Physiology Modifiers

The following skills deal with the health, function, or vital points of living beings: Body Language, Diagnosis (p. 187), First Aid (p. 195), Physician (p. 213), Pressure Points (p. 215), Pressure Secrets (p. 215), and Surgery (p. 223). These skills work as written when working with members of your species. When dealing with a member of another species, apply the following modifiers:

• Species with similar physiology: -2 (human vs. Elf) to -4 (human vs. troll).
• Species with very different physiology, but still from your world: -5. This includes all normal animals.
• Utterly alien species: -6 or worse (GM’s option).
• Machine: No roll possible! These skills do not work at all on creatures with the Machine meta-trait (p. 263).

A successful roll against a suitable skill lets you avoid these penalties. This roll is usually against the relevant racial specialty of Physiology, although Biology-4 suffices for common animals.