Endurance-Based Skills

Shield Use

Skill Rate: Staggered

Uses: Blocking, Bashing

To use a Block defence, you have to have a shield in one hand. Shields can block area attacks. As Block is based on an endurance skill, mobility penalties do not apply (unlike Dodge). Every rank in Shield Use grants you another Block defence roll per round.

Techniques:

1.   Bash : You may use your shield as a weapon, so long as it is within your weight category. It deals 1d6 Bludgeoning damage with a reach of Close. Treat it as a weapon in the Blunt family. Without this technique, Shields may only be used as improvised weapons.
2.   Stunning Bash:   [Prerequisite: Bash] a target who you wound with a shield Bash attack must make a Fortitude check (DC equals the damage dealt with your shield) or be stunned for two seconds.
3.   Shield Cover: Once per round, you may make a Block defence roll for one ally within reach. You may make this check even if they have already made a defence roll and failed.
4.   Shield Wall: If you are within reach of at least two allies with shields and have a shield yourself, you get a +1 circumstance bonus to Shield Use.
5.   Tower Shield Training: You may use Tower Shields to make block defence rolls.
6.   Buckler Training: You may use bucklers to make Block defence rolls.
7.   Arm Catch: With this technique, you can attempt to block attacks without a shield. If you succeed, instead of ignoring the attack, the damage is dealt as if it were a called shot to one of your arms. The arm must not be holding a weapon heavier than a light one to do this.

Armour

Skill Rate: Fast

Uses: wearing armour. If you are wearing armour with which you are not proficient, mobility penalties apply to strength and endurance skills as well, and no Armour techniques apply.

Special: If Armour is your focus skill, increase the defence bonus of worn armour by +1.

Techniques:

Light Armour Techniques:

1.   Armour Proficiency : Light . [Free] You get this tech for free upon placing a rank in Armour. You are proficient with all light armour.
2.   Light Armour Training: While wearing Light Armour, you only count ½ of its weight towards your encumbrance limit.
3.   Light Armour Expert: [Requires Light Armour Training] If you are wearing armour and suffer from no mobility penalty, you may add your Dexterity to Toughness instead of your Endurance (unless your Endurance is higher).  If you are unconscious or helpless, you use your Endurance instead.
4.   Light Armour Master:   [Requires Light Armour Expert] All Light Armour adds +1 defence, and you can ignore its weight entirely. Also, you add +1 to your Target score while wearing light armour.

Medium Armour Techniques:

1.   Armour Proficiency: Medium . You are proficient with all Medium armour.
2.   Medium Armour Training: [Requires Medium Armour Proficiency] : While wearing Medium Armour, you only count ½ of its weight towards your encumbrance limit.
3.   Medium Armour Expert: [Requires Medium Armour Training] Decrease the mobility penalty by one for wearing Medium Armour.
4.   Medium Armour Master: [Requires Medium Armour Expert] While wearing Medium Armour, you can ignore ¾ of its weight. This does not stack with the weight reduction from Medium Armour Training. Also, you add +1 to your Target score while wearing medium armour.

Heavy Armour Techniques:

1.   Armour Proficiency: Heavy . [Requires: Medium Armour Proficiency] You are proficient with all Heavy armour.
2.   Heavy Armour Training: [Requires Heavy Armour Proficiency] : While wearing Heavy Armour, you only add 3/4 of its weight to your encumbrance limit.
3.   Heavy Armour Expert: [Requires Heavy Armour Training] : Decrease the mobility penalty for wearing heavy armour by one point.
4.   Heavy Armour Master: [Requires Heavy Armour Expert] While wearing Heavy Armour, you can ignore ¾ of its weight to encumbrance. This does not stack with the weight reduction from Heavy Armour Training. Also, you add +1 to your Target score while wearing heavy armour.

Other Techniques:

1.   Armour Proficiency: Powered . [Requires: Medium Armour Proficiency] You are proficient with powered armour. See the Vehicles section for more information.
2.   Juggernaut : You can add 3kg x your scale multiplier (3kg for most characters) to your maximum effort for Medium armour, half that to light armour, and double it to heavy armour.
3.   Skirmisher : Ignore one point of Mobility Penalty in armour.

Unarmoured

Skill Rate: Staggered

Uses: Fighting without wearing armour.

Special: If Unarmoured is your focus skill, you add +1 to your Unarmoured Combat bonus to Defence.

Techniques:

Passive Techniques:

1.   Unarmoured Combat: With this technique, you add one plus your Unarmoured skill bonus as a Defence bonus to toughness. This bonus is negated if you are unconscious or helpless, and it doesn‚t stack with bonuses from armour, natural armour, etc.. However, if you are wearing armour that doesn‚t cover your whole body (such as a breastplate),  any uncovered areas get the benefit of your unarmoured defence bonus.
2.   Unarmoured Training: [Requires Unarmoured Combat] If you are not wearing any sort of armour, you can add +1 to your Target score.
3.   Unarmoured Expert: [Requires Unarmoured Training]   When you are not wearing any sort of armour, you can add your Dexterity in place of your Endurance to Toughness. If you are unconscious or helpless, you can‚t use unarmoured expert.
4.   Unarmoured Master: [Requires Unarmoured Expert] If you are not wearing any sort of armour, you can add +1 to your Target score. This bonus stacks with that from Unarmoured Training.

Frailty

Skill Rate: Staggered

Uses: Your character is thin and a little on the weak side. This has no penalty other than that, if you put ranks in Frailty, you might not be putting them in say fortitude. However, it causes foes to subconsciously pull their punches.

Techniques:

1.   Glasses: (as in "You Wouldn‚t Hit a Guy with Glasses") As a 1 second action, you can make a Frailty check against one enemy‚s Will. The enemy must be able to see you. If you succeed, any attacks they make against you before your next turn deal -1 damage. This is because, whether they know it or not, they are deliberately avoiding hurting you too badly ƒ you just don‚t look like you could take it. You take a -1 penalty to this check if you are wearing light armour, -2 in medium armour, and -3 in heavy armour. If the armour is concealed or they otherwise don‚t know about it, the penalty is ignored. Enemies immune to morale effects ignore any benefit you get from Glasses.
2.   Mass Glasses:   [Requires Glasses] When you use the Glasses technique, it affects anyone who can see you. Roll the check once, and apply it against everyone‚s Will.
3.   Weaker Glasses:   [Requires Glasses, three ranks in Frailty] When you use Glasses, enemies deal -2 damage instead of -1.
4.   Sickly Glasses:   [Requires Weaker Glasses, six ranks in Frailty] As Weaker Glasses, but they do -3 damage instead of -1
5.   Quick Glasses:   [Requires Glasses] You can use Glasses as an Immediate 1 second action

Fortitude

Skill Rate: Staggered

Uses: Fortitude checks are made whenever you come into contact with poisons or disease, as well as to resist many kinds of special attacks and to avoid dying.

Size Modifier: Add three times your scale to your Fortitude modifier.

Techniques:

1.   March : you may walk for an additional 4 hours per day without becoming fatigued.
2.   Immunity : pick one poison or disease that you have been exposed to in the past. You are immune to this poison or disease. You may choose this multiple times, each time choosing a new poison or disease.
3.   Die Hard : instead of a 10% chance to stabilize each round while dying, you have a 25% chance
4.   Die Harder : [Requires Die Hard] Instead of a 25% chance to stabilize each round while dying, you have a 50% chance
5.   Live Easy : [Requires Die Harder] You automatically stabilize when dying
6.   Last Stand: While dying, you remain conscious, though you are Disabled. If you stop dying, you are no longer Disabled.
7.   Sleep is for the Weak : You may go for one night without sleep and suffer no ill-effects. If you go without for another night in a row, you are exhausted rather than fatigued the next day.
8.   Efficient Sleeper : You only need to sleep for six hours every night instead of eight to get a good night‚s rest.
9.   Zero-G Training : you ignore the -2 mobility penalty for being in zero gravity.
10.   Uncanny Resilience : [Requires 4 ranks in Fortitude] :   You add +1 to your Toughness, but not your minimum toughness. As such, you are just as vulnerable to wounding but harder to kill outright. You may take this technique once for every four ranks in Fortitude you have. Its effects stack. So, if before this you had toughness 9/3 (average human), then afterwards you would have toughness 10/3.
11.   Mule : Add +2 kg (times your scale multiplier, of course) to your Encumbrance step. This allows you to carry more gear without slowing down. You may take this technique multiple times and its effects stack, although its total increase cannot double your original Encumbrance step .
12.   Heavy Lifter: [Requires Mule] You can ignore one mobility penalty from encumbrance.

Ride /Drive/Pilot

Skill Rate: Staggered

Uses: This skill is used for riding on horseback (or other similar animals), as well as driving and piloting vehicles of all description.

If you attempt to ride an animal or pilot a vehicle without the proper operation technique, you do not add your skill modifier to checks.

Mobility Penalty: You do not add your own mobility penalties to Ride, Drive, or Pilot checks. However, if you are riding a mount  or operating a vehicle with a mobility penalty, that penalty is also applied to checks made with this skill. Because of this, it is easier to perform stunts with (for example) a sports car than a heavily armoured tank.

Techniques:

Vehicle Operation Techniques
Note: If you take a single technique in this section, you are also able to operate light wheeled vehicles (such as cars and light trucks). There is no separate technique for operating such vehicles. See chapter 4: Vehicle Combat for more information.

1.   Light Mech Operation: You can pilot mechs up to two scales larger than you are
2.   Heavy Mech Operation:   [Requires Light Mech Vehicle Operation] You can pilot mechs more than two scales larger than you are
3.   Light Aircraft Operation: you can pilot aircraft up to three scales larger than you are
4.   Light Spacecraft Operation:   [Requires Light Aircraft Operation] You may pilot spacecraft up to three scales larger than you are
5.   Heavy Spacecraft Operation: You may pilot spacecraft greater than three scales larger than you are
6.   Heavy Aircraft Operation:   [Requires Light Aircraft Operation] you can pilot aircraft more than two scales larger than you are
7.   Light Tracked Vehicle Operation: You can drive tracked vehicles up to two scales larger than you are
8.   Heavy Tracked Vehicle Operation:   [Requires Light Tracked Vehicle Operation] You can drive tracked vehicles more than two scales larger than you are
9.   Light Naval Vehicle Operation : You can drive boats up to two scales larger than you are
10.   Heavy Naval Vehicle Operation: [ Requires Light Naval Vehicle Operation] You can drive boats more than 2 scales larger than you are
11.   Heavy Wheeled Vehicle Operation : You may drive wheeled vehicles more than two scales larger than you are

Other Techniques:

1.   Jackrabbit: If you succeed on a DC 8 Drive check, you can move into the square that you just left. If you fail, you lose one square of movement and have to move around it.
2.   Rapid Transform: With this technique, you can command a transforming vehicle to transform in half the time (2SA instead of a 4SA, generally)  
3.   Bogey on your Six: If you are piloting a vehicle, you can make an opposed Pilot check with another vehicle as a 2SA. If you succeed, you gain +1 Target against attacks made by that vehicle, and they take a -1 Target penalty against attacks made by your vehicle (whether made by you or other members of the crew). You can attempt this multiple times in a round, but the bonuses and penalties don‚t stack.
4.   Dive:   [Requires Light Aircraft Operation] If you are in a vehicle that moves at least 10 squares down in a round, you gain a +2/2 bonus to attack rolls made with bombs.

Animal Riding Techniques
Note: If you take a single technique in this section, you are also able to ride animals with your full bonus. There is no separate technique for “operating” an animal. See Chapter 3: Combat for more information on mounted combat.

1.   Mighty Charge: Charges from the back of a mount do one die higher damage, to the normal maximum of d12. If the attack already did d12 damage, it deals +1 damage.
2.   Trample: While mounted and moving through an area occupied by enemies, your mount may make a free hoof, claw, or similar attack on the occupant of any square you move through. Occupied squares count as difficult terrain for these purposes (half speed).
3.   Rapid Trample : [Requires Trample] Occupied squares no longer count as difficult terrain while using the Trample technique.
4.   Devastating Trample :   [Requires Trample] Your mount may make a free Trip attempt against enemies it tramples. You may use your mount‚s Wrestle modifier or one half of your Ride modifier (round down), whichever is higher.
5.   Guide with Knees : While riding a mount, you may use both hands freely. Normally it takes a hand to guide your mount.
6.   Stay in Saddle : If an opponent tries to Trip or Throw you while you are mounted, you may use your ride modifier in place of your wrestle modifier to avoid being tripped.
7.   Skilled Rider : Controlling a mount no longer takes 2 seconds of concentration every round
8.   Fast Mount/Dismount : Mounting and dismounting takes only 1 second for you, instead of 4.
9.   Mounted Evade: Once per round, your mount may make a dodge defence roll using your Ride skill modifier instead of its own Dodge bonus. This still counts against the mount‚s number of defence rolls per round.