Communication skills

Barter: A skill at bargaining with merchants, businessmen, thieves, traders, and other characters to get a fair price or a fair exchange of trade goods and services. Depending on the characters point of view and effort at bartering, he can raise the amount he gets or lower the price he pays by 3d6+2%; not applicable to rare items and alien technology. Generally, if the haggler rolls under his bartering skill percentage, he gets the discount when buying or the better price when he is the one doing the selling or trading. If the price is disputed, the two bartering characters can each make rolls on percentile dice; the highest roll wins and gets their price and not a penny less or a nickel more. Base Skill: 30% +4% per level of experience. Restriction:  Available only to Adventurer and Scholar O.C.C.s. Mathematics and Literacy are not required but helpful, with each adding a +2% bonus to Barter.


Creative Writing: The ability to write prose/stories, poems, and journalistic reports, studies, news and otherwise  entertaining text (including songs -15%). Taking the skill twice indicates a professional quality and gets a bonus of +10%. Selecting it once indicates a talented amateur. A failed roll means an awkward and poorly written work that is boring and difficult to understand. Try again. Base Skill: 25% +5% per level of experience. Requires: Literacy. This skill does not provide a character with the ability to recite his or her written words with any level of charm. See Public Speaking for that.


Cryptography: Skill in recognizing, designing, and cracking secret codes and messages. The character must study the code for two hours to attempt to break it successfully. A failed roll means the individual must study the code for an additional two hours before they can try to break it again. The character may attempt to break the code sooner, after only 10 minutes of study, but suffers a penalty of -30% Base Skill: 25% +5% per level of experience. Requires: Literacy.


Electronic Countermeasures: The ability to shield, encrypt and protect electronic transmissions, as well as jamming, scrambling, coding and decoding radio, video, and wireless transmissions. This skill also includes knowledge in the use of technology of locate electronic bugs/listening devices and deactivate, undermine and otherwise circumvent them. The use of electronic masking, scrambling and unscrambling equipment, as well as codes to help foil the detection, interception and interpretation of radio and wireless transmissions is all part of this skill. A radio operator who makes a successful scramble roll can transmit coded or scrambled messages without fear that the enemy will intercept or understand his transmission.




Language: Other. The character can understand and speak in a language other than his own. Language is one of the few skills that can be selected repeatedly in order to speak several different languages. Each selection gives the character knowledge of one different language, but each language counts as one skill selection. Base Skill: 50%+3% per level of experience.

There are nine basic languages in the world of Rifts, and they include:

American (English, the universal language of the American continents)

Techno-Can (Basic, but modified American/English used as a universal computer/techno-language in high tech computer and communications systems. It is NOT a spoken language, but as a specialized tech-language developed for technical journals and as a universal computer language.)

Spanish (the second major tongue of the Americas)

Japanese (language of the Japanese islands and the new Japanese republic.)

Chinese (a language spoken widely across Asia, even well beyond the celestial kingdoms traditional borders.)

Euro (a blend of Russian, German, and Polish spoken by virtually all humans between England and china.)


Gobblely (spoken by all sorts of loathsome and barbaric creatures such as goblins, hob-goblins, orcs, and ogres, among others.)

Faerie Speak ( the universal tongue of all faeries,, though one can communicate with faeries using dragonese or gobblely at -10%)



Laser Communications: This skill provides the character with an in depth knowledge of advanced electronics, laser communications systems and fiber optic communications. Base Skill: 30% +5% per level of experience. Requires: Radio Basic, Electrical Engineer, and Computer Operation skills.






Optic Systems: Provides expert training in the use of special optical enhancement equipment such as telescopic lenses, laser targeting, thermal images, passive light intensifiers, infrared and ultraviolet systems, polarization, light filters, optical scanners, video and digital cameras, holograms, and related devices. Base Skill: 30% +5% to the T.V/Video skill if both are selected.


Performance: The methods and fundamentals used by actors, entertainers, politations and other public figures to impress and sway the public. A character with this skill knows how to do things with flair. If a skill roll is successful, it works like an attempt to charm, captivate, impress, intimidate, or incense (or motivate) the audience. Base Skill: 30% +5% per level. Bonus +5% to the Undercover Ops and Impersonation skills. Note: Obvious lies, inconsistencies and evidence to the contrary may ruin the effectiveness of the best performance. G.Ms use discretion.


Public Speaking: Training in the quality of sound, tone, pitch, enunciation, clarity and pacing when speaking to the public. The character speaks loudly, distinctly and in a pleasing manner. Also includes the practice of good, enticing storytelling, dramatic pauses and composition of the spoken word. A successful roll indicates the overall quality and charisma of the speaker and the spoken word; people are enjoying listening to the character. Base Skill: 30% +5% per level of experience. This skill adds a +5% bonus to the Performance skill.


Radio: Basic: The rudimentary knowledge of the operation and maintenance of all sorts of radio equipment, including military radio systems, field radios and walkie-talkies, audio recording devices, wire laying, installation, radio procedure, communication security and Morse code. It does not include the ability to make repairs nor operate video equipment. Base Skill: 45% +5% per level of experience.


Radio: Scramblers:. Replaced by Electronic Countermeasures, above.



Radar & Sonar Note: the character can expertly use radar equipment (radio echo bounces) and sonar (underwater sound echo bounces) and correctly read the information to precisely locate and track aircraft, ships, submarines, as the case may be. In submarines (and with radar for warships and fighter aircraft) there are two methods or types of operations, passive and active. To use active sonar, the sub must give a pulse of sound to bounce off any nearby ships or objects. This is very dangerous since it immediately gives away the position of the submersible itself. Most vessels will not use active sonar unless absolutely necessary, most rely on passive sonar systems. This is much more difficult since the sonar operator must sift through the background static. Despite this fact, passive sonar is used because it does not give away the location of the vessel. -15% skill penalty when using passive sonar or radar. <b>Base Skill: 30% +5% per level of experience.




Sing: the simple ability to read music and carry a pleasant tune. Base Skill: 35% +5% per level of experience.



A failed roll in the use of surveillance equipment means that the equipment does not function as desired, imparing or preventing surveillance; i.e., the bug does not transmit, recording or sound transmissions are garbled, surveillance film is blurred or failed to record, etc.

A failed roll when hiding surveillance devices means the bug does not function and is easily discovered through the course of casual activity.


Base Skill: 30% +5% per level of experience. Requires: Basic Electronics or Electrical Engineering, Computer Operation and Literacy ( the latter two are needed only for comp-lex, high-tech systems).



TV/Video: in depth training in the use of video, digital and audio recording equipment as well as filming, editing, dubbing, title making, duplication, and transmission. Includes the use of field equipment; i.e., portable video or digital camera and studio equipment. Base Skill: 25% +5% per level of experience.


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