The cinematic Unisystem uses a stripped down and simplified skill system, fitting with its cinematic roots. Skills are rated from 1 to a theoretically unlimited maximum, though in play, the odds that anything would ever exceed a 10 would be almost unheard of. Ratings from 1-5 are most common; higher ratings have a higher cost at Chargen (3 pts per level over level 5) and are very rare to see.
Acrobatics
Useful for the not-getting hit, as well as the general flippy, cheerleadery, and visually impressive-ness. It can also be used to try to be sneaky. It's usually paired with dexterity, but some applications (climbing, jumping) would work with strength.
2: Took some gymnastics classes. Sometime. (Tara)
3: Flexible, agile (Anya, Dawn, Lorne, Amy Madison)
4: Quick and nimble (Willow, Fred)
5: Great at getting out of the way (Xander, Giles, Oz, Wesley, Cordelia)
6: Professional Athlete (Connor, Gunn, Kendra)
7: Olympic-caliber (Riley, Faith, Glorificus)
9: Shouldn't you be in the Matrix? (Buffy, Spike, Angel, Drusilla)
Art
This skill is a general catch-all for any of the performing arts, non-performing arts, or basically anything that has to do with creativity for the most part. It would be used for singing, dancing, playing an instrument, creative writing, painting, sculpting, whatever floats your boat. Keep in mind that though the system doesn't differentiate, your concept DOES; we're going to look at you funny if you try roleplaying being good at ALL those. The higher the success level, the better the art.
1: Minimal Talent (Kendra)
2: Mild Talent (Spike, Tara)
3: Creative (Giles, Angel, Cordelia)
5: Nearly Professional (Lorne)
6: Paying Gig (Oz, Drusilla)
Computer
Yes, you too can make with the elite hack-fu. Be a console cowboy. Wield the Word. And waste far too much of your time on IMs and Mushes. This is the catchall skill for anything having to do with computers. Keep in mind that if you're using this to hack someone's system, there's a negative penalty applied based on the complexity of the system…a high school computer might be -1, while an NSA system might be -10.
1: Email. Webbrowsing. Most of our relatives. (Anya, Tara, Angel, Wesley)
2: You can use the Office suite. Barely. (Riley)
3: You're a competent user of basic functions. (Cordelia)
4: Windows is your bitch. (Oz)
5: Multiple OS's are your playground (Fred, Warren)
6: Programming is simple to you (Adam)
7: You can hack damn near anything (Willow)
Crime
Crime doesn't pay! Except, you know, when you pick someone's pocket, or burgle their house, or steal their car, or…hmmm. Maybe we need to rethink this one. In any case, the Crime skill is used to handle anything of an illegal bent, from picking pockets, to B&E, to hiding. The only exceptions are hacking (Computer) and conning people (Influence).
1: You can hide. As in "and seek". (Willow, Anya, Oz, Dawn, Warren)
2: Sneaking around, as long as it's dark… (Xander, Kendra)
3: You can break and enter if you had to. (Buffy, Giles, Wesley, Connor, Amy Madison, Adam)
4: Good knowledge of the criminal culture. (Gunn, Faith)
5: Solid thief. (Spike)
6: Military covert ops. (Riley, Angel, Drusilla)
Doctor
Covering everything from basic first aid up to full surgery, this is the skill that gets used for putting people back together again. The roll is Intelligence + Doctor, and each success restores 1 Life Point of damage (can only be treated once per set of injuries).
1: You passed CPR. (Xander, Anya, Oz, Amy Madison, Tara, Faith)
2: Basic first aid. (Buffy, Willow, Spike, Fred, Gunn, Cordelia, Angel, Warren, Kendra)
3: Advanced first aid training. (Giles, Riley, Lorne, Wesley)
6: Master surgeon. (Adam)
Driving
While not Buffy's forte necessarily, if one wants to get around, one tends to use a car, at least in the 20th century. This skill covers the operation of all wheeled vehicles. Please note, you'll usually only roll this if you're trying to do something UNUSUAL with a car. Driving in calm fashion from point A to point B doesn't require a roll.
1: You passed driver's ed. (Amy Madison)
2: You're an average driver. (Anya, Tara, Angel, Cordelia, Fred, Faith)
3: You're a competent driver. (Xander, Giles, Oz, Wesley, Lorne)
4: You can drive in even very inclement conditions (Spike, Riley, Gunn)
Getting Medieval
This is the skill that covers whacking objects with other objects. In other words, this is the weaponry skill. Swords, staffs, bows, crossbows…if it's not your body or a gun, it goes under this category.
1: You can hold a weapon without dropping it. (Amy Madison)
2: You can use a weapon without hurting yourself. (Willow, Dawn, Warren)
3: You can be dangerous with a weapon at hand. (Anya, Lorne, Fred, Tara)
4: Nearly professional. (Oz)
5: Competent with a range of weapons. (Xander, Riley, Wesley, Cordelia, Kendra)
6: Expert with multiple weapons. (Giles, Connor, Gunn, Faith, Glorificus, Drusilla)
7: Master fighter. (Spike)
8: Lethal with virtually anything. (Buffy, Adam)
9: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. (Angel, The Master)
Gun Fu
Yep, Matrix junkies, Chow Yun Fat fans, this is the skill for you. The mastery of hurtling high-velocity lead aided by projectile devices. In other words, shooting a gun. Not as common as one might think, because A) bullets rarely hurt vampires or demons much and B) guns get police attention. But still invaluable at times. You can take more time and aim, when using a gun. It delays your attack to the last initiative, but you get to add the Success Levels of a Perception + Gun Fu roll to your Dexterity + Gun Fu roll to hit.
1: You can handle a gun safely. (Xander)
2: You might be able to hit a moving target. (Spike, Gunn)
3: Basic marksman. (Wesley, Warren)
9: Chow Yun Fat wishes he was you. (Riley, Adam)
Influence
Yes, you two can have your very own crowd of -ettes. Win friends, influence people, have a wake of lackeys following your every move…hey, you get the idea. This skill is the basic catch-all social interaction skill; if you're trying to interact with someone, you use this. :)
1: Try not to talk too much. (Xander)
2: You can handle normal conversation. (Willow, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Fred, Connor)
3: You're reasonably witty and charming. (Buffy, Giles, Riley, Gunn, Amy Madison, Kendra)
4: You're very persuasive. (Spike, Oz, Wesley, Faith, Glorificus)
5: You have your own people. (Cordelia, Lorne, Warren)
6: Outright charismatic. (Angel)
7: Supernaturally captivating. (Drusilla)
9: A virtual god walking. (The Master, Adam)
Knowledge
This is the general skill for…well, knowing stuff. Most anything that falls under general academia falls in here. Basically, if there's not a more specialized skill (Languages, Science, Occult), assume that the knowledge of a topic falls into the Knowledge skill. It's your book-larnin'.
1: Solid grade school education. (Dawn)
2: Well, you KIND of paid attention in high school. (Xander, Faith)
3: Solid high-school education. (Buffy, Anya, Riley, Tara, Cordelia, Gunn, Warren)
4: Basic college education. (Spike, Oz, Amy Madison, Kendra)
5: Bachelor-level education (Angel, Lorne, Drusilla)
6: You could probably have a masters. (Willow, Wesley, Fred, The Master, Adam)
7: You probably have a doctorate. (Giles)
9: Know nearly everything. (Glorificus)
Kung Fu
"I know Kung Fu." And so does anyone with this skill. Kung Fu reflects not just martial arts, but any unarmed combat within this game system. Everything from boxing, to karate, to rip-and-shred-with-claws, to yes, actual kung fu. If it involves beating people up unarmed, here's your skill.
2: You won't hurt yourself in a fight. (Anya, Tara, Dawn, Fred, Amy Madison)
3: You know solid self-defense. (Willow, Lorne, Warren)
4: You're a reliable fighter. (Oz, Cordelia, Wesley)
5: Almost a black belt. (Xander, Giles, Gunn)
6: Black belt. (Connor, Kendra)
7: Black belt, multiple styles. (Riley, Faith)
8: You're one of the true masters. (Spike, Glorificus, Drusilla)
9: You make Jet Li look like a rookie. (Buffy, Adam)
10: Wire-fu can't keep up with you. (Angel, The Master)
Languages
"I -do- speak Sumerian." The language skill is used as a measure of how many languages your character speaks. You buy each language separately in chargen for 1 pt. apiece.
1: You speak a second language. (Adam)
2: You speak a couple languages (Connor, Amy Madison, Tara)
3: You speak a few languages. (Willow, Anya, Angel, Fred, Kendra)
4: You speak most languages of the area. (Lorne, Drusilla)
5: Well-traveled or a real academic. (Giles, Wesley)
9: Is there anything you DON'T speak? (The Master, Glorificus)
See Also: +help languages
Mr. Fix-It
This is the general catch-all repair skill. It's used to cover anything technical or any craft skill, anything from soldering a circuit board to building a house. We can fix it…we have the technology…
1: You can tell a hammer from a screwdriver. (Buffy, Wesley)
2: Basic tool proficiency (Giles, Spike, Angel, Gunn, Faith)
3: You could do basic work. (Riley)
4: Friends and family bring you their problems. (Willow, Oz)
5: You could make a living doing this. (Xander, Fred)
6: You can fix the normally unfixable. (Warren)
7: Your knowledge of craft is unmatched. (The Master, Adam)
Notice
Look! A clue! Notice is almost ALWAYS paired with perception, and is used to see if you got hit by the clue-by-four. If you succeed in the roll, you probably noticed whatever weirdness was going on; if you didn't, you're Captain Oblivious. To use this one within the scope of the game, +roll pc (short for perception check).
2: You can spot things sometimes. (Amy Madison. Warren)
3: You're generally perceptive. (Oz, Tara, Dawn, Faith)
4: You find things others overlook. (Willow, Xander, Giles, Anya, Gunn, Kendra, Adam)
5: Quite perceptive by normal standards. (Buffy, Spike, Riley, Angel, Cordelia, Fred, Lorne)
6: Even the smallest clues stand out to you. (Wesley, Connor)
7: Superhuman perceptiveness. (The Master, Glorificus)
8: Nothing escapes your notice. (Drusilla)
Occultism
"By the Power of Three…" Oops. Wrong show. But despite that, Occultism is the study of the things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Vampires, demons, magic, and other things that people consider to be complete hooey…if it's mystical in nature, it falls under the Occultism skill (see NEWS OCCULT KNOWLEDGE). This skill is also a cornerstone in spellcasting.
2: You're familiar with many myths. (Oz, Dawn, Warren, Faith, Adam)
3: You know some of the truth of the occult. (Xander, Riley, Gunn, Fred)
4: A solid grounding in the supernatural. (Buffy, Spike, Anya, Cordelia, Connor)
5: Make a living doing supernatural stuff. (Lorne, Tara, Kendra)
6: You've made a prolonged study of the occult. (Angel, Wesley, Amy Madison, Willow)
8: You know almost everything there is to know. (Giles, The Master)
9: You DO know things Man wasn't meant to. (Glorificus)
10: You know the secrets of existence (Drusilla)
Science
Bill Nye, Mr. Wizard, and you. Whether it's floating oil on top of water to prove density experiments or trying to build cute robot girlfriends, the Science skill is the catchall for technological advancement within the setting. It's almost always paired with Intelligence, as a matter of what you know, or what you can figure out.
1: Don't mix the acid with the base. (Buffy, Xander, Tara, Dawn, Angel, Cordelia, Amy Madison)
2: High school science training. (Riley, Oz, Kendra)
3: Collegiate science training. (Giles, Wesley, The Master)
5: Right on the verge of weird-science. (Willow, Adam)
6: You understand science on the bleeding edge. (Warren)
7: Weird science ain't weird to you. (Fred)
Sports
Pretty much any kind of general athletics that ISN'T covered by another skill (Gymnastics falls under Acrobatics, and boxing and martial arts are under Kung Fu) ends up here. Anything ending in -ball, pretty much, as well as most everything that gets covered on ESPN. It -can- be used to take over in some limited combat situations. Throwing things or swinging a baseball bat both can fit within this skill, in addition to more sports-like endeavors.
1: You got picked for teams. (Buffy, Giles)
2: You might be second-string in high school. (Riley, Gunn, Amy Madison)
6: You could be a collegiate athlete (Cordelia)
Wild Card
Let's face it, in a system this abstracted, there's going to be gaps, where NO skill really fills in the blank accurately. Cooking? Fashion? Playing Chess? If you're really good at something that doesn't otherwise fit in the skill system, that's where the Wild Card skill fits in. Nothing stops you having more than one, and each is defined at the time of purchase as to what it covers.
1: Tiny bit of knowledge. (Xander — Military Knowledge)
3: Solid amateur. (Tara — Horseback riding)
4: Accomplished amateur. (Riley — Initiative tech, Gunn — Streetwise, Warren — Geek Trivia)
5: Near professional. (Oz — Standardized tests, Cordelia — Fashion, Adam — Initiative facts)
9: Almost complete knowledge. (Glorificus — Hell Dimensions)
10: You know more than should be possible. (Anya — Demon facts), (The Master — Vampire Lore)
