5. Skills

Table of Contents

• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 Easy Skills
• 5.3 Average Skills
• 5.4 Hard Skills
• 5.5 Very Hard Skills

5.1: Skills are organized according to how difficult they are to learn.

Not all available Skills are listed here.  Some Skills are associated with specific Magic Spells, Psionic Powers, or Mutant Powers.  Piloting skills come in varying difficulty levels, and are listed with their respective Vehicles in Section 13.

5.2: Easy Skills default to Mediocre unless they default to non-existent.

• 5.2.1: Knot Tying

  You are skilled at taking two of those 50-foot ropes everybody seems to buy, and tying them together to make a 100-foot rope.

• 5.2.2: Dodging

  You are skilled at avoiding attacks.  During combat, you may forego the opportunity to make an attack on your turn and instead attempt to make yourself much more difficult to hit.  If the rolled degree of your Dodging Skill is greater than your Agility, this higher level is used instead of your Agility whenever somebody attacks you, until your next turn.  Dodging can even be used out-of-turn if you are willing to forfeit your next turn.  See Section 16: Combat.

• 5.2.3: Parrying

  You are skilled at blocking melee attacks.  During combat, if you are aware of someone making a melee attack against you, you may forego the opportunity to make an attack on your turn and instead attempt to block the incoming attack.  If the rolled degree of your Parrying Skill is higher than the rolled degree of your opponent's melee weapon skill, you have successfully parried his attack and his blow fails to land.  Furthermore, the parried-person's Initiative next round is automatically reduced to one step below yours, guaranteeing you will get to act first.  Like Dodging, Parrying can be used out-of-turn if you are willing to forfeit your next turn.  See Section 16: Combat.

  If you are Parrying with a shield, you may add the shield's "vs. Melee" bonus to your Skill level.

• 5.2.4: Diving for Cover

  You are skilled at getting out of the way of attacks that affect everything in an area.  During combat, if you are aware of someone making an area-effect attack against you, you may forego the opportunity to make an attack on your turn and instead attempt to jump out of the way.  The Difficulty of Diving for Cover up to 2 meters is Fair.  You may Dive for Cover a greater distance, but the Difficulty goes up by +1 for every 2 meters thereafter.  If your attempt to Dive for Cover fails, you are considered to be in the air over the spot you started out in when the attack goes off.  Like Dodging and Parrying, Diving for Cover can be used out-of-turn if you are willing to forfeit your next turn.  See Section 16: Combat.

5.3: Average Skills default to Poor unless they default to non-existent.

• 5.3.1: Specific Melee Weapon

  You are skilled in using one specific type of melee weapon in combat.  Examples of Specific Melee Weapon skills include Broadsword, Whip, Chainsaw, and Light Saber.

• 5.3.2: Unarmed Combat

  You are skilled in melee combat without using weapons.  Unarmed Combat is another name for the Martial Arts Skill.  If you do not invest any EP in the Unarmed Combat Skill, you are at -1 on your Offensive Damage Factors when making an unarmed melee attack, as detailed in FUDGE section 4.54.

• 5.3.3: Specific Ranged Weapon

  You are skilled in shooting one specific type of ranged weapon in combat.  Examples of Specific Ranged Weapon skills include Longbow, Crossbow, Sling, Thrown Rock, 9 mm Pistol, .223 Rifle, and Laser Carbine.  Ranged weapons that are self-targeting (such as guided missiles) are considered to have their own Ranged Weapon skill built in, and do not require their user to have any Skill to target them — although extremely complicated weapons may require their user to have a Skill to make them fire and tell them whom to fire at.

• 5.3.4: Fast Draw

  You can draw a weapon and have it at the ready instantly.  This Skill requires an Action Roll at a Difficulty Level of Fair; failing your Skill roll means your weapon takes the normal amount of time to ready.  If both opponents in a walk-down gunfight have the Fast Draw Skill and both of them make their Skill rolls, the one with the highest skill roll has her weapon readied first.

• 5.3.5: Swimming

  You can move through the water without drowning.  A penalty of -1 is imposed if you are carrying weight of at least 1/3 but less than 2/3 of your carrying capacity, -2 if you are carrying weight of at least 2/3 but no greater than all of your carrying capacity, and -3 if you are carrying more weight than your carrying capacity.

• 5.3.5: Bartering

  You are skilled in getting a good price when you sell things.  Whenever your character attempts to sell something, make an Action Roll with his Bartering skill and consult the following table:

  Bartering roll	Result
  Mediocre or worse	Item can be sold for half its market value
  Fair	Item can be sold for 3/4 of its market value
  Good or better	Item can be sold for its full market value

  Items can never be sold for more than their market value, because this would allow munchkin characters to earn a living by other means besides killing things and stealing their treasures.

• 5.3.6: Language

  Defaults to non-existent

  You are skilled in speaking a language other than your native language.  Languages used in the World of Death Munchkin! include elvish, orcish, trollish, ogrish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

• 5.3.7: Lockpicking

  You are skilled in opening locks without the proper key.  You must have a lockpicking tool available to use this skill.  An improvised lockpick, such as a Bobby pin, imposes a -1 penalty.  Each lock will have a difficulty level for being picked; picking an average lock will be of Fair difficulty, while picking the lock to a bank vault will be of Superb difficulty.

• 5.3.8: Finding Traps

  You are skilled in finding hidden traps.  Each trap has a Finding Difficulty.

• 5.3.6: Disarming Traps

  You are skilled in deactivating traps without setting them off, or in setting them off in such a way that you don't get caught by them.  This is not the same skill as throwing another party member into a trap to set it off.  Each trap has a Disarming Difficulty, completely separate from its Finding Difficulty.

• 5.3.9: Moving Silently

  Others must make a Perception roll at a difficulty level equal to the rolled degree of your most recent Moving Silently Skill roll to hear you, when this skill is in use.

• 5.3.10: Hiding in Shadows

  If the light is dim or there are shadows big enough for you to hide in, you may use this Skill.  Others must make a Perception Roll at a Difficulty Level equal to the rolled degree of your most recent Hiding in Shadows Skill Roll to see you.  You must stand perfectly still to Hide in Shadows.

• 5.3.11: Climbing

  You are skilled at climbing things that don't have many good handholds and footholds.  Climbing a steep mountain face would be of Fair difficulty, while climbing a brick wall with only shallow mortar-dents between the bricks would be of Great difficulty.

• 5.3.12: Healing

  You are skilled at cleaning and binding wounds.  This Skill works as detailed in FUDGE section 4.8.

• 5.3.13: Disguise

  You are skilled at making yourself into a convincing likenesses of another.  A Perception roll at a difficulty level equal to the rolled degree of your most recent Disguise Skill roll is required to see through the Disguise.  You are at -1 to the rolled degree of your Disguise Skill if the creature you are impersonating is not of the same species or sex as yourself, and at an additional -1 for each level your Strength/Mass Scale (for size) differs with that of the creature you are impersonating.  If the person observing you is suspicious and looks you over carefully, her Perception Roll is at +1.

5.4: Hard Skills default to Terrible unless they default to non-existent.

5.5: Very Hard Skills default to non-existent.

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