The following levels of competency can be used to determine a character's expertise in a particular skill.

Incompetent (base skill through 24%): The character is incompetent at the skill. Only the most basic of information will be available to the character unless they make their skill roll. Even if they make their skill roll, the Keeper may decide that some advanced information is not available to them.

A character may be able to pass himself off as an expert with a Fast Talk roll but would not be able to maintain the deception under scrutiny.

• A character who is incompetent at chemistry may know what a model of a molecule looks like (with a successful Know roll if the skill roll fails), but wouldn't be able to tell what kind of molecule it was without making their skill roll.
• A character who is incompetent with a car is unable to drive it very far without crashing it.
• An incompetent character would be unable to reload a weapon without making an Idea roll.

Competent (25% through 59%): The character is competent at the skill, though at varying levels of competence. The character can usually exercise manual skills in non-stressful situations. Basic information is available to a character without them making a skill roll.

The character could research most questions in an intellectual skill, given enough time and the right resources. The Keeper may decide that very advanced topics are completely out of the character's realm of knowledge unless resource materials are available.

A character may be able to pass himself off as an expert with a Persuade roll but might have to make a Fast Talk roll if asked a question and fails a skill check.

• A character who is competent in chemistry would know what a model of a molecule looks like without having to make a skill roll. A skill roll would give the character specific information about the molecule. A competent character may not know how to create the molecule from raw materials in any detail without access to chemistry books.
• A competent character could drive a car, but probably doesn't drive the car sufficiently to make a living as a NASCAR or F1 driver, or as a Secret Service driver for the President.
• A competent shooter could fire an unfamiliar weapon after an Idea roll (they may try every combat round until they succeed), but may be unable to clear a jam if they fail a skill roll after a jam.

Expert (60% through 89%): The character is a professional or an expert at the skill. The character is good enough at the skill to make a living from it. The character can always exercise manual skills in non-stressful situations. Basic and fairly advanced information is available to a character without them making a skill roll.

The character could research any question in an intellectual skill, given enough time and the right resources. Even very advanced topics are known to the character after a successful skill roll.

The character is an expert in the field and does not have to make a skill roll to pass themselves off as one. However, a Fast Talk roll may be necessary to pass themselves off as a better expert than they are.

• With a successful skill check, the player would know pretty much anything about chemistry. Even if the character failed a chemistry skill check, almost anything about chemistry can be found out by the character if they research it.
• An expert character could drive a car professionally. They may not win any Formula 1 races, but they are good enough to compete for a racing team.
• An expert shooter could fire any unfamiliar weapon. A skill check may be needed to clear a jam, but failing the skill check does not mean that the weapon is hopelessly jammed (so the character could try again next combat round).

Master (90% and up): The character is a master at the skill. The character is one of the best practitioners of that skill in the world. Advanced information is available to a character without them making a skill roll.

The character can know anything about the topic with a successful skill roll.

The character is a master in the field and is known to others in the field, and perhaps to those outside the field.

• With a successful skill check, the player knows anything about chemistry without having to look it up. Even if the character failed a chemistry skill check, anything about chemistry (within the realm of human knowledge) can be found out by the character if they research it.
• A master character could drive a car professionally. They have probably won at least a couple of races. They may have their own fans.
• A master shooter competes professionally (though the competition may be within the armed forces or among law enforcement professionals if the character is one of those professions).