GURPS - Compendium 1..

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One roll is required every five minutes, or whenever execut ing a difficult maneuver. On a failure, the dress fills with water and the diver must swim to the surface, at -2 to Swimming skill. On a critical failure of either the Diving or Swimming roll, he is tangled in his lines and cannot get up. Unless his handlers pull him up, he is doomed. Orienteering/TL (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-5 or Navigation-2 This is the ability to locate oneself with respect to terrain (the U.S. military calls this "land navigation"). Orienteering rolls are - 1 to -10 (GM's discretion) for being in an unfamiliar area. It is much harder to locate oneself in the Arctic barrens than in downtown Cleveland! Modifiers: Orienteering rolls are +1 for an accurate map, a compass or clear view of the sun or stars and at least one hour to make observations (these bonuses are not cumulative); +3 if you have Absolute Direction, or are using a high-tech global positioning system or inertial compass. Skating (Physical/Hard) See p. 132 under Athletic Skills. Surveying/TL (Mental/Average) See p. 158 under Scientific Skills. Defaults to DX-6 Defaults to IQ-5 Survival (Urban) (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-5 This talent covers the physical part of staying alive in a city environment, whether it's overpopulated or empty. The social problems of city survival are covered by the Streetwise skill. A specialist in Urban Survival could (for instance) find clean rainwater; locate manholes from above or below; quickly locate building entrances, exits, stairwells, and so on; recognize and avoid physically dangerous areas, like crumbling buildings; make and read city maps, and find his way out of strange city areas; find a warm place to sleep outside in cold weather; and locate common types of buildings or businesses without asking anyone, just by his "feel" for the way cities are laid out. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Abacus (Mental/Average) No default This skill allows you to use an abacus to perform calculations. Simple problems can be solved in one second and difficult ones in two seconds; complex problems will take at least five seconds, and often more. A failure with this skill produces an obvious wrong answer. A critical success with this skill will halve the computation time for all but simple problems; a critical failure will cause a subtle error that looks like a right answer. Aviation/TL (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-5 Professional aviators require a body of additional knowledge beyond that required to steer the vehicle. This normally covers the basics of map reading and navigation, practical meteorology, aerial laws and regulations, and so on. Bartender (Mental/Average) Defaults to Carousing-3 This skill incorporates knowledge of stocking and maintaining a professional-quality bar, in addition to knowing how to mix a variety of drinks. A professional bartender also knows how to interact with customers in a professional yet friendly way - including the ability to calm down unruly drunks before the bouncer needs to get involved. At higher levels, the skill takes on an element of showmanship, allowing the bartender to present the drinks in unique and attractive ways, and to mix them with showy tricks and flourishes. Finally, a bartender will have a working knowledge of local laws relating to alcohol trade and consumption, and will be able to accurately gauge the intoxication level of any given customer. Courtesan (Mental/Average) Defaults to Savoir-Faire-5 This skill represents the business side of high-class prostitution (and is quite different from Professional skill: Streetwalker). It involves knowing and avoiding entanglements with the law or organized crime, making professional contacts, calming or escaping from unruly or dangerous customers, and various techniques of professional seduction. It also includes a detailed knowledge of birth control and disease prevention techniques available at the character's culture and tech level. Cyberdeck Operation/TL (Mental/Very Hard) Defaults to Computer Operation-8 This is the ability to operate a neurally-controlled cyberdeck; it exists only in worlds where there is a Net. It controls how well you move through the Net, how many programs you can control at once, and many other variables. See Chapter 3 of <strong>GURPS</strong> Cyberpunk for more information. In order to manipulate the Net in ways the original programmers did not intend, you will need both this skill and Computer Hacking (p. 155). When you are hacking on the Net, your effective Cyberdeck Operation skill cannot be greater than your Hacking skill. Exorcism (Mental/Hard) Defaults to IQ-6 or Theology-3 To drive a spirit from its possessed victim or its haunt requires an exorcism. Someone without the Clerical Investment advantage takes a -4 to his Exorcism skill or default when performing the ritual - he may understand the ritual, but he lacks a priest's holy support. A NPC clergyman will usually perform this ritual for free, if the players can convince him that the person or location is actually possessed. Exorcism is not a magical skill; it is a religious skill involving a complex ritual (although, depending upon the originating culture of the spirit, it might be performed with equal efficiency by a Malay witch-doctor or a Catholic priest). The length of the ritual depends on the HT of the spirit (generally 15 minutes for every 1 HT possessed by the spirit). Upon completion of the ritual, the exorcist rolls against his Exorcism skill or default value. Some spirits will wait patiently through the ritual, anticipating the combat to come; others will try to distract or disable the exorcist before the ritual can be completed. If the Exorcism roll fails, the spirit remains, and the exorcist must wait at least a week before repeating the ritual. On a critical failure, the exorcist rolls on the Fright Check table (see p. B94), adding 10 to his die roll. Furthermore, even if he keeps his sanity, he may never attempt to exorcise this particular spirit again. 153
A critical success automatically banishes the demon or ghost. If a regular success is rolled, the exorcist and his opponent meet in a Quick Contest, pitting the exorcist's Will + Exorcism skill against the total of the spirit's ST + IQ. When fighting a spirit in a living host, the exorcist adds to his total the ST and Will of the possessed subject, as the victim tries to "push" the spirit out (obviously, this is not applicable to corpses and locations). If the spirit wins, it remains and the exorcist may not repeat the ritual for a week. However, a succes sful IQ roll after a failed exorcism may reveal something about the spirit that will help the exorcist in his next attempt to banish that foe, giving him a +2 on later skill rolls. Only one such +2 bonus is allowed. Should the exorcist win the Contest of Wills, the spirit of a deceased mortal will be laid to rest. A successfully exorcised demon or non-human spirit loses its hold on the possessed person or body, and will usually flee in humiliation. Make a reaction roll for the spirit. On any Poor or better reaction, it will flee, but on a Bad or Very Bad reaction, the spirit will immediately use whatever resources it has to take vengeance on the exorcist and those nearby. Fortune Telling (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-4 or Fast Talk -3 This represents the professional fortune teller's ability to read a subject's character and wishes and leave him feeling satisfied with a reading. It does not actually have anything to do with real psychic gifts. Very skilled Fortune Tellers will command a high wage for their counsel. This skill includes familiarity with all the popular fortune telling methods - palmistry, phrenology, tea-leaves, crystal gazing and tarot. Astrology is an exception - that requires a much more specialized knowledge, and is a skill in its own right (see the Astronomy skill, p. B60), but Astrology and Fortune Telling skills can be used together, to allow the Fortune Teller to present the horoscope with the maximum possible persuasion and emotional effect. If the Fortune Teller is willing to accept a -3 penalty to his skill roll, he may use it to attempt to extract personal information from his subject: "I see a great sadness in your recent past." "Yes! My wife just left me." "And she is not the only one close to you who has betrayed you." "That's right - she ran off with my business partner." This skill is modified by Charisma. Characters with the Empathy advantage also get a +3 to Fortune Telling (including default use). Musical Notation (Mental/Easy) No default This is the skill of reading and writing musical notation. Note that this skill does not let you compose music or write lyrics but if you do compose a piece, writing it in musical notation will allow others to play it. Panhandling (Mental/Easy) Defaults to Fast Talk -2, Bard-3 or IQ-5 This is the ability to successfully beg food and money from strangers. It tells you who to approach and how, and how to avoid legal entanglements. A successful Panhandling roll will yield $0.50 times the number the roll succeeded by. A failure will result in a rebuff, and a critical failure will cause your target to call the police or attack you physically. A critical success will yield some sort of unexpected bonus - your target will buy you dinner, or give you something useful (a raincoat, new shoes) or at least pawnable. A busy beggar can make up to 2d rolls per hour on a reasonably well-traveled thoroughfare. Panhandling is modified by Charisma, and characters with the Pitiable advantage (see p. 29) get a +3 to all rolls. Appearance modifies Panhandling inversely to its normal effects - in other words, attractive people get a penalty to Panhandling, and unattractive people get a bonus (this does not apply, however, to those with Horrific or Monstrous appearance; see p. 80). Panhandlers may use the Disguise skill to appear less attractive than they otherwise might. Sailor/TL (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-5 Professional sailors require a body of additional knowledge beyond that required to steer the vessel. This normally covers the basics of map reading and navigation, practical meteorology, nautical laws and regulations, and so on. See Shiphandling, p. 16<strong>1.</strong> Temporal Operation/TL (Mental/Average) Defaults to Temporal Electronics-2 This is the skill of running time machines. Successful Operation rolls get the travelers precisely to the target place and time, without unpleasant side effects. Failed rolls may cause them to arrive a week too early, 15 feet in the air, without some of their equipment, or suffering from Timesickness (p. 84). The GM may establish a "failure table," or just make it up as he goes along. In campaigns where the operators remain behind their consoles at "home time" while the agents are in the field, Operation rolls may be required to "lock on" and transfer the agents. ("Beam us up!") This is always necessary if the operators are PCs. If the GM plays "control," he may use die rolls or act when it is dramatically convenient. ("Roger, team, we can see the charging Cossacks, and we're doing our best to get you outta there, just be a couple more minutes. . .") If the method of travel in the campaign involves drugs or hypnosis instead of a machine, this is the only Temporal skill, and it defaults to Physician-5 or Biochemistry-7. The GM may allow other defaults for other types of time travel. For a campaign set in the Victorian era, with a wonderful Wellsian time machine crafted all of brass and crystal with hundreds of moving parts, operation could default to Mechanic-5 ... if a mechanic studies it long enough, he might actually figure it out! For a cross-time campaign, this is "Parachronic Operation." Typing (Physical/Easy) Defaults to DX-4 or special default (see below) This is the skill of using a typewriter. Typing speed is skillx3 words per minute on a manual, or skillx5 on a TL7 electric. After 1880, skill at typing is always saleable. After 1900 it is practically a necessity for office employment. Journalism, law and many other crafts and professions require at least a huntand-peck familiarity with the typewriter. (Members of these professions can assume a default Typing skill of 3 less than their Professional skill.) Video Production/TL (Mental/Average) Defaults to IQ-6 or any Performance skill-4 See p. 130 under Artistic Skills. 154
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CHARACTER CREATION COVER BY JEFF KO
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5. SKILLS .........................
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ATTRIBUTE LEVELS AND THEIR MEANINGS
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The Much-Maligned Will: Optional Wi
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The Much-Maligned Will: Optional Wi
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Extra Effort Lifting with High ST T
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Optional Rule: Treating Figured Qua
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Fine-Tune Once you have taken exist
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NEW ADVANTAGES The following are al
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This advantage is useful to shamans
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Frequency of Assistance Frequency r
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Favor Variable You saved someone's
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A character with the Iron Hand will
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Pious 5 points Some people have an
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Tenure 5 points This social advanta
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OCCULT AND PARANORMAL ADVANTAGES Th
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Clerical Magic Variable In some wor
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Familiar Variable Familiars are sma
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Karmic Ties Variable Some people ar
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Medium 10 points You possess the na
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failure, you will believe your ance
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Snatcher Variable This is the power
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Drift: The Jumper does not arrive i
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RACIAL AND SUPER ADVANTAGES These a
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Body of Stone 8 points/level Your b
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the presence of the odor and for 30
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one-handed task (e.g., swinging a s
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You must buy the ST to support your
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No Vitals 5 points You have no part
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Type of Drone Mindless: -10 points.
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Passive Defense 25 points/level up
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Special limitation: One class of da
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Claws 15/25/40/55 points The charac
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d) The transformation is not instan
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Note: Modifiers for multiple limita
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"wrong" with the image (not necessa
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Doing Away With Disadvantages By Bi
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The base value of an Evil Twin is m
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Obnoxious Drunk -1 point As you dri
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than that (in fact, he is more like
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Scalped -5 points You have survived
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MENTAL DISADVANTAGES Mental disadva
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Compulsive Gambling -5/-10/-15 poin
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Edgy -5 points This is a mild form
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Low Self-Image -10 points You lack
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Self-Centered -10 points Like Self
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OCCULT AND PARANORMAL DISADVANTAGES
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Jinxed -20/-40/-60 points This disa
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Unliving -50 points You are not tru
Page 103 and 104: Lost Speed and DX are regained at a
Page 105 and 106: Reprogrammable Duty -25 points You
Page 107 and 108: Unhealing -20/-30 points You do not
Page 109 and 110: Turning Enhancements On and Off Eac
Page 111 and 112: LIMITATIONS Limitations reduce the
Page 113 and 114: Reduced Range -5% Each time this li
Page 115 and 116: Mastery High Skill vs. Diversity Ha
Page 117 and 118: Extraordinary Diligence to Maintain
Page 119 and 120: USING SKILLS Two sets of skills nor
Page 121 and 122: Firearms Specialization and Familia
Page 123 and 124: Firearms Specialization and Familia
Page 125 and 126: Vehicle Skill Specializations (Cont
Page 127 and 128: + 1 to +5 if the item is a variant
Page 129 and 130: NEW SKILLS The following list inclu
Page 131 and 132: The composer must have a skill in e
Page 133 and 134: Lifting (Physical/Hard) No default
Page 135 and 136: Fire-Siphon (Physical/Average) Defa
Page 137 and 138: Modifiers: All Vision modifiers app
Page 139 and 140: Blind Fighting (Mental/Very Hard) N
Page 141 and 142: Time and fatigue requirements: It t
Page 143 and 144: Light Walk (Mental/Hard) No default
Page 145 and 146: Pressure Points (Mental/Hard) Defau
Page 147 and 148: Darts (Physical/Easy) Defaults to D
Page 149 and 150: MAGICAL SKILLS Alchemy/TL (Mental/V
Page 151 and 152: MEDICAL SKILLS Chi Treatment (Menta
Page 153: OUTDOOR SKILLS Animal Guise (Mental
Page 157 and 158: Revolution. It does not automatical
Page 159 and 160: Planetology can be used in place of
Page 161 and 162: The GM may give a further +1 bonus
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Page 165 and 166: Note that some maneuvers are listed
Page 167 and 168: Just Watch This One! Expanding the
Page 169 and 170: Just Watch This One! (Continued) Te
Page 171 and 172: Just Watch This One! (Continued) Mu
Page 173 and 174: The Spin Kick allows a simultaneous
Page 175 and 176: The Rule of 12 If evolution or the
Page 177 and 178: Countervailing Attribute Modifiers:
Page 179 and 180: Player-Created Races Although the c
Page 181 and 182: PERSONALITY TRAITS Stefan Jones ori
Page 183 and 184: APPENDIX 2 — ADVANTAGE LISTINGS T
Page 185 and 186: Name Cost Page Reference Peripheral
Page 187 and 188: Name Cost Page Reference Hidebound
Page 189 and 190: Name Type Default Page Reference Na
Page 191 and 192: Name Type Default age Reference Nam
Page 193: - K - Kicking maneuver, 170. Knacks
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