New Skills

Craft (Int)

Some trained only.
This skill encompasses several categories, each of them treated as a separate skill: Craft (chemical), Craft (expression),  Craft (mechanical), Craft (pharmaceutical), and Craft (structural).  The chemical, mechanical, and pharmaceutical subskills are trained only; the expression and structural categories may be used untrained.

Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about ten times your check result in guilders per week of dedicated work. 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 guilder per day.)  The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials.

All crafts require tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check is made with a –2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, masterwork tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.

To determine how much money and effort it takes to make an item, follow these steps.

1. Find the item’s price in guilders (1 gold doubloon = 10 silver guilders).

2. Pay one-half the item's price for the cost of raw materials.

3. Pay craft points (see Chapter 6) equal to one-two-hundredth the item's base price in guilders.  (If the item has a base price of less than 100ƒ, you still pay 1 craft point.)

4. Find the item's DC on one of the tables below and make an appropriate Craft check. If the check succeeds, the item is "finished" and available for use in one day's time (usually the next morning) or at the end of the item's craft time (see the tables below).  (It may seem that the item is crafted "instantly", but it's actually the expenditure of craft points that represents time & effort consumed by the crafting process.)  If the check fails by 4 or less, the item isn't finished, but no gold or craft points are lost.  If the check fails by 5 or more, one-half the gold pieces and craft points spent on the attempt are wasted.

Creating Masterwork Items: You can make a masterwork item—a weapon, suit of armor, shield, or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. To create a masterwork item, you create the masterwork component as if it were a separate item in addition to the standard item. The masterwork component has its own price (3,000ƒ for a weapon or 1,500ƒ for a suit of armor or a shield) and a Craft DC of 20. Once both the standard component and the masterwork component are completed, the masterwork item is finished. Note: The cost you pay for the masterwork component is one-half of the given amount, just as it is for the cost in raw materials.

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. However, you can only repair an item when trained in the appropriate Craft skill; the more general Repair skill does not suffer from this restriction.

Action: Does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day.

Try Again: Yes, you may try again as soon as the next day if you still have enough gold pieces and craft points to complete the item, but each time you miss by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material & craft point costs again.

Special: A dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal, because dwarves are especially capable with stonework and metalwork.

A dwarf-blooded human has a similar +1 racial bonus on such Craft checks.

You may voluntarily increase the amount of time it takes to complete an item, in order to save craft points.  Each additional day spent working on the item reduces its craft point cost by 100.

To make an 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.

Synergy: If you have 5 ranks in a Craft skill, you get a +2 bonus on Appraise checks related to items made with that Craft skill.

Craft (Chemical) (Int)

Trained Only

This skill allows a character to mix chemicals to create acids, bases, explosives, and poisonous substances.  Note that only scientists may attempt Craft (chemical) checks with DCs above 20.

Acids and Bases: Acids are corrosives substances. Bases neutralize acids but do not deal damage. A base of a certain type counteracts an acid of the same type or a less potent type.

Alchemy: Alchemy is the process of creating semi-magical concoctions that are somewhere between magic potions and normal chemicals.  In order to use the Craft (chemical) skill for alchemy, a character must be a spellcaster.

Explosives: Building an explosive from scratch is dangerous. If the Craft (chemical) check fails, the raw materials are wasted. If the check fails by 5 or more, the explosive compound detonates as it is being made, dealing half of its intended damage to the builder and anyone else in the burst radius.

If the check succeeds, you’ve created some sort of fuse-based explosive, like dynamite or trinitrotoluene. An explosive compound does not include a fuse or detonator. Connecting a fuse or detonator requires a Demolitions check.

Scratch built explosives deal concussion (sonic) damage.

Gunpowder: Making gunpowder requires a Craft (chemical) check vs. DC 15.  A keg containing 15 lb. (about 240 charges) of gunpowder typically has a market price of about 125ƒ, and weighs 20 lbs. in total with the keg included.  (A horn or flask, containing 32 charges of powder and weighing 2 lbs., costs 17ƒ).  A powderkeg can be set with a fuse using the Demolitions skill, lit, and either placed or rolled (treat it as a thrown weapon with a range increment of 5 feet) like any other explosive.  A powderkeg detonates like a moderate explosive if full, or a simple explosive if about half-full.  The explosion can set off other powderkegs within its blast-radius, increasing the explosive category by one step for each additional keg, up to a maximum of "devastating".

Poisonous Substances: Solid poisons are usually ingested. Liquid poisons are most effective when injected directly into the bloodstream. Gaseous poisons must be inhaled to be effective. The table below summarizes the characteristics of various poisons.

Save DC: The Difficulty Class of the Fortitude save to negate the effects of the poison.

Initial Damage: The damage a character takes immediately upon failing his or her Fortitude save.

Secondary Damage: The damage a character takes after 1 minute of exposure to the poison if the character fails a second saving throw. Ability score damage is temporary, unless marked with an asterisk, in which case the damage is permanent ability drain. Unconsciousness lasts for 1d3 hours, and paralysis lasts 2d6 minutes.

Cost: The price in guilders to purchase one bottle of solid or liquid poison or one high-pressure cylinder of gaseous poison. A bottle holds four doses, while a cylinder holds enough gas to fill a 10-foot-radius area.

Craft DC: The DC of the Craft check to create a quantity of the poison.

Time: The amount of time required for the Craft check.

If the Craft check succeeds, the final product is a synthesized solid or liquid poison stored in a bottle (containing 4 doses) or a gas stored in a pressurized cylinder. When released, the gas is sufficient to fill a 10-foot-radius area and takes 1 round to fill the area.

Special: A character without a chemical kit takes a –4 penalty on Craft (chemical) checks.

A character with the Builder feat gets a +2 bonus on all Craft (chemical) checks.
Gnomes receive a +2 racial bonus to Craft (chemical) checks.
Orc-blooded changelings receive a +1 racial bonus to Craft (chemical) checks.

Craft (Expression) (Int)

This skill allows a character to create paintings or drawings, take photographs, use a video camera, create short stories, novels, scripts, or in some other way create a work of expressive art.

When attempting to create a work of art, the character simply makes a Craft (expression) check, the result of which determines the quality of the work.

Unless the effort is particularly elaborate or the character must acquire an expensive piece of equipment, the basic components for a work of visual art have a cost of 15ƒ.  Writing requires a much smaller expenditure of 1ƒ.
 

Creating a work of art requires at least a full-round action, but usually takes an hour, a day, or more, depending on the scope of the project.

Special: A character with the Creative feat gets a +2 bonus on all Craft (expression) checks.

Craft (Mechanical) (Int)

Trained only.

This skill allows a character to build mechanical devices from scratch, including steam engines and engine parts, weapons, armor, and electrical gadgets. When building a mechanical device from scratch, the character describes the kind of device or component he or she wants to construct; then the DM decides if the device is simple, moderate, complex, or advanced compared to current technology.  Note that only scientists can craft complex or advanced items, or any item with a Craft DC above 20 (and most of the time, such items are created using the invention rules rather than the Craft [mechanical] skill).

Electrics: The Craft (mechanical) skill includes devices that rely on electrical engineering to function.  Most electrical devices require some sort of power source, such as an electric battery (which is a chemical invention that has a base price of 10ƒ and a Craft DC of 10).  A battery typically allows a device to run continuously for 12 hours.

Mechanics: Any device that requires moving parts to work is by definition a mechanical device.  Mechanical devices are generally powered by clockwork (in which case the device must be wound for one hour in order for it to run that day), or by steam power (which requires coal or some other fuel).

Weapons & Armor: The Craft (mechanical) skill also covers weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, gunsmithing, and the dual arts of boyery (bowmaking) and fletchery (arrow-making).
 

Special: A character without a mechanical tool kit takes a –4 penalty on Craft (mechanical) checks.

A character with the Builder feat gets a +2 bonus on all Craft (mechanical) checks.

Craft (Pharmaceutical) (Int)

Trained only.

Craft (pharmaceutical) (Int) Trained Only

This skill allows a character to compound medicinal drugs to aid in recovery from treatable illnesses. A medicinal drug gives a +2 circumstance bonus on Fortitude saves made to resist the effects of a disease.

The Craft (pharmaceutical) check is based on the severity of the disease to be countered as measured by the DC of the Fortitude save needed to resist it.
Note that only scientists can attempt Craft (pharmaceutical) checks with DCs above 20.

Special: A character without a pharmacist kit takes a –4 penalty on Craft (pharmaceutical) checks.

A character with the Medical Expert feat gets a +2 bonus on all Craft (pharmaceutical) checks.
 

Craft (Structural) (Int)

This skill allows a character to build wooden, concrete, or metal structures from scratch, including bookcases, desks, walls, houses, and so forth, and includes such handyman skills as plumbing, house painting, drywall, laying cement, and building cabinets.

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

Special: A character without a mechanical tool kit takes a –4 penalty on Craft (structural) checks.

A character with the Builder feat gets a +2 bonus on all Craft (structural) checks.

Demolitions (Int)

Trained Only.

Check: Setting a simple explosive to blow up at a certain spot doesn’t require a check, but connecting and setting a detonator does. Also, placing an explosive for maximum effect against a structure calls for a check, as does disarming an explosive device.

Set Detonator: Most explosives require a detonator to go off. Connecting a detonator to an explosive requires a Demolitions check (DC 10). Failure means that the explosive fails to go off as planned. Failure by 10 or more means the explosive goes off as the detonator is being installed.

A character can make an explosive difficult to disarm. To do so, the character chooses the disarm DC before making his or her check to set the detonator (it must be higher than 10). The character’s DC to set the detonator is equal to the disarm DC.

Place Explosive Device: Carefully placing an explosive against a fixed structure (a stationary, unattended inanimate object) can maximize the damage dealt by exploiting vulnerabilities in the structure’s construction.

The DM makes the check (so that the character doesn’t know exactly how well he or she has done). On a result of 15 or higher, the explosive deals double damage to the structure against which it is placed. On a result of 25 or higher, it deals triple damage to the structure. In all cases, it deals normal damage to all other targets within its burst radius.

Disarm Explosive Device: Disarming an explosive that has been set to go off requires a Demolitions check. The DC is usually 10, unless the person who set the detonator chose a higher disarm DC. If the character fails the check, he or she does not disarm the explosive. If the character fails by more than 5, the explosive goes off.

Special: A character can take 10 when using the Demolitions skill, but can’t take 20.

A character with the Cautious feat gets a +2 bonus on all Demolitions checks.

A character without a demolitions kit takes a –4 penalty on Demolitions checks.

Making an explosive requires the Craft (chemical) skill. See that skill description for details.
Orc-blooded humans receive a +1 racial bonus to Demolitions checks.

Time: Setting a detonator is usually a full-round action. Placing an explosive device takes 1 minute or more, depending on the scope of the job.

Drive (Dex)

Check: 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 (the character is being chased or attacked, for example, or is trying to reach a destination in a limited amount of time). When driving, the character can attempt simple maneuvers or stunts.

Characters using the Drive skill take no penalty when operating a ship.  There is a -4 penalty for operating land vehicles, however, unless the character has the Surface Vehicle Operation feat.

Try Again?: Most driving checks have consequences for failure that make trying again impossible.

Special: A character can take 10 when driving, but can’t take 20.

A character with the Vehicle Expert feat gets a +2 bonus on all Drive checks.

Time: A Drive check is a move action.

Gamble (Wis)

Check: To join or start a game, a character must first pay a stake. The character sets the stake if he or she starts the game, or the DM sets it if the character joins a game.

The character’s Gamble check is opposed by the Gamble checks of all other participants in the game. If there are many characters participating, the DM can opt to make a single roll for all of them, using the highest Gamble skill modifier among them and adding a +2 bonus to the check.

If the character beats all other participants, he or she wins and gains multiplies his or her stake by the number of players who lost.

Try Again?: No, unless the character wants to put up another stake.

Special: A character can’t take 10 or take 20 when making a Gamble check.

A character with the Confident feat gets a +2 bonus on all Gamble checks.

Time: A Gamble check requires 1 hour.

Investigate (Int)

Trained Only

Check: A character generally uses Search to discover clues and Investigate to analyze them. If the character has access to a crime lab, the character uses the Investigate skill to collect and prepare samples for the lab. The result of the Investigate check provides bonuses or penalties to the lab workers.

Analyze Clue: The character can make an Investigate check to apply forensics knowledge to a clue.  This function of the Investigate skill does not give the character clues where none existed before. It simply allows the character to extract extra information from a clue he or she has found.

The base DC to analyze a clue is 15. It is modified by the time that has elapsed since the clue was left, and whether or not the scene was disturbed.

Collect Evidence: The character can collect and prepare evidentiary material for a lab. This use of the Investigate skill requires an evidence kit.

To collect a piece of evidence, make an Investigate check (DC 15). If the character succeeds, the evidence is usable by a crime lab. If the character fails, a crime lab analysis can be done, but the lab takes a –5 penalty on any necessary check. If the character fails by 5 or more, the lab analysis simply cannot be done. On the other hand, if the character succeeds by 10 or more, the lab gains a +2 circumstance bonus on its checks to analyze the material.

This function of the Investigate skill does not provide the character with evidentiary items. It simply allows the character to collect items he or she has found in a manner that best aids in their analysis later, at a crime lab.

Try Again?: Generally, analyzing a clue again doesn’t add new insight unless another clue is introduced. Evidence collected cannot be recollected, unless there is more of it to take.

Special: A character can take 10 when making an Investigate check, but cannot take 20.

Collecting evidence requires an evidence kit. If the character does not have the appropriate kit, the character takes a –4 penalty on his or her check.

A character with the Attentive feat gets a +2 bonus on all Investigate checks.

Time: Analyzing a clue is a full-round action. Collecting evidence generally takes 1d4 minutes per object.

Knowledge (Int)

Trained Only.

Several new Knowledge categories are commonly available to player characters in the Relative Entropy setting, many of which are especially useful to technologists.  These skills replace the list of standard knowledge types in the core rules.

• Art & Artifacts: Knowledge of antiquities and all forms of graphic and performance art, including those brought about by modern technology, like photographs and phonograph records.

• Behavioral Sciences: Psychology, sociology, and criminology.

• Business: Economic systems, everything from capitalism to mercantilism, as well as knowledge of investments and business practices.

• Civics: Law, politics, and government.

• History: Events, personalities, and cultures of the past, including recorded history, prehistory, and archaeology.

• Military Sciences: Warfare and battle tactics.

• Natural Sciences: Biology, botany, chemistry, geology, geography, and paleontology are part of this skill, as well as medicine and forensics.

• Physical Sciences: Astronomy, mathematics, physics, and engineering. 

• Streetwise: Knowledge of the local underworld, and life on the streets.

• Supernatural Sciences: Knowledge of metaphysics (arcana), parapsychology (psionics), and the occult.

• Technology: This skill represents knowledge of the newest advances in technology and natural law.

• Theology & Philosophy: The study of religions and philosophical ideologies.

Navigate (Int)

Check: Make a Navigate check when a character is trying to find his or her way to a distant location without directions or other specific guidance. Generally, a character does not need to make a check to find a local street or other common urban site, or to follow an accurate map. However, the character might make a check to wend his or her way through a dense forest or a labyrinth of underground storm drains.

For movement over a great distance, make a Navigate check. The DC depends on the length of the trip. If the character succeeds, he or she moves via the best reasonable course toward his or her goal. If the character fails, he or she still reaches the goal, but it takes the character twice as long (the character loses time backtracking and correcting his or her path). If the character fails by more than 5, the or she travels the expected time, but only gets halfway to his or her destination, at which point the character becomes lost.

A character may make a second Navigate check (DC 20) to regain his or her path. If the character succeeds, he or she continues on to his or her destination; the total time for the trip is twice the normal time. If the character fails, he or she loses half a day before the character can try again. The character keeps trying until he or she succeeds, losing half a day for each failure.

When faced with multiple choices, such as at a branch in a tunnel, a character can make a Navigate check (DC 20) to intuit the choice that takes the character toward a known destination.  If unsuccessful, the character chooses the wrong path, but at the next juncture, with a successful check, the character realizes his or her mistake.

A character cannot use this function of Navigate to find a path to a site if the character has no idea where the site is located. The DM may choose to make the Navigate check for the character in secret, so he or she doesn’t know from the result whether the character is following the right or wrong path.

A character can use Navigate to determine his or her position on earth without the use of any high-tech equipment by checking the constellations or other natural landmarks. The character must have a clear view of the night sky to make this check. The DC is 15.

Special: A character can take 10 when making a Navigate check. A character can take 20 only when determining his or her location, not when traveling.

A character with the Guide feat gets a +2 bonus on all Navigate checks.

Time: A Navigate check is a full-round action.

Pilot (Dex)

Trained Only

Check: Typical piloting tasks don’t require checks. Checks are required during combat, for special maneuvers, or in other extreme circumstances, or when the pilot wants to attempt something outside the normal parameters of the vehicle. When flying, the character can attempt simple maneuvers and stunts (actions in which the pilot attempts to do something complex very quickly or in a limited space).

Each vehicle’s description includes a maneuver modifier that applies to Pilot checks made by the operator of the vehicle.

There is no penalty to the Pilot check for operating an airship.  Piloting airplanes, autogiros, and other aircraft incurs a -4 penalty, though, unless the character has the Aircraft Operation feat.

Special: A character can take 10 when making a Pilot check, but can’t take 20.

A character with the Vehicle Expert feat gets a +2 bonus on all Pilot checks.

Time: A Pilot check is a move action.

Repair (Int)

Trained Only

Check: Most Repair checks are made to fix complex electronic or mechanical devices. The DC is set by the DM. In general, simple repairs have a DC of 10 to 15 and require no more than a few minutes to accomplish. More complex repair work has a DC of 20 or higher and can require an hour or more to complete. Making repairs also involves a monetary cost when spare parts or new components are needed.  If the DM decides this isn’t necessary for the type of repair the character is attempting, then no cost is incurred.

Jury-Rig: A character can choose to attempt jury-rigged, or temporary, repairs. Doing this reduces the spare parts cost by half and the Repair check DC by 5, and allows the character to make the checks in as little as a full-round action. However, a jury-rigged repair can only fix a single problem with a check, and the temporary repair only lasts until the end of the current scene or encounter. The jury-rigged object must be fully repaired thereafter.

The jury-rig application of the Repair skill can be used untrained.

Try Again?: Yes, though in some specific cases, the DM may decide that a failed Repair check has negative ramifications that prevent repeated checks.

Special: A character can take 10 or take 20 on a Repair check. When making a Repair check to accomplish a jury-rig repair, a character can’t take 20.

Repair requires an electrical tool kit, a mechanical tool kit, or a multipurpose tool, depending on the task. If the character do not have the appropriate tools, he or she takes a –4 penalty on the check.

Craft (mechanical) can provide a +2 synergy bonus on Repair checks made for mechanical or electrical devices.

A character with the Gearhead feat gets a +2 bonus on all Repair checks.

Time: See the table for guidelines. A character can make a jury-rig repair as a full-round action, but the work only lasts until the end of the current encounter.

Research (Int)

Check: Researching a topic takes time, skill, and some luck. The DM determines how obscure a particular topic is (the more obscure, the higher the DC) and what kind of information might be available depending on where the character is conducting his or her research.

Information ranges from general to protected. Given enough time (usually 1d4 hours) and a successful skill check, the character gets a general idea about a given topic. This assumes that no obvious reasons exist why such information would be unavailable, and that the character has a way to acquire restricted or protected information.

The higher the check result, the better and more complete the information. If the character wants to discover a specific fact, date, map, or similar bit of information, add +5 to +15 to the DC.

Try Again?: Yes.

Special: A character can take 10 or take 20 on a Research check.

A character with the Studious feat gets a +2 bonus on all Research checks.

A character with 5 ranks in Research adds a +2 synergy bonus to Knowledge checks made when a library or similar store of knowledge is available.  For 3rd-level scientists with 8 ranks in Research, this bonus increases to +5.

Time: A Research check takes 1d4 hours.

Use FX Device (Cha)

The Use Magic Device and Use Psionic Device skills are folded into a single skill in this setting, which not only allows thieves, bards, and ninjas to activate supernatural devices of all natures (arcane magick, divine theurgy, animistic sorcery, and psionic power), but also the technological inventions of scientists (in particular, gadgets and grenade-like devices) that only scientists are otherwise capable of using.

 
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