Tabletop Skills

TABLETOP SKILLS — A CHARACTER PROGRESSION OVERHAUL Tabletop Skills reworks Starfield's character progression to feel more like a traditional tabletop RPG: character progression should be about making meaningful choices, not collecting enough levels to eventually unlock everything. Basic actions belong to every character. Skills should represent training, expertise and specialisation. By making essential abilities freely available, removing skill challenges, reducing automatic health growth and slowing high-level progression, the mod aims to make each character's strengths and weaknesses matter throughout the game. Faster access to higher skill tiers means that characters can gain significant power even at lower levels.

CORE FEATURES Reworked XP progression — approximately vanilla levelling speed until Level 20, followed by increasingly demanding XP requirements. Level 30 becomes a practical soft cap, encouraging more specialised characters without imposing a hard level limit. All skill challenges removed. Spend skill points to advance skills without repetitive unlock challenges. Five essential gameplay abilities are unlocked automatically at Level 1. Faster access to higher skill tiers, requiring only 2 invested skill points per tier instead of 4. Reduced health gains per level, keeping combat more dangerous as your character develops. Rebalanced skills to improve the value of early investments and support more meaningful character builds.

ESSENTIAL ABILITIES AVAILABLE FROM LEVEL 1 Every character now starts with access to five abilities previously locked behind skill investments: Boost Pack Usage — Use boost packs without investing in Boost Pack Training. Ship Thrusters — Access your ship's thrusters without investing in Piloting. Upgraded Stealth Meter — The improved stealth indicator is available from the beginning. Ship Targeting Mode — Target individual enemy ship systems without investing in Targeting Control Systems. Pickpocketing — Attempt to pickpocket NPCs without investing in Theft. These skills still exist, but investing in them now makes you better at using their respective abilities rather than simply unlocking access.

REWORKED LEVELLING Levelling follows a redesigned XP curve intended to keep progression close to vanilla through Level 20, then become substantially slower. By Level 30, reaching the next level requires significantly more effort. This makes reaching high levels an achievement and encourages thoughtful skill choices throughout a playthrough. Approximate cumulative XP requirements: Level 20 — 17,180 XP (vanilla: 17,225 XP) Level 25 — 47,495 XP (vanilla: 26,730 XP) Level 30 — 161,290 XP (vanilla: 38,455 XP) Reaching Level 30 requires approximately 4.2 times the total XP of vanilla. There is no hard level cap. Progression beyond Level 30 remains possible, but requires increasingly large amounts of XP.

NO MORE SKILL CHALLENGES All skill challenges have been removed. Once you have a skill point and meet the relevant skill-tier requirements, you can invest directly in the rank you want. Higher skill tiers also unlock more quickly, with the required investment reduced from 4 points per tier to 2.

LOWER HEALTH PROGRESSION Player health now increases by 12 HP per level instead of the vanilla 20 HP. This reduces the enormous health pools characters can eventually accumulate, helping maintain a sense of danger as they progress. For a character starting with 200 HP, before other modifiers: Level 20 — 428 HP instead of 580 HP Level 30 — 548 HP instead of 780 HP

SKILL BALANCE CHANGES Several skills have been adjusted to improve early-rank benefits, compensate for abilities now available from the start, or introduce additional utility.

Boost Pack Training Rank I now reduces boost pack fuel consumption instead of unlocking basic boost pack usage.

Concealment Removed the automatic Chameleon effect at Ranks III–IV.

Piloting Rank I — You can pilot Class B and C ships. Rank II — Your ship's turning rate and manoeuvrability are increased by 8%. Rank III — Your ship's turning rate and manoeuvrability are increased by 17%. Rank IV — Your ship's turning rate and manoeuvrability are increased by 25%.

Stealth Rank I retains its existing benefits: 25% harder to detect while sneaking. 5% additional sneak attack damage with suppressed weapons. The upgraded stealth meter is available automatically instead of being tied to this rank.

Targeting Enemy marking effects have been removed from all ranks of the Targeting skill.

Targeting Control Systems Rank I now provides a 10% increased chance of critically hitting a target-locked ship, replacing the basic targeting-mode unlock.

Theft Rank I now increases your chance to successfully pickpocket by 10%, replacing the basic pickpocket unlock.

Gymnastics Gymnastics now provides fall damage reduction and stagger resistance across its ranks: Rank I — Unlock the ability to combat slide. 20% fall damage reduction, 10% stagger resistance. Rank II — 40% fall damage reduction, 15% stagger resistance. Rank III — 60% fall damage reduction, 20% stagger resistance. Rank IV — 60% fall damage reduction, 25% stagger resistance.

Weight Lifting Weight Lifting now combines increased carrying capacity with stagger resistance: Rank I — +25 kg carrying capacity, 25% stagger resistance. Rank II — +50 kg carrying capacity, 25% stagger resistance. Rank III — +75 kg carrying capacity, 50% stagger resistance. Rank IV — +100 kg carrying capacity, 50% stagger resistance.

Medicine The cure effect is now accessible from Rank I. Other values remain unchanged.

EXAMPLE CHARACTER BUILDS — LEVEL 30 With around 32 skill ranks by Level 30 (including your three background ranks), you can become exceptional at a particular role without mastering everything. For example:

Space Rogue — Independent Trader A Space Scoundrel making a living in a rugged Class A courier. Carries more cargo than the ship looks capable of holding, scavenges and trades on the frontier, talks their way out of trouble and relies on a ballistic pistol when that fails. Signature skills: Piloting IV, Payloads IV, Engine Systems III, Pistol Certification III, Persuasion III, Scavenging II, Commerce I. Strength: A self-reliant trader and expert dogfighter who gets the most from a small ship. Weakness: Limited crew support and little emphasis on heavy warship systems.

Battleship Commander — Career Officer A Soldier commanding a heavily armed Class C warship. Qualified to fly it, but invests in officers, automated turrets, shields and sophisticated ship modules rather than personal dogfighting. Relies on companions for frontline combat and a dedicated medic for treatment. Signature skills: Piloting I, Leadership IV, Ship Command IV, Automated Weapon Systems IV, Shield Systems III, Starship Design IV. Strength: A formidable ship and crew under a capable commander. Weakness: Far less effective without that crew and equipment.

Scientific Explorer — Expedition Leader A Professor captaining a long-range Class A survey ship with a five-person specialist crew. Laden with laboratories, supplies and survey equipment, the ship is not especially agile and is built to avoid danger rather than win fights. The expedition charts remote systems, studies alien life and resources, and escapes hostile encounters instead of engaging them. Signature skills: Surveying IV, Astrodynamics IV, Scanning III, Astrophysics III, Ship Command II, Payloads II. Strength: Exceptional planetary surveying and long-range exploration, supported by a specialist expedition crew. Weakness: Limited combat training and a cumbersome ship that is poorly suited to dogfighting.

The rogue masters ship manoeuvring with Piloting IV, while the commander uses Piloting I to command a Class C warship. The explorer needs no Piloting ranks to fly a Class A survey vessel, investing that point in Astrodynamics IV instead.