SKILLS & SPECIALTIES

Roleplaying is a conversation. The Gamemaster describes the scene, you describe how your PCs behave, the GM describes how any NPCs react, you reply, and it goes back and forth. That is how the story is told and progresses. But sooner or later, a decisive situation will arise, a point of no return, a conflict that conversation alone cannot resolve. Then it’s time to break out the dice and use one of your skills.

THE 12 CORE SKILLS
Force (Strength)
Melee (Strength)
Stamina (Strength)
Marksmanship (Agility)
Mobility (Agility)
Stealth (Agility)
Crafting (Wits)
Observation (Wits)
Survival (Wits)
Healing (Empathy)
Insight (Empathy)
Persuasion (Empathy)

ROLL THE DICE

There are twelve core skills in total in The Empty Reach, and they are all described later in this chapter. Each skill is connected to one of the four attributes: Strength, Agility, Wits, and Empathy.

SKILL ROLLS

To roll for a skill grab two dice – one for your skill level and another for the base attribute that is connected to the skill. These two dice are called your base dice. The type of base dice to roll depends on your levels in the skill and attribute. Then roll your two base dice together.
SUCCESS: To succeed with your action, you must roll 6 or higher on at least one base die used in the roll. A roll of 6 or higher is called a success. A roll of 10 or higher on a single die (only possi¬ble with a D10 or D12) counts as two successes.
NO SKILL? If you don’t have the skill required for the particu¬lar action you want to perform, you can roll anyway – simply roll the base die for your attribute alone.
GEAR: Gear can give positive modifiers or even additional dice to roll.

MULTIPLE SUCCESSES

If you roll two or more successes, you reach your stated goal, but also gain some additional bonus effect, depending on the situation and the skill used. In combat, extra successes can increase the damage done. For other skills, you can suggest a bonus effect yourself. The GM has final say. Some suggestions:
You act quickly.
You act quietly.
You help another character.
You impress someone.
You discover something unexpected.

MORE SUCCESSES: Rolling three or even more successes generally only matters in combat, where each additional will increase the damage done by one point.

THE ART OF FAILURE

If you roll no success, something goes wrong. For some reason, you failed to achieve your goal. Feel free to elaborate on why with the help of the GM. They might even let a failed roll have further consequences to move the story forward in a dramatic way.
Failure must not stop the story completely. Even when you fail, there must be a way forward – perhaps at the cost of additional time, risk, or resources, but still a way. The GM has the final say regarding the consequences of failure in a particular situation.
You have one last chance if you really need to succeed – you can push the roll.

PUSHING YOUR ROLL

Your initial skill roll reflects a safe and controlled action. If you fail your initial roll, or if you want additional successes, you can lean into the action, giving it everything you’ve got, pushing yourself to the limit.
This is called pushing the roll, and lets you re-roll any dice that don’t show the result of 1. A base die showing a 1 is called a bane and can never be re-rolled when pushing. After a push, you cannot change back to the previous result. All dice count after the push, even any dice you didn’t re-roll.

COST OF PUSHING

Pushing always comes with a risk or a cost.
DAMAGE & STRESS: After a pushed roll, you immediately suffer one point of damage (if you rolled for Strength or Agility) or one point of stress (if you rolled for Wits or Empathy) for each bane (1) rolled on your base dice. If this damage or stress breaks you, this happens after the action is resolved.
DAMAGE TO GEAR: When you use gear for a check, for every bane (1) you roll on your base dice when pushing, there is a 2 in 6 chance (roll of 1 or 2 on a d6) the item’s gear bonus decreased by one instead of the character suffering damage or stress.

PASSIVE ROLLS

You can only push skill rolls when you actively perform an action. When passive or unaware, for example when rolling Observation to see if you spot a sneaking enemy, you cannot push the roll.

ONLY ONCE

You can only push a skill roll once. If you don’t succeed on your second try, you are stuck dealing with the consequences.

WHAT PUSHING MEANS
How a pushed roll plays out in story terms depends on what skill you are using. It can take the form of a great physical exertion, total mental focus, or emotional strain.

ONLY ONE CHANCE

As a rule, you only have one chance to succeed with any action. Once you have rolled the dice – and pushed the roll – you may not roll again to achieve the same goal. You need to try something different or wait until the circumstances have changed in a substantial way. Or let another player character try. This rule does not apply to combat, where you can attack the same enemy multiple times.

MODIFIERS

Sometimes, external factors help you to succeed. Such mod¬ifiers will step your base dice to bigger dice. Other times, something hampers your action. This downsteps your base dice.
You can get such modifiers to skill rolls in several different ways: specialties, the difficulty of the action itself, and help from others.

STEP DICE MODIFIERS

A +1 modifier means upgrading a base die one step, a +2 modifier means upgrading two steps, and so on. A −1 modifier means downgrading a base die one step, −2 means two steps down, and so on. Several modifiers can apply to the same roll, and they are cumulative.
When stepping up and down, always try to balance your dice as much as possible – i.e. step up a lower base die first, and downstep a higher base die. You can never go above two D12s, no matter what modifiers you have. To downstep past two D6s, remove one die. You can never go below one D6. If you lack a skill level and start with just a single base die, step up by adding a D6 (as one step up) and step it up further as needed.

DIFFICULTY

Normally, the GM doesn’t assess how difficult an action is. You only roll dice in challenging situations – period. But sometimes, the GM might want to underscore that external factors either help or hinder an action. Use the adjacent table for guidance. \

SPECIFIC MODIFIERS: There are also cases when modifications are imposed by the rules, like when you aim carefully with a ranged weapon, shoot at long distance, or if you’re in a bad negotiation position when you attempt to Persuade someone. Some specialties also give you a positive modifier in certain situations.

HELP FROM OTHERS

Other PCs or NPCs can help you succeed at a skill roll. This must be declared before you roll your dice. It must also make sense in the story – the individuals helping you must be phys¬ically present and have the capacity to support your action. The GM has final say. For each person helping you, you get a +1 modifier. No more than three people can help you with a single roll, meaning your maximum modifier from getting help is +3. In combat, helping counts as the same type of action as the one you are supporting (fast or slow). NPCs can help each other in the same way as player char¬acters.
NPC GROUPS: Letting NPCs act in groups instead of individually is of¬ten an easy way to manage large numbers of NPCs in combat.

OPPOSED ROLLS

Sometimes, rolling a success isn’t enough to succeed with your skill roll. In some cases, you must beat your opponent in an opposed roll. To win an opposed roll, you must roll more successes than your adversary. Every success rolled by your adversary eliminates one of your successes. Only you (the active party) can push your roll – and you can decide to do so even after your opponent rolls. Sometimes you and your adversary roll for different skills, sometimes the same. Opposed can be used when you roll Persuasion versus Insight to influence someone who is actively trying to resist you, or Stealth versus Observation to move undetected past a vigilant guard. The GM can also use opposed rolls in any case when they deem it appropriate.
TIES: If you and your opponent roll the same number of successes, the result is a tie. Typically, your action will fail if you roll a tie as the active party in an opposed roll, but in some cases, ties have specific effects. If a tie needs to be broken, re-roll the opposed roll to determine the outcome.

NPCS AND SKILLS
Non-Player Characters use skills in the same way as player characters. The GM rolls dice for them, and they can push their rolls just like PCs can. But the GM only has to roll for actions that affect a PC directly – for example, if the NPC is attacking a player character or is attempting to save them. When an NPC performs an action that does not directly affect a PC, the GM can simply decide what happens, without rolling dice.

GEAR

Gear can take many different forms in The Empty Reach and includes weapons. Some example weapons are listed later in the Rules [Here]. Useful gear give you a positive modifier to skill rolls. This is called a gear bonus.

DEGRADING GEAR BONUS

The gear bonus works like an attribute for the gear and can be reduced when pushing a skill roll. For every bane (1) you roll on your base dice from gear when pushing, there is a 2 in 6 chance (roll of 1 or 2 on a d6) the item’s gear bonus decreased by one instead of the character suffering damage or stress. It simply doesn’t work as well anymore. If the gear bonus reaches zero, the item is broken and cannot be used. The gear bonus of an item can be reduced by external damage as well.

REPAIRING GEAR

Damaged gear can be repaired. It takes a Shift of work and a successful Crafting skill roll. If the roll is successful, the gear bonus is recovered by one point for every success rolled, up to the starting score. If the roll fails, the gear bonus is permanently decreased to its current score. If the gear bonus has been reduced to zero and the attempt at repair fails, the item is permanently destroyed. Some items can require specialized tools, spare parts, or spe¬cialties to repair.

THE SKILLS

This section describes the twelve core skills in The Empty Reach.

FORCE (STRENGTH)

When something heavy or solid blocks your way and you need to lift, push, or break it, roll for Force. Use this skill for any feat of strength.

MELEE (STRENGTH)

Sometimes, you need to fight for your life, hand-to-hand with your opponent. Roll for this skill when you attack someone or defend yourself using only your body or a melee weapon. Read more about close combat and damage in Chapter 4.

STAMINA (STRENGTH)

When your physical endurance or vigor is tested, roll for Stamina. For example, this skill is used to survive under water or to resist a deadly poison. You also roll Stamina to stay alive when you have suffered a lethal critical injury.

MARKSMANSHIP (AGILITY)

Use the Marksmanship skill to fire all types of range weapons. Read more about ranged combat in Chapter 4.

MOBILITY (AGILITY)

Roll for Mobility when you want to perform any action that requires speed or motor control – be it a risky climb, a danger¬ous jump, or a foot chase after a fleeing enemy. DRIVE and PILOT: Mobility is also used control ground and air vehicles in combat or dangerous situations.
HANDLE ANIMAL (RIDE): Mobility is used when attempting to control animals or non-sentient domesticated creatures, particularly when riding and controlling a mount in combat or dangerous situations.

STEALTH (AGILITY)

Roll for Stealth when trying to sneak past someone, staying undetected, or picking someone’s pocket. If your opponent is actively looking for you, it’s an opposed roll against their Observation. If not, it’s just a straight skill roll.

Each of the following external factors gives you a +1 modifier to the roll:
You blend into your surroundings.
The area is dark or dimly lit.
The area is foggy or smokey.
The area is crowded or noisy.
Your opponent is distracted by something.
Each of the following factors gives you a −1 modifier to the roll:
You stand out against the surroundings.
There is nothing to hide behind.

CRAFTING (WITS)

The Crafting skill is primarily used to repair broken gear or building new items, but it can also be used to understand or operate mechanical constructions. Repairing a broken item typically takes a shift of work (see section on Gear) Specialties can add bonuses to the use and repair of unique technology types found in The Empty Reach.

OBSERVATION (WITS)

The Observation skill can be used to examine an area to find useful information or to spot something or someone from a distance. When the GM calls for it, you can make a passive roll for this skill to detect an approaching threat in time. When examining an area, the GM can give you a positive modifier if your description of where you are searching is very precise, or even let you succeed without a roll.

SURVIVAL (WITS)

The Empty Reach features harsh and danger¬ous environments. Roll for Survival when you’re in a hazard¬ous environment of some kind, be it extreme heat and cold, sandstorms, acid rain, or other forms of extreme weather, and need to figure out a way to stay alive. Read more in Chapter 6.

HEALING (EMPATHY)

In The Empty Reach your PC risks getting hurt. This is when the Healing skill is useful. It can be used to get a broken character back on their feet, or even save their life if they suffered a critical injury..

INSIGHT (EMPATHY)

This skill represents the ability to read other people and see through lies. Roll for Insight to assess an NPC’s mood. If you succeed, the GM must reveal the NPC’s current, most power¬ful emotion – hate, fear, contempt, love, etc. If you roll several successes, you can also determine if an NPC is lying – but not exactly what they are lying about or what the truth is. The Insight skill can also be used in opposed rolls to resist Persuasion (below).

PERSUASION (EMPATHY)

Sometimes, you can make things go your way without resort¬ing to violence. Instead, you trick or convince your opponents without drawing your weapon. For this, you use the Persua¬sion skill. If your opponent is actively trying to resist you, it’s an opposed roll against their Insight. If not, it’s a straight roll.
Before you roll, you must state the stakes of the roll – what you want to achieve. What you ask of your opponent must be within reason. No NPC will agree to do anything you want or act directly against their own interests, no matter how good your roll is. Conversely, you don’t need to roll for simple requests that your opponent has no reason to resist. The GM has the final say on when Persuasion rolls can or need to be used.
BEING PERSUADED: Generally, Persuasion is only used against NPCs, not PCs. When NPCs or other try to talk you into something, its up to you how you react.
INTERROGATION: When you interrogate a prisoner to gain information, roll against their Stamina instead of their Insight. You get a +1 modifier to your roll for you opponent being held captive. As opposed to normal persuasion, interrogation can be used against PCs – actually forcing you to disclose information whether you as player want to or not.
PERSUADING A GROUP: When you want to Persuade a whole group, you usually address the group’s leader or spokesperson.

NEGOTIATING POSITION
Your chances of Persuading someone are affected by your negotiating position. Each of the following factors gives you +1 modifier to the roll:
• Your request doesn’t cost your opponent anything.
• Your opponent has suffered damage or stress.
• Your opponent is in custody or held captive by you.
• You have helped your opponent previously.
• You present your case very well (determined by the GM).
Each of the following factors gives you a −1 modifier to the roll:
• Your opponent must take a serious risk or make a sacrifice to help you. \ • Your opponent has nothing to gain by helping you.
• You are held captive by your opponent.
• You are having trouble hearing or understanding each other.

SPECIALTIES

While attributes and skills give you the broad strokes of your competency, specialties represent specific areas of expertise. Specialties are unique tricks and talents that give you an edge and keep your adversaries guessing.
You typically start the game with just one or a few special¬ties, with your choice limited by your archetype. You can learn more specialties during the game (page 7), without being limited by your archetype.
This section includes a limited number of general special¬ties, as the selection of specialties in a specific game are closely tailored to its setting and theme. The specialties listed here should be considered examples only.

BIOGINEER

You get a +1 to Craft checks related to using or repairing biotech.

BODYGUARD

If someone within Short range of you is hit by an attack, you can dive in to take the hit. Roll for Mobility. It doesn’t count as an action in combat. If you roll one or more successes, you take the hit instead of your friend. You can push the roll.

COMPASSION

You can push any skill roll based on Empathy twice, not just once like other characters.

CRYSTINEER

You get a +1 to Craft checks related to using or repairing crystaltech.

DRIVER

You get a +1 to Mobility checks related to controlling a ground vehicle.

ENGINEER

You get a +1 to Craft checks related to using or repairing steamtech or kerotech.

FAST REFLEXES

You can draw two initiative cards instead of one during

FIELD SURGEON

You know the delicate art of stopping a wound from bleeding or treating grave injuries. You get a +1 modifier to Healing when treating someone who is about to die from a critical injury.

FLYWEIGHT

When you block in close combat, you can use Agility instead of Strength.

GUT FEELING

You have a knack for sensing when trouble is coming your way. You can roll for Observation using Empathy instead of Wits to detect an approaching threat.

HARDENED

Your maximum Resolve score is increased by 1. You can take this specialty up to three times.

HARD HITTER

You get a +1 modification to Melee Combat if you sacrifice your fast action in the round.

HEALER

You are very resilient and recover quickly from injuries. The healing time of critical injuries is halved for you.

INQUISITIVE

You can push any skill roll based on Wits twice, not just once like other characters.

KILLER

You know where to strike to make your enemy fall and not get up. Ever. When your enemy sustains a critical injury you may roll twice and choose the result you want.

LUCKY

No matter what horrible situations you end up in, you always seem to make it out unscathed. When you suffer a critical injury, you get to re-roll the dice and choose the result that you prefer.

MENACING

You have a scary physical presence that makes it easy to intimidate people. You can roll for Persuasion using Strength instead of Empathy when you threaten someone.

MERCILESS

You can perform a coup de grace without rolling for Empathy.

MUSICIAN

You get a +1 modifier to all Persuasion rolls in situations where singing or playing an instrument is helpful. The GM has final say.

PACK MULE

Your carry limit is increased by +2.

PILOT

You get a +1 to Mobility checks related to controlling an aerial vehicle.

PSYCHIC

You gain access to psychic abilities:
TIER 1: Any Species may access these powers without special training.
TIER 2: Only Klig can access these powers without special training. Other Species must learn from a Klig or Vin Master.
TIER 3: Only Klig Masters can access these powers. Other Klig must learn from a Klig Master. Not available to other Species.

QUICK DRAW

You can draw your weapon so quickly it doesn’t cost you an action.

RIDER

You get a +1 to mobility checks related to controlling a mount.

RECKLESS

You can push any skill roll based on Agility twice, not just once like other characters.

SECOND WIND

When you are broken, you can get back on your feet imme¬diately. Roll for Stamina. You cannot push the roll. For every success you roll, you get one point of Health or Resolve back. You can only use this specialty once while broken, and it has no effect against critical injuries.

SNIPER

You get a +1 modifier to Marksmanship rolls when firing a single shot (not full auto) at Long range or more, from a hidden position.

TOUGH

Your maximum Health score is increased by 1. You can take this specialty up to three times.

TRUE GRIT

You can push any skill roll based on Strength twice, not just once like other characters.

WEAPON SPECIALIST

You’re an expert at using a certain type of weapon. When you use this type of weapon, you get a +1 modifier. You can choose this specialty several times, once for each weapon type. You can be a specialist at fighting unarmed.