Twelve Worlds Character Creation: Skills

Dexterity

Measures a character's coordination, balance, and physical finesse. A character with high dexterity is good at dodging the fire of a security squad while balancing on a beam high above the hangar floor. A character with low dexterity is clumsy.

Dodge

Used to dodge fire weapons and grenades. This is a reaction skill.

Guns

Used to fire any sort of hand-held gun.

Mêlée Weapons

Used when a character uses a weapon in hand-to-hand combat -- whether a rifle butt, a katana, or a bayonet. Used as a reaction skill to parry with a mêlée weapon.

Throw

Used for throwing grenades or other objects.

Vehicle Weapons

Used to fire vehicle-mounted weapons -- any weapon which is not hand-held, and not fired in space.

Knowledge

A character's education and knowledge of facts and data. A character with high knowledge can tell you all about the mating rituals of Wirn, peculiarities of planetary geography, and little-known details of the history of the Confederation of Worlds. A character with low knowledge is just plumb ignorant.

Alien Species

Knowledge of non-human sapient species. Includes knowledge of customs and societies as well as physical appearance, modes of thought and the like.

Bureaucracy

Knowledge of bureaucracies and their procedures.

Cultures

Knowledge of the customs, histories, arts and politics of various human cultures within the Twelve Worlds.

Languages

Used to determine whether a character can understand what someone says when speaking in a language other than Standard.

Planetary Systems

Knowledge of the geography, weather, life forms, trade products, and so on of different systems.

Streetwise

Used when a character wants to make a contact in the criminal underworld, purchase illegal goods or services, or find someone to do anything illegal.

Survival

This skill involves knowing how to survive in hostile environments -- deserts, jungles, oceans, asteroid belts, etc.

Technology

Knowledge of different kinds of equipment -- capabilities, model numbers, fair-market prices, etc.

Mechanical

Short for "mechanical aptitude," it's the instinctive ability to control vehicles and other complex machines. A character with high mechanical makes a hot pilot. A character with low mechanical gets lots of speeding tickets.

Aquatic Vehicles

Used to operate all sorts of water craft -- canoes, sailboats, speedboats.

Atmospheric Craft

Used to operate all kinds of flying vehicles -- gliders, helicopters, jets.

Ground Vehicles

Used to operate all kinds of ground vehicles -- cars, motorcycles, hovercraft.

Shields

Used to operate a starship's shields or other electronic countermeasures in combat. This is a reaction skill.

Space Craft

Used to operate any space craft.

Starship Gunnery

Used to target a starship's guns in combat.

Perception

Measures the sharpness of a character's senses, his ability to interpret the behavior of others, and his powers of observation. A highly perceptive character can hear a policeman's jaw drop. A character with low perception has difficulty figuring out when his friends are teasing him.

Art

Used to create or evaluate a work of art.

Bargain

Used when a player character bargains with an NPC. It's usually used when they haggle over the price of something, but could also be used in diplomatic negotiations, to bribe someone, etc.

Command

Used to make an NPC do what the user wants -- by ordering him in a persuasive and authentic tone. When successful, the target snaps to and does as ordered. To look at it another way, a character with a high command skill can take charge of a situation when leadership is needed, and get other characters to cooperate without debate or question.

Computers

Used to obtain information from a computer, or get a programmed device to perform a task.

Con

Used to persuade an NPC to do something that isn't in the NPC's best interests. Con can involve reasoned argument and false logic, or simply throwing up a verbal smokescreen to get the target to hesitate. Sometimes it can take the form of a bargain -- "do this for me and I'll do that for you" -- but the conner has no intention of fulfilling his part of the bargain.

Music

Used to create or evaluate a piece of music.

Search

Used when trying to locate someone or something.

Stealth

Used when a character tries to hide himself, to camouflage something, to sneak past someone, or to disguise himself -- any time, basically, that he is trying to avoid detection.

Strength

A measure of a character's physical prowess -- including stamina, the ability to heal, and athletic abilities as well as raw physical strength. A character with a high strength can carry a wounded friend for kilometres. A character with low strength has trouble with a heavy pack.

Brawling

Used when a character fights another hand-to-hand without any weapons. Used as a reaction skill to parry another character's attack in hand-to-hand combat without weapons.

Climbing/Jumping

Used when a character tries to leap a wide gap; climb a tree, wall or cliff; or jump up and grab something.

Free Fall

Used when trying to move rapidly or precisely in 'zero gravity.'

Lifting

Used when a character tries to lift or carry a heavy object.

Stamina

When a character exerts himself for a long time, roll stamina dice to determine whether he tires.

Swimming

Used when a character swims.

Technical

Short for "technical aptitude." A character with high technical has an instinctive feel for technology and can figure out how to fix a multiphase hypertechnology anachron sensor array in nothing flat. A character with low technical has trouble figuring out where the "on" switch is.

Demolition

Used to set and blow explosives. The user must have a supply of explosives and a detonator, which may be triggered by wire, timer, or communicator signal.

Electronic Repair

Used to repair electronic devices.

Engineering

Used to design or improve equipment, usually in conjunction with electronic repair or mechanical repair.

Mechanical Repair

Used to repair mechanical devices.

Medicine

Used primarily in the operation of medpacs to provide field treatment of injuries, and for knowledge of common therapeutic drugs.

Security

This skill involves knowledge of security locks and how to jigger them, and alarm systems and how to defeat them.

Additional Skills

Other skills are possible, but aren't preprinted on your character sheet. They include:
Archaic Ranged Weapons (D), Battlesuit (T), Beast Riding (M), Bioscience (K), Chemistry (K), Communications Op. (T), Farming (K), Geoscience (K), History (K), Interrogation (P), Law (K), Lighter than Air (e.g. balloon) (M), Martial Arts (S), Math (K), Perform (P), Physics (K), Psychology (K), Sensors (T), Starship Tactics (K), Strategy (K), Theology (K), Writing (P).

You can come up with your own skills, but consult with the gamemaster before allocating points. If you use them, write them in the blanks under the appropriate attribute.

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Last updated 1 Jul 95 drd

Info Plaza David Dunham Page Twelve Worlds