Uncharted Worlds: Careers

Academic

The Academic career represents years of study and learning, with a strong focus on science and logic. Academics can be found in specialist positions in other fields, leveraging their years of study; Military Academics tend to be field medics, Clandestine Academics are often detectives, Academic Explorers range from xenobiologists to expeditionary researchers.

Descriptions: Thin, Pallid, Elderly, Kind-hearted, Aloof, Distracted.

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Chemistry

When creating an antidote, vaccine, drug, poison or pathogen in a lab, state the effect you want it to have and its method of transmission (spray, injector, pill, etc.). roll +Expertise.

On a 10+, you successfully create it.
On a 7–9, it will have reduced potency or have unintended side effects.

Deduction

When you first witness a situation, you may ask one of the following questions, the GM will answer honestly. Who or what…

Education

When you gain one or more Data Points about a subject, each ally that was present or involved also gains a Data Point about the subject.

Surgery

When using a medical facility, your Patch Up can be used to install prosthetics and perform surgical reconstruction on living beings. This treats critical injuries.

Technobabble

You can Command crew using Expertise rather than Influence. Subjects of your Command can perform minor technical or scientific tasks, no matter their skill set.

Augmented

The Augmented career is the source of a wide variety of permanent physical and mental enhancements through deep cybernetics (though gene-modding and mutations can bring about similar effects). People from all walks of life embrace the Augmented lifestyle to upgrade their capabilities. Augmented Technocrats are hyper-connected; they are able to converse directly with their systems. Clandestine Augmented are swift, stealthy cyber-ninjas. Industrial Augmented are perpetually upgrading themselves with new add-ons.

Descriptions: Wired, Rusty, Polished, Glitchy, Chrome, Patched.

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Harder

You resist damage as a Vehicle would: incoming damage is reduced by one step before you Brace for Impact, unless that damage has Penetrating or Breaching.

Better

Your body can support two additional cybernetic Mods. You gain two free cybermods if this Skill was chosen during character creation.

Faster

Your run speed and reaction time are incredibly fast. You can include extreme acts of acrobatics, reflexes, and/or flexibility in your Moves (quick-drawing weapons, catching bullets, running up walls, outrunning explosions, sprinting on water, etc.).

Stronger

Your unarmed and melee attacks are Destructive, Impact, and Penetrating.

Technologic

You can establish a wireless mental connection to any computer system within line of sight. Open and Accessed systems remain connected to you as long as you are within signal range.

Chosen

The Chosen career channels the powers of great, unknowable cosmic forces, often characterized as holy or unholy. The level of absolute faith required is exceptionally rare, but can manifest in any other career. Industrial Chosen are machine-worshiping tech-priests. Chosen Academics are healers and scholars, unravelling the mysteries of faith. Chosen Explorers are pilgrims and wanderers, seeking the divine in the most remote corners of untamed worlds.

Descriptions: Tranquil, Radiant, Ominous, Emaciated, Ancient, Distant.

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Pact

Create a Faction consisting of just your deity. You gain 1 Favor and 3 Debt with it. You communicate with your deity through prayer and can call in Favors. Your deity makes demands and calls in your Debts through dreams and prophecy.

Lay On Hands

Your Patch Up takes only a few seconds. You do not need tools or materials to perform a Patch Up, just a touch and a word.

Wisdom

When you are in Cramped Quarters with yourself or another, choose any number of the following:

Relic

Create a Class 3 melee weapon.
Choose one:

A Relic is almost indestructible. If you become separated, you always have a vague, painful sense of where it is.

Clandestine

The Clandestine career is a sinister profession, relying on information and invisibility. Clandestine operatives tend toward low profiles and subtlety, no matter their complimentary profession; Clandestine Industrials make terrifying saboteurs, Clandestine Scoundrels are deadly assassins, Clandestine Personalities are deft infiltrators and spies. Ironically, Clandestine operatives also make effective (if scary) law enforcement agents.

Descriptions: Hawk nosed, Sinister, Wiry, Bland, Suspicious, Bald.

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Assassination

Any successful (10+) Move that results in someone’s death also leaves no evidence that you committed the act.

Interrogation

When you question someone who is at your mercy, gain 3 Data Points about them: their lives, their job, their transactions, their friends, their family, their guilt, their shame, etc.

Sabotage

When you tamper with machines, plans, etc., describe how you go about it and roll +Stat.

On a 10+, the target of your tampering is doomed to fail, just as you planned.
On a 7–9, the target of your tampering is doomed to fail spectacularly, horrifically or comically, at the GM’s discretion.

Stealth

Whenever you can move around freely and are unobserved, you can choose to vanish without a trace. While missing, you may show up in the midst of events, as long as you can explain how you got there.

Surveillance

After you Access someone’s personal systems, you can track that person’s public movements from then on (general location, interactions, transactions, etc.). You can only have one surveillance subject at a time.

Commercial

The Commercial career’s strength lies in making deals, acquiring goods and managing the complex web of inter-faction debt and influence. Almost all other careers benefit in some way from the Commercial’s purchasing power. Commercial Industrials turn scrap into profit, Commercial Technocrats are always aware of the best prices and opportunities, Commercial Starfarers haul cargo to the farthest reaches of space.

Descriptions: Oily, Well-Fed, Manicured, Harried, Miserly, Cunning.

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Acumen

When you first visit a market or environment, you may ask one of the following questions, and the GM will answer honestly:

Bribe

You can use Acquisition to purchase the following:

Luxury

Your clothing, belongings and quarters are all lavish and expensive. Gain one of the following NPCs as a retainer: Butler, Assistant, Consort or Advisor. Name the NPC and give them a 2–4 word description.

Marketing

When you arrive in a civilized area, choose a type of market. You can easily find that kind of market here.

Outfit

Own a unique Class 3 Attire. If your attire is ever lost or damaged, you can abandon it and spend an extended period of time claiming new attire as your Outfit, adding an extra upgrade for it.

Consul

The Consul career employs diplomacy, politics, and a keen understanding of empires, species, and peoples. This deep understanding of others can prove invaluable to many other careers. Commercial Consuls are intergalactic entrepreneurs, dealing in the most exotic goods. Military Consuls are interpreters and cultural guides for peacekeeping forces. Consul Starfarers have Been There and Done That, no matter how far There is and how bizarre That may be.

Descriptions: Servile, Quirky, Effacing, Polite, Snobbish, Painted.

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Trinkets

Whenever you successfully engage a foreign society (visit, experience, infiltrate, attack, etc.), gain a Class 1 Cargo of miscellaneous baubles, trinkets, and other cultural detritus.

Linguist

You can communicate passably in the languages of all known societies and species. A successful Assessment of a newly-encountered or long-dead culture grants you permanent access to their written and/or spoken language.

Adaptive

You can partake of all the most exotic consumables (food, drink, narcotics, etc.) avoiding those that are poisonous to your species. You can use machinery, games, devices, vehicles, tools, equipment, and weapons not designed for your species.

Advise

When you steer someone towards a decision or desire, roll +Influence.

On a 10+, they readily accept your advice and will act on it if they can.
On a 7–9, they’re cautious, conflicted, or confused. They need time before they’re ready to act.

Mediate

When you successuflly interfere or Get Involved in an interpersonal situation (including Cramped Spaces), choose one:

Explorer

The Explorer is the most daring and risky career, forever seeking new horizons and new treasures. Other careers that regularly deal with harsh environments and unexplored reaches benefit from the Explorer’s courage and survival instinct. Commercial Explorers are prospectors or big game hunters seeking profit on hostile planets, Explorer Starfarers daredevil pilots and daring navigators, Military Explorers tend to be guerilla fighters or scouts.

Descriptions: Weathered, Battered, Unkempt, Rude, Cheerful, Brash.

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Boldly Go

When leading an expedition into the unknown, roll +Mettle.

On a 10+, choose one.
On a 7–9, the GM will choose one.

You encounter…

Reconnaissance

When you make an Assessment of any aspect of a wilderness (animals, plants, weather, terrain, hazards, etc.) you gain three Data Points about that subject on a 10+, and one Data Point about that subject on a 7–9.

Survival

You can scrounge up the following from all but the most barren, inhospitable surroundings:

Recklessness

When you make a needlessly risky Move where the odds are a million to one, roll 1d6 instead of making a normal Roll. On a 4, 5, or 6, the Move is a fantastically lucky success. On a 1, 2, or 3, the Move is a spectacularly awful failure with harsh consequences.

Custom Vehicle

You own a custom-designed Class 3 land vehicle. If that vehicle is ever lost, you can spend an extended period of time claiming a new land vehicle as your Custom Vehicle, adding an extra upgrade to it.

Fanatic

The Fanatic career is one of zealous devotion to a cause or ideal, focusing mind and body towards a singular purpose. Other careers benefit greatly from the Fanatic’s single-minded fervor. Clandestine Fanatics are exceptionally paranoid inquisitors. Fanatic Personalities are passionate, patriotic, inspirational demagogues. Fanatic Scoundrels are desperate freedom fighters, willing to sacrifice all for their cause.

Descriptions: Haggard, Twitchy, Frothing, Intense, Loudmouthed, Wild-Eyed.

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Bravery

You feel no terror, revulsion, or hopelessness. You never have to Face Adversity to overcome emotions. Any Crew you Command is Fearless.

Nemesis

Whenever you fail a Move, declare who or what caused you to fail. You gain a Data Point about that subject.

Obsession

Choose the subject of your Obsession. When you would gain a Data Point about a tangentially related subject, gain a Data Point about your Obsession instead.

Terrify

When your presence becomes known, roll +Influence or +Physique.

On a 10+, people are meek and respectful.
On a 7–9, people are cautious and worried.
On a 6-, people are panicked and hostile.

Martyr

When a nearby victim would suffer harm or consequences, you may interpose yourself and roll +Mettle.

On a 10+, they are protected, and you suffer a lesser consequence.
On a 7–9, you suffer instead of them.
On a 6-, you share in their suffering.

Industrial

The Industrial career shapes its surroundings by constructing, improving and demolishing. Other careers benefit greatly from the Industrial’s ability to create, repair, maintain a variety of machines. Industrial Explorers are settlers and pioneers, Industrial Academics tend to be inventors working on new prototypes, Industrial Scoundrels are scavengers and wreck-divers.

Descriptions: Muscled, Grimy, Wrinkled, Rigorous, Rugged, Focused.

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Repair

When using a repair bay or workshop, your Patch Up can be used to install replacement parts and perform major reconstruction on machines. This repairs critical and fatal breakages.

Construction

A few hours of work creates a small structure with one of the following traits, or adds that trait to an existing room.

Tinker

You can assemble the following from scrap metal and spare parts:

Upgrade

Your Patch Up can very temporarily add up to one additional upgrade to a weapon or vehicle, briefly increasing its Class by +1.

Dismantle

When forcefully dismantling, demolishing, or breaking something, roll +Physique.

On a 10+, choose two.
On a 7–9, choose one.

Kinetic

The Kinetic career takes control of fundamental physical forces; projecting, accelerating, suspending and redirecting. Such direct control over physics can be leveraged by many other careers. Kinetic Starfarers are graceful masters of gravity manipulation. Augmented Kinetics are cybernetic monks, able to project terrific destructive punches. Industrial Kinetics are inventive artificers, surrounded by golems and force shields.

Descriptions: Pushy, Stout, Jittery, Sturdy, Light, Flexible.

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Telekinesis

You can project physical actions over a short distance (interact, carry, punch, etc.), using the appropriate +Stats as if you were physically there.

Launch

You can propel small, inanimate objects with deadly speed and precision using +Mettle. Large, oddly shaped or defiant subjects (small vehicles, people) tend to be clumsier projectiles, and are propelled with +Physique.

Barrier

You can project a flat or hemispherical barrier of force that deflects or resists impacts, leveraging your +Mettle as a manifestation of solid willpower. This is extremely encumbering; you will be Clumsy while maintaining it.

Animate

Choose a collection of objects. Those objects become a Class 1 Artificial Crew with an upgrade that matches the materials used. You can only have one Animated Crew at a time.

Flight

You can soar, glide, and hover in midair.

Military

The Military career specializes in combat, with a heavy reliance on command, discipline and strategy. Careers that have to deal with hostilities or war zones benefit greatly when combined with the Military career’s command of the battlefield. Military Industrials are combat engineers, Military Personalities are generals and commanders, Commercial Military are well- equipped (and often expensive) mercenaries for hire.

Descriptions: Scarred, Grizzled, Massive, Skittish, Weary, Grim.

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Tactics

When you Open Fire or Launch Assault, you choose one or more consequences on a partial success (7–9), not the GM.

Toughness

You can suffer two injuries of each severity, rather than one.

Unique Weapon

Own a unique Class 3 firearm or heavy weapon. If that weapon is ever lost, you can abandon it and spend an extended period of tie claiming a new weapon as your Unique Weapon, adding an extra upgrade for it.

Heavy Lifting

Ignore the Clumsy trait inflicted by heavy weapons, heavy armor, encumbrance, and high gravity.

Authority

Whenever you are in a position of clear superiority over a group of NPCs, you can Command those NPCs even if the order goes against their own traits, loyalties, and willingness.

Personality

The Personality career revolves around influencing others through charm, good looks and oratory. Personality is useful to any career that relies on persuasion or fame. Commercial Personalities are powerful traders and brokers, Starfarer Personalities are interplanetary diplomats and negotiators, Explorer Personalities are famous explorers and daredevils.

Descriptions: Stunning, Sexy, Chiselled, Placid, Soft, Haughty.

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Fame

Decide what you are famous/infamous for. Factions, group, and people of importance always know who you are when you meet them. Allies may use your +Influence if they speak in your name, but you’ll suffer for any faux-pas.

Leadership

You have a hand-picked, elite Class 3 Crew. Given enough time and training, you can replace lost members of this crew with new NPCs.

Contacts

You have acquaintances and contacts all over the galaxy. When arriving anywhere civilized, introduce a contact. That NPC operates here.

Inspiration

Choose an emotion and the medium/art with which you convey it, then roll +Influence or +Physique.

On a 7–9, the emotion takes hold of your audience.
On a 10+, as above, and choose one:

Diplomacy

Factions will ignore political boundaries, jurisdictions, your personal relationship, and even their own prejudices when you call in a Favor.

Psychic

The Psychic career extends the senses, able to gaze into the past, glimpse the future, and reach into the hearts and minds of those nearby. Many careers have come to rely on this invasive knowledge. Psychic Personalities are councillors and viziers, staying behind the scenes. Psychic Technocrats are terrifying mind-benders, able to download, erase, and reprogram minds. Commercial Psychics are commercial telepaths, making business transactions at the speed of thought.

Descriptions: Somber, Introspective, Sedate, Blank-eyed, Whispering, Unnerving.

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Telepathy

With a moment of focus, you can:

Probe

Grasping the head of another being allows you to forcefully Access their mind (with +Interface), exactly as if it was a computer system.

Compel

You can Command any group or individual, no matter their disposition, no matter the command.

On a 10+, choose one consequence.
On a 7–9, choose two conseqences.

Precognition

If your mind is clear, you may suffer a minor mental debility (headache, nausea, vertigo, etc.) to declare that a roll you just made was merely a glimpse of possible future. Briefly describe the immediate or long-term consequences of that future, then reroll.

Clairvoyance

Meditation allows you to use your +Mettle to make Assessment about specific people, objects, and locations over any distance. The glimpses granted by a failed Clairvoyance can be extremely disturbing.

Scoundrel

The Scoundrel is the most underhanded career, relying on lies, violence, betrayal and theft to achieve goals. The Scoundrel career can be a benefit to other careers that live outside the law. Military Scoundrels are raiders and space pirates, Commercial Scoundrels are smugglers, Scoundrel Personalities are expert con-artists.

Descriptions: Thick, Dapper, Sly, Meaty, Slick, Cold.

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Criminal

Any successful (10+) Move that involves theft, smuggling, extortion, or similar crimes also leaves no evidence that could indict you.

Sneak Attack

When you get the drop on someone, roll +Mettle.

On a 10+, choose one.
On 1 7–9, the GM will give you two of the following options; choose one of them.

Scapegoat

When you would suffer social, legal, or financial consequences, name someone and roll +Expertise.

On a 10+, they suffer instead.
On a 7–9, as above. They know it was you.
On a 6-, it didn’t work, and they know what you tried to do.

False Identity

You maintain a number of fake identities that have neutral standing with all factions. as long as a chosen identity holds, your actions do not incur Debt or earn Favor.

Addict

Choose one of your five stats. As long as you regularly dose yourself with your drug of choice, increase that stat by +1. Failure to subsequently dose yourself will reduce that stat by -2 until you dose yourself again or recover from the lengthy effects of withdrawal.

Shaper

The Shaper career pushes at the very boundaries of reality, tapping into vast, primordial energies of the cosmos and making them dance. Shaper training provides controlled, reality-warping power to other careers. Military Shapers wield flame and lightning as weapons. Shaper Explorers adopt the forms of each new life they encounter. Academic Shapers are elusive magi, unravelling the mysteries of reality itself.

Descriptions: Wizened, Gruff, Enigmatic, Rune-Marked, Near-sighted, Muttering.

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Teleport

You can instantly move yourself and nearby targets across any distance, using +Mettle to overcome potential adversity, if you either:

Regeneration

A moment of stillness allows you to reduce the severity of one of your injuries by one step, if available. This can regrow limbs/organs lost to Critical Injuries, and happens while you are dead.

Evoke

Each time you Evoke the elements, choose between Fire, Frost, Lightning, Darkness, and Light. You may create and manipulate that element as part of any Move or Skill. You may wield it as a weapon when you Launch Assault or Open Fire. You may only Evoke one element at a time.

Alchemy

When using a Ritual Kit to Patch Up a person, object, or material, choose from this list instead of the standard Patch Up:

Transform

You can take on the form and bodily capabilities of a physical subject up to three times bigger or smaller than you…

You can return to your original form at any time. Assuming a shape larger than the available area is a bad idea.

Starfarer

The Starfarer career involves traveling all over the galaxy, experiencing a multitude of cultures and societies. The Starfarer’s ease with spaceships, vehicles and navigation make it useful to many other careers that are on the move. Industrial Starfarers are starship engineers, Academic Starfarers are astrophysicists, Military Starfarers are ship gunners, fighter pilots and space marines.

Descriptions: Bony, Quick, Tall, Sunny, Restless, Tolerant.

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Weightless

Ignore the Clumsy trait and/or movement restrictions inflicted by micro-gravity, low-gravity, freefall, climbing, and jump jets. A successful (10+) Move while in those situations lets you describe a moment of exceptional acrobatic grace.

Cosmopolitan

When you make an Assessment of any aspect of a society (culture, traditions, laws, government, economy, etc.) you gain three Data Points about that subject on a 10+, and one Data Point about that subject on a 7–9.

When you plan a long voyage, choose one.

The voyage will be:

Calibrations

When you diligently calibrate your favorite console or vehicle, make a Get Involved using Interface and record the result. The next time anyone uses it, the result of the Get Involved applies.

Custom Flyer

You own a custom-designed Class 3 shuttle or speeder vehicle. If that vehicle is ever lost, you can spend an extended period of time claiming a new vehicle as your Custom Vehicle, adding an extra upgrade to it.

Technocrat

The Technocrat career is the most wired-in and computer-centric of the careers, focusing on programming, data and electronic warfare. Other careers benefit from the Technocrat’s mastery of the computer systems that run almost all of civilized space. An Academic Technocrat’s thirst for information knows no bounds, Technocrat Starfarers are comms officers, and Military Technocrats control battlefield information.

Descriptions: Nearsighted, Lanky, Underfed, Smug, Awkward, Intense.

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Upload

Expend a Data Point on the SectorNet to have the facts about the subject…

Hijack

When you Access a system, it locks out everyone else. You can open the system to anyone you wish.

Program

When you Access a system, choose a behavior that the system could perform and a condition that will trigger that behavior.

Network

You can simultaneously track the locatoin and health of a dozen willing subjects through a console or HUD. You are able to remotely Get Involved or issue Commands.

Artificial Intelligence

You have the loyalty of a digital, artificial intelligence NPC. Give it a name and a 2–4 word description of its personality. It can enter, unlock, and activate systems at your Command. Your AI can only be in one system at a time.