Ace Pilot

You wanna know what makes an Ace Pilot? Sit down, sweetheart, because Hella Speed’s about to educate you. See, most folks think piloting’s just about reflexes. Reaction time. Thumb speed. Ha. That’s noobie talk. Piloting ain’t what you do in the moment. Piloting’s what you do before the moment. It’s seeing a turn eight seconds before it exists. Feeling a malfunction in the left thruster before the diagnostics even blink. Knowing your machine like it’s part of your bloodstream, and trusting it the same way you trust your own lungs to keep breathing sulphur. I don’t fly ’cause I’m fast. I fly ’cause I’m right. Every damn second.

And since we’re being honest, yeah, y'all say I’m cocky, but I'm the best. I mean, prove me wrong! I ain't lose yet, have I? Confidence and arrogance is same fucking thing with a different paint job. A pilot without ego is just a passenger with delusions of control. You ever see a racer hesitate going into a death loop? They’re already dead — they just haven’t hit the wall yet. Me? I don’t hesitate. I don’t doubt. I don’t blink. You don’t survive the Grand Spiral, the Triple Knife-Turn, or that little incident on the Glittertrack by being humble. Humble pilots make great cautionary tales.

Now, let’s talk machines. Every Ace knows their ride better than their lovers. Better than their parents. Better than their own bed. I can hear a clogged plasma feed from two hangars away, and I can tune a skimmer’s oscillation coils blindfolded with a hangover. And trust… I have. My crew’s the best money can buy, but even they know not to fight me on a custom job. I tweak, I tune, I whisper sweet nothings into the engine block, and that baby purrs like a demon with good news. You ride in something I’ve touched, and it’ll go faster than the manufacturer ever intended. That’s the Hella Speed difference.

And don’t get me started on the social game. Racing ain’t done in a vacuum. It’s done in bars, backrooms, pit lanes, and corporate boardrooms. It’s knowing who owes who, whose cousin is sponsoring what team, which mechanic is secretly a genius and which one just paints everything chrome and calls it ‘upgraded.’ A true Ace works a room like they work a cockpit—smooth, fast, and two steps ahead. You think Mammon Swarve Financial picked me for my smile? Honey, they picked me because every planet this show hits, I own the crowd before the engines even spin up. It's why your all here, ain't it?“ See, every race is the same story: I line up. Someone else thinks they’ve got a shot. Someone else thinks today’s the day they topple the champ. Someone else thinks they’ve got the guts, the tech, the grit. And every single time, they forget the one thing that matters most — Hella Speed doesn’t lose. Not because I can’t… Because I don’t. Simple as that. It’s not an outcome. It’s not an option. It’s not even a concept in my mental dictionary. I go fast. I go hard. I make the impossible look routine and the routine look boring.

So this deadliest-event-ever-built you’re all hyping up? Cute. Real cute. I’ll show up, flash the sponsors a smile, sign a few autographs, and then tear the track to pieces. The competitors? They’ll put on a good show. Maybe even give me a second of surprise. But at the end of the run, when the smoke clears and the audience is screaming my name like a prayer they don’t deserve answered, I’ll still be here, still be standing, still be the universe’s undefeated number one. Because there are pilots… and then there’s me.

See bonus_dice for more info on Job Die
See spending_experience for more info on job ranks and levelling up

Ace Pilots don’t just operate vehicles, they become an extension of them. “One Helluva Pilot” is what they say, and for good reason. It's that innate, bone-deep instinct that separates an Ace from every other joyrider with a license and a deathwish. Put them in a cockpit — any cockpit — and they’re instantly in their element. Starfighters, skimmers, walkers, subs, industrial miners, whatever; if it moves, they’ll make it dance. Even on their worst day, they fly cleaner, smoother, and faster than the next best pilot on their absolute best. And while Ace Pilots can pull their weight elsewhere on a crew, everyone knows they’re at their sharpest, calmest, and most frighteningly capable when their hands are on the controls and the throttle’s open… plus, they'll complain less.

[Trait].

While you are mounted to the [Console] of a Cockpit [Component], you gain the effects of the Advantage [Property] to all Checks and Saves you perform. If you would already have the Advantage [Property], you gain the effects of the Reliable [Property] instead.

Ace Pilots have a sixth sense for squeezing speed out of anything with an engine. It isn’t about raw horsepower… it’s about instinct, finesse, and a borderline-supernatural feel for motion. They trim drag without thinking, lean into crosswinds with micro-adjustments no sensor suite could teach, roll thrusters by hand like they’re tuning a guitar string, and even bully a generator into giving just a little more juice than the safety manual strictly recommends. Put an Ace in your cockpit and you’ll see top speeds you swore the frame couldn’t handle, because they don’t just push a vehicle — they coax it past its limits. When they say they’re better, it ain’t just bragging. It’s fact… and bragging.

[Trait].

When you are [Crewing] a [Vehicle], you increase the [Speed] of the [Vehicle] by 1. In addition, when you trigger Sub-Sytsems_Overload, you do so under the effects of the Unreliable [Property].

Ace Pilot’s reflexes aren't merely impressive, they're unfair. Outside a cockpit, they’re as coordinated as anyone else — some nimble, some not — but once they’re strapped in, something clicks. Microseconds matter at mach-six, and an Ace feels those microseconds the way other people feel heartbeats. They launch faster, correct faster, recover faster; they hit the throttle before anyone else even registers the light’s changed. In a galaxy full of cybernetic limbs and reflex-boosting implants, nothing matches the raw, instinctive hand-eye coordination of an Ace Pilot at the helm. Get behind them and you’ll be playing catch-up until the race is over. They get ahead—and they stay ahead.

[Trait].

You gain a 2 Initiative and Reaction when mounted to the [Console] of a Cockpit [Component].

At Job ranks 3, 5, 7 & 9, increase this bonus by 2 for a total of 4, 6, 8 & 10, respectively.

Ace Pilots grow up winning — races, duels, test flights, you name it — and that kind of streak warps a person. When every hangar rat, techie, and street kid treats you like a legend before you’ve even earned your wings, you start believing your own hype. It’s great for getting into V.I.P. rooms and knowing the right people, but it’s a curse when the universe finally punches back. Ace Pilots don’t cope well with being outmatched or outmanoeuvred; failure isn’t a lesson to them, it’s an insult. They get prickly under pressure, short-tempered when things don’t click, and downright unbearable when the situation calls for patience instead of flair. Confidence carries them far, sure — but arrogance is what makes the fall hurt.

[Trait].

Gain a free rank in the [Prestige] [Mastery] or a free [Prestige] [Ability]. This rank or [Ability] cannot exceed your Job Rank.

Example: If you would gain your first rank of [Ace Pilot], advancing your Job rank to 6, you could use your free rank to advance your [Prestige] [Mastery] to rank 6 but you could not use it to advance it to rank 7 and would have to gain a [Prestige] [Ability] instead.

In addition, any time you perform a Prestige or Swagger [Check], you do so under the effects of the [Advantage] [Property].

Furthermore, anytime you suffer a Critical_Failure on any Check or Attack that you have applied your ranks in a [Mastery] to, you trigger Exhaustion, even if you are acting as [Crew].

Ace Pilots all pick up tech skills along the way — not always enough to pass for a full mechanic, usually, some might, but it's enough to matter one way or the other. Vehicles are their lifeblood, so they learn whatever they need to squeeze a little more punch out of an engine or shave a little drag off a wing. For some, that’s swapping out a sound system or rerouting a fuel line; for others, it’s gutting the whole craft and rebuilding it from the frame up. Either way, they’re never shy about getting under the hood. No Ace flies stock, and their rides show it. And if you’re lucky enough to be in their good books, they might even tweak your rig too — a quiet nod of respect, delivered through a better top speed.

[Ritual].

You gain the [Custom Tweaks] [Ability]:

At [Job] ranks 4, 6, 8 & 10, increase the amount of [Hardpoints] granted by this [Ability] to 4, 6, 8 & 10, respectively.

Note: Should you rank up, any [Custom Tweaks] [Rituals] you have already performed do not retroactively update. Should you wish to grant the benefits of the higher ranks, you will have to perform the [Ritual] again, replacing the existing effect.

[Trait].

You gain a D4 Job Die to [Checks[, [Attacks] or [Saves] that you are [Proficient] or [Resistant] in, respectively.

At [Job] ranks 4, 6, 8 & 10, [Upgrade] the Job Die, as per the above [Table].

[Trait].

You gain an additional [Proficiency]. You may become [Proficient] in Swagger, Presence, Initiative, Reaction or any Skills, not just the ones listed on your [Job] [Proficiency List], so long as you are not already [Proficient] in it.

At Job Ranks 5, 7 & 9, you gain an additional [Proficiency].

A veteran Ace can sit in any cockpit, glance at the controls, and their brain just… gets it. Doesn’t matter if it was built for the ocean floor, the upper stratosphere, a magma trench, or a drag strip — to an Ace, a vehicle is a vehicle. Thrusters, ballast, rotors, sails, grav-paddles, whatever; it all follows the same dance once you’ve spent enough of your life behind a control stick. They read unfamiliar gauges like old friends, feel out propulsion systems by instinct, and treat alien steering rigs as if they’d trained on them for years. Give them a minute to settle in, and they’ll run the thing like it’s their preferred ride type, pulling manoeuvres no sane operator should attempt. If it moves, an Ace can fly it — no exceptions.

[Trait].

When you are [Crewing] a [Vehicle], you may treat that [Vehicle] as any type of [Vehicle], for the purposes of using [Piloting] [Masteries].

Example: If you were [Crewing] a [Vehicle] using it's [Void] [Movement Type] but you have ranks in the [Piloting: Subterranean] [Mastery], you could use those ranks and corresponding [Abilities] for this [Vehicle] as if it were using it's [Subterranean] [Movement Type], as [Appropriate].

[Trait].

You don’t trigger Sub-Sytsems_Overload when performing the Move Action, The Turn Action, or any [Abilities] from the [Piloting: Liquidic], [Piloting: Subterranean], [Piloting: Surface], [Piloting: Void] [Masteries].

In addition, you may perform these [Actions] as either [Actions] or [Quick Actions].

Example: A rank 10 [Ace Pilot] performs the [High-G Thrusters] [Ability], normally a [Double Action]. They can choose to perform it as either a [Double Action] or a [Double Quick Action].