Alien Lore

Intuition

Reasoning

Memory

Short Description

Knowledge of extraterrestrial species, their history, culture, and technology, enabling interactions with alien civilizations and understanding foreign biology or technology

Success Criteria

Effects

Modifiers and Restrictions

Action Examples

Situation: You explore an alien ruin covered in strange glyphs and ceremonial layouts. Action: Use Alien Lore to interpret their cultural or spiritual meaning. Roll DR 100+ depending on your familiarity with the species: Success allows you to gain knowledge about the ruin, expect traps, access hidden paths, or solve a puzzle without triggering defensive systems.

‍‍

Situation: Your party encounters a previously unknown alien delegation. Action: Use Alien Lore to identify basic cultural traits, taboos, or power structures. Roll vs DR 100+ depending on the aggression of the aliens: On success, your party avoids offense, gains a bonus to diplomatic rolls, and may receive unexpected cooperation.

Long Description

Alien Lore represents deep knowledge of extraterrestrial species—their cultures, biology, languages, histories, and technology. It's essential for navigating foreign rituals, anticipating alien combat tactics, or gaining favor through respectful interaction. Alien Lore can determine how to speak to an alien elder, recognize non-verbal cues, or identify xenobiological weaknesses in strange creatures. It's especially useful during first contact, diplomatic negotiations, exploration of ancient alien sites, and medical treatment of non-human physiology.

For powerful sequencing, pair Alien Lore with skills like History (to understand shared pasts or conflicts), Exo-Biology (to analyze alien physiology), or Galactic Politics (to assess factional relations and standing). In a practical scenario, you might use Alien Lore to identify a hostile alien's code of honor, then follow up with Crisis Negotiation to exploit a diplomatic loophole and de-escalate a confrontation. Alternatively, Alien Lore combined with Humanistic Sciences or Archaeology lets you decode layered meanings in alien symbology during exploration or artifact recovery. These combinations turn the skill from pure knowledge into actionable advantage across science, diplomacy, and survival.

Sequencing

Potential Counters

How to use this page

All the information above is intended as a guide to help you navigate the many situations that can arise during your game. Since it's both impossible—and frankly uninspiring—to plan for every possible outcome, players are encouraged to think creatively when using their skills. Game Masters, in turn, are encouraged to embrace and support that creativity.

Whenever possible, aim to resolve situations through narrative choices, logical thinking and role playing. If that’s not feasible, agree on a Difficulty Rating (DR) using the provided Success Criteria and Modifiers. These are not rigid rules, but suggestions - starting points to help you find the right level of challenge. The player describes their intended action, and the Game Master proposes a DR. This should be open to brief discussion at the table, ideally resulting in consensus. If not, the Game Master has the final say.

It’s important to emphasize that all suggested effects, modifiers, and action examples are exactly that: suggestions. If you’re unsure how to resolve something, they offer a reliable fallback—but wherever possible, we encourage you to push boundaries. That’s where some of the most memorable and exciting moments in play are born.

Sequencing and Potential Counters are far from exhaustive. With hundreds of skills, spells, and tech modules in the game, the possibilities are too vast to list. You’re encouraged to explore combinations that make sense in your story and setting and in the situations that arise in your game. Sequencing and countering are core to Cosmic Odyssey - they’re where strategic depth meets dramatic flair, and where legendary moments often take shape. Even if no sequencing and counters are mentioned, some certainly exists and can be smartly utilized.

So explore boldly, improvise wisely, and enjoy the game as it unfolds around your choices.