Future Imperfect chapter 5
Contents
Chapter 5: Skills
Yang Neuman: Skill has nothing to do with this. It's gonna take pure luck this time.
Isamu Dyson: Luck is one of my skills.
--Macross Plus
Traits are the raw materials of a Hero, while skills are the programming. The essence of a Future Imperfect encounter is task resolution, and tasks cannot be effectively resolved without skills.
The Basics
Each skill has an associated trait. When rolling dice for a given skill, use the type associated with the trait. Roll a number of dice equal to the training in the trait plus the level of the skill. Take the highest single die result from the pool and apply this against the TN of the check or task. For unskilled tasks, use the die type associated with the skill application and roll 1dX (or use row 1 on the action card) and halve the result, rounding down.
Sid Scorpio isn’t the most nimble-fingered merc out there; his d10 in Dexterity is impressive, and his training with Dexterity is 2. He is a crack shot with a blaster or laser pistol, though, having the shooting: handgun (blasters, lasers) skill at level 4. When firing his blaster, he uses the die type associated with the skill (in this case, Dexterity), and his dice pool is equal to his training in Dexterity (2) plus his skill level (4). When he fires, he rolls 6d10 to hit. If he did not have the skill at all, he would roll only 1d10 and halve the result (or the number drawn on an action card)!
Associated Trait
The skills listed are most commonly associated with the trait they are grouped under, but they can sometimes be associated with other traits.
Stonewall Krantz slips behind the controls of the hover taxi he liberated in the last battle with the fiendish Ace Cab Corporation. He turns the contra-grav on, and cruises down the street hunting for ACC CorpSec. Little does he realize that loyalist cabbies have planted a bomb in a recess of the undercarriage, and the Master decides to give Stony an opportunity to notice before it blows. For extra flavor, the Master asks Stonewall to make a driving roll using Acuity instead of Dexterity because the electronics in the bomb are interfering with the CG unit. Stonewall uses his driving level 2 and his trait value for Acuity instead of Dexterity because he is being asked to notice something about driving instead of performing an actual driving maneuver.
Skills in Use
When attempting to accomplish a task, the Master may ask for a skill check, or you may inform the Master that you are applying one of your skills to achieving some goal. Some uses of a skill are a binary fail/success determination, known as a "check." An example of this is a Hero being called upon to use his awareness skill to see if he spots a clue or the henchmen sneaking up on him. Checks can be resolved with a roll of the dice (if you miss using your dice!), but can also use the action cards. Just refer to the causes chart at the top of the card and ignore the other data on the card. Other applications of a skill might involve not only whether you succeed or fail, but the the magnitude of any potential success. These are called "tasks." If the skill is being applied to a task, there will be a TN assigned. If the cause result is equal to or higher than the TN, refer to the effect portion of the card to determine how successful your Hero was at the task. In an encounter (where initiative is being tracked and time is based on actions), some tasks can be stretched across multiple actions. These are referred to as an "extended actions."
Optional System: Effect-Based (Victory Point) Task Resolution
Success or Failure
To determine what dice to roll or what result to gather from an action card when resolving a check or task, one must determine what skill is being used and which associated trait is applicable. Usually, this is fairly straightforward. If you are trying to shoot a laser pistol, you would use the Shooting: Handguns skill with the laser specialization, and the associated trait would be dexterity. Sometimes, however, the associated trait may be different depending on how the skill is being applied. For example, when using the climbing skill to climb something, the normal associated trait is dexterity, but if someone were asking the hero for information on climbing, the associated trait may be Knowledge. If you were trying to guide another person through a difficult climbing task, you may use the Hero's Presence trait. If attempting an extreme feat during a climb, you may be called upon to apply your Hero's strength or even fortitude traits.
Trained vs. Untrained
A hero may attempt all manner of actions. Many times, he will be called upon or attempt to make a check using a skill that he does not have. This is where training comes into play. Every trait value (from d4 to d12) has an associated number of trainings, usually from 1 to 4. When a hero has a basic level of training with a skill (skill level 0), he can apply his full trait dice to resolving a check or task. If a Hero has 2d10 in Dexterity and level 0 in Shooting: Handguns (lasers), he would roll 2d10 when shooting a laser pistol. A hero with 4d8 in Dexterity and the same skill level would roll 4d8 each time he shot. Each skill level increases the number of dice rolled to determine the cause result. If the Heroes above each had a skill level of 3, one would roll 5d10 and the other would roll 7d8 to determine the cause result.
If the Hero does not possess at least level 0 in a skill, he may only attempt the task as an untrained task. When attempting an untrained task, determine the associated trait. Regardless of the number of trainings that the trait has, an untrained task only uses 1 die of the proper type (or row 1 on an action card), and the result is halved, rounding down. Exceptional successes are still possible, but remember that even these are halved; If you roll an 8 on a d8 followed by a 7 for a total of 15, the total result is halved (and rounded down) to 7. The same applies to increased effect card results when using action cards. Some tasks are simply too complex for a lay person to even attempt, and an unskilled check should not be allowed. For example, an untrained person should never be able to lay in an FTL course (Astrogation skill), perform surgery (Medicine skill) or repair the anti-matter powerplant on the ship (Engineering skill) because without training, each of those is too complex a task.
There are additional penalties to attempting an untrained task. You may not spend story chips to boost the cause results of an untrained skill check, though story chips can be used with some edges to boost the result (such as a trait edge as opposed to a skill edge). Additionally, the crew impetus (which allows the Hero to earn a white story chip for failing a task related to the impetus) also does not apply to untrained tasks. One cannot have their untrained Hero flail blindly at the environment in an effort to farm story chips. The adventure of Captain Useless Von Failenstein is not a compelling story; it is a tale of attempting to game the system as one should not expect success from the efforts of the untrained. Hence, there should be no special storytelling benefit for failure regardless of how meaningful the task in question is to the hero. The purpose behind the crew impetus game mechanic assumes that the Hero is failing at a task for which he is suited to accomplish. It doesn't further the story if one of the marines fails a key research check; the scientist of the group should be trying to do that!
Associated Skills
Some skills are similar enough to be used in the place of another at a reduced proficiency. If you have a specialization in a skill, you can usually use it in place of another specialization at a -2 penalty to your die roll/card result. This may seem harsh, but it beats making an unskilled trait check.
Sid Scorpio is great with a blaster or laser pistol, but after escaping his cell at the backwater IPA detention center, he finds that their jailors are only armed with needler pistols! He lifts one from the guard he knocked out. If he uses it, he can use his shooting: handguns skill, but he’ll subtract 2 from his roll because he doesn't have the "needlers" specialization.
Assisting
Sometimes a complicated endeavor can be more easily accomplished if a person has a little help. This is also a good way for one of the Heroes with duplicate skills to make themselves useful. With Master approval, additional characters may assist in a skill check. The hero with the highest skill level will be the "primary." Their card draw will determine the cause number. If both/all heroes have the same skill level, the one with the highest trait value will be the primary. If a hero is assisting, the player must state before the action card draw if their character is boosting the cause or the effect. If two heroes are assisting the primary, both cause and effect can be boosted, but the players should state which hero is boosting what, in case skill levels are different. When the primary attempts the task, an assistant boosting cause will add their skill level to the primary's cause result. An assistant boosting effect will add their skill level x 2 to the effect result.
Common uses for skill assistance are astrogation/FTL pilot checks, merchant tasks, maintenance/repair tasks, medical rolls, strength feats and some social interactions (uses of persuasion, argument, intimidation, blather or bureaucracy).
Tarod and Cal are attempting to sell a load of goods on Baast III. Both Cal and Tarod have the same skill level and trait (2d10 Presence/Level 0), so either of them can be the primary. Being a major Mekpurr world, Cal doesn't want her crass associate to offend the natives, so she opts to be the primary. Tarod has no doubts the charismatic feline can make the sale, so he opts to assist by boosting the effect. The TN for selling their goods is 5 (as they are medium-risk items that are on the demand matrix for the world), and Cal draws her card. Cal checks the 2d10 cause and finds an 8, meaning they have found a buyer. They have 3 units to sell, and the demand for Gold on Baast is currently d10, so for the effect, they check 3d10 and find a 19. The sale EN for gold is 5, so normally they would only make 3 income shares of profit (19/3 = 3.75, rounded down to 3). But since Tarod is boosting the effect, he adds his skill level + 1 (0 + 1) x 2 to the effect, for 21. 21/5 = 4.25, rounded to 4. With Tarod's assistance, the crew of the Bedeviled Coterie is able to make an extra profit share from this cargo.
Character Creation
Skill Points
Your starting skill points are determined according to the table on page XX of chapter 2: Building a Hero. The rank you place in skills determines your initial starting total. When creating your character, each skill level costs 1 point, however, the first level of a skill is "level zero." This allows the hero to apply his full associated trait dice to the task without halving the results (the penalty for attempting an untrained task). To purchase a skill at level 0 costs 1 skill point. A skill at level 1 would cost 2 skill points, and level 4 would cost 5 skill points. The max starting point for skills is level 4, though. Skills at 5 and above are near-legendary, and you only start out as a mere Hero. You’ll need to do some adventuring to get that kind of game going!
| Level | Description |
| 0 | Trained |
| 1 | Competent |
| 2 | Professional |
| 3 | Expert |
| 4 | Renowned |
Specializations
The skills will be organized by their associated trait. Some skills are a bit too broad and must be broken down into two or more specializations. Not every skill has any specializations, but when it does, you must choose one. If you would like to have another of the skill’s specializations, you may purchase it for a cost of 1 skill point.
Harold Funkhouser considers himself to be the consummate tech. As such, he wants to have equal skill in both mechanics and electronics (specializations of the General Technical Aptitude skill). He invests 4 points in one, and spends an extra skill point to get the other specialization, so that he doesn’t have any penalties when tinkering with either machines or electronics.
Improving Skills
At the end of a story arc (usually around 3 sessions), the Master should award experience points (XP) for the Heroes' adventures. Experience points can be put to several uses, one of which is improving your Hero's skills. Adding an additional specialization to a skill costs 1 XP. To learn a new skill (at level 0, base proficiency) costs 1 XP. As proficiency levels of skills increase, it takes progressively more XP to improve them. The cost to improve an existing skill is (new skill level + 1) XP. So, to increase a skill from level 0 to level 1 would cost 2 XP. To increase a skill from level 3 to level 4 would cost 5 XP.
Starship Maintenance
When ship systems break down or are damaged in battle, fixing them falls to the skills of a ship's tech or engineer. However, for simple maintenance or debugging, any skilled operator can perform basic tasks due to a necessary familiarity with the systems involved. An astrogator or FTL pilot, for example, must have intimate knowledge of the software involved in making hyperspace jumps, and as such, can help maintain these systems and keep them operational. The same applies to any skill that is geared toward starship operations, such as Shooting: Gunnery, Comp Tech, or Pilot: Spacecraft.
Default Skills
Every Hero has a set of default skills for no cost. These are Awareness 0, Language (own) 1, plus any granted by the racial type and any campaign skills as defined by the Master.
Skill Lists by Trait
Strength Skills
Acuity Skills
Dexterity Skills
Knowledge Skills
Presence Skills
Reflex Skills
Essence Skills
Advanced Martial Arts
