Rogue Heresy Death Crusade Skills

Skill Descriptions

Acrobatics (Agility)

Acrobatics covers feats of agile movement, graceful motion, and mastery of balance and form. With this Skill characters can leap nimbly across yawing chasms, maintain their balance on the pitching ship deck or fall gracefully to the ground without snapping their limbs. In combat a skilled acrobat can somersault, flip or cartwheel away from foes, twisting his body out of reach of their enemy or slipping past them in a blur of motion.

The GM may call on players to use the Acrobatics Skill when:

• They must avoid falling over on unstable ground.

• They wish to jump down from a height and land well.

• They want to move over or around a foe or obstacle in their path without breaking their stride.

Example Modifiers

+30	Moving in an open environment with Earth-like gravity, or completely unarmoured.
+20	Moving through an open forest or tall grass field, or with hands free of weapons or other objects.
+10	Moving in a low gravity environment, wearing armour only on torso.
+0	Moving across rubble or debris, or in loose and shifting sand.
–10	Moving in obstructed terrain, or in heavy armour.
–20	Moving in zero gravity or with both hands tied behind one’s back.
–30	Moving in an environment with gravity three times Terran standard.

Athletics (Strength)

Athletics is the ability to run long distances, climb sheer surfaces ,and swim strongly without tiring or faltering. It encompasses all manner of strength and brawn based tasks that a character may undertake; a skilled athlete can run for miles, heft mighty loads, or cross fast-flowing rivers with relative ease. Athletics also allows a character to push themselves to greater levels of endurance and shrug off the effects of fatigue when running, swimming, or climbing. The GM may call on players to use the Athletics Skill when:

• They must swim across a body of water or try to stay afl oat.

• They wish to push themselves beyond their limits and keep going even when exhausted.

• They want to climb a cliff or cross extremely rough ground.

A character’s background may dispose him more towards certain types of athletics. Not all skilled climbers make excellent swimmers, though both may have similar upper body strength. A GM can keep this in mind when determining the difficulty of a Test. For example, a character from a desert world or one with extensive augmentic parts could be required to make more difficult Athletics Tests to swim across a river than a character who grew up on an aquatic hive world.

Example Modifiers

+30	Climbing a ladder in a hurry or swimming in perfectly calm water.
+20	Climbing across a gantry or swimming with some method of staying afloat.
+10	Climbing the outside of a hive or swimming with specialised gear (i.e. flippers).
+0	Climbing a rough rock wall with protruding stones, or swimming across a deep lake.
–10	Climbing a brick wall or swimming a slow river.
–20	Climbing a ferrocrete wall without climbing aids or swimming against a current.
–30	Climbing up a slick plasteel bulkhead or swimming in a storm.