Conspiracy "everyman" skills

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

In addition to Disguise, Mimicry. Mimicry is an often-overlooked, but essential, part of impersonation. Disguise might make you look like someone, but if you don't sound like them, your options are sharply limited.

I'd dispute this one as an Every-conspirator skill.

It's an essential skill for the impersonation specialist, sure. But you only really need it for impersonation of someone whose voice is known to people you're trying to fool. Acting and perhaps especially Disguise have much broader applications.

Originally Posted by Gollum

Right. I was speaking for a skill level of 12+ (a professional level).

Now, your other point is a good one: having two or more professional drivers can help escaping pursuers.

Yeah, so was I. I'd argue that 'can drive at all' and 'can drive in a car action scene' are not commonly differentiated for protagonists.

[Skarg]

It seems odd for that list to be something everyone would have, even members of a cabal. It looks more like a good useful skill list. It seems like the only requirement would be the social skill that represents knowing how to behave and be discreet (savoir-faire or streetwise), and perhaps at least one of the other skills (or possibly just a useful advantage).

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Skarg

It seems odd for that list to be something everyone would have, even members of a cabal. It looks more like a good useful skill list. It seems like the only requirement would be the social skill that represents knowing how to behave and be discreet (savoir-faire or streetwise), and perhaps at least one of the other skills (or possibly just a useful advantage).

Well, it's a skill list for Cabalists who are going to survive and thrive, not just tread water or get devoured by qlippoth. In short, it's a list of skills for PCs to meet the challenges they're likely to face in a Cabal-focused campaign, and shouldn't represent the skill set of NPC Cabalists so much. It's also more a tool for me to refer to when building templates than a handout for players to build PCs from scratch.

Anyway, here's an updated and still unpolished list:

For violence and its consequences:

• Brawling, Knife, and/or Gun.
• Running
• First Aid

For investigation and cover ups:

• Current Affairs, Shadowing, Diplomacy, Interrogation, Intimidation, Observation, Scrounging, Search

For infiltration

• Stealth, Forced Entry, Acting, Fast-Talk, Climbing

For occult goodies:

• Occultism, Research, Hidden Lore

For general use

• Savoir-Faire or Streetwise
• Driving or Riding

Additionally, the following skills should be known by at least one PC in the group or they should have a Contact who can give them access to these skills:

• Acting, Mimicry, and Disguise, for impersonations
• Computer Use and Computer Hacking (if at TL7+) to get information from networks, remove information, or plant false data.
• Administration, Electronics Operation (Media), Propaganda, and Writing (Action 2, p. 26)
• Forgery

[Nemoricus]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

It's all three, actually. Disguise lets you look like someone, Mimicry lets you sound like them, and Acting covers behaving like them consistently.

Originally Posted by Basic Set p. 174, Acting

This is the ability to counterfeit moods, emotions, and voices.

Seems like Acting covers voices as well.

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Well, it's a skill list for Cabalists who are going to survive and thrive, not just tread water or get devoured by qlippoth. In short, it's a list of skills for PCs to meet the challenges they're likely to face in a Cabal-focused campaign, and shouldn't represent the skill set of NPC Cabalists so much. It's also more a tool for me to refer to when building templates than a handout for players to build PCs from scratch.

Anyway, here's an updated and still unpolished list:

For violence and its consequences:

• Brawling, Knife, and/or Gun.
• Running
• First Aid

For investigation and cover ups:

• Current Affairs, Shadowing, Diplomacy, Interrogation, Intimidation, Observation, Scrounging, Search

For infiltration

• Stealth, Forced Entry, Acting, Fast-Talk, Climbing

For occult goodies:

• Occultism, Research, Hidden Lore

For general use

• Savoir-Faire or Streetwise
• Driving or Riding

Additionally, the following skills should be known by at least one PC in the group or they should have a Contact who can give them access to these skills:

• Acting, Mimicry, and Disguise, for impersonations
• Computer Use and Computer Hacking (if at TL7+) to get information from networks, remove information, or plant false data.
• Administration, Electronics Operation (Media), Propaganda, and Writing (Action 2, p. 26)
• Forgery

Evidence clean-up would probably benefit from Housekeeping for most of the group and Forensics for at least one PC.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Railstar

Evidence clean-up would probably benefit from Housekeeping for most of the group and Forensics for at least one PC.

Oh, good catch.

[Ulzgoroth]

I'd put Disguise as well as Acting as recommended for general use. They're good for all kinds of tradecraft, not just impersonation.

Also, you've got Acting duplicated between the infiltration sub-list and the impersonation specialist list.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

Seems like Acting covers voices as well.

Yeah, by the literal reading of that, it seems like it does. I don't like that that basically completely makes Mimicry (Speech) completely irrelevant, though. I mean, Mimicry isn't even easier than Acting, so we can't claim it's a hidden optional speciality or something! So, personally, I'd rule as I explained above - Acting covers behavior, Mimicry covers speech. I suppose I could see ruling that the note in Acting about covering "voices" means it covers things like verbal tics or patterns of speech - Mimicry lets you sound like General Ripper, but it's Acting that lets you know exactly how often to refer to "his essence" in conversation to fool his subordinates.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

For investigation and cover ups:

• Current Affairs, Shadowing, Diplomacy, Interrogation, Intimidation, Observation, Scrounging, Search

I would add Psychology or Detect Lies here.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Depending on your sources, driving is often treated as an everyman skill in modern media. While it might be possible to have just one specialist do it, that seems unusual for the genre.

I suspect that's the difference between having driving and having Driving.