While every game is different, by genre, many games have 'everyman skills' - skills that everyone should probably have at least a point in if they expect to keep up with everyone else. This section gives a quick synopsis of recommended skills and specialties.

Ccertain skills are necessary for adventurers, true action heroes or not, to keep the story flowing without annoying breaks caused by PCs being incompetent at tasks that adventure fiction commonly treats as “everyman” skills:

Carousing, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, or Interrogation – Eventually, everybody wants to interrogate NPCs. Many skills may work under the right circumstances, but some skill is required.

Climbing, Hiking, and Stealth – The party is only as good at these things as its worst party member, and nearly every party has to move around as a unit at some point.

Driving or Riding – Travel is vital to adventure, and while “every hero can drive/ride a horse” is often assumed, it isn't automatic in games that have skills for these things.

First Aid – Effective bandaging isn't an unskilled activity, AD&D notwithstanding. Non-action heroes often want to do this to “contribute” to party combat effectiveness, so they especially need this skill.

Gesture – Sooner or later, communication without making a sound will be vital to almost any party's survival.

Observation, Scrounging, or Search – Noticing interesting things takes training, and finding clues and useful items is so central to adventures that no PC should lack at least basic training here.

Savoir-Faire or Streetwise – Everybody came from somewhere. It's passing annoying when a player just assumes that her PC would “get on with folks in her element” without having any practical social skills to back up the assumption.

Additional suggestions that are highly advised:

Axe/Mace, Broadsword, Knife, Shortsword, or Staff – Wielding a stick, knife, or heavy tool to any real effect requires practice. These common improvised weapons are not idiot-proof, trivial, or safe to use without training.

Beam Weapons, Bow, Crossbow, or Guns – However easy “point and shoot” looks, it's quite tough in reality. No credible action hero lacks competency at all ranged combat.

Boxing, Brawling, or Karate – Fisticuffs are the worst place to be untrained. Your fists are the only weapons you always have, so learn to use them.

Forced Entry – No, it isn't easy to kick in a door. Actually, unless you know how, you'll hurt yourself.

Holdout – “Concealable” equipment only works if you have skill at concealment, and frustratingly few players realize this.

Judo, Sumo Wrestling, or Wrestling – The number of people who think they should be able to grab others automatically is astounding. In fact, this is a difficult feat, trickier than hitting people, and absolutely requires training.

Throwing – Whether you're tossing spare magazines to friends or grenades at enemies, this is a trained skill, so it pays to know it.

As an example of how to make use of these skills, a PC with Brawling, Fast-Talk, Forced Entry, Holdout, Knife, Scrounging, Stealth, and Wrestling should be able to make and conceal a shiv, overpower a guard, steal his clothes, sneak away from the scene, talk his way past the other guards, and leave through an inadequately bolted back door.

• Fantasy: Area Knowledge, Current Affairs, Survival (any), and at least one skill to suggest his background training if any (e.g., Smith (Iron) for blacksmiths).
• Horror: Expert Skill (any supernatural), Hidden Lore (any supernatural), Occultism, and Research, Campaigns that feature magic should also have characters pick at least one of Alchemy, Herb Lore, Ritual Magic, Symbol Drawing, and Thaumatology if magic is common.
• Mystery/Crime: Body Language, Criminology, Detect Lies, Law, Urban Survival and either Filch, Pickpocket, or Sleight of Hand. “CSI” style games will need the action hero list plus at least Diagnosis, Surgery (for autopsies), and one “exotic” expertise skill that would also be useful to have (e.g., Gil Grissom has Forensics (Forensic Entomology)).
• Science Fiction: Computer Operation, Free Fall, Spacer, Vacc Suit. Consider one or more of Piloting, Shiphandling, or a repair/maintenance skill.
• Supers: Current Affairs (Headline News or Superhumans), and the action hero list skills.

This is by no means a exhaustive list and doesn't include campaign features like modes of travel or the like, which might require their own set of skills.

• TL0: Area Knowledge (Local or Regional), Survival (any), Weather Sense, and a missile weapon skill of choice (typically Thrown Weapon (Spear) or Bow). Optionally, take Naturalist or Pharmacy(Herbal) (or Herb Lore if the campaign allows).
• TL1-2: As for TL0 plus a melee weapon skill of choice (often Shortsword or Spear).
• TL3: As for TL1, but also consider adding at least one other skill to suggest your characters background (e.g. Farming for farmers or Professional Skill (Butchers) for butchers).
• TL4-5: As for TL3, but add Swimming and Seamanship and maybe Boating, Knot-Tying or Shiphandling.
• TL6-7: Current Affairs (Headline News, Local, or Popular Culture), Urban Survival. Driving is almost always the mode of Travel. Hobby skills are optional and become popular thanks to a easier way of life that technological brings and many “just folks” have them.
• TL8: As for TL6, plus Computer Operation.
• TL9-12: As for TL8, though as AI-controlled vehicles become more common so goes the actual skill to drive them. Area Knowledge might be expanded to include entire star systems of galaxies! Hobby skills (and other skills of “leisure”) become increasingly common as human beings do less and less work.

Many high-tech skills require specialization. The GM is welcome to ignore specialties to simplify the game – but it’s generally wise to enforce them in order to give each team member his own niche. However, a few skills need only a small subset of their usual specialties in an action game:

Animal Handling: The Dogs specialty is useful around guard, police, and sniffer dogs. Few other specialties matter (although Pigs is handy for disposing of corpses).

Armoury: Typical action heroes mainly need the Heavy Weapons and Small Arms specialties.

Boating: Zodiacs and other small landing craft often appear in action movies, and call for the Motorboat specialty. Other specialties are primarily hobby skills.

Driving: Automobile (cars), Heavy Wheeled (trucks), and Motorcycle (bikes) are the specialties of major importance.

Electronics Operation: Common action-movie specialties are Communications (for radios), Media (for manipulating photos and recordings), Security (for alarms), Sensors (for radars, thermographs, etc.), and Surveillance (for wiretaps, miniature cameras, etc.).

Electronics Repair: As Electronics Operation, but add the Computers specialty.

Engineer: Only the Combat specialty sees regular use in the field.

Expert Skill: Hackers need Computer Security to defeat rivals. Medics likely to face terrorist bioweapons require Epidemiology. Nonmilitary heroes who want to recognize military weapons and vehicles should learn Military Science.

Law: The Police specialty – to avoid procedural errors during arrests and searches – is the sole area of importance to PCs (as opposed to NPC lawyers).

Mechanic: The specialties corresponding to the Boating, Driving, Piloting, and Submarine skills named here are most relevant.

Piloting: Glider, Helicopter, Light Airplane, and Ultralight are the usual specialties for small aircraft. A pilot might want High-Performance Airplane on the off chance that someone leaves a jet fighter sitting around, Tomorrow Never Dies-style.

Riding: Only the Horse and Camel specialties are commonly available in modern settings.

Submarine: The Free-Flooding Sub specialty is needed to handle the large “swimmer delivery vehicles” used by naval commandos (small ones use Scuba).

Simply ignore Familiarity in an action game. In the movies, every action hero knows how to shoot just about every gun within his specialties, drive any car he hops into, and so on.

Defaults between skills are a complication best ignored in an action game. However, since experts at Driving, Explosives, Gunner, Guns, and Piloting tend to know multiple specialties of those skills, defaults between those are worth using!

For instance, the Light Machine Gun (LMG), Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, and Submachine Gun (SMG) specialties of Guns all default to each other at -2. Action heroes generally improve one to a high level and raise the others from default.

Example: Victor has Guns (Pistol) at DX+3, for 8 points. This gives him all the other common Guns specialties at DX+1 – the 2-point level – for “free.” If he decides to learn Guns (Rifle) and Guns (SMG) at DX+3, too, he can save 2 points on each and buy that level for 6 points per skill.