About

Skills are traits that you can perform actions with, and are the most important part of the Strikermechanica.

There are 7 categories of skills: qualifier, trait, procedure, knowledge, combat, engineering and psionic. They're groupings are based on where and how they are used.

Each skill has two numbers that are used throughout the game:

• The Modifier (M) - represents your effective competance in the skill and is what you commonly add to your d20 roll in any chk or sv.
• The Rank (R) - represents your training or practice in the skill. You can put ranks on any skill covered in your backgrounds, professions or vocations. Ranks are most commonly aoolied as a bonus in aspected skill rolls, but can appear as bonuses or multipliers in some effects.

Each Rank (R) increases your Modifier (M). However, your M is affected by some other numbers:

• start - this number is normally set by your sophont and can range from anywhere between -6 and +6. It represents your relative natural ability in the skill, and before anything else, it sets your initial M.
• bonus - some sophonts, along with a few other circumstances, particularly geneware, can also set a bonus, this can be applied in addition to a start to represent some special preparation, which is not to do with training.
• talent - this is really just another bonus, which you can select, giving you an additional +1, representing any individual talent your have in a skill.

Techniques

You will see references to techniques in many places.

Techniques represent either a specialisation in a skill or they onlock extra usages in a skill. They can be seen as extensions, additional functions or specialisations of skills.

All techniques are based on a skill and receive the base's M as an effective start.

In all other ways though, techniques can be considered the same as skills as they work the same in the game.

Action & Trait Instructions

An action instruction is a summary form that tells you how to make a roll and what it's saving or checking against. We use these to quickly express what needs to happen.

A trait instruction is also a summary, but does not list an action, but generally a trait, or a modifier to a trait

Each skill (and technique) lists one or more actions that can be performed, some also list trait modifiers.

We'll take the example of the strike action instruction, because it has quite a few extra options in it, so it demonstrates some of the breadth of what is expressed.

Action Instruction in Text

When you express the strike action as an instruction in text, you put it this way:

strike(rnd & day+, 1fp, TECH) -> chk(C)= d20 +M*(Psiportation) + Vcl-Striker

Breaking this down:

1. gives the action name, which is strike
2. in brackets we say what is needed for the action. This is usually a duration and a cost (if any).
   1. In this case the duration is two-part with the first part, being time to initiate the strike (1 round) and the second part, the time taken by the strike overall (1 day or more). This is often a concentration input.
   2. The cost for doing this action is 1fp per duration increment. Therefore 1fp to initiate and 1fp per day to maintain.
3. chk(C) indicates that the roll type is a check as opposed to a save (sv), a set challenge, imposition imp-sv etc. C just indicates that its a general or miscellaneous type of challenge (as opposed to one of reserved challenges like TC for target challenge, SC for social challenge, PC for perception challenge or CC for complexity challenge)
4. the equals sign is there to link the roll type to its specifications.
5. the roll starts with a d20
6. youthen add the modifier (M) in your Psiportation skill. The * (star) in the expression +M* often appears when focus points (fp) are a cost for doing an action, and indicates that the modifier (M) should include each focus point spent, which is a minimum of 1, so in that case, +M* = M+1.
7. In this particular example (a strike roll), the striking navigator needs also to be familiar with the operations of strikers themselves (as signified by Vcl-Striker) or will suffer disadvantage on the roll. By specifying a qualifier skill, we are saying that the action requires the qualifier.

Roll types - Check (chk), Saves (sv), Imposed Saves (imp-sv) and Set Challenges set(C)

This heading lists our 5 main roll types.

Instruction	Name	Explanation
chk	Check	Roll a d20 add the modifiers and compare it to some kind of challenge - expressed as chk(C), or chk(TC,A)
chk+	Check	Roll a d20 (min=10) add the modifiers and compare it to some kind of challenge - expressed as chk+(C), or chk+(TC,A)
sv	Save	Roll a d20 add the modifiers and compare it to some kind of challenge - expressed as sv(C)
imp-sv	Impose save	You require that your opponent roll a d20 add their modifiers and compare it to the challenge you set - expressed as imp-sv(Sk)
set	Set challenge	You set a challenge for an opponent to roll against, should they choose to do so - expressed as set(C)

Action Instruction as a Skill Property

When an action instruction is written as a property of a skill (see the usage example here), the actual skill that M is referring to is usually omitted.

So the usage instruction for Antiquities is not written:

gen(act) -> chk|sv=+M(Antiquities)  ◊  know(free-act, TECH) -> chk=+M(Antiquities)

but rather:

gen(act) -> chk|sv=+M  ◊  know(free-act, TECH) -> chk=+M

This is because the instruction is right under the Antiquities heading, so its obvious which skill it is that M is referring to.

So the action instruction for the strike roll would correspondingly be written:

strike(rnd & day+, 1fp, TECH) -> chk(C)= +M* + Vcl-Striker

Note that we also omit the d20 expression: this is because every action roll is a d20 roll.

Action Instruction as a Property Elsewhere

Action instructions can appear in listings of items of equipment. A common example of this is under weapons, in the case of the VRF flechette:

Pistol, body
cost=160|1 : wt=0.3 : CC=12
Op: inactive : held  ◊  s2a: 1hp 1ep /bonus-act
Usage: ranged-att(main-act)
  -> chk(TC)= +M(Wpn-Handguns) -> Strength(min)=-6 : audio=500 : range=15|30 : dmg(hp,prc)=1d4+M
  -> 1hp /6•act
Description: The pistol is an autoloading, slug-throwing handgun, designed to be easily 
carried and concealed. The short barrel and lack of rifling means that the pistol has 
a shorter range and less penetrative power than its much heavier, archaic cousin, the crossbow.

The Usage line contains an action instruction presenting the check (chk) with the Target Challenge (TC), but also, following an arrow, the effect once the check is done. The effect is the part that looks like this:

-> Strength(min)=-6 : audio=500 : range=15|30 : dmg(hp,prc)=1d4+M
-> 1hp /6•act

usually broken into a bunch of statements, separated by arrows (->) and colons (:), and constains things like

• the effect on the user of the weapon and the surroundings (and possibly subsequent chks)
• the effect on the target of the weapon within the stated range
• the resources the weapon consumes in this case 1hp of stored matter for every 6 acts (or pulls of the trigger)

The effects can be wide-ranging. Using the following example:

ranged-att(main-act) 
  -> chk(TC)= +M(Wpn-Support) 
  -> Strength(min)=4 : recoil=M : sniping : range=250|750 : audio=500 
      : dmg(hp,prc)=3d12 +M(Wpn-Support) : pen=4

The effects are:

• Strength(min)=4 the minimum Strength modifier required to use the weapon effectively. The check is made under disadvantage, if you don't meet this requirement.
• recoil=M the recoil that this weapon produces when fired. With any kind of recoil, you must use a re-act to steady the weapon between firings, or you are at disadvantage for the next check.
• sniping indicates that the weapon can be used while you are prone without disadvantage
• range=250|750 is the short and long range of the weapon. The check is made with disadvantage on long range.
• audio=500 is the loudness of the weapon (500 quite high, so this weapon is loud and easily heard).

Aspected Action Instructions

An aspected imposed save:

feint(bonus-act) -> imp-sv(Insight)=8 +M(Deception) +R(Cbt-Melee)

The feint action requires a bonus-act and imposes an Insight save on your opponent, with challenge equal to 8 + your modifier (M) for Deception + the ranks (R) you have in Cbt-Melee.

Example Skill Listing

Now that we've covered some of the ways in which instructions are expressed, let's look at a whole skill listing. By taking a really detailed example, we can explore all the ways in which skill traits and actions are presented.

Category: Engineering, Knowledge
Usage: operate(act) -> chk|sv= +M
  ◊  know(free-act, R, Tech) -> chk= +M
  ◊  make(day+, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M
  ◊  modify(day+, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M + (CC,Q - CC)
  ◊  bypass(main-act, R, Tech) -> chk(CC,S)= +M -> set(PC)= 8 + M(Stealth+S)
  ◊  modify-rig(main-act, R, Tech) -> give(d) ½•M to artefact chk|sv
  ◊  disable(main-act, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M
  ◊  repair(hr+, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M + (CC,Q - CC)
  ◊  repair-rig(main-act, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M + (CC,Q - CC)
Usage (aspect): provenance -> [Tech](/SRD/skills/aspects_provenance#tech-provenance-aspects)
  ◊  diagnose,salvage,search(min, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M(Investigation) +R
  ◊  appraise(min, R, Tech) -> chk(CC)= +M(Finance) +R
  ◊  haggle(min, R, Tech) -> chk(SC)= +M(Persuasion|Deception) +R
Description: Encompasses understanding of engines, and drive systems, whether that means propulsion 
or traction systems, or systems like gradients, which are a combination of the two.

Machinery is an engineering skill and is largely knowledge-based, which explains the presence of the know action

know(free-act) -> chk(CC)=+M(Machinery)

To know something related to the field of machinery takes no time at all and is a direct check on the Machinery skill with a challenge (C) determined by the GM, but is often calculated by 8 + twice the rarity number of the artefact, if this applies.

Aspect Line

The top line is added if either or both of the provenance aspects apply, and/or if any of the usual skill aspects apply (which is usually one or more of Body, Mind, Cbt, Eng, Soc or Vcl).

In this case the Tech provenance aspect is listed. This means that, by default, you use this skill with your tech aspect. In the case of humans in Striker, this is nearly always Tech-Modern. Therefore the actions and traits specified in this skill assume that you are working with Tech-Modern machinery artefacts. If you encounter an artefact that is best characterised by the Tech-Ancient aspect, then you will be at disadvantage working with it (unless you had tyhe Tech-Anc aspect as well).

Actions Line

Apart from the aforementioned know action, there is a make, modify, repair, operate, as well as the generic, gen action. The actions make, modify, repair and operate are very standard actions for engineering skills, and have differing assumptions.

Each of the actions can be given the slightly longer notation to explain them better:

make(day+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Machinery)
modify(hr+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Machinery)
repair(hr+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Machinery)
operate(main-act) -> chk(CC)= +M(Machinery)

It suggests that making something will take a minimum of a day (but probably longer), modify and repair are likely to be in the order of hours, and operate is given the nominal main-act, but probably depends on the device being operated.

The time taken is the main difference between these check instructions, each are checked against a complexity challenge, which is mostly determined by the complexity of the artefact subject to the make, modify, repair or operate.

All of these actions are checked directly against the Machinery skill.

Sometimes, it is useful to list what the generic action on a skill looks like. Engineering skills can be like this as they can be used in all sorts of ways. The gen action is the catch-all for this purpose.

gen(act) -> chk|sv= +M(Machinery)

This part of the listing is general: covering any task that you need to perform that is not covered by one of the other actions. It specifies chk|sv to indicate that you may be using this skill under a check (chk), or under a save imposed on you (sv). The gen listing also sets a duration of main-action as a default, because is the most common duration.

Aspect-Actions Line

There are three aspect actions listed: diagnose, salvage and hide. Aspect actions are listed separately because they are a little more complicated and involve other skills. Any aspect action uses Machinery as an aspect on some other skill for a particular action.

diagnose(min+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Investigation) +R(Machinery)
salvage(min+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Investigation) +R(Machinery)
hide(main-act) -> set(PC)= +M(Stealth) +R(Machinery)

Aspected rolls like the above are usually expressed with the aspect last

diagnose(min+) -> chk(CC)= +M(Investigation) +R(Machinery)

This is because the aspect (Machinery) is providing the aspect (in this case, a technical component) to the primary skill being checked (Investigation).

In fact, we saw this ordering in the first example on this page:

strike(rnd & day+, 1fp) -> chk(C)= +M*(Psiportation) + Vcl-Striker

Here the aspect is the qualifier skill Vcl-Striker.

Choosing Skills

When you are beginning your character or advancing in level, you are asked to pick some skills and techniques from listings to distribute some ranks. The listings are presented in the backgrounds, professions and vocations that apply to your step in character development.

Below is an example listing from the bounty hunter archetype in the investigator profession.

Bounty Hunter Investigator

4 ranks spread to these skills

Disguise-Tools|Qtm-Tools|Scan-Tools|Surveillance-Tools|Vcl-Air|Vcl-Ground|Vcl-Space

Health|Energy|Focus

Perception|Resolve|Agility+B|S|Insight|Stealth+B|S|Deception|Investigation|Persuasion|Society, Survival

Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged

4 ranks spread to these techniques

Disguise (Deception|Perform)*|Sleight-Of-Hand (Deception)|Interrogate (Investigation)|Surveillance (Investigation)|Track (Investigation), Bushcraft (Survival)|Revival (Survival)|Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival)*

First-Strike (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged*)|Vital-Harm (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged*)|Wpn-Blades-Short (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Clubs (Cbt-Melee)|Wpn-Fistload (Cbt-Melee)|Sniper (Cbt-Ranged)|Wpn-Flechettes (Cbt-Ranged)|Wpn-Handguns (Cbt-Ranged)|Wpn-Rifles (Cbt-Ranged)

* You can choose one skill to base this technique, if you need the technique under another skill, you must take the technique again, based on the new skill.
** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.

The asterisks introduce two important concepts around using skills.

Choosing Skill Bases

The first asterisk explains how techniques can be based on more than one skill. The individual character decides, when placing thier first rank on the technique which base applies. If they want to use this technique under another skill base, it becomes a new technique with the same name but with the new skill base.

As an example, where you see First-Strike (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged), you can initially take the technique as First-Strike (Cbt-Ranged) and put a rank on it. However, you might want to assign the next rank on First-Strike (Cbt-Melee). The two First-Strike techniques operate separately in the game, one is used in the context of melee combat, the other in the context of ranged combat.

Choosing Autoaspects

The skills of Agility and Stealth are special in that their meaning (and practice) differs greatly depending on whether you are using them physically (B for body) or mentally (S for skill), say with a technical aspect (Such as a Vcl qualifier, Society skill, or engineering skill etc.). This is because sneaking along a corridor trying to stay quiet is quite a different skill to hiding your tracks when hacking into a computer system. The ability to set up Stealth as a sneaking along a corridor skill, or Stealth in a more technical way, allows you to hone your usage of these skills, without giving you abilities that won't make sense. Just because a pilot is brilliant with Agility when flying a spacecraft in fancy ways (using Agility+S with the Vcl-Space qualifier, improving their spacecraft's TC) they aren't automatically great at dodging the blow of a Vibroblade (Agility+B benefiting their own TC).

So similar to choosing skill bases, you can set up Stealth as a B skill or Stealth as an S skill.