Pick Up Skills

As with career skills, players have 50 points to spend over a selection of skills. What skills they can choose, depends on what background they chose.

• Corporate brat, burb kid, streetkid and clansman are all standard backgrounds and you can buy skills outside your background at double cost.

• Specialist backgrounds include highrider and military and buying skills from those packages costs standard characters tripple! (However, specialist background characters can buy the other skills at only double cost - subject to ref veto of course).

• All characters have access to the universal skill package. Skills from the specialist backgrounds can be bought by other background types, but their cost is triple(!).

• Corporate brats, burb kids and highriders also have access to the education skill package as normal. Skills bought from here are at no extra cost, unlike the other backgrounds who must pay double.

In Dark Age just about everyone can read and write. Okay, so they might not have been taught in school, but the information age is still with us. Illiteracy is a two point flaw and means you cannot read anything.

Example: Harry is originally from the suburbs. I choose for him drive (car); culture: street; contacts (info) from the burb kid collection. I have to pay double skill cost for pick lock (from streetkid) and I choose the school education package for 3 character points.

Univeral Skills

Athletics, Climbing (Type), Computer Use, Dance, Fast Talk, First Aid, Hide, Language (Type), Perception (vision or listen), Play (instrument), Running, Seduction, Sneak, Style, Swim, Throw

Education Packages

Choose any of the following if you have this option, or you can choose one of the set packages below.

Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Genetics, Geology, Geography, History, Library Use, Literary Study, Maths, Pharmacy, Physics, Programming, Teach, Writing, Zoology

School (3 CP):
Any science subject (see below) +2 and either maths, writing or language (type) at +2.
(Choosing this package includes the basics of being able to read & write).

College (6 CP):
Computer use +2, Library Use +1 and choose +3 from one of:
any science subject; History; Writing or Programming.
(Choosing this package includes a good level of reading / writing ability).

Graduate (12 CP):
Writing +2, Library Use +1, Computer Use +2 and choose +5 in one of:
Any science subject; Programming; Electronics (type); Mechanic (type);
Law; Psychology; Criminology; Programming or Literary Study

Valid science subjects include: Biology, biotech, botany, chemistry, geology, genetics, pharmacy, physics, zoology. Please note that genetics or physiology are unlikely to be taught in schools to any serious degree. Graduate characters may choose a different key skill not mentioned above (subject to Referee veto).

Standard Backgrounds

Remember: You can buy a skill that is not available in your skill package at double cost. However, if you buy it from highrider or military, it costs triple.

• Corporate Brat
  Accounts, Contacts: Corporate, Culture: Corporate, Cycle, Drive (type), Education Package, Etiquette, Evaluate, Facilities (type), Investment, Perform, Pilot (type)

• Burb Kid
  Contacts (type), Culture: Corp or Street, Cycle, Drive (type), Education package, Electronics (type), Electronics: Computer, Mechanic (type), Pistol, Programming, Streetwise (type), Unarmed Combat (type)

• Streetkid
  Computer Use, Culture: Street, Cycle, Drive (type), Melee (type), Pick Pocket, Pick Lock, Pistol, Resistance, SMG, Streetwise (type), Unarmed Combat (type)

• Clansman:
  Contacts: Clan, Culture: Clan, Cycle, Drive (type), Mechanic (type), Melee (type), Pistol, Rifle, Streetwise (type), Survival (rural), Unarmed Combat (type), Weaponsmith (type)

Specialist Backgrounds

As with the other backgrounds, you can buy a skill that is not available in your skill package at double cost.

• Highrider
  Astrogation, Culture (Highrider), Education package, Electronics (type), EVA, Mechanic: Spacecraft, Melee (type), Pilot Tug, Planetology, Survival: Space, Unarmed Combat (type), Zerobatics

• Military
  Command, Contacts: Military, Drive (type), Education Package, Mechanic (type), Pilot (type), Pistol, Rifle, SMG, Survival (type), Unarmed Combat (type) or Melee, Weaponsmith (type)