The skills governed by your Body stat are anything you do with strength or endurance. It covers practices that are physically taxing or that require training and muscle memory, like the Martial Arts skill. Body can also govern inborn physical traits like "gorgeous" or "freakishly tall."
Your free Body skills are Athletics and Brawling. The first is any basic physical activity - running, jumping, throwing balls or rocks. The second is fighting without guns using your fists, knives, baseball bats, et cetera.
Athletics
All the stuff you spend some time doing as a kid, including organized sports. This is a poor substitute for specialization; playing dollar-a-point volleyball against someone with a Volleyball skill will always be harder on you than the person with the right skill.
| 10s |
With a lot of huffing and puffing, you could get over a 10-foot fence. |
| 20s |
About average for an inactive lifestyle. |
| 30s |
About average for an active lifestyle. You can run a mile without exhaustion. |
| 40s |
About average for a very active lifestyle. You could outrun attack dogs with luck. |
| 50s |
Among non-professionals playing a sport, you'd be considered a 'ringer'. |
| 60s |
You could play minor pro in a less-lucrative sport. |
| 70s |
You could 'play' (mostly bench-warmer) professionally in a lucrative sport. |
| 80s |
Top professional athlete. |
Brawling
When you have to put the hurt on someone, this is how you do it. You may not be trained as such, but you can try to throw haymakers, pinch, spit, wrestle, and bite.
If you make Brawling your obsession skill (calling it Martial Arts or whatever), then you get Cherries. These are special effects triggered whenever you roll a successful match (11, 22, 33, or whatever) on your hand-to-hand attack. For a list of Cherries, see pp. 55-56 of UA 2nd edition.
| 10s |
Your combat skills are pretty much limited to slaps, shin kicks, and pulling hair. |
| 20s |
This is about right for someone who grew up, but out of, a nasty neighborhood. |
| 30s |
A skill fighter - nothing really impressive, but enough to handle a mugger. |
| 40s |
If you studied martial arts, you probably have a black belt that means something. |
| 50s |
If you don't pound on people for a living, you could. |
| 60s |
You're a match for two average opponents... with knives. |
| 70s |
You could go toe-to-toe with professional fighters. |
| 80s |
You are never unarmed. Your body is a killing instrument. |
Other Body Skills
- Distracting Physique: either you're beautiful beyond belief or hideous and deformed in some fashion, but one way or the other, you make people stop and stare. Whenever anyone sees you for the first time, make a roll. If you make it, that person is at -10% to all skills until you leave their presence. This only works once per target... ever... and it works on allies as well.
- Hold Your Breath: You can hold your breath for a really long time. (Normally, you can hold your breath for you Body score in seconds. Each point in this skill extends that.
- Hold Your Liquor. At the point where other people begin staggering, a successful roll on this skill will keep you in control. (GM rolls, though.)
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Others:
- Climbing, Boxing, Weight Lifting, Go Without Rest, Marathon Running, Football, Judo, Swimming, Endure Torture
