BESM skill costs

"It occurred to me that Puzzlebox favors somewhat different skills than a Martial Arts themed anime would, even though the book skillsets are very useful. For example, propaganda and research skills (Writing, Art, Urban Tracking) would be much more useful and likely to be used than combat skills; this should be reflected in differing skill costs. So without further ado, here's what I've come up with. Feel free to make changes as you see fit." - Echo

Costing

(This info taken from BESM Second Edition, page 58.)

6 points/level

This is appropriate for skills that define a particular campaign setting and will be vital in nearly every adventure.

5 points/level

This is appropriate for skills that will be used multiple times in a particular game session. In most action-adventure settings, the majority of appropriate combat skills should be priced at this level.

4 points/level

This is appropriate for general adventuring skills that characters will find useful in every adventure.

3 points/level

This is appropriate for skills that are specialized enough that a character might use them only once in a typical session, but which are either of general utility or are likely to be important to the campaign.

2 points/level

This is appropriate for skills that may be beneficial, but for which opportunities for use will probably not come up every adventure.

1 point/level

This is appropriate for skills that are mainly used to flesh out character backgrounds, but which will not usually be important to play.

The Skills themselves.

Format:

Skill name (Relevant stat; if stat/stat then average of them)

Cost X per level, Specializations: what have you.

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Acrobatics (Body)

Cost 3, Specializations: Balance, Flexibility, Jumps, Tumbling

Animal Training (Soul)

Cost 3, Specializations: Any one animal type with an intellect above instinctive insects. May also include Characters (2 point specialization).

Architecture (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Aquatic, Bridges, Small buildings, Skyscrapers, Fortifications, Underground structures

Artisan (Body/Soul)

Cost 5, Specializations: Carpentry, Leatherworking, Metalworking, Plumbing, Tailoring, Woodworking, many more.

Biological Sciences (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Bacteria/Viruses, Botany, Ecology, Genetic engineering, Physiology, Zoology (May specialize in a particular location as well.)

Boating/Watercraft (Body/Mind)

Cost 1, Specializations: Hovercraft, Large ships, Small boats, Submarines

Burglary (Body or Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Breaking and entering, Hot-wiring, Safe cracking

Business/Faction management (Mind)

Cost 3, Specializations: Fraud, Inventory, Marketing, Recruitment, Small business (Accounting, Banking, and Securities are irrelevant except maybe for the AotF and Data Exchange.)

Computers (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: AI, Databases, Intrusion/Security, Networks, Programming

Controlled breathing (Body)

Cost 1, Specializations: Cyclic breathing, Holding breath, Slow heart rate

Cooking (Mind or Soul)

Cost 3, Specializations: Ethnic, Exotic, Fast food, Gourmet, Home (note that Exotic and Home cooking are defined by location.)

Cultural arts (Mind)

Cost 4, Art appraisal, Archaeology, History, Literature, Mythology, Occultism, Urban legends (May specialize by location.)

Demolitions (Body/Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Artificial structures, Bomb disposal, Natural structures, Safe cracking, Underwater

Disguise (Variable)

Cost 4, Specializations: Costume, Make-up, Prosthetics

Driving/Groundcraft (Body or Mind)

Cost 1, Specializations: Car, Big rig (large transport vehicles), Motorcycle/hovercycle, Small truck (including vans and RVs), Surfboard/hoverboard

Electronics (Mind)

Cost 3, Specializations: Communications, Computers, Consumer/convenience electronics, Robotics, Security, Sensors

Forgery (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Electronic documents, Handwriting, Paper documents

Games/Gaming (Varies, usually Mind or Body)

Cost 4, Specializations: Board games, Children's/Charm/small group games, Computer/console/arcade games, Gambling/card games, Military sims, Party games, Teaching games, RPGs

Interrogation (Mind or Soul)

Cost 3, Specializations: Drugs, Physical, Psychological

Intimidation (Varies)

Cost 2, Specializations: Business/contractual, Political, Street

Law (Mind)

Cost 1, Specializations: Civil, Criminal, Customs, Family, International/interplanetary, Political

Linguistics (Mind)

Cost 3, Specializations: Any one language, Code language, Sign language, Braille (It may not be important to most characters on a regular basis, but it becomes very important when dealing with certain characters and factions such as the Chitin Queens.)

Mechanics (Mind, sometimes Body)

Cost 2, Specializations: Aeronautical, Armorer, Automotive, Gunsmith, Locksmith, Micro, Traps

Medical (Mind, sometimes Body)

Cost 3, Specializations: Acupuncture, Dentistry, Diagnosis, Emergency response, Homeopathy, Pathology, Pharmacy, Surgery, Veterinary (The most common would be Pharmacy, I think. Nearly everyone knows drugs around here.)

Military Sciences (Mind)

Cost 1, Specializations: Hardware recognition, Intelligence analysis, Logistics, Strategy, Tactics

Navigation (Mind)

Cost 3, Specializations: Air, Museum, Sea, Urban, Wilderness, Zipway (Also available by Warp!)

Performing Arts (Body/Mind/Soul)

Cost 4, Specializations: Comedy, Dance, Drama, Public speaking, Ritual mastery, Singing, Tea ceremony

Physical Sciences (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Astronomy, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics

Piloting/Aerospacials (Body/Mind)

Cost 1, Specializations: Heavy Airplane, Helicopter, Jet fighter, Light airplane, Lighter than air craft, Spacecraft

Poisons (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Natural, Synthetic

Police Sciences (Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Ballistics, Criminology, Forensics

Riding/Livecraft (Varies)

Cost 1, Specializations: By species or mount (Includes care of mount and tack, as well as special maneuvers and distance pacing.)

Seduction (Body or Soul, modified by Appearance attribute)

Cost 4, Specializations: By gender and/or Warp

Sleight of Hand (Body)

Cost 2, Specializations: Card sharping, Lock picking, Pocket picking, Stage magic

Social Sciences (Mind)

Cost 4, Specializations: Anthropology, Politics, Psychology, Social work, Sociology, Theology

Sports (Body, sometimes Mind or Soul)

Cost 1, Specializations: By team sport

Stealth (Body, sometimes Mind)

Cost 2, Specializations: Camouflage, Concealment, Silen movement

Swimming (Body)

Cost 1, Specializations: Competition, Deep-sea diving, Free diving, Scuba, Snorkelling

Urban Tracking (Mind)

Cost 4, Specializations: Academic, Factional, Residential, Underworld, or by Warp

Visual Arts (Varies, often all three averaged)

Cost 4, Specializations: Animation, Drawing, Flower arranging, Painting, Photography/still holography, Sculpting, Video

Wilderness Survival (Mind, sometimes Body)

Cost 1, Specializations: By terrain type

Wilderness Tracking (Mind, sometimes Soul)

Cost 1, Specializations: Also by terrain type

Writing (Mind/Soul)

Cost 4, Specializations: Academic, Fiction, Journalistic, Poetic, Technical

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Combat Skills - All combat skills use combat value as the relevant stat.

Archery (ACV)

Cost 2, Specializations: Bow, Crossbow

Gun Combat (ACV)

Cost 2, Specializations: Autofire, Pistol, Rifle

Heavy Weapons (ACV)

Cost 2, Specializations: Artillery (indirect fire), Gunnery (direct fire), Launchers (rockets and missiles)

Melee Attack (ACV)

Cost 3, Specializations: Axe, Baton/club, Improvised weapons, Polearms, Sword, Whips/chains

Melee Defense (DCV)

Cost 3, Specializations: see Melee Attack for list

Ranged Defense (DCV)

Cost 2, Specializations: Personal (on foot), Air vehicle, Ground vehicle, Water vehicle, Space vehicle

Thrown Weapons (ACV)

Cost 3, Specializations: Blades, Energy blasts, Grenades, Rocks

Unarmed Attack (ACV)

Cost 3, Specializations: Bites, Holds, Strikes, Throws, Wrestling

Unarmed Defense (DCV)

Cost 3, Specializations: see Unarmed Attack for list

Personally, I find the whole exercise a bit silly, not that should stop anybody from doing this as a fun diversion. But c'mon. Isn't assigning finite, limiting skills to a Puzzlebox character a bit like trying to figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? :) You all have always been welcome to do whatever pleases you, regardless of Function peeves, as long as the other players enjoy it. As a matter of fact, if anybody does run a Puzzlebox tabletop RPG, I'd love to hear how the experiment goes. But just try not to get bogged too deep in geek literalist aspect of all this. We don't need to know if the Vole Statue or the Kangaroo Statue would win in a fight. :) -- OR

I'm having fun thinking of this as an artwar of Echo & Frostbyte. In fact, I'm having fun thinking of everything on the Wiki as an artwar --Zoe

This is why I haven't written up Echo or Th'thsthn. Xa was deliberately concieved of as a limited creature, who would fit well in a statistical type of system. Echo at this point would just have 200 points: Unique Ability (Full Transcendence). And the bug has secrets I haven't learned yet. To put her into numbers would be silly before I really knew who xie was - and then, why share those secrets with everyone else before the proper time?

I've actually snuck a couple of secrets in to my character sheet that could be used as jumping points for plots... -- Frostbyte