ment; it’s a purely personal Skill.
POWERS AND BREAKFALL
Characters with some forms of Flight can sometimes use their power to mimic certain aspects of Breakfall. For example, they could “fly” while walking along a narrow ledge (and thus appear to have perfect balance), or perhaps appear to “fall” but then land gently at the last second. Gliding often makes it unnecessary to use Breakfall to avoid the effects of long falls; the character can simply glide to the ground. Characters with Cling- ing can “stick” to narrow ledges, slippery floors, and similar surfaces with no risk of falling under ordi- nary circumstances.
CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
Typically, failing a Breakfall roll simply means the character didn’t accomplish what he wanted to — he didn’t stand up from prone quickly (and now has to take a Half Phase to do so if he wants to get up), failed to keep his footing, took damage from a fall or throw, suffered DCV and DC penalties, or the like. At the GM’s option, badly failing a Breakfall roll (by 4 or more) to avoid damage from a fall, throw, or Knockback/Knockdown may cause the character to take an additional 1-2 DCs of damage from the attack because he landed so poorly. The GM could also use the Failed Acrobatics Rolls table on page 72 to deter- mine what happens to the character.
BASE TIMES
Typically making a Breakfall roll is an Action that takes no time, but typically a character can only make one Breakfall roll to do a specific thing per Phase. For example, even though it takes no time to make a Breakfall roll to get to one’s feet as a Zero Phase Action, a character can only try to do that once per Phase.
SUBDIVIDING BREAKFALL
If you think that Breakfall provides too many benefits to be a single Agility Skill, you can split it up into three Agility Skills: Prevent Fall (which reduces the damage caused by long falls); Combat Breakfall (which characters use to resist the effects of being thrown or taking Knockback, and to stand up instantly from a prone position); and Balancing (which characters use to balance on narrow or slip- pery surfaces).
BREAKFALL BY GENRE
Breakfall works the same in all genres, though it’s more common in some (such as Martial Arts and Superheroes) than in others.
Science Fiction
Breakfall gets easier in low gravity and harder in high gravity. (These rules replace the more general ones in Chapter Four.) Apply a Skill Roll penalty of -1 for every 20% increase above 1.0 G. For example, on a planet with a sur- face gravity of 1.6 G, the Breakfall penalty is -3. On the other hand, low gravity gives a +1 Skill Roll bonus at anything between 0.3 and 0.6 G, and +2 for gravity below 0.3 G.
It may seem odd, but Breakfall is a useful Skill to have in zero gravity! Characters can use Break- fall to cushion the impact when they bounce off a wall in free fall. They receive a +2 bonus to the roll for this purpose.
Superheroes
Breakfall is most often associated with martial artists and other agile characters. But it’s not neces- sarily out of line for a super-strong or super-touch character (a “brick”) even if he has a very low DEX. Since characters can use Breakfall to diminish the damage from falls and Knockback, bricks could take the Skill for that purpose alone — it represents their ability to withstand injury, not the fact that they’re fast on their feet. If appropriate, a brick could even take a -½ Limitation, Only To Reduce/
Avoid Damage From Falls And Knockback, to reflect
how Breakfall works for him. This means he can’t use the Skill to stay on his feet or get to his feet as a Zero Phase Action; he can only use the damage- resisting aspects of the Skill. For example, if he took Knockback and succeeded with his Breakfall roll, he’d still fall to the ground, but he wouldn’t take any Knockback damage.
For shapechanging characters, you can simu- late some aspects of the ability to rapidly change form with Breakfall. For example, while a cat-like character always lands on his feet, a metamorph might simply create feet and legs pointing toward the ground and then reform his body to match. For particularly elastic characters, Breakfall could represent the ability to “soften” the area nearest the ground so it cushions the force of impact. A meta- morph might be able to easily balance on the nar- rowest or slipperiest surfaces by contorting limbs for more stability, increasing foot size, or growing spikes to stick in slippery surfaces.
ANIMALS AND
BREAKFALL
Few creatures have Breakfall; for most, a fall (or its consequences) can be fatal. Only ani- mals that do a lot of climbing — such as primates, cats, or squir- rels — tend to know this Skill. Some flying crea- tures, including mythical or fantastic ones, may know it as well.
BRIBERY
Type: Interaction Skill (roll: 9 + (PRE/5) or less) Cost: 3 Character Points for a base roll, +1 to the
roll per +2 Character Points
A character with this Interaction Skill knows about the ancient art of greasing palms to get things — often illegal things — done. Specifically, he knows:
■ what to bribe someone with ■ how to approach a bribee ■ how much to offer
Complementary Skills for Bribery can include Conversation, Persuasion, Seduction, and Area or Culture Knowledges. The right language also helps immensely (see the Bribery Modifiers table).
Characters should roleplay bribery attempts as much as possible, with the GM allowing a character to make Bribery rolls at crucial points in the bar- gaining to determine how much to offer, how subtle to be, and so on.
WHAT TO BRIBE SOMEONE WITH
The first issue a character has to consider when using Bribery is what to offer the prospective bribee. Call it baksheesh, a tax, tea money, mordida, a “special assessment,” a fine, or what have you, the best thing to offer in most situations is money. It makes the world go ’round, after all, and in the right amounts given to the right person it can certainly ease a character’s way through Customs while car- rying contraband goods or get him off the hook for a crime.
But in some situations, non-cash bribes — food, liquor, cigarettes, use of a vehicle, the per- formance of a special service, or the like — work better. The prospective bribee may have a direct need for something other than money, or perhaps he’s in a setting where cash isn’t as useful as it nor- mally is (such as prison).
If appropriate, a character can make a Bribery roll to judge what a potential bribee will accept as a bribe; this usually requires at least 1 Minute of observing the subject. If the roll succeeds, it func- tions as a Complementary Skill roll for the later attempt to make the bribe. If it fails, the character gains no useful information; if it fails badly (by 4 or more) he suffers a -2 penalty on the later attempt to make the bribe.
The GM must determine what the prospective bribee will accept as a bribe. As noted on the Brib- ery Modifiers table, the closer the character’s offer comes to what the bribee wants, the more likely it is that the Bribery roll succeeds. As a default, the stan- dard local currency constitutes “what the bribee will accept.”
APPROACHING THE BRIBEE
A character planning to use Bribery also has to consider his approach to the potential bribee.
In most cases, bribery is illegal, or at best part of the underground economy, so the character has to approach the bribee subtly. He can’t simply walk up to him and offer to pay him in exchange
for some favor; that will only get him (and perhaps the target of the bribe attempt) arrested. Instead, once he comes into contact with the bribee, he has to covertly indicate his willingness to offer a bribe. The classic examples in the movies involve hiding money in documents or containers the bribee must inspect, slipping the bribee money under a counter or table, or giving the bribee folded paper money
while shaking hands with him. If appropriate, the GM may have the character make a Bribery roll based on DEX rather than PRE to simulate the proper hiding and transfer of the bribe.
In cultures where bribery is accepted or expected, the character’s task may be much simpler. In that case, all he has to do is follow the accepted protocol — which may involve spending a few moment conversing with the bribee, or engaging in some other social ritual — while negotiating the specifics and making the payoff. Appropriate Knowledge Skills, such as Cultural Knowledges, may help the character significantly in these situ- ations, but having the Bribery Skill alone indicates the character has the ability and judgment to deal with most such situations successfully.
One easy way to determine a subject’s suscep- tibility to bribery is if he opens the negotiations himself. If a character is arrested by a law enforce- ment officer who offers to “find a way to work things out” (or to let the character pay his fine on the spot!), or a bureaucrat who mentions “special application fees that smooth the approval process,” the problem of making the approach is solved.
HOW MUCH TO OFFER
Perhaps the most difficult thing for a character using Bribery to evaluate is how much to offer. Too little, and he risks being rejected (or, worse, arrested for attempting to bribe someone); too much, and he may excite suspicion or mark himself as a sucker.
Before a character offers a bribe, he can make a Bribery roll to determine what he thinks is a good offer. The GM should modify this roll based on the character’s familiarity with the situation, the cul- ture, and the people involved (but remember, any character who has Bribery has at least some ability to evaluate bribery attempts, so even total igno- rance of the situation shouldn’t impose too hefty a penalty). If appropriate, the character should make the roll where only the GM can see it, or the GM should make it for him; that way the player won’t know if he failed.
If the roll succeeds exactly, the character knows generally how much to offer, plus or minus about ten percent (10%). For every point by which the character makes the roll, the GM should reduce the margin of error by three to five percent; if the character succeeds by three or more, he knows exactly how much he should offer. If the roll fails, the character typically offers too much (10-20% more per point of failure), which either (a) causes problems, (b) costs him money he didn’t need to spend, or (c) both.
The GM, playing the part of the NPC who’s the target of the bribery attempt, also has to decide the minimum amount he’ll accept (if any). He then compares the character’s offer to that amount. The Bribery Modifiers table lists suggested modi- fiers based on the difference between the bribee’s minimal accepted amount and what the character offers. Note that offering more helps... but only to a point. Too much money may make the bribee leery or suspicious. But as always, the GM should adjust these modifiers to account for specific cir-