It is now time to determine your skill level with each of your newly acquired skills. Within each of the skill charts is a formula that will help you to determine what your characters natural talents are with his skills. Simply follow the formula listed to determine the level. If the level is not suitable, it is possible to raise the level by spending an additional amount of skill points from that same skill set as listed below. You cannot borrow points from one skill set to raise the skills in another set, with the exception of background skill points.

You can not raise a skill above 14 during character creation, this can only be done through attribute allocation, or thorugh raising the skill in game play via hash marks or instruction from other characters.

It is important to note that you cannot jump steps. For example, if your Rifle skill is 4 and you would like it to be 7, you must pay points for each step in the progression, totaling 3 points. You do not simply pay the 1-point cost to raise the level to 7.

Step 5 Determine Crit and Fumble Levels:

Each skill has three different thresholds that determine if an objective is accomplished.

Crit, or critical is a resounding success. In combat this could indicate a more lethal strike to a more vital part of the body and is reflected in an increase in damage to the target. In other uses, the result of the Crit may need to be determined by the game master. A critical success in a lie, for example, would be affected by the character of the person being deceived. A Crit is determined when the number rolled is less than or equal to that of the Crit Roll level, so if your Crit Roll level is 5 for example, and you roll a 3 this is a Critical Success.

Success is merely a black or white measurement if an action accomplished the basics of its intent, and not a measure of the extent of a success. A roll that is less than or equal to the Success Roll level is determined to be a success.

Fumble is a dramatic failure. In the case of combat, this could indicate a weapon failure, in the example of a repair it could indicate damage to the original item being repaired. Often when a fumble is reached 1d10 is rolled to determine the result of the fumble. In some cases, where a table does not exist or does not make sense, the game master may be called upon to determine the result of the fumble. A roll is considered a fumble when it is equal to or greater than the Fumble Roll level. For example, if a character tries to shoot a target with a 1911 handgun using his Handguns skill with a Fumble level of 15, and the player rolls a 17, this would be considered a fumble. At this point the player will roll a 1d10 and consult the Semi Automatic Fumble chart, and determine the results of his fumble.

Crit, Success, and Fumble are often modified by items, weapons, background skills, and game play events, among other things. The Crit and Fumble levels are determined by the skill or attribute Success Roll level. This is shown on the following chart.

At some levels the Crit or Fumble of a given Success Roll are higher than 20 or lower than 2. In normal game play, a level lower than 2 or higher than 20 is not reachable. However, some items and events in game can modify these numbers to reachable levels. For example, if your fumble is 21, but you are using the Luger pistol which has a fumble of -2, your fumble now becomes a reachable 19.

The following chart indicates the Crit and Fumble levels associated with the Success level for any given skill or attribute. For example, if a character has a Beekeeping skill of 6, the chart indicates that she would have a corresponding Crit Level of 2, and a Fumble level of 16 for that skill.