Every Crewmember has qualities that aren’t really skills or natural abilities. These are expressed as Distinctions, words or short phrases that describe things that are important about your character. Like Specialties, there’s no definitive list of possibilities to choose from. Just think about how other people describe you, and there you are.

A Distinction simply adds dice to the player’s roll. There are two circumstances when they do: when it works to the Crewmember’s advantage, and when it works to his disadvantage.

When a Distinction works to the Crewmember’s advantage, the Crewmember may add a d8 to his roll. When the Distinction works to the Crewmember’s disadvantage, the Crewmember may add a d4 to his roll—and collect a Plot Point for his trouble.

Note that it says may. That’s important. Distinctions are always within player control. The Fixer plays no role in deciding when a Distinction is brought into play, except to veto abusive use of an overbroad or incorrectly applied Distinction.

This might seem a bit counterintuitive—wait, it works against me and I gain a die? Yes, that’s right. Let’s talk a bit about the dice that come into play.

A d8 is a good, strong die, one that has a decent chance of improving your final result and is unlikely (1 chance in 8) to create a Complication for you. On the other hand, if a d4 improves your result then you have a really crummy result anyway, but a d4 has a relatively good chance (1 in 4) of manifesting as a Complication.

Why would you ever choose to complicate your own life like that? It’s how you generate Plot Points. You want as many Plot Points as you can get your greedy little hands on, since they make it much easier to succeed at the things you’re doing, and so you can be unstoppable when you need to be. Using a Distinction to your disadvantage gains you a Plot Point right off the bat, as well as the possibility of gaining another one if you roll a Complication that the Fixer decides to activate.

You want Distinctions that cut both ways. When you choose one, think about how you’d use it both to your advantage and to your disadvantage. If you can think of one but not the other, try to change it up a bit so it can both help and hurt—because even when it hurts, it helps. Plot Points are one of the most powerful ways you can affect the outcome of the Job. It bears repeating—you want Plot Points.

Be careful not to get too broad with Distinctions. If they get used too often, they lose their uniqueness; if you can imagine using a Distinction at almost any time, it’s too broad. Think of a way to narrow it. The Fixer can step in if he thinks that a Distinction is broad to the point of abuse or silliness.

When you first recruit your Crewmember, you only choose one Distinction. The others are selected in either Fast Recruitment or The Recruitment Job.

Gorgeous; Actress; Deceitful; Bad Boy; Mysterious History; Smarter than He Looks; Honest; Controlling; Drunk; Cocky; Geek; Crazy; No, Really Crazy; Cool Under Pressure; Holds a Grudge; Stubborn; Tall; No Fear; All For One and One For All; Obsessive-Compulsive; Madly In Love; Ladies’ Man