Feats

Feats are special abilities that represent training, talent, or experience beyond what Skills alone can express. They are permanent once acquired.

Some Feats are granted by Occupations. Others can be purchased with XP during character creation or advancement. Feats are organized into three tiers based on power and requirements. Each Occupation has a list of associated feats — purchasing a feat from your Occupation's list is cheaper than purchasing one outside it.

Each Occupation has an associated feat list — a set of feats that represent the natural development path for that profession. Purchasing a feat from your Occupation's list costs the in-occupation price. Purchasing a feat not on any of your Occupation lists costs the out-of-occupation price. If a character has two Occupations, both feat lists apply. A feat on either list is in-occupation.

Tier 1

Broadly useful feats with few or no requirements.

• Boarding Action. You are trained for fighting aboard ships and in confined spaces. Ignore the +1 Risk from tight spaces on melee attacks, and your melee weapons do not suffer the inside-minimum-range penalty in shipboard corridors and compartments.
• Bodyguard. When an ally at Point Blank or Close is hit by an attack, you may spend your Reaction to become the target instead. The attack hits you and you apply your Soak as normal.
• Brawler. Your unarmed strikes gain Piercing 1. On a Critical Success with an unarmed attack, the target is also knocked prone.
• Cautious. Once per scene, when you take extra time on a check (spending a Minor Action in addition to the Action), reduce Risk by 1.
• Close Quarters Expert. Ignore the +1 Risk for making ranged attacks at Point Blank. Requirements: Trained in Combat: Firearms.
• Connected. You know people. When you arrive at a new location or encounter a new faction, you may spend 1 Willpower to declare that you have a contact here — someone who owes you a favor, someone you served with, or someone who knows your reputation. The GM determines the contact's disposition and what they can offer, but the connection is real.
• Covering Fire. When you fail a ranged attack, the target still suffers +1 Risk on their next action. You are suppressing them even when you don't connect.
• Dauntless. Influence: Intimidation checks against you automatically suffer +1 Risk.
• Dig In. While in heavy cover, your Soak from cover increases by an additional 1 (total Soak +2 from heavy cover).
• Focus Sensitive. You can perceive the use of Focus as a sensory experience — a smell, a sound, a shimmer, or a feeling of wrongness. You can detect large concentrations of willpower in objects or people. Requirements: Human, Lyndri, NorAellian, or GikDaa.
• Iron Will. Add +1 Risk to any Focus-based check targeting you.
• Nobody's Fool. Influence: Deception checks against you automatically suffer +1 Risk.
• NorAellian Consensus. Your pack instincts run deep. When you and at least two allies are working toward the same declared objective during a Structured Scene, all of you reduce Risk by 1 on checks that directly advance that objective. Requirements: NorAellian, or GM approval for characters raised among NorAellians.
• Pack Tactics. When an ally is at Point Blank with your target, reduce Risk by 1 on your attack against that target.
• Polyglot. You pick up languages with remarkable speed. Given a few hours of exposure to a new language, you can communicate at a basic level. Given a few days, you are conversational. Full fluency takes weeks instead of months.
• Quick Strike. When attacking a target that has not yet acted this round, reduce Risk by 1 on your attack.
• Reckless. You may Press twice on the same roll.
• Stubborn Determination. For a single roll, increase one Ability by 1 (to a maximum of 5 or your species cap). You move one step down the Condition Track as the cost. Basic Combat module.
• Stim Efficacy. When you use a combat stim, it moves you two steps up on the Condition Track instead of one. The crash still costs one step per stim used, not per step gained. Basic Combat module.
• Tough. Your Wound capacity increases by 1.
• Weapon Finesse. Your Defense equals your Combat: Melee skill instead of the higher of Agility or Perception. Requirements: Trained in Combat: Melee.

Tier 2

Specialized feats requiring professional-level investment.

• Bold. Once per scene, when you attempt something the GM agrees is daring or high-risk (Risk 3+), you may reroll all blank Ability dice. Requirements: Will 2+.
• Counteragent. As a melee attack at Point Blank, you may inject a target with a chemical counteragent that immediately triggers their stim crash. If the attack hits, the target drops one step on the Condition Track for every stim they have used this scene, as if the scene had ended. This has no effect on targets who have not used stims. Requirements: Medicine 2+. Basic Combat module.
• Demoralize. As an Action, make an Influence discipline check you are trained in against a target within Close range. The target's Defense serves as Risk. On a Success, the target moves one step down the Condition Track. On a Critical Success, two steps. The fiction changes based on the discipline — Intimidation is fear, Deception is bluffing strength, Persuasion is demoralizing, Insight is speaking to insecurities. Requirements: Influence discipline 1+. Basic Combat module.
• Dual Wielding. While wielding a weapon in each hand, you may make two attack rolls as a single Action, each at +1 Risk. Each attack may target a different enemy. You may not use a second Action to attack on the same turn. Requirements: Combat discipline 2+ (for the weapons used).
• Evasive Maneuvers. While you are piloting, ranged attacks against the vessel you pilot suffer +1 Risk. Requirements: Piloting discipline 2+.
• Exploit the Opening. On a Critical Success with an attack, move the target an additional step on the Condition Track. Stacks with the Vicious weapon quality. Requirements: Any Combat discipline 1+. Basic Combat module.
• Field Medic. You may perform ally recovery (Intellect + Medicine) as a Minor Action instead of an Action. Requirements: Medicine 2+.
• Focus Training. You may train Focus as a skill. Without this feat, Focus cannot be trained. Requirements: Human or Sooni. (Sooni receive this automatically via Born to Focus.)
• Follow My Lead. When you succeed on a check during a Structured Scene, one ally making a related check on their next turn reduces their Risk by 1. Requirements: Leadership 1+.
• Hot Stick. When piloting using a discipline you are trained in, you may reroll one Risk die per check. Requirements: Piloting discipline 1+.
• Improvisor. Given time and materials, you can create improvised equipment, modifications, or devices. The GM sets the check and Risk. Results last until end of scene, then fail completely. Requirements: Engineering or Science discipline 1+.
• Inspiring Rhetoric. As an Action, make a Leadership check targeting up to 1 + your Leadership rating allies within Close range. Risk equals the lowest Condition Track position among the targets (Winded = 1, Injured = 2, Impaired = 3). On a Success, one target recovers one step. On a Critical Success, all targets recover one step. Requirements: Leadership 2+. Basic Combat module.
• Iron Constitution. You ignore the stim crash entirely. At the end of a scene, you do not drop steps on the Condition Track for stims used. Your body processes the chemicals without consequence. Requirements: Strength 2+, Will 2+. Basic Combat module.
• Jury Rig. When you succeed on an Engineering check, the repair holds for the remainder of the scene, even if it would normally be temporary. At the end of the scene, the repair fails completely. Requirements: Engineering 1+.
• Keen Analysis. When you spend an Action to examine, analyze, or investigate something (not in combat), reduce Risk by 1 and the GM provides one additional detail beyond what the check would normally reveal. Requirements: Science or Savvy discipline 2+.
• Silver Tongue. When you succeed on an Influence discipline check you are trained in, you may spend 1 Momentum to make the target believe the interaction was their own idea. Requirements: Influence discipline 1+.
• Subspace Intuition. You can mentally visualize higher-dimensional shapes, giving you an instinctive feel for subspace navigation. Reduce Risk by 1 on all navigation-related Piloting checks. Requirements: NorAellian or GM approval. Piloting 2+.
• Tactician. When you use the Assist action during a Structured Scene, gain +1 Momentum if the assisted character's roll succeeds. Requirements: Coordination: Tactical 1+.
• Thread the Needle. Once per scene, while piloting through a hazardous environment (debris field, asteroid belt, ship interior, atmospheric hazard), spend 1 Willpower after the roll to turn a Costly Success into a clean Success. Requirements: Piloting discipline 2+.
• Wolf Pack. When flying in formation with at least one ally ship, you and any ally ship in formation with you reduce Risk by 1 on attack rolls against the same target in the same turn. Requirements: Piloting discipline 2+.

Tier 3

Powerful feats requiring significant investment or feat chains.

• Ace. Once per scene, on a Piloting check, treat any Costly Success as a clean Success. Requirements: Piloting discipline 4+.
• Deflection. You may use Parry against ranged attacks at Close range or nearer, not just melee attacks. Requirements: Athletics 3+.
• Dive Master. As an Action while piloting, make a Will + Piloting check at Risk 3. On a Success, your vessel dives briefly into subspace and surfaces at any point within 2 range bands, facing any direction. On a Costly Success, the reposition succeeds but the vessel takes damage (GM determines severity). On a Failure, the dive aborts and all attacks against your ship are at -1 Risk until your next turn. Requirements: Piloting discipline 3+.
• Enhance Ability. You may spend 1 Willpower to enhance one Ability by 1 for the remainder of the scene, to a maximum of 5 or your species cap. Requirements: Focus Training.
• Marksman. Light cover has no effect on your ranged attacks. Heavy cover is treated as light cover (+1 Risk instead of +2, +0 Soak instead of +1). Requirements: Combat: Firearms 4+.
• Redirection. When you successfully Parry an attack, the attacker takes 1 step on the Condition Track. Requirements: Deflection, Athletics 4+. Basic Combat module.
• Side Step. Once per round, when hit by a ranged attack, you may spend 1 Momentum to turn the hit into a failure. Requirements: Agility 3+.
• Unyielding Will. Your Willpower pool increases by 2. This feat may be taken multiple times, up to your Focus rating. Requirements: Focus 1+.