Military skills deal with combat. There are seven different Military skills: Beam Weapons, Demolitions, Gyrojet Weapons, Martial Arts, Melee Weapons, Projectile Weapons and Thrown Weapons.
Technological skills deal with various types of machines. There are three different Technological skills: Computer skill, Robotics and Technician.
Biosocial skills deal with the intelligent races and their surroundings. There are three different Biosocial skills: Environmental, Medical and Psycho-Social.
At the start of the game, each character must choose one Primary Skill Area as his career. The player then chooses two skills for his character. One skill must be from the character's PSA, but the other can be from any PSA. The character starts with Level 1 experience in both skills.
Learning Skills
To learn new or higher-level skills, characters must spend experience
points. The experience point cost depends on the skill's level and PSA.
The Skill Cost Table shows the costs for each level of skill in the
different PSAs. If the skill is from the character's Primary Skill Area, the
cost is the number in the column. A character can learn skills from other
PSAs, but must pay twice as many experience points for them. Doubled
costs are shown in parentheses.
A character can learn only one skill level at a time. Skipping levels is not
allowed, even if the character has enough experience points to do so.
EXAMPLE: Brango O'Bourke, a Human, has accumulated 10 experience
points on adventures. The player decides to spend these experience
points to increase Brango's Gyrojet Weapons skill from level 2 to level 3.
Brango's Primary Skill Area is Military, so the new level costs him 9
experience points. The player increases Brango's Gyrojet Weapons skill
level from 2 to 3 on the character sheet, and subtracts 9 from his
experience point total. Brango has 1 experience point left.
Training. When characters learn new skills or increase a skill level,
they must be trained somehow. Three methods are described below.
HYPNO-TRAINING. Hypno-training is a teaching system that involves
hypnotism, memorization and the use of drugs that improve the mind's
ability to learn. A character with enough experience points can learn a
new skill or skill level at a hypno-training center in five days (100 hours)
for 100 Cr.
TEACHERS. A character with enough experience points can learn a
new skill or skill level from another character. The teacher's skill level
must be at least two levels higher than the pupil's. A character can learn
a new skill or skill level from a teacher in one month.
PRACTICE. Characters with enough experience points can learn new
skills or skill levels simply by practicing. This is not always possible,
however, especially with skills that require special equipment.
All three of these methods are optional. Some referees may want to
ignore this rule, and simply allow players to pick new skills when their
characters have earned enough experience points. Training is more
realistic, but also more complicated.
Each skill is divided into subskills. Subskills define exactly what types of
things a skill lets a character do. For example, Demolitions skill has two
subskills: set charges and defuse charges. This means a character
with Demolitions skill can set and defuse explosive charges according
to the rules listed under those subskills. When a character learns a skill,
he automatically learns all of its subskills.
Success Rates. Each subskill has a success rate. The success rate
consists of a basic chance to succeed, plus modifiers for the
character's skill level. If the success rate for a subskill is "40% + skill
level," then the character's chance to use the subskill successfully is
40% plus 10 x his/her skill level.
Some success rates have a second modifier, such as ''60% + skill level
- robot level." A character's chance to use this subskill successfully is
60% plus 10 x his/her skill level, minus 10 x the level of the robot he is
working on.
Computer, Robotics and Technician skills allow characters to repair
damaged equipment. The success rates vary depending on what is
being repaired, but the procedure is the same for all three skills.
If the damaged equipment is repaired in a shop, there is no chance it will
break down again on its own. When a repair is made away from a shop
("in the field") with a personal toolkit, there is a chance that the device
will break down again. This chance accumulates from day to day; a
device has a 10% chance to break down in the first 20 hours, 20% in
the second 20 hours, 30% in the third, and so on. When something
breaks down, the referee must decide whether the damage is minor,
major or total. A minor repair takes 1 d10 minutes, a major repair takes
1d10 hours and a total repair takes 1d10 x 10 hours.
Military PSA Technological PSA Biosocial PSA
Level 1 3 (6) 4 (8) 5 (10)
Level 2 6 (12) 8 (16) 10 (20)
Level 3 9 (18) 12(24) 15(30)
Level 4 12 (24) 16 (32) 20 (40)
Level 5 15 (30) 20 (40) 25 (50)
Level 6 18 (36) 24 (48) 30 (60)