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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9323972" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003part 8/10Skills and Feats: As usual, there are a few changes to the skills list, then a considerably larger list of new feats. New skills are Command, for getting NPC’s to follow orders that put them in imminent danger, Demolitions, as has turned up in many of these minigames, Logistics, and Research. Speaking multiple languages is made substantially more expensive, taking a full 5 points to reach native level fluency rather than the one or two in regular D&D, and the list of knowledges also gets tweaked. If you want to be a good spy you’ll really have to specialise. The list of feats also has a mix of new and tweaked ones. Skill focus has been upgraded to the 3.5 version. Weapon proficiencies have a new set of categories, and you also suffer an unfamiliarity penalty for using firearms from another country unless you take the appropriate feat. Many D&D class features like flurry of blows, sneak attack and favored terrain are available as feats. New feats tend to be fairly low key, such as dazing people with the ferocity of your charge attacks, being able to use a parachute properly or shoot guns while driving without penalties. Once again it’s heavily on the gritty end, restricting lots of fairly basic things unless you specifically buy a feat saying you can do it instead of letting everyone do the basics and the feats providing bonuses. Not really my preferred playstyle but at least it’s a consistent design choice.Weapons: The list of new weapons is quite extensive, spanning a full 9 pages. Five different types of flamethrowers, which all do the same damage but have different weights, ranges and fuel capacities. Four different types of grenades, coming in both thrown and rifle shot varieties. 14 different types of machine guns. 10 new melee weapons, all of which only do a small fraction of the damage of the ranged options. 11 types of pistol. 10 types of rifle. 8 types of sub-machine gun. Many of them are specific to certain countries, while others are more generically described and it’s assumed everyone has a version. This feels like they wanted to write more, but were limited by the overall limit of their page count, forcing them to keep things concise, which is probably preferable for me as massive lists are one of the easiest things to glaze over, particularly when it’s just variants of range and damage rather than any unique special effects.</blockquote>

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