Image from Relic Knights by Sodapop
Skills in MotSP are partly skills in a traditional sense and partly the game’s equivalent of ‘feats’, ‘stunts’ or class abilities without actually locking them into a single class. It’s a good way of allowing variable character customisation to different degrees with all sorts of possibilities.
I’m currently fiddling with the scholar skill set, which includes things like insights into alien psychology, archaeology and technology and tech-customisation/opimisation. You can also spend points in this section to get a robotic or animal companion. I’ve been trying to think of some more examples of study/savant based powers and skills but they’re not coming easy. If you’ve got any ideas for any particular skills, powers or abilities you’d like characters to have, get your suggestions in now!
Postmortem Studios 
A ship? Drone fighters? Access to information networks/galactical libraries? Parasites granting unique abilities?
Like macgyvers style built functional one use crap out of spare parts and bullshit
A skill which allows you to attempt to be an expert at something that you have never seen or used before, possibly with hilarious/fatal consequences
A “have just the right item on you skill”
Adam West Batman style deduction “Robin this soil is only found in one area in the whole world, in Gothams abandoned warehouse district! ”
Implausible knowledge of weak spots ala vulcan nerve pinch
And possibly too meta-gamey for tastes:
Declaration of implausible alien allergies “Everyone knows Vensuian mindslugs are intolerant to the colour green”
(possibly only for this encounter because reasons)
Tampering with technological devices to put them into a dangerous “overdrive” mode
Rigging stuff to explode.
Contacts
Blackmailing
So you’re only looking for “BRAIN POWER!” skills right now? I can dig it. In keeping with the more salacious elements of MOTSP, I submit the following skills/feats for the intellectually gifted:
– Pheremoaner: “Through intense meditation, the character has learned to manipulate their nonverbal biological signals to change the attributes of allies or foes. Through focus, can weaponise their pheremones” (I’m sure you could eleborate/deviate as needed)
– Mentat: Character has sacrificed ability to process emotional stimuli in favor of boosting analytical thinking speed and power. Their brain has become an ORGANIC COMPUTER!
– “I learned it in books…” : Character has spent the majority of academic research studying lewd materials on sexual practices… alien included. This has given them secret knowledge of weak points and other means of physical manipulation. Sometimes reality is bigger than what’s in a book though… chance of backfiring.
Just some quick thoughts while on break at work. CAN’T WAIT!
I’m with Dale regarding the Mentat point. I think that it should be somewhat of a class and not a skill, though.
While I don’t really know how will you do the skill system, I’d like to be able to have people extremely gifted in terms of the following skills:
– Statistical analysis. A high training in complex mathematics that allows people to make calculations very quickly.
– Situational risk evaluation: high assesment skills.
– Encyclopedic knowledge: knowing a lot about everything.
In the end, that makes a person somewhat of a “living computer” that needs to cultivate a state of mental openness similar to naiveness to work. I think that idea has a lot more mileage that just being a bookworm.
Other skills I’d like to see are:
– Body reading: assessing emotional states through gestures, with a high score that allows something near to a more honest mind reading (as people are more prone to be dishonest with themselves in their minds than they are able to control their gestures for emotional expression).
– Drug design: to make mind or physically enhancers or just recreational poisons.
– Preemptive mind: somewhat of a 360° attention radius, which allows people to fight invisible people, dodge hidden attacks.
– Genetic design: to make modifications to current ability scores through science magic.
The thing is, i’d like to be able to run Dune on MotSP without hassle.
Mental computing can definitely fit in there.
Drugs is an interesting side thought.
I’ll see what I can do 🙂
Also: Robot construction. If characters don’t have any chance to make robots in the game, I’m going to be a sad panda.
Cool stuff. Keep up the good work!
“Applied Theory”: Use an academic/knowledge skill at a modest penalty in place of a more physical skill
“You look so different without your glasses!” Like many great cinematic scientists/techies, it’s amazing what taking off your glasses and fixing up your hair can do to your image. Or maybe it’s your encyclopedic knowledge of the “Xeno Sutra”. Accept a penalty to knowledge skills/INT tests for a scene, in return for a boost to interpersonal skills/CHA tests.