Skill idea

[darkguyver]

parkour or free running as skill set

[Shark_Force]

basically a combination of running, acrobatics/gymnastics, and athletics.

[Mercdog]

Off the Top of my head,

Parkour/ Free Running

Sense of Balance 64% +4%/Level
Climb +10%, or Base Skill 40%
+1D4 Leap Distance
+2 Roll with Fall/Impact
+2 P.E., +1 P.P., +2D4 Speed, and +2D4 S.D.C.

Note: Many Parkour/Free Running practitioners will also have Gymnastics and/or Acrobatics skills as well.


Anybody ever try to work out a "Brainwashing Techniques" skill? I've been thinking about doing one lately.

[13eowulf]

I did this one several years ago:

Free Running.
A form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements and adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles. This skill cannot be taken as a secondary skill. Skills Required: must have the Climb skill.
Provides all of the following:
Sense of Balance (55% + 5% per level)
Vaulting (50% + 4% per level)
Flips (60% + 3% per level)
Leaps/Jumps Including Tic Tacs (35% + 5% per level)
Basic Climb ability (+10% to the Climbing Skill)
Basic Prowl ability (35% or add +5% to the Prowl Skill)
Bonuses: +1 to PS, +2 to PP, +1 to PE, +1D4 to Spd, +2D4 SDC, +1 bonus to Roll with Fall or Impact, +1 bonus to Dodge, and no fear of heights.

Note: If the new jumping rules are used, increase vertical jump by 1 inch per PS point, and horizontal jump by 2 inches per PS point.
Anyone taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics cannot take this skill, with a few exceptions (Juicers, Physical Training class [from HU2], and similarly physically focused classes).
Should a class prohibit a player from taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics GMs should be cautious about allowing those classes to take this skill.

The referenced jumping rules are here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132122

As for Parkour, I see that more as a Martial Arts Form, but have not given it a go.

[Looonatic]

parkour or free running as skill set

I actually made one for my players.

The Parkour Skill requires Gymnastics or Acrobatics as a prerequisite and allows a player to move over and around obstacles with minimal loss of speed, drop long distances, jump farther and higher, climb quickly up vertical surfaces, negating a body flip/knockback/knockdown by landing on one's feet and other feats of agility by simply by succeeding at a Balance skill check.

Basically, I boiled almost all acrobatic maneuvers down to whether a Parkour Traceur could maintain his balance.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I did this one several years ago:

Free Running.
A form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements and adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles. This skill cannot be taken as a secondary skill. Skills Required: must have the Climb skill.
Provides all of the following:
Sense of Balance (55% + 5% per level)
Vaulting (50% + 4% per level)
Flips (60% + 3% per level)
Leaps/Jumps Including Tic Tacs (35% + 5% per level)
Basic Climb ability (+10% to the Climbing Skill)
Basic Prowl ability (35% or add +5% to the Prowl Skill)
Bonuses: +1 to PS, +2 to PP, +1 to PE, +1D4 to Spd, +2D4 SDC, +1 bonus to Roll with Fall or Impact, +1 bonus to Dodge, and no fear of heights.

Note: If the new jumping rules are used, increase vertical jump by 1 inch per PS point, and horizontal jump by 2 inches per PS point.
Anyone taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics cannot take this skill, with a few exceptions (Juicers, Physical Training class [from HU2], and similarly physically focused classes).
Should a class prohibit a player from taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics GMs should be cautious about allowing those classes to take this skill.

The referenced jumping rules are here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132122

As for Parkour, I see that more as a Martial Arts Form, but have not given it a go.

Looks way over powered to me. Why would anyone take prowl if they can get it, at Over 10% higher with this skill for free? and it's got more bonous than any other physical skills, more than a couple of them put together.

[13eowulf]

I did this one several years ago:

Free Running.
A form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements and adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles. This skill cannot be taken as a secondary skill. Skills Required: must have the Climb skill.
Provides all of the following:
Sense of Balance (55% + 5% per level)
Vaulting (50% + 4% per level)
Flips (60% + 3% per level)
Leaps/Jumps Including Tic Tacs (35% + 5% per level)
Basic Climb ability (+10% to the Climbing Skill)
Basic Prowl ability (35% or add +5% to the Prowl Skill)
Bonuses: +1 to PS, +2 to PP, +1 to PE, +1D4 to Spd, +2D4 SDC, +1 bonus to Roll with Fall or Impact, +1 bonus to Dodge, and no fear of heights.

Note: If the new jumping rules are used, increase vertical jump by 1 inch per PS point, and horizontal jump by 2 inches per PS point.
Anyone taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics cannot take this skill, with a few exceptions (Juicers, Physical Training class [from HU2], and similarly physically focused classes).
Should a class prohibit a player from taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics GMs should be cautious about allowing those classes to take this skill.

The referenced jumping rules are here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132122

As for Parkour, I see that more as a Martial Arts Form, but have not given it a go.

Looks way over powered to me. Why would anyone take prowl if they can get it, at Over 10% higher with this skill for free? and it's got more bonous than any other physical skills, more than a couple of them put together.

Yep it kind of is. I was a young gamer back then. It was meant to fit into the same vein as Gymnastics and Acrobatics.
Also I wasnt looking so much at game balance as trying to capture the real world skill and what bonuses it might grant.
I only posted it cause of the question asked.

I think at one point I had it costing 2 OCC related skills instead of one.

Ah the follies of youth... I think this is the first homebrew thing I ever did....

[Shark_Force]

i'd also let them completely avoid (not cut in half) damage from a roll with punch/fall/impact for falls of under 10 feet or so, maybe increasing per level. or of course, if you're using the silly physics-negating armor rules, that pretty much already happens anyways. i'd probably also give a bonus to speed while climbing.

[ShadowLogan]

I did this one several years ago:

Free Running.
A form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements and adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles. This skill cannot be taken as a secondary skill. Skills Required: must have the Climb skill.
Provides all of the following:
Sense of Balance (55% + 5% per level)
Vaulting (50% + 4% per level)
Flips (60% + 3% per level)
Leaps/Jumps Including Tic Tacs (35% + 5% per level)
Basic Climb ability (+10% to the Climbing Skill)
Basic Prowl ability (35% or add +5% to the Prowl Skill)
Bonuses: +1 to PS, +2 to PP, +1 to PE, +1D4 to Spd, +2D4 SDC, +1 bonus to Roll with Fall or Impact, +1 bonus to Dodge, and no fear of heights.

Note: If the new jumping rules are used, increase vertical jump by 1 inch per PS point, and horizontal jump by 2 inches per PS point.
Anyone taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics cannot take this skill, with a few exceptions (Juicers, Physical Training class [from HU2], and similarly physically focused classes).
Should a class prohibit a player from taking Acrobatics or Gymnastics GMs should be cautious about allowing those classes to take this skill.

The referenced jumping rules are here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132122

As for Parkour, I see that more as a Martial Arts Form, but have not given it a go.

Looks way over powered to me. Why would anyone take prowl if they can get it, at Over 10% higher with this skill for free? and it's got more bonous than any other physical skills, more than a couple of them put together.

Well Prowl as a sub-skill in Acrobatics/Gymnastics* & this home-skill are flat in that they don't advance in level, skill bonuses being equal a character with 4 levels or more of the Prowl Skill will have a better chance of prowling.

*Acrobatics & Gymnastic Skills in my copies of RUE and RMB have Prowl as a base skill with no advancement. IINM older incarnations of the skill did have it advance, but the Rifts Versions AFAIK have always been static.

[taalismn]

Anybody ever try to work out a "Brainwashing Techniques" skill? I've been thinking about doing one lately.

Torture/Interrogation...but behavorial modification would require (multiple) skill rolls against the victim's M.E. And I'd rule that it requires a prerequisite skill of Psychology(admittedly, you can modify a person's behavior by simply beating the snot out them on a regular basis, but I assume you're talking 'Manchurian Candidate' levels of brainwashing). Also, Chemistry: Pharmaceutical if you're going the drug route. Since you can't wave a wand or go brain-to-brain to implant ideas/behaviors, I'd also rule penalties for the complexity of behavior change you're trying to affect. Getting somebody to crave a glass of water whenever you flash a light might be a very simple brainwash, but turning somebody into a sleeper agent would require months of careful indoctrination.

Mass Brainwashing might be as simple as a sleazy application of Public Speaking(Propaganda) and some clever and unscrupulous accompanying video editing.

Generally though, I consign brainwashing to NPC GM gimmicks, and if PCs are exposed to them, I count it as Torture/Interrogation with regards to resisting attempts to break the PCs. Brainwashing would NOT be something Good- or even Selfish-aligned characters would seek to learn and apply, owing to the distasteful nature of it.

[Mercdog]

Anybody ever try to work out a "Brainwashing Techniques" skill? I've been thinking about doing one lately.

Torture/Interrogation...but behavorial modification would require (multiple) skill rolls against the victim's M.E. And I'd rule that it requires a prerequisite skill of Psychology(admittedly, you can modify a person's behavior by simply beating the snot out them on a regular basis, but I assume you're talking 'Manchurian Candidate' levels of brainwashing). Also, Chemistry: Pharmaceutical if you're going the drug route. Since you can't wave a wand or go brain-to-brain to implant ideas/behaviors, I'd also rule penalties for the complexity of behavior change you're trying to affect. Getting somebody to crave a glass of water whenever you flash a light might be a very simple brainwash, but turning somebody into a sleeper agent would require months of careful indoctrination.

Mass Brainwashing might be as simple as a sleazy application of Public Speaking(Propaganda) and some clever and unscrupulous accompanying video editing.

Generally though, I consign brainwashing to NPC GM gimmicks, and if PCs are exposed to them, I count it as Torture/Interrogation with regards to resisting attempts to break the PCs. Brainwashing would NOT be something Good- or even Selfish-aligned characters would seek to learn and apply, owing to the distasteful nature of it.

Even for the purpose of making people better through "Sensitivity Training"? (Kidding... sort of.)

The method rolling around in my head would incorporate 3 stages/checks ("Unfreezing", Implement the Change, "Freezing") and require minimum of one week of 'preparing' the subject before making the checks, and if the subject saves, they'll have to be worked on for another week. I'm thinking that Psychology will give a good 10% bonus to the checks, but I don't think I'd make it a prerequisite skill. I'd actually been thinking more along the lines of 'Cult' indoctrination, but advanced brain washing including pharmecuticals for a 'Manchurian Candidate' wouldn't be out of line either.

[glitterboy2098]

in regards to the OP... thought about it some, actually want to include it in a future project of mine. my version however is somewhat different in mechanics than what those here have suggested.

IMO "Freerunning' is a better choice of skill name and content.. parkour is so stylized that if it was a combat oriented thing, it would be a martial art. freerunning is parkour stripped of the standardized forms and styles, its core of "moving through urban space" left intact with an attitude of 'anything goes' used to fill the void. it is easier to define freerunning for a skill than it is parkour.. and you can just point out that parkour is just a particular school of freerunning that uses a stylized set of moves.


in regards to brainwashing... like Diplomacy, i don't see it as being something you can confine to a single skill, but rather something that is best modeled by multiple skills used in concert. using the conspiracy theory version of the MKUltra approach for example, you'd need medical skills for the prescribing and dosing of the drugs, you'd need a Psychology skill to determine what stimuli to add or remove from the subject's experience and/or employ conventional hypnosis, lore and knowledge skills about any topic needed to create any false background or cover story your giving the subject, and multiple uses of Influence and or intimidate.