Chapter 6.1: Allies and Adversaries

An NPC needs enough definition to make a decision, resist the crew, and change under pressure. Build only what play will reach. A witness in one scene needs a Trait and a motive. A recurring rival needs a full set of ratings and Values.

NPCs use the Task rules in Chapter 3.1. Adversaries spend Threat where a player would spend Momentum, and surplus successes from their Tasks add to Threat. Allies operated by a player use that player's Momentum.

NPC Roles

The arrays below are final ratings. Do not add player-character species modifiers. A species or physical-nature Trait carries ordinary capabilities and complications; use an Ability only when the NPC needs an exceptional numerical effect in play.

Minor NPCs

Minor NPCs are bystanders, rank-and-file opposition, simple drones, and people whose role in the current commission is narrow.

1. Choose a species Trait or another Trait describing physical nature.
2. Add one role Trait.
3. Assign Attributes 9, 9, 8, 8, 7, and 7, then apply species modifiers where they matter.
4. Assign Specializations 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, and 0.
5. Give the NPC one or two Focuses and any equipment the role requires.
6. Add one Ability if the NPC needs a distinctive edge.

Minor NPCs have no Stress. Any Injury Defeats them under Chapter 3.4. In Social Conflict, a successful resisted request makes them Accept or withdraw when the request remains possible. Once per scene, a Minor NPC whose written motive or Trait directly supports refusal may spend Threat equal to the request's Hold cost to Hold instead.

Notable NPCs

Notable NPCs are specialists, faction representatives, dangerous field leaders, and recurring supporting figures.

1. Choose a species or nature Trait and one role Trait.
2. Assign Attributes 10, 9, 9, 8, 8, and 7, then apply species modifiers.
3. Assign Specializations 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, and 0.
4. Choose two or three Focuses.
5. Write one Value naming what the NPC protects or pursues.
6. Add two Abilities and relevant equipment.

A Notable NPC may spend Threat equal to an Injury's adjusted Severity to Avoid Injury once per scene. They use the same limit when spending Threat to Hold in Social Conflict.

Major NPCs

Major NPCs can carry a commission or campaign as fully as a main character.

• Build Attributes to a total of 59, maximum 12.
• Build Specializations to a total of 16, maximum 5.
• Choose up to six Focuses, four Talents or Abilities, and two to four Values.
• Add species, role, equipment, relationship, and history Traits as needed.

A Major NPC may spend Threat to Avoid Injury or Hold in Social Conflict whenever the pool can pay the cost.

Abilities

Use a Talent from Chapter 4.9 or create one from these patterns. Every Ability states the situation where it applies.

• Expert. The first bonus d20 purchased for a narrow kind of Task is free.
• Familiar Ground. Reduce Difficulty by 1 for a narrow Task in a named place, system, or community.
• Hard to Reach. Increase Difficulty by 1 for Tasks to locate, approach, or affect the NPC under a stated condition.
• Prepared Response. Once per scene, create a fitting Trait when a named trigger occurs.
• Relentless. Once per scene after failing a Task, re-roll one die.
• Coordinated. The NPC may Assist another member of its group without using a turn once per round.
• Natural Protection X. The NPC has Protection X.
• Extraordinary Attribute X. Gain X automatic successes on Tasks using one named Attribute. Reserve this for beings beyond ordinary humanoid limits.
• Initiative X. The NPC takes X turns each round. Most NPCs have Initiative 1.
• Immune. A named environmental condition, toxin, fear response, or other effect cannot harm the NPC.

An Ability that grants broad immunity or extra turns changes encounter balance. Show the underlying fact as a Trait so the crew can investigate it.

Groups

Several Minor NPCs with the same role can act as one group. Give the group one turn. One member leads and up to three others Assist without Momentum or Threat cost. Each Defeated member removes one Assist die. Area effects may affect several members under their normal rules.

Use a group when individual identities do not yet matter. Split a member into a separate NPC when conversation, injury, or a player's attention makes that person distinct.

NPC Ships

An NPC ship needs Scale, Systems, Specializations, Traits, Resistance, Shields, weapons, and one crew rating.

Choose crew quality:

When the ship acts, its crew rolls with the two quality ratings and the ship Assists normally. Treat the crew as having a relevant Focus. The NPC ship receives turns and takes Damage under Chapter 5.2.

For a quick vessel, set all Systems to 8, then add twice Scale in points, maximum 12. Set all ship Specializations to 1, then add Scale points, maximum 4. Add one profile Trait, one facility or capability Trait, and one Talent from Chapter 5.1.

Ready Adversaries

Frightened Salvager, Minor

Traits: Short-Lived Frontier People, Salvager Protecting the Crew. Value: none. Attributes: Control 8, Daring 9, Fitness 8, Insight 9, Presence 7, Reason 7. Specializations: Engineering 2, Security 2, Infiltration 1, Diplomacy 1, Medicine 0, Science 0. Focuses: Hull Cutting, Zero-Gravity Movement. Equipment: cutting tool (Melee, Severity 3, Stun or Deadly), patched pressure suit.

Ability, Knows the Wreck: reduce Difficulty by 1 when finding a route or useful component inside a vessel the salvager has already explored.

Feral Defense Drone, Minor

Traits: Machine, Corrupted Defense Routine. Attributes: Control 9, Daring 9, Fitness 8, Insight 7, Presence 7, Reason 8. Specializations: Security 2, Engineering 2, Infiltration 1, Science 1, Diplomacy 0, Medicine 0. Focuses: Targeting, Station Ducts. Protection 1. Weapon: cutting beam (Ranged, Severity 4, Deadly, Charge).

Abilities: Vacuum Immune; Predictable Patrol, which lets a character who has observed one complete patrol create Pattern Mapped without a Task.

This profile does not establish whether an unfamiliar machine is conscious. Confirm the machine's nature from reliable records, diagnostics, or appropriate expert review before treating it solely as an operational hazard. When that question remains uncertain, apply the personhood protections in Chapter 2.2. Immediate danger may still be stopped through necessary, proportionate, and reversible action where practicable.

Faction Envoy, Notable

Traits: Foreign Sapient, Authorized Negotiator. Value: My people leave with something they can live on. Attributes: Control 9, Daring 8, Fitness 7, Insight 10, Presence 9, Reason 8. Specializations: Diplomacy 3, Infiltration 2, Science 2, Security 1, Engineering 1, Medicine 0. Focuses: Bargaining, Treaty Language, Reading Motive.

Abilities: Expert Bargainer, granting the first bonus d20 free when changing an Offer; Prepared Concession, creating one credible Offer Trait without a Task once per scene.

Raider Leader, Notable

Traits: Foreign Sapient, Leader of a Debt-Bound Crew. Value: Nobody takes my people's ship. Attributes: Control 9, Daring 10, Fitness 8, Insight 8, Presence 9, Reason 7. Specializations: Security 3, Infiltration 2, Diplomacy 2, Engineering 1, Science 1, Medicine 0. Focuses: Shipboard Tactics, Threats, Evasive Flight. Equipment: field sidearm.

Abilities: Relentless, once per scene on a failed Security Task; Crew First, which lowers Social Conflict Difficulty by 1 when an agreement visibly protects the raider crew.

Stopping Conditions and Surrender

An adversary stat block establishes capability, not moral status or authority to use force. Apply the separate observations in Chapter 2.2: evidence of personhood, control or coercion, ability to communicate or learn, immediate danger, and available reversible responses.

Write what can make an adversary stop before conflict begins. A conscious adversary might yield when escape opens, their objective becomes impossible, or their people are safe. A confirmed non-conscious machine or similar operational hazard may stop when disabled, contained, redirected, or repaired. Accept any credible surrender or cessation regardless of the earlier assessment.