Appearance
Skills
Astrodynamics (Intellect)
GeneralThe solar system is a vast and complex environment, and characters in a space exploration game will likely traverse it extensively. The Astrodynamics skill pertains to understanding, utilizing, and developing maps of the solar system, including the mapping of uncharted asteroid fields, or predicting comet paths. It also covers your character's ability to plot efficient trajectories for interplanetary travel.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character needs to plot a course to a destination within the solar system that is not easily reachable or widely known, such as distant asteroid fields or Kuiper belt objects.
Your character tries to make sense of a degraded map of the solar system (whether physical or electronic).
Your character plots a course under stressful conditions, such as when trying to maneuver away from oncoming space debris or attempting to escape from enemy ships.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character pilots a large vessel: your character uses Operating when actually piloting a ship.
Your character navigates a planet's surface, which calls instead for Piloting.
Your character travels a well-known route under normal conditions, like Earth to Mars, which shouldn't need a check at all.
Athletics (Brawn)
GeneralYour group's characters lead dramatic lives filled with constant physical feats. Sometimes they'll be fighting an opponent with a gun, but just as often they'll be climbing mountains, swimming across raging rivers, and leaping across chasms. The Athletics skill determines how well characters perform these actions. It serves as a measure of your character's overall fitness and physical conditioning. Those who actively engage in a regimen of physical training, such as field infantry or scouts, are the most likely to have a high rank in Athletics.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character attempts to climb up or down a structure, particularly when the climb may be tricky or the drop to the bottom is significant.
Your character tries to swim in difficult conditions. High winds, waves, tides, and currents could all contribute to making swimming difficult enough to require an Athletics check.
Your character tries to jump, either vertically or horizontally. Leaping across a deep chasm or trying to jump up and grab a fire escape to get away from an angry dog are both situations when your character needs to make an Athletics check.
Your character attempts to run for an extended time.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character attempts an activity without any chances of failure. If your character swims on a calm day in a shallow pond, goes for an early morning jog, or jumps over a small log, they don't need to bother making a check.
Your character attempts a physical activity that relies more on hand-eye coordination and general agility than straight strength. Engaging in parkour and freerunning, swinging on a rope and rappelling down a surface, and most forms of gymnastics are activities better represented by the Coordination skill.
Brawl (Brawn)
CombatThe Brawl skill is what your character uses to fight anyone who's right in front of them, rather than beyond arm's reach, when your character is fighting without any weapons. Martial arts, wrestling, and unarmed combat are all covered by this skill.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character fights with their bare hands or a weapon specifically designed to augment an unarmed attack, such as cestus or brass knuckles (or even a roll of coins).
Your character tries to pin, grapple, or hold someone.
Your character uses some form of unarmed martial art.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character fights with a projectile weapon or a thrown weapon. If your character is targeting someone who is not within arm's reach, they should be using the Ranged skill.
Your character tries to fix or modify a melee weapon. Repairing or creating weapons is usually handled by the Mechanics skill.
Charm (Presence)
SocialCoercion (Willpower)
SocialComputers (Intellect)
GeneralThe Computers skill grants your character proficiency in the operation of computers and electronic systems. Possessing a lot of ranks in Computers might allow your character to build computer systems, write complex programs, design security systems, or even create lightweight AI for running simple constructs. In addition, the Computers skill allows your character to manipulate computerized systems in ways that might be considered outside of the manufacturer's specs. In other words, it allows your character to do risky, possibly illegal things like hacking, encoding and decoding encryption, and bypassing security systems.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character attempts to pick an electronic lock, access a building's computing systems, or disarm a high-tech security system.
Your character wants to crack the encryption on secure files or messages.
Your character hacks into a database or computer system, or defends against a hacking attempt.
Your character remotely pilots a small, hand-launched drone to do more than just fly it around a park. If a drone is big enough, like a full-sized uncrewed aerial vehicle, the Piloting skill might make more sense.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character has no risk of failure. Simple day-to-day tasks like checking your email, browsing social media on your phone, or watching a movie on your tablet do not require a Computers check.
Cool (Presence)
GeneralStaying calm and maintaining composure, outwaiting an opponent, generally being cool: these exemplify things your character does with the Cool skill. Cool is something of a defensive skill in nature, since it most often comes up as the skill your character uses to resist attempts to sway or affect them. Cool also represents how your character appears to other people. If your character doesn't want to show that something affected them, they would use the Cool skill to keep their emotions invisible.
Even though Cool isn't a social skill, it is often used in social encounters. If you want to make a character who is particularly effective in social encounters, you may want to invest in Cool.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character begins laying a trap, staging an ambush, or otherwise setting up a combat encounter in which your character initiates the combat and has to judge the right time to do so.
Your character needs to stay calm and unaffected when being flattered or charmed by someone.
Your character needs to refrain from saying or doing something foolish during a tense situation.
Your character needs to keep their nerve in a tense situation, such as when piloting one of two vehicles headed toward each other at high speed.
Your character plays a card game or other game of chance in which bluffing, luck, and gambling are all intertwined.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to prevent being surprised. The Vigilance skill would work better in that situation.
Your character tries to maintain inner self-control, such as when meditating or resisting the effects of fear. When your character is concerned with inner composure, they should use the Discipline skill.
Coordination (Agility)
GeneralIn the course of adventures, characters sometimes find themselves needing to stay stable on unsteady surfaces, crawl through narrow openings, or even land safely after a fall. Overcoming these types of challenges requires a sense of balance and a heightened degree of flexibility, both of which are represented by the Coordination skill. Coordination serves as a measure of your character's flexibility, sure-footedness, and hand-eye coordination.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character tries to swing back and forth on a rope or rappel down a structure.
Your character walks across a narrow surface while trying to keep their balance.
Your character tries to squeeze into a tiny or cramped space such as a crawlspace, sewer pipe, air duct, or narrow crevice.
Your character falls and needs to try to slow the fall or land safely.
Your character needs to escape from physical restraints (such as handcuffs or ropes) and wants to contort their limbs or hands so that they can slip out of their bindings.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to climb up or down a rope or climb up a structure. This activity relies more on strength than agility, and calls for an Athletics check instead.
Your character falls from a short height or onto something soft enough that they won't suffer damage when they land, or is in any similar situation that has no consequences for failure (is lowered down a structure in a firmly secured harness, for example).
Deception (Cunning)
SocialDiscipline (Willpower)
GeneralDiscipline is your character's ability to focus their mind and quiet their thoughts. Discipline represents your character's maintaining self-mastery and focus, specifically. Your character also uses Discipline to overcome fear or terror and stay calm in the face of the horrifying. In addition, Discipline represents your character's mental fortitude to resist threats or coercion, or to disobey orders. Finally, in settings with psychic powers, characters may use Discipline to control those mental arts.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character confronts something terrifying and wants to avoid fleeing in horror (or to avoid other debilitating effects of fear).
Your character tries to keep their sanity in the face of something that defies reality and rational thought.
Your character wants to heal strain they are suffering from at the end of an encounter.
Your character wants to meditate, calm their mind, and reach a mental equilibrium.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to keep their composure in a social setting and avoid letting their emotions show. Your character would make a Cool check instead.
Your character catches a lie as it is being told. Noticing a lie depends on your character's Vigilance.
Gunnery (Agility)
CombatYour character uses Gunnery, the third of the Ranged sub-skills, to fire machine guns, plasma cannons, heavy railguns, missile launchers, grenade launchers, and pretty much any other weapon large enough that you need a tripod or team of people to use it. Your character also uses it to fire weapons mounted on vehicles.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character shoots a machine gun, cannon, missile launcher, or other "crewed" weapon.
While in a vehicle or spaceship, your character wants to fire the vehicle's weapon systems.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character is firing a pistol, submachine gun, flechette pistol, laser pistol, or similar weapon.
Your character shoots a shotgun, assault rifle, flamethrower, flechette launcher, sniper rifle, or similar weapon.
Knowledge (Culture) (Intellect)
KnowledgeThis skill governs all knowledge of the diverse societies and cultures within the human species. This includes basic information on the motivations of various factions and significant societies, the patterns and markets of interplanetary trade, and common knowledge about cultural nuances and practices among humans living on different planets or in space stations. This is the skill your character should use if they want to understand the socio-cultural dynamics within the human race today.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character wants to know why two significant human societies, such as Martian colonists and Lunar settlers, are hostile towards each other.
Your character wants to know how valuable a shipment of rare Earth-based commodities is on a specific planet or moon.
Your character needs to remember the proper etiquette when meeting with a dignitary from the United Nations of Earth.
Your character is looking for a particular station or colony with a thriving black-market trade in Earth artifacts or restricted technology.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character needs to make small talk with a diplomatic dignitary. That would require Charm.
Your character is trying to track down an artifact smuggler after arriving on a particular colony. This would require Streetwise.
Your character is trying to recall information about a specific aspect of human biology, which is something they would need to be versed in Knowledge (Science) to know about.
Knowledge (Science) (Intellect)
KnowledgeAlthough many sciences have evolved tremendously over thousands of years, the basic scientific principles remain the same. The Science skill covers the myriad scientific disciplines, from biology to structural materials to theoretical astrophysics to multidimensional theory. Characters who are highly educated, especially in any technical fields, tend to have more ranks in the Science skill.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character is trying to figure out how an unknown piece of technology works.
Your character is trying to remember specific aspects of human biology.
Your character needs to know how long they have before a comet crashes into the sun.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character wants to calculate a route for their ship to take. This requires the Astrodynamics skill.
Your character is trying to repair a ship's drive. Understanding the drive's principles may require Science, but your character needs to use Mechanics to actually repair it.
Knowledge (Psyche) (Intellect)
KnowledgeThis skill involves deep understanding of the human mind and behaviour. It covers psychological theories, mental health, and emotional intelligence. Characters with this skill excel in reading and interpreting human psychology, useful in therapeutic, research, and any context requiring insight into mental processes. This skill is key for navigating the complexities of the mind and human interactions.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character wants to understand how a person may react to receiving a piece of information.
Your character is trying to recall the stages of development to figure out how a person is likely to behave.
Your character wants to know the limits of a persons mental health.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character needs to tell if someone is lying. That would require the Deception skill.
Your character is trying to understand the inner workings of a highly advanced AI. This would be a Knowledge (Science) check.
Your character is trying to combat a hive mind that has gone rogue. Your character should be using a combat skill instead.
Leadership (Presence)
SocialMechanics (Intellect)
GeneralThe Mechanics skill empowers your character to build, disassemble, repair, or modify virtually anything mechanical or electronic, from a malfunctioning haptic glove to a damaged space habitat module. This skill is also used when salvaging technology, establishing makeshift defenses, or troubleshooting a malfunctioning life support system, or anytime your character needs to wield a tool or operate a machine. In the context of the solar system setting, this skill covers a broad range of technologies, including spaceship maintenance, habitat systems, and robotics.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character needs to repair a damaged tool, vehicle, habitat module, or other piece of equipment.
Your character needs to identify any parts or tools necessary prior to completing a job. This can save time and resources on the project.
Your character has access to a supply of components and tools and wants to design a completely new device.
Your character needs to sabotage an enemy's spaceship or find a weak point in their habitat's defenses.
Your character needs to build an item or modify it for a specific purpose.
Your character tries to install and modify mechanical enhancements like cybernetic limbs or artificial organs (although working on a bioengineered enhancement may also require a Medicine check to represent the fusion of human and machine).
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character has just a simple task like charging a battery pack, replacing a basic component, or doing routine maintenance.
Your character wants to program an AI model for a device or write a new software for a spaceship. That would require a Computers check.
Medicine (Intellect)
GeneralAs your characters venture through the solar system, they may encounter various health challenges: from simple abrasions and fatigue to radiation exposure and high-velocity space debris injuries. Biomedical Engineering enables your character and their companions to recover efficiently. This skill pertains to any attempt to heal an organically enhanced character, implement cybernetic prosthetics, perform gene therapies, and engage with nanomedicine, designer drugs, and biohacking.
Your character should use this skill if...
They or another character has suffered injuries, and your character wants to provide healing through medical interventions or biological enhancements.
Your character tries to counteract or administer a nano-drug or biologically engineered toxin.
Your character needs to treat a genetically-acquired or bioengineered disease.
Your character designs a new therapeutic drug or a performance-enhancing nano-agent.
They or another character has suffered a Critical Injury, and your character wants to address it with biomedical solutions like nanotech healing or regenerative gene therapy.
Your character performs a complex medical procedure such as surgery, cybernetic augmentation, gene editing, or neuromodulation.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character researches a disease, toxin, or biomedical technology. While studying these aspects directly might require Biomedical Engineering, the act of researching requires a Knowledge (Science) (Enhancements)](/players-guide/skills#knowledge-enhancements) check.
Your character tries to heal their own fatigue or stress at the end of an encounter. Recovering from these at the end of an encounter requires a Cool or Discipline check.
Your character tries to surreptitiously administer a nano-drug or toxin, such as by sneaking it into a drink or covertly injecting it into an unsuspecting target. The inherent subterfuge in this activity makes that a Skulduggery check.
Melee (Brawn)
CombatThe Melee skill is what your character uses to fight anyone who's right in front of them, rather than beyond arm's reach, when using a weapon. This skill, in its broadest interpretation, covers any sort of hand or melee weapon.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character fights with a sword, rapier, dirk, mace, axe, spear, halberd, knife… we could go on, but you get the idea.
Your character fights in a duel.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character fights with a projectile weapon or a thrown weapon. If your character targets someone not at arm's reach, they should use the Ranged skill.
Your character tries to fix or modify a melee weapon. Repairing or creating weapons is usually handled by the Mechanics skill.
Negotiation (Presence)
SocialOperating (Intellect)
GeneralIn some cases, a spacecraft is so complex and large that quick reflexes and manual controls aren't sufficient to operate it. For these advanced vehicles, which require formal training, a sharp mind, and the ability to manage vast amounts of information simultaneously, your character uses the Operating skill. Operating represents your character's ability to commandeer any large vehicle such as ships, stations, and spaceships that often require a crew. In the context of the solar system setting, Operating is used to pilot large spacecraft, manage space stations, and navigate through asteroid fields or orbital debris.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your spacecraft needs to navigate through a meteor storm without sustaining damage.
Your character pilots a large spaceship to slip past a patrol of Martian security vessels.
Your character docks a spaceship with a space station or aligns for a resource transfer with an asteroid mining facility.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character performs routine ship maneuvers in open space.
Your character wants to upgrade the engines of the ship. That requires a Mechanics check.
Your character is the captain of a ship and is giving orders. This requires the Leadership skill.
Perception (Cunning)
GeneralWhen your character wants to make an active attempt to study their surroundings, notice clues in a crime scene, or search for hidden foes, they use the Perception skill to do so. Perception represents your character's conscious use of all five senses to observe their environment (or, if you're playing some sort of alien species, your character may have more than five). In any case, the most important point is that Perception represents your character's active use of these senses.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character wants to search a crime scene for clues.
Your character wants to study the surrounding landscape for possible threats.
Your character conducts surveillance on an unaware target from a distance.
Your character studies an ancient relic, trying to spot any minute details that could reveal its purpose or construction.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to avoid being surprised during an ambush. Constant, unconscious awareness of your character's surroundings is a function of the Vigilance skill.
Your character is being lied to, and you're trying to find out if your character noticed or not. Again, Vigilance is the skill for this situation.
Your character tries to follow a trail or track a foe through the wilderness. The Survival skill covers these activities.
Piloting (Agility)
GeneralThis skill covers the operation of any aerial vehicle that requires reflexes and hand-eye coordination to operate, from jet fighters and gliders, all the way up to starfighters and space capable drop ships. Regardless, if something flies through the air or through space and requires a pilot with quick reflexes and a hot hand on the throttle and joystick (or their equivalent), then you'll need Piloting to operate it!
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character tries to outmaneuver opponents in a dogfight.
Your character flies a drop ship through a maze of needle-sharp rock spires to a landing zone.
Your character attempts to land a shuttle while under fire from an enemy defense platform.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to repair a damaged engine, a task that calls for the Mechanics skill.
Your character fires a weapon mounted on a vehicle, which requires a Gunnery check.
There is no chance of catastrophic failure when operating the vehicle. Checks are not required for simple tasks like flying in open skies with light wind.
Ranged (Heavy) (Agility)
CombatIn those same firearm-focused settings, your character uses Ranged (Heavy) to shoot rifles, shotguns, assault rifles, laser rifles, and similar weapons. This skill covers pretty much every heavy ranged weapon designed to be fired while carried in two hands, but not large enough that it requires multiple people or a tripod to use.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character shoots a shotgun, assault rifle, flamethrower, flechette launcher, sniper rifle, or similar weapon.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character is firing a pistol, submachine gun, flechette pistol, laser pistol, or a similar weapon.
Your character is firing a weapon mounted on a spaceship or vehicle.
Ranged (Light) (Agility)
CombatIn settings where your characters do most of their fighting with firearms, your character uses Ranged (Light) to shoot pistols, throw knives, and toss grenades at their opponents. This skill covers pretty much every light ranged weapon designed to be fired (or thrown) from one hand.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character shoots a pistol, submachine gun, flechette pistol, laser pistol, or a similar weapon.
Your character wants to hurl a throwing knife.
Your character wants to toss a grenade.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character is firing a shotgun, rifle, laser cannon, machine gun, or other large, heavy weapon.
Your character is firing a weapon mounted on a spaceship or vehicle.
Resilience (Brawn)
GeneralWhen the going gets tough, the tough rely on their Resilience skill to keep going. Resilience represents your character's ability to overcome pain and fight through fatigue. Characters with ranks in Resilience are also better at resisting poisons and diseases, and surviving hostile environments. When your character stumbles into a small Alaskan town after surviving two weeks on the frozen tundra, they have their Resilience skill to thank.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character tries to go without sleeping for days on end, and you need to see if they stay awake.
Your character ingests a toxin, and you need to see how bad the effects are.
Your character endures a hostile environment (somewhere too hot, too cold, or even too polluted) for days on end.
Your character attempts to recover from a Critical Injury on their own, without medical attention.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to do something that isn't beyond the limits of normal endurance. Going for a day-long hike wouldn't call for a Resilience check unless the hike is through the Rocky Mountains in a snowstorm.
Your character immediately stops and rests to recover fully at the end of the activity. If there's no need to track lasting consequences, there's no need to make the check.
Skulduggery (Cunning)
GeneralMost roleplaying games have a long and storied tradition of characters disarming traps, picking locks, and (if those tasks fail) breaking out of prison. In our game, characters perform those activities with the Skulduggery skill. Skulduggery covers a combination of skills your character would use to engage in covert or criminal activity. If you're building a character you'd consider a "thief" or "rogue," this is one skill you should pick up.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character attempts to pick someone's pocket or lift their wallet.
Your character tries to pick a lock or disable a trap. Your character would also use Skulduggery to set a trap in the first place.
Your character wants to study a security system.
Your character attempts to distract an opponent through guile or a feint, such as by throwing a handful of dirt in their eyes during a fight.
Your character tries to surreptitiously slip a poison into someone's food or drink.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character attempts to sneak into a location unnoticed. Your character needs to make a Stealth check instead.
Your character attempts to pick someone's pocket when that person is helpless or incapacitated. This doesn't require a check at all.
Your character tries to make a poison. Your character needs Medicine to make poisons or toxins, but they do need Skulduggery to use them.
Stealth (Agility)
GeneralWhen your character wants to act unnoticed by anyone else, they use the Stealth skill. In many ways, Stealth is one of the simpler skills, and it covers a pretty specific set of activities. However, being stealthy is something that comes up in many roleplaying games, so it tends to be a very useful skill to invest in.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character attempts to hide from someone.
Your character tries to tail someone through a crowd, and to do it without being noticed.
Your character tries to infiltrate a government installation while avoiding both electronic security and human guards.
Your character tries to move quietly through a house.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to pick someone's pocket. Your character needs Skulduggery for this activity.
Your character tries to remain hidden when their opponent has no chance of spotting them, such as if they try to avoid being seen by an aircraft during a blizzard at midnight.
Your character has no realistic chance of hiding from an opponent, such as if trying to hide from a nearby person while in the middle of miles of salt flats at noon.
Streetwise (Cunning)
GeneralSome call it the "school of hard knocks," while others refer to it as "street smarts" or "gut instincts," but in all cases, the Streetwise skill is your character's ability to survive and thrive in rough and dangerous urban areas. If your character has ranks in Streetwise, they instinctively know how criminals tend to operate, which locations to avoid after dark, where to go to obtain illicit drugs and services, and other information crucial for making their way in the seedy underbelly of a major city.
In many ways, Streetwise can be thought of as the urban counterpart to Survival. They both represent many of the same activities, but Streetwise applies to urban areas, while Survival applies to the wilderness.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character looks for a merchant who sells black-market goods or illegal services.
Your character wants to understand particular references or slang in a conversation.
Your character tries to approach criminals and start up a conversation without appearing like an outsider or a threat.
Your character tries to find their way around an unfamiliar city.
Your character tries to track and hunt someone somewhere in a city.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character tries to find their way around a rural or wilderness environment. In this case, your character should be using Survival.
Your character interacts with the upper crust of society. Charm (or possibly Deception or Coercion) may serve the character better here.
Your character has already established themself as a member of the criminal underworld, and is continuing to interact with other criminals. Streetwise lets your character fit in, know how to act, and know what topics to bring up and what to avoid. However, it shouldn't replace social skills.
Survival (Cunning)
GeneralThere are a thousand tricks your character needs to master in order to survive in the wilderness or open space, and the more ranks in Survival they have, the more likely they are to know them. The Survival skill covers your character's ability to find food and water, cope with dangerous conditions, hunt and skin animals, and, well, survive in any location that doesn't have a supermarket on the corner.
In many ways, you can think of Survival as the counterpart to Streetwise. They both represent many of the same activities, but Survival applies to the wilderness and space, while Streetwise applies to the big city.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character is trapped in the wilderness and needs to find food and potable water.
Your character needs to notice approaching severe weather and know how to prepare for it.
Your character needs to follow a crude map or directions through a rural area to find a specific location.
Your character tries to tame or calm a wild animal, or handle a domesticated animal.
Your character hunts something (or someone!) through a wilderness setting.
Your character should not use this skill if...
Your character uses a highly accurate and detailed map to find a location.
Your character tries to find their way around an urban environment. In this case, your character should be using Streetwise.
Your character interacts with an animal that already likes or respects your character, or your character asks an animal to do something completely within their nature (they wouldn't need to make a Survival check to get a dog to play "fetch," for example).
Vigilance (Willpower)
GeneralVigilance represents the ability to be constantly aware of your surroundings, often without consciously making the effort. Characters with ranks in Vigilance are more likely to spot threats in their environment, notice important clues out of the corner of their eye, and catch lies as they're being told.
You probably noticed from the description that Vigilance, more than most other skills, is a bit of a passive skill. In fact, Vigilance is supposed to be used when your character doesn't expect a threat, isn't looking for a clue, or is otherwise unaware of something important. This is why we use it to determine Initiative in combat when a character is surprised, to see how much that character was paying attention. It also means that when your GM asks you to make a Vigilance check, you may suspect that something is up. Your character, however, shouldn't be suspicious (unless they pass the check!) Vigilance is also one of skills that you use to oppose certain social skill checks (primarily Deception) when those checks target your character.
Your character should use this skill if...
Your character just got ambushed, and you are rolling to determine Initiative order. A high Vigilance means your character has a better chance of reacting quickly to the threat.
Your character is being lied to; the opponent's Deception check is opposed by your character's Vigilance skill.
Your character has a chance to notice important details in their surroundings while not looking for them directly.
Your character should not use this skill if...
You are determining Initiative order when your character is not surprised (such as when they are the ambushers, instead of the ambushed). In this case, your character uses Cool instead.
Your character actively looks for something. This calls for a Perception check.