Chapter 4: Skills

Class Skills: You gain a +3 class bonus to checks made with class skills, as per the Core rules. If you have at least 10 ranks in a class skill, you can always Take 10 on checks with that skill, even if stress and distractions would normally prevent it. In addition, certain skills have additional abilities that can only be used if the skill in question is a class skill.

Passive Checks: In general, whenever you specifically call for a skill check, you are entitled to roll it (an “active check”). For some skills, you may be allowed a check even without asking for one; in such cases, the referee will generally provide you with a “passive check.” A passive check essentially consists of you continuously “taking 10,” allowing you success against any DC of 10 + your bonus in the relevant skill, without you needing to roll (the referee will simply announce the results). In many cases (as specifically noted), you are entitled to a passive check even if you could not normally Take 10.

Passive checks also serve as a means of making “secret rolls” without rolling dice behind a screen and then trying to convince the players it’s not important. Because they totally know when you roll dice it’s important, and it’s not cool for you to roll a 1 for them to notice an ambush or something, and have them get killed because of your lame roll made on their behalf.

Role-Playing Skills: Players are generally expected to describe their characters’ actions before an active skill check for success is made. For example, rather than simply saying, “I Bluff the guard; I rolled a 26,” the player should first describe the bluff itself. What is the PC saying? Why is the bluff believable or not? For skill checks being made “off-screen” or as part of unimportant side situations, or when the description is obvious (“How do I climb down the knotted rope? I sheathe my sword and climb down the knotted rope”), this requirement is waived.

Superior Assist: If you aid another with a skill check, you can attempt to provide a greater than normal +2 circumstance bonus to the other character’s total skill check. This reflects the fact that a highly trained person can render better help than an untrained or fumbling assistant. With a DC 15 check, you boost the bonus you provide by an additional +1, +1 per +5 to the DC thereafter. There is no limit to how high you can push the Difficulty Class and the bonus, but this carries some risk: if your check to aid another fails, you actually inflict a penalty equal to the magnitude of the bonus you were attempting. You cannot Take 10 or Take 20 when attempting a superior assist, even if you have 10 ranks in the appropriate skill. This option is adapted from Iron Heroes (Fiery Dragon Productions).

Take 10/Take 20: In the interest of dispensing with extraneous and/or extremely repetitive dice rolls, the ability to Take 10 has been expanded as indicated for certain skills. In general, you cannot Take 20 if there is a potential penalty for failure; in some cases, this is spelled out.

Time Crunch: There are times when you can’t afford to spend the full listed time on a task, such as when it will take 2d4 rounds to disarm the trap that will kill you in 1 round. In these cases, you can attempt to speed up the skill check by increasing the DC, as follows (you do not automatically succeed on a natural 20, nor can you take 20), according to the table below. For results that strain credulity (weeks to rounds), simply assume that you knew of some mostly-complete example that was located nearby (for Craft checks), or come up with some similar explanation.

Table: Check DCs for Fast Skill Use

Normal Time Unit:	Time Unit Task Attempted In:
	Day
Week	+20
Day	+0
Hour	―
Minute	―
Round	―
Standard action	―
Move action	―

Acrobatics (Dex)

You can keep your balance while traversing narrow or treacherous surfaces. You can also dive, flip, and roll, avoiding attacks and confusing your opponents.

Active Checks: This skill has several distinct uses. First, you can use it to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling. A successful check allows you to move at half speed through such situations; you can attempt to move at greater speed, but at a penalty (as shown in the tables below). Only one check is needed per round to move across such surfaces. Use the following table to determine the base DC, which is then modified by the Acrobatics skill modifiers noted below. While you are using Acrobatics in this way, you are considered flat-footed and lose your Dexterity bonus to your AC (if any), unless you beat the check by 10 or more.

If you take damage while using Acrobatics, you must immediately make another Acrobatics check at the same DC to avoid falling or being knocked prone.

Surface Width	DC
Greater than 3 feet wide	0
1–3 feet wide	5
7–11 inches wide or dense forest	10
2–6 inches wide or medium forest	15
Less than 2 inches wide or sparse forest	20

* No Acrobatics check is needed to move across these surfaces unless the modifiers increase the DC to 10 or higher.

The following modifiers apply to all Acrobatics skill checks. The modifiers stack with one another, but generally only the most severe modifier for any given condition applies.

Acrobatics Modifiers	DC Modifier
Lightly obstructed (gravel, sand)	+2
Severely obstructed (cavern, rubble)	+5
Slightly slippery (wet)	+2
Severely slippery (icy)	+5
Slightly sloped (less than 45°)	+2
Severely sloped (greater than 45°)	+5
Slightly unsteady (boat in rough water)	+2
Mildly unsteady (boat in a storm)	+5
Severely unsteady (earthquake)	+10
Move at normal speed or greater	+10
Move at double speed (e.g., charge)	+15
Run	+20

More advanced uses of the Acrobatics skill include the following:

Task	Acrobatics DC
Ignore difficult terrain	20 + 5 per additional 5 ft.
Landing roll	10 + trip results
Move through occupied square	5 + opponent's CMD
Move through threatened square	Opponent’s CMD (+2 per add’l threatening foe)
Slow fall	5 + 10 per 10 ft. reduced
Kip up	20
Water walking	35

Ignore difficult terrain: You can take a 5-ft. step into or within difficult terrain with a DC 20 Acrobatics check. For movement, you can move 5 ft. through difficult terrain on a DC 20 check, and an additional 5 ft. per 5 points by which your check exceeds DC 20.

Landing roll: If you are tripped, you can spend an immediate action to attempt an Acrobatics check at DC 10 + results of the combat maneuver check that tripped you. If successful, you move 5 feet without provoking an attack of opportunity (this does not count as taking a 5-foot step). You are still prone after this movement, however. This task supersedes the feat of the same name, from Ultimate Combat.

Move through occupied or threatened square: When moving in this way, you move at half speed. You can move at full speed by increasing the DC of the check by 10. You cannot use Acrobatics to move past foes if your speed is reduced due to carrying a medium or heavy load or wearing medium or heavy armor. If an ability allows you to move at full speed under such conditions, you can use Acrobatics to move past foes.

You can use Acrobatics in this way while prone, but doing so requires a full-round action to move 5 feet, and the DC is increased by 5. If you fail your check when moving past an opponent, you continue to move but provoke an attack of opportunity as normal. If you fail your check when moving through an opponent’s square, your movement ends before you enter the opponent’s space and you provoke an attack of opportunity as normal. You can attempt to crawl at half your speed (rather than only moving 5 ft.), but this adds 10 to the check DC (in addition to the +5 for crawling).

Kip up: You may stand up from prone as a swift action, instead of as a move-equivalent action (if you succeed by 10 or more, you stand up as a free action). If the check results are high enough to move through a threatened square (see above), then you can also do so without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Class Skill: If Acrobatics is a class skill for you, you can spend an immediate action to make an Acrobatics check and use the result in place of your CMB when attempting to avoid a bull rush, overrun, or trample attempt. In addition, your normal skill use is enhanced in the following ways:

• Slow fall: For every 2 ranks in Acrobatics, you can ignore 10 feet of falling distance; this supersedes the core monk’s “slow fall” ability.

• Ledge walker: The penalty for moving at greater than half speed using Acrobatics is reduced by 1 per rank (minimum -0). This ability supersedes the Legendary Acrobat feat from Complete Adventurer. Along with the Steady Stance ability (see below), it also supersedes the rogue talent of the same name from the Core rules.

• Nimble moves: For every 3 ranks in Acrobatics, you can automatically ignore 5 ft. of difficult terrain, making checks only when continuing to move through it thereafter. This supersedes the Acrobatic Steps and Nimble Moves feats from the Core rules.

• Sure step: If you are struck while using the Acrobatics skill, the check to avoid falling or being knocked prone is made with a +1 competence bonus per rank in Acrobatics.

In addition, as you gain additional ranks in Acrobatics as a class skill, you gain the following additional abilities:

• Steady Stance: If you have at least 6 ranks in Acrobatics as a class skill, you retain your Dex bonus to AC and are no longer flat-footed while balancing. This supersedes the Thief-Acrobat, Dread Pirate, and Nightsong Infiltrator “steady stance” prestige class feature, from Complete Adventurer.

• Water walking: If you have at least 11 ranks in Acrobatics as a class skill, you can “skim” across the surface of a body of water by making a skill check as if it were difficult terrain. The maximum distance you may cover in one round in this manner is equal to your base land speed; if you do not reach solid ground by the end of this movement, you immediately sink unless you succeed at another check. Rough water imposes a +5 modifier to the check DC.

Wind step: If you have at least 16 ranks in Acrobatics, you can make a check as if moving through difficult terrain, with an additional +10 to the DC, in order to exert no weight upon the surface you are walking on. This allows you to use the Acrobatics skill to walk on clouds or smoke, to balance on a sword blade, to ride on a lightning bolt, etc.

Action: Usually none; an Acrobatics check is normally made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation. Water walking or wind stepping requires a full-round action.

Athletics (Str)

He had never seen Tarby ice skate, but he was sure that the team’s greatest home-run hitter was also the champion ice skater of New Zebedee.

―John Bellairs,

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973)

You know how to climb, jump, and swim, and are adept at other physical sports and activities (any such activity not specifically covered elsewhere falls under Athletics by default).

Active Checks (Climbing): With a successful Athletics check, you can advance up, down, or across a slope, a wall, or some other steep incline (or even a ceiling with handholds) at one-quarter your normal speed. A slope is considered to be any incline at an angle measuring less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline at an angle measuring 60 degrees or more.

A check that fails by 4 or less means that you make no progress; one that fails by 5+ means that you fall from whatever height you have already attained. The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb. Compare the task with those on the following tables to determine an appropriate DC.

Example Surface or Activity	DC
Slope too steep to walk up, knotted rope with a wall to brace against.	0
A rope with a wall to brace against, knotted rope, or rope affected by the rope trick spell.	5
Surface with ledges, such as a very rough wall or ship’s rigging.	10
Surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial)—e.g., very rough natural rock surface, tree, unknotted rope, or pulling self up when dangling by your hands.	15
Brachiation on vines, etc.	15
Uneven surface with narrow handholds and footholds—e.g., typical wall in dungeon or ruins; natural rock; brick wall	20
Overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds (e.g., cavern ceiling)	25

Example Surface or Activity (Cumulative; use all that apply)	DC Mod*
Climbing a chimney or other location where you can brace against two opposite walls	–10
Climbing a corner where you can brace against perpendicular walls	–5
Surface is slippery	+5
Accelerated climbing (half speed)	+5
Accelerated climbing (full speed)	+10
One needed hand not free (e.g., holding lamp)	+5
Both hands carrying objects	+10

While climbing, you can’t move to avoid a blow, so you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). Any time you take damage while climbing or swimming, make an Athletics check against the DC of the slope, wall, or water conditions. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage (if climbing), or begin to sink (if swimming).

Making Your Own Handholds and Footholds: You can make your own handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so takes 1 minute per piton, and one piton is needed per 5 feet of distance. As with any surface that offers handholds and footholds, a wall with pitons in it has a DC of 15. In the same way, a climber with a hand axe or similar implement can cut handholds in an ice wall.

Catching Yourself When Falling: It’s practically impossible to catch yourself on a wall while falling. Make a Climb check (DC = wall’s DC + 20) to do so. It’s much easier to catch yourself on a slope (DC = slope’s DC + 10).

Catching a Falling Character While Climbing: If someone climbing above you or adjacent to you falls, you can attempt to catch the falling character if he or she is within your reach. Doing so requires a successful melee touch attack against the falling character (though he or she can voluntarily forego any Dexterity bonus to AC if desired). If you hit, you must immediately attempt a Climb check (DC = wall’s DC + 10). Success indicates that you catch the falling character, but his or her total weight, including equipment, cannot exceed your heavy load limit or you automatically fall. If you fail your Climb check by 4 or less, you fail to stop the character’s fall but don’t lose your grip on the wall. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to stop the character’s fall and begin falling as well.

Active Checks (Jumping): You can also use the Athletics skill to jump across gaps and pits, as well as soften your fall. Instead of determining the base DC by the surface width, the base DC is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or four times the height to be reached (if vertical). These DCs double if you do not have at least 10 feet of space to get a running start. Modifiers concerning the surface you are jumping from (see Acrobatics) also apply. If you fail this check by 4 or less, you can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save to grab hold of the other side after having missed the jump. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to make the jump and fall (or land prone, in the case of a vertical jump).

Long Jump	Athletics DC
5 feet	5
10 feet	10
15 feet	15
20 feet	20
Greater than 20 feet	+5 per 5 feet

High Jump	Athletics DC
Any height	4 x number of feet

Jumping Down: If you intentionally jump from a height, you take less damage than if you just fall. The DC to jump down from a height is 15. You do not have to get a running start to jump down (the DC is not doubled if you do not get a running start). If you succeed on the check, you take falling damage as if you had dropped 10 fewer feet than you actually did.

You can jump down upon an opponent as part of a melee attack. Roll to attack normally and also roll an Athletics check to jump; if you fail either one, you fall prone. If your jump check results exceed the opponent’s combat maneuver defense (CMD), you deal an additional 1d6 damage per 10 feet dropped. This maneuver can be combined with the normal benefits of “jumping down” (see above).

Bounding Climb: With a 10-ft. running start, a DC 30 Athletics check allows you to climb to a height of up to 20 feet (count this distance as part of your normal movement) by jumping and bouncing off walls or trees. You must have at least two vertical surfaces to bounce off, and the two must be within 10 feet of each other.

Pole Vault: When carrying any long pole or staff, you can use it to augment the height of a jump. Make a running high jump as normal, but make a second Athletics check at DC 15 to add the length of the pole to the total distance you jump. You may jump above the maximum distance normally allowed by your height after applying this modifier. If you fail the check to use the pole, resolve your initial jump check, but halve the height it would normally allow you to clear. This application is from 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Active Checks (Running): When running, make a DC 20 Athletics check to move five times your normal speed if wearing light, or no armor and carrying no more than a medium load; or four times your speed (if wearing medium or heavy armor with a check penalty or carrying a heavy load). If untrained, your maximum running speed is 4 times your normal speed.

If you make a jump after a running start with a successful run check, you gain a +4 bonus on your Athletics check to jump.

Active Checks (Swimming): Make an Athletics check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to one-half your speed (as a full-round action) or at one-quarter your speed (as a move action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress through the water. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater.

If you are underwater, either because you failed an Athletics check to swim or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score or your Endurance skill bonus (whichever is greater), but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action or a full-round action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. (Effectively, a character in combat can hold his or her breath only half as long as normal.) After that period of time, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the Constitution check, you begin to drown.

The DC for the Swim check depends on the water, as given on the table below.

Water	Swim DC
Calm water	10
Rough water	15
Stormy water	20
Hurricane conditions	25
Tsunami	30

Each hour that you swim, you must make a DC 20 Athletics (swim) check or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage from fatigue.

Diving depth (without equipment) is limited to 10 ft. per rank in this skill; with SCUBA gear or equivalent magical aids, this limit is tripled. If you have ranks in this skill and come from a modern setting, you are assumed to be able to use SCUBA gear.

Active Checks (Other): The Athletics skill is additionally a catch-all for other tasks that involve physical coordination and muscular effort, but that are not sufficiently useful to merit the creation of separate skills in your campaign. Examples might include downhill skiing and rugby.

Class Skill: If you have Athletics as a class skill, your use of the skill is improved as follows:

• The DC increase for accelerated climbing or swimming, or to catch yourself while falling from a climb, is reduced by 1 per 2 ranks (minimum +0).

• If struck while climbing or swimming, you gain a +1 competence bonus per rank in Athletics to avoid falling or going under.

In addition, you gain the following abilities at the indicated number of ranks:

• If you have at least 6 ranks in Athletics as a class skill, you are no longer flat-footed while climbing or swimming, and no longer lose your Dex bonus to AC.

• If you have at least 11 ranks, you can attempt to climb perfectly smooth, flat surfaces (such as a wall of force). The DC is 30, or 35 if the surface is a ceiling or overhang.

• If you have at least 16 ranks, you can attempt outrageous feats like swimming up waterfalls or diving to the bottom of the ocean.

Action: Climbing is part of movement, so it’s generally part of a move action (and may be combined with other types of movement in a move action). Each move action that includes any climbing requires a separate check. Catching yourself or another falling character doesn’t take an action.

A successful check allows you to swim one-quarter of your speed as a move action or one-half your speed as a full-round action.

Special: You can use a rope to haul a character upward (or lower a character) through sheer strength. You can lift double your maximum load in this manner. A climber’s kit gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Climb checks.

A creature with a natural climb speed has a racial bonus on all Athletic checks involving climbing equal to +1 per 5 ft. of its climb speed. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0, but it always can choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. If a creature with a climb speed chooses an accelerated climb (see above), it moves at double its climb speed (or at its land speed, whichever is slower) and makes a single Climb check at a –5 penalty. Such a creature retains its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no special bonus to their attacks against it. It cannot, however, use the run action while climbing.

A creature with a natural swim speed can move through water at its indicated speed without making checks. It gains a +1 racial bonus per 5 ft. of swim speed on any Athletics check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard while swimming. The creature always can choose to take 10 on a swim check, even if distracted or endangered when swimming. Such a creature can use the run action while swimming, provided that it swims in a straight line.

Swim checks are subject to double the normal armor check penalty and encumbrance penalty.

Take 10: When running or swimming under normal conditions over a number of rounds, you can choose to pace yourself instead of rolling a check each round.

Untrained: You move four times your speed while running (if wearing medium, light, or no armor and carrying no more than a medium load) or three times your speed (if wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load). You are unable to use SCUBA gear effectively, and are limited to 10 feet in diving depth without gear.

Bluff (Cha)

“You have always, I must say, a smooth explanation ready.”

“What do you want me to do? Learn to stutter?”

―Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1929)

You know how to tell a lie and how to notice when others are lying. You can also use your skill at bluffing to actively intimidate or even demoralize people. Games involving bluffing and the reading of “tells” (poker, etc.) are also resolved using this skill.

Active Checks: You can use the Bluff skill to accomplish the following tasks:

Task	Bluff DC
Lie / discern lie	Opposed check results
Browbeat	Opposed check or Will save
Demoralize	Opposed check or Will save
Demoralize, mass	Opposed check or Will save
Elicit Information	Opposed check results
Feint	CMD or 10+Bluff bonus
Innuendo (simple)	15
Innuendo (complex)	20
Innuendo (Dosadi)	30
Pantomime	20 (30 if different type)
Sense Domination	15
Sense Enchantment	25
Sense Motive (normal)	15 + Wis modifier
Sense Motive (bluffing)	Opposed check results

Lie: You can convince others that what you are saying is true. Bluff is an opposed skill check versus your opponent’s Bluff skill. If you are actively using Bluff to fool another, with a successful check you convince your opponent that what you are saying is true. Alternatively, if you are being deceived and your check succeeds, you can see through the lies that are being told to you by others. Bluff checks are modified depending upon the believability of the lie. The following modifiers are applied to the roll of the creature attempting to tell the lie.

Circumstances	Bluff Modifier
The target wants to believe you	+5
The deception is believable	+0
The deception is unlikely	–5
The deception is far-fetched	–10
The deception is impossible	–20
The target is drunk or impaired	+5
You possess convincing proof	up to +10

Browbeat: You can use this skill to bully others into acting in a way that benefits you. This use of the skill includes verbal threats and displays of prowess. You can use Bluff to force an opponent to act friendly to you for 1d6 x 10 minutes with a successful check. An opposed Bluff check or Will save (target’s option) negates the effect. If your are successful, the target will give you information you desire, take actions that do not endanger it, or otherwise offer limited assistance. After the intimidation expires, the target treats you as unfriendly and may report you to local authorities. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the target attempts to deceive you or otherwise hinder your activities.

Demoralize: You can use this skill to cause fear in your opponents. The subject is entitled to an opposed Bluff check or Will save (whichever it prefers) to resist. Size modifiers (as to CMB) apply to both checks. If you are successful, the target is shaken for as long as you are present and continue to be a visible potential threat to him/her. If you beat the DC by 10 or more (or if the target is already shaken), the target is frightened instead of shaken, if you so choose. If you beat the DC by 15 or more (or if the target is already frightened), the target is panicked. If you beat the DC by 20 or more, the target is cowering.

You can only threaten opponents in this way if they are within 30 feet and can clearly see and hear you. You can take 10 when making an demoralize check, but can’t take 20. A character immune to [fear] effects can’t be demoralized.

Demoralize, Mass: You can attempt to intimidate more than one person at a time. Use the save or check of the most resistant target and apply it the entire group, with a +2 circumstance bonus for each target beyond the first.

Elicit Information: Through conversation and misdirection, you can trick others into revealing information to you. This requires a Bluff check on your part opposed by the target’s Bluff check to keep the information secret; DC of your check is modified based on the sensitivity information to be gained, according to the following table.

Sensitivity	Example	Modifier
Trivial	What’s your name?	-0
Significant	When does the guards’ shift change?	-5
Secret	Where is the safe hidden?	-10
Top Secret	What’s the combination?	-20

An unwilling target can simply refuse to talk to you altogether, forcing you to rely on nonverbal cues; treat this as if the target were taking 20 on his or her Bluff check to resist. This function of the skill is described in the Crime and Punishment supplement (Atlas Games), under “New Uses for Old Skills.”

Feint: You can also use Bluff to feint in combat, causing your opponent to be flat-footed against your next attack. The DC of this check is equal to the opponent’s CMD. If your opponent is also trained in Bluffing, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent’s Bluff bonus, if higher than his or her CMD. If you have at least 8 ranks in Bluff, you can potentially feint more than one opponent at a time, but doing so imposes the penalties listed under Mass Demoralize.

Innuendo: You can use Bluff to imply hidden messages to another character without others understanding your true meaning. The DC of this check is 15 for simple messages and 20 for complex messages. If you are successful, the target automatically understands you. If your check fails by 5 or more, you deliver the wrong message. Other creatures that hear the message can decipher the message by succeeding at an opposed Bluff check.

With a DC 30 check, you can carry on complete conversations undetected, even while seeming to talk normally, as in Frank Herbert’s The Dosadi Experiment and other works.

You may use Bluff to detect that a hidden message is being transmitted by others you are observing. In this case, an opposed skill check is made against the character transmitting the message. For each piece of information relating to the message that you are missing, you take a –2 penalty on your check. If you succeed by 4 or less, you know that something hidden is being communicated, but you can't learn anything specific about its content. If you beat the DC by 5 or more, you intercept and understand the message. If you fail by 4 or less, you don't detect any hidden communication. If you fail by 5 or more, you might infer false information.

Pantomime: When you are faced with a creature whose language you do not understand, you can attempt to communicate with it by making a successful Bluff. This check requires that you spend at least 1 minute listening to the creature and watching its gestures and demeanor, or performing your own gestures. The check's base DC is 20. If the creature is not the same type as you, the DC is 30. With a successful check, you learn the basic gist of the creature's speech, or convey your own meaning. This ability gives you no special talent to speak the creature's tongue.

Sense Enchantment: You can tell that someone’s behavior is being influenced by an enchantment effect (by definition, a mind-affecting effect), even if that person isn’t aware of it. The usual DC is 25, but if the target is dominated (see dominate person), the DC is only 15 because of the limited range of the target’s activities.

Sense Motive: This use of the skill involves making a gut assessment of the social situation. You can get the feeling from another’s behavior that something is wrong, such as when you’re talking to an impostor. Alternatively, you can get the feeling that someone is trustworthy, or to intuit the person’s ulterior motives. This is an opposed check against the other person’s Bluff results; if he or she is not attempting to Bluff, the DC is 15 + the other person’s Wisdom modifier.

Passive Checks: The Bluff skill grants passive checks in two situations:

• You automatically notice attempts to lie to you or deceive you, even if you have no reason to suspect the person you’re interacting with, if their Bluff results are less than or equal to 10 + your skill bonus.

• In bad neighborhoods and the like, you can choose to walk in a confident and/or threatening manner. Those with a Bluff bonus less than yours (or who fail an active check against your passive one) assume that you pose a legitimate threat, even if you are not aware of them.

Action: Attempting to deceive someone takes at least 1 round, but can possibly take longer if the lie is elaborate. Feinting in combat is a standard action. Exchanging a secret message generally takes twice as long as the message itself would take to relay. Using intimidation to change an opponent’s attitude requires 1 minute of conversation. Demoralizing an opponent is a standard action. Passive checks do not require actions on your part.

Try Again: If you fail to lie to someone, any further checks made to lie them about the same subject are made at a –8 penalty. You can attempt to feint against someone again if you fail. Secret messages can be relayed again if the first attempt fails. You can attempt to browbeat or demoralize an opponent again, but each additional check increases the DC by +5. This increase resets after 1 hour has passed.

Synergy: If you also have at least 5 ranks in Stealth, any time you win an opposed Stealth check by 5 or more you can choose to sow terror as a standard action. You do so by scraping your nails slightly on a solid surface, causing a board to creak ever so lightly, or rapping on a window pane. The victim cannot detect the source of the sound and dismisses it as the wind or some other mundane source, but the idea that something might be lurking nearby festers in the victim’s subconscious. You gain an attempt to Demoralize, but the shaken condition lasts until you show yourself or depart the area. This supersedes the Sow Terror feat from Classic Monsters Revisited.

Concentration (Cha)

Through a combination of skill and sheer force of personality, you can shape magical forces (i.e., cast spells and activate spell-like abilities) without losing control of them. Unless otherwise noted, your caster level is always equal to your number of ranks in Concentration. This means that the Practiced Spellcaster feat is superseded, and that there is no need to calculate caster level for non-full casting classes according to a formula.

Active Checks: The primary task requiring Concentration skill checks is to cast spells or activate spell-like abilities in stressful or distracting conditions. Skill checks can also be made to penetrate spell resistance or to dispel magic (in general, whenever a caster level check is called for).

Task	Concentration Check DC
Cast while distracted	10
Cast defensively	10 + BAB of threatening opponent
Dispel magic	16 + caster level of magic
Penetrate spell resistance	SR of target creature

* These checks are made at a penalty equal to twice the level of the spell you are attempting to cast.

Cast While Distracted: Casting a spell or activating a spell-like ability in melee or other conditions of distractions or stress requires a Concentration check. Conditions triggering a concentration check include casting in combat, casting while in vigorous motion (e.g., on a running horse), or casting in wind and rain or in sleet.

The base DC to cast while distracted is 10; you take a penalty to this check equal to twice the level of the spell you are attempting to cast (or level of the spell-like ability you are attempting to activate). Modifiers are summarized in the table below.

Combat Conditions	DC Modifier
Affected by a non-damaging spell	+ (Spell’s DC – 10)
Injured or taking continuous damage while casting	+ Damage dealt
Threatened while casting (see below)	+ Opponent’s BAB
Grappled, bull rushed, tripped, etc.	+ Opponent's CMB
Spell Components	DC Modifier
Spell has no material components, but does require a focus	–2
Spell has no materials or focus	–4
Spell has no somatic components	–4
Motion	DC Modifier
Violent motion	+5
Extremely violent motion	+10
Precipitation	DC Modifier
Heavy rain or sleet	+5
Winds	DC Modifier
Severe winds	+2
Windstorm	+4
Hurricane	+8
Tornado	+12

Cast Defensively: If you are threatened by an opponent who has at least one attack of opportunity remaining, you can elect to attempt to cast defensively. If you choose not to do so, you provoke an attack of opportunity. To cast defensively, you must succeed at a Concentration check at a base DC of 10 + the BAB of the threatening opponent, as shown in the table above; as noted, you take a penalty to the check equal to twice the level of the spell you’re casting. If this check fails, a threatening opponent can spend an attack of opportunity to automatically disrupt your spell. If the check is successful, the spellcasting continues uninterrupted.

Allies of the threatening opponent who also threaten you can choose to potentially spend attacks of opportunity themselves in order to Aid Another (see Introduction); each one who does so adds +2 circumstance bonus to the DC of the defensive casting check (and again, uses up the attack of opportunity only if your Concentration check fails).

As a risky strategy against a skilled opponent, you can ignore the threat and simply cast the spell normally, but doing so provokes an attack of opportunity from all threatening opponents. If you are struck by an attack of opportunity provoked by not casting defensively, you must succeed at a concentration check after all, but you also add the damage sustained to the check DC (see table). Threatening opponents can disrupt spellcasting more reliably than noted above by withholding an attack (see Preemptive Actions in Chapter 1) and striking you as an immediate action.

Dispel Magic: When attempting to dispel magic using a dispel magic or similar spell, you must succeed at a Concentration check at a DC of 11 + the caster’s Concentration modifier (if unknown, use 1.5 x caster level to estimate the caster’s Concentration modifier, so that a caster level 15^th effect would have a default dispel check DC of 11 + 22 = 33).

Penetrate Spell Resistance: To penetrate spell resistance, you must succeed at a Concentration check at a DC equal to the SR of the target. You do not include your Charisma modifier when making this check (i.e., you roll 1d20 + your number of ranks in Concentration + your bonus from Skill Focus, if any). This usage supersedes the Spell Penetration feat from the core rules.

Special: When casting a spell or using a spell-like ability in combat that requires an attack roll, you can choose to take a -1 penalty to the attack roll. For every 4 ranks in Concentration you possess, you can increase the penalty by an additional -1. For every -1 to attacks you accept, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Concentration checks to cast that spell defensively or while taking ongoing damage, to avoid losing the spell if hit, etc.

Game Play Etiquette: Players of spellcasting characters are expected to keep track of their Concentration check modifiers, so as not to slow down play with calculations when such a check is called for. If unable to immediately roll the relevant check, failure is automatic and the next person’s turn begins. Your skill check modifier should therefore be pre-calculated for each level of spells you can cast, against the base DC of 10. For example, a 10^th level wizard with Cha 16 would have the following Concentration bonuses by spell level: 5^th level: +3; 4^th level: +5; 3^rd level: +7; 2^nd level: +9; 1^st level: +11; 0-level: +13. You can then quickly subtract the attacker’s BAB and throw the dice. Yes, this means you’ll know the attacker’s BAB.

Diplomacy (Cha)

Rüdiger desired nothing better than to see the queen. He knew himself so skilful in speech that, could it be at all, he must prevail with her.

―The Niebelungenlied (ca. 1200)

You can use this skill to resolve differences and persuade others. You are trained in etiquette, full of tact, and able in negotiations; and you are able to recognize and respond appropriately when others are using the same tools against you.

You cannot use Diplomacy against a creature that does not understand you or has an Int of 3 or less.

Active Checks: Diplomacy is primarily used to change the attitudes of others by persuading them to see your point of view, or by convincing them that it is advantageous to follow your recommendations.

Change Attitude or Negotiate: You can change the attitudes of intelligent creatures with a successful check. You make your pitch (describing your argument or actually making it verbally) and then roll your Diplomacy, modified by the subject’s current attitude towards you (based on the circumstances and on your approach).

Starting Attitude	Check Modifier
Hostile	-20
Unfriendly	-10
Indifferent	-5
Friendly	0
Helpful	+5

Your check results are opposed by a Diplomacy check on the subject’s part (those untrained in Diplomacy can generally resist only through sheer force of personality, represented in this case by a Will save). If you succeed, the character’s attitude toward you is improved by one step (or worsened, if you prefer—you can use this skill to annoy people if you wish). For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the subject’s opposed toll, the character’s attitude toward you increases (or decreases) by one additional step. If you fail the check by 4 or less, the character’s attitude toward you is unchanged. For every 5 by which your check fails, the character’s attitude toward you is decreased by one step.

It is common for two parties to attempt to persuade each other simultaneously; roll opposed Diplomacy checks, with the loser’s attitude shifting, and the winner freely deciding on his or her own attitude at each step.

If the creature’s attitude toward you is at least indifferent, you can make requests of the creature. This requires additional Diplomacy checks. Once a creature’s attitude is shifted to helpful, the creature gives in to most requests without a check, unless that check is against their nature or puts them in serious peril.

Request	Modifier
Give simple advice or directions	-5
Give detailed advice	+0
Give simple aid	+0
Reveal an unimportant secret	+5
Give lengthy or complicated aid	+5
Give dangerous aid	+10
Reveal secret knowledge	+10 or more
Give aid that could result in punishment	+15 or more
Additional requests	+5 per request

Additional Active Checks: In addition to the standard uses outlined above, use the Diplomacy skill to resolve the following:

Task	Check DC
Complicate situation	(Opposed check)
Etiquette	(Varies; see below)
Obfuscate story	(Opposed check)
Steal story	(Opposed check)

Complicate: Sometimes you find it to your advantage to delay the resolution of a specific discussion for a while (or even indefinitely). Every time you attempt to complicate the situation in order to delay resolution you make a single Diplomacy check. The other participants in the discussion make opposed checks (or opposed Will saves); if you succeed, then you can prevent any of the discussion’s participants from coming to agreement for that session, without seeming to be interfering. Each participant that beats your Diplomacy check by 5 or more realizes what you are doing. This is from 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Etiquette: If you are trained in Diplomacy, you have an understanding of etiquette. If faced with a fine point of etiquette (correct address for a noble, for example, or proper way to use cutlery at a Grand Ball), you may roll a Diplomacy check to indicate your mastery of that particular point. As it is always impolite to fail to address nobles correctly, this function of Diplomacy also subsumes the D&D 3.5 Knowledge (nobility & royalty) skill—those trained in Diplomacy know the names, titles, and demesnes of the nobility. Using the Diplomacy skill in this manner may require a skill check, as follows:

Check DC	Information Gained
5	Identify the borders of major kingdoms and the general state of relations between them.
10	Identify the borders of smaller states; know the names/titles of kings and queens.
15	Know names/titles of second-tier nobles, and/or general information about the king/queen (“be warned—he trusts no one who wears blue!”).
20	Know names/titles of minor nobles, and/or general information about major nobles.
25	Know names/titles of nobles’ followers/servitors, and/or general information about minor nobles.
30	Know names/titles and general information regarding almost anyone you have seen before (from having heard and remembered them previously).

Obfuscate Story: While another individual attempts to give an account of an event, make an opposed Diplomacy check to deftly interject comments or statements over the course of the storytelling that cause the individual to muddle his ability to recall accurate or specific details. If the attempt succeeds, the target remains unaware that your interjections caused the confusion. However, if the attempt fails, the target is allowed a Bluff check to sense motive check (DC equal to your failed Diplomacy check) to figure out that you made deliberate attempts to confuse the story. This skill use supersedes the rogue talent of the same name from the Advanced Race Guide.

Steal Story: When you successfully obfuscate a story (see above), you may make another opposed Diplomacy check to alter the details further in order to discredit, insult, or humiliate the target. If the check succeeds, the target takes a penalty on Diplomacy and Bluff checks against anyone who heard the altered story. The magnitude of the penalty is equal to the your Charisma bonus (minimum -1), and lasts until the target is able to repair his reputation or discredit you in return. Source: Advanced Race Guide.

Passive Checks: When not particularly attempting to make a good impression, you nevertheless possess more tact than most. All non-hostile social interactions are resolved as if you were Taking 10 on Diplomacy, even if you make no particular effort. (You can choose to act poorly if you wish, by rolling an active check to worsen the attitudes of those you’re dealing with.)

Class Skill: You can use the Diplomacy skill to produce the following additional effects; the 1- and 6-rank effects supersede the Renowned Courtesan feat from Dragon magazine, issue 315.

• Mutual Friend: If you have at least 1 rank in Diplomacy as a class skill, you can change an NPC's attitude toward a person other than yourself. The DC is the same as if you were changing the character's attitude toward you.

• Seduction: If you have at least 6 ranks and you successfully improve a character's attitude toward you (only) to Helpful, you can choose to cause that character to show romantic interest in you. The character thereafter seeks every opportunity to be near you and makes every effort to win your affection, within the bounds of relatively normal behavior.

• Voice of Reason: If you have at least 11 ranks, you can counter morale effects simply by “talking down” those affected. All those to be affected must be within 30 ft. of each other and able to hear and understand you; you choose one morale bonus or penalty source to counteract (e.g., rage, inspire courage, etc.). Each target is entitled to an Intuition save (DC 10 + half your number of ranks + your Charisma modifier) to retain the effect; for any target failing the save, the effect is suspended for as long as you continue talking (as a standard action each round) and for 1 round per rank in Diplomacy thereafter.

• Legendary Statesman: If you have at least 16 ranks, you can attempt a Diplomacy check as a full-round action. All combatants within 60 ft. who can hear and understand you must save vs. Intuition (DC 10 + half your number of ranks + your Charisma modifier) or stop fighting and listen to you instead; those who do are susceptible to further Diplomacy checks in order to reach a truce. If you stop talking before a settlement is made, they immediately begin fighting again.

Action: Using Diplomacy to influence a creature’s attitude takes 1 minute of continuous interaction. Making a request of a creature or negotiating a specific concession takes 1 or more rounds of interaction, depending upon the complexity of the request. Seduction can take anywhere from hours to days.

Try Again: You cannot use Diplomacy to influence a given creature’s attitude more than once unless circumstances are drastically altered. If a request is refused, the result does not change with additional checks, although other requests might be made.

Special: Bribery. Offering money or another form of favor can, in the right situation, improve a character’s chances with a Diplomacy skill check. Bribery allows you to circumvent various official obstacles when a person in a position of trust or authority is willing to accept such an offering. An illegal act, bribery requires two willing participants—one to offer a bribe and the other to accept it. When a character requires a bribe to render services, then your Diplomacy check automatically fails if a bribe isn’t attached to it. If a bribe isn’t requires, you can add a bribe to get a bonus on your skill check. This can backfire, as some characters will be insulted by a bribe offer (their attitude changes one step for the worse) and others will report you to the proper authorities.

Disable Device (Int)

You can pick locks, bypass or disarm mechanical traps, rig devices so that they fail, set mechanical traps, and construct simple devices.

Active Checks: Various tasks that can be accomplished with this skill, and the relevant time and check DCs, are summarized in the following tables. If you attempt to leave no sign of your tampering, add 5 to the check DC.

Searching/Troubleshooting	Time	DC
Find concealed door	1 round	15+
Find hidden compartment	1 round	15+
Find and operate secret door	1 round	20+
Find item	Varies	10+

Find Trap, Hidden Compartment, Item, Secret Door, etc.: You generally must be able to touch the object or surface to be searched. You can attempt a check at a distance, but at a -10 penalty if within 10 ft., and a -20 penalty if within 30 ft.

Dealing with Alarms, Traps	Time	DC
Delay trap activation	Immediate	+10
Detect/find a mechanical trap	1 round	Varies
Disarm a trap, reset a trap; circumvent cheap door alarm	2d4 rds	20
Disarm a complex trap, beat store security cameras	2d4 rds	25
Disarm museum motion detector	2d4 rds	30
Disarm bank vault alarm	2d4 min	35
Disarm ultra-high security system	2d4 x 10 min.	40
Set a trap	(Varies)	Trap DC

Delay Trap Activation: If you accidentally set off a trap, you can attempt to delay its activation by making a Disable Device check as an immediate action at the trap’s usual DC +10. This supersedes the Pathfinder Delver’s “thrilling escape” prestige class feature, from Seekers of Secrets.

Disable Device: For disabling, the Disable Device check is made secretly, so that you don’t necessarily know whether you’ve succeeded. The DC depends on how tricky the device is. Disabling (or rigging or jamming) a fairly simple device has a DC of 10; more intricate and complex devices have higher DCs.

If the check succeeds, you disable the device. If it fails by 5 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 6 or more, something goes wrong. If the device is a trap, you spring it. If you’re attempting some sort of sabotage, you think the device is disabled, but it still works normally.

If you beat a trap’s DC by 10 or more, you can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with your party) without disarming it.

Setting Traps: The Disable Device skill enables you to construct mechanical traps, using the Craft rules below and the custom items rules in Chapter 6.

Open Locks	DC
Simple (briefcase lock)	20
Average (home deadbolt)	25
Good (business deadbolt)	30
Amazing (branch bank vault)	40
Ultra-high security (bank HQ vault)	50

Open Lock: The DC for opening a lock depends on its quality. If you do not have a set of lockpicks, these DCs increase by +10.

Sabotaging Devices	Time	DC
Jam a lock	1 round	10
Modify device	As above	+10
Sabotage mundane item	1d4 rds	15
Sabotage clockwork device	2d4 rds	25
Sapper	Full round	Special

Modify Device: With a few carefully considered changes to a mechanism’s internal workings, you cause it to operate differently. The DC of this attempt equals the DC necessary to disable the device +10. On success, you may change one aspect of the item’s operation. For example, a trap set to activate when a chest opens may now spring into action when the chest closes. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 5 or more, something goes wrong, if it is a trap you trigger it instead and you cannot try again. The referee has the final say on whether a proposed modification is feasible. Source: 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Sabotage Mundane Item: You can rig simple devices such as saddles or wagon wheels to work normally for a while and then fail or fall off some time later (usually after 1d4 rounds or minutes of use).

Sapper: When attempting to smash down a door, gate, or other man-made fortification, make a Disable Device check and divide the result in half, in place of making a Strength check. You must have a sledgehammer, axe, portable battering ram or other large, destructive instrument to take full advantage of this skill use. Otherwise, you may only make a standard Strength check. You may only make use of sapper against objects that allow a Strength check to break them. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 5 or more you cannot try again as you cannot figure it out, and the tool suffers an amount of damage equal to the amount you missed the DC by (does not ignore hardness. Source: 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Passive Checks: If you are a rogue with the Trapfinding talent (Chapter 3), you receive passive checks to notice and to avoid setting off traps.

Class Skill: You can use this skill against constructs. Doing so requires a melee touch attack that provokes an attack of opportunity. If successful, make a Disable Device check opposed by the construct’s CMD. If this check is successful, you can sabotage the construct in different ways, depending on your level of skill:

• If you have at least 1 rank, as a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity, you can attempt to damage a construct such as a golem. Roll a Disable Device check against the construct’s AC; if successful, you deal damage to the construct equal to your check results (this bypasses any damage reduction the construct possesses). At your option, you can cause the damage to apply towards destroying the construct, or merely towards deactivating it; if the latter, the damage can be repaired with a successful Craft or Disable Device check.

• If you have at least 6 ranks, you can cause the construct to go berserk;

• If you have at least 11 ranks, you can render the construct inanimate for 1 round per rank;

• If you have at least 16 ranks, you can override the construct’s programming and issue it instructions yourself.

Action: The amount of time needed to make a Disable Device check depends on the task, as noted above. It takes a full-round action to search a 5-foot-by-5-foot area or a volume of goods 5 feet on a side. Disabling a simple device takes 1 round and is a full-round action. An intricate or complex device requires 1d4 or 2d4 rounds. Attempting to open a lock is a full-round action.

Try Again: Varies. You can retry if you have missed the check by 4 or less, though you must be aware that you have failed in order to try again.

Take 10/Take 20: You can take 10 when making a Disable Device check. You can take 20 to open a lock or to disable a security device, unless you are trying to prevent the tampering from being noticed.

Special: Possessing the proper tools gives you the best chance of succeeding on a Disable Device check. Opening a lock requires a lockpick set (for a mechanical lock) or an electrical tool kit (for an electronic lock). Disabling a security device requires either a mechanical tool kit or an electronic toll kit, depending on the nature of the device. If you do not have the appropriate tools, you take a –4 penalty on your check. A lock release gun can open a mechanical lock of cheap or average quality without a Disable Device check.

Endurance (Con)

Through training, you are capable of feats of extreme physical stamina.

Active Checks: Use Endurance in place of Constitution checks when dealing with drowning and suffocation, starvation, thirst, etc., as shown in the following table.

Condition	DC	Frequency
Drowning and Suffocation	10 + 1 for each round since the first check	Each round, starting after a number of rounds equal to twice your Con.
Starvation	10 + 1 for each day since the first check	Each day, starting after 3 days without food.
Thirst	10 + 1 for each hour since the first check	Each hour, starting 1 day plus a number of hours equal to your Con.
Forced March	10 + 2 for each hour since the first check	Each hour, starting after 8 hours of walking.
Run, in Combat	10 + 1 for each round since the first check	Each round, starting after running a number of rounds equal to your Con.
Sleep Deprivation	10 + 1 for each hour since the first check	Each hour, starting after a number of hours equal to 20 + Con modifier.
Avalanche and Landslide, if pinned	15	Once, after falling unconscious, to avoid suffocation.

Exert: You can exert yourself (e.g. run, fight or cast spells requiring concentration checks) for a maximum number of rounds equal to 10 + your Endurance modifier. After this time, you are fatigued and must rest if able. If you wish to tax yourself beyond these limits, you must succeed at an Endurance check (DC 15 + 1 per round of continued exertion) or become exhausted.

Hustle: A character can hustle (double normal speed) for one hour. Each additional hour of hustling in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued.

Walk: Eight hours is considered a standard march. Additional walking in one day past this limit is a forced march. For each hour of forced marching, an Endurance check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, you take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and are fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It’s possible to march into unconsciousness by pushing yourself too hard.

Remain Awake: You can stay awake a number of hours equal to 20 + your Endurance modifier. Each additional hour requires an Endurance check, starting at DC 10 (the DC increases by 1 per subsequent check). An untrained character makes Constitution checks instead of Endurance checks to remain awake. If in the midst of combat or a similar situation, the character need not make checks until the situation is over, but the DC increases by 1.

Trained Only: A trained character is capable of the following tasks:

Task	DC
Delay poison onset	As poison save DC
Ferocity	20 + hp below negative Con score
Ignore caltrop	20
Ignore fatigue	20
Ignore exhaustion	30
Sleep in armor:
Light	15
Medium	25
Heavy	35
Stabilize	10 + hp below 0

Delay Poison Onset: If you fail the initial fortitude save to avoid being affected by a poison, you can attempt an Endurance check against the poison’s DC as a free action. If successful, the onset is delayed by one frequency unit as listed for that poison (generally 1 round or 1 minute). When that time elapses, you can attempt another check to delay the onset again. There is no limit to how long you can delay the onset in this manner, but each check after the first suffers a -1 cumulative penalty.

Ferocity: If reduced to 0 hit points (disabled), you can attempt a DC 20 Endurance check. If successful, you can take a normal action while at 0 hit points without taking 1 point of damage. You must make a check for each strenuous action you want to take; the DC of each such successive check increases by 1. On a failed check, you can choose not to take the strenuous action and thus avoid the hit point loss; if you take the action anyway, you drop to –1 hit points, as normal when disabled.

When reduced to negative hit points, on a successful Endurance check at DC 20 + the number of hp below 0 (i.e., DC 25 at –5 hp), you may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn’t your turn). When disabled, you have the staggered condition. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some free actions, swift actions, or immediate actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If you reach a negative number of hp equal to your Constitution score, you immediately die.

Ignore Caltrop: If you are wounded by stepping on a caltrop, your speed is reduced to one-half normal. A successful Endurance check removes this movement penalty. The wound doesn’t go away—it is just ignored through self-persuasion.

Sleep in Armor: If you sleep in armor, you do not become fatigued for doing so if you make an Endurance check at the listed DC upon awakening. (You cannot take 20 on this check.)

Stabilize: When reduced below 0 hp, you can roll an Endurance check at DC 10 + the number of hp below 0 (i.e., DC 15 at –5 hp) to auto-stabilize.

Ignore Fatigue: By succeeding at a DC 20 Endurance check, you can ignore the fatigued condition (and associated penalties) for a number of rounds equal to the margin by which your check succeeds. If you are exhausted, you might be able to similarly reduce (DC 25) or ignore (DC 30) penalties for the same length of time, as shown on the table.

Untrained: The number of consecutive rounds a character can run or otherwise maximally exert him or herself is equal to the character’s constitution score. A character can hustle (double normal speed) for 1 hour. Checks to avoid nonlethal damage are Constitution checks. The chance to stabilize when below 0 hp is a flat 10%. An untrained character cannot ignore wounds or sleep in armor.

Take 10: You can choose to Take 10 to stay awake, automatically nodding off when the DC reaches 10 + your Endurance bonus. You can likewise Take 10 to resist starvation and thirst. Trained characters who regularly sleep in armor can Take 19 to do so. Trained characters can Take 10 to ignore caltrops and ignore fatigue.

Class Skill: If you have Endurance as a class skill, you receive the following additional benefits:

• Reduce Armor Penalty: For every 3 ranks you possess, you eliminate –1 worth of armor check penalties for any armor you wear. If you reduce the armor check penalty to –0, then you suffer no penalties to your speed while wearing that armor. For example, a paladin with masterwork full plate (-5 check penalty) with 15 ranks in Endurance as a class skill can wear that armor with no check penalty and no penalty to movement.

• Reduce Encumbrance: When determining your carrying capacity, add your number of ranks in Endurance to your Strength score. This does not affect your actual Strength in any way, merely the amount of gear you can carry. It also has no effect on encumbrance due to armor. If you wear armor you still take the normal penalties for doing so regardless of how much weight you can carry. This ability subsumes the Armiger’s “tough as nails” class feature, from Iron Heroes (Fiery Dragon Productions).

• Restless Slumber: If you have at least two ranks in Endurance as a class skill, you regain hp and daily-use class features, including spells, after 7 hours of sleep/rest instead of the normal eight. The amount of sleep you need is reduced by an additional hour for every 2 ranks thereafter until it is reduced to 4 hours (at 8 ranks as a class skill). The amount of sleep needed is reduced by one additional hour per 4 ranks thereafter (minimum of 1 hour of sleep to be fully refreshed, with 20 ranks as a class skill).

You gain the following additional abilities as you gain ranks:

• Stalwart: If you have at least 6 ranks in Endurance as a class skill, you are immune to effects that would leave a normal person fatigued. Effects that would normally leave you exhausted cause you to be fatigued instead.

• Indefatigable: If you have at least 11 ranks, you are immune to fatigue and exhaustion.

If you have at least 16 ranks, you are immune to magical sleep and cannot be knocked unconscious (although you must still sleep at least 2 hours a night).

Try Again: No, for most uses. To reduce fatigue or exhaustion, you can try each round as a swift action.

Escape Artist (Dex)

When Dutilleul was taken inside La Santé prison, he felt as though fate had smiled upon him. The thickness of the walls was a veritable treat for him.

―Marcel Aymé, Le Passe-Muraille (1943)

You are skilled at getting free of bindings and imprisonment.

Active Checks: The table below gives the DCs to escape various forms of restraints. For ropes, your check is opposed by the binder’s Escape Artist check. Since it’s easier to tie someone up than to escape from being tied up, the binder gets a +10 bonus on his or her check (included in the table below). For manacles, the DC for manacles is set by their construction.

Restraints	Escape DC
Ropes	Binder’s check +10
Net	20
Magical entangling effect	20 + level of the spell
Manacles	20
Tight space	20
Masterwork manacles	25
Solid stone	35
Grappler	Grapple check result
Surreptitious Escape	+10

Squeeze Through Tight Space: The DC noted on the table is for getting through a space where your head fits but your shoulders don’t. If the space is long you may need to make multiple checks. You can’t get through a space that your head does not fit through. When squeezing through a narrow space at least half as wide as your Facing, or when moving through a low area (ceiling shorter than your height, but at least half your height above the floor), each space counts as 1 square of movement and you only suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls if you have at least 5 ranks in this skill. You also retain your Dex bonus to AC under these conditions. If a space is both narrow and low, you treat it as if only one of those conditions applied.

Escape Grapple: You can make an Escape Artist check opposed by your enemy’s grapple check to get out of a grapple or out of a pinned condition (so that you’re only grappling). Escaping from a grapple or pin is normally a standard action, but can be attempted in place of an iterative attack by taking a -5 penalty on the check, as a move action by taking a -10 penalty, as a swift action by taking a -15 penalty, and as a free action by taking a -20 penalty.

If you fail to escape from a grapple outright, your Escape Artist results might still ameliorate the effects of the grapple. If you fail by a margin of 5 or less, you take no penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when you have the grappled condition

Magical Entangling and Grappling Effects: Examples include animate rope, command plants, control plants, entangle, Bigby’s grasping hand, and so on. The standardized DC listed here supersedes the arbitrary DCs given in those spell descriptions.

Surreptitious Escape: In exchange for increasing the check DC by 10, you can hide your efforts at escaping. Anyone who inspects your bindings must attempt a Perception check with a +10 circumstance bonus (DC equal to the result of your last Escape Artist check). If this Perception check fails, they do not notice the work you have done to escape. For example, you could untie the rope that binds you but leave it in place so a villain doesn’t realize that you’re free. Obviously if you free yourself and escape, the villain notices you are gone. This function is from 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Take 10: Use this for prolonged squeezing or similar sustained efforts, rather than rolling each round.

Class Skill: As you gain ranks in Escape Artist, you gain access to additional abilities, as follows:

• If you have at least 6 ranks as a class skill, you can reduce the effects of passable magical walls and barriers on you when you move through them. Make an Escape Artist check at DC 15 + twice the level of the spell; if you succeed, you suffer no effects for being near the barrier (such as fire damage from the hot side of a wall of fire), and can pass through it and suffer only the effects of being nearby. If you succeed by a margin of 10 or greater, you suffer no effects for passing through the barrier.

• If you have at least 11 ranks as a class skill, you can free yourself paralysis or magical binding effects (DC 20 + twice the level of the spell). Examples include anything from hold person to dimensional anchor to binding. For spells with a duration of 1 round/level, you can make one attempt per round as a full-round action. For spells with longer durations, the time between checks is also increased accordingly (e.g., for a spell with a duration of 1 hour/level, escaping takes an hour, and you can check once per hour). For permanent effects, you can check once per year; the check takes an hour.

• If you have at least 16 ranks as a class skill, you can find your way out from solid walls, or a forcecage or resilient sphere. As a move action, you can attempt to escape the physical world, stepping past the barrier on some other plane. You can potentially return from a maze or imprisonment spell in this manner. The DC is 20 + twice the level of the spell (DC 20 for mundane walls), +5 per 5 feet of movement attempted. Time between checks is as above.

Action: Making an Escape check to escape from rope bindings, manacles, or other restraints (except a grappler) requires 1 minute of work. Escaping from a net or a spell is a full-round action. Squeezing through a tight space takes at least 1 minute, maybe longer, depending on how long the space is.

Special: Optionally, apply the size modifier for AC and attacks to Escape Artist checks as well; this variant makes smaller creatures inherently better at escaping.

Try Again: You can make another check after a failed check if you’re squeezing your way through a tight space, making multiple checks. If the situation permits, you can make additional checks, or even take 20, as long as you’re not being actively opposed.

Untrained: You can try to escape mundane restraints or entangling/grappling spell effects as a Dexterity check. Squeezing causes spaces to count as 2 squares and the squeezing character suffers a -4 penalty on attack rolls and loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. In a space that is both narrow and low, speed is reduced to one-quarter normal. Escaping from paralysis, binding, or force effects cannot be attempted untrained.

Fly (Dex)

“Did I really fly, don Juan?”

“You flew. That is what the second portion of the devil’s weed is for. As you take more of it, you will learn how to fly perfectly. It is not a simple matter.”

―Carlos Castenada, The Teachings of Don Juan:

A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968)

You are skilled at flying, either through the use of wings, spells or other magical means (carpet of flying, etc.), or airplanes/spacecraft/whatever. You can perform daring maneuvers while airborne. Note that this skill does not give you the ability to fly.

Active Checks: You can perform maneuvers while flying. Without making a check, a flying creature can remain flying at the end of its turn so long as it moves a distance greater than half its speed, can turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement, can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees, and can descend at any angle at normal speed. Note that these restrictions only apply to movement taken during your current turn. At the beginning of the next turn, you can move in a different direction than you did the previous turn without making a check. Taking any action that violates these rules requires a check. The difficulty of these maneuvers varies, as noted on the following chart.

Flying Maneuver	DC
Move < half speed and remain flying	10
Turn > 45° by spending 5 ft. of movement	15
Hover	20
Turn 180° by spending 10 ft. of movement	20
Climb steeper than 45°	20

Note that hovering, as a specific task of the Fly skill, supersedes the Hover feat from the core rules.

Attacked While Flying: Any creature with no ranks in Fly skill is automatically considered flat-footed while flying; those trained are not. Trained or otherwise, if you take damage while flying you must make a Fly check at DC 20 + twice the damage sustained. Failure means you 5 feet of altitude, plus a number of additional feet of altitude equal to the margin by which you fail the check (this descent does not count against your movement). If the total altitude loss is greater than your initial altitude, you crash into the ground, taking falling damage as appropriate for the total amount of distance fallen.

Collision While Flying: If you collide with an object equal to your size or larger while flying, you must immediately make a DC 25 Fly check to avoid plummeting to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage.

Avoid Falling Damage: If you are falling and have the ability to fly, you can make a DC 10 Fly check to negate the damage. You cannot make this check if you are falling due to a failed Fly check (as from being attacked while flying) or a collision.

Recover from Trip: You can be tripped while flying; if the maneuver is successful, you immediately lose 5 feet of altitude (+1 foot per point by which the maneuver succeeds) and must succeed at a Fly check opposed to the Trip results; failure requires you to spend a move action (provoking attacks of opportunity) to fly from your current location and/or gain altitude, much like a creature standing up from being prone.

High Wind Speeds: Flying in high winds adds penalties on your Fly checks as noted on Table: Wind Effects on Flight. “Checked” means that creatures of that size or smaller must succeed on a DC 20 Fly check to move at all so long as the wind persists. “Blown away” means that creatures of that size or smaller must make a DC 25 Fly check or be blown back 2d6 × 10 feet and take 2d6 points of nonlethal damage. This check must be made every round the creature remains airborne. A creature that is blown away must still make a DC 20 Fly check to move due to also being checked.

Wind	Speed (mph)	Checked	Blown Away	Check Penalty
Light	0–10	—	—	—
Moderate	11–20	—	—	—
Strong	21–30	Tiny	—	–2
Severe	31–50	Small	Tiny	–4
Windstorm	51–74	Medium	Small	–8
Hurricane	75–174	Large	Medium	–12
Tornado	175+	Huge	Large	–16

Take 10: You can Take 10 to avoid falling if attacked while flying, even though you are under stress. This is done to reduce dice rolling in combat; simply mark the damage threshold that makes you fall (this is equal to half your Fly bonus -5).

Action: None. A fly check doesn’t require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.

Try Again: Varies. You can attempt a Fly check to perform the same maneuver on subsequent rounds. If you are using wings and you fail this check by 5 or more, you plummet to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage.

Special: Creatures with a fly speed receive a racial bonus (or penalty) on all Fly checks depending on their maneuverability: clumsy -8; poor -4, average -0, good +4, perfect +8. Creatures without a maneuverability rating are assumed to have an average maneuverability. Alternatively, you can scrap the entire maneuverability rating system and apply a simple size modifier instead (e.g., the modifier used for AC and attack rolls: ±1/2/4/8).

Handle Animal (Cha)

You can train, care for, and ride domestic and even wild animals. If you are skilled enough, you can apply this skill to vermin or magical beasts as well.

Active Checks: The DC depends on the task.

Task	DC
Handle a tame animal	10
“Push” an animal	25
Teach an animal a trick	15 or 20
Train animal	15 or 20
Rear wild animal	15 + HD of animal
Befriend animal	Special
Ride an animal	Special (see below)

* See the specific trick or purpose below:

Purpose	DC	Purpose	DC
Combat riding	20	Hunting	20
Fighting	20	Performance	15
Guarding	20	Riding	15
Heavy labor	15

Handle a Tame Animal: You command an animal to perform a task or trick that it knows. If the check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.

“Push” an Animal: You can get an animal to perform a task or trick that it doesn’t know but is physically capable of performing. This task also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.

Teach an Animal a Trick: You can teach an animal a specific trick with one week of work and a successful Handle Animal check against the indicated DC. An animal can learn a maximum number of tricks equal to 3 x its Intelligence score. Possible tricks (and their associated DCs) include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following.

• Attack (DC 20): Attacks apparent enemies, or those you direct it to attack.

• Come (DC 15): Comes to you.

• Defend/Guard (DC 20): Defends you (or is ready to defend you if no threat is present), even without any command being given. Alternatively, you can command the animal to defend a specific other character, object, or place.

• Distract (DC 20; bird or bat only): Flutters wildly around any enemy it would normally attack with the attack trick. It makes a combat maneuver check against that enemy. If successful, the enemy is shaken 1 round.

• Down (DC 15): Breaks off from combat or otherwise backs down. An animal that doesn’t know this trick continues to fight until it must flee (due to injury, a fear effect, or the like) or its opponent is defeated.

• Fetch (DC 15): Goes and gets something. If you do not point out a specific item, the animal fetches some random object.

• Heel (DC 15): Follows you closely, even to places where it normally wouldn’t go.

• Perform (DC 15): Performs a variety of simple tricks, such as sitting up, rolling over, roaring or barking, and so on.

• Roam (DC 15): You can let the animal loose to roam and forage. It returns to the place you let it loose within the time period you designate; this can be no more than a week.

• Seek (DC 15): Moves into an area and looks around for anything that is obviously alive or animate.

• Stay (DC 15): Stays in place, waiting for you to return; does not challenge other creatures that come by (still defends self if it needs to).

• Track (DC 20): Tracks the scent presented to it.

• Work (DC 15): Pulls or pushes a medium or heavy load.

Train an Animal: Rather than teaching an animal individual tricks, you can simply train it for a general purpose. Essentially, an animal’s purpose represents a preselected set of known tricks that fit into a common scheme, such as guarding or heavy labor. The animal must meet all the normal prerequisites for all tricks included in the training package. If the package includes more than three tricks, the animal must have an Intelligence of at least 2.

Befriend Animal: You can use Handle Animal to improve the attitude of an animal; this ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person (see Using Skills). The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly. Use of this ability on anything other than a tame animal results in a +4 modifier to the check DC; the DC modifiers for non-animals (see below) also apply. To use this ability, you and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time. This task subsumes the Wild Empathy class feature from the Core rules.

Rear a Wild Animal: To rear an animal is to raise a wild creature from infancy so that it becomes domesticated. A handler can rear as many as three creatures of the same kind at once. A successfully domesticated animal can be taught tricks at the same time it’s being raised, or it can be taught as a domesticated animal later. Typical riding actions don’t require checks.

Ride an Animal: You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem. The following tasks do require checks.

Riding Task	Handle Animal DC
Guide with knees	5
Stay in saddle	5
Control mount in battle	10 or 20
Cover	15
Soft fall	15
Leap	15
Spur mount	15
Fast mount or dismount (armor check penalty applies)	20
Stand on mount	20
Quick turn	25

Guide with Knees: You can react instantly to guide your mount with your knees so that you can use both hands in combat. Make your Handle Animal check at the start of your turn. If you fail, you can use only one hand this round because you need to use the other to control your mount.

Stay in Saddle: You can react instantly to try to avoid falling when your mount rears or bolts unexpectedly or when you take damage. This usage does not take an action.

Control Mount in Battle: If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action with a DC of 10. Controlling a mount not trained for combat riding while in battle requires a move action on your part, and has a DC of 20. If you fail the check, you can do nothing else in that round.

Cover: You can react instantly to drop down and hang alongside your mount, using it as cover. You can’t attack or cast spells while using your mount as cover. If you fail your check, you don’t get the cover benefit. This usage does not take an action.

Soft Fall: You can react instantly to try to take no damage when you fall off a mount—when it is killed or when it falls, for example. If you fail your check, you take 1d6 points of falling damage. This usage does not take an action.

Leap: You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part of its movement. Use your Handle Animal modifier or the mount’s Athletics modifier, whichever is higher, to see how far the creature can jump. If you fail your Handle Animal check, you fall off the mount when it leaps and take the appropriate falling damage (at least 1d6 points). This usage does not take an action, but is part of the mount’s movement. If you leap a charging over a creature or obstacle, you can continue the charge.

Spur Mount: You can spur your mount to greater speed with a move action. A successful check increases the mount’s speed by 10 feet for 1 round but deals 1 point of damage to the creature. For every 5 points by which you beat the check DC, add another 10 feet to the gain in movement (e.g., you can spur your mount to +60 ft. of additional movement speed on a DC 40 Handle Animal check). You can use this ability every round, but each consecutive round of additional speed deals twice as much damage to the mount as the previous round (2 points, 4 points, 8 points, and so on). This damage increases by a base of 1 point per additional 10 feet of spurred movement speed.

Fast Mount or Dismount: You can attempt to mount or dismount from a mount of up to one size category larger than yourself as a free action, provided that you still have a move action available that round. If you fail the Handle Animal check, mounting or dismounting is a move action. You can’t use fast mount or dismount on a mount more than one size category larger than yourself.

Stand on Mount: You can stand on the saddle while your mount is moving by making a successful DC 20 check. Failure means you fall.

Quick Turn: You can make a DC 25 check as a free action to cause your mount to turn up to 90 degrees while running or charging, provided it can move at least 10 ft. after the turn is made. This can be done only once in any given round. If the check fails, your mount moves 10 ft. in a straight line and then loses the rest of its actions that turn.

Take 10: You can Take 10 to control a mount in battle, even if stress and distraction would normally prevent it. This is done to reduce the number of dice rolls in combat.

Modifiers: If you attempt to ride a creature that is ill suited as a mount, you take a –5 penalty on your ride checks. If you are riding bareback, you take a –5 penalty on checks. If the animal is wounded or fatigued, you take an equivalent penalty on checks to handle it. If your mount has a military saddle you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal checks related to staying in the saddle.

Special: You can attempt to use this skill on creatures other than animals, but with a higher degree of difficulty. Refer to the following table for guidelines:

Creature Type	DC
Magical beast (Int 3 or less) or vermin	+4
Magical beast (Int 4+) or elemental	+8
Lycanthrope or fey	+12
Plant	+16
Ooze	+20

Action: Varies. Handling an animal is a move action, while pushing an animal is a full-round action. (If you have a special animal companion, you can handle your animal companion as a free action or push it as a move action.) For tasks with specific time frames noted above, you must spend half this time (at the rate of 3 hours per day per animal being handled) working toward completion of the task before you attempt the Handle Animal check. If the check fails, your attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal fails and you need not complete the teaching, rearing, or training time. If the check succeeds, you must invest the remainder of the time to complete the teaching, rearing, or training. If the time is interrupted or the task is not followed through to completion, the attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal automatically fails. Mounting or dismounting normally is a move action. Other checks are a move action, a free action, or no action at all, as noted above.

When fighting while mounted, in general you keep separate track of your actions and your mount’s. For example, your mount can make a double move while you full attack (melee targets must be along the line of your mount’s movement). Alternatively, your mount can make a normal move and one attack, or a half-move and a full attack, while you also attack. For a mounted charge, your mount supplies the double move and you make the attack. Certain feats (e.g., Improved Overrun and Skirmish) can improve your action economy while mounted.

Try Again: Yes, except for rearing an animal.

Untrained: If you have no ranks in Handle Animal, you can use a Charisma check to handle and push domestic animals, but you can’t teach, rear, or train animals.

Heal (Wis)

The stuff she used on us did not sting, the cuts closed up, the flexible dressings she put over them did not have to be changed, and fell off in time with no infection and no scars.

―Robert A. Heinlein, Glory Road (1963)

In addition to expanded mundane uses, in these rules, the Heal skill is required for the successful use of curing and restoration spells.

Active Checks: The DC and effect of mundane uses depends on the task you attempt.

Task	Heal DC
Examine injury	10
First aid (or malpractice – see below)	15
Long-term care	15
Revive	15
Stabilize	15
Perform autopsy	+1/day
Perform CPR	20 + hp below 0
Perform surgery	20
Restore limb	40
Treat attribute damage	20
Treat disease	Disease’s DC
Treat poison	Poison’s DC
Treat wound from caltrop, spike growth, or spike stones	15

Examine Injury: If you succeed at the check, you determine the basic cause of an injury (a narrow blade, a small blunt object, teeth). If your check results are 15 or greater, you gain a more specific detail about the weapon that caused the injury (e.g., “a double-edged dagger”); on results of 20 or higher you gain multiple specific details (e.g., a double-edged dagger with a non-serrated six-inch blade, balanced for throwing). If your check results are 25 or higher, you also gain information about the manner in which the wound was inflicted (the attacker was left-handed, about six feet tall, and probably grabbed her from behind). This task is described in the Crime and Punishment supplement (Atlas Games), under “New Uses for Old Skills.”

If the patient is diseased, you can identify the disease and its effects with a successful check at a DC equal to the DC of the disease. If the patient has been poisoned, you can attempt a Craft (toxicology) check, with a DC equal to that of the poison used, in order to identify the type, the effects, and the duration remaining. If the patient was injured or killed by a spell, you can identify the exact spell with a Spellcraft check at DC 20 + the level of the spell.

First Aid: If a character has lost hit points, you can restore some of them. A successful check, as a full-round action, restores a number of hit points equal to your Heal check results. You can take 20 on this check by spending 2 full minutes. First aid can be performed on a character once per fight in which he or she is injured, to a maximum amount of damage healed equal to the amount sustained in that fight.

Revive: You can remove the dazed, stunned, or unconscious condition from a character. This check is a standard action; a successful check removes the condition from the affected character. You can’t revive an unconscious character who is at –1 hit points or lower without first stabilizing (q.v.) him or her.

Long-Term Care: Providing long-term care means treating a wounded person for a day or more. If your Heal check is successful, the patient recovers hit points at a daily rate equal to your check results. Attribute score points (lost to ability damage) are recovered at twice the normal rate (2 for 8 hours’ rest, 4 for a full day’s rest). You can tend as many as six patients at a time. You need a few items and supplies (bandages, salves, and so on) that are easy to come by in settled lands. Giving long-term care counts as light activity for the healer. You cannot give long-term care to yourself.

Malpractice: You must have at least 2 ranks in Bluff to use Heal in this fashion. Rather than making a Heal check to perform first aid or some other form of treatment on a helpless or willing creature, you intentionally bungle the job in order to ensure that the creature is more severely injured. You make the check as a standard action and deal hit point damage to the creature at the beginning of your next turn equal to the amount you would have healed providing first aid. If the creature is helpless, this is considered a coup de grace attack. If under the watchful eye of others (including your patient), your Heal check is opposed by the observer’s Bluff or Heal check; a failure on your part results in them detecting your malpractice (and they may attempt to intervene). If someone successfully performs a First Aid check before the beginning of your next turn, the damage is negated. This use is from the 101 New Skill Uses preview from Rite Publishing.

Perform Autopsy: You can examine a corpse to determine the cause and approximate time of death. Cause of death is as performing an “Examine Injury” check (see above), but the DC increases by +1 per day since death (unless the corpse is preserved with a gentle repose spell). Determining time of death requires you to succeed on the cause determination check by a factor of 10 or more. The accuracy of the estimated moment of death decreases with elapsed time since the actual event. For instance, if the subject died an hour before the autopsy, the time of death can be fixed to within 1d4 rounds (after one day, the estimate is only accurate to within 1d4 hours, and so on).

Perform Surgery: If you have at least 10 ranks in heal, you can conduct field surgery. This requires 1d4 hours and appropriate tools. Successful surgery restores all attribute drain to a single attribute score (Strength, Dexterity, etc.). Surgery can only be used successfully on a character once per attribute in any 1-week period. A character who undergoes surgery is exhausted for 24 hours, minus 2 hours for every point above the DC the surgeon achieves. The period of exhaustion can never be reduced below 6 hours in this fashion.

Stabilize: You usually use first aid to save a dying character. If a character has negative hit points and is losing hit points (at the rate of 1 per round, 1 per hour, or 1 per day), you can make him or her stable. A stable character regains no hit points but stops losing them.

Treat Attribute Damage: By spending an hour and succeeding at a DC 20 Heal check, you can restore 1d4 points of attribute damage to a single attribute.

• If you have at least 6 ranks, you can increase the Difficulty Class to heal additional attribute damage. The DC of the check increases by +5 per additional point (for example, you could attempt a DC 35 check to cure 1d4+3 points of attribute damage). There is no limit to the maximum DC you can set for yourself, but a patient still can only receive one attempt per day. If you heal multiple points of attribute damage in this manner, you can divide them among the six attribute scores as you see fit.

• If you have at least 11 ranks, a successful DC 30 Heal check cures all attribute damage to a single attribute.

• If you have at least 16 ranks, a successful check at DC 40 heals all attribute damage the patient is suffering.

Treat Disease: You can tend a single diseased character. Every time he or she makes a saving throw against disease effects, you make a Heal check. The diseased character uses your check result or his or her saving throw, whichever is higher. If your check succeeds by a margin of 10 or more, the disease is removed (although residual attribute damage remains).

Treat Poison: You can tend to a patients who has been poisoned and who is going to take more damage from the poison (or suffer some other effect). Every time the poisoned character makes a saving throw against the poison, you make a Heal check. The poisoned character uses your check result or his or her saving throw, whichever is higher. If your succeed by a margin of 10 or better, the patient fully recovers (although residual attribute damage remains).

Treat Wound from Caltrop, Spike Growth, or Spike Stones: A creature wounded by stepping on a caltrop moves at one-half normal speed. A successful Heal check removes this movement penalty. A creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell must succeed on a Reflex save or take injuries that reduce his speed by one-third. Another character can remove this penalty by taking 10 minutes to dress the victim’s injuries and succeeding on a Heal check against the spell’s save DC.

Take 10: You can always choose to take 10 when making a heal check. You can take 20 only when restoring hit points or attempting to revive dazed, stunned, or unconscious characters, or when performing an autopsy.

Class Skill: Only those with Heal as a class skill can successfully cast [Healing] spells. As described in Chapter 7, use of a Necromancy [Healing] spell requires a number of ranks in Heal as a class skill equal to twice the level of the spell (round up). In other words, only a character skilled in mundane healing can properly diagnose a problem and heal it with magic.

If you have additional class skill ranks in Heal as noted, you can attempt the following tasks:

• If you have at least 6 ranks, you can try to resuscitate a dead ally if you start the attempt within 2 rounds of his or her death. You may attempt this procedure only if your patient died after entering the dying state and subsequently failing to stabilize. Allies slain in any other manner are beyond your help. You must make a Heal check (DC 20 + character’s negative hit point total) to bring your patient back from the brink. A success means you increase her hit points to –9 and stabilize him or her. Using Heal in this manner requires 1 full minute.

• If you have at least 11 ranks, you can try to resuscitate an ally who has been dead less than 1 day per rank in Heal you possess. The check DC is 25 + 5 per day the victim has been dead. If successful, this works as a raise dead spell, but requires no diamond dust.

• If you have at least 16 ranks, when you provide long-term care for a week, on a successful DC 27 Heal check the patient gains the effects of a greater restoration spell. Alternatively, you can perform field surgery to re-attached severed extremities; this requires a half hour of work and requires a DC 27 check.

Action: Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a full-round action. Treating a disease or tending a creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell takes 10 minutes of work. Providing long-term care requires 8 hours of light activity. Performing an autopsy takes 30 minutes.

Try Again: Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without proof of the original check’s failure. You can always retry a check to provide first aid, assuming the target of the previous attempt is still alive.

Special: A healer’s kit gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Heal checks.

You can use the skill on yourself only to restore hit points, treat disease, or treat poison. You take a –5 penalty on your check any time you treat yourself.

Perception (Wis)

Your senses allow you to notice things and alert you to danger. Perception covers all five senses, including sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. This does not mean you gain a Perception check for each sense; rather, you get a single Perception check which is an abstraction of looking, listening, sniffing the air, and so on.

Active Checks: On a successful Perception check, you are aware of the presence of a creature or environmental detail (you “sense” it), and can determine which square(s) it is in.

Unless there is something preventing you from using your primary mode of sense (usually sight) to study it, you are able to discern anything you sense fairly clearly (“pinpoint” it). If for some reason your primary sense is blocked with respect to the perceived creature or object, you are unable to pinpoint it, and it has “total concealment” against you (see below).

The DC to notice details varies depending upon distance, the environment, and how noticeable the detail is. The following table gives a number of guidelines.

Target	DC
Creature in plain view, still, not using Stealth	0
Concealed creature walking without Stealth	10
Creature burrowing underneath you	25
Creature using Stealth	(Opposed)
Pickpocket using Sleight of Hand	(Opposed)
Sound of battle	–10
Stench of rotting garbage	–10
Smell of smoke	0
Spoiled food (active check needed)	5
Normal conversation or verbal spellcasting	0
Whispered conversation	15
Key being turned in a lock	20
Bow being drawn	25

Depending on conditions, a Perception check to sense a creature, object, or stimulus may be more or less difficult. Conditional modifiers to the Perception DC are summarized in the following table.

Conditions	DC Modifier
Distance	+1/10 feet
Through a closed door	+5
Through a wall	+10/ft. thickness
Favorable conditions*	–2
Unfavorable conditions*	+2
Terrible conditions**	+5
Distracted	+5
Creature making the check is asleep	+10

* Favorable and unfavorable conditions depend upon the sense being used to make the check. For example, bright light might increase the DC of checks involving sight, while dim light gives a penalty. Background noise increases a DC involving hearing, while competing odors penalize any DC involving scent.

** As for unfavorable conditions, but more extreme. For example, candlelight for DCs involving sight, a roaring dragon for DCs involving hearing, and an overpowering stench covering the area for DCs involving scent.

Ear for Detail: If you succeed on a Perception roll to notice someone by 20 or more, you automatically identify them (if you know them), or know you have never met them, before they come into sight. If you have never met the creature before, you know you have not met it, but you do know why type of creature it is and what type of footwear, if any, it is using (or if it is using some other form of movement). Source: 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Passive Checks: Most often, Perception is a passive check; if the notice DC is less than or equal to 10 + your Perception bonus, you sense the item or creature in question. You can request an active check as a move action, allowing you a chance to notice something with a higher DC.

Special Senses and Concealment: Abilities like scent and tremorsense do not result in automatic success. They are instead adjudicated as follows:

• Blindsense: Hidden or invisible creatures within range of your blindsense are considered to be in plain view. If they are using Stealth to evade notice, you gain a +8 bonus to Perception to sense them, provided that you have a line of effect. Any opponent you cannot see (or study with some other primary sense such as scent) still cannot be pinpointed (i.e., has total concealment). Visibility still affects your movement, and you are still denied your Dexterity bonus to AC against attacks from creatures you cannot see.

• Blindsight: This ability is similar to blindsense, but allows you to pinpoint any creature within range that you sense. You maneuver and fight as well as a sighted creature; darkness and most kinds of concealment are irrelevant, though you must have line of effect to a creature or object to pinpoint that creature or object. Perception checks are still needed to sense creatures within range of the blindsight ability.

• Darkvision: Dim light does not provide partial concealment against you, nor does full darkness provide total concealment, within the stated range. Invisibility is still effective, however.

Scent: Your primary sense is smell, rather than sight. This means that, by succeeding at a Perception check, you can sense things within 30 feet, even if those things are not visible or audible. If the creature or object is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. If you can see as well, the two senses working in tandem grant it a +8 competence bonus to Perception checks within range of your scent ability. You cannot automatically pinpoint non-visible creatures and objects unless they are within 5 ft.

Tremorsense: A creature with tremorsense is sensitive to vibrations in the ground and gains a +8 bonus to Perception checks to sense the location of anything that is in contact with the ground within the range specified. If it senses such a creature, it can also pinpoint the target, even if no line of sight exists. Aquatic creatures with tremorsense can also sense creatures moving through water. The ability's range is specified in the creature's descriptive text.

Concealment, and its effects on Perception checks, is handled as follows:

• Blur: Provides the equivalent of partial concealment against creatures whose primary sense is vision.

• Bright Light: Provides favorable conditions (-2 to visual check DCs) for those things that are illuminated.

• Concealment, Partial: Partial concealment applies a 20% miss chance in combat. In general, conditions of dim or shadowy light provide partial concealment against creatures whose primary sense is vision.

• Concealment, Total: If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight (or other primary sense), the target is considered to have total concealment from you. You can't attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance. You can't execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies, unless you have the Blind-Fight feat.

• Dim Light: Provides “unfavorable conditions” (+2 to visual perception DCs) to you unless you have low-light vision.

• Displacement: You gain the equivalent of total concealment against sight (but not against other senses), but cannot use it to hide.

• Invisibility: You cannot be pinpointed by creatures whose primary sense is sight (i.e., you have total concealment against them). You still must succeed at a Stealth check against observers to avoid being sensed, and invisibility provides a much lower bonus to this check than in the core rules, as described in Chapter 7.

• Invisibility, Greater: As invisibility, but also provides the equivalent of total concealment against scent, tremorsense, etc.

Search: Being skilled at noticing your surroundings does not necessarily allow you to conduct methodical searches, or even to recognize the significance of things you see. Most functions of the 3.5 edition Search skill is therefore not necessarily subsumed into Perception (as it is in Pathfinder). Rather, searching for different things is covered by various applicable skills:

To Search For…	Use this Skill…
Clues	Perception
Magical traps	Spellcraft
Mechanical traps	Disable Device
Records or files in an office	Profession (Administration)
Secret doors	Craft (Construction) or Disable Device
Stonework traps, changes in grade, etc.	Profession (Mining)

For other types of searches (finding finding a specific treasure in a dragon’s hoard, for example), make an untrained Intelligence check. High elves receive a +2 racial bonus on this check from their keen senses racial trait; rogues receive a bonus on this check equal to their class level, to simulate their training in larceny.

Find Clue: If there is a clue at a scene, you can attempt to find it with a Perception check (DC dependent on how obscure the clue is). If the scene has been somewhat disturbed, add 5 to the DC; add 10 to the DC if the scene has been intentionally wiped.

Action: As noted above, passive Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Active checks, when intentionally searching for stimulus, require a move action.

Try Again: Yes. You can try to sense something you missed the first time, so long as the stimulus is still present.

Planar Sense (Wis)

Man was deficient in sensitivity, had no awareness of the multitude of dimensions that filled the universe, each plane intersecting with several others. Not so the Vadhagh or the Nhadragh, who had known what it was to move at will through the dimensions they termed the Five Planes. They had glimpsed and understood the nature of many planes, other than the Five, through which the Earth moved.

―Michael Moorcock, The Knight of the Swords (1971)

You are skilled at sensing and passing through the interstices between worlds. This tasks listed for this skill subsumes many of the planar class substitution features of the same names from the Planar Handbook.

Check: The following basic tasks are possible:

Task	Check DC
Planar magic	15 + (2x spell level)
Portal sense	20
Portal intuition (directionality)	15
Portal intuition (activation)	20
Portal intuition (destination)	25
Sense planar trap	25 + spell level
Sense past breach	20
Closed portal	+10

Planar Magic: Spontaneous casters attempting to cast spells on planes with different magical laws can attempt a Planar Sense check as part of the casting in order for their spells to have the normal effects (DC 15 + twice the level of the spell); this increases the casting of a standard-action spell to one full round, so that the spell takes effect on the caster’s next turn. If you succeed by a margin of 10 or more, the casting time is not increased.

Portal Sense: If actively looking for a gate or portal, the check is DC 20. The DC increases by 10 if the gate is closed (minimum bonus +20 to notice automatically, DC 30 if searching).

Portal Intuition: By studying an existing portal, you can determine whether it is 1-way or 2-way, and if the former, in which direction it operates (DC 15); any special circumstances governing the portal’s use, such as knowing that it can be activated only at particular times or under particular circumstances (but not what they are), or whether a key or command word is needed (but not what they are) (DC 20); and possibly the destination of a portal, gate or teleport (DC 25).

Sense Past Breach: You can determine whether or not a planar breach occurred within 30 feet of a particular spot within the last 24 hours. To do this, you must succeed on a DC 20 check. If you determine that a breach did occur in the area, you may then use this ability to ascertain where it led, as described above.

Sense Planar Trap: You can detect magical traps that involve conjuration effects such as summon monster or teleportation circle; the DC is 25 + the level of the conjuration spell.

Passive Checks: When passing within 30 ft. of an open planar boundary, rift, or gate, you automatically notice it if your Planar Sense bonus is at least +10. In addition, a number of the Class Skill uses (below) are passive.

Class Skill: If Planar Sense is a class skill for you, you gain the following additional abilities at the indicated number of ranks:

• Witch Sight: If you have at least 1 rank, you can see into the ethereal plane. The range of this vision is equal to 5 ft. per rank in Planar Sense you possess. This ability supersedes the Incantatrix’ see ethereal prestige class feature, from Magic of Faerun. Note that basilisks and gorgons both receive 1 bonus rank in Planar Sense as a class skill per racial Hit Die (see 1^st edition Monster Manual).

• Breach Sense: If you have at least 6 ranks, you automatically sense the imminent opening of a planar breach (for example, a plane shift or summon monster spell) within 30 ft. As long as you have a line of sight to the breach, you can pinpoint its exact location. This ability supersedes the planar substitution feature of the same name from the Planar Handbook.

• Teleport Sense: If you have at least 11 ranks, whenever a creature uses a spell or effect from the conjuration (teleportation) school to appear within 60 feet of you, you automatically detect the teleportation, and you automatically are not surprised by it and can act in the surprise round if combat begins immediately. If combat against the creature that teleported near you begins within 1 minute of the teleportation, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on the initiative check in that fight. If you also have the Combat Reflexes feat, any creature using a teleportation effect to enter or leave a square threatened by you provokes an attack of opportunity, even if casting defensively or using a supernatural ability. This subsumes the feat of the same name, from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, and also the Teleport Tactician feat from the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide.

Action: Passively sensing a portal or incoming teleport does not require an action, although actively looking for a gate or portal is a move action.

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

You are skilled at picking pockets. In addition, this skill lets you hide objects on your person, and ready objects and weapons (even concealed ones) more quickly than normal.

Active Check: The tasks that can be accomplished with this skill, and the checks and DCs for each, are described below.

Disguise Spellcasting: When casting a spell, you may make a Sleight of Hand check to make your verbal and somatic components less obtrusive, muttering magic words under your breath and making magic gestures within your sleeves. Your Sleight of Hand check is opposed by any observer's Perception check. The observer's success doesn't prevent you from casting the spell, just from doing it unnoticed. On subsequent attempts, you take a -10 penalty on a second Sleight of Hand attempt against the same target (or while the same observer who noticed your previous attempt is watching you).

Drink Potion: Actions such as drinking a potion normally provoke attacks of opportunity; with a Sleight of Hand check opposed to threatening creatures’ CMD, you can do so without provoking.

Frisk: You can physically search a person for objects, concealed weapons, or contraband. Roll a Sleight of Hand check, opposed by the target’s check results (if any) to hide objects on his or her person (see “Hide Objects,” below). If your search is made openly, the target must be helpless or willing, and you receive a +5 circumstance bonus on the check. A secret check works like picking the target’s pocket (see below).

Hide Objects: Hiding an object on your person is a Sleight of Hand check opposed by a Perception check by those who are looking for the item (such as a guard watching out for weapons at a coronation). In addition, someone physically searching you can make a Sleight of Hand check to find the object (see “Frisk,” above). Hiding an object that is equal to or smaller than the size of a short sword grants a +2 circumstance bonus on your check, whereas anything equal to or larger than a longsword imposes a –2 penalty on your check. A heavy cloak or other similar clothing grants a +2 circumstance bonus as well.

Pick Pockets: You can use this skill to pick the pockets of an unaware creature. This is a DC 20 check, but the DC increases if the item is large or firmly attached (referee’s discretion). The target makes an opposed Perception check to notice your attempt. If the target succeeds, he notices the attempt, regardless of whether or not you succeed.

However, if you spend 1 full round studying the mark, and then announce that you are making a Sleight of Hand check to take something from him or her, the target must roll his or her Perception check first, and you know the results. You can then decide whether or not to roll the Sleight of Hand check based on this information. If you elect not to make the check, you can make an opposed Bluff check to prevent the target from noticing anything amiss. This supersedes the “measure the mark” talent, from the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide.

Quick Draw: With a successful Sleight of Hand check, you can draw a weapon faster than normal:

Check DC	Standard Items	Hidden Items
11	Swift action	Move action
16	Free action 1/rd.	Swift action
21	Free action 2/rd.	Free action 1/rd.
26	Free action 3/rd.	Free action 2/rd.
+5	(etc.)	(etc.)

Special: If you would normally be able to draw a weapon as a free action twice per round, you can instead draw a weapon as an immediate action (for example, as part of an attack of opportunity or during a surprise round, even if you are otherwise flat-footed).

Action: Hiding objects and picking pockets is a standard action. You can attempt a Sleight of Hand check as a move action by taking a -10 penalty to the attempt, and as a swift action by taking a -20 penalty. Quick draw times are discussed above.

Take 10: To save pointless dice rolling, you can Take 10 on quick draw checks in combat (even if this would normally not be possible due to stress), so that a character with BAB +11 and the Rapid Shot feat would need a +16 Sleight of Hand bonus to throw a weapon in hand, then draw and throw three more weapons in the same round.

Synergy: If you are also trained (at least 1 rank) in Perform (acting), you can adopt mannerisms and postures that make you appear defenseless. This deception grants you a +1 circumstance bonus on initiative checks and attack rolls made with a hidden weapon during the first round of combat. These bonuses increase by an additional +1 per 4 ranks in Perform (acting) you possess. They do not apply if your enemies spot your weapons prior to combat. This subsumes the Deceitful Appearances feat, from Dragon magazine, issue 333.

Try Again: You can retry checks made to hide objects and pick pockets. If the situation permits, you can make additional checks, or even take 20, as long as you’re not being actively opposed.

Untrained: You can try to hide objects as a Dexterity check. Without this skill, you may draw a weapon as a move action, or (if your base attack bonus is +1 or higher) as a free action as part of movement. Without this skill, you can draw a hidden weapon as a standard action.

Spellcraft (Int)

Each line that he beheld represented a single unit of the spell, spoken or gestured. That power which filled it was, of course, entered by Jelerak himself, in accompaniment to the ritual, drawn either from his own being or a sacrificial source. The problem for Holrun was to determine the sequence in which the structure had been created back on his own plane—a difficult task, for the beginning was not readily visible. It was an exceedingly intricate piece of work, and Holrun felt an unwilling admiration for the man’s technical proficiency.

―Roger Zelazny, The Changing Land (1981)

You have a working knowledge of magic and its various uses, and can identify spells as they are being cast or identify spell effects that are in place. You can also detect, bypass or disarm magical traps, and you can identify or even activate magic items that you would normally be unable to use. This skill also allows you to identify the powers and abilities of magical constructs.

Active Checks: Spellcraft is used whenever your knowledge and skill of the technical art of casting a spell comes into question. You can answer questions concerning magic, symbols, spells, and magic items with a successful check. The DC depends on the difficulty of the question: 10 for easy questions, 15 for basic questions, 20 for difficult questions, and 25+ for truly rare pieces of knowledge.

You can use this skill to activate a magic item other than a scroll or tome. Spellcraft lets you use a magic item as if you had the spell ability or class features of another class, as if you were a different race, or as if you were of a different alignment. You make a check each time you activate a device such as a wand. If you are using the check to emulate an alignment or some other quality in an ongoing manner, you need to make the relevant check once per hour.

You must consciously choose which requirement to emulate. That is, you must know what you are trying to emulate when you make a Spellcraft check for that purpose.

The DCs for various tasks involving checks are summarized in the table below.

Task	Check DC
Activate item or spell blindly	25
Emulate a class feature	20
Emulate an ability score	See text
Emulate a race	25
Emulate an alignment	30
Identify auras while using detect magic	15 + spell level
Identify magic item properties	See below
Identify a spell as it is being cast	15 + spell level
Identify a spell effect that is in place	20 + spell level
Identify materials made by magic	20 + spell level
Identify a spell that just targeted you	25 + spell level
Identify construct abilities/weaknesses	See Knowledge skill
Use a wand	20

Activate Blindly: Some spells or magic items are activated by special words, thoughts, or actions. You can activate such an item as if you were using the activation word, thought, or action, even when you’re not and even if you don’t know it. You do have to perform some equivalent activity in order to make the check. That is, you must speak, wave the item around, or otherwise attempt to get it to activate. You get a +2 competence bonus on your check if you’ve activated the item in question at least once before. If you fail by 9 or less, you can’t activate the device. If you fail by 10 or more, you suffer a mishap. A mishap means that magical energy gets released but it doesn’t do what you wanted it to do. The default mishaps are that the item affects the wrong target or that uncontrolled magical energy is released, dealing 2d6 points of damage to you. This mishap is in addition to the chance for a mishap that you normally run when you cast a spell from a scroll that you could not otherwise cast yourself.

Determine Aptitude: If observing an opponent cast a spell or use a spell-like ability in action, as an immediate action you can attempt a Spellcraft check to identify the opponent’s caster level and the highest-spell level he or she can cast. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target’s caster level + the target’s relevant caster ability modifier. This ability is from the 101 New Skill Uses preview from Rite Publishing.

Emulate an Ability Score: To cast a spell from a scroll, you need a high score in the appropriate ability (Intelligence for wizard spells, Wisdom for divine spells, or Charisma for sorcerer or bard spells). Your effective ability score (appropriate to the class you’re emulating when you try to cast the spell from the scroll) is your Spellcraft check result minus 15. If you already have a high enough score in the appropriate ability, you don’t need to make this check.

Emulate an Alignment: Some magic items have positive or negative effects based on the user’s alignment. Spellcraft lets you use these items as if you were of an alignment of your choice. You can emulate only one alignment at a time.

Emulate a Class Feature: Sometimes you need to use a class feature to activate a magic item. In this case, your effective level in the emulated class equals your Spellcraft check result minus 20. This skill does not let you actually use the class feature of another class. It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature. If the class whose feature you are emulating has an alignment requirement, you must meet it, either honestly or by emulating an appropriate alignment with a separate check (see above).

Emulate a Race: Some magic items work only for members of certain races, or work better for members of those races. You can use such an item as if you were a race of your choice. You can emulate only one race at a time.

Identify Spell Being Cast: You can attempt this check is a free action. If the check succeeds, you correctly identify the opponent's spell and can attempt to counterspell it (as described in Chapter 7). If the check fails, you can't do either of these things.

Identify Construct Weaknesses and Abilities: With a successful check, you can also identify constructs, their abilities, weaknesses, and special powers, as described under the general Knowledge skill heading.

Identify Magic Item Properties: You can identify the properties of a wand, staff, rod, or other spell-completion item by handling the item for 3 rounds, during which time you must succeed at a Spellcraft check at DC = 15 + the caster level of the item. N.B. Identification of magic items other than those have been moved to other skills, as summarized in the table below.

Type of Item	Relevant Skill
Rod, staff, wand, etc.	Spellcraft
Potion, elixir, oil, dust, etc.	Craft (alchemy)
Scrolls, librams, tomes, etc.	Knowledge (linguistics)
Weapons, armor, shields	Craft (smith)
Gems, jewelry, rings	Craft (lapidary)
Misc. wondrous items	Knowledge (lore)
Artifacts	Knowledge (lore)
Relics	Knowledge (planes)

Use a Wand: Normally, to use a wand, you must have the wand’s spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staves.

Passive Checks: You gain a passive check to emulate alignment if you enter an area warded by a forbiddance spell or other effect that is keyed to alignment, even if you are not aware of the effect.

Class Skill: If you are trained in Spellcraft as a class skill, you can attempt the following additional tasks:

Task	DC
Detect a magical trap or latent spell	25 + spell level
Disarm a magical trap	25 + spell level
Dispel an active spell	20 + CL
Heighten spell	20 + spell level

Detect/Disarm Magical Traps and Spells: For and disarming magical traps, you don’t necessarily know whether you’ve succeeded. The DC depends on how complex the spell is (DC 25 + spell level).

• If the check succeeds, you detect the presence of a warding spell, or disable the magic.

• If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again.

• If you fail by 5 or more, something goes wrong. If the trap is an attack spell, you activate it. If you’re attempting some sort of sabotage, you think the magic is disabled, but it still works normally.

• If you succeed by 5 or more, you know what it does.

• If you beat a warding spell’s DC by 10 or more, you can study a magic, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with your party) without disarming it.

• If you beat the DC by 20 or more, you can selectively edit the spell. If it allows specific creatures to pass it without danger, you can modify which creatures it allows to pass, adding your allies and restricting enemies if you desire. If it is keyed to a certain individual (such as a mental alarm spell) you change the key to yourself or to a designated companion, if you choose. You can also cause it to detonate at will (as a free action) from any distance.

Dispel an Active Spell: This works similarly to disarming a magical trap, in terms of exposing you to the spell’s effects. If the spell is not normally susceptible to dispel magic, the DC increases by an additional +10.

Heighten Spell: You can increase the level of a spell as you prepare it. All effects dependent on spell level (such as saving throw DCs, damage caps, and ability to penetrate a lesser globe of invulnerability) are calculated according to the heightened level. See Chapter 9 for more effects of Heightening spells.

Action: Identifying a spell as it is being cast requires no action, but you must be able to clearly see the spell as it is being cast, and this incurs the same penalties as a Perception skill check due to distance, poor conditions, and other factors. Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object. The check is made as part of the action (if any) required to activate the magic item.

Retry: You cannot retry checks made to identify a spell, monster, or item. If you fail to learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll, you must wait at least 1 week before you can try again. If you fail to prepare a spell from a borrowed spellbook, you cannot try again until the next day. For bypassing magic, you can retry if you have missed the check by 4 or less, though you must be aware that you have failed in order to try again. If you ever roll a natural 1 while attempting to activate a magic item and you fail, then you can’t try to activate that item again for 24 hours.

Special: You can take 10 when making a Spellcraft check to disarm a magical trap. You cannot take 10 nor Aid Another with checks to use a magic device (only the user of the item may attempt such a check).

If you are a specialist wizard, add your specialist bonus to your Spellcraft bonus to identify, learn, and prepare spells from your chosen school. You take a –5 penalty on checks made to identify spells from your opposed schools.

Stealth (Dex)

You are skilled at avoiding detection, allowing you to slip past foes, strike from an unseen position, or tail someone without being spotted (or lose a tail). It is assumed that a stealthy character is moving silently, using available cover, stepping on rocks or shuffling to avoid tremorsense, and taking basic steps to remain upwind and/or camouflage his or scent. Senses other than vision therefore do not automatically defeat Stealth (see the Perception skill for details). If you successfully use Stealth against a creature’s Perception, that creature is unaware of your presence and location.

Active Check: Your Stealth check is opposed by the Perception check of anyone who might notice you. The stealth check is modified as follows.

Your Size	Check Modifier
Fine	+16
Diminutive	+12
Tiny	+8
Small	+4
Medium	+0
Large	-4
Huge	-8
Gargantuan	-12
Colossal	-16

Condition	Check Modifier
Move half speed	-0
Move 2/3 or ¾ speed	-5
Move full speed	-10
Move double speed (charge)	-15
Run (x4 speed)	-20
Hide after making ranged attack	-10
Hide after making melee attack	-20
Distance to cover	-5 per 5 ft.

Hide in Plain Sight: You can use Stealth to hide even while being observed, but you take a -1 penalty per foot of distance separating you from the nearest cover or area of concealment. You must have enough movement remaining to you that round to cover the distance to your place of concealment. You can attempt to hide even if there is no cover present, but this is at a -20 penalty.

Creating a Diversion to Hide: You can use Bluff to allow you to use Stealth. A successful Bluff check can give you the momentary diversion you need to immediately attempt a Stealth check without penalty while people are aware of you.

Tailing: When tailing someone, your Stealth check is opposed to the tail’s Perception check to notice you; the target gets a –5 penalty to the check if he or she has no reason to suspect a tail and does not actively look for one. To lose a tail, the subject makes an opposed Stealth check. If the subject takes evasive maneuvers but is not actually aware of a tail, he or she declares a DC for his or her check; if this evasion check succeeds, any tail must succeed at the same Stealth DC to follow.

Passive Checks: Even when not sneaking about on tiptoe, you are accustomed to walking softly and refraining from making a spectacle of yourself. Assume that your Stealth results are equal to 0 + your skill bonus, even when walking normally, unless you make an effort to be more noticeable.

Class Skill: If you have Stealth as a class skill, the penalties for moving quickly while using this skill, for hiding after attacking, and for attempting to hide in plain sight are reduced by 1 per rank (minimum -0). This supersedes the “stealthy sniper” rogue talent from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide. In addition, as you gain ranks, you gain the following additional abilities:

• Stealth Synergy: If you have at least 6 ranks, when you and allies within your sight must make Stealth checks, they can use their own dice rolls or your die roll, whichever is higher. Each ally uses his or her own Stealth modifiers, however. This supersedes the rogue talent of the same name, from Ultimate Combat.

• Distraction: If you have at least 11 ranks, whenever you are detected while using Stealth, you can immediately attempt an opposed Bluff check against the creature that noticed you. If this check succeeds, the target assumes that the noise was something innocent and disregards the detection. This only functions if the creature cannot actually see you. This ability can only be used once during a given Stealth attempt. If the same creature detects your presence again, the ability has no effect. Source: Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide.

• Shadow Blend: If you have at least 16 ranks, you are so stealthy in combat that you are treated as having partial concealment (as by a blur spell; 20% miss chance).

Action: Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn’t take a separate action.

Streetwise (Cha)

You know your way around towns and cities, are conversant with local customs and laws, and have an advantage over others when it comes to dealing with criminal elements. You can easily obtain directions, hail a taxi, find a hotel, get a decent meal, negotiate subways, etc. in strange cities. This skill is also used when attempting to gather information about persons or activities ranging from the Mayor to a Mafia boss; when attempting to recognize local people you come into contact with; and when attempting to locate or buy almost anything: legitimate but unusual items (an imported cuckoo clock from the Black Forest) or contraband ranging from drugs, through illegal arms, to child prostitutes. Attempts to hire an assassin also fall under this heading.

Active Checks: Streetwise has a number of more specialized uses described below, which do require checks.

Task	DC
Identify accent or ethnicity	10
Identify creature	10 + CR
Know local laws, popular locations, etc.	10
Know common rumor or local tradition	15
Gather secret information	20
Identify/read graffiti and thieves’ marks	20
Identify local figure	20 or opposed Bluff check
Pass as native	20
Find or fence Item	See below
Spread rumor	See below
Urban tracking	See below

Gather Information: You can use Streetwise to gather information about a specific topic or individual. To do this, you must spend at least 1d4+1 hours canvassing people at local taverns, markets, and gathering places (you can attempt to reduce the time spent to only (1d4+1) x 10 minutes, but this imposes a -10 penalty to your check).. The DC of this check depends on the obscurity of the information sought, but for most commonly known facts or rumors, it is 10. For obscure or secret knowledge, the DC might increase to 20 or higher. The referee might rule that some topics are simply not known by the common folk.

Identify Creature: Identifying civilized peoples by sight by a Streetwise check has a DC of 10 + the creature’s CR. Success means that you learn one piece of information (usually its place of origin and purported abilities). For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC you learn another piece of information. This ability works with civilized humanoids only.

Identify Marks: You can identify the common marks made by a thieves’ guild. Identifying the marks of a local thieves’ guild is a DC 20 Streetwise check, but this might be much higher if the guild is using specialized marks.

Identify Local Figures: You can use the Streetwise skill to identify underworld figures, police, and the like. Upon observing such a figure whom you do not know personally, a DC 20 check allows identification (this is normally a passive check, successful if your bonus is at least +10). If the person has the Bluff skill, the DC is equal to his or her Bluff results instead (this does not require an action on that person’s part, or on yours). If the person is in disguise (see Perform skill), you must first penetrate the disguise before you can attempt to identify the person.

Find or Fence Item: You can make a Streetwise check to track down an item that is normally too expensive to be purchased in the town or settlement where you are currently located. The DC of this check is 10 + (the item's gp cost minus the community's gp limit, divided by 1,000). If this check succeeds, you learn of a merchant who can supply the item to you. You must still purchase it as normal.

By increasing the DC by 10 (20 + item’s cost/1,000 gp – community limit/1,000 gp), you can also sell stolen items on the black market. If the check fails by 5 or more, you do something to spook the market, and take a penalty on similar checks for 1 week equal to twice the margin by which your check failed. Furthermore, those in control of the black market may alert the authorities to your presence in an act of reprisal for spooking the market or to divert attention away from their illicit activities.

Pass as Native: On a DC 20 Streetwise check in an unfamiliar village, town, or city, you can get by without calling undue attention to yourself (unless you are of a race not seen in that locale, in which case a Perform (acting) check is needed). If actually questioned, you can use a Streetwise check (opposed to the questioner’s Buff skill check) to correctly answer questions regarding local geography and the like (“Hey, I’m from Philly, too! What high school did you say you went to?”). If you fail this check, you can still attempt to Bluff your way through the questioning, but the person questioning you receives a +4 bonus to his rolls to see through your bluff.

Spread Rumor: You can attempt to spread a rumor though a small town or larger settlement. You can do so a maximum number of times per week equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 0). The DC is based on the size of the settlement, and it takes a week for the rumor to propagate through the settlement. If the check succeeds, the rumor is practically accepted as fact within the community (those subsequently gathering information gain the rumor only, if they succeed at a DC 18 check but fail to beat your results; if they beat your DC as well, they learn the true information and are aware that your rumor is false, and might attempt to follow the false rumor back to you). A failed check means the rumor failed to gain traction, while failing by 5 or more causes the opposite of the rumor or some other competing story to take hold.

Community Size	Check DC
Small town	18
Large town	20
Small city	25
Large city	30
Metropolis	35

Urban Tracking: You can track down the location of missing persons or wanted individuals within communities. To find the trail of an individual or to follow it for 1 hour requires a Streetwise check. You must make another check every hour of the search, as well as each time the trail becomes difficult to follow, such as when it moves to a different area of town. The DC of the check, and the number of checks required to track down your quarry, depends on the community size and the conditions:

Community Size	DC	Checks Required
Thorp, hamlet, or village	5	1d3
Small or large town	10	1d4+1
Small or large city	15	2d4
Metropolis	20	2d4+2

Conditions	DC Modifier
Every three creatures in the group being sought	-1
Every 24 hours party has been missing/sought	+1
Tracked party "lies low"	+5
Tracked party matches community's primary racial demographic	+2
Tracked party does not match community's primary or secondary racial demographic	-2

If you fail a Streetwise check, you can retry after 1 hour of questioning. The referee should roll the number of checks required secretly, so that the player doesn't know exactly how long the task will require. You can cut the time between checks in half (to 30 minutes per check rather than 1 hour), but you take a -5 penalty on the check.

Passive Checks: Basic city living skills, like how to use subway tokens or how to tell where not to park on street cleaning day, do not require a check. You are also entitled to a passive check to notice a tail in a city, and to identify marks and local figures (see above). If attempting to appear at home in an unfamiliar community, but not making any special efforts, you are entitled to a passive check to pass as a native (see above) unless you do something to give yourself away or your appearance, race, or language would automatically do so.

Action: Identifying marks and local figures does not require an action. Using Streetwise to gather information takes 1d4+1 hours of wandering the town, searching for rumors and informants.

Retry: You can retry Streetwise checks made to gather information. You cannot retry checks to identify marks or people, or know local landmarks/geography.

Untrained: A character without this feat can use gather information to find out information about a particular individual, but each check takes 1d4+1 hours and doesn't allow effective trailing.

Survival (Wis)

Man congratulated himself on his generalized structure. He could live on desert, on plain or ice, in forest or in city; Nature had not shaped him to a special environment.

―Jack Vance, “The Men Return” (1957)

You are skilled at surviving in the wild and following the tracks left by others.

Active Checks: You can keep yourself and others safe and fed in the wild. You can recognize the tracks of, and identify by sight, common creatures of the wilderness.

Task	Survival DC
Get along in the wild	10
Know direction	10
Avoid natural hazards	15
Detect poison	15
Predict weather	15
Resist weather	15
Follow tracks:
Very soft ground	5
Soft ground	10
Firm ground	15
Hard ground	20
Identify creature	10+
Locate animal, plant, or vermin	20
Detect animals and plants	25
Locate dragon, humanoids, etc.	30
Trackless step	Opposed check

Get Along in the Wild: On a successful check, you can move up to one-half your overland speed while hunting and foraging (no food or water supplies needed). You can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which your check result exceeds 10.

Know Direction: When outdoors, you can determine where true north lies in relation to you.

Avoid Natural Hazards: On a successful check, you can keep from getting lost or avoid natural hazards such as quicksand.

Detect Poison: You determine whether a plant or creature is poisonous. You can determine the general effects of the poison (e.g., deals Str damage, etc.) if the check meets DC 20.

Predict Weather: You can forecast the weather up to 24 hours in advance. For every 5 points by which your Survival check result exceeds 15, you can predict the weather for one additional day in advance.

Resist Weather: On a successful check, you gain a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saves against severe weather while moving up to one-half your overland speed, or gain a +4 bonus if you remain stationary. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 1 point by which your Survival check result exceeds 15.

Follow Tracks: To find tracks or to follow them for 1 mile requires a successful Survival check. You must make another Survival check every time the tracks become difficult to follow. If you are not trained in this skill, you can make untrained checks to find tracks, but you can follow them only if the DC for the task is 10 or lower. Alternatively, you can use the Perception skill to find a footprint or similar sign of a creature’s passage using the same DCs, but you can’t use Perception to follow tracks, even if someone else has already found them.

You move at half your normal speed while following tracks (or at your normal speed with a –10 penalty on the check, or at up to twice your normal speed with a –20 penalty on the check). The DC depends on the surface and the prevailing conditions, as given on the table.

• Very Soft Ground: Any surface (fresh snow, thick dust, wet mud) that holds clear impressions.

• Soft Ground: Any surface soft enough to yield to pressure, but firmer than wet mud or fresh snow.

• Firm Ground: Most normal outdoor surfaces (such as lawns, fields, woods, and the like) or exceptionally soft ordinary indoor surfaces (thick rugs and very dirty or dusty floors). The creature might leave some traces (broken branches or tufts of hair, partial footprints).

• Hard Ground: Any surface that doesn’t hold footprints at all, such as bare rock or an indoor floor. Most streambeds fall into this category, since any footprints left behind are obscured or washed away. The creature leaves only traces (scuff marks or displaced pebbles).

Modifiers are summarized below.

Condition	DC Modifier
Per 3 creatures in group being tracked	–1
Size of creature(s) being tracked:
Fine	+8
Diminutive	+4
Tiny	+2
Small	+1
Medium	+0
Large	–1
Huge	–2
Gargantuan	–4
Colossal	–8
Per 24 hours since the trail was made	+2
Per hour of rain since the trail was made	+2
Fresh snow cover since the trail was made	+10
Poor visibility:
Overcast or moonless night	+6
Moonlight	+3
Fog or precipitation	+3
Tracked party hides trail (moving ½ speed)	+5

For a group of mixed sizes, apply only the modifier for the largest size category. Apply only one (the largest) modifier from the visibility category.

A check at the same DC for following tracks allows you to identify the type of creature (animal, giant, etc.) making them. If you succeed by 5 or more, you know the specific type of creature (e.g., ogres), and if you succeed by 10 or more you know how many of them there are. If you succeed by 20 or more, you are also able to determine how long ago the tracks were made, and additional information as determined by the referee, which might include the creatures’ general health (wounded, staggered, etc.), whether their behavior is normal for its kind, how heavy a load is being carried, etc. (e.g., “three hill giants, probably Veng clan judging from the footwear, passed by here two days ago, and one of them is lightly wounded.”)

Identify Creature: Identifying creatures by sight by a Survival check has a DC of 10 or higher, depending on the creature’s rarity (see Knowledge, below). This ability works with animals, fey, magical beasts, plants, and vermin.

Locate Animal or Plant: Your knowledge of signs, growing conditions, and animal behavior allows you to find a specific type of animal or plant. A successful check leads you in the correct general direction when at a distance (e.g., “probably in the deepest part of the woods”). As you get closer, subsequent checks may be needed to pinpoint an exact location (e.g., “now check in the hollows beneath the biggest oaks.”).

This ability works normally for vermin as well as animals and plants. It works on dragons, giants, humanoids, magical beasts, and monstrous humanoids as well, but the check DC is 30.

Detect Animals and Plants: This function duplicates the 1^st level spell of the same name.

Trackless Step: You can pass through natural terrain without leaving a discernible trail. Roll a Survival check; anyone attempting to track you must succeed at an opposed check, with the modifiers shown in the table under “follow tracks” (including the modifier for group size; you can attempt to obscure your comapanions’ trail).

Passive Checks: You automatically move without leaving an obvious trail; the DC to follow you is equal to your skill bonus (if you move at full speed) or your skill bonus – 10 (if you hustle or run). You can instead choose to leave a trail, if desired.

Class Skill: If survival is a class skill for you, you gain the following additional abilities:

• Swift Tracker: The penalty for moving at more than half speed while tracking is reduced by 1 per rank in Survival you possess (minimum -0).

• Timeless Tracks: If you have at least 6 ranks, when tracking, halve the increase in DC for elapsed time since the tracks were made (to +1 per day).

• Sea Wolf: If you have at least 11 ranks, you can attempt to track creatures across or through the water, looking for telltale signs like flotsam, disturbed seaweed, or whatever (base DC 25).

Legendary Tracker: If you have at least 16 ranks, you can track flying creatures by looking for lost feathers or scales, telltale signs of wind passage or disturbances in clouds, and knowledge of local wind currents; the base DC is 30.

Action: Varies. A single Survival check may represent activity over the course of hours or a full day. Finding or interpreting tracks is at least a full-round action, and it may take even longer. Identifying creatures by sight does not require an action.

Try Again: Varies. For getting along in the wild or for gaining the Fortitude save bonus noted in the table above, you make a Survival check once every 24 hours. The result of that check applies until the next check is made. To avoid getting lost or avoid natural hazards, you make a Survival check whenever the situation calls for one. Retries to avoid getting lost in a specific situation or to avoid a specific natural hazard are not allowed. For finding tracks, you can retry a failed check after 1 hour (outdoors) or 10 minutes (indoors) of searching.

Secondary Skills

Craft

You are skilled in making some class of objects. A Craft skill is specifically focused on creating something (e.g., Craft: Cooking, not Profession: Chef, since you are creating meals); if nothing is created by the endeavor, it probably falls under the heading of a Profession skill. Examples of Craft skills are given below; others can be added using those shown as guidelines.

Routine Maintenance: One rank in the relevant Craft skill is sufficient to perform routine maintenance tasks for items of that sort. For example, a fighter with one rank in Craft (smith) can care for his weapons, armor, and horseshoes without them rusting; a character with one rank in Craft (needlework) can maintain the party’s boots, cloaks, saddles, and so on; a character with one rank in Craft (alchemy) can check the corks on acid vials to keep the contents from evaporating. Maintenance of this sort is assumed to take place while resting. Routine maintenance does not require a check.

Failure to perform routine maintenance imposes the Broken condition on the item(s) after one adventure. Exception: magical items bound to the character using personal numen (Chapter 6) are exempt from routine maintenance when in that character’s possession.

Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the craft’s daily tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers, and how to handle common problems. (Untrained laborers and assistants earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.)

The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The time and DC to craft an item depends on the complexity of the item to be created.

Item	Crafting Time	DC
Very simple item (club)	10 min.	5
Typical item (iron pot)	1 hour	10
High-quality, simple item (bell, sword, etc.)	1 day	15
Complex or superior item (lock, suit of plate armor)	1 week	20
Masterwork or magical item	1 hour per 250 gp value	20+CL

Use half to one-third of the item’s market price as an estimate for the cost of the raw materials. These are obviously not in-depth rules, but it isn’t really important how much money an adventurer can make by weaving baskets, and an NPC’s wealth can be hand-waved by the referee or determined using wealth-by-level tables.

Masterwork and Magical Items: The rules for masterwork items and magical items are the same. Costs for enhancement bonuses, for working in special materials, etc. are provided in Chapter 6 (masterwork and special items also count against your maximum numen, as described in that chapter). Unless otherwise noted, creation of expendable items requires 1 hour per 250 gp base value (8 hours/day of work maximum), expenditure of materials equal to half that cost, and an applicable Craft check.

The creation of most magic items requires an appropriate Craft skill (see below), with a number of ranks equal to the caster level prerequisite. Single-use items can be created using the appropriate skill and caster level. Permanent items also require the Imbue Item feat. Unlike in the core rules, in which the item crafter begins with a normal masterwork item, these rules assume that the crafting of the item, and the imbuing of magic into it, are part of the same process. Imbuing a pre-existing item is still possible, but adds 50% to the total crafting time, as much of the initial work must be modified or undone first.

A partial list of applicable Craft skills is as follows:

Item	Craft Skill
Metal armor, weapons, shields, tools, etc.	Craft (Smith)
Amulets, figurines, jewels, lenses, rings, crystalline items	Craft (Lapidary)
Boots, cloaks, bags, robes, etc.	Craft (Needlework)
Potions, oils, etc.	Craft (Alchemy)
Rods, staves, wands, pipes, etc.	Craft (Construction)
Scrolls, manuals, etc.	Linguistics
Traps (magical)	Spellcraft
Traps (mechanical)	Disable Device

Repairing Items: Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.

Action: See above.

Try Again: Yes, but each time you miss by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.

Craft: Alchemy (Int)

You are able to concoct arcane substances, some with dubious qualities, others with wondrous properties. You are also capable of brewing beer, fermenting and aging wine, and distilling liquor. Although the default impression is of glass alembics and chemical reagents, this skill applies equally to a druidic hermit making herbal infusions out of weird plants collected from the forest.

Alchemy is an example of the Craft skill, and follows the basic rules listed for that entry. To make a special alchemical item using Craft (alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster. If you are working in a city, you can buy what you need as part of the raw materials cost to make the item, but alchemical equipment is difficult or impossible to come by in some places. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist’s lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because you have the perfect tools for the job, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.

Check: Mundane liquids (beer, etc.) require a DC 10 check (DC 15 for high-quality, and DC 20 for superior), and do not require any magical talent on the part of the alchemist. Other substances and items are summarized in the following table.

Item	Craft DC
Acid, mild (1d6)	15
Acid, potent (2d6)	20
Acid, concentrated (3d6)	30
Alchemist’s fire, smokestick, or tindertwig	20
Antitoxin, gunpowder, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, or thunderstone	25

Other Tasks	Craft DC
Advanced alchemy	+10
Augmented alchemy	+10
Identify potion	10 + CL
Targeted brewing	+3 per +1 to DC
Use alchemical item	Special

Advanced Alchemy: By adding 10 to the Craft DC to create an alchemical item or potion, you can add your Intelligence bonus to the target DC values to resist the effects of alchemical items you create. This supersedes the feat of the same name, from Advanced Feats: Secrets of the Alchemist (Open Design, LLC).

Augmented Alchemy: When creating an alchemical item or substance, you can choose to make it more powerful than normal by adding +10 to the DC required to create it and multiplying its price by 5. If the item or substance deals damage, double the base damage dealt (this does not multiply a grenadier rogue’s sneak attack damage; instead, add the increase in base damage to the total damage for the missile). If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage, double the duration of its effect. If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage and doesn’t have a specific listed duration (or has an instantaneous duration), double all dimensions of its area. This supersedes the feat of the same name, from the 3.5 edition System Reference Document (“Epic Feats”).

Identify Potion: You are skilled in identifying a potion, either by the use of reagents (if a laboratory is available) or by sight and taste (if not). In either case, the DC is equal to 10 + the caster level of the potion. Tasting a potion forces a saving throw against poison, if the “potion” turns out to be an ingested toxin instead.

Targeted Brewing: If you have access to some body part of an individual (blood, hair clippings, etc.), you can create a potion that is especially effective against that person, gaining a +1 on the saving throw DC or +1 to the effective caster level per +3 by which you increase Craft check DC for the potion. The maximum improvement is +1 per 3 ranks of Craft (Alchemy) you possess. This usage is described in Relics & Rituals: Excalibur (Sword & Sorcery Studios).

Use Alchemical Item: When using alchemical items (tanglefoot bags, etc.) yourself, you can add half your number of ranks in Craft (Alchemy) as a competence bonus to the DC of the saving throws to resist the effects of those items.

Class Skill: If Craft (alchemy) is a class skill, you gain the ability to brew potions. You can create a potion of any spell (of maximum spell level equal to half your number of ranks) that you know or can cast and that targets one or more creatures. Alternatively, you might be able to substitute relevant talents or feats for spellcasting ability, as described for the Imbue Item feat. Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. The DC is 15 + the spell level for 0 – 3^rd level spells, 20 + spell level for 4^th – 6^th level spells, and 25 + spell level for 7^th – 9^th level spells. When you create a potion, you set the caster level, which must be sufficient to cast the spell in question and no higher than your own level. To brew a potion, you must use up raw materials costing one half this base price. When you create a potion, you make any choices that you would normally make when casting the spell. Whoever drinks the potion is the target of the spell.

As you gain more class skill ranks, you also gain the following additional abilities:

• Enhance Potion: If you have at least 1 rank, when drinking a potion, you can attempt a Craft (Alchemy) check at a DC equal to 20 + the potion’s caster level. If successful, the potion functions at a caster level equal to your number of ranks in Craft (alchemy). On a failure, the potion fails to function at all. This supersedes the alchemist discovery of the same name, from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide.

• Extend Potion: If you have at least 6 ranks, when drinking a potion you can attempt a check (at DC 20 + the caster level of the potion) to cause the potion to last twice as long as normal. This supersedes the alchemist discovery of the same name, from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide.

• Create Oils and Dusts: At 11 ranks, you can create magical oils and dusts; this requires all of the prerequisites listed in the description of the item in question and takes 1 day per 1,000 gp of the item’s base price. The check DC is 20 + 1 per 1,000 gp of the substance’s base cost. You use up ingredients worth half the base cost. Substances that can be crafted in this manner include, but are not limited to, the following: candle of invocation, candle of truth, dust of appearance (et al.), elixir of fire breath (et al.), sovereign glue, stone salve, universal solvent, etc.

• Dilute Potion: Also at 11 ranks, given an hour you can attempt to dilute any one potion or elixir, creating two doses of the same potion from one. Diluting a potion costs a number of gp equal to one-quarter of the potion's market value. A potion that has been diluted cannot be diluted again. This task requires a check at the same DC as brewing a potion; failure on this check ruins both doses. This task supersedes the Alchemist’s “dilution” discovery from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide.

• Philospher’s Stone: If you have at least 20 ranks, you can create a philosopher’s stone (as the minor artifact) once per month; this requires a week of work, but uses no more materials than are normally stocked in your laboratory.

Personal Stock: You can create any number of potions or alchemical items and flasks, but keeping them generally on hand forces you to count their value against your personal numen (see Chapter 6). In that case, you pay out the mundane cost once, tally the items against your numen, and assume that the items are replenished whenever you are not adventuring and have access to a laboratory and raw materials.

Retry: Yes, but requires additional raw materials. A confirmed critical failure during the process can potentially destroy the laboratory area as well, particularly if gunpowder or potions of flame breath are being created..

Craft: Construction (Wis)

This skill allows you to design, build, and evaluate wooden, stone, concrete, and metal structures (including bookcases, desks, walls, houses, and so forth), and extends to various fields such as plumbing, drywall, laying cement, and building cabinets. For the sake of convenience, it also covers wood carving, allowing you to craft wands and staves.

Check: As per general Craft rules, and see below.

Task	Check DC
Assess damage	15 + hardness
Assess weakness	10
Build structure	15 (simple) to 30 (complex)
Craft (ironwood)	As Craft (Smith) DC
Locate feature	See below

Build Structure: When building a structure from scratch, the character describes the kind of structure he or she wants to construct; then the referee decides if the structure is simple, moderate, complex, or advanced in scope and difficulty.

Type of Structure (Examples)	Craft DC	Time
Simple (bookcase, false wall)	15	12 hr.
Moderate (catapult, shed, deck)	20	24 hr.
Complex (bunker, domed ceiling)	25	1 week
Magnificent (cathedral)	25	10 yrs.

Assess Damage: You can look over an item as a full-round action and accurately measure how much damage the object has taken and how much more punishment it can take. With a successful check (DC 15 + the object’s hardness), you learn the object’s hardness, how many hit points of damage it has taken, and how many more it can take before being ruined. Source: 101 New Skill Uses (Rite Publishing).

Assess Structural Weakness: When attacking an unattended inanimate object, wall, or structure—or a construct made of wood, stone, or other standard construction materials other than metal—you ignore 1 point of hardness or damage reduction per rank in Craft (Construction) you possess. If you study an unattended object for at least 3 rounds, you can attempt a Craft (construction) check at DC 15 + the object’s hardness) in order to automatically deal maximum damage possible against that object (this does not work on constructs or undead).

Craft Ironwood: A successful Craft (construction) check in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables you to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.

Locate Structural Features: You can use your skill and experience at construction to help you notice things like secret passages and the like. Searching generally requires a full-round action (although a passive check might be made by passing by); typical DCs are as follows:

To Detect/Find:	DC
The restrooms in a restaurant	5
A concealed door	15
A hidden compartment	15
A typical secret door	20
A very cunning secret door	30

Craft: Fine Art (Wis)

“I suspect that the word [art] was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters.”

―Jack Vance, Showboat World (1975).

You can draw and sketch, and, with proper materials, produce works of fine art such as paintings and sculptures.

Check Result	Effort Achieved
10 or lower	Untalented amateur
11–20	Talented amateur
21–25	Professional
26–30	Expert
31 or higher	Master

Create Forgeries: Forgery requires writing materials (such as ink, paper, and wax) appropriate to the document being forged. To forge a document on which the handwriting is not specific to a person, you need only to have seen a similar document before, and you gain a +8 bonus on your check. To forge a signature, you need an autograph of that person to copy, and you gain a +4 bonus on the check. To forge a longer document written in the hand of some particular person, a large sample of that person’s handwriting is needed.

Factor	DC	Time
Document Type:
Simple (typed letter, business card)	10	10 min.
Moderate (letterhead, form)	12	20 min.
Complex (driver’s license)	15	1 hr.
Difficult (passport)	20	4 hrs.
Extreme (secure military ID)	30	24 hrs.

Familiarity:	DC Mod.
Unfamiliar (seen once for < 1 minute)	+5
Fairly familiar (seen for several minutes)	+0
Quite familiar (on hand or studied at leisure)	-5
Forger has produced other documents of same type	-5
Document includes specific signature	+5

The check is made secretly, so that you’re not sure how good your forgery is. As with disguise, you don’t even need to make a check until someone examines the work. Your check is opposed by a Knowledge (lore) or Profession (administration) check of the person who examines the document to check its authenticity. The examiner gains modifiers on his or her check if any of the conditions on the table below exist.

Reader’s Condition	Modifier
Type of document unknown to reader	–2
Type of document somewhat familiar	+0
Type of document well known to reader	+2
Handwriting not known to reader	–2
Handwriting somewhat known to reader	+0
Handwriting intimately known to reader	+2
Reader only casually reviews the document	–2
Document contradicts orders or knowledge	+2

Action: Creating a forgery takes time as shown in the table. Creating a work of fine art requires anywhere from 1d4 days to 1d4 weeks, depending on the complexity and type of art.

Craft: Lapidary (Wis)

You are trained in cutting gems and fashioning jewelry. In general, this skill receives most of its use when crafting and/or identifying magical amulets, rings, and the like.

When finding a gem, a jeweler can attempt to improve its cut, thereby increasing its value. However, failure has a chance of ruining the stone, so you cannot Take 20 on the check. The DC is dependent on the initial value of the gem, as follows:

Initial Value	Check DC
10 gp	10
50 gp	15
100 gp	20
500 gp	25
1,000 gp	30
5,000 gp	35

The check is then made, with the change in value of the gem dependent upon the results:

Check Results	Final Value
DC -11 or more	Initial value decreases by 1 step according to the table above
DC -6 to -10	Initial value is cut in half
DC -1 to -5	Initial value is unchanged
DC +0 to +9	Initial value increases by 20%
DC +10 to +19	Initial value is doubled
DC +20 or more	Increases 1 step according to the table above

A character trained in this skill can also identify the properties of magical rings and jeweled wondrous items and jewelry. The DC is 15 + the caster level of the item, and requires 3 rounds spent handling the item in question and examining it under bright light.

Craft: Needlework (Wis)

This broad skill heading encompasses the work of cobblers, leatherworkers, seamstresses, tailors, tanners, weavers, and so on. You are trained in spinning thread, making clothes and other garments, tanning leather and fashioning leather goods (including boots), etc. In general, this skill receives most of its use when crafting magical cloaks, boots, and the like.

A character trained in this skill can identify the properties of magical cloaks, boots, belts, capes, and so on. The DC is 15 + the caster level of the item, and requires 3 rounds spent handling the item in question.

Craft: Smith (Wis)

You are a skilled metalworker, and are capable of smelting ore as well as forging, tempering, welding, and machining metal tools and parts.

Check: The check DC depends on the item manufactured, according to the following table:

Item	Craft DC
Simple repair (patch a kettle)	5
Typical item (iron pot, horseshoe)	10
Armor or shield	10 + AC bonus
Weapon	15

Identify Item Properties: A character trained in this skill can also identify the properties of magical weapons, armor, and shields. The DC is 15 + the caster level of the item, and requires 3 rounds spent handling the item in question. You can likewise identify exotic metal materials (Appendix B of Chapter 6) and their properties.

Class Skill: If you are trained in Craft (smith) as a class skill, when attacking an inanimate object crafted from metal (such as a sword, door, or statue), or a metal construct that possesses damage reduction (e.g., an iron golem), you ignore 1 point of hardness or damage reduction per rank you possess.

You can also work in special materials such as talonite, alchemical silver, and Damascus steel (Chapter 6) with costs less than 5,000 gp.

• If you have at least 6 ranks, you can work in cold iron and mithral.

• If you have at least 11 ranks, you can work with adamantine.

• If you have at least 16 ranks, you can work in planar materials such as Astral driftmetal.

Craft: Toxicology (Int)

“Some call it the coin-tree, others the good-for-naught. It is completely inoffensive, either as a primary or an operative. You might ingest the whole of it: leaves, bark, pith, roots, and note nothing other than a sluggishness of digestion. Recently one of our venefices became irritated at such insipidity. He made an intensive study of the coin-tree, and after several years finally derived a substance of unusual potency. To be useful it must be dissolved in methycin and wafted into the air as a fog or mist, whence it enters the corpus through the eyes, causing first blindness, then numbness, then complete paralysis. Think of it! From waste, a useful and effective poison!”

―Edelrod, Undermaster Venefice of Sarkovy (from Jack Vance’s The Palace of Love, 1967)

You are skilled in making and using poisons.

Checks: You are skilled at crafting, modifying, identifying, administering, and resisting poisons.

Task	Craft (Toxicology) DC
Administer poison	See below
Apply poison	10
Concentrate poison	As poison’s save DC
Detect/identify poison	As poison’s save DC
Distill poison	As poison’s save DC + 10
Modify poison	As poison’s save DC + 5
Resist poison	See below

Administer Poison: When personally using poisons, rather than simply using the poison DC as the Fortitude save DC to resist, you can administer the poison with skill. The victim’s Fortitude save DC is equal to your results on an opposed Craft (Toxicology) check; you gain an equipment bonus to this check equal to the poison’s DC –20 (if this number is below zero, it acts as a penalty to your check).

Apply Poison: Applying poison to a weapon is a standard action. If you fail the check, you inadvertently expose yourself to the poison and must save against the poison as normal. This does not consume the dose of poison. Whenever you attack with a poisoned weapon, if the attack roll results in a natural 1, you expose yourself to the poison. This consumes the poison on the weapon.

A character with 10 or more ranks or Skill Focus in Craft (toxicology) can take 10 while using poison, usually eliminating the chance for accidental exposure. He or she also has no chance of accidental exposure while wielding a poisoned weapon. This supersedes the assassin’s “poison use” class feature.

Concentrate Poison: You can combine two doses of the same poison to increase their effects. This requires two doses of the poison and 1 minute of work. When completed, you have one dose of poison, with the frequency extended by 50% and the save DC increased by +2. You cannot re-concentrate a concentrated poison.

Detect/Identify Poison: You can detect a substance or creature as poisonous by making a check against the save DC of the poison. If you succeed by 5 or more, you identify the exact type of poison. You can identify poison by symptoms, by taste, by scent (+3 to check DC), or possibly by sight alone (+4 to the check DC). Use of this task requires a standard action; you can attempt this task as a move action by adding 5 to the check DC, as a swift action by adding 10 to the check DC, or as a free action by adding 15 to the check DC.

Distill Poison: Given a proper lab and the requisite materials (in many cases, a live monster or plant from which to extract or distill venom), you may craft poisons at the DCs listed. This requires 1 day of work. If you fail with a natural “1,” you are exposed to the poison (because there are consequences for failure, you cannot Take 20 on the check).

Modify Poison: You can use this skill to change the exposure route of a poison. This requires 1 hour of work with an alchemist’s lab and a skill check with a DC equal to the poison’s DC +5. If successful, the poison’s type changes to contact, ingested, inhaled, or injury (your choice). If the check fails, the existing poison is ruined. This function supersedes the Alchemist’s “poison conversion” discovery from Ultimate Combat and the Daggermark Poisoner’s “master poisoner” ability from Paths of Prestige.

Class Skill: Your long exposure to poisons has given you some measure of immunity. Choose one specific poison type (e.g., deathblade, blue whinnis, snake venom, or scorpion venom). You become immune to that poison type, and you also receive a cumulative +1 competence bonus on saving throws against all other poisons.

• For every 4 ranks you possess, select another specific type to gain immunity to, and your bonus against other types increases by +1.

• At 20 ranks in Craft (toxicology), you are immune to all poisons.

Action: As noted in the task descriptions.

Source: This skill supersedes the assassin’s poison-based prestige class features, and also the Poison Immunity feat from Champions of Ruin..

Knowledge (Int)

Like the Craft, Perform, and Profession skills, Knowledge actually encompasses a number of unrelated skills. Knowledge represents a study of some body of lore, possibly an academic or even scientific discipline. Typical fields of study include linguistics, lore (history, legends, riddles, and unique items); religion and the planes; and warfare.

Check: Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions).

In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and possibly their special powers or vulnerabilities. Not all creature types have a dedicated Knowledge skill; some can be subsumed into other skills. Recommendations are as follows, although some overlap is assumed.

Creature Type	Knowledge Skill
Animals, plants, and vermin	Survival
Constructs	Spellcraft
Dragons	Knowledge (lore)
Fey	Survival or Knowledge (lore)
Humanoids (civilized)	Streetwise
Humanoids (uncivilized)	Knowledge (warfare)
Humanoids (monstrous), giants	Knowledge (lore)
Oozes	Profession (mining)
Outsiders, elementals, and undead	Knowledge (the planes)
Sea monsters	Profession (sailing)
Subterranean (any)	Profession (mining)

The knowledge gained depends on the check results, as shown below; information gained is cumulative.

Check Results	Information Gained
10	Type (fey, outsider, undead, etc.) and features common to that creature type
15	Creature name and environment
20	Organization and (Ex) abilities
25	(Su) and (Sp) abilities
30	Information unique to individual

The various check DCs listed are in no way dependent on the CR of the creature; however, the rarity of the creature can modify the check DCs needed to gain specific information. Monster frequency can be determined on a campaign-specific basis by the referee, or can simply be taken from the appropriate entry in the 1^st edition Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, etc.

Creature Frequency	DC Modifier
Common	-5
Uncommon	0
Rare	+5
Very Rare	+10

For example, learning the name, type, and environment of a Rare creature would require check results of 20 or higher.

Action: Usually none. In most cases, making a Knowledge check doesn’t take an action—you simply know the answer or you don’t.

Try Again: No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.

Untrained: An untrained Knowledge check is simply an Intelligence check. Without actual training, you know only common knowledge (DC 10 or lower).

Knowledge: Linguistics (Int)

“I always enjoyed learning a new tongue.”

“You always were a cunning linguist, James.”

― Goldeneye (1995)

You are skilled at working with language, both in its spoken and written forms. You can speak multiple languages and can decipher nearly any written matter ―including dead arcane languages and coded messages―given enough time. This skill allows you to create works of poetry and prose, and to perform great feats of oratory.

Your native language is always most familiar to you; you receive a +8 racial bonus to linguistics checks in that tongue. Other languages you know by virtue of race, intelligence, or ranks in this skill use your Linguistics skill bonus.

When you select the Linguistics skill, you immediately learn to read any language you can speak. For every even-numbered rank (2^nd, 4^th, etc.), you learn to speak an additional language. For every odd-numbered rank beyond the first, you learn to read the last language you learned to speak.

Check: Basic communication (ordering beer, etc.) normally does not require a check; it can be assumed that you are taking 10. More advanced communication might, depending on the difficulty. Imitating and recognizing accents, making speeches or reciting poetry, and creating works of poetry and prose all require checks as well:.

Task	Linguistics DC
Basic communication (shared tongue)	10
General conversation	15
Complex, in-depth discussion	20
Compose work	See below
Debate and oration	Opposed checks
Decipher script	See below
Identify accent	20
Identify magical glyph	25 + spell level
Identify regional dialect	30
Learn arcane spell from a book/ scroll	10 + spell level
Prepare from borrowed spellbook	15+ spell level
Read lips	25
Read magical writing	25 + spell level
Speak without accent	30
Understand foreign tongue	See below
Use scroll	20 + caster level

Compose Work: When creating a work of writing or oratory, the player simply makes a Linguistics check, the result of which determines the quality of the work.

Check Result	Effort Achieved
9 or lower	Untalented amateur
10–19	Talented amateur
20–24	Professional
25–30	Expert
31–35	Master
36+	Enduring classic

Decipher Script: You can decipher writing in an unfamiliar language or a message written in an incomplete or archaic form. The base DC is 20 for the simplest messages, 25 for standard texts, and 30 or higher for intricate, exotic, or very old writing. If the check succeeds, you understand the general content of a piece of writing about one page long (or the equivalent). If the check fails by 10 or more, you draw a false conclusion about the text.

Debate and Oration: The linguistics skill can be used in a series of opposed checks, to simulate the swaying of an audience during a debate―somewhat like a Mass Diplomacy skill. This function therefore generally supersedes the Demagogue bard archetype from Ultimate Magic. You can also use this task to potentially disrupt a language-dependent magical effect or skald’s bardic inspiration effect; this works as described under the “countersong” function of the Perform (Music) skill (q.v.).

Identify Magical Glyph: With a successful Linguistics check, you can determine the meaning or effects of a magical rune, glyph, or symbol without triggering it (assuming it is triggered by being read, not merely by being looked at).

Read Lips: A subject taking pains to avoid lip reading can attempt a Bluff check to unobtrusively make them harder to read (use their Bluff results as an opposed check, rather than using the DC listed), or can simply put a cloth, etc. over his or her mouth (no chance of reading lips, but the intent is immediately obvious).

Read Magical Writing: You can decipher magical writings on a successful Linguistics check. This allows you to identify scrolls, for example.

Speak without Accent: A casual listener assumes that you are speaking your native language. A listener who knows the language you are speaking can attempt an opposed check to determine that something is very slightly off. Rather than simply speaking like a native, you can pull off a native-sounding accent in a regional dialect with a DC 35 Linguistics check.

Understand Foreign Tongue: You can try to understand a language you do not speak. Each major idea conveyed requires a separate attempt; your level of comprehension depends on your check results.

Results	Level of Comprehension
20	General sense of subject of major topic
25	Some specific details, but shaky grasp
30	Pretty good idea of topic and details
35	Perfect comprehension due to linguistic similarities with known languages

If the creature being conversed with attempts to speak slowly and carefully, and makes liberal use of pantomime (trying to make you understand), you can attempt a Bluff check to interpret those efforts in place of a failed Linguistics check.

Use Scroll: If you are casting a spell from a scroll, you have to decipher it first. Normally, to cast a spell from a scroll, you must have the scroll’s spell on your class spell list. If you are trained in Linguistics, you can attempt use a scroll as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list. The DC is equal to 20 + the caster level of the spell you are trying to cast from the scroll. In addition, casting a spell from a scroll requires a minimum score (10 + spell level) in the appropriate attribute. If you don’t have a sufficient score in that ability, you must emulate the ability score with a separate check. This use of the skill also applies to other spell completion magic items.

Class Skill: If Knowledge (linguistics) is a class skill for you, you can scribe magical scrolls. To create a scroll of a spell you know requires a linguistics check at DC 15 + the level of the spell to be scribed. Scrolls of multiple spells require multiple checks. If a check fails by 4 or less, the inscriber is aware of his failure. On a failure of 5 or more, the spell appears to be scribed correctly, but fails when cast. Failure by 10 or more indicates that the spell appears correct, but has a reversed or harmful effect when read. Scribing a scroll takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise scribing a scroll takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price.

• Comprehend Languages: If you have at least 6 ranks, you can puzzle out anything people say to you, as if under a continuous comprehend languages effect.

Enhance Scroll: If you have at least 11 ranks, when using a scroll you can cause the spell on it to function at your caster level, rather than the caster level of the scroll. This requires a check at DC 20 + the level of the spell. This ability supersedes the Cyphermage’s lore of the same name, from the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Magic.

Gift of Tongues: If you have at least 16 ranks, you speak all languages fluently, even ones you have never encountered.

Personal Stock: You can scribe any number of scrolls, but keeping them generally on hand forces you to count their value against your personal Mojo (see Chapter 6). In that case, you pay out the materials cost once, tally the scrolls against your mojo (25 x spell level x minimum caster level), and assume that the scrolls are replenished whenever you are not adventuring and have access to parchments and ink.

Synergy: If you have the Imbue Item feat, you can scribe magical librams and tomes. This requires 1 day per 1,000 gp of base cost, uses up materials (special inks, etc.) worth half that, and has a DC of 25 + 1 per 10,000 gp base price (round up).

Action: Varies. Creating a work of writing requires at least 1 hour, but usually takes a day, a week, or more, depending on the scope of the project. Deciphering a page of ordinary text takes 1 minute (10 consecutive rounds). Deciphering a written spell requires 1 minute of concentration. Learning a spell from a spellbook takes 1 hour per level of the spell (0-level spells take 30 minutes). Preparing a spell from a borrowed spellbook does not add any time to your spell preparation.

Try Again: Yes.

Knowledge: Lore (Int)

“Since spring the lords of An have been asking two questions only: who is Raederle to marry, and what was the one riddle Pevin couldn’t answer? Hagis King of An, my father’s grandfather, died in Pevin’s tower for the lack of that riddle.”

―Patricia McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed (1976)

You are a scholar of history, legends, and old riddles. Along the way, you’ve become something of a walking storehouse of history and trivia.

Check: In addition to recalling esoteric facts and solving riddles, with this skill you can evaluate the value of any object or comestible, picking out priceless treasures from worthless junk. You might also be able to determine a place or culture of origin and/or some piece of information associated with the item in question. You can identify unique historical magical items (artifacts, relics, or weapons of legacy) or legendary places. The amount of information you have on the item in question depends on the check results:

Information	DC
Recent or historically significant event	10
Approximate date of specific event	15
Obscure or ancient historical event	20
Creature abilities/weaknesses	See above
Name of item/place (e.g., “Sword of Kas”)	20
Value of object	20
Properties of standard item	20 + CL
Properties of wondrous item	15 + CL
Rumored powers/effects of artifact/relic	25
One specific fact about item or place (e.g., “cutting off the Hand will kill the host.”)	30
Each specific fact thereafter	+5

Creature Abilities and Weaknesses: With a successful check, you can also identify dragons, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, and unique legendary creatures, and their abilities, weaknesses, and special powers, as described under the general Knowledge heading.

Properties of Magic Items: You can determine the properties of an artifact or relic, a wondrous item other than jewelry and written items, etc. with a successful check at DC 15 + the item’s caster level. Any item of legendary repute (e.g., the signature bonded wand used by Rémy of Autrisch in the dungeons beneath Castle Greyhawk) can be identified likewise. This takes one full round.

You can also use this skill to identify other, more standard magic items of any type, but this is more difficult; the check DC increases by 5 and the time required increases to 3 rounds, during which time you must handle the item in question.

Value of Object: If you succeed by 5 or more, you also determine if the item has magic properties, although this success does not grant knowledge of the magic item's abilities. If your fail the check by less than 5, you determine the price of that item to within 20% of its actual value. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the price is wildly inaccurate, subject to GM discretion. Particularly rare or exotic items might increase the DC of this check by 5 or more.

You can also use this check to determine the most valuable-looking item in a treasure hoard. The DC of this check is generally 20, but can increase to as high as 30 for a particularly large hoard.

Special: Riddling contests (Cf. The Hobbit) and trivia contests are resolved using a series of opposed Knowledge (lore) checks.

Action: Appraising an item takes 1 standard action. Determining the most valuable object in a treasure hoard takes 1 full-round action;

Try Again: No.

Knowledge: The Planes (Int)

He immediately commenced an almost profound stream of profanity. Dilvish listened with admiration, for even in his military days he would have been hard put to find its equal.

“You managed to blaspheme gods even the priests have forgotten,” he said with awe in his voice.

Roger Zelazny, The Changing Land (1981)

You have a working knowledge of the multiverse, including both the inner and outer planes. You are familiar with many of the conditions and entities found on different planes, from minor spirits to divine powers.

Check: You can identify items of information related to gods and goddesses, religions, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, undead, and extraplanar beings.

Task	Check DC
Identify holy symbol/vestments	15
Identify ritual	20
Identify mythic event	30
Identify abilities and weaknesses	See above
Identify relic or extraplanar material	15 + caster level
Identify a divine spell being cast	15+ spell level
Identify active divine spell effect	20+ spell level
Identify materials of extra-planar origin or made by divine power	20+ spell level (if applicable)
Identify a divine spell or planar property that just targeted you	25+ spell level (if applicable)
Planar resistance (mild)	20
Planar resistance (strong)	30
Planar spell	15 + 2x spell level

Identify Ritual: You can deduce the significance, purpose, and patron deity of any religious ritual you observe. You can determine the sacrifices and/or prayers approved by various deities.

Identify Mythic Event: Upon observing an actual event or a depiction of one in painting or sculpture, you can determine the religious or planar significance of the event. For example, if you see a carving of golden rain falling into a bronze cell, you can identify this as a depiction of the god Zeus entering the prison of the princess Danaë, and you know that the offspring of that union was Perseus, who slew Medusa.

Identify Abilities and Weaknesses: You can use this skill to identify elementals, outsiders, and undead and their special powers or vulnerabilities, as described under the general Knowledge heading.

Identify Relic or Extraplanar Material: You can identify a holy/unholy relic by succeeding at a check at the DC listed; this requires you to study the item in question for 1 full round, although you need not actually touch it. You can identify the properties of planar items (e.g., a cubic gate or sword of the planes) or religious magical items (e.g., a phylactery of faithfulness) likewise. You can identify extraplanar materials (Appendix B of Chapter 6) likewise.

Planar Resistance (Mild): If you succeed at a DC 20 Knowledge (the Planes) check upon arriving on a mildly-aligned plane, you are immune to ability penalties due to alignment variance until you leave that plane. For every 5 points by which you beat the DC, you can confer this resistance on one ally.

Planar Resistance (Strong): If you succeed at a DC 30 Knowledge (the Planes) check upon arriving on a strongly-aligned plane, you are immune to ability penalties due to alignment variance until you leave that plane.

Planar Spell: As noted in the Introduction, in general, arcane casters attempting to cast unmodified prepared spells on planes with different magical laws fail automatically, or achieve questionable results (as a rod of wonder). Prepared casters can attempt a Knowledge (the planes) check while preparing spells (DC 15 + twice the level of the spell); if successful, the spell prepared in that manner functions normally on the variant-magic plane. If the check succeeds by 10 or more, the spell functions normally on either plane.

Knowledge: Warfare (Int)

You are trained in military tactics and strategy, and can direct troops and operate siege equipment. In addition to military uses, this skill governs your proficiency at chess and similar games of strategy.

Check: Basic drills in non-combat situations do not require checks. During an actual armed conflict, checks depend on the task attempted.

Task	DC
Create battle plan	15
Estimate CR	10 + CR
Identify creatures & tactics	10 + CR
Identify enemy command	20
Identify feat or talent	10 + BAB
Identify style (general)	15
Identify style (personal)	25
Large-scale tactics	(Opposed check)
Mask style	(Opposed check)
Negate stance	20 + BAB
Operate siege engine	15 or target’s AC

Create Battle Plan: You can develop a tactical battle plan. This task requires observation of the situation and opponents as a full-round action; you can’t perform this task when surprised or otherwise unprepared. Because of stress and distraction inherent in combat, you can’t take 10 unless you have at least 10 ranks in the skill.

A successful check provides a +1 circumstance bonus to either offense (attacks and skill checks) or defense (AC and CMD), your choice. For every 10 points by which you beat the check DC, you can increase the bonus by an additional +1. If the bonus is greater than +1, you can divide the total bonus between offense and defense as you see fit.

These bonuses apply to you and a number of allies within 30 ft. (and who can see and hear you) equal to your Intelligence modifier. For each round that combat continues after the first round that this bonus applies, the bonus is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of +0), as the vagaries of circumstance begin to unravel even the best-laid plans.

Estimate CR: After observing a creature in combat for at least 1 full round, you can attempt a Knowledge (Warfare) check at the DC shown as a free action. If successful, you learn that creature’s challenge rating.

Identify Creatures and Tactics: With a successful check, you can also identify uncivilized humanoids, their abilities, weaknesses, and typical military tactics. See the general Knowledge heading for details.

Identify Enemy Command: Your military experience makes you comfortable in a chain of command, and allows you to identify comparative rank and possibly even the meanings of military insignia.

Identify Feat: Upon observing a combat feat (including a stance or strike) or fighter talent being activated or in use (even if it fails, or if no effect is immediately apparent), a Knowledge (Warfare) check can be attempted as a free action to identify the feat or talent and its effects. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the base attack bonus of the initiator of the feat. If the check succeeds by 5 or more, you also identify the school or style of combat the initiator was trained in.

Identify Style (Personal): You can identify anyone you have ever seen fight before, based purely upon seeing them fight again. Even if the person is disguised or otherwise unidentifiable based on visual cues, by seeing them fight you can identify and correlate styles, personal foibles and quirks, and otherwise know that combatant for anyone you have seen fight in the past. If the person you are observing is also trained in this skill, he or she can attempt to mask his or her particular style (see “mask style,” below). Special: If the person you are observing is using the same weapon you previously saw them fight with, you receive a +5 circumstance bonus to the check.

Large-Scale Tactics: By directing a unit of soldiers, your Knowledge (Warfare) check as treated as an opposed check against the Knowledge (Warfare) of the enemy leader. Assuming troops of approximately equal strength and arms and armor on each side, the difference between checks is the number of soldiers on the losing side dead per 20 combatants during that engagement.

Mask Style: You can attempt to prevent an observer from divining your true style, training, and expertise (“I know something you don’t know… I am not left handed!”). You roll an opposed check against the observer’s “identify style” task. Alternatively, you can go wild attempting to disguise your style and set any DC you desire; you and the observer both throw against this DC, but if you fail, the observer immediately knows the truth. Special: Any creature with 10 or more Fighter levels automatically sees through your ruse; see the fighter’s “threat assessment” class feature.

Negate Stance: If you successfully identify an opponent’s Stance (see Identify Feat, above), you can, as a swift action, attempt to spare yourself from the effects of that stance (for example, you might be able to ignore the AC bonus from Combat Expertise when attacking that opponent). This requires the opponent to be within reach, and you must have at least one attack of opportunity available to you in order to negate the effects of an opponent’s stance on you.

Operate Siege Engine: If you have at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (warfare), you are proficient with siege weaponry and can head a siege crew. Hitting a target requires a Knowledge (warfare) check by the crew chief against the AC of the target, modified by the range penalty as appropriate. It takes a crew a full-round actions to load and aim a siege engine; if you increase the hit DC by 5, your crew can load and aim as a standard action; if you increase the DC by 10, your crew can load and fire as a move action. It requires a crew (size dependent upon the type of engine) to use a siege engine.

If you miss with an indirect-fire siege weapon, the shot lands 5 ft. away from the target square, plus an additional foot per point by which you miss the DC (round up), in a random direction (roll 1d8). This task supersedes the Siege Engineer and Siege Gunner feats from Ultimate Combat.

Try Again: If you miss a target with a siege engine, you can try again after reloading and re-aiming the engine (just as, if you miss a target with a ranged attack, you can try again on your next attack). If you misinterpret insignia or a perceived chain of command, you can try again only if additional orders are given while you are observing.

Perform

Like Knowledge and Craft, Perform actually encompasses a number of separate skills. Obvious examples include acting, music, and dance (each described separately), but other Perform skills can be included.

Check: You can impress audiences with your talent and skill.

DC	Performance
10	Routine performance. Trying to earn money by playing in public is essentially begging. You can earn 1d10 cp/day.
15	Enjoyable performance. In a prosperous city, you can earn 1d10 sp/day.
20	Great performance. In a prosperous city, you can earn 3d10 sp/day. In time, you may be invited to join a professional troupe and may develop a regional reputation.
25	Memorable performance. In a prosperous city, you can earn 1d6 gp/day. In time, you may come to the attention of noble patrons and develop a national reputation.
30	Extraordinary performance. In a prosperous city, you can earn 3d6 gp/day. In time, you may draw attention from distant potential patrons, or even from extraplanar beings.

Gather Crowd (Ex): You can use Perform skills in an attempt at drawing an audience. If in a settlement or populated area, you can dance, sing, etc. in order to attract an audience to your impromptu stage. The size of the crowd depends on the local population, but typically is a number of people equal to half your number of ranks in Perform x the results of your Perform check. The crowd gathers over the next 1d10 rounds. If you fail to engage the crowd thereafter (such as by performing, kissing babies, trying to use fascinate, and so on), it disperses over the next 1d10 rounds. This task supersedes the Celebrity bard’s variant class feature of the same name, from Ultimate Magic.

Perform: Acting (Cha)

When you take your first rank in the skill, choose one of the categories below (e.g., comedy); you have access to that entire category. For each additional rank, you may choose one specific example from a different category (e.g., drama). Gaining two examples from any category gives you access to that entire category. At 5 ranks in the skill, you are proficient in all of the categories listed.

• Acting (comedy, drama, mime, disguise)

• Comedy (buffoonery, limericks, joke-telling)

• Oratory (epic, ode, storytelling)

Disguise: Your Performance check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others’ Perception check results. If you don’t draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make Perception checks. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Perception checks.

You get only one disguise check per use of the skill, even if several people are making Perception checks against it. The effectiveness of your disguise depends in part on how much you’re attempting to change your appearance.

Disguise Details	Check Modifier1
Different age category	–22
Different gender	–2
Different race of same general body type	–2
Different size category3	–8

(1) These modifiers are cumulative; use all that apply.

(2) Per step of difference between your actual age category and your disguised age category. The steps are: young (younger than adulthood), adulthood, middle age, old, and venerable.

(3) Maximum one category of difference.

Usually, an individual makes a Perception check to see through your disguise immediately upon meeting you and each hour thereafter. If you casually meet many different creatures, each for a short time, check once per day or hour, using an average Perception modifier for the group.

Taunt: You can use Perform (acting) to disrupt an opponent’s focus and concentration. As a full-round action, pick a single foe who can see and hear you and who shares a language with you. Then make a Perform check opposed by your target’s Will save. If your check succeeds, your enemy suffers a –2 penalty to all attacks but gains a +1 bonus to melee damage. Your opponent knows that your are causing this effect, and may move to attack you if he can do so without provoking attacks of opportunity; your allies can forgo these attacks in such a manner as to signal the target that they will let him pass. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier.

You can also accomplish the following additional tasks with this skill.

Task	Check DC
False enchantment	15 + spell level

False Enchantment: If you successful save against a [charm] or [compulsion] spell targeting you, you can attempt a check at the indicated DC as an immediate action to convince the caster that you were in fact affected. This lasts until the spell duration would normally end, or until you act in a way contrary to the spell’s effects (this task is therefore most useful when paired with a Spellcraft check to identify the spell, or when the caster issues verbal commands).

Class Skill: If you are trained in Perform (Acting) as a class skill, you gain the following benefits at the requisite number of ranks:

• Impersonation: If you have at least 6 ranks, you can attempt to impersonate a specific individual. Those who know what that person looks like get a bonus on their Perception checks according to the table below; they are also automatically considered to be suspicious of you, so opposed checks are always called for.

Familiarity	Check Bonus
Recognizes on sight	+4
Friends or associates	+6
Close friends	+8
Intimate	+10

• Façade: If you have at least 11 ranks, your disguises resist divination spells and abilities. If a divination spell is cast on you while in disguise, the spell or effect reveals information that is consistent with your disguise, not with your true identity, alignment, etc. In addition, when targeted by a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability that affects creatures of certain alignments, you are affected as if your alignment were that of your disguised persona (if you succeed at a Spellcraft check to identify the spell, you can choose to adopt a new false alignment as an immediate action). This ability supersedes the rogue talent of the same name from Dragon #326, the Spymaster’s “deep cover” prestige class feature from Complete Adventurer, and the Aspis Agent’s “mask alignment” prestige class feature from Paths of Prestige.

• Assumption: At 16 ranks, as a full-round action you can touch a helpless creature and cause your aura to impersonate that of the target. This confuses divination effects and spells, even ones as powerful as discern location, such that they register you as being the target creature. This ability is not proof against the actions of deities or similarly powerful beings. The assumption of an identity lasts until you end it (a standard action) or you use the ability on another creature or disguise. This supersedes the Master Spy’s class feature of the same name from the Advanced Player’s Guide

• Master of Disguise: If you have 20 ranks, you can voluntarily remove yourself from game play as a full-round action. Thereafter, at any time you choose, you can “reveal” that any non-crucial NPC (i.e., a palace guard, but not the party’s nemesis) is actually you in disguise, and has been since any point past the time you activated this ability (your choice). It is up to you and the referee to invent some reason the real NPC isn’t present, if that turns out to be important.

Action: Varies. Trying to earn money by playing in public requires anywhere from an evening’s work to a full day’s performance. Creating a disguise requires 1d3×10 minutes of work. If you have at least 5 ranks in the skill and already have a disguise prepared, you can don it as a standard action, but take a -5 penalty to the check.

Try Again: Yes. Retries are allowed, but they don’t negate previous failures, and an audience that has been unimpressed in the past is likely to be prejudiced against future performances. (Increase the DC by 2 for each previous failure.) You may try to redo a failed disguise, but once others know that a disguise was attempted, they’ll be more suspicious.

Special: Magic that alters your form, such as alter self, disguise self, polymorph, or shapechange, grants you a bonus on Disguise checks (see the individual spell descriptions). You must succeed on a Disguise check to duplicate the appearance of a specific individual using the veil spell. Divination magic that allows people to see through illusions (such as true seeing) does not penetrate a mundane disguise, but it can negate the magical component of a magically enhanced one. You must make a Perform (acting) check when you cast a simulacrum spell to determine how good the likeness is.

Perform: Dance (Cha)

When you take your first rank in the skill, choose one of the categories below (e.g., ballroom); you have access to that entire category. For each additional rank, you may choose one specific example from a different category (e.g., polka). Gaining two examples from any category gives you access to that entire category. At 9 ranks in the skill, you are proficient in all of the categories listed.

• Ballroom (tango, waltz, salsa, etc.)

• Ballet

• Eastern folk/traditional (punjabi folk dance, Chinese ribbon dancing, etc.)

• Western folk/traditional (jig, polka, square dancing, line dancing, flamenco, etc.)

• Modern (cheerleading, contemporary, disco, breakdancing, krump, etc.)

Once you have acquired proficiency in a category, if you are exposed to a specific example in that category that you are unfamiliar with, you are able to quickly and easily master the steps.

Perform: Music (Cha)

When you take your first rank in the skill, choose one of the categories below (e.g., string instruments); you have access to that entire category. For each additional rank, you may choose one specific example from a different category (e.g., harpsichord). Gaining two examples from any category gives you access to that entire category. At 10 ranks in the skill, you are proficient in all of the categories listed.

• Keyboard instruments (harpsichord, piano, pipe organ)

• Percussion instruments (bells, chimes, drums, gong)

• String instruments (fiddle, harp, lute, mandolin)

• Wind instruments (flute, pan pipes, recorder, shawm, trumpet)

• Singing (ballad, chant, melody)

Countersong: You can use your musical abilities to disrupt magical attacks or abilities that rely on song. You must have a Perform area that involves music and, if necessary, an instrument. Any creature within 30 feet of you (including yourself) that is affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical attack may use your Perform check result in place of a saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. Creatures within range of the countersong who are already under the effect of a non-instantaneous sonic or language-dependent magical attack gain another saving throw against the effect each round they hear the countersong, but they must use your Perform check result for the save. Countersong offers no benefit against effects that don’t allow saves. You may start a countersong as a standard action and keep it up for a number of rounds equal to your ranks in Perform.

You can also use countersong to ruin another person’s performance. In this case, make an opposed check. If your results are greater than or equal to your opponent’s, then the performance is disrupted (this can prevent or end a minstrel’s bardic inspiration effect).

Special: A masterwork musical instrument gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Perform checks that involve its use.

Profession

You are trained in some profession not associated with an adventuring class. Examples might include administration (you can function in a bureaucracy), horticulture (including farming, etc.), mining (see separate entry below), sailing (see separate entry below), etc.

Profession: Administration (Cha)

“Control is necessary and even good—so long as I do the controlling.”

―Jack Vance, Emphyrio (1969)

You are at home in bureaucratic organizations and among regulations, and can competently allocate personnel and resources, manage employees and tasks, and preserve your own status within the organization.

Check: You can use this skill in the following ways; other related uses should also be permitted.

Find Ally: A successful skill check (DC based on Diplomacy rules) might allow a character with Admin skill to name-drop their way into a shared relationship, even in unlikely situations; think “six degrees of separation” here.

Garner Favor: With a successful check (DC 20 + creature’s CR) you can compel an NPC to grant you some boon or perform some favor for you, by leveraging personal knowledge, organizational pressure, some obscure point of procedure, or other means.

Know Law or Regulation: You can look up, cite, or at least understand the gist of a given law or regulation. The DC varies depending on the scale of the regulation and your familiarity with the regulating body:

Regulation	Admin DC
Major law in your home country	10
Major law in foreign country	15
Minor law in your home country	15
Minor law in foreign country	20
Regulation in your organization	15
Regulation in related organization	25
Regulation in foreign organization	35

Negotiate Red Tape: When encountering bureaucratic red tape, you can get past it by succeeding at an Administration check opposed by an Administration or Bluff check by the obstructive official. You can therefore use the Administration skill to create red tape as well.

Political Maneuvering: In general, a check is necessary only in the event of particularly involved political maneuvering or organizational shuffling. In that event, play out the scenario as much as desired by group consensus, then roll opposed checks. A bidding war (see Introduction) is possible.

Special: If you use the optional Social Class attribute, apply your Social Class modifier, in addition to your Charisma modifier, to administration and politics checks.

Profession: Driving (Wis)

Not once, but several times, Mary cried out in fear as Harlow took the Ferrari down through the hairpins of the Col de Tende. Harlow's face was still, implacable. To an observer, it must have appeared that the car was being driven by a maniac, but Harlow was in complete control. To the accompaniment of the sound of tortured tyres and engine bellowing in the lower gears, he descended the Col as no one had ever done before, and, assuredly, no one would ever do again.

―Alistair MacLean, The Way to Dusty Death (1973)

Routine tasks, such as ordinary driving, don’t require a skill check. Make a check only when some unusual circumstance exists (such as inclement weather or an icy surface), or when the character is driving during a dramatic situation.

Checks: Whenever you make a Drive check, the vehicle's size modifier is added to your check (Medium –0; Large –1; Huge –2; Gargantuan –4; Colossal –8). There are any number of tasks you can perform with a vehicle using this skill; the following are examples:

Task	Check DC
Avoid collision	15
Engage the enemy	Opposed initiative check
Escape grapple	DC of grapple
Overdrive	20
Racing turn	+10
Ram	AC of target

Avoid Collision: You can make a DC 15 check as a reaction to reduce or negate the damage from a collision.

Engage the Enemy (Trained Only): When driving a vehicle in combat, you may choose to make a Profession (driving) check instead of an Initiative check.

Escape Grapple (Trained Only): The driver of a car can make a Profession (driving) check to escape being pinned against the curb, etc.; the pilot of a starship can make a Drive check to escape after being held or immobilized by another starship’s grapplers or tractor beam; and so on.

Overdrive (Trained Only): You can make a Profession (driving) check as a swift action to make your vehicle perform beyond its normal limits. The increase in speed is equal to 1% x your check results; if the results are less than 10, there is no increase. You can't take 10 on this check.

Racing Turn (Trained Only): You can make an accelerate, decelerate, or turn action as a move action instead of a standard action. Furthermore, when stopping a vehicle, you subtract 10 feet from the roll to determine how many feet the vehicle moves forward before it stops. This task supersedes the Expert Driver feat from Ultimate Combat.

Ram: You can make a Drive check as a full-round action to intentionally collide with your target. This replaces an attack roll on your part; damage is dependent on the size and speed of the vehicle.

Special: You can take 10 on a Drive check, except when attempting to increase a vehicle's speed. You can’t take 20 on a Drive check.

Profession: Mining (Wis)

From training and experience, you are at home underground. You can conduct mining assays for valuable mineral deposits, and are skilled in excavating, traversing, and shoring up mine tunnels.

Check: The DC and effect depend on the task.

Task	Check DC
Mining (per day)
Half a 5-ft. cube	10
One 5-ft. cube	15
Each additional 5-ft. cube	+5
Conduct mining assay	20
Detect stonework trap	DC of trap
Determine slope	15
Identify abilities and weaknesses	See Knowledge
Identify underground hazards	15 + CR
Identify mineral, rock, or metal	10
Intuit depth underground	20
Notice unsafe stonework	20
Penetrate hardness (or DR)	10 + hardness

Mining: These rules are similar to those printed in Races of the Dragon. A Profession (miner) check can be used to indicate the progress of mining or digging operations. Excavation is represented as a fixed number of 5-foot cubes per miner, based on the Profession (miner) check result of the lead worker. Even a pair of unskilled miners can remove a 5-foot cube of stone with 8 hours of labor, while reasonably talented workers can remove twice or even three times as much.

Two Medium miners can work together on a single 5-foot cube, with one using the aid another action to assist the other's check. Only a single large or larger miner can work on any given 5-foot cube. Up to four Small or smaller miners can work together on the same 5-foot cube, with as many as three miners using the aid another action to assist the lead miner's check. Kobolds are an exception to this rule (see Special, below).

The table above assumes the miners are digging through sedimentary rock, such as limestone, sandstone, or shale. Other substances apply a modifier on the check, as shown on the following table.

Substance	Check Modifier
Gravel or sand	+10
Loose earth	+5
Clay or silt	+2
Packed dirt or frozen earth	+2
Igneous rock	-5
Metamorphic rock	-10

Kobolds mine more efficiently than other Small creatures. Treat them as Medium creatures for determining their daily progress, but as Small creatures when determining how many kobolds can work on a given 5-foot cube.

Conduct Mining Assay: Given a week’s time, you can determine what types of mineral resources are likely available in a 4 square mile assay area, and the best locations to dig for them.

Detect Stonework Trap: You can substitute Profession (mining) checks for Perception checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. You can use the mining skill to find stonework traps as a character trained in Disable Device can.

If you merely come within 10 feet of unusual stonework, you can make a Perception check as if you were actively searching to notice that something is amiss, and then make a mining check to determine the nature of the feature that caused you to stop.

Identify Abilities and Weaknesses: With a successful check, you can also identify certain monsters associated with mines and the Underdark, their abilities, weaknesses, and special powers. You can use this ability with aberrations and oozes, and with other creatures that live exclusively underground (such as Morlocks). Details are listed under the Knowledge skill heading.

Intuit Depth: With a DC 10 Profession (mining) check, you can intuit depth, sensing your approximate depth underground. Successive successful checks allow you to determine the approximate slope of a passageway.

Notice Unsafe Stonework: This applies to unsafe ceilings, inadequate shorings, and the like. Noticing these features works as does detecting stonework traps, except that the default DC is 20.

Penetrate Hardness: If you study an inanimate stone object as a move action and succeed at a DC 10 Mining check, you ignore 1 point of hardness thereafter per point above 10 by which your roll succeeds (DC 18 to ignore the full hardness of 8).

When faced with a stone or earth creature that possesses damage reduction (e.g., a clay golem), you can make a Mining check as a move action, and thereafter penetrate the creature’s damage reduction as if your weapon were of the appropriate material. The DC for this check is equal to 10 + the creature’s damage reduction. For example, on a DC 20 Profession (mining) check, you would penetrate a stone golem’s damage reduction (10/adamantine) as if you had an adamantine weapon.

Action: A mining assay requires 1 week per 4 square mile area. Actively searching for unusual or unsafe stonework, for stonework traps, or for weaknesses in a stone wall or creature is a move action.

Try Again: Yes.

Profession: Sailing (Wis)

“Down we go,” said Paddy. “Now pray to Saint Anthony if you be a good Catholic—”

“I'm not,” snapped Fay, “and if you'll give more mind to the boat and less to religion we’ll gain by it.”

―Jack Vance, The Five Gold Bands (1950)

You are able to handle various watercraft, from small canoes to large sailing ships. You can steer, navigate, tie knots, handle rigging, tend and repair sails, and stand a deck watch at sea.

General Tasks	DC
Prepare for a voyage	15
Chart course	15
Coax speed	15
Follow course (in sight of land)	10
Follow course (open sea)	15
Follow course (in swift current)	20
Identify sea monsters/hazards	(Varies)
Predict weather	15

Prepare for a Voyage: With a successful check, you can secure a vessel and crew (if in a harbor city) at cost, and calculate and lade adequate supplies and cargo.

Chart Course: You can read charts and plot a seagoing course that takes into account prevailing winds, reefs and shallows, etc.

Coax Speed: On a DC 15 check, you can increase the speed of a vessel you command by 5 ft. (or 0.5 mph). For every 5 points by which you succeed, you can coax an additional 5 ft. of speed from the vessel. This task subsumes the Inner Sea Pirate’s “windrigger” prestige class feature, from Pirates of the Inner Sea.

Follow Course: You can keep a ship generally on course; a check is made each day. Missing one Profession (sailing) check doesn’t mean the expedition is lost, but it does increase the next day’s check to DC 10 (if in sight of the coast) or 19 (on the open sea). A second failed check increases the third day’s DC to 13 (22 if at sea). Three consecutive failures indicates that the ship is lost. A lost ship requires a DC 25 check to regain its course; this costs a day of travel per day of being lost.

In a swift current, the base check is at DC 21 (DC 23 after one failed check; DC 27 after two days of failed checks). In general, three successful checks in a row enable you to steer clear of the current.

Identify Sea Monsters/Hazards: With a successful check, you can identify marine creatures and hazards and possibly their abilities, weaknesses, and special powers (as described under the Knowledge skill heading).

Predict Weather: Following adages like “red sky at morning…” and watching the clouds and sea birds (and barometer), you can estimate the general weather conditions for the next 24 hours. You cannot use this ability indoors, underground, or in other situations in which you cannot see the sky.

Hazardous Tasks	DC
Avoid sinking (holed ship)	15 + 4 per hole after the first
Free ship	20
Navigate unfamiliar reefs, etc.	25
Weather storm:
Severe winds	15
Tropical storm	20
Hurricane	25
Apocalyptic whirlpool of doom	30

Avoid Sinking: If a section of your ship is holed, you can keep the ship afloat on a successful check. If this check fails, the ship sinks in 1d100 minutes (1d6 minutes if 25% or more of its hull sections have been holed).

Free Ship: If you have run aground on a sandbar or reef, you can free the ship on a DC 20 check. The hull is likely to be holed in at least one place, but at least the ship is mobile.

Weather Storm: A DC 15 Profession (sailing) check is required to maintain a course during a storm with severe winds and avoid foundering; this check DC increases as shown for higher wind speeds. Failure indicates the ship is blown off course. In addition, these conditions require a check each hour to avoid washing or rolling 1d6 times. A wash or roll knocks overboard anything on deck that isn’t secured (Acrobatics or Strength check to resist at DC equal to the weather storm DC).

Action: Preparing for a voyage takes a week. Checks to follow a charted course are made on a daily basis. Checks to identify marine creatures or hazards are a move action.

Try Again: Yes, within the limitations described above.