Here are a number of new skills meant to add to Hard Nova II special skills required in mecha adventures, Star Wars, Dune, Star Trek, and spy adventures. * indicates a skill that cannot be used unskilled NEW FITNESS SKILLS Mecha Fighting: using a mecha to brawl or fight with melee weapons with other mecha and vehicles Piloting (Mecha)*: operation of powered armor and mobile suits NEW AWARENESS SKILLS Espionage: the character knows how to use and spot intelligence-gathering devices such as bugs, hidden cameras, spyware, trackers, etc Etiquette: understanding and knowledge of high society, its mannerisms, and its trappings; includes the ability to appreciate art, music, wines, jewelry, food, fashion, etc Warp*: (requires the blink teleportation, jump teleportation, or space warp gimmick) the character can bend space around a target, whether another being, a vehicle, or even an energy blast, thereby teleporting the target; the distance teleported is determined by the gimmick used to move the target- see Blink Teleportation, Jump Teleportation, and Space Warp; base difficulty is determined by the type of object: Trivial: Unmoving or willing target Routine: Unwilling living target or a group of willing targets Complex: Fast moving vehicle or a group of unwilling targets Challenging: Ballistic or missile weapon fire Impossible: Energy weapon fire NEW CREATIVITY SKILLS Jury Rig: the character can quickly improvise repairs with little to work with and little time to work in; jury rigged improv-isations will either last a number of rounds equal to his score in this skill or will work a single time, after which they will break and must actually be repaired Steward : cooking, drink mixing, hosting, party planning, and generally be capable of entertaining guests Tactics: implementation of movements, defenses, and attacks that offer a unit or ship tactical advantage in a fight NEW REASONING SKILLS Advanced Sciences* ; knowledge of advanced or theoretical sciences, such as nanomechanics, transgenics, dimensional mechanics, or temporal physics Business*: knowledge of economics and business practices and law Communications*: operation of starship communication systems Piloting (walkers)*: operation of walkers and multi-limbed mecha Psychology*: knowledge and understanding of human behavior; includes the diagnosing and treatment of mental illnesses Security Systems*: operation, bypassing, spotting, and basic repair of modern security systems INFLUENCE SKILLS Bluff: fast talking and lying to fool others, verbal trickery Broadcast Empathy*: (requires the empathy skill or empathic sense/empathy gimmick) the character can influence and alter the emotions of targets; the roll suffers a DIFF penalty equal to the target character’s awareness Exorcism*: (requires either the pious/clergy gimmick or the telepathy skill or gimmick) the character can force possessing entities to leave a host body; this is a contested roll with the target rolling his possession skill to resist; if the exorcism is successful, the possessing character is thrown immediately back into his own body, suffering 1 INJ; if not, the exorcizing character suffers 1D6 FAT Leadership: coordinating, inspiring, and directing people and efforts Possession*: (requires the psychic travel and the mental control gimmicks) the character can impose his own mind into the body of another, taking the body over and then using it as his own; the possession lasts a number of hours equal to the skill score before the control must be renewed; if the body is killed while the character inhabits it, the character is thrown immediately back into his own body, suffering 1 INJ; while in another body, the character’s body appears to be comatose and he must make an unmodified Awareness roll to sense conditions disturbing his body; if his body is killed while he is away, he is forever trapped in the body of the target he has possessed Suggestion*: (requires the character to be able to use psionic gimmicks) the character can implant or change a brief idea in the mind of a target; this requires the character to speak aloud the idea he is implanting or altering in a language the target understands; the roll suffers a DIFF penalty equal to the target character’s awareness