Weapon Skills

Success rate: 1/2 DEX + skill level

All weapons skills work the same way. Each level of skill adds 10% to the character's chance to hit with that type of weapon. A roll of 96-00 always misses, however, no matter what the character's modified chance to hit is. Each type of weapon has its own skill, and characters must increase their scores separately in each. When a character uses experience points to increase one weapon skill, his other weapon skills are not affected.BEAM WEAPONS skill applies to electrostunners, heavy lasers, laser pistols, laser rifles, sonic devastators, sonic disruptors and sonic stunners.

GYROJET WEAPONS skill applies to gyrojet pistols, gyrojet rifles, grenade rifles, grenade mortars and rocket launchers.

MELEE WEAPONS skill applies to axes, brass knuckles, chains, clubs, swords, electric swords, sonic swords, knives, sonic knives, vibroknives, nightsticks, polearms, shock gloves, spears, stunsticks and whips.

PROJECTILE WEAPONS skill applies to automatic pistols and rifles, bows, muskets, needler pistols and rifles, machine guns and recoilless rifles.

THROWN WEAPONS skill applies to all grenades and thrown axes, knives and spears.

Demolitions Skill

There are two subskills to the demolitions skill: set charge and defuse charge. Only a character with demolitions skill can legally buy or use explosives or detonators. Tornadium D-19, sometimes called kaboomite, is the standard explosive.

SETTING CHARGES

Success Rate: 30% + skill level

Only characters with demolitions skill can set charges. The number of turns needed to set a charge is the character's skill level subtracted from seven. At 1st level, a character needs six turns to set a charge, but at 6th level he needs only one turn.

If a character fails the skill check to set and detonate the charge, the charge has not exploded and must be re-set. The referee should feel free to have the charge explode prematurely or late.

Charges can be detonated by timer, radio signal or weapon fire. A timer lets the character set a time when the charge will explode. The timer can be adjusted to delay from 1 second to 60 hours. If a chronocom or subspace radio is available, charges can be set to explode when a particular signal is beamed at them. The chance to explode a charge with a radio beam is 10% less than normal. Demolitions experts also can set off a charge with a laser. If the expert hits the charge, it explodes. DEFUSING CHARGES

Success Rate: 50% + [diffuser's] skill level - [setter's] skill level

A demolitions expert can try to defuse a charge that was set by another expert. Defusing a charge takes one turn, no matter what level the expert is. The expert's chance to succeed is modified by subtracting 10 x the skill level of the person that set the charge. A character can defuse one of his own charges automatically.

Martial Arts

Success Rate: 1/2 DEX or 1/2 STR + skill level

Martial Arts skill makes a character a better fighter in melee. A character with Martial Arts skill can add 10% per level to his basic chance to hit with his bare hands in melee. The skill also increases the damage caused by a successful bare-hands attack, adding one point of damage per level.

Martial Arts skill also gives the character three subskills: tumbling, defensive throws and nerve combat. Tumbling reduces damage from falling by -1 point of damage per skill level. Defensive throwing lets the character inflict damage when breaking out of a hold. When a character with Martial Arts skill breaks out of a hold, he automatically knocks his opponent down, causing damage equal to his punching score. Nerve combat increases the character's chance to knock out his opponent. The opponent must be one of the four major races. The attacker gains a +1% chance to knock out the opponent per skill level on each attack. Thus, a character with 4th level skill in unarmed combat and a Dexterity score of 40 would knock his opponent unconscious on a roll of 01-06, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60.