Hackmaster -- Skill System

Characters in Hackmaster have skills -- particular things that they can try to do in certain circumstances. Some skills require a specialization -- refining a general skill category to a specific application -- such as `Weapons' and `Survival'. The combination of a skill and a specialization is treated as a unique skill for character building purposes. Some skills have prerequisites that must be met before the character may acquire the skill.

Players use character points to acquire new skills and improve their existing skills by buying points, called ranks in a skill. A character's rank in a skill is added to a modifier based on the character's stats to determine the score in that skill. The score is an indication of `how good' a character is at a given skill; the details are described in the section on skill use.

Acquiring the first rank in a new skill costs 3 character points. Each character point spent on subsequent training on that skill gives you an additional rank in that skill. While the character's score is essentally unlimited, the rank in a given skill may not normally exceed the character's level, but see Talents. It is expected that almost all Hackmaster characters will have at least one such talent.

Attempting to Use a Skill

All skill attempts are resolved on a roll of d20 (higher is better). The base target number for all skills is `20', although modifiers may be imposed by the GM. Additionally, characters may spend character points to gain a one-time bonus to the skill, gain a `second chance' roll, or even to attempt to improvise a skill.

Play-or-Roll Skills

Some of the skills listed are marked as `play-or-roll skills'. Skills in this category may be resolved through a skill use attempt as normal, or they may be resolved through detailed roleplaying. For example, our friend Tulio has just been involved in a misunderstanding with some temple gaurds, and wants to stay out of the way for a while. Tulio's player could say ``I'm going to get out of sight using my Hide skill of 16.'', or Tulio's player could instead say ``I'm going to sneak down to the now-empty central chamber and hide on top of that huge statue there, behind the right ear. I'll grab some soot from the nearby fire to cover my exposed skin while I'm at it.''

The second method is often preferable to the first because it does a much better job of evoking the imagery of the game and inspiring the imagination of the other players. It can also be better for the character, because often the GM will either only require a critical check (a roll made only to see if a critical failure or success occurs) or dispense with the roll entirely. On the other hand, sometimes it will be better to simply say ``I'm attempting to hide; my score is 16'' in order to keep the game from being bogged down in secondary details.

Of particular interest to Hackmaster is the fact that all Lore skills are play-or-roll. This means that a player who is knowledgeable about animals, botany, astronomy, or the particular details of the magic system in use may choose (remember that it can be fun to roleplay a character who doesn't know as much about some things as the player does, though!) to make use of this knowledge in the game if they so wish. Your GM may require that you have at least one rank in a given lore to make use of your player knowledge.

Critical Attempts

For certain skill attempts, the possibility of a `critical failure' exists (on a roll of a `1'). A critical failure could result in, for example, surprising circumstances or misleading information. Similiarly, certain skill attempts carry a possibility for a `critical success' (on a roll of a `20'). Both critical failures and critical successes are handled by the GM.

List of Available Skills

This is a rough list of skills available to Hackmaster characters. Skills marked with a `*' require a specialization. Many of the skill descriptions are still in need of editting.