Cowboy Skills



Herding Cattle: The technique and methods of leading, directing and controlling cattle in a contained and orderly heard. Also includes keeping animals calm, basic care and feeding, how to tend cattle, recognize disease and illness, give birth to young, how to survive and regain control of a stampede, gather strays, how best to pen and corral livestock, mend fences, ets. Base Skill: 30% +5% per level experience.

Horsemanship: Cowboy: See description under Horsemanship Skills.

Horsemanship: Exotic: See description under Horsemanship Skills.

Lore: American Indians: See description under Technical Skills.

Lore: Cattle/Animals: See description under Technical Skills.



A successful skill roll means the animal is caught in the lasso, usually ensnared by the horns, neck, a foot or leg, held tight and unable to run or pull away. Once ensnared, the Cowboy can exercise any of the above maneuvers, from pinning and tying the animal up to controlling it and leading it back to the herd or holding pen.

A failed roll to tie a knot means that it si loose, sloppy and easy to untie or slip out of, or likely to unravel or snap when strained.

A failed skill roll to lasso an animal or stationary target means it misses its mark or hits but slips off with no effect. Base Skill: 20% +5% per level of experience. Bonus: +1 to entangle at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14. Cowboys and saddle tramps, only, get a +10% skill bonus to the Roping Skill in addition to any other O.C.C. bonuses. Note: Also see W.P.Rope

Trick Riding: Riding bareback, standing on the animals back, hanging from the side or under its belly (usually for rodeo tricks or to hide from enemies), riding sidesaddle, as well as quick mounts and dismounts, leaping down on the animal from above or with a running start, leaping from the back of a horse onto another horse or wagon, and similar. Skill Requirement: Must know one of the Horsemanship Skills, or Trick Riding cannot be selected. Base Skill (Special): The first (larger) number of the Horsemanship skill; roll for each trick/stunt attempt. Note: Characters without this skill can try any of these tricks, but must roll on the second percentage number of their Horsemanship skill after reducing it by half. Roll for each attempt. Likewise, these stunts can be tried while riding mounts other than a horse, but reduce the skill by half, unless the character also has the skill Horsemanship: Exotic Animals.

W.P. Rope: Trained use of a lariat/lasso for combat as well as using the lasso to snare and hook onto a sturdy abject or limb for climbing, scaling walls, boarding vessels, and swinging across openings. As a weapon, the rope and lasso is used to encircle the shoulders, arms, waist or feet to snare, trip and otherwise pin and incapacitate an opponent. The lasso can ensnare the neck and strangle opponents.

Damage: Trip Attack. A successful roll to strike knocks the victim to the ground and he loses initiative and one melee attack. If the attacker is on horseback, in a vehicle or super strong, he may pull or drag his victim to him.

Entangle Attacks: A successful roll to strike ensnares the desired area of the body, typically the arm, upper torso, waist, leg or foot.


A subsequent successful roll to entangle means the attacker can incapacitate that limb/part of the body (usually by pulling the rope and lassoed limb taut) making it impossible for the victim to use it. If an arm/hand, the victim must use his other arm and hand ( at half his usual bonuses and -1 melee attack unless ambidextrous).

If it is the foot/leg that is lassoed and incapacitated (pulled tight), the victim runs/hops at half speed, cannot get away unless he can cut the rope, is -4 to dodge and roll with impact, and -1 to parry, disarm or pull punch. Using a second melee attack to jerk the lasso will knock the victim off his feet (losing initiative and one melee attack) and he can then be pulled/dragged by hand, horse or vehicle, or hog-tied (costs the attacker two additional melee attacks and unless the victim can roll a 17 or higher to dodge he succeeds without further incident. A roll of 17 or higher enables the victim to squirm and move in such a way as to prevent being tied up and he can then engage his attacker in hand to hand combat).


Note: Only one target can be roped and pinned of hog-tied at a time.


Strangle Attack: Roping the neck can be used to prevent the victim from speaking and make him barely able to breathe (-1 attack per melee). Tightening the rope (counts as one melee attack) cuts the air supply off completely and strangles the victim unless he can cut himself free or his attacker releases him by loosening and /or removing the lasso around his neck. Depending on how long the victim can go without air, the character may die. For most characters, dizziness occurs within two minutes (victim is -2 attacks per melee and -3 on all combat bonuses). Within four minutes the victim is rendered unconscious, unless he can hold his breath for an extraordinarily long time. if still on his feet, reduce his attacks and combat bonuses by half again. Within 2 or 3 minutes the victim will lapse into a coma and die within another 1D4 minutes. Note: A slow hanging kills the victim in half the time. a good character would never use a strangling attack to kill or hang, or stops short of causing coma and death. The strangling attack does NOT work on characters clad in power armor or Full Conversion Cyborgs, or robots. Against a supernatural being or creature of magic, the attacker must have greater Supernatural Strength than his victim.

Escaping a Lasso. Escape is possible if the victim is able to cut himself (provided he has a blade weapon or claws), shoot himself free with a gun (first shooting the tow line and then pulling the lasso from around his neck; counts as two melee actions/attacks), or pull himself free if his P.S. is six points greater than his attacker.

Victims Cutting Free: It takes 1D4 melee actions to cut through an S.D.C. lasso with an S.D.C. knife, one action if an M.D. blade is used or the character has Robotic or Supernatural P.S. It is impossible, however, to draw a weapon and cut oneself loose if both arms are pinned or while being dragged. Of course, psionic or magical Telekinesis or Ectoplasm may be used to wield the blade, or some other extraordinary measure may be applicable (eye beam, bionic finger blaster, etc.).

O.C.C. Note: W.P. Rope is only available to characters who can select Cowboy skills.

Bonuses: +1 to strike at levels 1, 4, 8, 12 and 15, when rope/lasso is used in combat or for boarding and +1 to entangle and +1 to disarm Rope cannot be used to parry. Note: Does not require to Roping skill to use as a weapon, but when the Cowboy and Saddle Tramp O.C.C.s do select both skills, they get an additional bonus of +2 to strike and +2 to disarm, when using against humanoid oppoments.



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