Atomic Age - Skills and Skill Checks

Critical Failures and Successes

Rolling a natural 1 on a skill check is considered an automatic failure. It is up to GM's discretion whether the failed check has other implications.

Rolling a natural 20 on a skill check is not usually considered an automatic success. If it is a success, it is up to the GM's discretion whether to consider it a particularly special success.

NOTE: If rolling a natural 20 and adding the skill check modifier would still be a failure, there's no reason to roll the skill check in the first place.

Opposed Skill Checks

In certain circumstances, rather than the PC rolling a skill check against a fixed environmental DC, he make an opposed skill check in which both you and the PC roll against each other to see who wins. An opposed check is usually used in cases where there is an active entity going against the players and that entity is potentially unpredictable, such as an NPC.

In these cases, both parties roll the appropriate skill check. Whoever gets the higher result succeeds.

Mixed Skill Checks

Under certain conditions, a player may choose to perform a special kind of skill check where the skill being used can be based on a different ability check. For example, a player might want to use their imposing physical presence to intimidate an adversary, so although intimidation is generally a Personality (Speechcraft) skill check they might want to use Strength as the base attribute for it.

In these cases, when determining the skill check modifier you use the base ability and add any proficiency the player has in the specific skill.

This skill check is usually designated in the same manner as a normal skill check, which shows the ability followed by the skill. For example, in the above case it would be a Strength (Speechcraft) skill check.


Skill List

Strength (STR)

Athletics: Climbing, escaping from a grab, jumping high or long distances, swimming or treading water

Agility (AGI)

Acrobatics: Perform an acrobatic stunt (swinging from a chandelier, somersault, etc.), escaping from a grab, maintaining your balance, reducing damage from a fall

Driving: Steering a car, performing advanced driving maneuvers

Piloting: Piloting an aircraft, performing advanced aerial maneuvers

Stealth: Hiding from enemies, remaining undetected, moving silently

Thievery: Pickpocketing, palming an item, picking a lock, escaping restraints,sleight of hand

Vitality (VIT)

Endurance: Resisting harsh weather and temperatures, holding your breath, ignoring thirst or hunger, resisting poisons and toxins, tolerance to radiation exposure

Intellect (INT)

Investigation: Interpreting clues, analyzing objects

Lore: Recollecting information from the past. Knowledge of history, culture, religion, etc.

Mechanics: Interacting with machinery that has moving parts, repairing a vehicle

Medical: Providing first aid, stabilizing a dying creature, identifying wounds and other symptoms

Technology: Interacting with computers, understandint and using advanced technology

Awareness (AWA)

Animal Empathy: Pacifying wild animals, controlling a mount under adverse circumstances

Insight: Interpreting body language during social interactions, discerning intent, detecting lies, getting a sense of mood or demeanor

Perception: Noticing visual clues and things that are out of place, detecting hidden objects, detecting hazards and finding traps, listening for sounds

Survival: Foraging for food and drink, surviving a hostile environment, searching for and following tracks

Personality (PER)

Charm: General demeanor in social situations, social graces, perform for a crowd

Speechcraft: Haggle for pricing with vendors or customers, negotiate a deal, intimidate an adversary, convince others in a social situation