Starfield:Skills

Skills provide a variety of benefits to your character. Your Background gives you three starting Novice skills. You gain a skill point every time you level up. There are 82 Skills, each with 4 Ranks, organized in 4 Tiers (novice, advanced, expert, master) across 5 Categories (physical, social, combat, science, tech), for a total of 328 skill ranks. Because you start with 3 skill ranks at level 1, you could unlock every skill rank by level 325, assuming you also complete all Skill Challenges.

While the first rank of each Skill has no Challenge, each subsequent rank requires completing a relevant challenge before a skill point can be spent to rank up. Progress towards the next rank is only tracked when the previous rank is unlocked. For example, killing enemies with Ballistic weapons will not count towards the Ballistics Rank 2 Challenge until Rank 1 is acquired.

Similarly, while Novice Tier skills are available at start, each higher tier requires 4 points spent in any lower tiers of the same category before unlocking. For example, Master Science skills are only available after 12 ranks of Novice, Advanced, and/or Expert are earned, in any combination; starting skills count towards this total.

Skill ranks can be visually differentiated based on the border of the skill. A darkened icon with a gray border means the skill is still locked. If the icon has a gray border and gray design it is Rank 0, a colored design means Rank 1. If the icon has two gray borders it is Rank 2. Finally Rank 3 and 4 have a gold border with one or two lines respectively.

Unlocking New Mechanics
Several skills unlock entirely new mechanics and abilities instead of just providing a small stat boost. These include


 * Stealth -- The first tier provides a stealth meter, without which you will have no obvious indicator of how close you are to being detected while sneaking.
 * Theft -- The first tier gives you the ability to pickpocket. Beyond the more obvious benefits from the theft itself, you will not be able to do any quest objective that requires you to pickpocket without this, requiring you to do other, potentially less desirable options instead.
 * Intimidation -- Grants the intimidation ability to force enemies to flee.
 * Negotiation -- The first tier is required to unlock bribery options.
 * Manipulation -- Gives you the ability to command a targeted NPC.
 * Xenosociology -- Grants the ability to make hostile Fauna stop attacking, flee, attack for you, or follow your commands.
 * Gymnastics -- Grants the ability to combat slide.
 * Concealment -- Makes you incapable of setting off mines, allows you to run while sneaking with no extra chance of detection, gives you a chameleon-like cloak while still, and makes enemies lose track of you if you start sneaking.
 * Rejuvenation -- Grants you automatic health recovery.
 * Demolitions -- The first tier gives you a visible trajectory arc for thrown grenades.
 * Piloting -- Grants you access to ship thrusters for better maneuvering, and unlocks Class B and C ships.
 * Boost Pack Training -- First tier grants you the ability to use your boost pack.
 * Security -- Lets you access higher tier locks.
 * Targeting Control Systems -- Grants you access to the ship targeting function, without which damaging specific components is very difficult.
 * Engine Systems -- The highest tier causes all enemies to disengage from you whenever you boost.

Physical Skills
There are sixteen Physical Skills:


 * Improve movement and stealth: Concealment, Stealth, Weight Lifting, Gymnastics, Fitness
 * Increase health and health regeneration: Nutrition, Rejuvenation, Wellness
 * Improve unarmed combat effectiveness: Boxing, Martial Arts, Neurostrikes
 * Reduce damage and infections: Pain Tolerance, Energy Weapon Dissipation, Environmental Conditioning, Decontamination, and Cellular Regeneration.

Social Skills
There are sixteen Social Skills:


 * Convince others to do your bidding: Diplomacy, Instigation, Intimidation, Manipulation, Negotiation, Persuasion
 * Have an edge acquiring, moving, and trading goods: Commerce, Deception, Scavenging, Theft
 * Improve your relationship with companions, using Leadership and Ship Command, or go solo with Isolation
 * Use fauna and flora to your advantage with Xenosociology and Gastronomy
 * Manage many outposts with Outpost Management.

Combat Skills
There are seventeen Combat Skills:


 * Most Combat Skills improve your ability with a specific type of weapon: Ballistics, Demolitions, Dueling, Heavy Weapons Certification, Incapacitation (EM weapons), Lasers, Particle Beams, Pistol Certification, Rifle Certification, Shotgun Certification, and Sniper Certification.
 * Others improve abilities across weapon types, such as Armor Penetration, Rapid Reloading, Targeting, critical hit chance with Marksmanship, and downing chance with Crippling.

Science Skills
There are sixteen science skills:


 * Many science skills help with scanning and surveying: Astrophysics, Botany, Scanning, Surveying, Zoology.
 * Botany and Zoology also help with resource collection, together with Geology.
 * Crafting and research are a major focus of science skills, and can be improved with Chemistry, Research Methods, Spacesuit Design, Special Projects and Weapon Engineering.
 * Ship operation is improved by Aneutronic Fusion, Astrodynamics, while Outpost construction is helped by Outpost Engineering and Planetary Habitation.
 * Finally, Medicine increases the effectiveness of many aid items.

Tech Skills
There are seventeen Tech Skills:


 * Most tech skills improve ship capabilities: Automated Weapon Systems, Ballistic Weapon Systems, Energy Weapon Systems, Engine Systems, Missile Weapon Systems, Particle Beam Weapon Systems, Payloads, Piloting, Shield Systems, Starship Design, Starship Engineering, Targeting Control Systems.
 * Two skills affect the Boost Pack: Boost Assault Training and Boost Pack Training.
 * Robotics increases damage against robots.
 * Security improves hacking capabilities.