In the vastness of space, the ability to pilot a vehicle can mean the difference between life and death. The Vehicles - Piloting (Air/Space) skill encompasses the know-how and experience necessary to fly and operate all manner of airborne and space-faring vehicles.
As a skilled pilot, you are able to navigate through treacherous asteroid fields, dogfight enemy ships, and make high-speed maneuvers through the upper atmosphere of a planet. You know how to expertly handle your vessel in any situation, whether it’s a tiny one-seater fighter or a massive capital ship.
Your knowledge of physics, spatial geometry, and engineering allows you to operate the complex systems that make up your vehicle with ease. You can calculate trajectories, plot courses, and handle the subtle nuances of atmospheric flight and space combat.
In the midst of battle, you are a master of strategy and tactics, able to anticipate your opponent's moves and outmaneuver them at every turn. You are a true master of the skies and the void, and your skills are highly valued by those who seek to explore the reaches of the universe.
Each piloting maneuver will have a difficulty rating based on the complexity of flight, environmental hazards, combat intensity, and vehicle capabilities. The more challenging the conditions and demanding the maneuvers, the higher the difficulty.
When you attempt to pilot aircraft or spacecraft, perform aerial combat maneuvers, navigate through hazardous space, execute precision flying, or control damaged vessels, you will make a Vehicles - Piloting (Air/Space) skill check against the task's difficulty rating. The GM may apply Boons or Banes based on factors such as vehicle condition, weather/space conditions, sensor capabilities, or damage sustained.
Rather than spending skill points to move up skill levels, you may instead spend skill points to purchase any of the following tricks.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can execute expert evasive maneuvers when under fire. Once per operation, when being targeted by enemy weapons, you gain a +1d6 Boon to defensive piloting checks. Your unpredictable flight pattern - jinks, barrel rolls, and sudden direction changes - makes you incredibly difficult to hit. Enemies trying to track you suffer disadvantage.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can land your vessel in hostile or dangerous conditions. Once per operation, you can land on unsuitable terrain (combat zones, damaged landing pads, moving platforms) with a +1d6 Boon. Your combat landing training allows you to touch down under fire, on unstable surfaces, or in zero visibility without crashing.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can thread your vessel through impossibly tight spaces. Once per operation, gain +1d6 Boon when navigating through tight corridors, asteroid fields, debris, or urban canyons. You can fly through gaps that other pilots consider impossible - between buildings, through station interiors, or along narrow canyon walls.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You excel at aerial/space combat. Once per rest, during a dogfight or space combat, you gain a +1d8 Boon to all piloting rolls for the duration of the engagement. You anticipate enemy moves, position perfectly for weapon solutions, and maintain tactical advantage. Your combat flying is legendary.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can fly damaged vessels that should be unflyable. Once per rest, when piloting a critically damaged ship (engines failing, hull breaches, system failures), you gain a +1d8 Boon to maintain control. You can nurse crippled vessels to safe landing, keep dying engines running just long enough, or maintain flight control with half your systems offline.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You're a master of navigating hazardous space. Once per rest, when flying through asteroid fields, debris zones, or other space hazards, you gain a +1d8 Boon and can use the obstacles to your advantage - hiding behind asteroids, using debris for cover, or leading pursuers into deadly collisions with spatial hazards.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You can execute one maneuver that should be physically impossible. Once per mission, you perform a flight move that defies physics and expectations - a flip that reverses all momentum instantly, threading between missiles while rolling, flying backwards through an asteroid field, or landing on a target moving at high speed. You automatically succeed. Witnesses will question what they saw.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Your piloting becomes legendary. For one space battle or aerial engagement, you cannot be shot down - you automatically evade all attacks, outmaneuver all enemies, and position perfectly for every shot. Your flying is so skilled that enemy pilots give up trying to hit you and focus on other targets. You own the battle space.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You can land any vessel in any condition. Once per mission, no matter how damaged your ship, how impossible the landing site, or how hostile the conditions, you bring your vessel down safely. Engines dead? You glide in. Landing pad destroyed? You find a way. Under heavy fire? You touchdown without a scratch. Your landing is perfect. Everyone aboard survives.
Each mastered combat pattern grants a stacking Boon when you execute that specific maneuver:
Boons apply when:
Offensive Patterns:
Defensive Patterns:
Formation Patterns:
Unlike contacts or operatives, mastered flight patterns are permanent skill memory:
Rax "Razor" Corvain develops his signature evasive pattern:
Later, Rax masters 2 more patterns (offensive strafe and wingman coordination), increasing his Boon pool to +1d6 when using any of his three signature moves.