Skills

Printable cards Skill Cards 25

Skills are the trained areas of practice that define what your character is good at and how they approach problems. Every skill is rated from 0 to 5 and paired with one of the six characteristics. When you make a check, you combine your characteristic rating with your skill rating to build a dice pool. The higher rating determines how many dice you roll; the lower determines how many of those dice upgrade from Ability Dice to Mastery Dice.

Void Drifters uses 25 skills. The list is based on the Exodus NDS core with three additions specific to life in the Meridian Verge (Astrogation, Electronics, Gunnery) and one rename (Pilot replaces Operate). These changes reflect the demands of interstellar travel, shipboard operations, and the technology level of the setting. All other skills carry over from the core with descriptions adapted to the Void Drifters context.

How Skills Work

Ranks 0 to 5. A skill at rank 0 is untrained: you can still attempt the check, but your pool is Ability Dice equal to the characteristic alone, with no upgrades. A skill at rank 1 or higher is trained: you build the pool using the larger of (characteristic, skill rank) as the number of dice, then upgrade a number of those dice equal to the smaller of the two. Ranks 3, 4, and 5 represent expert, specialist, and master-level competence.

Profession skills cost less. Skills that appear on your Background or Career list are profession skills. During character creation and advancement, profession skills cost less XP per rank than out-of-profession skills. The cost tables are in Chapter Three. The profession skill lists are in Chapter Six.

Characteristic pairing flexibility. The paired characteristic listed for each skill is the default. The GM may call for a different pairing when the situation genuinely calls for it. Fortitude under toxic rain is Might + Fortitude. Enduring a prolonged bureaucratic interview where the stress is purely mental might be Willpower + Fortitude. When the GM calls an unusual pairing, they will say so before you roll.

Advancement during play. Skills advance with XP, using the same cost tables as character creation. The distinction between profession and out-of-profession skills persists after play begins. Skills have no rank cap during advancement, but rank 4 and 5 represent hard-earned mastery; most working professionals in the Meridian Verge operate between rank 1 and rank 3.

Combat Skills

Unarmed

Characteristic: Might

Fighting with your body: fists, kicks, elbows, headbutts, natural weapons, grapples, holds, shoves, and improvised bodily force. Unarmed does not require a weapon and is never disarmed in the conventional sense.

In Void Drifters, Unarmed covers the full range of hand-to-hand approaches: brawling in a dockworker's bar, controlled restraint techniques used by station security, the grappling-heavy zero-gravity clinch work that shipboard crew sometimes train in, and the efficient close-range violence of someone who has been in too many airlocks to rely on a weapon they might lose.

Example uses:

• Tackle and pin a fleeing suspect in a crowded cargo bay
• Restrain a crewmember mid-argument before it escalates
• Grapple an opponent in a zero-gravity environment where footing is irrelevant
• Break a hold or escape from a grapple
• Deliver a controlled strike at Engaged range without drawing a weapon

Melee

Characteristic: Might

Fighting with hand-held weapons at close quarters: blades, batons, pry bars, vibro-edged tools, boarding axes, improvised weapons, and anything carried in the hand and swung, stabbed, or slashed. Melee covers both trained weapon use and the desperate improvisation of someone who picked up the nearest heavy object.

In Void Drifters, melee weapons are common on stations and freeports where energy discharges and hull penetrations make firearms politically or practically inconvenient. A blade or baton does not breach a pressure wall. Melee also matters in cramped spaces where rifles are a liability.

Example uses:

• Fight in a narrow access corridor where rifles cannot swing freely
• Use a vibro-blade in a boarding action while the ship is under thrust
• Wield a heavy wrench as an improvised weapon in an engineering bay
• Disarm an opponent through a controlled strike to the weapon hand
• Hold a doorway against multiple attackers at close range

Ranged

Characteristic: Agility

Attacking at distance with personal weapons carried and fired by hand: sidearms, pistols, carbines, rifles, shotguns, energy weapons, thrown grenades, and similar arms. Ranged covers accuracy, target acquisition, controlled fire, and the judgment that comes with knowing a weapon's behavior under pressure.

Ranged does not cover weapons mounted on ships or vehicles operated from a fire control station. That is Gunnery. If you are holding it and pulling the trigger yourself, it is Ranged.

Example uses:

• Draw and fire a sidearm at a threat that closes fast inside a docking terminal
• Place suppressing fire to pin opponents behind cover while allies move
• Throw a flash charge into a room before entry
• Engage a target at long range from a rooftop position
• Fire from cover through a narrow gap without exposing yourself fully

Physical Skills

Athletics

Characteristic: Might

Sustained physical effort driven by strength and endurance: climbing, swimming, jumping, sprinting, forcing movement, carrying heavy loads, and any task where raw physical capability determines the outcome. Athletics is not about precision; it is about power output and the ability to sustain it.

In Void Drifters, Athletics matters on ship exteriors during EVA work, in low-gravity environments where movement is about push force rather than footwork, in cramped zero-g corridors where pulling yourself through is the only option, and in any emergency physical action where equipment cannot substitute for muscle.

Example uses:

• Climb an exterior hull access ladder during a station evacuation
• Sprint across a pressurized docking bay as the blast doors close
• Force a jammed airlock hatch open during a hull emergency
• Carry an injured crewmember out of a burning compartment
• Push off hard in low gravity to close distance on a moving target

Reflexes

Characteristic: Agility

Balance, precise body control, tumbling, quick reactions to physical hazards, and coordination under sudden movement. Reflexes is about what your body does correctly when there is no time to think: staying upright, moving through tight spaces without knocking things over, catching yourself when you slip, and responding to sudden physical interruptions with controlled movement rather than flailing.

Example uses:

• Catch yourself when a deck plate gives way underfoot during acceleration
• Move through a low-clearance maintenance crawl without disrupting critical equipment
• Roll clear of a collapsing cargo stack
• Stay upright when a ship takes a sudden hit during a boarding action
• Recover from being shoved and get back into a stable stance before the next attack

Fortitude

Characteristic: Might

Resisting fatigue, pain, toxic environments, harsh conditions, starvation, decompression effects, sustained strain, and prolonged physical pressure. Fortitude is about refusing to stop working when your body is giving you reasons to. It governs not just injury tolerance but the capacity to keep functioning under environmental and physiological stress.

In Void Drifters, Fortitude matters in vacuum emergency situations, in environments with bad atmosphere (low oxygen, particulates, heat), during long hauls without adequate rest, and when characters are already hurt and pushing through it.

Example uses:

• Continue working during a slow-decompression event without panic or impaired function
• Endure extended transit in a survival suit with depleted environmental systems
• Push through accumulated injuries to complete a task before collapsing
• Resist the effects of a stun weapon or chemical irritant long enough to act
• Stay conscious and functional at the edge of your Wound threshold

Stealth

Characteristic: Agility

Moving unseen, hiding, masking your presence, blending into cover, and avoiding notice through controlled, careful movement. Stealth is active concealment: choosing the right moment, the right path, and the right way to be invisible.

In Void Drifters, Stealth applies in station infiltration, scout approaches, avoiding hostile attention in crowded freeports, and aboard ships where the structural geometry of corridors and compartments creates both concealment and exposure.

Example uses:

• Move through a guarded section of a station without triggering sensor sweeps
• Shadow a contact across a busy freeport without being spotted
• Enter a restricted compartment while a patrol is in the corridor
• Conceal yourself in a cargo hold during a ship search
• Break contact with a pursuer in an unfamiliar port district

Awareness and Field Skills

Perception

Characteristic: Savvy

Noticing details, spotting hidden things, reading your immediate environment, and catching what others miss. Perception answers the question "do I notice it?" before any interpretation or action occurs. It governs passive and active observation: scanning a room, spotting a shadow moving wrong, catching the faint sound of a weapon being drawn, or reading the layout of a space for exits and threats.

Example uses:

• Spot a concealed sentry position before walking into the killing zone
• Notice that a cargo manifest has been tampered with by comparing seal marks
• Catch the faint hiss of a slow hull leak before it becomes a crisis
• Recognize that a contact's behavior changed when a specific name was mentioned
• Scan a landing zone for hazards before the ship sets down

Readiness

Characteristic: Willpower

Acting under sudden pressure, staying alert, resisting surprise, and keeping your nerve when a peaceful situation turns dangerous without warning. Readiness governs how prepared you are mentally when the situation changes faster than you expected.

Readiness is the default defensive skill for resisting fear, intimidation, despair, coercion, and sudden mental pressure when the resistance is about nerve, composure, or staying functional under pressure. Other skills may apply: Fortitude against environmental dread, Lore against a threat you can intellectually contextualize. When the resistance is about not breaking, Readiness is usually the right call.

Readiness also governs the Surprised initiative check. When a peaceful scene turns violent without warning, your Willpower + Readiness determines how fast you respond.

Example uses:

• Act first when an ambush breaks out in a corridor you thought was clear
• Hold your nerve during an aggressive interrogation without breaking composure
• Resist the destabilizing pressure of a threat that is specifically designed to frighten
• Stay functional during a sudden decompression event when everyone else is panicking
• Notice that something is wrong before you can identify what, and act on that instinct

Survival

Characteristic: Savvy

Tracking, foraging, navigation, shelter, reading dangerous terrain, and staying alive away from infrastructure. In Void Drifters, Survival extends into hostile planetary surfaces, vacuum protocols, emergency procedures for failing ship systems, and the practical knowledge of how to extend your life when the environment is actively trying to end it.

Survival in the Meridian Verge is not only about wilderness. A crashed ship on a hostile moon, a failed life-support system in a derelict section, a landing on an uncharted world with no survey data: these are Survival situations as much as any jungle or desert.

Example uses:

• Navigate across an uncharted planetary surface using stellar positioning
• Establish an emergency shelter in a damaged ship section with limited supplies
• Identify which local flora is edible and which will kill you before you finish the thought
• Manage vacuum exposure protocols to extend survival time when a suit is compromised
• Read signs of recent habitation or activity in an apparently abandoned facility

Subterfuge

Characteristic: Agility

Lockpicking, sleight of hand, bypassing physical security, planting or lifting objects, escaping bonds, and covert physical manipulation. Subterfuge is hands-on deception: doing things with your hands that you are not supposed to be doing with your hands.

In Void Drifters, Subterfuge covers physical security bypass (not electronic hacking, which is Electronics), pickpocketing in a freeport market, planting a tracker on a contact's gear, slipping out of restraints, and disabling a physical trap or alarm trigger.

Example uses:

• Pick a conventional lock on a restricted compartment
• Lift a key card from a mark's pocket during a handshake
• Plant a tracking device on a target's equipment without being noticed
• Slip out of standard restraints during transport
• Disable a mechanical alarm trigger before it fires

Streetwise

Characteristic: Savvy

Criminal networks, black markets, freeport contacts, illicit goods and services, informal information channels, and reading the social landscape of places that operate outside official oversight. Streetwise is not about crime as a skill; it is about knowing how the informal economy works and how to navigate it.

In Void Drifters, Streetwise covers every freeport, every rim station, every transit hub with a shadow economy running beneath the official surface. It is how you find a fence, locate contraband, identify a syndicate contact, read which crews are dangerous, and know which fixers can be trusted and which ones are already working against you.

Example uses:

• Locate a black market arms dealer on a freeport station without asking the wrong people
• Read the social dynamics of a criminal operation and identify the actual decision-maker
• Find passage on an unlicensed freighter that does not ask questions
• Identify which information brokers are reliable and which ones sell to both sides
• Understand what a criminal organization's territorial markers mean without asking

Knowledge and Technical Skills

Lore

Characteristic: Intellect

History, cultures, factions, political powers, known space knowledge, and the institutional memory of the Meridian Verge. Lore answers "what do I know about this?" once something has already been noticed. It covers not just facts but interpretation: what does this faction's presence here mean, what does this symbol represent, what happened in this system's history that explains the current situation.

In Void Drifters, Lore spans the political history of the five powers, the religious traditions of the Jaziri faithful, the cultural practices of each species, the operational histories of major factions, the layout of known space, and the kind of institutional knowledge that a well-read person accumulates over a career.

Example uses:

• Identify which power a ship's hull markings belong to and what that implies about its mission
• Recall the terms of a historical treaty that affects a current negotiation
• Recognize a religious symbol and understand what obligations it places on its bearer
• Know enough about a faction's internal structure to predict how they will respond to pressure
• Connect a current threat to a historical precedent that suggests how it will develop

Medicine

Characteristic: Intellect

Treating injury and illness, diagnosing conditions, stabilizing the critically wounded, managing recovery, understanding living bodies, and identifying medical risks before they become emergencies. Medicine covers the full range from battlefield stabilization to extended care.

In Void Drifters, Medicine operates in environments where proper facilities are often unavailable: field surgery in a ship corridor, trauma stabilization with a kit designed for three people when six are down, xenobiological complications when the patient is not human, and the improvisation that comes with practicing medicine on the fringes of known space.

Example uses:

• Stabilize a crewmember who has taken a critical injury before they bleed out
• Diagnose a xenobiological condition affecting a Ssarathi crewmate that standard scanners misread
• Manage recovery for multiple injured crew during a transit when proper care is unavailable
• Identify that a contact's symptoms suggest poisoning rather than illness
• Perform field surgery with improvised tools in a pressurized but unsanitary compartment

Science

Characteristic: Intellect

Engineering theory, physics, xenobiology, chemistry, analysis, and the understanding of how systems work in principle. Science is the knowing side of technical work: why something functions, what the failure modes are, how to analyze a result, what the theory predicts. Science is not building or repairing; it is understanding.

The boundary between Science and Craft is the doing versus knowing divide. Science explains why the drive failed and what the repair requires. Craft performs the repair. Science designs a new system. Craft builds it. Both skills are valuable, and the best engineers use both.

Example uses:

• Analyze a sample of unknown material and identify its composition and properties
• Calculate the structural stress on a hull section and determine whether it will hold
• Identify the xenobiological agent responsible for a crew illness and determine treatment protocols
• Evaluate a salvaged drive component and determine whether it is compatible with the ship's systems
• Understand a scientific or technical briefing and identify what the presenter is not saying

Craft

Characteristic: Intellect

Repairing, building, modifying, maintaining, salvaging, and improvising: ships, equipment, weapons, tools, structures, and systems. Craft is the doing side of technical work. When something is broken, Craft fixes it. When something needs to be built or modified, Craft builds and modifies it.

In Void Drifters, Craft is the engineer's core skill. It covers everything from field-patching a hull breach to integrating salvaged components that were never designed to work together, to the improvised fixes that keep a ship running when the right parts are three systems away.

Example uses:

• Patch a hull breach with salvaged materials under time pressure
• Jury-rig a damaged weapons system to fire one more time before it gives out
• Modify a standard pressure suit to support a Ssarathi crew member's body plan
• Disable a piece of equipment by selectively removing components that look untouched
• Fabricate a replacement part from available stock when the original is unavailable

Astrogation

Characteristic: Intellect

This skill is specific to Void Drifters. It is not in the Exodus NDS core skill list.

Slipstream navigation, route calculation, stellar cartography, transit execution, and emergency course plotting. Astrogation is the operational act of getting a ship from one place to another through slipstream corridors: reading corridor data, calculating transit windows, plotting courses, managing navigation hazards, and recovering when a transit goes wrong.

The boundary between Astrogation and Science is the difference between doing and knowing. Astrogation plots the course and executes the transit. Science understands why corridors form, how slipstream physics work, and what the theoretical models predict. A ship's navigator uses Astrogation at the helm and Science in the briefing room.

Example uses:

• Plot a course through a disputed corridor system that avoids patrol intercept windows
• Calculate an emergency exit from a transit that is going wrong before the window closes
• Identify navigational hazards in unfamiliar corridor data and route around them
• Reconstruct a damaged nav chart using partial data and dead reckoning
• Determine whether a reported corridor has shifted or collapsed based on available survey data
• Trace a corridor past a terminal seam to find where it goes next

Electronics

Characteristic: Intellect

This skill is specific to Void Drifters. It is not in the Exodus NDS core skill list.

Ship computers, artificial intelligence interfaces, electronic warfare, sensor systems, communications networks, hacking, countermeasures, and the full range of digital system interaction. Electronics is the doing side of working with digital infrastructure: configuring, exploiting, defending, attacking, or communicating through electronic systems.

The boundaries matter here:

• Electronics vs Craft: Electronics interfaces with and exploits digital systems. Craft physically repairs or builds the hardware those systems run on.
• Electronics vs Science: Electronics does: hacking a lock, running countermeasures, configuring a sensor suite. Science knows: understanding cryptography theory, AI architecture, sensor physics.
• Electronics vs Astrogation: Electronics operates the ship's nav computer and sensor array. Astrogation interprets the data that system provides and plots the course.

Example uses:

• Hack an access panel to override a door lock without triggering the security log
• Run electronic countermeasures to mask the ship from sensor sweeps during an approach
• Interface with a directive intelligence through its designed interaction protocols
• Intercept and decrypt a communications signal without being detected
• Diagnose and isolate a virus or intrusion in a ship's computer network

Social Skills

Charm

Characteristic: Charisma

Warmth, appeal, humor, sincerity, likability, and the ability to make people feel good about you and what you want. Charm also covers performance: music, oratory, storytelling, acting, and any attempt to move, entertain, or win over an audience. Where Deception asks people to believe something false, Charm asks them to like you enough that they want to help.

In Void Drifters, Charm operates across species and cultures, which is worth noting: what reads as warmth to a Coreworlder human may not translate directly to a Ssarathi crew or a Jaziri port official. The GM may adjust difficulty based on cultural distance.

Example uses:

• Win over a suspicious dockmaster by projecting competence and good humor
• Perform at a freeport gathering to build goodwill with a community you need help from
• Convince a hostile contact that you are genuinely trying to help them
• De-escalate a tense situation by finding common ground before anyone makes threats
• Make a first impression that opens doors before you have established any credentials

Deception

Characteristic: Charisma

Lying, false identities, misdirection, disguising intent, scams, bluffs, forgeries of behavior, and concealing the truth from people who are looking for it. Deception is Charm's darker twin: where Charm makes people want to help you, Deception makes them believe something that is not true.

In Void Drifters, Deception covers the whole range from the small social lie to full cover identities to elaborate long-con operations. It is also the skill used to maintain a bluff under direct questioning and to project calm confidence when your ship has no weapons and the contact is armed.

Example uses:

• Convince a customs inspector that the cargo manifest is accurate when it is not
• Maintain a cover identity under questioning from someone who is specifically trying to break it
• Bluff through a checkpoint with false credentials and a confident manner
• Misdirect a contact about your actual purpose at this station
• Act completely relaxed while deciding whether to run

Negotiation

Characteristic: Charisma

Bargaining, diplomacy, contracts, trade, compromise, favors, and getting to terms that both sides can accept. Negotiation is not about winning; it is about finding a deal. It covers formal contracts, informal arrangements, trade bargaining, diplomatic pressure, and the back-and-forth of two parties who both want something and have to figure out what that costs.

In Void Drifters, Negotiation is how crews get paid, how factions reach agreements, how disputed cargo gets resolved without violence, and how deals are structured in environments where breach of contract can mean being dead in empty space.

Example uses:

• Negotiate a contract with a client who is trying to offload risk onto the crew
• Reach terms with a faction contact who wants more than you can offer
• Secure passage through controlled space by trading information for clearance
• Resolve a dispute between two parties who are each convinced they are right
• Renegotiate a deal mid-job when the situation has changed significantly from the briefing

Leadership

Characteristic: Charisma

Commanding, rallying, organizing, directing groups, establishing authority, and holding people together when the pressure is on. Leadership is not just command: it is the capacity to make people want to follow, to organize effort toward a goal, and to keep a group functional when things are going wrong.

In Void Drifters, Leadership applies to crew coordination during crises, organizing a response to a station emergency, directing allies in a fight, and the kind of authority that does not require a title: the person on the crew who everyone looks to when the plan has just collapsed.

Example uses:

• Direct crew stations during an unexpected combat encounter aboard the ship
• Rally a demoralized group after a failed operation
• Coordinate a multi-element action across separate teams working in parallel
• Establish authority quickly in a chaotic situation before someone makes a bad decision
• Keep a crew cohesive through a long and difficult job with rising tension

Intimidation

Characteristic: Willpower

Threats, menace, interrogation, dominance, cold resolve, and forcing compliance through fear or force of will. Intimidation is the application of pressure until someone decides that cooperation is less costly than continued resistance. It is not always shouting: sometimes it is the very quiet statement of exactly what will happen.

Readiness is the default defensive skill against Intimidation. A character resisting coercion, threats, or fear-based pressure rolls Willpower + Readiness unless another skill better fits the specific nature of the threat.

Example uses:

• Convince a detained contact to answer questions by making the alternative clear
• Establish that you are not to be interfered with through posture and delivery alone
• Break a hostile negotiation by demonstrating that you are not negotiating
• Stop a fight before it starts by making it obvious how it ends
• Hold a position under pressure by projecting absolute certainty that you will not move

Operation Skills

Pilot

Characteristic: Agility

Pilot replaces the core Exodus NDS skill Operate. The mechanical function is identical.

Operating ships, small craft, atmospheric vehicles, and ground vehicles under pressure: flying, maneuvering, docking, evading, pursuing, managing difficult approaches, and keeping control when something has gone wrong. Pilot is the skill of being in the seat when it matters.

The boundary between Pilot and Craft is the difference between operating and repairing. Pilot gets the ship through the asteroid field. Craft patches the hull afterward. A pilot who is also maintaining their own ship uses both skills; they are not substitutes for each other.

In Void Drifters, Pilot covers every vehicle class: interstellar ships in open space, small craft during boarding actions or scout runs, atmospheric vehicles on planetary surfaces, and ground vehicles when the job requires them. The principles transfer even if the physical handling varies.

Example uses:

• Navigate a crowded freeport docking corridor under time pressure without clipping the berth
• Execute an emergency burn to break pursuit from a faster ship
• Thread a ship through an asteroid field with minimal sensor data
• Dock with a tumbling derelict vessel that is not under power
• Fly a surface approach in hostile atmospheric conditions on a planet with no traffic control

Gunnery

Characteristic: Agility

This skill is specific to Void Drifters. It is not in the Exodus NDS core skill list.

Mounted ship-scale weapons, fire control systems, point defense stations, torpedo targeting, and the technical work of weapon management at ship scale. Gunnery is operating a weapons station, not firing a personal weapon.

The boundary between Gunnery and Ranged is clear: Ranged covers personal weapons fired by hand. Gunnery covers weapons mounted on ships and vehicles, operated from a dedicated station with a targeting system between the operator and the weapon. The physical act is completely different.

Example uses:

• Lock and fire the ship's main weapons battery during a combat approach
• Run point defense to intercept incoming missiles before they reach the hull
• Manage weapon heat and power distribution during a sustained engagement
• Calculate a firing solution on a maneuvering target at extreme range
• Operate a fixed gun emplacement defending a station position during a boarding repulsion

Skill Boundaries Quick Reference

When the right skill is not obvious, use this table.

Full Skill List Reference