a days. With history, you get to specialize yourself in a subject, such as the war, zebra culture or pony civilisation. For the chosen category, you get to roll against lore times 1.5 (max 95) to know about something regarding the matter. Keep in mind, due to being so broad, you know know the more basic things. Say you picked zebra culture. You would know exactly what that zebra just used for alchemical concoction, or that that mare is using the fallen Caesar style. You do now know more then "it makes them able to walk on walls" or "it's a mix of defence and offence, lethal or sub-dual, likely very dangerous, avoid confrontation if possible". You can pick anything "historical", just keep in mind you only get access to more basic, blunt knowledge. You could ex: Know what a security robot's purpose is, and have a hush about weaponry (ex: Gatling guns). But not which calibre, or ammo per clip

Knowledge:
Similar to history, or a skill such as repair. This only covers the "know how". You can pick three knowledges of about anything within a certain area (ex: Pistols, sky carriages, herbs, reproductive organs) and would gain an exceptional knowledge about said subjects. But just the theoretical. Even if you know every calibre, capacity and range for a pistol doesn't make you able to shoot it if you've never touched one before in your life. You however gain 10 % (rounded down) of your Lore to any skill check about said item within your knowledge. Ex: If you have 45 lore, you'd get +4 to repair checks on guns, or to fire one as you can calculate the velocity of it more accurately.

Arcana/Magical research:
This covers everything from spells, talismans, trinkets megaspells and whatnot. And before you think all unicorns have it, then you are wrong. Just because they can harness and cast spells doesn't mean they know which school or enhancement it belongs to. Or in a simple way to explain all the "knowledges": Do you know how to drive a car? If so, then do you know it's built? How all the parts work? What the chemical reaction on the fuel is? No? Then stop thinking your character should. They point their horn, focus and stuff happens. If picked you get to choose a study of magic to delve into. Unicorn spells lets you discern the different schools, and the average a unicorn should be able to last doing certain spells. And not to mention: what the average effect is expected to be (ex: normal levitation weight) Enchantments lets you know which types of talismans and gems there are. You don't know how to use the more advanced ones (unless you got the skill for that to) but you know what they do, how many charges and what they look like. Incantations (Or Zebra voodoo/hex) gives you knowledge about zebra brews, trinkets and the like. Basic skill is still required to used them. You don't know how to prepare or brew them however. That requires alchemy. (it's a craft) And finally there's super-naturals. Similar to the knowledges about them. This also cover the usage of them. What counts as "super naturals" are the magical effects of certain animals (not the animals themselves apart form their magical ability), the majority of lesser magical, and rare artefacts that simply just doesn't fit anywhere else. While it might be the least "overall used". of them all, it is the most powerful. You even posses limited knowledge about the stars. Only Celestia knows how you obtained it. Like with all "Lore" knowledges, you do know "general stuff" about lore if t's tagged. But just simple outside your chosen direction. (To compare to D&D: You can clear up to DC10)

Larceny:
Sleight of hoof, lockpick and Stealth:
These are actually not a combined (can be, not recommended) skill. like the weapons, or Speech skills. The only reason the "thievery" skills are piled together is since if you have all 3 trained, you can raise all of them with the reduced cost of doing so. (2,5 for ever 1 point in all) SoH is pretty much steal in all it's ways. But is now also used for making manipulative moves, or card tricks. (Relevant skill would need a tag to be used without penalty. Gamble for card tricks etc.) Lockpicking is well... it speaks for itself You use it to pick locks open. Stealth is used to hide, sneak and generally avoid detection. Can be "passive/ongoing" while doing other tasks. Such as lockpicking. Penalty might apply.

Traps:
It's a trap! And this skill is just what you need to get rid of it. Traps is used to disarm any potential trap (apart from the certain ones you might encounter in a brothel) you might come across. Some traps are simple, others are not. Traps have a unique skill choice to it, when you specialize in traps (raise with freebie points) you can choose to instead focus on a trap type, and raise that trap with x2 of your freebie points. Your overall skill with traps will not raise however. The specializations you can delve into are the following: Demolition (mines, grenades etc), Complex trap (advanced electrochemical ones, "simple" ones with 10 or more trigger mechanisms, ie: strings goes off there, snaps that down, causing that to...-) or Disguised traps (ones hidden in drawers, concealed to look like something else) A character with traps tagged gains 20 % of their total skill as a passive bonus to their perception to look out for traps. (Spec included for this bonus, but just for spec. You may only have one spec.) You raise your skill as normal whenever you may raise it. Any spec bonus increases along with your skill. It just counts as x higher.

Evasion:
This is a newly added skill, and it might be a bit confusing to what exactly it is to some. Evasion works like a sort of "full time evasion". Your character spends their turn doing combat rolls, going zigzag and generally trying to be an as elusive target as possible. If you managed to succeed with your roll against ->

Evasion, your AC increases by the 60 % of the amount of the result. Plus an additional 5 % for each DoS. (counting as whole %, so it would go 60>65>70>aso) You count from your skill total as a base. Ex: If you have 40 and roll 10, you take the difference between the two, 30, and then take 60+DoS, in this case 3 DoS so it becomes 75 %, so your AC would increase by 22.5>23 (round up/down to nearest) until the beginning of your next turn. a flawless result would give you 100 % your skill in it, as well as a guaranteed (if possible) dodge from the next attack. If you fail, you still gain 10 % of your skill in it. If you fumble, you decrease your AC by 30 % of: Your skill -100 (ex: 40 evasion - 100 = -60 = -18) as well as fall prone. Using Evasion however costs 4 AP minimum and you may move with a 50 % increase to AP, you may however move for all the AP you spend. 4 AP for the base costs will take you 2 meters for example. 6 would be 3. There is also another use for evasion: You make roll against Evasion x1,5 (ex: 30 would become 45) to "tumble". Tumble costs 2 AP at base, and each extra AP gets you 75 % of the distance of a normal movement (0,75 meter, so 4 AP would be 3 meters/squares) tumbling works similar to evasion, but instead of just wildly dodging, you try to slip past a anticipating enemy. The extra AC+AP works just like evasion, but only against the enemies you declare to try and tumble past.

Science:
Science is the skill for working with arcane and mechanical devices, and overall science stuff such as general biology, chemistry, geology, machines and inventing/teaching, as well as how intuitive your character is. When you select science, you can choose from pony engineering, arcane science, education or terminals as your "thing". Choosing engineering or arcane will give you 30 % bonus of your total skill to one, and a 20 % penalty to the other. Education will give you 25 % bonus to all the scienceny stuff, but -10 % to the other 3. (only the 10 % to terminals is only for hacking) No DoS penalty however. Selecting terminals will give you 10 % bonus to using terminals. Selecting one of them is needed to understand the more complex devices. You can still use the "simple" things for all of them, such as knowing how Pipbucks work, how to hack terminals and whatnot. But you'd be unable to ex: build a sprite bot solely from scrap without a schematic (lacking one would however give penalties, unless you picked knowledge: Sprite bots, in this case) would require engineering as your chosen science path. Someone with arcane would both need a schematic, and more time to complete. Both could however easily figure out where the maintenance hatch would be located however. Your DoS always counts as one higher within the chosen subject, and one lower within the opposite. Terminals has 0 bonus or penalty to the two types, but an extra DoS when it comes to hacking terminals. This means a failure with up to 10 would not count as a success, but rather a "stalling". You would not ex: risk being locked out or blowing the thing, but you would not succeed either. See it as a stalemate. You can also specialize to become a

"technician" with a subject, lets say: Pipbucks. Doing this gives you 50 % extra of the freebie points your spend like a normal sub-specialization, but yet another half DoS. (meaning you can fail but a marginal of 15 before you have to risk about harsh failures. This bonus only applies to the chosen subject however just like other specializations. In addition, 10 % of your total science skill can be added to your "passive" common sense roll. (ex: 10 Wis, easy check = roll under 50. With say, 50 science it would be 55) This bonus increases to 40 % of your science if you spend time researching and investigating a place. Lets say, you've spent time discovering there's raiders here, they've used mines and explosives so far. That would give you the deductive ability to figure out (hidden GM roll unless stated you want hints from your character) that simply entering through that door would likely not be a good idea since it might be trapped. This stacks with the "trap sense" gained if you have traps tagged. All these bonuses are ofc disregarded if your character is in a panic. Science also can serve as "first aid" for robots/machines. But as said, only "first aid". You need repair to use the "doctor" skill on robots. What a character can deduct and find out using "Education" us up the the GM. But generally, they can find gold with it (geology) if they'd spend enough time, and there was any in the area. Choosing to specialise in one of the education (science stuff) will make your character a professor in the matter, granting a whooping 200 % extra bonus to the freebie points in that subject alone. You are now qualified to pester others with stuff they likely don't know.

Repair:
The sacred art of putting broken things back together, or maintaining an items durability. However, unlike normal Fallout, just because you spent your time in the stable/wasteland as a toaster repair pony doesn't mean you automatically know how to repair guns, armour or military battle-cruisers at a whim without ever even seeing one before in your entire life. Now, don't worry about not being able to repair these at all. Upon encountering a new object, you make a Int check (varying difficulty depending on the object) + 50 % of your Repair skill to disassemble and tinker around with it to figure out how it works. If successful, you have learnt the basics of how these things generally work. It will however take a regular Repair check to reassemble it again. If you fail either the first or the second, you break the item and just have no idea how to put it back again. If this was done on the first roll you loose 80 % of the parts and do not gain knowledge of the skill. But get to use 15 % extra (50>65>80>aso) of your Repair skill the next time you try with the same type of item. If it was on the later attempt, you only loose 35 % of the parts. And for simplicity, if you carry scraps for weapons and etc, just write ex: "pistol parts/scraps, 35 %" instead of all the damn parts you'd otherwise need to write down. Scrap metal (or whatever the item is made out of) is a general component you can use for about anything. But it may not be more then 40 % of anything (calculated by an items weight. If it's 100 ibs, 40 ibs may be made of scrap) but each 10 after 15 will reduce it's maximum durability by 1. You may never create entirely new items with Repair from scratch, unless it's simple a contraption, such as the home-made dart gun or improvised mine. Their durability will be your DoS +1. With a maximum of their noted durability. (On a flawless roll, this can go one step above the mentioned durability.) when you pick repair, select an area of expertise to know from the start, such as weaponry, armour, robots, contraptions, devices, talismans, power cores. Some of the categories in Lore can grant you access to more areas, as well as the expertise bonus when working with them. You can also use repair as a "doctor" skill for robots and machines. If you had science as well, your DoS counts as one higher. (only if you succeed however) As well as a 10 % synergy bonus of your total Science skill.

Pilot:
This actually covers about all "vehicles", such as carries, sky-wagons and the like. While no skill is required to pull a cart, skill is needed to manoeuvre said cart with grace in the middle of harsh terrain or a fire fight. However, for more advanced vehicles such as tanks and armoured air based contraptions, you will need to have pilot trained. You can select horse-drawn, aerial or vehicles as your known type to handle. This will get 100 % extra of your freebie points. A character without this tagged can still attempt to drive/pull a vehicle, but unlike a trained pony, they would need to roll for simply moving the damn thing. A character can "learn how to drive" after a few attempts, or after reading a manual. This will not give them any bonus (apart from increased skill from the manual) to driving, but they will not need to roll every single time they try to simply move the vehicle. But still needs to roll against making evasive actions or avoiding dangerous terrain or bad weather. The only exception in this is the "horse drawn" category. Anypony knows how to pull a cart. Maybe not how to strap in, but it's not to hard to figure out. All races can actually train in aerial. But without the right contraption, spell or talisman they can't fly, so it'd be a bit pointless. Also, all Str is exchanged for one Per+Agi when it comes to piloting vehicles or contraptions that your character doesn't have to directly manoeuvre.

Perform:
This skill covers anything creative your character might do. Such as: Dancing, singing (oratory), comedy instruments, juggling, "intimate services", weapon drill, and the like. This is one of the more social/RP heavy skills as (apart from the drill, you can't really used any of them in combat, and Sleight of hoof is more useful for that task) You can however possibly earn some caps using perform. Putting on a show in the hope for some spare caps from your audience, or maybe just some food in exchange. It can also be used to possibly change the attitude on some non-hostile (sometimes hostile too) sentient creatures. For example, your could use Perform: Comedy to say something smooth and funny to lighten the mood instead of a diplomacy check. Or get away with being "travelling [insert name here]". In worse case scenario, maybe convince some slavers that you would be allot more useful to them "in some other way". Such as entertainment, like singing. Most perform also have synergies that can boost other skills by 20 % of your perform. Oratory can boost any speech skill as you can adjust your voice more efficiently. Dancing to evasion as you are quick on your feet. And comedy could help on diplomacy, barter and bluff as you could ease your way in with some jokes. (assuming the counterpart has a humour) A player could pick about any perform they can think of, as long as they have a way to have learnt it Perform also get a x2 bonus from a "related" attribute. Oratory is likely for more Cha, dancing likely gets Agi, comedy could get Int (witty) or Wis (clever) or a mix of both (one of each). As it's the player that has to choose what (if any) perform they have, it's the player that gets to choose what bonus to add too it. As long as it makes sense ofc.

Profession:
A profession is mainly a "background" skill. Your character can have virtually ANYTHING as a profession, assuming there was some way to work as it in their stable (or in the wasteland if born on the outside), chef, security, pipbuck technician, salespony, prostitute, rubber duck craftsmare, monocle polisher, masseuse or dancer. Like perform or craft, you can roll against this to make long (-er then kill, loot) term profit of a job. You can roll directly against profession with a +25 % (rounded to nearest) of your profession to your profession (ex: with 50 profession you'd get to roll against 63) to "do your work" and earn pay accordingly. (up to GM to decide if said place would be hiring, what they'd pay and the like) In addition to being a "safe" way to make money. In addition to simply being that awesome, profession gives a 15 % of it's total value as a passive bonus to anything related to your profession as well as + to your DoS. (no, professional "shooting things in the head" is not a profession). This bonus doesn't end just at things related to the profession, it even includes things just containing the profession at times. Ex, if you are a rubber duck maker, you would get the bonus if you used a rubber duck to make a bomb, or if you were trying to sell a rubber duck (only for the duck however) or using a rubber duck as an improvised weapon. You also get to add 1 fitting Attribute to your total value of profession. Carpenter could get Str, singer could get Cha, doctor either Wis or Per and toaster repair pony could get Int. GM decides what makes sense adding.

Craft:
Similar to perform and profession, as well as repair. For those wondering the difference: Craft goes soley on crafting stuff. And unlike repair, you can make stuff from scrap with this. With repair, you would know where every part of that gun would fit (assuming you would have the knowledge about guns) to make it whole again, but with craft, you could create said parts. You'd now how, as long as you'd have the tools. You can craft gear, weapons and equipment using up to 80 % scrap/leftovers with no penalty. (as long as you have proper equipment for it) If you tag focus within an area, you can use 92 % and 1 extra DoS, and if you tag focus soley on one item, you can use 111 % (you reduce the cost by 11 %, 100 ibs would cost 89. Would still come out as 100 ibs. Don't ask me how that works, it's magic, I ain't got to explain shit!) and 3 extra DoS. (in addition to the normal extra skill point bonus) Example could be: Craft: Weaponry, small guns > pistols, > revolvers. Or Craft: explosives > grenades > frag. But seeing how you'd miss out on allot of crafting other stuff, it would be quite a sacrifice to make, but DAMN would you be good at making that one item. You can choose a craft of almost anything. Thing are however rounded up into "categories" (such as weaponry: small, big, energy. Armour: light, medium, heavy. Alchemy: Potions/poultries, poison, concoctions (acid and etc) and the like) Ones that are allowed to be in "wider" categories without sub trees are more "harmless" crafts, such as masonry, composing, painting, jewellery weaving/tailoring, locksmithing and the like. (some crafts give 15 % synergies to relevant skills. Ex: a locksmith get a bonus to lock picking, and the synergy from profession: locksmith would actually stack. But keep in mind that would demand 3 of your tag/trained skills. Likewise would a Lore: knowledge: locks grant an additional synergy bonus, but that is 4 skills. And your character would seem to have severe lock fetish/fixation/obsession... Also, just like profession and perform. You get a bonus +1 attribute to your craft score in a relevant attribute.

Empathy:
While it generally works as overall compassion for others, this skill also doubles for discerning if someone is ex: lying. In other words: It works like "sense motive" as well as... empathy. This skill however is one that can be rolled by your GM to make sure you'll do horrible mistakes by having low empathy and tossing you into "will those attack? Is she going to stab me in the back once I turn around? Can I trust that pony?" situations. A character with high empathy is likely to "guess" right on said questions. This can be a very useful skill for those with a low player intuition and deduction. As you can simply ask the GM what your character thinks. There can ofc be penalties or bonuses applied to these rolls. Thus the ones you get to make yourself might have failed or succeeded, even if you currently think you made it. But overall, the GM shouldn't keep to many empathy rolls hidden. Especially not if a character has tagged the bloody skill. But dramatic moments can be recommended to make hidden rolls for. (like how a traps roll can be made hidden). In either case, on a good success, the character knows the intent on a target, on decent succeeding, the character might have a "hunch" of what is implied, but is not sure. Getting 5 over or under leaves the character with a "I dunno". Slightly failing gives them the wrong idea, or that they don't have the slightest idea. And failing big time gives them the that intent of the target is the opposite, or far from the real deal. The other, "main" reason with empathy is knowing what someone wants or desires at the moment. If unsure of what a NPC (and sometimes player) wants, you could make an empathy check to find out. But when it comes to player characters (And NPC's at times) they need a reason to "suspect" something, just like with sense motive. A GM can make hidden rolls for each new character the character meets (if tagged) to avoid overuse of the skill. A GM must however inform the player if they rolled a flawless check. (this can wait till after the possible situation is solved ofc) In either case, if the character is successful they can figure out what might be wrong with, or bothering the character. Knowing someone would want a hug or simply be left alone can be incredibly useful at times. Since doing the opposite of what someone wants can prove bad for your health. You can simply have Empathy as a skill, or specialize on your compassion or suspicion senses. whichever chosen will grant a +12 bonus as well as a -8 to the other. You may also specialize in a race, age or gender (ex: ghouls, foals, males) with your empathy. Granting 50 % extra points for the chosen sub-skill, but none for it's counterpart. Or pin-point even deeper picking up to 2 descriptors (ex: female, zebras) would double the points spent. But reduce them to 40 % of the points spent if only one of the two descriptors is applied to your current target.

Speech:
Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate: (also, seduction)
Your knack of saying just the right things in the right moment and the like. There is also an additional skill attribute bonus to each of the skills, when you tag the Speech, you pick one of them. Doing this will give you the last attribute bonus in that area. The other 2(3) will not get their bonus to them. Diplomacy (+1Wis, or per if not using wis) Intimidate (1+Str) and bluff (1+Int) As for regarding seduction: Since I don't want to have to many sub tree's in each skill, seduction branches out from any of the above 3 mentioned. Diplomacy leans towards romance and tenderness, bluff towards smooth talking and flirting, while intimidate goes for more brash and frisky manors. Seduction however only gains points from skill raise and not the training (+15), unless you choose your training IS in seduction. In which you may trade any of the other 3 out to gain it in seduction instead. It can also be the target of perks that goes on your speech skill, as well as a "skill training split". This is an exception to all other skills to which have the opposite effect. (Seduction as a raw skill is Chax4)

The above mentioned are to be used in more "heated" moments, you may still threaten somepony or ask somepony to put the gun down without having to rely on an skill check. (You can ofc do so if you really don't know what to say. Usually simply by interacting with "other" characters, and depending how high your skill is, a GM might let you pass a check simply through good role-playing.) Most common checks (as mentioned above) would be a simple check if any unless the situation would be more tense. Most social interaction is done through talking. With that said, you can use a speech skill on another player, but they do not have to obey the normal rules by it. They however suffer the result all the same. Ex: On a successful seduction check, the character would become aroused, flustered or flattered. (depending on DoS. Preferences can ofc either deny the result, or cause a penalty to the attempt) or if they'd be threatened to have a very undesired experience with a shovel, and said threat succeeded. They would be scared, but it would still be up to the player to decide what to do. However, one exception are possible "other results" If your character would botch a will save and start crying as the result from something. They can not ignore that result, althou can freely try to ignore the fact they are crying. Also, if you know as a player your co-player (or any NPC) is lying up their flank, but your character doesn't. You are not allowed to act on player knowledge. PC knowledge and character knowledge are two very different things. If you refuse to give ex: A foal over to the care of somepony you know is a murderer/rapist/bad cook/somepony that spontaneously busts into song/slaver, but your character doesn't. And they genuinely seem like a good pony. You need to have at least a somewhat decent excuse/reason for your character to refuse the offer. (If they were trying to find a caretaker for the foal that is. Otherwise a reason why they'd reject the offer and want to keep it is not needed.) Any excuse is viable as long as it makes some sense. Heck, even that you would want to rape that foal instead is a viable excuse... however horrible that may be. While I can't stop you from creating your character however you want them, I sure hope your GM and/or your likely very low karma will stop them before they cause to much new problems in the wasteland. We have enough of those already, at least help fix some instead while at it.

Barter: The skill of trading. In the wasteland, currency is not commonly used. Barter will allow you to get more for less when trading equipment, weapons, and other items. A high Barter skill will lower the prices you pay for items you purchase, and increase the money you get for selling excess equipment. A good Barter skill isn't important if you're killing everyone, but it certainly is a valuable skill for the non-berserkers out there. Remember, trade will save the wasteland. There are actually 3 ways to use the barter skill, and one 1 of them requires rolling. The first method is the easiest: When to merchants clash in verbal battle of who's wares are the best. You take their barter skills. If Bob has 13 in barter and Slartibartfast has 42 you take the one with the highest skill, remove the lower skill, then use the remaining % as the discount/cost increase. In this case, Bob would sell for 29 % less, and pay 29 % more for wares. The second way is more complex and meant for a single player game, thus making it incredibly hard to earn anything on your sales. For selling: Use the following formula: 45 % + [Barter x 0.45 %] x modifier. For purchase: 155 % - [Barter x 0.45%] x modifier. The modifier is how much your current salesmare likes you. It is almost always 100 % it can however go up or down in 10% increments. If liked/disliked by the ones your trading with. Effectively, every 5 skill in barter changes the cost with 2,25 %. The last method is a alternative version of the first one. The price starts at 95/105 %, you then roll your dice, and take the number between your roll and your skill, positive or negative depending on how it went. For example: if you have 40 barter, and the opposing merchant has 40 as well, you roll 36 and they roll 48. You both count the difference between your skill and the result of the roll (+4 for you and -8 for them) leaving you at the advantage with a 12 % discount and increased profit. (the starter -5 % not included) You can attempt to clash your wits together once more if you got a crummy roll, but the one currently at the top keeps 70 % of their "profit" (rounded to nearest) which would leave you with 8 % leverage if the merchant would decide to try for another match of the minds. (a maximum of 3 total rolls is recommended, also, for each re-roll, you could allow for the price to shift an additional 5 %. Making it more risky/profitable) So for example, if you would have lost the second negotiation with 6 %, you would still have 2 % advantage. Something dearly recommended to use however is the "skill maximum" that you cannot go above ½ your (or the NPC salesmare) barter +5 % (to make out for the initial difference we're using percent units, not percent on everything here by the way. So +5 % on 20 % would be 25 %) skill in sales difference. So with 40 bater, you could at most get 20 % difference in cost. (from the "original" 100 %, including the 5 %) The last method is recommended. Not just since I personally made it, it allows for the most variable play. Allowing normals players to occasionally get a lucky deal in. But without being shrewd merchants, it's never as big as the shrew merchants lucky deal. Speaking of luck, characters with Derp as a virtue use Lu instead of Int for this skill. And just to point it out: If using any of the 2 "non roll" systems, roll anyway so you can get to raise the skill. The roll does nothing. Unless you'd feel like mishaps can still happen in a trade.

Gambling: This covers a characters overall knowledge with games as well as luck with them. A character with high gamble tends to have luck on their side, or knows just how to cheat, or catches someone else cheating, or notice if a game happens to be dirty or rigged. This is one of the few skills that contains "everything". With gambling, you know pretty much every game possible. Gambling has a major use beside general gambling however, some NPC's are willing to gamble over their goods instead of selling or trading them. If you tag gambling, pick "your game" (blackjack, poker roulette etc) you will get an additional point multiplier of luck when playing that game. (x5 instead of x4) for free at no extra charge.