Neon Twilight Skills

CYBERPUNK SKILLS v3.6

By Mateusz Krepicz, Copyright 1998, All Rights Reserved

This skill listing is intended as an all-encompassing directory of various skills defined in such a way as to make the skills evenly weighed and to make it difficult to become an instant killing machine. The combat skills are intentionally fragmented to make it difficult to advance quickly (as opposed to broad skills such as Firearms). The Difficulty modifies the number of experience points (karma) needed to learn that skill. Difficult (D) skills cost 3 x Desired Rating, Normal (N) skills 2 x Desired Rating, and Easy (E) skills cost 1 x Desired Rating. Attributes used in this listing are as follows:

ATTRIBUTES

Strength (STR)
Toughness (TOU)
Intelligence (INT)
Perception (INT)
Agility (AGI)
Dexterity (DEX)
Reflex (REF)
Psyche (PSY)
Charisma (CHA)

If a player does not have a specific skill but has a related skill, he may attempt the skill roll at a +2 Difficulty. Example: Bishop has Pistols, but wants to use a SMuG; his difficulty is increased by +2. Forensics defaults to Alertness, Surgery to First Aid, Pilot Aircraft to Driving. This is rather generous and can be optional, if so desired by the GM.

MOST USEFUL
NAME	NOTES	ATTR	DIFF
Alertness	initiative, detect ambush, search room	per	N
Athletics	jump, climb, lift, sports	sta	N
Appraisal	evaluate item’s worth	per	N
Carousing	drinking, stories, fun	cha	N
Cultures	proper customs in foreign lands	cha	N
Demolitions	incl safe-cracking, sabotage	int	N
Etiquette	good manners	cha	N
Escapology	handcuffs, contortion, knots	dex	N
Forgery	documents, seals, money	dex	N
Forensics	ballistics, searching, clues	per	N
First Aid	only stabilizes	dex	E
Gunsmith	ammo, attachments	dex	N
Interrogation	interview, drugs, torture	man	N
Impersonation	disguise + acting	cha	N
Intimidation	scare people	str	E
Matrix	net lore, contacts	cha	N
Locksmith	old-fashioned only	dex	N
Persuasion	oratory, writing, leadership	cha	N
Politics	intrigues, diplomacy	man	N
Style	flair, jest, wit, humour	cha	N
Security	surveillance, sensors	dex	N
Stealth	city, wilderness, camouflage	agi	N
Streetwise	fencing, underworld	man	N
Survival	forage, fire, shelter	per	N
Subterfuge	lie, bluff, blather, bribe	man	N
Seduction	uses charisma & appearance	*	N
Shadow/Track	outdoor and urban	per	N
Stealing	palming, pick pocket	spd	N
Traps	tripwires, deadfalls, etc	dex	N

LESS USEFUL
Aerial Combat	dogfighting,weaponry	spd	D
Acrobatics		agi	N
Arts	paint, draw, sculpt	ess	N
Dancing		agi	N
Divination	tarot, entrails, ball, etc	soul	N
Gaming	incl gambling	luck	N
Handyman	plumbing, heating, appliances	dex	E
Healer	ancient medicine, herbs	soul	N
Meditation	peace & rest	soul	N
Mountaineering	incl cliffs, caves, walls	sta	N
Music	instruments & composition	soul	N
Negotiation	haggle, barter, arbitrate	man	N
Navigation	city streets, orienteering	per	N
Singing		ess	N
Surgery	high risk, needs gear	dex	D
Swimming	incl scuba	str	E
Teaching	instruction	cha	N

KNOWLEDGES
Aerospace	space and aircraft	int	D
Architecture	incl civil engineering	int	N
Archaeology	ruins, artifacts	int	N
Anthropology	customs, rituals	int	N
Astronomy	requires astrophysics	int	N
Biology	botany + zoology	int	N
Business	management, economics	int	N
Chemistry	incl poisons	int	N
Cybernetics	implants, prosthetics	int	D
Communications	comsats, networks, places	int	N
Computers	programs, hacking	int	D
Cryptography	scrambling, codes	int	N
Electrics	electrical engineering	int	N
Finance	accounting, stocks	int	N
Genetics	design, synthesis, tecto	int	D
Geology	incl metallurgy	int	N
Geography	incl cartography	int	N
History		int	N
Mathematics		int	N
Mechanics	mechanical engineering	int	N
Nanotech		int	N
Languages	normal, ancient,secret	int	N
Law	incl loopholes	int	D
Literature	incl creative writing	int	N
Philosophy	logic, aesthetics,ethics	int	N
Photonics	gadgets, circuitry	int	N
Physics		int	N
Psychology		int	N
Pathology	diseases, toxins, illness	int	N
Research	indexing, cross-ref, library use	int	N
Religion	incl rituals et al	int	N
Robotics	incl power armour	int	D
Tactics	strategy & small unit bonus	int	N

TRANSPORT
Driving	cars and motorcycles	spd	E
Pilot Aircraft	incl spinner	spd	N
Pilot Rotorcraft		spd	N
Pilot Seaship		spd	N
Pilot Submersible		spd	N
Pilot Vector	incl hovercraft	spd	N
Pilot Spaceship		spd	D
Riding	horse, camel, llama	dex	E
Riding, Aquatic	eg: hippocampus	dex	N
Riding, Aerial	eg: pegasus	dex	N
Riding, Insect	eg: beetle	dex	D

MAGICK
Alchemy	fluids & substances	soul	D
Awareness	magicians only	per	N
Cosmology	magical places	soul	D
Empathy	deduce emotions	soul	N
Enchanting	magical items	soul	D
Enigmas	puzzles, riddles	int	N
Monster Lore	magical entities	int	D
Occult	cults, weird stuff	int	D
Symbology	signs, runes, patterns	int	N

ANCIENT WEAPONS
Archery	bows, crossbows	per	N
Axes	hatchet, thrown	str	N
Swords	long blades, katana	agi	N
Knives	knives, short sword	agi	N
Fencing	rapier, saber, foil	spd	N
Chains	incl nunchaku, morning star	agi	N
Blunt	staff, club, mace	str	E
Spears	thrown & wielded	str	E
Polearms	halberd et al	str	D
Thrown	knife, shuriken, grenade	agi	N
Exotic	trident, sai, net, garrote	agi	D

MODERN WEAPONS
Pistols	dex	E
Shotguns	dex	N
Rifles	dex	N
SMuGs	dex	N
Machineguns	dex	N
Missiles	dex	N
Energy	dex	D

UNARMED COMBAT
Streetfighting	dirty tricks	spd	N
Wrestling	grappling-range only	str	N
Boxing	fist range only	agi	N
Martial Arts	x2 versus non-artists	agi	D

CRAFTS
Agriculture		sta	N
Armorer		str	N
Bowyer/Fletcher		dex	N
Blacksmithing		str	N
Brewing	incl vintner	int	E
Carpentry		str	N
Cooking		dex	E
Fishing		luck	E
Hunting	incl snares	per	N
Jeweler		dex	N
Leatherwork		dex	N
Pottery		dex	E
Mining	incl drilling	str	E
Stonemasonry		str	N
Weaponer	ancient weapons	dex	N
Weaving	sewing	dex	E

MISCELLANEOUS
Animal Training	incl. falconry	soul	N
Acrobatics		agi	N
Blind-fighting	limits other fighting skills	per	N
Fire-tricks		sta	N
Hypnotism		cha	E
Juggling		spd	E
Mimicry	incl ventriloquism	per	D
Rope Tricks	incl knots	dex	E

Detailed Notes:

There are no 'skills' for such things as bending bars, smashing down doors, or resisting poisons. You cannot learn such things in real life. Simply double the character's Strength or Toughness for such rolls.

Alertness - an absolutely necessary skill because it determines initiative and reaction time in crisis situations as well as the ability to detect ambushes. It is also the default skill if a character wants to search a room but doesn't have forensics.

Research - deals with finding specific things in large stores of information, whether it be a giant online database or a village library. Hackers require this skill to properly (and quickly) search databanks.

Tactics - deals with small-unit tactics. If a team of 3-12 combatants outlines a plan and follows it precisely, they get to roll Tactics + Intelligence versus the other guys. The winning group receives a +1 bonus to strike. Remember, there has to be a plan, and each combatant must fulfill his plan obligations; if anyone deviates fromt the plan, the entire team forfeits the bonus.

Computers - deals only with software and programming. Photonics covers all hardware.

Photonics - is the future equivalent of electronics. It is based on photonic (light-based) quantum circuits, and is much harder to handle because of its micro-miniaturisation and unstable state.

Style - deals with first impressions. Upon first meeting a person, each player must roll an opposed Style + Appearance test. The results will determine that person's future reactions to your character: Botch - instant hatred; Failure - dislike (-2 dice on all social rolls involving that person); 1 success - apathy (-1 dice); 2 successes - like (no modifiers); 3 successes - pleasant (+1 dice), and so on.

Etiquette/Streetwise/Cultures/Matrix - deals with social interactions in various strata of society. Every character must have at least one of these social skills (pathological hermits excepted). Etiquette involves middle-class/upper-class/corporate society; Streetwise involves street/lowlife/criminal society; Cultures involves primitive societies (tribes, nomads, pygmies, etc.); Matrix involves cyberspace society (hacker culture).

Communications - involves not only the ability to use specialized sensor/comm equipment such as lasers, tight-beam radios, sonar, radar, and microwaves, but also the ability to navigate the global communications networks and search for transmissions. See the cyberspace section for more details.

Awareness - is a magical 'second-sight' that allows one to sense auras, detect the presence of magic, and peek momentarily into astral space.

Martial Arts - any martial artist fighting a non-martial-artist gets to double his skill versus that opponent. This takes into account the fact that martial arts is far superior to other hand-to-hand techniques such as wrestling or boxing.

Blind Fighting - a character's combat skills cannot be higher than the rating of this skill when in total darkness (without cyber-enhancements, of course).

Cultures vs Anthropology - what's the difference? Anthropology is an intellectual understanding of a foreign society; Cultures is an intuitive first-hand knowledge of local customs and proper behaviour. War correspondents would have Cultures; university professors would have Anthropology.