Shadowrun Skills

   For today, it’s the probable skills list for the current Shadowrun game. It’s a good deal larger than the one in the book; some skills have been split into subskills, others combined, and quite a few added or reorganized. Of course, a fair number of skills listed here – such as “heavy siege weapons” and “homesteading” – can probably be skipped for most characters. Suggestions are, as usual, quite welcome.

Build/Repair Skills (Intelligence):

   Air Vehicles, Art, Biotech, Blunt Weapons, Computer, Cyberforms, Cyberware, Demolitions, Dimensional Vehicles, Edged Weapons, Electronics, Flexible Weapons, Ground Vehicles, Heavy/Gunnery Weapons, Mechanics, Power Suits, Projectile Weapons, Siege Weapons, Small Arms, Space Vehicles, Thrown Weapons, Tunneling Vehicles, Water Vehicles.

   Quite a number of practical skills are effectively their own build/repair skills.

Combat Skills

Combat Skills
Weapon Category	Light	Medium	Heavy	Mounted
Point-and-Shoot (Qui)	Pistols	Rifles	Heavy Weapons	Gunnery
Edged Melee (Str)	Knives	Blades	Pole Arms	Scythes
Blunt Melee (Str)	Clubs	Maces	Staves	Rams
Unarmed (Str)	Unarmed	Implants	Ranged Implant	Cyberforms
Flexible (Qui)	Whips	Chains	Flails	Shields*
Projectile (Str)	Throwing	Projectile	Light Siege	Heavy Siege

   Specializations are normally with specific weapons or under specific circumstances.

   *No, this doesn’t really belong in that position on the chart. On the other hand, no realistic mounted flexible weapon occurred to me, so there was a spot open. If you want to try fancy tricks with a shield, or hit people with it effectively, buy this skill.

Physical Skills:

• Agility (Qui) (Acrobatics, Contortionist, Escape Artist, Zero Gravity)
• Animal Handling (Qui) (Coordinating, Riding, Soothing, Training)
• Endurance (Bod) (Concentration, Resist Intoxicants, Running, Sustained Efforts)
• Homesteading (Str) (Agriculture, Cooking, Handyman, Food Preservation, Handicrafts)
• Slight of Hand (Qui) (Concealing Items, Fast Draw, Magic Tricks, Pick Pocketing)
• Stealth (Qui) (Selected Environment, Shadowing, Tracelessness)
• Strength (Str) (Breaking, Climbing, Jumping, Power Lifting, Swimming)

Technical Skills (Intelligence):

• Art (Dance, Forgery, Literary, Musical, Visual)
• Biotech (Cyberware, First Aid, Holistic Medicine, Pharmacology, Surgery)
• Computer (Programming, Hardware, Operations, Process Control)
• Demolitions (Breaching, Controlled Drops, Disarming)
• Electronics (Control Systems, Diagnostics, Interfaces, Power Systems)
• Finance (Accounting, Business, Economics, Investment, Tax Evasion)
• Investigation (Criminology, Forensics, Research)
• Mechanics (Clockwork, Engines, Locks. Sabotage)
• Systems Operation (Communications, ECM/ECCM, Sensors, Power Systems, Stabilization, Sabotage)
• Survival (Environmental, Navigation, Shelter Construction, Streetwise, Tracking)

Magical Skills:

• Astral Perception (Int) (Conjuring, Emotions, Psychometry, Signatures)
• Conjuring (Wil) (Banish, Control, Spirit Type, Summon)
• Crafting* (Int) (by Skill Category or Attribute aided)
• Dreamquesting* (Wil) (by purpose of quest)
• Elementalism* (Wil)
• Enchantment (Int) (Alchemy, Foci, Rituals, Talismans)
• Sorcery (Wil) (Astral, Dispelling, Psionics, Religious, Ritual, Spell Casting, Spell Category, Spell Defense),
• Superheroics (Wil) (Attack Powers, Defense Powers, Power Boost, Power Manipulation, Utility Powers)

   Magical skills may be taken as knowledge skills by mundanes, but only the theoritical aspects are usuable. If they gain magical abilities, they’ll have to upgrade their skill.

   *Primitive Magic skills are only available under special circumstances.

Social Skills (Charisma):

• Administration (Bureaucracy, Business, Governmental, Land, Wildlife)
• Etiquette (By subculture or situation)
• Fast Talk (Advertising, Bluff, Cons)
• Instruction (Child Care*, Teaching)
• Interrogation (Brainwashing, Conversation, Drugs, Torture)
• Intimidation (Blackmail, Extortion, Fear, Rackets)
• Leadership (Command, Emergency, Military, Politics, Reporting, Strategy, Tactics)
• Negotiation (Bargain, Bribe, Contract, Criminal)
• Performance (Acting, Disguise, Entertainer, Public Speaking, Unobtrusiveness)
• Psychology (Detect Lie, Profiling, Sense Motive)
• Seduction (Approach, Befriending, Fashion, Performance)
• Scrounging (Fencing, Money, Programs, Supplies)

   *OK, I was tempted to put this under “Magical Skills”.

Vehicle Skills (Reaction):

   Antigrav*, Bike, Car, Construction, Dimensional*. Fixed-Wing Air, Flapping Wing, Hover, Legged, Lighter Than Air, Mole, Motorboat, Power Suits*, Rotor, Sail, Ship, Space, Submersible, Temporal*, Vectored Thrust.

   Specializations go by specific vehicle type, by conditions such as remote operation or wet surface driving, or by activity, such as wild stunts or racing.

   *No such vehicles are currently known, but there are plenty of sims.

General Knowledge Skills (Intelligence)

   All right, the number of possible knowledge skills is essentially infinite. Here, however, are a selection of the top-end ones. Most things should fit into one or another of these categories, although more specific knowledge skills will provide more details. In addition, some skills – such as “literature” or “gnostic magic” simply do not have a broad theoretical basis.

Topic:	Micro	Small	Large	Very Large
Behavioral	Animal	Psychology	Sociology	Anthropology
Communications	Cryptography	Linguistics	Communications	Information Theory
Computer	Hardware	Languages	Software	Interface
Earth Sciences	Ecology	Hydrology	Meteorology	Geology
Engineering	Materials	Structural	Mechanical	Technical
History	Current Events	History	Archeology	Paleontology
Life Sciences	Biochemistry	Genetics	Biology	Evolution
Magic	Spellcraft	Magic Theory	Spirit Lore	Metaphysics
Mathematics	Number Theory	Probability and Statistics	Analysis	Multidimensional
Orientation	(City) Lore	(Region) Lore	(Country) Lore	Geography
Philosophy	Logic	Theology	Philosophy	Civics and Law
Physical Science	Quantum Mechanics	Chemistry	Physics	Cosmology

Languages

   These skills are unchanged.