Agility: This Skill is usually used only when facing Thugs. It is used to dodge their ranged attacks, even gunfire, with impressive evasion techniques, flips and dodges, and extraordinary luck. Like many of the conventions of the fighting game genre, it is not intended to be a “realistic” skill. This Skill can also be used as a defensive option in Dramatic Combat against Thugs.
Climactic Super Move: This special Skill represents the ability of a character to pull out powerfully destructive techniques, but only when they are losing. Such attacks are usually accompanied by flashes, explosions, and huge changes to the immediate environment (physically and perhaps spiritually as well). Its main use is for Dramatic Combat, but the Director may allow a Climactic Super Move skill check in desperate non-combat situations, such as destroying an ancient magical monolith before it summons enough power to destroy the world. In this way, it is like the Property Damage Skill, though this Skill (as the name suggests) only works in climactic situations and can generate much more impressive effects.
Gadgeteering: This special Skill requires a character to also possess the Quality of the same name before
taking any levels in it.
Furthermore, this Skill also requires the other secondary Skills listed below to be at a level at least equal to 1/2 (round up) of the Gadgeteering skill level (thus, Gadgeteering 4 requires all related Skills to be at least 2 levels).
This Skill represents access to and proficiency with powerful high-tech equipment (and usually, though not necessarily, skill at creating it). In game terms, the Skill allows the character to do almost anything, provided it can be described in terms of the high-tech equipment that is being used. The Director simply assigns a DL to determine the difficulty in having the right equipment on hand in the present situation (with lower DLs when it facilitates moving the story forward). This Skill requires significant Director adjudication, but it helps to better define many character concepts, as well as increasing opportunities to use non-combat powers.
Example: Max Damage the cyborg warrior has Gadgeteering 4. On a mission against the evil Striker Corporation, Max finds himself trapped in an energy cell. He sees the controls only 10 feet away, but he can’t reach them. He decides to use a remote control to activate the controls and free himself.
The Director likes this idea and decides to set the DL at only 8. Max’s player rolls a 6, giving Max a total of 10. Max makes an adjustment to the settings on his cybernetic arm, aims it at the control panel, and activates the release. The energy cell disappears and Max heads further into the complex.
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The secondary Skills required for Gadgeteering are:
Ki (understood as Gadgetry), Thug Thrashing, Climactic Super Move, Property Damage, Endure Great Hardship, Awareness, and Perception. Note that this Skill is to be distinguished from “Gadgetry,”
which is simply an alternative name for the Ki Skill.
Magic: This special Skill requires a character to also possess the Quality of the same name before taking levels. Furthermore, this Skill also requires the other secondary Skills listed below to be at a level equal to 1/2 (round up) of the Magic skill level (thus, Magic 4 requires all related Skills to be at least 2 levels). This Skill represents mastery of sorcery and magical powers. In game terms, this Skill allows the character to do almost anything, limited only by the Director. The Director simply assigns a DL to determine the difficulty in knowing and being able to use the right power in the present situation (with lower DLs when it facilitates moving the story forward). This Skill requires significant Director adjudication, though it is intended to be the most powerful of the Skills of its type (i.e., Magic, Psychic, and Gadgeteering) and it helps to better define many character concepts. It also increases opportunities to use non-combat powers.
Example: Yasa, expert explorer and burgeoning master sorcerer, is traveling the depths of the earth looking for the mystical entrance to the lost shrine of the Itagaki-Ryu. Realizing she is lost, she draws upon her magical techniques to find her way. The Director sets the DL at 10, though Yasa’s Magic Skill is only a 2. Still, she manages to roll a 9, giving her a total of 11. A series of tiny, twinkling lights suddenly appears leading down a pathway Yasa had not noticed before and the journey continues.
The secondary Skills required for Magic are: Ki,
Meditation, Climactic Super Move, Property Damage, Sense Ki, Draw Ki, Danger Sense, Spirituality, and Grim Determination. This long list of requirements highlights the power and potential uses of the Magic Skill.
Power: This special Skill requires a character to also possess the Quality of the same name before taking levels. Unlike other special Skills of this type (i.e., Gadgeteering, Magic, and Psychic), this Skill does not require any other secondary Skills. This Skill represents proficiency with one specific “super power,” defined by the Quality. The Director assigns a DL to determine the difficulty of using the power in the present situation, if it can be used at all (also at the Director’s discretion). Likewise, the player defines the character’s power when the Quality is chosen, but the specifics of this power are up to the adjudication of the Director.
Example: Dominic Kane is a scion of an ancient bloodline, each member possessed of unique supernatural powers. In Dominic’s case, this is the ability to fly. He has 6 levels with the Skill Power (Fly). During a chase, Dominic loses the young princess he was hired to protect. He follows the trail to her location in the penthouse of a downtown skyscraper. He realizes he’ll never be able to fight his way through inside, so he decides to fly to the penthouse directly. However, the kidnappers’ dark ritual in progress has created a tremendous thunderstorm with high winds. The Director sets the DL at 8. This is not enough to daunt the blood of the Kane dynasty. Dominic’s player rolls a 4 and begins the liberation of the princess.
Psychic: This special Skill requires a character to also possess the Quality of the same name before taking levels. Furthermore, this Skill also requires the other secondary Skills listed below to also be at a level equal to 1/2 (round up) of the Psychic skill
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level (thus, Psychic 4 requires all related Skills to be at least 2 levels). This Skill represents an array of useful psionic abilities. In game terms, it allows the character to do almost anything, limited only by the very specific category of special effects defined as
“psychic powers.” The Director simply assigns a DL to determine the difficulty in knowing and being able to use the right power in the present situation (with lower DLs when it facilitates moving the story forward). This Skill requires significant Director adjudication to keep it focused on psychic abilities, but it helps to better define many character concepts, as well as increasing opportunities to use non-combat powers.
Example: Therese is one of the greatest psychic minds of the 18th century. But at the moment, she has no idea where the blessed kensai will be born.
She decides to use her precognitive powers.
Therese has Psychic 7. However, the Director thinks this would push the limits of even her powers, so he sets the DL at 16. Therese’s player rolls an 8, which is only a 15. Her powers failed her, but the Director decides to give her a vision anyway as a clue.
The secondary Skills required for Psychic are: Ki, Meditation, Property Damage, Sense Ki, Zen State, and Grim Determination.
Reaffirm Purpose: A character with this Skill needs to define a purpose, which can be vague or extremely specific, and which stays the same for the life of the character. It is the character’s overarching motivation in life. Thus, it should not be something that can be accomplished easily or ever, or it must be something that would still inspire the character even after it was accomplished. Examples might include being the best fighter in the world, defeating a worldwide evil organization, or killing every member of a family line.
Whenever the character is struggling, especially in regard to this purpose, a successful skill check can give them a boost to rise up and carry on. The DL of such a check is determined by the Director, based on how much or how little he thinks the character needs to reaffirm his purpose in order to succeed. A common boost would be the award of a Story Point.
In addition to a character’s primary purpose, a character can also choose a temporary purpose that can change depending on the scene at the Director’s discretion. For example, if the character was trying to protect an important person and that person was in great danger, the character could Reaffirm Purpose in regard to that purpose. The game effects are the same, though the DL would normally be higher.
Realize Potential: Characters with this Skill learn quickly and strive to always become better. When exceptionally good or bad things happen to them, a Realize Potential check can gain them concrete benefits. The Director determines whether or not the success or failure was significant enough and whether or not the situation is significant. If it is, he sets a DL for the Realize Potential skill check. If it is successful, the character gets a bonus decided by the Director, usually a Story Point.
There is another use for this Skill as well. If a character is defeated by an opponent of equal or greater Power Level, and the Director knows that a rematch is definite, the character can make a Realize Potential check. Based on this result, the character can design a new Special Move that is intended to help him defeat that specific opponent.
The Director has final say on such a move, and may even design it himself. The nature of the new move may not have much specifically to do with beating
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the opponent in game terms (though it might). The level of the move is equal to the Realize Potential skill check divided by 3 (round up). This new move costs the character nothing, but it can only be used against that specific opponent.
This particular use of the Skill should normally be done only once or twice during a campaign, but if the campaign centers on characters constantly training in new techniques and rivalries are fierce and commonplace, this rule could be invoked more frequently.
Stance Evaluation: A character with this Skill is familiar with many different martial art styles and can detect them simply from a fighter’s stance. A successful roll might allow knowledge of some of the Elements of an opponent’s Special Moves. For every 4 points rolled on a Stance Evaluation Skill check (round down), the character may ask the Director if his opponent possesses a Special Move with a specific Element built into it. For example, with a skill check result of 12, the player might ask the Director, “Does my opponent possess Special Moves with the Interrupt, Throw, or Ranged Elements?” The Director must answer truthfully (though this always up to his own discretion, based on the needs of the story!).
Thug Thrashing: This Skill represents a character’s proficiency in fighting multiple opponents at once.
To a lesser degree, it also measures a character’s simple street-fighting prowess apart from stylized technique. Characters with high Thug Thrashing Skill know how to use the environment, body positioning, and special techniques to rapidly engage opponents at close range. This Skill drastically increases a fighter’s combat effectiveness in Thug Thrashing Combat.