Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIIb - Skills Part 2

So in my last post I went over the two new skills that I've added to the game in this revamp of Dark Heresy. This time I'm going to deal with the skills that I've altered, so lets get straight into it.

Rules Alterations :

The existing skills have been altered as follows.

Athletics :

• The “Endurance” special use of Athletics is moved to the new Endurance skill.

Common Lore

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Forbidden Lore :

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Linguistics :

• All characters begin play with Linguistics [Low Gothic] and Linguistics [Origin Language] at Rank 1 (Known).

Lore :

• Common Lore, Forbidden Lore and Scholastic Lore have all been collapsed into the Lore skill, which represents both a formal education in a particular Specialisation as well as rumours gleaned from gossip, hearsay, independant research and any other sources.
• All three kinds of Knowledge apply to each Specialisation, for example Common Lore [Imperial Guard] will allow a character to learn about local regiments and recent millitary actions. Scholastic Lore [Imperial Guard] represents an education in the Tactica Imperialis as well as knowledge of the organisation and deployment of the Imperial guard as well as their millitary history. Forbidden Lore [Imperial Guard] will allow a character to learn about regiments that have been destroyed in horrific circumstances or fallen to the worship of the dark gods, as well as the specifics of those unfortunate events.
• Different Characteristics can be used for Common and Forbidden lore tests at the GM's discretion,. The use of Perception for Common Lore tests representing information gathered in the characters daily life, overheard rumours, and common knowledge amongst the local populace. The use of Willpower for Forbidden Lore tests represents the inherently corrosive nature of some forbidden knowledge, and the characters ability to parse and understand it in a legible fashion.
• Common Lore tests are performed using either Intelligence or Perception at the GM's discretion and have a +20 bonus to them in addition to other modifiers such as those suggested on p.103 of the core rulebook. Common Lore tests may be made Untrained, at the GM's discretion.
• Forbidden Lore tests are performed using either Intelligence or Willpower at the GM's discretion and have a -30 penalty to them in addition to other modifiers such as those suggested on p.105 of the core rulebook. Forbidden Lore tests may NOT be made Untrained.
• Scholastic Lore tests are performed using Intelligence and have no inherent bonuses or penalties to them. Scholastic Lore tests may NOT be made Untrained.

Medicae :

• See the Combat chapter for alterations to how Healing works.

Operate :

The Operate skill uses an altered selection of Specialisations, see later in this document.

Scholastic Lore :

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Security :

• Security has the aptitudes Agility or Intelligence, and Tech.
  Security tests to unpick physical locks rely on Agility, while tests to hack digital locks rely on Intelligence.

Sleight of Hand :

• Sleight of Hand has the aptitudes Agility and Fieldcraft.

Trade :

• The aptitudes of the Trade skill vary depending on the Specialisation being purchased. Exactly what aptitude is used is up to the GM, though some guidelines would be the use of Fellowship for Trade [Performancer] and Perception for Trade [Explorator]

Design Notes :

Most of the Aptitude and Characteristic alterations are aimed to, well, make more sense of certain skills. I've no idea why Sleight of Hand used Knowledge as an aptitude, and likewise I think when piloting a Lunar Class Cruiser it's less important that you're agile and more important that you can calculate thruster burst times and navigational data whilst simultaneously keeping an eye on stellar phenomena and the stress tolerances of your vessel.

Lore's been collapsed into one skill for a few reasons. Firstly because it's always bothered me that a character needs to take 3 skills to have a comprehensive knowledge of a particular subject, especially when going by that logic Common Lore would be a prerequisite for Scholastic Lore and Scholastic Lore for Forbidden Lore. Otherwise a character with Ecclesiarchy based lore skills could learn all about Imperial Saints that have fallen to chaos or been corrupted, whilst having no idea about the actual rituals, rites and practices of the Imperial Creed. It doesn't make sense. Likewise when this edition has collapsed a few skills into each other, such as combining Concealment and Silent Move to create Stealth, the Lore skills have remained separate from each other.

I've mentioned the Beta of Dark Heresy 2nd Edition a few times, and one of the many things it did right was replacing the Lore skills with Remembrance, a single skill that worked in conjunction with a system of Specialisation talents with the different Lore types being made using different characteristics. I've kept elements of that, whilst not keeping the Specialisation system and I'm happy with what I've come up with.

We're not quite done with skills, as I want to take a quick look at the rules for Crafting as well as go through some of the specialisations for Linguistics, Lore, Operate and Trade. After that we'll move onto Talents, and at some point soon I'm going to start putting together a compilation document that I can host and that will contain the latest iteration of my rules alterations.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael