If you don't see a skill that matches what you want, take a look at the Expertise Skill.

Acrobatics (Speed): Your agility and balance. Acrobatics is used to climb objects and to perform tumbles or rolls as well as general acrobatic manuevers. If your breed can fly, then you'll use Acrobatics to manuever in the air as well.

Ancient Lore (Brains): Your knowledge about the old times, before the Last War. This skill also governs your ability to read and write.

Ancient Tech (Brains): Your knowledge about technology and electronics. Used to try and jury-rig or repair ancient devices. Unfortunately, for many things, the tools necessary to repair them simply don't exist anymore. This is the primary skill of the Engineers.

Awareness (Perception): Your ability to notice things using your regular senses. Most commonly used for Spot checks, Listen checks or Smell checks, but Taste checks are possible too. Note that your ability to detect radiation depends upon your Awareness skill.

Charm (Spirit): Making friends, being socialable, using flattery or seduction, and otherwise ingratiating yourself with others.

Construction (Brains or Perception): Skill at constructing, appraising and dismantling large constructs like buildings, tunnels and bridges.

Contortionist (Speed): Your ability to squeeze yourself through openings that are too small for you and to wriggle out of bonds or wrestling holds.

Craft (Brains): Skill at hand-crafting tools, clothes and other useful items, especially ones that are woven. For large-scale projects like buildings, see Construction.

Endurance (Guts): Your ability to exert yourself for long periods without becoming exhausted; often applies to tasks such as manual labor or cross-country travel.

[Expertise (Any)]: This isn't a true skill as such. Basically, when there aren't any skills appropriate to what you want, you can take an Expertise in a particular area instead. The Expertise should apply to any reasonable task involving that subject. For example, if you took Expertise: Spears, then you could include that skill with Melee when fighting with a spear, with Ranged when throwing one, with Awareness when examining one, and with Craft when making or repairing one.

You can take as many Expertise skills as you want, but they all have to have different areas. It's common for the "Expertise:" to be left off of the skill name when you write it down, so if you see someone with the skill Ancient Vehicles, it's probably shorthand for Expertise: Ancient Vehicles.

Herbalism (Brains or Perception): Knowledge about what plants and fungi do what and how to find them. Often used to find food for herbivores in the wilderness, or to find cures for certain illnesses.

Leadership (Spirit): Skill at leading and inspiring others. Often used to convince others to follow your lead.

Melee (Speed): Skill at hand-to-hand combat, whether with natural weapons or artificial ones. Doesn't apply to actual grappling; see Wrestling instead.

[Psychic Skill (Spirit, Restricted)]: Every time that you take the Psychic Power Edge, you get a new Psychic Skill, named after the Power you chose. If you don't have the Psychic Power Edge, you cannot take any of these skills. See the Psychic Powers section for details.

Ranged (Perception): Skill at ranged combat, including shooting and throwing accurately. Note that ranged combat depends primarily upon your Perception stat, not Speed.

Stealth (Speed): Your ability to move silently and to conceal yourself from observers.

Swimming (Speed): Skill at swimming, diving and holding your breath for long periods.

Thievery (Speed or Perception): Skill at picking pockets, opening locks and general sleight of hand.

Tracking (Perception): Your ability to follow a trail, whether by spotting traces or following scents. Often used to find food for carnivores.

Wilderness (Brains or Perception): Skill at surviving in the wilderness. Covers not getting lost, finding shelter, predicting the weather, and similar tasks.

Wrestling (Muscles or Speed): Skill at grappling and other forms of combat where you attempt to grab and/or pin your opponent.

If the rules don't say what difficulty to roll against, you can assume that the target number is 4. That's the standard difficulty for tasks in Nuclear Beasts. Thus, we have the Standard Task Resolution table below.

Technically, if you beat the target number by 16+ (a 20 on a standard test), it's an Extra² and beating it by 20+ (a 24 on a standard test) is an Extra³, but these won't come up much in play. The GM is encouraged to think up appropriate effects for such phenomenally high rolls.

Failing by a lot is fairly intuitive, but what is the Risk of an action?

The Risk is the number that you have to beat with your unmodified die roll to avoid a Botch. That's important; bonuses and penalties don't apply to figuring out whether or not you beat the Risk- we only care about the actual numbers rolled.

The default Risk for any action is 1. Thus, you'll only roll a Botch if every die rolled comes up a 1. If the Risk for an action was 4, you'd suffer a mishap if the highest die roll was 4 or less. Obviously, the greater the Risk, the more dangerous it is to attempt the action.

A Risk of zero is harmless. No die can roll that low without modifiers, so you don't need to worry about it.

A Risk of 1 is pretty mild. If you're rolling even two dice, you're pretty well protected against a Botch. With three or four dice, getting all ones is really rare (it happens on 3d4 only one time in sixty-four). This is the default Risk for any action.

A Risk of 2 is a good bit more dangerous. For example, if you were rolling 3d4, the odds of scoring a mishap would go up to one in eight instead of one in sixty-four. That's an eight-fold increase.

And if the Risk gets up to 3 or 4, well... you'd better be prepared for a Botch unless you're rolling a lot of very large dice. Even if you were rolling 3d8, with a risk of 4 you'd score a mishap one time in eight. Worse, a 4 would no longer be a success when making a standard test... it would be a Botch. Try to avoid tasks with Risk ratings that high.

When you roll a Botch, it means that something went very wrong. Perhaps you accidentally shot an ally or said exactly the wrong thing. If the task in question doesn't specify what form a Botch should take, the GM should invent some sort of goof-up or complication that seems appropriate.

Sometimes it's possible for either side to "win" the struggle. In this case, both sides roll and you treat whoever rolled higher as though they were the one performing the action. If the two rolls are identical, this is a Tie. This usually means that there's no clear winner; for the moment, it's a stalemate.

The procedure for each combat round is as follows:

1. If the order in which the characters will act isn't obvious, everyone has to roll a Reaction check (normally Speed & Perception) to determine initiative. Folks then act in order of their results, from highest to lowest.
2. The attacker rolls his attack skill vs the defender's defense roll.
3. If the attack succeeds, then the attacker rolls the damage pool of his attack vs the defender's soak (usually Muscles & Guts & Armor dice).
4. The defender records the damage done, if any.
5. Once everyone has acted (which may or may not have included making attacks), we reroll initiative and start over again.

There are 3 basic types of attacks. Melee attacks (punches, kicks, natural weapons and most melee weapons) use Speed & Melee. Wrestling (unarmed combat involving grapples, pins and throws) uses Speed & Wrestling. Finally, ranged attacks (whether thrown objects or firearms) use Perception & Ranged.

Parries are used to block Melee attacks. The defender rolls Speed & Melee, trying to overcome the attacker's roll.

A Fend is a variation on the Parry. Rather than trying to deflect an incoming attack, the defender intends to forestall any attacks by hitting their attacker first. This usually requires having a longer reach than your foe.

Blocks (using a shield or something similar) can block both Melee and Wrestling attacks. The defender rolls Speed & Melee (& whatever Defense Dice the shield contributes).

A Dodge is an attempt to avoid a melee attack by sidestepping it. The defender rolls Speed & Acrobatics. Dodging is best used when you have room to retreat and are willing to do so; using it to defend yourself while staying within melee range is more difficult.

Ranged attacks are more difficult to avoid, because you can't use Parry or Fend against them. Blocks are also problematic, because many ranged attacks (i.e.- firearms) will blow right through a successful block. Even dodging is difficult and requires something to duck behind.

On the other hand, even if you can't use any of the standard defenses against a ranged attack, you'll still get some defense dice based upon the range between you and the attacker.

Mechanically, a psychic power is represented by the Psychic Power Edge and a matching skill. This Edge can be taken multiple times; each one grants you a new psychic power. Each time that you take it, you acquire a new skill, which you can use to invoke or control that power. These skills all start without any dice, but so long as you have the appropriate Edge, you can still use them. Without the appropriate Edge, it's impossible to use a given power.

When you want to use one of your powers, you'll normally roll Spirit & the appropriate Psychic Skill. Note that while you can use a psychic power without having any dice in the skill, it's dangerous.

Most Gifts can be used to perform several different effects, which are discussed under the rules for each one. You can also push a Gift, making it do something above and beyond what it is normally capable of. When you do this, you'll often lose access to that power for a time. Pushing a Gift generally requires intense concentration and shouldn't be done lightly.

In extraordinary circumstances, you can even double-push a Gift. This generally means pushing it once, then pushing it still harder. When you double-push a Gift, you're asking for trouble. Double-pushing can accomplish extraordinary things, but you could lose your power for days or even see your skill at it permanently reduced.

Whenever you try to double-push a power, whether you succeed or fail, you'll have to roll on the Powerloss table.

The entries after this point are largely setting specific. They're intended for the Nuclear Beasts world and wouldn't necessarily apply elsewhere.

Of course, some of the rules already covered have setting-specific elements, but here it's getting more and more specific.

The Beasts appeared in three distinct "generations", with long gaps between each one. Naturally, they went on to have children of their own, but the term "generations" is still commonly used to refer to the three distinct types of breeds.

The first generation of Beasts consisted of large and powerful animals capable of pacifying the Verde and making it safe for cubs and smaller Beasts. These Beasts are physically powerful, but still move on all fours and lack hands. Since they can't use many tools and devices, they still need the aid of the later generations.

The second generation was of small and agile animals with dextrous paws who could use tools relatively easily. They are largely similar to their ancestors, just a bit larger, but nowhere near the size of the first generation beasts. Most of them can stand on their hind feet and walk around, but have to drop to all fours to run. While they can use ancient devices, they sometimes have problems because their hands are smaller than human hands.

The third generation of Beasts is the most like Man. These breeds are fully humanoid and stand upright. They have human-like hands and can use ancient tools and devices with ease... provided that they know how. Many of them see their kind as the natural inheritors of Man's authority, since they are clearly cast in His image.

First Generation Beasts (Wolves, Cougars, Bears and Oxen)

Wolves (total 9.5)
Free Edges: Echoing Cry (1/2), Keen Nose (1), Pack Hunter (1), Very Fast (1)
Innate Flaws: No Hands (-4)
Starting Skills: Awareness (d10), Endurance (d10), Stealth (d10), Tracking (d10), Wilderness (d10)

Wolves tend to be gregarious, social folk and rarely deal well with continued isolation. They are not as physically powerful as other First Generation breeds, but they make up for it through cooperation and clever tactics. Their mournful howls keep packs in touch even at great distances.

It's a special point of pride for most Wolves that the First Folk (supposedly the very first clan of Beasts to enter the world and the guardians of the Sacred Hills) are Wolves.

Fiercely independent and largely self-sufficient hunters, Cougars are more powerful than Wolves but rarely work well in large groups. A Cougar is generally happier with a small group of close friends than being part of a large pack. Even when they form into clans, they generally live far enough apart that they don't feel crowded. Most of them hate living in densely populated cities.

While these huge grizzlies aren't as fast as the other first generation Beasts, they are immensely strong and powerful. The Bear clan known as the Mountain Fangs actually claims that they were the first Beasts and that the First Folk tricked their ancestors into committing a heinous crime so that they could take their rightful place instead. This brought down a curse upon the Bears such that they would always be ruled by their anger. While only the Mountain Fangs still blame the First Folk for their condition, even modern Bears still suffer from berserk rages when injured or angered.

These massive hooved Beasts sometimes seem out of place amongst their kin. Commonly referred to as just Oxen, Musk-oxen have long, heavy coats that leave them quite comfortable in even the coldest of winters. In fact, during the summers they sometimes suffer from heatstroke during the hottest days. Few predators can threaten a herd of Oxen, as they are skilled at forming an impenetrable defensive line around the weak and vulnerable. During the winter months, when heavy snowfalls hinder the travel of other breeds, the Oxen are still active and often act as messengers for less snow-worthy Beasts.

Second Generation Beasts (Mice, Squirrels, Bats and Otters)

Mice (total 11)
Free Edges: Small -2 (2)
Innate Flaws: None
Starting Skills: Awareness (d8), Burrowing (d8), Contortionist (d8), Craft (d8), Stealth (d8), Thievery (d8)

Most Beasts think of Mice as meek and placid, but really they're just very cautious around larger creatures. Among themselves they can be extremely vicious, although they rarely fight to the death. Unlike most Beasts, they prefer to live underground either in burrows of their own creation or in Man-made Deeps. Many suffer from actual Agoraphobia and hate being out in the open but most are willing to travel above ground.

Mice are extremely skilled craftsmen, and their clever hands produce a large proportion of all of the woven goods in the Verde. They are a gregarious and chatty folk; it's a rare Mouse who is actively unfriendly to strangers.

Much more acrobatic than Mice, Squirrels prefer to live in the treetops. They are very skilled climbers, often able to travel from tree to tree along branches that would break under the weight of a larger Beast. They tend to live in smaller groups than Mice and are often loners.

Envied by many other Beasts for their ability to fly, Bats have a privileged position as the fastest messengers in the Verde. Combined with their keen senses and ability to see in conditions of minimal light, they make extremely effective scouts, but their high metabolic rate means that they have to eat about twice as much as other Beasts of their size.

Some Bats look down upon their land-bound cousins, but most realize how difficult it would be for them to survive on their own. Their light-weight bodies are comparatively frail, making them easy prey for any predators that do manage to catch them on the ground. Because of this, most Bats prefer to nest hanging upside down from some high place difficult to reach without wings.

If Bats rule the sky, then Otters rule the waters. Fast and graceful in the water, baby Otters generally learn to swim before they learn to walk. The few Otters who live in dry areas tend to long for open waters and take every opportunity to swim. They are extremely skilled at detecting poisons in the water, which is good; it doesn't take much oil (or similar sludge) to ruin the insulating effect of their fur.

Otters are notorious for their playful attitudes and light hearts, but in times of crisis they generally become as grim and serious as any other Beast in danger.

Third Generation Beasts (Hyenas, Lions, Elephants and Cheetahs)

Hyenas (total 7.5)
Free Edges: Echoing Cry (1/2), Improved Bite (1), Night Vision (2), Pack Hunter (1), Scavenger (1)
Innate Flaws: None
Starting Skills: Awareness (d6), Endurance (d6)

Fierce and independent as a whole but gregarious amongst themselves, Hyenas tend to chafe under the leadership of any breed but their own. They are skilled hunters and scavengers and are notable for their ability to eat even rotting meat without harm. Their powerful jaws can even chew bone, allowing them to devour their prey completely. They are notable as being the only Beasts able to survive by eating creatures and plants from the Blight.

Fierce and proud but prone to infighting, Lions prize both independence and loyalty to the group at the same time. The males are generally bigger and lazier than the females. It's common for a pride to have a male Alpha but a female Lorekeeper, with the Lorekeeper being the power behind the throne.

Moreso than most other breeds, Lions often settle internal conflicts with hand-to-hand combat, usually wrestling. The loser submits and the winner gets their way. These conflicts rarely end in serious harm; low-ranking lions who injure or cripple a fellow Beast in such a combat will often be cast out of the pride, and they know it.

While Elephants are enormously strong and possess human-like hands, their massive size actually hinders their ability to use ancient human devices. Their fingers are often too large to use buttons or triggers, at least not without first modifying the device. Furthermore, since they walk upright they have lost a lot of their ancestors' ability to travel great distances.

Elephants are herbivores and require an enormous amount of roughage to survive. Most Elephants live in small families, often as part of a mixed-breed clan or tribe. There are very few all-Elephant tribes... they have too much trouble finding enough food to feed everyone for it to be practical. Elephants tend to be very soft-spoken and polite, but they can be very dangerous when crossed.

Over a short burst, even first generation Beasts can't match a Cheetah for pure speed. They are very skilled and independent hunters, sneaking up to close range with their prey, then running them down. Tribes and clans tend to consist of small, nuclear families scattered over a wide area.

Even the most well-fed of Cheetahs tend to be thin and lanky due to their metabolic rate. Most are quiet and thoughtful folk, preferring their own company to that of large groups.

[Cost note: Right now I'm assuming that a d6 is worth 1, a d10 is 2, and Edges are either 1 or 2. The totals are just rough guesses at the moment, since the values of various Edges may change. My original version said that a starting skill was always worth 1, regardless of how big it was... that may change. The idea is to eventually use these values to balance out the races. I want them all to be roughly equal, instead of using the Ironclaw method of having them cost different amounts.]

Big gives you a lot of bonuses and penalties. Add your Big rating to your Muscles die whenever you use it. Unfortunately, you also have to subtract it from the following skills: Acrobatics, Contortionist, Craft, Stealth, Swimming and Thievery. These adjustments happen all of the time, so you'll probably just want to write them next to the ratings in question.

Big can also penalize you under certain other circumstances. It's subtracted from your ability to use certain technological devices (ones where your oversized fingers would have difficulty using them), although you may be able to have them modified to accomodate your larger hands. Similarly, armor and food is liable to be more expensive.

Finally, it's subtracted from your defense rolls in ranged combat even if you aren't dodging (if you are dodging, just apply the penalty once). Big targets are simply easier to hit.

Burst of Speed (Major, Restricted): your breed is capable of incredible bursts of speed for a very brief period. You can use this ability to grant you a whopping +6 bonus to a single chase test or to add an extra d12+1 to a charge attack, but afterwards you won't be able to use this ability again until after you've had a chance to eat and rest for at least one hour.

Herd Defender (Minor, Restricted): your breed travels in herds and you instinctively know how to aid each other when defending against such attacks. You receive an extra d8 to your defense rolls against Melee attacks if you have a defending ally on one side and an extra d12 if you have one on both sides.

[For normal characters, this bonus is d6 for one ally and d8 for two.]

Improved Stat (Major): one of your stat dice is increased by a single level.

Keen Ears (Minor): you receive a +2 bonus to all Listen tests. You can also hear sounds too high or low pitched for normal Beasts.

Keen Eyes (Minor): you receive a +2 bonus to all Spot tests. You can make out small details (such as writing) at ranges that other Beasts cannot.

Keen Nose (Minor): you receive a +2 bonus to all Smell tests. You can even track normal creatures by their scent alone, which normal Beasts cannot.

Keen Taste (Minor): you receive a +4 bonus to all Taste tests, such as rolls to notice toxins in food or water or to identify chemicals by taste. You get a roll to detect even normally "tasteless" chemicals.

Night Vision (Major): so long as there is at least minimal lighting, you can see in the dark, ignoring penalties of up to -3. Your eyes are also extremely reflective and seem to glow if light is shined in them.

Pack Hunter (Minor, Restricted): your breed hunts in groups, and you instinctively know how to take advantage of it. You can include additional dice with all Melee attacks based upon how many allies you have aiding you against the same target. The bonus is d6 for one ally, d10 for two, d12 & d4 for three, d12 & d8 for four and 2d12 for five or more.

[For normal characters, the benefit is d4 for one, d6 for 2, d8 for 3, d10 for 4 and d12 for 5+.]

Psychic Power (Minor/Major): this Edge grants your character a new Psychic Power. This is a special skill, named after the Power chosen, which represents your skill at using that Power. A Psychic Skill starts with no dice.

This edge can be taken multiple times if desired; each time it grants you access to a new psychic power and a new psychic skill to use it. Your first Psychic Power is a Major Edge. Additional powers are Minor Edges. Someone without this Edge has no Psychic Powers or Psychic Skills at all.

See the Psychic Powers section for a description of the various powers available and how to use them.

Small (Minor, Restricted): the opposite of Big, having one or more levels of Small indicates that your breed is notably smaller than others. If you don't have Big or Small, then your breed is roughly human-sized.

Small gives you a lot of bonuses and penalties. First, it subtracts from your Muscles die whenever you roll it. Apply it as a bonus to the following skills: Acrobatics, Contortionist, Craft, Stealth, Swimming and Thievery. These adjustments apply all of the time, so it's probably easiest to write them down next to the ratings in question.

Similar to Big, sometimes you'll be penalized when your hands are just too small to effectively use some devices (standard-sized firearms, in particular, will generally have too much recoil for you). Armor and food are generally less expensive (although not as much as you might think; small critters often have to eat a lot more in comparison to their body-weight).

Finally, whenever you are rolling defense dice against a ranged attack, you can add your Small rating as a bonus to the roll even if you aren't dodging (if you are dodging, the bonus still only applies once).

No Hands (Dramatic, Restricted): your breed simply doesn't have hands. You can manipulate objects with your mouth or paws, but without thumbs (or even agile fingers), there are many things you simply can't do. Penalties range from -2 for actions where hands would help, but aren't essential to -4 for actions where hands are vital, to -8 where the task is practically impossible otherwise.

Phobia (Minor/Major): your character is deathly afraid of something. You will avoid contact with the source of your fear whenever possible. Whenever you are forced to interact with it, you have to roll a Willpower test (with the difficulty depending upon how strongly present the object of your fear is) to avoid freezing up or retreating. Even when you succeed, you'll often be at a -1 penalty due to distraction.

Whether this is a Minor or Major flaw depends upon what you are afraid of and how often it is likely to interfere with your life. Being terrified of something that ought to frighten you is more minor than being scared of something beneficial.

Some examples are:

• Open Spaces (Major): you are afraid of open spaces and hate being exposed to the sky. If you have to travel in the open, stick as close as possible to walls or trees. Never go out into the middle of a flat, open area.
• Fire (Minor): you are afraid of fire. A campfire or candle won't bother you so long as it remains under control, but uncontrolled fires terrify you.
• Psychic Powers (Minor): you can't stand it when other people use psychic powers on you. Sendings terrify you and even Empathic Healing seems like a horrific thing to undergo. This doesn't apply to powers that you use on yourself, or powers that other people use on themselves, just the idea of someone else using a power on you.

Radiation Blindness (Major): unlike most creatures, Beast senses can pick up signs of radioactivity. Their eyes perceive it as a faint green glow, their nasal passages burn when there is radioactive dust in the air, and their very skin crawls when something dangerously radioactive touches them. This helps keep them alive in the wastes. A Beast with this flaw loses this ability completely. This can be quite lethal, because by the time you can feel the damage being done by radiation, it's usually much too late to save yourself.

Once Rending has been successfully invoked, the character can include their Rending dice with the damage dice for any successful hit with a natural weapon (including plain old punches and kicks). They can even choose to lightly touch a foe (which would normally inflict no damage) and just roll their Rending dice. Even while it's active, doing damage with Rending requires a conscious act; you can still pick up items, scratch your head, touch a friend, etc., without using it.

When Rending is pushed, the normal effect (include your Rending dice with damage) works even when using a melee weapon. If you strike someone with a natural weapon, your Rending dice now inflict damage separately from your regular damage dice. Roll regular damage normally (not including your Rending dice). Afterwards, you'll roll your Rending dice vs the target's Soak, ignoring their armor dice. Even if your regular attack bounces off of them harmlessly, your Power may tear apart their flesh anyway.

Finally, Rending can be double-pushed by pushing again while it is still active. This grants you a +4 bonus to your Rending damage if you're using a natural weapon, allows you to roll your Rending dice separately even if using a melee weapon, and allows you to include your unmodified Rending dice with the damage of a thrown weapon (there is no way to make Rending work through a projectile weapon like a bow or firearm).

While the effects of invoking Rending are normally invisible to the naked eye, when you double-push this Power folks will actually be able to see a faint, flickering aura around your body and you will no longer be able to touch objects with your hands and feet without damaging them. Even your footprints will be burned into the ground.