The skill system presented here is somewhat different from the original skill system. The STAR FRONTIERS Alpha Dawn game system contained 46 skills grouped in Primary Skill Areas. The new skill system has segmented these, and added more to contain over 120 skills. These new skills are not grouped in any Primary Skill Areas at all. As explained in the Professions section, a character can acquire some skills natural to his profession easier than normal skills, but, with the exception of the four "automatic" profession skills (Agility, Charisma, Endurance, and Intelligence). Any character has access to any skill. One of the primary intents of the Expert system is to allow the player to individualize his character as must as possible. This new skill system promotes that individuality.
Another difference between the two systems is how a success rate for each skill is determined. The Alpha Dawn system had a different percentage number for each skill, then usually added the players skill level times 10%. Under the PSA structure this tended to force characters of the same PSA background to "look alike"; that is, they progressed at exactly the same rate in all of their subskills. The new system uses the individual skill levels to determine the success rate, plus easy-to-remember column shifts (see the Resolution System section) as modifiers. Not only does this allow the skill system to be tied into the combat system (all on one easy table), but the individual skill success rates allow for even two characters of the same race with the same skills to have different expertises (one could be a master surgeon while the other could specialize in the treatment of diseases and poisons). As you read this section, these and other differences will be explained in detail.
After a player has decided what his character's profession and occupational standing will be, he must choose his skills.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE POINTS
Characters can learn skills which allow them to perform special actions. Most
skills have up to eight levels of expertise now, instead of the six levels
described in the Alpha Dawn rules. Other skills give an automatic proficiency or
fixed expertise in the skill when it is first taken. The skill levels, sometimes
with built-in Column Shifts and other modifiers, indicate the success
rate for using a skill. The success rate for each skill is listed after its
title, as well as on the Skills List at the end of this section. When a
character uses his skill, his player must roll a skill check. The player
does this by trying to roll the individual skill's success rate on the
Resolution Table. This is explained more fully in the Using Skills section.
A player can increase his character's individual skill levels by spending
experience points. Experience points can be traded in to gain an introductory
level skill or to increase a skill the character already has to the next level.
Experience points are awarded at the end of the adventure or evening of play in
the same manner as in the Alpha Dawn rules.
LEARNING SKILLS
To learn new or higher-level skills, a character must spend experience
points. The number of XP (experience points) that must be traded for each skill
and skill level are shown on the Skill Cost Table.
SKILL COST TABLE The Skill Cost Table shows the profession and nonprofession cost for each
level of skill. This is the cost to go from one skill level to the next, not the
total cost to achieve that level. Profession costs are for those skills included
under the profession chosen by the player for his character, nonprofession costs
are for all other skills. The Profession section lists each profession's skills.
The revised skill system has segmented the Primary Skill Areas and former
skills into many more new skills. This is why the skill costs are small compared
to the expanded skill system, because you now buy a single skill and not a group
of them.
A character can learn only one level of a skill at a time. Skipping levels is
not allowed, even if the character has enough experience to do so.
For example, Brango O'Bourke, a Star Law enforcer, has accumulated 6
experience points on his adventures. The player decides to spend these
experience points to increase Brango's skill level with beam weapons from level
2 to level 3. Since Brango is an enforcer, and Weapons: Beam Weapons is an
enforcer profession skill, it only costs Brango's Weapons: Beam Weapons skill
level from 2 to 3 on his character sheet, and subtracts 4 from his experience
point total. Brango still has 2 experience points left.
Training: When characters learn new skills or increase a skill level,
they must be trained. Three training methods are suggested below. All three
methods are optional. Some referees may want to ignore this activity and simply
allow players to pick new skills when their characters have earned enough
experience points without role-playing the training.
Instructors: A character with enough experience points can learn a new
skill or skill level from another character. The instructor'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 an instructor in one month. He can learn only one
skill at a time.
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.
Teaching Tapes: Teaching tapes are micro-cassettes with subliminal
instructions recorded on them. They are used in conjunction with a teaching
helm. A character with enough experience points will have the helm and the tape
with his new skill or skill level on it made available to him through Star Law,
his corporate employer, or another sponsor who is interested in his advancement.
Teaching tapes teach the skill to the character in several sessions that last a
total of five days.
Temporary Learning: Sometimes characters who are sent on special
missions are temporarily trained in a skill. The character only retains the
knowledge of how to use the skill for a short period of time. A referee may wish
to use this temporary skill knowledge in conjunction with a campaign scenario or
adventure that requires a specific skill or skill level to complete but which no
character in the party possesses. This is especially effective in a "race
against the clock" type of adventure, since the skill will "wear off."
USING SKILLS
As explained in the skill introduction section, the new skill system
drastically changes how skills are used. It divides skills into
individually-learned skills, without primary skill areas or subskills. The STAR
FRONTIERS Resolution Table is now used to determine whether a skill check is
successfully made (see the section on the Resolution System).
Success Rates: Each skill has a success rate. The success rate is the
basic chance for the character to succeed each time he uses his skill. There are
four types of success rates listed: automatic success, skill level, fixed level,
and modified skill or fixed level.
Automatic success rates mean that once the skill has been taken, the
character can automatically perform the skill without having to roll to succeed.
Skill Level success rates mean that the current level of the skill
possessed by the characters is what is used on the Resolution Table for a skill
check. No modifiers are normally added to the skill check dice roll.
Fixed Level success rates are similar to automatic success rates
because once the skill has been taken, it need not be taken again since a fixed
level is automatically achieved. Level +X is the most common fixed level, but
others exist as well. Subsequent selections of fixed level skills do not
increase the success rate.
Modified Fixed or Skill Level success rates may have a positive column
shift built-in to improve the character's chance to make the skill check. Skill
Level +1 Column Shift is a common modified skill level. This does not mean that
a +1 column shift per level of the skill is to be added; it means that after the
skill level of the character is located, the column is shifted once to the
right. For example, a player whose character has a level 3 in the Machinery
Operation skill (success rate: Skill Level +2 Column Shift) would locate his
base skill success column on the Resolution Table at Level +3, then shift it two
more columns to the right, before rolling to see if the character succeeds.
Some modifications are negative, though, and usually are multipliers of a
condition (there are -1 Column Shifts that are multiplied by the computer level,
lock level, or maxiprog level to reflect the increased difficulty at succeeding
in the skill).
Some success rate may have both a positive and a negative modifier -- a
built-in positive column shift to increase the skill level, but a negative
column shift condition (-1 CS per robot level).
Certain modifications may be so varied that the term "special" is listed for
their success rate. This means the skill definition should be read carefully and
the referee may have to make a decision as to the proper success rate.
Prerequisites: Some skills list prerequisites ("Pr") under their
success rates. This contains two different sections: a skill requirement before
the new skill can be taken, and conditions (either items or actions) that must
be used to perform the skill.
Prerequisite Skill: A skill listed as a prerequisite means that the
character must possess it before he can choose the new skill. For example,
before you can choose the Acoustics skill, you must have the Physics skill. If
more than one level of a skill is needed as a prerequisite, it will be noted.
Prerequisite Items or Actions: Items listed as prerequisites are
needed to use the skill. Medkits or techkits are necessary tools. If the job may
be too big or too complicated for a simple kit, the prerequisites usually adds
"or proper tools and facilities." In all cases the referee should use common
sense whether the attempted skill use can be performed with simple tools in the
field or must be completed in better-equipped surroundings.
Actions or conditions are rarely listed as prerequisites. "Animals to be
trained must be tamed" is an example of a condition that first must exist before
the skill can be attempted. In this case it is a warning not to try the Animal
Training skill on an untamed animal. "Gain access," which is listed extensively
in the robot skills, is explained in the Robotics background section.
SKILL BACKGROUND NOTES
AUTOMATIC SKILLS
Agility, Charisma, Endurance, and Intelligence are all professional automatic
skills. When a character chooses his profession he automatically receives is:
Techex -- Agility, Explorer -- Charisma, Enforcer -- Endurance, and Scispec --
Intelligence. There is no other way to select these skills and their game use is
only when the character is being created.
COMPUTERS
There are three types of computers mentioned in Zebulon's Guide to
Frontier Space: mainframe computers, specialized computers, and body
computers. All three types are explained in detail later in this book.
Mainframe computers are the type that most of the computer skills are
designed for. Mainframe computers are classified as Level 1 through 6 (6 is the
most complex). They also use programs (called maxiprogs) of Levels 1 to 6. The
level of a mainframe determines what maxiprog levels it can run.
Specialized computers are usually considered Level 2 computers and body
computers (called bodycomps) are the level of their processor packs; Type A
equals Level 1, Type D equals Level 4.
A character with a computer skill gets only one chance per day to try it on a
computer. If the computer is designed by an alien race (other than a Frontier
race) the success rate for the skill is modified by a -2 Column Shift.
MEDICAL
Characters who do not use a medkit with skills listing it as a prerequisite
can still attempt the skill, but with a -3 Column Shift. If a patient is treated
in a hospital or sick bay, all medical skills have an additional +2 Column
Shift. If the patient is an unfamiliar alien, all medical skills have an
additional -2 Column Shift. These two modifiers are cumulative, so the skill
check to perform a medical skill in a hospital on an unfamiliar alien is the
skill's normal success rate, although the time required for X-rays or
exploratory surgery would be longer for an unknown alien. Animals can only be
treated by Medical Treatment: Veterinary, but the activities and alien creatures
modifiers still apply.
Note that when a character has a disease, infection, infestation, poison, or
radiation introduced into his system, damage does not begin to occur until the
turn following the introduction. All other forms of damage (weapons damage,
fire, falling, etc.) occur instantly, in the same turn they are introduced to
the character.
ROBOTICS
There are eight levels of robots. A robot's level indicates how complex it
is, just like a mainframe computer. And like the mainframe and body computers,
it has programs, called roboprogs, also with eight levels.
Robots will be discussed in great detail in future volumes of Zebulon's
Guide to Frontier Space. Until the new definitions of robots are released,
continue to use the six levels of robots that are explained in the STAR
FRONTIERS Alpha Dawn rules. The roboprogs, detailing the robot's functions and
mission, are inserted inside the robot on a progit circuitry board. This board
is usually secured behind at least one protective plate. To reach the circuit
board, the plate or plates have to be removed. This is what is meant, under
Prerequisites, by gain access.
ROBOT MALFUNCTIONS
If a player fails his character's roll on his Robotics: Remove Security
Locks, Alter Functions, or Alter Mission skills, the robot can malfunction. When
this happens, the referee should roll 1d100 on the Robot Malfunction Table.
ROBOT MALFUNCTION TABLE MALFUNCTION DESCRIPTIONS
No Malfunction: The robot continues to function normally.
Function Progit Destroyed: One of the robot's function progits (picked
randomly by the referee) has been destroyed. The robot cannot perform anything
that requires that progit. If all of a robot's progits are destroyed, the robot
is deactivated.
Sensor System Failure: The robot's optical or radar/sonar sensor
system fails. This means the robot can only locate a target by its normal
audio-receivers. Since it cannot normally maneuver by touch, it must go very
slowly.
Mobility System Failure: The robot's mobility system, whether it be
hoverfan, wheels, tracks, or legs, is damaged. The referee decides what type of
limitations are placed on the robot's mobility. Examples: can only turn in
circles, can only move in reverse, moves sluggishly at one-quarter speed, jerks
forward with little control over its speed, no movement at all.
Short Circuit: The robot is still operating, but has been damaged
(effect at referees discretion). For example, a robot with a short circuit might
rattle and spark while it works, or suffer a severe loss of power to its weapons
systems.
Level Drop: The robot suffers damage throughout which drops it one
level. This level drop is used for the purpose of combat, skills, and intellect.
Mission Erased: The robot's mission progit has been erased. It still
maintains all of its functions, but has no purpose in life except to survive.
Haywire: The robot is completely out of control. It might attack at
random, spin in circles, recite the Dralasitic Creed, or do anything else which
the referee thinks fits the situation.
Explosion: The robot's parabattery explodes, causing 10 points of
damage multiplied by the parabattery's type to the character attempting the
skill. Damage is electrical, fragmentary, and concussive.
SCIENCES
Science skills, such as botany, chemistry, zoology, or geophysics, rely
heavily on the character's practical experience and common sense. Even so, each
skill automatically requires a small exploration kit containing microcircuitry
equipment that assists the character in using the skill (such as a
minimicroscope), testing chemicals, or simple analysis tools. These are
sufficient for the common uses of the skills. If the referee thinks the
character wishes to glean more information about a subject than his present
tools can provide, then sufficient time and proper scientific facilities are
required.
Skill Profession Non-Profession
Level Skill Cost Skill Cost
1 1 2
2 2 4
3 4 8
4 6 12
5 8 16
6 10 20
7 12 24
8 14 28
Die Roll Effect
01-20 No Malfunction
21-30 Function Progit Destroyed
31-40 Sensor System Failure
41-50 Mobility System Failure
51-60 Short Circuit
61-70 Level Drop
71-80 Mission Erased
81-90 Haywire
91-00 Explosion