Academics
(Brad McMillan)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: This skill is a general category for all the academic skills not specifically mentioned in Star Frontiers. These are skills that a character might learn in some institute of higher learning, such as: Dralasite Literature; Philosophy; Media Production; Office Technology Systems; etc. The character knows the foundations of his area of study and only needs to make a skill check if some specific piece of uncommon information is called for or some particularly challenging action is required. Some examples of this skill include: Anthropology (in-depth cultural knowledge; gives +10% to skill checks when taken with archaeology), Economics (explained below), Linguistics (useful for deciphering alien or ancient languages), Literature, and Mathematics (explained below).
Acrobatics
(Troy Terrell)
Prerequisites: None
Description: This skill involves all the various activities associated with circus acrobats, including: trapeze, tightrope, jumping & flipping, and other such acts. In combat situations, the skill can make the character a more difficult target to hit, due to the unexpectedly quick movements accomplished by a trained acrobat. With a successful skill check in melee, the character gains the defending bonus (-15 to attacker’s chance to hit) without sacrificing her ability to counterattack. When dodging a ranged attack, the character can move at full speed on a successful skill check, ignoring the movement penalty of dodging as listed in the combat rules (the character has to be able to move and be aware of the ranged attack, however). The actual application of the skill in various circumstances is left to the referee's discretion.
Adroitness
(Albin Johnson)
Prerequisites: None (professional skill)
Description: This is the automatic skill for Spacers, essentially allowing them to operate efficiently in hypo-/hypergravity or acceleration situations. Spacer characters get an additional 7 points to be distributed between their Logic and Dexterity scores, reflecting the experience they gained studying sophisticated systems in a weightless environment.
Alertness
(Brad McMillan)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: This skill makes an individual less likely to be surprised and more aware of his general surroundings. A character with this skill gets a +15% to his intuition roll for avoiding surprise. Also, the character may pick up on unusual environmental events (unusual quiet in the wilderness, a disturbed clearing, an unstable rock fall, etc.) at the referee’s discretion.
