Skills

Skills are the basis for an Acolyte’s capabilities and the ways in which he can interact with the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They form an integral part of all characters in measuring their ability and competence at tasks, and allowing them unique options during game play. More often than not, when the Game Master asks a player to complete a task or overcome a challenge, the player’s character will need to pass a skill test to determine the outcome. Skills indicate abilities that an Acolyte has learned either through his education or through the more practical applications that are part of service to the Inquisition. Characters in DARK HERESY automatically begin the game with a number of skills as part of their origin. Players can select additional skills during the latter stages of character creation when they spend experience. Over the course of their careers, characters are certain to hone those skills and improve upon them through selecting skill advances with earned experience. These elements represent the accumulation of knowledge and expertise. For some characters, the skills they possess at the beginning of their careers are a strong indication of those they may use throughout their lives. In other instances, an Acolyte’s path might diverge from his origin as he explores new fields of expertise. Characters can be effective pursuing either path, but both are dependent upon players identifying the most opportune ways and times to exploit the skills that their characters have developed.

Using Skills
Throughout the course of a game session, the Game Master frequently calls upon players to make skill tests for their characters. These should be conducted in any circumstance where success or failure might have a meaningful impact upon the scenario. Routine tasks attempted under normal conditions should never require a test. However, if there is a reasonable chance of failure due to environmental conditions or circumstance, even a routine test might be relevant. When a character uses a skill to perform a task, he must succeed at a skill test. The procedure follows the test rules presented in Chapter I: Playing the Game (see page 21): the player rolls, compares the result to the characteristic best suited to the task and, if the result is equal to or less than the skill rating, the check succeeds. Modifiers are applied to take into account any environmental factors, as well as the character’s rank with the applicable skill.

Untrained Skill Use
It is unlikely that a character will be trained in the use of every skill, instead focusing on the mastery of a few and a general knowledge of a handful of others. A character can, however, still use skills in which he has no training when needs must, such as attempting to hide from a slavering group of mutants or frantically deciphering the coded messages in an ancient tome. In these instances, the character makes a skill test as normal but suffers a –20 penalty in addition to any other modifiers. The only exceptions to this rule are Specialist skills (see below) which require a level of ability that simply cannot be attempted by the untrained. These could include knowledge of ancient rites of the Adeptus Mechanicus, commanding a Mars Class Cruiser, or speaking fluently with an Eldar Corsair in its own xenos language. Specialist skills are indicated as such.

Special Uses
Several skill entries have subsections that detail a specific, focused use outside their usual employment. These sections spotlight particularly creative or interesting uses of the skill, allowing for greater variety of applications. Special uses and their effects can be found at the end of each relevant skill description.

Specialist Skills
Some skills are not just one skill but many, representing a specialisation within the skill itself. These are known as Specialist skills, and whenever a character learns a Specialist skill, he must choose a particular specialisation within it. Specializations represent such things as specific knowledge of places, people, and events; the ability to control, drive, or pilot particular types of vehicles and equipment; the ability to read and understand maps, as well as the ability to plot a course across a world or the stars themselves; and the ability to speak, read, or understand one of the countless languages, codes, or glyphs used by the races of the 41st Millennium. A character can take a Specialist skill more than once, taking a new speciality each time he takes the skill. If he takes a Specialist skill more than once (each with its own speciality), then these are treated as separate skills and must be advanced in rank individually. A list of the individual specialities within each Specialist skill can be found within the individual skill descriptions

Time and Skill Tests
The amount of time required for a skill test may vary substantially based both upon the skill used and the particular instance of its use. A Tech-Use test to clear a weapon jam might take only a few moments, though one to perform a basic repair on a vehicle could take hours. Similarly, a Commerce test to negotiate the price of supplies for a journey might be resolved quickly, but a complex negotiation to establish a trade agreement between two powerful mercantile groups could take days. For more information on time within the context of conflict, refer to page 215.Each skill entry includes guidance on the average amount of time that skill usually takes to perform. These values are either measured in actions (in the case of skills that can be performed during a round of structured time), or minutes/hours. Some skills are most commonly used in reaction to, or in combination with, another skill. In these instances, the amount of time required is identical to the skill it is used to oppose or assist. Keep in mind that these values serve as guidelines but are not always fixed. Game Masters must alter the time required for a skill use based upon the overall complexity of the task involved

Trying Again
Many tasks can be attempted repeatedly with few consequences until a character finally succeeds. A character using Inquiry to research vital information might decide, for example, he will keep examining data until he finally finds the vital clue necessary to answer a crucial question. In such a situation the GM could determine how long this might take based on a single roll, with the character’s only cost the narrative time and effort involved, rather than have the player make a series of rolls until he is successful. Other tasks can have serious repercussions if failed. A character attempting to bypass an alarm system might trigger a response on a failed Security test, and further attempts might have to be made while avoiding a patrol sent to investigate the first failure. Some tasks can only be attempted once, and there is no second chance. A character attempting to leap a chasm could face serious damage or even death on a failed Athletics test. If a character uses Operate to land an Arvus lighter and rolls poorly, the craft might crash into the docking bay, destroying the ship and its crew. Where appropriate, a skill entry lists whether it can be attempted more than once, and gives suggestions for the consequences of failure. GMs must be familiar with these options, but can temper them given the particular circumstance of the attempt. A character who failed a test that normally only has a single opportunity might have an additional chance if there are mitigating circumstances. Similarly, a test that could normally be repeated indefinitely might have situational constraints that prevent further opportunities

Skill Descriptors
Some skills fall into broad categories that use common rules. Skill descriptors allow players to quickly identify the appropriate rules section from Chapter I: Playing the Game for what kind of test is needed and how it is resolved. These categories include
 * Combat
 * Crafting
 * Interaction
 * Investigations
 * Movement

Combat
Skills with this descriptor are used in the heat of battle. They are often made in reaction to an enemy’s blows, with a basic skill test and the resulting degrees of success or failure determining how well the user acquitted himself in the attempt.

Crafting
Skills with the Crafting descriptor allow Acolytes to fashion things from parts or raw materials. These can vary from exotic drugs and custom weapons to disturbing works of art and fiendish traps. The GM sets up an appropriate Extended test for the task, and its resolution follows the guidelines in the Crafting Page.

Interaction
All skills with the Interaction descriptor involve interplay with others. The difficulty of these skill tests depends on the individual’s disposition towards the character, as defined by the GM in accordance with the circumstances of the encounter. See page 277 of Chapter VIII: Narrative Tools for more information on NPC disposition.

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It is possible for a veteran commander or masterful orator to influence or control a number of people at the same time. When a character uses a skill with the Interaction descriptor, he can (if he chooses) affect a number of people up to ten times his Fellowship bonus, provided they can all clearly hear and understand him. If it is an Opposed test, then the character only makes one roll and compares the result to a roll for the group of people (or its leader) he is trying to affect to determine success. =====

Investigations
Most of the skills with the Investigation descriptor allow characters to collect information from various sources, and also require Extended tests as Acolytes try to gather detailed intelligence on their suspects or their mission. The GM sets up the proper time period for the test, as it takes far longer to uncover the secret base of a rival cult than it does to spot the location of an armoured column.

Movement
Skills with the Movement descriptor all relate to a character’s mobility, anything from daring leaps across chasms to climbing up sheer cliffs. They involve the ability to move across, through, over, or between elements of a character’s environment. Movement skills are all adversely affected by reductions to the character’s mobility (such as crippling injuries to limbs) or environmental factors as detailed on page 229

Gaining Skills
As characters survive adventures and develop during game play, they naturally become more competent, and the range of their abilities grows and strengthens. A Player Character learns new skills and improves existing ones, getting steadily better and gaining access to new options during play and new ways of overcoming challenges. Skills, like other kinds of advances, are gained during character creation or bought during play by spending experience points. The amount of experience points a skill costs depends upon its rank and which aptitudes a character has, as detailed in Chapter II: Character Creation.

Skill Ranks
Simply knowing a skill is very different from having mastered its use, and different characters can use different skills at varying levels. To represent this, all of a character’s skills are ranked from 1–4, representing his level of ability. The benefits of having a skill at a higher rank are detailed above on Table 3–1: Skill Ranks below. Characters only use the highest bonus available to them; for example, an Acolyte with Rank 3 in Intimidate gets +20 on all tests with the skill, not +20 for Experienced and +10 for Trained.

Alternate Characteristics
Every skill has a base characteristic indicated in its description which is used to test against when making a skill test. Most of the time this is the one a character uses to determine success or failure. In many circumstances when setting a skill test, though, another characteristic could be more fitting.In such cases, the GM is highly encouraged to use the characteristic which best suits the situation; Table 3–3: Skill List includes possible alternative characteristics as suggestions. The decision to use them could substantially impact the character’s chance of success, and must be made before the character attempts the test.