When I was leafing through the skills section, I got the the Command entry and my eyes instantly lit up. Inspire seems like a real way for socially oriented characters to contribute in some way to combat without just picking up an autogun.

The issue is, the range is utterly pathetic. You need to be within 10 metres of someone to give words of encouragement, or useful tactical advice? That hamstrings the ability to be primarily a narrative time power, meaning it's fundamentally useless for combat. I think this is a missed opportunity, considering the fact that Command logically should be something you can use to, well, command people! Making combat more than damage dealing is a step in the right direction, in my mind.

I'd suggest boosting the range considerably, or maybe applying that change as part of a talent (probably Commanding). Thoughts? Any suggestions on how to give other skills combat use is great, too, I love the idea of characters who aren't combat focused having a way to contribute.

As you've stated, range really shouldn't be an issue. If anything it should just say range is earshot, that way it can be used over vox or with a loudhailer.

Like you, I think it's a great combat ability, allowing a commander to make his/her presence felt without being a combat character themselves (a bit like the rogue trader ability to give a +10).

However, I personally don't like it being a narrative time power (the way it is written at the moment at least). As there is no downside to using it (and you can even retry it when you fail), you might as well say that everyone has a permanent +10 to all skill checks that don't have a time limit (obviously you could argue that it only works with certain skills, but it does involve the GM doing all the work to control its use).

I'd say increasing things to a healthy 20 or 30 metres, and letting that range double (or turn into 'whatever's in earshot' to allow for microbeads and the like) when the character takes Commanding would make the most sense. Some more creative ways to use the skill than a flat +10 would be interesting too, but I'd be content with this change for now, really.