Know Schticks (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Expert

Trigger Action

Young man, I must mention that the coolant conductors in the thermonuclear reactor are not really suitable for climbing; their structural integrity is just 346 over 9. If you must use this delicate piece of machinery for ascension, use the illumination ducts. Those are the green cables, not the yellow ones.

You are the very best in your field of knowledge. Define a field of study; it must be fairly narrow. Butterflies and ancient languages are both good examples. Within this narrow field, you are an absolute genius. You automatically make any knowledge rolls. If you can convince the game master that your area of expertise is somehow applicable to whatever you are doing, (fairly spoofy reasons are acceptable), you get a free bonus die on your Action Total. If you advise someone else, you can give away this bonus.

This lets you design new schticks and powers. In genres where a type of designs are very important, such as Crimson Skies or mecha campaigns, this schtick lets you to create new designs and to push the envelope on technology, tough this is of course a lot of work. You are an established master of your field, and your words would weight much more heavily in the academic world than those of an outsider.

Note that this schtick is not limited to the humanities, but can also apply to technological and supernatural fields. Great scientist need at least a basic understanding of the humanities as well.

Forensic Medicine

Limit Break

The not-so-glamorous skill of examining bodies (mainly of the dead) to determine their medical history. Most often used in grim settings to determinethe cause of death and to investigate murder.

If you take the time to perform an autopsy, you can automatically identify the source of death and tell a lot about the dead person's last hours - level of activity, things he ate, if any violence was made upon him, if he had sex, things like that.

Identifying strange and/or unknown things may require a Know roll, even a poor result will generally give you good clues while a good roll gives odd and disquieting insights into the patient's last hours.

Linguist

Limit Break

You have an amazing ability to piece together bits of other languages, sign language and other means of communication. Use this ability to learn to communicate in any one unknown language. You already know all the common languages of your world.

Logical Detachment

Inherent

You are not easily swayed by emotional arguments. You can use your Know skill in place of both the Charm and Impress skills when defending against stunts; any stunt having one of these skills as a difficulty lets you use Know instead. However, other people can use their Know skill in lieu of the Charm and Impress skills when interacting with you.

Psychology

Limit Break

You work with people to modify their mental state; to either cure or create psychological disorders. Such disorders are generally considered Curses, and you can work with any purely mental or behavior-related curse. You can also substitute the patients Mind attribute with your Impress skill while under your direct care; this can help against mental trials and assaults.

Spurious Logic

Inherent

You can create logical conundrums; tricks that can be simple for a normal person to see through, but which are logically sound. In this way, you can bluff anyone who is immune or resistant to normal Charm, using your Know skill as tough it was Charm and bypassing any resistance they might have.