I was using Reinhart's Cheat Engine table to mess around but ultimately did not use it. However, on my next playthrough something strange happened: several of my skills are lower than they were at character creation. Stealth and Persuasion for sure, the rest seem to be untouched. Even if I eat a Cave Hopper steak, Stealth remains unchanged. Wondering if perhaps this is a remnant of the Cheat Engine table. I closed and reloaded UR and Cheat Engine (I use speedhack to get through explored areas quickly) but the artifact remains, so perhaps it's something else. I also went Psi for this character, but I thought that only reduced Health. Feats are Fast Metabolism and Sprint.
I'm going to reboot and try yet again (what a pain), and do some testing, but I wanted to start this thread in case I cannot figure it out.
EDIT: I figured it out. The issue is that I'm a moron. As a good friend of mine says, "ya can't fix stupid"
