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03a – Special Abilities List d20

Posted on June 15, 2001January 4, 2021 by Ron McClung

These abilities are listed by point cost. They are merely a short listing of some options possible. Use them at your discretion. Create role-playing rules for other options based on what you see here.  This is not a totally inclusive list. Other ability may be created by the GM or the player.

Point CostSpecial Ability
1-5Acute Abilities
Acute Hearing: +1 per point to Listen
Acute Smell: +1 per point to Listen
Acute Taste: +1 per point to detect poisons in food, etc.
Acute Touch: +1 point per point to Listen, Sleight of Hand, Disable Device, or to perform and to sense a pickpocket.  The character can sense even vibrations from very far away.
Acute Vision: +1 point per point to Spot; +1 per point long range shots,+1 per point Search
1-3Attractive Appearance: +2 / Point Diplomacy, Bluff.
1-4Naturally Enhanced Ability Climbing Claws – Used for Climbing only.  +2 per point spent to climbing when in use. Jumping – +2 per point spent  bonus to jump Natural Camouflage – +2 per point spent   to Hide Prehensile Tail: This allows the character to use his tail as another limb, giving him an extra action in combat. Special Balance: +2 per point spent  to Climb, Jump, Escape Artist, Tumble Special Skill Affinity:  Due to the environment the character was raised in, the character receives a +2 per point spent  bonus to a specific skill – examples are Swimming for aquatic aliens; Knowledge (Agricultural) for agricultural societies; Survival (Wilderness) for those raised in the Wilderness; Intimidation for those raised in particular aggressive  societies; Move Quietly or Listen for those that are raised in particularly dangerous worlds and are not the top of the food chain. Enhanced Size: For 3 points, this Special Ability, the player can increase or decrease the character size one level.  All Characters start out as a Medium-size character and must buy this ability to either be Large or Small.  It is not seen as role-playable to be any larger or smaller in Star Wars.
1-3Natural Lie Detector: +2 per point to Sense Motive to detect lies (vs. target’s Diplomacy).  +1 point per point to Diplomacy, Profession (Gambling).
1-3Natural Armor: Character has a tough hide or carapace that acts as Armor.  +2 points  of Armor per point spent on this ability.  (No special Feat required)
1-3Special Vision: (Dark, Low-light, Infrared) 1-point Enhanced Vison is, for example, like Low-Light Vision.  The character can see twice as far as normal beings in Low-light situations.  3 point Enhanced Vision is, for example, Dark Vision – the ability to see up to 20 meters in the total darkness.  2-point vision can be a shorter ranged Dark Vision or a short range Infrared Vision.
1-3Observation: +1 point per point to Spot.  More than just Acute Vision, this involves more instinct.  Can be combined with Acute Vision.
1-5Pheromone Control: The character is capable of automatically (no skill roll required) provoking an emotion in those within a radius around him. The radius and effect depends on the amount of points that was spent. The bonus applies to any CHA based skilled (except Force and Disguise).

Pheromone Control

PointsRadiusBonus
11+1
23+2
35+3
410+4
515+5
Pheromone Control
Point CostSpecial Ability
2Gills. The character can breathe one form of liquid (probably water) as if it were oxygen. The character is immune to drowning in it. He gains +4 to all Swim rolls.
2Gas Tolerance. The character can breathe one form of atmosphere not tolerated (and possibly lethal to) Humans and most other aliens.
Point CostSpecial Ability
3Natural Weapon Claws: Not to be used as climbing.  Claw attack is does 1d4 points of unarmed damage, instead of the normal 1d3 for Medium size characters. For small, 1d3.  For Large, 1d6. Tail: A tail appendage that can be used as a weapon.  Normal Unarmed damage. Fangs: Sharp teeth. 1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large Tusks or Horns: Bone-like protrusions somewhere on the body, usually in or around the head/face.  1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large Beak: Sharp, Bird-like mouth used for pecking attacks. 1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large Kick: Especially adept at a type of kicking. 1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large Pincers: 1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large Venom: See Star Wars RPG Core Rulebook for types of Poisons (pg 219) Body Weapon: Special weapon that doesn’t fall under the above categories – like tentacles, thorns, or bladed dorsal fins.  1d4 unarmed damage for Medium-size characters, 1d3 for Small, 1d6 for Large
3Flight: Alien can fly.
3Gliding: Alien can glide a certain distance.  On a standard gravity world, it can glide 15 meters.  Double that for might gravity world.  On heavy gravity worlds, it can glide 5 meters.
3Temperature Tolerance: Either cold or hot – player’s choice – the character suffers no ill effects to that extreme, to a point, that is agreed upon by the GM and the player.
3Drug Tolerance. Most drugs do not affect the character nearly as badly as most of Humanity and aliens. Add +2 to any rolls made to fight off addiction.
Point CostSpecial Ability
4Armor-Defeating Attack: When attacking characters protected by armor with natural weapons (the character’s fists, claws, teeth, etc.) this ability negates the Armor bonuses. The character must specify how the attack negates the armor: an acidic mist slips through any openings, metallic-based claws, etc. There should be at least one type of armor that is unaffected by this.
4Hardiness 1:   The player receives an additional bonus to Vitality, based on his class.  The bonus is half the starting Vitality of the class.
4Long Life Span: The character is “virtually immortal.” Often, this Advantage has an Advantage Flaw attached that governs what the character must do to maintain his life. The character should gain peripheral bonuses during game play because of his “longer outlook.”
4Multiple Abilities 1: A character might have multiple “minor” abilities that are increased by a special ability. For example, a character could have “eyestalks” that give him a +1 bonus to perception attempts that would negate surprise, the ability to focus his ears on particular types of noises (+l bonus when listening for particular sounds), and fingers that are very sensitive to subdermal motion (+ 1 bonus to lock picking against safes with moving tumblers). All the bonuses should be fairly limited in their applications, pertaining to only specific uses of particular skills (like specializations do), but there can be several of them for each selection. A lot of discretion is left to the GM where this ability is concerned.
4Natural Resistance: The character is highly resistant to disease and receives a +5 to Fortitude checks when determining whether he has contracted an illness or not.
5Enhanced Healing : The character recovers Vitality quicker.  Instead of the normal 1 point per Character Level per hour of rest, it’s 2 points.
4Omnivorous: The character is capable of gaining nourishment from any organic substance (though he is not immune to poisons).
4Sense of Direction 1: The character has a good sense of direction. He gains +4 to cartography rolls, and planetary navigation rolls used to find his way.
4Silence: The character is able to move in complete silence. He gains +5 to all Hide and Move Quietly checks.
4Speed: The character is extremely fast, adding +5 to one of his movement rates.
4Ventriloquism: The character has the ability to throw his voice up to three meters away. No skill roll is required to do this, but if it is part of a Bluff attempt, he receives a +5 bonus.
4Youthful Appearance: The character looks much younger than he or she actually is and receives a +4 to Diplomacy and Bluff attempts which involve posing as someone youthful (in general, characters should not look more than 10-15 years younger than they are, and game master discretion and common sense should be the rule here).
Point CostSpecial Ability
5Attack Form Resistance (Environmental) – The character is highly resistant (+6 bonus to resistance roll) to attacks involving extremes of heat or cold.
5Attack Form Resistance (Interaction): The character is highly resistant to one specific type of non-physical attack or assault, such as Bluff, Intimidation, uses of Diplomacy requiring a resistance roll or saving throw, interrogation, etc. (relevant Ability Score or saving throw +6 to resist attack).
5Attack Form Resistance (Specific Weapon):  The character is highly resistant (+6 bonus to Defense) to physical damage from a particular type of normal weapons (Blasters, Slugthrowers, Melee Weapon, Natural Weapons).  The player and the GM will have to work out the rationalization of the ability. This is not armor, it is simply a resistance.
5Elasticity: The character can stretch, elongate, and compress his body, allowing him to double his height or smaller openings he could not normally fit through. The character’s extremities can be stretched to fit through a keyhole or tight crack. The character gains +6 to skills in relation to maneuvering in tight spaces, and pick pocket, lock pick and related skill attempts.
5Hardiness
II:  The player receives an additional bonus to Vitality, based on his class.  The bonus is the starting Vitality of the class.
5Hypnotism: This ability gives the character the hypnosis skill at at +5, as  a Natural Ability.  This skill is based on CHA, and is resisted by Will saving throw.
5Immortality: The character is immortal. If he gets down to 0 wounds, he doesn’t die – he just drops unconscious, into a coma. With the proper medical attention, the character will come out of his coma.  Until healed, he remains in the coma. This is usually accompanied with “Regeneration,” because without it he’ll slowly heal from massive wounds. However, there should be one particular set of circumstances whereby the character will die forever. These sets of circumstances should not be too unusual – killed directly by Force, drowned, decapitated are all good examples.
5Limited Regeneration: The character recovers Vitality quicker.  Instead of the normal 1 point per Character Level per hour of rest, the character generate his Class Vitality bonus per Character Level per hour of rest.
5Multiple Abilities II: Similar to “Multiple Abilities I,” save that the modifiers can now be in the +2 to +4 range (game master’s discretion).
5Paralyzing Touch: Paralyzing Touch: Characters who choose this ability can cause a target to be paralyzed (no movement for a period of time). The character must succeed at a unarmed combat attack to touch his target’s flesh for the ability to work.The target must generate a Will saving throw with a DC 10 + attackers Will save + 1 for every extra Vitality the attacker puts into the effort. If the target fails, he’s paralyzed, and will remain that way until he makes a successful Will saving throw vs. the same DC. He may attempt to do so once per round, and every round the DC is reduced by 1.
There should be a base vitality cost for this effect between 2 to 5 Vitality, GMs discretion.Note: Characters who are heavily armored or covered will be harder to hit. In general, a normal unarmed combat attack is used to hit an average character’s skin (the difficulty of hitting bare skin is balanced out by the fact that no damage needs to be caused). A character wearing clothing or armor over most of his body would gain +2, +3 or more to his relevant defensive skill.
Point CostSpecial Ability
6Regeneration: Character heals faster than normal healing.  Vitality is healed at the rate of the maximum Vitality bonus possible for his Class, per Character Level per Hour.  For example, a Soldier Regenerates 10 points per hour of rest.  Also, the character Regenerates 2 wounds per day of rest instead of one.

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