HERO SystemTM ® is DOJ, Inc.’s trademark for its roleplaying system.HERO System Copyright © 1984, 1989, 2002, 2009 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.The HERO System Bestiary Copyright © 2002, 2010 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.Champions, Dark Champions, and all associated characters © 1981-2008 Cryptic Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. “Champions” and “Dark Champions” are trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. “Champions” and “Dark Champions” are used under license from Cryptic Studios, Inc.Star Hero, Justice Inc., Danger International, Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, and Pulp Hero Copyright © 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or computerization, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher: DOJ, Inc., 226 E. 54th Street, #605, New York, NY 10022-48541.

Produced and distributed by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games.Stock Number: DOJHERO1008 • ISBN Number: 978-1-58366-145-1http://www.herogames.com

A Supplement for the HERO System

Author: Steven S. LongEditing and Developing: Darren WattsLayout & Graphic Design: Andy Mathews & Bill “Bunny’s Got Mad Skillz ” KeyesCover Illustration: Brendan and Brian FraimInterior Illustration: Brett Barkley, Nate Barnes, Storn Cook, Robert Cram Jr., Andrew Cremeans, Keith Curtis, Jonathan Davenport, Brendan and Brian Fraim, Malcolm Harrison, Erich Von Hase, Nick Ingeneri, Sam Kennedy, Eric Lofgren, Roberto Marchesi, Cara Mitten, Terry Pavlet, John Ridley, Scott Ruggles, Klaus Scherwinski, Greg Smith, Chris Stevens, Derrick Thomas, Frank Walls

SPECIal THankSFirst of all, special thanks to the “Skill Squad” — Hero fans with knowl-edge of various subjects covered in this book who chipped in their own learning, experiences, and ideas to make it as good as possible: Gordon “Cell Phone Man” Feiner; W. Scott “Navigating Forgery” Field; Robert P. Gorham; Scott “Dr. Anomaly” Gray; Brian Hatch; Daniel “Ionizing Radia-tion Scans” Kassiday; Randy “The Paramedic” Madden; Tom McCarthy; Jennifer “Mistress Of Disguise” McCollom; A. Mark “The Engineering Guy” Ratner; and Jason “JmOz” Wedel.Second, we’d like to thank all the fans who took the time to visit the “Ulti-mate Skill” message boards and post their comments, suggestions, and ideas. We appreciate your willingness to help make this book even better!

HERO SYSTEM

SKILLSSa

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INTRODUCTION ............................................. 4

CHaPTER OnE: SkIll RUlESBUYING SKILLS ............................................. 6

SKILL COST STRUCTURES ............................ 6SKILL COST CALCULATIONS ......................... 6

Changing Skill Costs .................................. 6COMBINING SKILLS ...................................... 9SKILL PERIOD ............................................ 10

SKILL ROLLS ............................................... 11STANDARD SKILL ROLLS ............................ 11

Altering The Skill Roll ............................... 12Smoothing The Skill Roll Curve ................. 14

SUCCESS AND FAILURE .............................. 15Successful Skill Rolls ............................... 15Failed Skill Rolls ...................................... 17Hiding Skill Roll Results ............................ 18

UNTRAINED SKILL USE ............................... 18SKILL VERSUS SKILL CONTESTS ................. 20COMPLEMENTARY SKILLS .......................... 21SKILL SPECIALIZATIONS ............................. 22EXTRAORDINARY SKILL ROLLS ................... 23BASE TIMES ............................................... 23LEARNING SKILLS ...................................... 26

How To Learn A Skill ................................ 26Time To Learn A Skill ............................... 27Improving Existing Skills ........................... 29Skill Atrophy ............................................ 29

SKILL MODIFIERS ........................................ 31GENERAL MODIFIERS .....................................MODIFIERS FOR SKILL CATEGORIES ............ 36

Agility Skill Modifiers ................................ 36Intellect Skill Modifiers ............................. 37Interaction Skill Modifiers ......................... 37Perceptive Skill Modifiers ......................... 39Technological Skill Modifiers..................... 39

EVERYMAN SKILLS ...................................... 41CREATING EVERYMAN SKILL LISTS ............. 42EVERYMAN SKILL LISTS BY GENRE ............. 43

SKILL ENHANCERS ...................................... 46THE ENHANCERS ....................................... 46

Other Skill Enhancers .............................. 47Universal “Enhancers” .............................. 47Other Ways To Buy Lots Of

Background Skills ................................. 51

OTHER GAME ELEMENTS ............................ 53PERKS ....................................................... 53TALENTS ................................................... 54POWERS.................................................... 54POWER ADVANTAGES ................................ 56POWER LIMITATIONS .................................. 57POWER FRAMEWORKS .............................. 59

CHaPTER TWO: THE SkIllSSKILL CATEGORIES ...................................... 62

Agility Skills ............................................. 62Background Skills .................................... 62Combat Skills .......................................... 63Intellect Skills .......................................... 64Interaction Skills ...................................... 64Other Skill Categories .............................. 67

THE SKILLS ................................................. 68ACROBATICS ............................................. 69ACTING ..................................................... 73ANALYZE ................................................... 76ANIMAL HANDLER...................................... 81AUTOFIRE SKILLS ....................................... 85BREAKFALL ............................................... 87BRIBERY .................................................... 91BUGGING ................................................... 94BUREAUCRATICS ...................................... 105CLIMBING ................................................ 109COMBAT DRIVING .................................... 112COMBAT PILOTING ................................... 115COMBAT SKILL LEVELS ............................ 117COMPUTER PROGRAMMING ..................... 126CONCEALMENT ....................................... 132CONTORTIONIST ...................................... 138CONVERSATION ....................................... 142CRAMMING ............................................. 144CRIMINOLOGY ......................................... 146CRYPTOGRAPHY ...................................... 160DEDUCTION ............................................. 166DEFENSE MANEUVER ............................... 168DEMOLITIONS .......................................... 170DISGUISE ................................................. 173ELECTRONICS .......................................... 176FAST DRAW ............................................. 179FORENSIC MEDICINE ................................ 181FORGERY ................................................. 188GAMBLING .............................................. 196HIGH SOCIETY .......................................... 200INTERROGATION ...................................... 203INVENTOR................................................ 206KNOWLEDGE SKILL .................................. 209LANGUAGE .............................................. 213LIPREADING ............................................. 224LOCKPICKING .......................................... 226MARTIAL ARTS ......................................... 231MECHANICS ............................................ 232MIMICRY ................................................. 235NAVIGATION ............................................. 237ORATORY ................................................ 243PARAMEDICS ........................................... 245PENALTY SKILL LEVELS ............................ 248PERSUASION ........................................... 250POWER.................................................... 251

PROFESSIONAL SKILL .............................. 253RAPID ATTACK ......................................... 255RIDING .................................................... 256SCIENCE SKILL ........................................ 258SECURITY SYSTEMS ................................. 268SEDUCTION ............................................. 293SHADOWING ............................................ 295SKILL LEVELS .......................................... 301SLEIGHT OF HAND ................................... 303STEALTH.................................................. 306STREETWISE ............................................ 309SURVIVAL ................................................ 312SYSTEMS OPERATION .............................. 320TACTICS .................................................. 330TEAMWORK ............................................. 333TRACKING ............................................... 335TRADING ................................................. 339TRANSPORT FAMILIARITY ......................... 342TWO-WEAPON FIGHTING .......................... 345VENTRILOQUISM ...................................... 347WEAPON FAMILIARITY .............................. 348WEAPONSMITH ........................................ 351

NEW SKILLS .............................................. 354ARMORSMITH .......................................... 354DIVINATION .............................................. 355FEINT ...................................................... 360HOIST ...................................................... 361INSTRUCTOR ........................................... 362MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FAMILIARITY ......... 362PARACHUTING ......................................... 364POISONING .............................................. 367RESEARCH .............................................. 371

CHaPTER THREE: SkIllS anD EQUIPMEnTSKILLS AND EQUIPMENT ........................... 374

AUTOMATONS ......................................... 374COMPUTERS ............................................ 374VEHICLES ................................................ 375BASES ..................................................... 379

Laboratories .......................................... 379

SKILL GEAR ............................................... 385

CHaPTER FOUR: aDVEnTURInG WITH SkIllSSKILLS IN COMBAT.................................... 390

ENTERING COMBAT.................................. 390FIGHTING ................................................. 390

ENVIRONMENTS ........................................ 392GRAVITY .................................................. 392UNDERWATER .......................................... 392

TaBlE OF COnTEnTS

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Hero System 6th Edition

S ince the earliest days of the HERO System, the Skills have been one of the most important parts of the rulebook. Skills factor into every single genre —

particularly the Heroic genres, where they may form the bulk of the characters’ abilities. After all, one of the ways gamers and fans of adventure fiction tend to define “hero” is “a person of great skill and competence.” Think about how many characters are described as being superb shots with a gun, the world’s best cat burglar, tops in the field of demolitions/security/computers/whatever, and so on. All of those abilities are represented, in HERO System terms, with Skills.

Despite this, Skills have received relatively little attention in published products. The Hero genre books and a few other supplements have touched on the application of given Skills in specific situa-tions or settings, but no book has talked about the subject of Skills in general.

HERO System Skills was written to make up for this lack. It examines the subject of Skills from numerous perspectives. It addresses Skills not only in general terms — as a major game element within the HERO System as a whole — but specifically, on a Skill-by-Skill basis, with new information and rules about every Skill (and several new optional Skills). As always, all the new and expanded rules in this book are strictly optional. Check with your GM before using them to create characters.Chapter One, Skill Rules, provides general rules for Skills in the HERO System. It reviews all aspects of Skills — buying them, making Skill Rolls, Comple-

mentary and Extraordinary rolls, Skill Modifiers, and more — in detail, providing not only more information about them but expanded or variant rules for the GM’s consideration.Chapter Two, The Skills, contains the bulk of the book. It discusses the HERO System Skills one by one, providing detailed information about what characters can do with them, specific modifiers that apply to them, and how they work in various genres. After reviewing the existing Skills, Chapter Two provides several optional new Skills that play-ers and GMs may want to use in their games.Chapter Three, Skills And Equipment, covers the topic of how Skills apply to and are bought for/by equipment such as Vehicles, Bases, and Automa-tons. It includes a section on laboratories and some examples of equipment that improve a character’s chances to use various Skills. (You can also find equipment pertaining to some Skills in those Skills’ sections of Chapter Two.) Chapter Four, Adventuring With Skills, concludes the book with some informa-tion on how characters use Skills in combat and similar situations.

The text of HERO System Skills includes all the text from 6E1 53-96 and APG 18-46. Usually the text has been expanded or rewritten to the point where it’s effectively new, but in places where no further elaboration was necessary or desireable, the text is reprinted as-is so that all the information about Skills in the HERO System is in one easily-referenced volume.

InTRODUCTIOn

4 Introduction

aBBREVIaTIOnSThis book uses the following abbreviations to refer to other HERO System books:

6E1: The HERO System 6th Edition, Volume I: Character Creation

6E2: The HERO System 6th Edition, Volume II: Combat And Adventuring

APG: The HERO System Advanced Player’s Guide

HSB: HERO System Bestiary

HSMA: HERO System Martial Arts

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SkIll RUlES

CHapTER OnE:

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6 Skill Rules Hero System 6th Edition

Skills are abilities characters have learned or were trained to perform; in some cases, characters may be born with them. Examples of Skills include lockpicking,

spaceship piloting, knowing all about politics, and fencing. While all characters possess basic knowledge of the world around them (they can speak their native language, do simple arithme-tic, and so forth; see Everyman Skills, page 41), they do not all have the ability to pick locks or fire a gun. They must purchase such Skills with Character Points — the same Character Points used to buy Characteristics and Powers.

A character may obtain a Skill by paying the Character Point cost listed (usually 3 points). Once a character has bought a Skill, he may use that Skill over and over without paying any more Character Points. However, improving the character’s ability in the Skill costs more points.

The HERO System groups Skills into five cat-egories for ease of reference when creating char-acters. The categories are: Agility Skills (Skills based on DEX); Background Skills; Combat Skills; Intellect Skills (Skills based on INT); and Interaction Skills (Skills based on PRE). These categories are discussed further beginning on page 62. Characters may have Skills from any or all categories. Skill Enhancers (see page 46) lower the cost of certain Skills.

SkIll COST STRUCTURESThe HERO System has five cost structures

for Skills.

STANDARD CHARACTERISTIC-BASED SKILLSThe most common is the standard Character-

istic-based Skill model: for 3 Character points, you get a base roll of (9+(CHAR/5)) or less; +1 to the roll costs +2 Character Points.

CATEGORIzED CHARACTERISTIC-BASED SKILLSCharacters buy some types of Characteristic-

based Skills, such as Forgery, Gambling, and Survival, by limited categories. These Skills cost 2 Character points for a base roll of (9+(CHAR/5)) or less with one category, or 1 Character Point for that roll with a specific subcategory; subsequent categories also cost 2 Character Points. Improving the roll by +1 with all categories costs +2 Character Points. Three Skills (Animal Handler, Navigation, and Weaponsmith) differ slightly — the first cate-gory costs 2 Character Points, and each subsequent category costs 1 Character Point.

BACKGROUND SKILLSBackground Skills such as Knowledge Skill,

Professional Skill, and Science Skill cost 2 Char-acter Points for a base 11- roll. Characters can “upgrade” the base to a Characteristic Roll (typi-cally an INT-Based roll) for +1 Character Point. Improving the roll by +1 costs +1 Character Point.

WEAPON AND TRANSPORT FAMILIARITIESWeapon Familiarity and Transport Familiar-

ity have a slightly different cost structure. The ability to use one subcategory (such as Blades or Camels) costs 1 Character Point. Knowing how to use an entire category of weapons or vehicles (such as Common Melee Weapons or Riding Animals) costs 2 Character Points... assuming characters are allowed to buy entire categories at once.

SET COST SKILLSLastly, some Skills, such as Combat Skill

Levels, Cramming, and Two-Weapon Fighting, have a set cost. These Skills typically don’t have rolls.

SkIll COST CalCUlaTIOnS

Most Skills consist of three components a character pays for: the base roll (9- in most cases); the bonus from the related Characteristic (typically CHAR/5); and the cost for increasing the roll (+1 to the roll for +2 Character Points for most Skills). By altering the cost and/or method of calculation for a Skill (or for Skills in general), you can make them more (or less) easy for characters to use, more (or less) common in the campaign, and so forth.

Changing Skill CostsThe existing Skill costs set forth in the stan-

dard rules are generally the best way to buy Skills, but not necessarily the only way. For some games the GM adjusts the cost structure to better repre-sent the nature of the campaign setting, the GM’s or players’ preferences regarding Skill purchase and use, or other factors. (See also the discussion on page 12 of Altering The Skill Roll, including discon-necting Skill Rolls from Characteristics, and the sections on unifying and/or subdividing Skills in each Skill’s description in Chapter Two.)

nO SUBDIVIDED SkIllSOne of the anomalies in the current Skills cost

structure is the existence of several Characteristic-

BUYInG SkIllSODDS On 3D6

As you evaluate the various options for Skill costs and calculations, it may help you to consider the odds of rolling a certain number or less on 3d6:

Roll Odds on 3d6

3 0.46% 4 1.85% 5 4.63% 6 9.26% 7 16.20% 8 25.93% 9 37.50% 10 50.00% 11 62.50% 12 74.07% 13 83.80% 14 90.74% 15 95.37% 16 98.15% 17 99.54% 18 100.00%In the HERO System, a roll of 3 always succeeds, and a roll of 18 always fails, unless the GM rules otherwise, or a specific rule indicates a different result. See also the Modifier Effects table on page 32.

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7 Hero System Skills Chapter One

Based Skills that characters must purchase by cat-egory: Animal Handler, Fast Draw, Forgery, Gam-bling, Navigation, Survival, and Weaponsmith. This represents a trade-off between “realism”/logic (for example, “Why should someone who knows how to survive in the arctic have any inkling about how to survive in the Sahara?”) and the general “dramatic action” focus of the HERO System.

For games that want to emphasize dramatic action or de-emphasize precise Skill use, this sort of “subdivision” of Skills may be unnecessary. In that case, the GM can simply rule that all those Skills are ordinary Characteristic-Based Skills, giving a character who buys them full access to all listed “categories” for the standard base cost of 3 Charac-ter Points.

all SUBDIVIDED SkIllSConversely, in campaigns that want to

emphasize “realism” and heighten the distinctions between Skill-based characters, GMs may want to subdivide more Characteristic-Based Skills, if not all of them, so that they’re bought and used like Gambling, Navigation, or Survival. Alternately, some GMs may find it worthwhile to split a single broad Skill into two or more Skills; for example, a GM could divide Security Systems into two Skills, Find Traps and Disarm Traps. The individual Skill descriptions in Chapter Two provide suggestions for “categorizing” or “splitting” most Skills.

SkIll MaXIMaIn some campaigns GMs confront the problem

of “Skill inflation” — of characters buying high Skill Rolls so that they rarely fail, thus skewing the game and making it difficult to “realistically” challenge them. To avoid or diminish this problem, some GMs use Normal Skill Maxima rules.

Similar to Characteristic Maxima, a Skill Maxima places an upper limit on the level of ability a character can have with a Skill. The GM sets the upper limit; in most campaigns it’s 13-. To raise a Skill Roll above the limit requires twice as many points as normal (and GM approval). For example, suppose Desdimona, an elegant and well-spoken chatelaine from a noble family, wants to raise her Conversation from 13- to 14-. This costs 4 points, rather than the normal 2.

If a character has a Characteristic that’s so high that he acquires a roll of 14- or higher by paying the standard Skill Cost, the cost of the Skill remains unchanged. However, if he wants to improve the Skill Roll, the Normal Skill Maxima rule applies.

SKILL LEVELSSince they would provide an inexpensive

work-around for Normal Skill Maxima, characters in a campaign that uses Normal Skill Maxima may not buy Skill Levels unless the GM specifically per-mits them (which he rarely should). The exception is equipment that provides Skill Levels, such as a set of finely crafted lockpicking tools (+2 to Lockpick-ing rolls with the Focus Limitation).

PENALTY SKILL LEVELSIn the absence of Skill Levels, and with the

increased cost of raising a Skill above 13-, Penalty Skill Levels become an important way for a charac-ter to improve his ability with a Skill (assuming the GM uses the optional rule that allows characters to buy PSLs to counteract negative Skill Modifiers). They allow a character to learn how to use a Skill in certain situations that ordinarily hinder people. (See page 248 for more information.)

SPENDING ExPERIENCE POINTSDuring the course of a campaign, a player may

spend Experience Points on one of his Character-istics and as a result increase his Skill Roll. In this case, Normal Skill Maxima still applies, and the player must spend twice as many points to raise the Skill above 13-. Points previously spent on the Skill are not lost; they simply don’t raise the roll until the total points spent raises it as per the rules above.

Example: Sylarin has DEX 17 and Lockpick-ing 13- — he spent 3 Character Points on Lockpicking, and another +2 points to increase the roll by 1, to 13-. After a few adventures, he spends 3 Experience Points to increase his DEX to 18. That’s enough to increase his base DEX Roll to 13-, and his base Lockpicking roll to 13- as well. Since his base roll is now at the Normal Skill Maxima, the +2 Character Points previously spent to increase his Lockpicking roll now have no effect — he still only has a 13- roll with Lockpicking. To raise it to 14-, he’ll have to spend another +2 points (for a total of 4 points), per the Normal Skill Maxima rules.

INCREASING SKILL DIFFICULTYYou can also apply Normal Skill Maxima

rules, or something like them, to make it harder for characters to learn Skills with high rolls, reflecting the fact that acquiring basic knowledge of a Skill is fairly easy, but the more advanced one’s study becomes the harder picking up new abilities can get. For example, maybe buying a Skill to 13- or less has the normal cost. Paying to increase the roll to 14- or 15- costs 3 Character Points per +1; increasing it to 16- or 17- costs 4 Character Points per +1; and any increase beyond 17- costs 5 Char-acter Points per +1.

SkIll COSTS BY GEnREIn some cases, the GM may want to alter the

cost of Skills according to the genre or setting of the campaign. In other words, he makes some Skills (the ones most appropriate or relevant to the genre/setting) cheaper so characters are more likely to buy them, and makes inappropriate Skills more expensive to discourage characters from purchas-ing them. In some ways you can think of this as a Template or Skill Enhancer that provides a savings for buying genre-/setting-appropriate Skills. For example, in a Dark Champions game where the GM wants to encourage a lot of fast-paced gunplay, he might reduce the cost of Autofire Skills, Fast Draw, Rapid Attack, and Two-Weapon Fighting.

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