Species

Despite the vast distances separating their homeworlds, many humanoid species have been found to share a remarkable commonality in form and genetic coding. These similarities [are] believed to be evidence of a common ancestry, an ancient humanoid species, who lived in our galaxy's distant past some four billion years ago.--Humanoid - Memory Alpha

Non-Federation Species

These species are not members of the United Federation of Planets: they lie outside the boundaries of the United Federation of Planets or they have not joined for some reason. These species will represent a majority on the starships and planets in their region of space, but they are generally not encountered on Starfleet starships or Federation member planets.

To reflect this situation, no more than one PC may be from a non-federation member species. If you want to play one of these species, choose one from the list below and inform the GM (who reserves the right to deny your request). You will need to come up with a 10 point Unusual Background and/or Secret that explains your acceptance into Starfleet. Disadvantages in a Species Template do not count against the campaign's disadvantage limit. Omitting traits from species templates does count against the campaign's disadvantage limit.

Non-Federation Species (not available as a PC without at least a -10 point unusual background and/or secret)

Gorn: reptillian
Jindarian (111/91 pts): environmentally adaptable gypsies that wander space in asteroid ships
Klingon (10/-10): belligerent warriors with whom the Federation is fighting a cold war
Kzinti: agressive
Nausicaan: thugs
Orion (8/29 pts): green skinned pirates and slave girls
Romulan: invisible
Tholian: enigmatic

Species Specialties and Skill Penalties

Because of the common genetic ancestry of most of the races of the Milky Way Galaxy...--Hybrid - Memory Alpha

Many behavior/cultural and medical/physiological skills and techniques require you to specialize by species. There is a penalty when using these skills with culture [B23] or physiology [B181] you aren't specialized in. It is assumed you will specialize in your own species, but you don't have to. (Being specialized in other species but not your own requires a plausible background story—a 1 character point Unusual Background Perk).

Behavioral/Cultural Off-Culture Penalties

The penalties for using the behavioral/cultural-type skills – Anthropology, Body Language, Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Hypnotism, Interrogation, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Propaganda/TL, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching [B23] – on a species outside your specialty are given in the table below. The Expert Skill (Xenology) skill suffers from the same penalties when used to identify or answer general questions about a species' culture.

Off-Culture Default Penalties for Behavioral/Cultural-Type Skills
Prevalence Penalty Culture

Common -1 Human, Andorian, Tellarite, Vulcan

Uncommon -2 Alpha Centauran, Caitian, Deltan, Denobulan, Edosian, Klingon, Orion, Rigelian, Saurian

Rare -3 Arcturian, Argelian, Betazoid, Bolian, Brecon, Coridan, Cygnan, Cygnian, Jidarian, Kaferian, Kzinti, Medusan, Mynieni, Nausicaan, Prellarian, Romulan, Suliban, Trill

Very Rare -4 Bajoran, Benzite

Unknown^* -5 Ferengi, Gorn

Enigmatic^† -6 Tholian

Off-Culture Default Penalties for Behavioral/Cultural-Type Skills
Prevalence	Penalty	Culture
Common	-1	Human, Andorian, Tellarite, Vulcan
Uncommon	-2	Alpha Centauran, Caitian, Deltan, Denobulan, Edosian, Klingon, Orion, Rigelian, Saurian
Rare	-3	Arcturian, Argelian, Betazoid, Bolian, Brecon, Coridan, Cygnan, Cygnian, Jidarian, Kaferian, Kzinti, Medusan, Mynieni, Nausicaan, Prellarian, Romulan, Suliban, Trill
Very Rare	-4	Bajoran, Benzite
Unknown^*	-5	Ferengi, Gorn
Enigmatic^†	-6	Tholian

* Cultural Familiarity for unknown species costs 1 character point, plus a 1 character point Unusual Background.
† Cultural Familiarity for enigmatic species costs 2 character points.

Counseling officers have access to Cultural Adaptability (10 pt) (or Xeno-Adaptability (20 pt)) which allow them to ignore these cultural unfamiliarity penalties for Common and Uncommon species (or all species). The Counseling! wildcard relative skill level bonus reduces these penalties for those skills above that aren't covered by Counseling! E.g. If you had Counseling! at Attribute+1 (36 pt), you would have only a -1 penalty when Carousing with an Alpha Centauran and no penalty when Interrogating one.

Medical/Physiological Off-Species Penalties

The off-species penalties for medical/physiological-type skills are based on the Zorsky Interspecies Compatibility Table [from GURPS: MODULE PRIME ALPHA, pp. 28-29] given below. These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology (species) roll for that species first. You may roll against Physiology (species) at defaut; such a roll suffers from the same penalties given below.

Physiology (species)/TL

IQ/Hard

IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, Physiology-off species penalty, or Surgery-5

This skill is covered on p. B213. A successful roll against your species specialty of Physiology temporarily removes the off-species penalty for physiology-esque skills [B181]: Diagnosis, First Aid, Physician, Pressure Points, Pressure Secrets, or Surgery. If you fail this Physiology roll, you feel the full effects of any off-species penalty. While a high Physiology skill with several species specializations can be an efficient way to go for high-IQ individuals and/or those with a wide range of medical/physiological skills, purchasing additional species specialties for particular skills removes their off-species penalty permanently.

Off-Species Default Penalties for Medical/Physiological-Type Skills
Zorski Group	Description	Default Penalties	Example Species
I	Humans and all species moderately compatible in terms of blood and biochemistry. (Alpha- Centaurians are genetically human.)	-1 within a subgroup -2 with other Group I subgroups -3 with Groups II-IV -4 with Group V -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X	Subgroup a: Humans/Alpha- Centaurans (same species), Rigellians Subgroup b: Brecon, Cygnans, Prellarians
II	Species dissimilar to Group I in biochemistry and/or have significant internal organ differences including extra or unique internal organs.	-2 within Group II -3 with Groups I, III, and IV -4 with Group V -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X	Arcturians, Klingons, Tellarites
III	Species dissimilar to Groups I and II in that their blood chemistries are not based on iron, e.g. copper (a) or cobalt (b) based.	-1 within a subgroup -2 with other Group III subgroups -3 with Groups I, II, IV -4 with Group V -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X	Subgroup a: Vulcans Subgroup b: Andorians, Orions
IV	Mammalian species with biochemistries moderately compatible with Group I, but which have significant internal and external differences.	-3 with Groups I-III -4 with Group V -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X	Kzintis
V	Reptilian species with biochemistries and internal/ external differences that are significant when compared to Group I.	-1 within Va subgroup -2 with other Group V subgroups -4 with Group I-IV -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X
VI	Exoskeletal species that are significantly different to Groups I-V and each other.	-5 with any other species, including other Group VI species -6 Groups X	Jindarians, Mynieni
VII	Species that do not have individual internal organs or their equivalents, and include plantlike species.	-5 with any other species, including other Group VII species -6 Groups X
VIII	Species that do not breath oxygen and come from subzero (though not cryogenic, see Group IX) climates.	-5 with any other species, including other Group VIII species -6 Groups X
IX	Species that do not breath oxygen and come from cryogenic climates.	-5 with any other species, including other Group IX species -6 Groups X
X	Species that are highly unique and defy classification.	-6 with any other species, including other Group X species	Tholians

The above table is a modified version of Zorsky Interspecies Compatibility Table that appears in GURPS Module Prime Alpha.

These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology Skill roll for that species first, which will of course suffer from the same penalty. If you don't have the Physiology Skill for that species, you can roll against a default: IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, or Surgery-5.