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SKILLS I

Note I: because I have a lot of extra skills and languages, I grant all character 8 bonus skill points at level one and an additional 2 points at each level there after, these are in addition to the bonus skills of humans.

Note II: three skills are unique to this games and so they are not listed as class skills under the class description
Foreplay is a class skill for Bards, Clerics, Friars, Fighters, Knights, Paladins, Pirates, Priests, Rangers, Slayers, Swashbuckler, and Villians.  Most Prestige classes with bluff as a class skill may add seduce as well, ask the DM.
Mental Discipline a class skill for Champions, Clerics, Druids, Friars, Knights, Monks, Paladins, Priests, Reapers, and Shamans
Seduce is a class skill for Bards, Friars, Knights, Rogues, Pirates, Priest, Slayers, Sorcerers, Swashbucklers, and Villains.  Most Prestige classes with bluff as a class skill may add seduce as well, ask the DM.

SKILLS SUMMARY

If you buy a class skill, your character gets 1 rank (equal to a +1 bonus on checks with that skill) for each skill point. If you buy other classes’ skills (cross-class skills), you get 1/2 rank per skill point.

Your maximum rank in a class skill is your character level + 3.

Your maximum rank in a cross-class skill is one-half of this number (do not round up or down).

Using Skills: To make a skill check, roll: 1d20 + skill modifier (Skill modifier = skill rank + ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers)

This roll works just like an attack roll or a saving throw— the higher the roll, the better. Either you’re trying to match or exceed a certain Difficulty Class (DC), or you’re trying to beat another character’s check result.

Skill Ranks: A character’s number of ranks in a skill is based on how many skill points a character has invested in a skill. Many skills can be used even if the character has no ranks in them; doing this is called making an untrained skill check.

Ability Modifier: The ability modifier used in a skill check is the modifier for the skill’s key ability (the ability associated with the skill’s use). The key ability of each skill is noted in its description.

Miscellaneous Modifiers: Miscellaneous modifiers include racial bonuses, armor check penalties, and bonuses provided by feats, among others.

Each skill point you spend on a class skill gets you 1 rank in that skill. Class skills are the skills found on your character’s class skill list. Each skill point you spend on a cross-class skill gets your character 1/2 rank in that skill. Cross-class skills are skills not found on your character’s class skill list. (Half ranks do not improve your skill check, but two 1/2 ranks make 1 rank.) You can’t save skill points to spend later.

The maximum rank in a class skill is the character’s level + 3. If it’s a cross-class skill, the maximum rank is half of that number (do not round up or down).

Regardless of whether a skill is purchased as a class skill or a cross-class skill, if it is a class skill for any of your classes, your maximum rank equals your total character level + 3.

LEARNING AND TEACHING FEATS

It is possible to learn a skill from someone who has the feat Tutor you may bestow that knowledge on another who meets the prerequisites.  You can learn from someone who has not mastered the skill if you have the skill Student. To be considered a master of a skill you must have had the skill five ranks in that skill.  For every 5 ranks you have in a skill you may confer a +1 competence bonus to the learner’s skill checks in that skill.  The learner must have at least one rank in the skill in order to learn more about the skill. The base cost of teaching a skill to another character is the 1,000 xp to the student and 500 xp to the teacher multiplied by the total circumstance bonus to be granted.  This cost (before the multiplication due to number of requisite skills) is also modified by the teacher’s intelligence and by the student’s wisdom scores, as shown in the chart below.  Additionally, to learn a skill takes time, 3hrs of study a day for 14 days is required to learn a skill; this requires the student to make a concentration check the DC of which is 10 – the instructor's charisma modifier + the number of requisite skills for the skill being taught but this too is modified by intelligence score of the teacher.  If the student fails on of his concentration checks can make it up the next day but for every sequential concentration check fail the student must expend an additional 100 xp and must spend an extra day studying, while the actual cost of learning a skill this way is only paid if the student actually learns the skill his addition penalty xp cost is paid regardless.  Penultimately, the teacher makes a diplomacy check. Then lastly student must make a single sense motive check DC 35 – the value of the teacher’s diplomacy check in order to understand finally learn the skill.  Ex. This means that if Helord the half orc fighter has an intelligence of 13 and charisma of 9 and is trying to teach Bobben the Halfling rogue who has a wisdom score of 11 to gain a +1 to intimidate would cost Helord 300 xp and Bobben at least 850 xp, they must study together for 11 days while Bobben makes DC 13 concentration checks.  Now when Ke’lishen the light elf fighter who has an intelligence of 19 and a charisma of the same wants to teach Nautrix the Night elf ranger with a wisdom 17 to gain a +5 to swim would cost Ke’lishen 1,550 xp and Bobben at least 3,800 xp, they must study together for eight days while Bobben makes DC 15 concentration checks. 

USING SKILLS

When your character uses a skill, you make a skill check to see how well he or she does. The higher the result of the skill check, the better. Based on the circumstances, your result must match or beat a particular number (a DC or the result of an opposed skill check) for the check to be successful. The harder the task, the higher the number you need to roll.

Circumstances can affect your check. A character who is free to work without distractions can make a careful attempt and avoid simple mistakes. A character who has lots of time can try over and over again, thereby assuring the best outcome. If others help, the character may succeed where otherwise he or she would fail.

SKILL CHECKS

A skill check takes into account a character’s training (skill rank), natural talent (ability modifier), and luck (the die roll). It may also take into account his or her race’s knack for doing certain things (racial bonus) or what armor he or she is wearing (armor check penalty), or a certain feat the character possesses, among other things.

To make a skill check, roll 1d20 and add your character’s skill modifier for that skill. The skill modifier incorporates the character’s ranks in that skill and the ability modifier for that skill’s key ability, plus any other miscellaneous modifiers that may apply, including racial bonuses and armor check penalties. The higher the result, the better. Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a natural roll of 20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a natural roll of 1 is not an automatic failure.

Difficulty Class

Some checks are made against a Difficulty Class (DC). The DC is a number (set using the skill rules as a guideline) that you must score as a result on your skill check in order to succeed.

Opposed Checks

An opposed check is a check whose success or failure is determined by comparing the check result to another character’s check result. In an opposed check, the higher result succeeds, while the lower result fails. In case of a tie, the higher skill modifier wins. If these scores are the same, roll again to break the tie.

Trying Again

In general, you can try a skill check again if you fail, and you can keep trying indefinitely. Some skills, however, have consequences of failure that must be taken into account. A few skills are virtually useless once a check has failed on an attempt to accomplish a particular task. For most skills, when a character has succeeded once at a given task, additional successes are meaningless.

Untrained Skill Checks

Generally, if your character attempts to use a skill he or she does not possess, you make a skill check as normal. The skill modifier doesn’t have a skill rank added in because the character has no ranks in the skill. Any other applicable modifiers, such as the modifier for the skill’s key ability, are applied to the check.

Many skills can be used only by someone who is trained in them.

Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions

Some situations may make a skill easier or harder to use, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the skill modifier for a skill check or a change to the DC of the skill check.

The chance of success can be altered in four ways to take into account exceptional circumstances.

1. Give the skill user a +2 circumstance bonus to represent conditions that improve performance, such as having the perfect tool for the job, getting help from another character (see Combining Skill Attempts), or possessing unusually accurate information.

2. Give the skill user a –2 circumstance penalty to represent conditions that hamper performance, such as being forced to use improvised tools or having misleading information.

3. Reduce the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task easier, such as having a friendly audience or doing work that can be subpar.

4. Increase the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task harder, such as having an uncooperative audience or doing work that must be flawless.

Conditions that affect your character’s ability to perform the skill change the skill modifier. Conditions that modify how well the character has to perform the skill to succeed change the DC. A bonus to the skill modifier and a reduction in the check’s DC have the same result: They create a better chance of success. But they represent different circumstances, and sometimes that difference is important.

Time and Skill Checks

Using a skill might take a round, take no time, or take several rounds or even longer. Most skill uses are standard actions, move actions, or full-round actions. Types of actions define how long activities take to perform within the framework of a combat round (6 seconds) and how movement is treated with respect to the activity. Some skill checks are instant and represent reactions to an event, or are included as part of an action.

These skill checks are not actions. Other skill checks represent part of movement.

Checks without Rolls

A skill check represents an attempt to accomplish some goal, usually while under some sort of time pressure or distraction. Sometimes, though, a character can use a skill under more favorable conditions and eliminate the luck factor.

Taking 10: When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure —you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.

Taking 20:When you have plenty of time (generally 2 minutes for a skill that can normally be checked in 1 round, one full-round action, or one standard action), you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, eventually you will get a 20 on 1d20 if you roll enough times. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.

Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes twenty times as long as making a single check would take.

Since taking 20 assumes that the character will fail many times before succeeding, if you did attempt to take 20 on a skill that carries penalties for failure, your character would automatically incur those penalties before he or she could complete the task. Common “take 20” skills include Escape Artist, Open Lock, and Search.

Ability Checks and Caster Level Checks: The normal take 10 and take 20 rules apply for ability checks. Neither rule applies to caster level checks.

COMBINING SKILL ATTEMPTS

When more than one character tries the same skill at the same time and for the same purpose, their efforts may overlap.

Individual Events

Often, several characters attempt some action and each succeeds or fails independently.  The result of one character’s Climb check does not influence the results of other characters Climb check.

Aid Another

You can help another character achieve success on his or her skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to his or her check, as per the rule for favorable conditions. (You can’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone.

Skill Synergy

It’s possible for a character to have two skills that work well together. In general, having 5 or more ranks in one skill gives the character a +2 bonus on skill checks with each of its synergistic skills, as noted in the skill description. In some cases, this bonus applies only to specific uses of the skill in question, and not to all checks. Some skills provide benefits on other checks made by a character, such as those checks required to use certain class features.

ABILITY CHECKS

Sometimes a character tries to do something to which no specific skill really applies. In these cases, you make an ability check. An ability check is a roll of 1d20 plus the appropriate ability modifier. Essentially, you’re making an untrained skill check.

In some cases, an action is a straight test of one’s ability with no luck involved. Just as you wouldn’t make a height check to see who is taller, you don’t make a Strength check to see who is stronger.

Skill Descriptions

Skills are presented in alphabetical order, in the following format. Entries that do not apply to a particular skill are omitted in that skill’s description.

Skill Description Format

Skill Name (Key Ability) Trained Only; Armor Penalty

The skill name line and the line beneath it include the following information:

Key Ability: The abbreviation for the ability whose modifier applies to the skill check. Exceptions: Speak Language and Read/Write Language have “None” given as their key ability because the use of these skills never requires a check.

Trained Only: If “Trained Only” appears on the line beneath the skill name, a character must have at least 1 rank in the skill to use it. If “Trained Only” is omitted, the skill can be used untrained. If any particular notes apply to trained or untrained use, they are covered in the Special section (see below).

Armor Penalty: If “Armor Penalty” appears on the line beneath the skill name, apply the armor penalty for the armor the character is wearing to checks involving this skill.

Check: What a character can do with a successful skill check, and the check’s DC.

Try Again?: Any conditions that apply to repeated attempts to use the skill for a particular purpose. If this entry is omitted, the skill check can be tried again without any inherent penalty other than taking additional time.

Special: Any particular notes that apply, such as whether a character can take 10 or take 20 when using the skill.

Untrained: Any details about using a skill untrained. If this entry doesn’t appear, it means the skill works the same even when used untrained, or that an untrained character can’t make checks with this skill (true for skills that are designated “Trained Only”).

Time: How much time it takes to make a check with this skill.

Balance (Dex) Armor Penalty

Check: The character can walk on a precarious surface. A successful check lets the character move at half his or her speed along the surface as a move action. A failure indicates that the character spends his or her move action keeping his or her balance and does not move. A failure by 5 or more indicates that the character falls. The difficulty varies with the conditions of the surface.

Being Attacked While Balancing: While balancing, the character is flat-footed (the character loses his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense, if the character has one), unless the character has 5 or more ranks in Balance. If the character takes damage, he or she must make a Balance check again to remain standing.

Accelerated Movement: The character can try to cross a precarious surface more quickly than normal. The character can move his or her full speed, but the character takes a –5 penalty on his or her Balance check. (Moving twice the character’s speed in a round requires two checks, one for each move action.)

The character can attempt to charge across a precarious surface. Charging requires one Balance check at a –5 penalty for each multiple of the character’s speed (or fraction thereof) that the character charges.

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

A character with the Focused feat gets a +2 bonus on all Balance checks.

Time: Balancing while moving one-half the character’s speed is a move action.

Accelerated movement, allowing the character to balance while moving his or her full speed, is also a move action.

Bluff (Cha)

Check: A Bluff check is opposed by the target’s Sense Motive check when trying to con or mislead. Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a bluff. Two circumstances can work against the character: The bluff is hard to believe, or the action that the bluff requires the target to take goes against the target’s self-interest, nature, personality, or orders.

If it’s important, the GM can distinguish between a bluff that fails because the target doesn’t believe it and one that fails because it asks too much of the target. For instance, if the target gets a +10 bonus because the bluff demands something risky of the target, and the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 10 or less, then the target didn’t so much see through the bluff as prove reluctant to go along with it. If the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 11 or more, he has seen through the bluff, and would have succeeded in doing so even if it had not placed any demand on him (that is, even without the +10 bonus).

A successful Bluff check indicates that the target reacts as the character wishes, at least for a short time (usually 1 round or less), or the target believes something that the character wants him or her to believe.

A bluff requires interaction between the character and the target. Targets unaware of the character can’t be bluffed.

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A bluff is not the same thing as a lie. A bluff is a quick prevarication intended to distract, confuse, or mislead, generally only for the short term. A bluff is not intended to withstand long-term or careful scrutiny, but rather to momentarily deter an action or decision. Bluffs involve attitude and body language. Bluffs often include lies, but they usually aren’t very sophisticated and aren’t intended to deceive the target for more than a few moments.

A lie, on the other hand, is a simple misrepresentation of the facts. Body language and attitude aren’t a big part of communication. The lie may be very sophisticated and well thought-out, and is intended to deceive a character at least until he or she discovers evidence to the contrary. A character should not make a Bluff check every time he or she utters a lie.

Feinting in Combat: A character can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in combat so that the opponent can’t dodge the character’s attack effectively. If the character succeeds, the next attack the character makes against the target ignores his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense (if the opponent has one), thus lowering his or her Defense score. Using Bluff in this way against a creature of animal intelligence (Int 1 or 2) requires a –8 penalty on the check. Against a nonintelligent creature, feinting is impossible.

Creating a Diversion to Hide: A character can use Bluff to help him or her hide. A successful Bluff check gives the character the momentary diversion needed to attempt a Hide check while people are aware of the character. (See the Hide skill)

Sending a Secret Message: A character can use Bluff to send and understand secret messages while appearing to be speaking about other things.  The DC for a basic message is 10. Complex messages or messages trying to communicate new information have DCs of 15 or 20. Both the sender and the receiver must make the check for the secret message to be successfully relayed and understood.

Anyone listening in on a secret message can attempt a Sense Motive check (DC equal to the sender’s Bluff check result). If successful, the eavesdropper realizes that a secret message is contained in the communication. If the eavesdropper beats the DC by 5 or more, he or she understands the secret message.

Whether trying to send or intercept a message, a failure by 5 or more points means that one side or the other misinterprets the message in some fashion.

Try Again?: Generally, a failed Bluff check makes the target too suspicious for the character to try another bluff in the same circumstances. For feinting in combat, the character may try again freely.

Special: A character can take 10 when making a bluff (except for feinting in combat), but can’t take 20.

A character with the Deceptive feat gets a +2 bonus on all Bluff checks.

Time: A bluff takes at least 1 round (and is at least a full-round action) but can take much longer if the character tries something elaborate. Using Bluff as a feint in combat is an attack action.

Climb (Str) Armor Penalty

Check: With each successful Climb check, the character can advance up, down, or across a slope or a wall or other steep incline (or even a ceiling with handholds).

A slope is considered to be any incline of less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline of 60 degrees or steeper.

A failed Climb check indicates that the character makes no progress, and a check that fails by 5 or more means that the character falls from whatever height he or she had already attained (unless the character is secured with some kind of harness or other equipment).

The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb. If the climb is less than 10 feet, reduce the DC by 5.

Since the character can’t move to avoid an attack, he or she is flat-footed while climbing (the character loses any Dexterity bonus to Defense).

Any time the character takes damage while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means the character falls from his or her current height and sustains the appropriate falling damage.

Accelerated Climbing: A character can try to climb more quickly than normal. The character can move his or her full speed, but the character takes a –5 penalty on his or her Climb check. (Moving twice the character’s speed in a round requires two checks, one for each move action.)

Making Handholds and Footholds: A character can make handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so takes 1 minute per piton, and one piton is needed per 3 feet. As with any surface with handholds and footholds, a wall with pitons in it has a DC of 15. In similar fashion, a climber with an ice axe or other proper implement can cut handholds or footholds in an ice wall.

Catching Yourself When Falling: It’s practically impossible for a character to catch him or herself on a wall while falling. Make a Climb check (DC equal to wall’s DC + 20) to do so. A slope is relatively easier to catch on (DC equal to slope’s DC + 10).

Special: Someone using a rope can haul a character upward (or lower the character) by means of sheer strength. Use two times a character’s maximum load to determine how much weight he or she can lift.

A character can take 10 while climbing, but can’t take 20.

A character without climbing gear takes a –4 penalty on Climb checks. At the GM’s discretion, certain kinds of climbing attempts might require only a rope or some other implement, or even just one’s hands and feet, rather than a full set of climbing gear to avoid the penalty.

A character with the Athletic feat gets a +2 bonus on all Climb checks.

Time: Climbing at one-half your speed is a full-round action. Moving half that far (one-fourth the character’s speed) is a move action.

Accelerated climbing, allowing the character to climb at his or her full speed, is a full-round action. A character can move half that far (one-half his or her speed) as a move action.

Concentration (Con)

Check: A character makes a Concentration check whenever he or she may potentially be distracted while engaged in some action that requires his or her full attention (such as making a Disable Device or Treat Injury check). Situations such as taking damage, working in a bouncing vehicle, or dealing with severe weather can require a character to make a Concentration check.

If the Concentration check succeeds, the character may continue with the action. If the Concentration check fails, the action automatically fails (with the appropriate ramifications, if any), and the action is wasted.

A successful Concentration check still doesn’t allow a character to take 10 when in a stressful situation; he or she must roll the check as normal.

The check DC depends on the nature of the distraction.

Try Again?: Yes, though a success doesn’t cancel the effects of a previous failure, such as the disruption of an action that was being concentrated on.

Special: A character can use Concentration to avoid attacks of opportunity when attempting a skill check that normally provokes attacks of opportunity. The DC to do so is 15.

If the Concentration check succeeds, the character may attempt the action normally without incurring any attacks of opportunity. If the Concentration check fails, the related check automatically fails just as if the character’s concentration had been disrupted by a distraction. The character does not provoke attacks of opportunity, however.

This use of Concentration applies only to skill checks. It does not apply to other actions that normally provoke attacks of opportunity, such as movement or making unarmed attacks.

A character with the Focused feat gets a +2 bonus on all Concentration checks.

The concentration skill has further uses for characters using magic or psionics.

Time: Making a Concentration check doesn’t require an action; it is either a reaction (when attempted in response to a distraction) or part of another action (when at­tempted actively).

Craft (Int)

This skill encompasses several categories, each of them treated as a separate skill: Craft (chemical), Craft (electronic), Craft (mechanical), Craft (pharmaceutical), Craft (structural), Craft (visual arts), and Craft (writing).

Craft skills are specifically focused on creating objects. To use a Craft skill effectively, a character must have a kit or some other set of basic tools. The purchase DC of this equipment varies according to the particular Craft skill.

To use Craft, first decide what the character is trying to make and consult the category descriptions below. Make a Wealth check against the given purchase DC for the object to see if the character succeeds in acquiring the raw materials. If the character succeeds at that check, make the Craft check against the given DC for the object in question. If the character fails the check, he or she does not make the object, and the raw materials are wasted (unless otherwise noted).

Generally, a character can take 10 when using a Craft skill to construct an object, but can’t take 20 (since doing so represents multiple attempts, and the character uses up the raw materials after the first attempt). The exception is Craft (writing); a character can take 20 because the character does not use up any raw materials (and thus no Wealth check is required to use the skill).

Craft (mechanical) (Int) Trained Only  AKA Gadgeteering

This skill allows a character to build mechanical devices from scratch, including engines and engine parts, weapons, armor, and other gadgets. When building a mechanical device from scratch, the character describes the kind of device he or she wants to construct; then the Gamemaster decides if the device is simple, moderate, complex, or advanced compared to current technology.

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 (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 Gamemaster 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.

Craft (visual art) (Int)

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

When attempting to create a work of visual art, the character simply makes a Craft (visual art) 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 have a purchase DC of 5.

Creating a work of visual 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 (visual art) checks.

Craft (writing) (Int)

This skill allows a character to create short stories, novels, scripts and screenplays, newspaper articles and columns, and similar works of writing.

When creating a work of writing, the player simply makes a Craft (writing) check, the result of which determines the quality of the work.

No Wealth check is necessary to use this Craft skill.

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.

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

Like Knowledge, Perform, and Profession, Craft is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Craft skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.

A Craft skill is specifically focused on creating something. If nothing is created by the endeavor, it probably falls under the heading of a Profession skill.

Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces 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 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 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.

In some cases, the fabricate spell can be used to achieve the results of a Craft check with no actual check involved. However, you must make an appropriate Craft check when using the spell to make articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.

A successful Craft check related to woodworking in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables you to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.

When casting the spell minor creation, you must succeed on an appropriate Craft check to make a complex item.

All crafts require artisan’s 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 artisan’s tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.

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

1. Find the item’s price. Put the price in silver pieces (1 gp = 10 sp).

2. Find the DC from the table below.

3. Pay one-third of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.

4. Make an appropriate Craft check representing one week’s work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in sp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you’ve completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.) If the result × the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this week. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next week. Each week, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in silver pieces.

If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week.

If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.

Progress by the Day: You can make checks by the day instead of by the week. In this case your progress (check result × DC) is in copper pieces instead of silver pieces.

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 (300 gp for a weapon or 150 gp 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-third 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.

When you use the Craft skill to make a particular sort of item, the DC for checks involving the creation of that item are typically as given on the following table.

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

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 gnome has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because gnomes have sensitive noses.

You may voluntarily add +10 to the indicated DC to craft an item. This allows you to create the item more quickly (since you’ll be multiplying this higher DC by your Craft check result to determine progress). You must decide whether to increase the DC before you make each weekly or daily check.

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.

Decipher Script (Int) Trained Only

Check: A character can decipher writing in an ancient language or in code, or interpret the meaning of an incomplete text. The base DC is 20 for the simplest messages, 25 for standard codes, and 30 or higher for intricate or complex codes or exotic messages. Helpful texts or computer programs can provide a bonus (usually a +2 circumstance bonus) on the check, provided they are applicable to the script in question.

If the check succeeds, the character understands the general content of a piece of writing, reading about one page of text or its equivalent in 1 minute. If the check fails, the GM makes a Wisdom check (DC 10) for the character to see if he or she avoids drawing a false conclusion about the text. (Success means that the character does not draw a false conclusion; failure means that the character does.)

The GM secretly makes both the skill check and the Wisdom check so the character can’t tell whether the conclusion drawn is accurate or not.

Try Again?: No, unless conditions change or new information is uncovered.

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

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

Time: Decipher Script takes 1 minute or more, depending on the complexity of the code.

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 GM 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 and at least 1 rank in this skill 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.

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.

Diplomacy (Cha)

Check: You can change the attitudes of others (nonplayer characters) with a successful Diplomacy check; see the Influencing NPC Attitudes sidebar, below, for basic DCs. In negotiations, participants roll opposed Diplomacy checks, and the winner gains the advantage. Opposed checks also resolve situations when two advocates or diplomats plead opposite cases in a hearing before a third party.

Action: Changing others’ attitudes with Diplomacy generally takes at least 1 full minute (10 consecutive full-round actions). In some situations, this time requirement may greatly increase. A rushed Diplomacy check can be made as a full-round action, but you take a –10 penalty on the check.

Try Again: No.

Special: A half-elf has a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks.

If you have the Negotiator feat, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Attitude

Means

Possible Actions

Wishes you ill

———————— New Attitude ————————

The character can turn a person into a fanatic follower. Refer to the accompanying table.

Hos: hostile. Unf: unfriendly. Indif: indifferent. Friend: friendly. Help: helpful.

Fanatic: The attitude of fanatic is added here. In addition to the obvious effects, any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a –1 penalty to AC whenever fighting for the character or his or her cause. This attitude will remain for one day plus one day per point of the character's Charisma bonus, at which point the NPC's Hateful: The attitude of hateful is added here. In addition to the obvious effects, any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +4 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, and a –2 penalty to AC whenever fighting the character he or she hates.

Treat the fanatic and hateful attitudes as a mind-affecting enchantment effects for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is nonmagical, it can't be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC's attitude can't be further adjusted by the use of skills.

In Love:  Being in love is more than helpful but less than fanatical.  To inspire someone to fall in love they must first become helpful: you then make a second diplomacy check to see if you can make someone Enamored Cherishing or Adoring.  Once someone has loved you they are always vulnerable to loving you again.  If they should fall out of love, even to a state lower than helpful a proper diplomacy check [perhaps more accurately begging check in most of cases] can restore that love these numbers are listed in red.  Once a year a new diplomacy check must be made against any creatures in love with you.  If you have been living with the creature, and giving affection and attention you gain a +2.  If you have present or attentive or affectionate during the year you neither suffer penalties, nor gain bonuses on the check, if you have been absent, inattentive, and unaffectionate, you suffer a -2, if you have been cruel you suffer -4, these are cumulative for each year of consistent behavior.

Attitude Means Possible Actions

Hateful: Will give life to hurt you Attack, interfere, berate, or emotionally mar you.

Hostile: Will take risks to hurt you Attack, interfere, berate, flee

Unfriendly: Wishes you ill Mislead, gossip, avoid, watch suspiciously, insult

Indifferent: Doesn't much care Socially expected interaction

Friendly: Wishes you well Chat, advise, offer limited help, advocate

Helpful: Will take risks to help you Protect, back up, heal, aid

Enamored: Loves you Remain behind to protect your retreat, trusts you. You gain a +2 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them

Cherishing: Truly loves you. May forgive your failings, Sacrifice life to protect you, or Place your needs above their own. You gain a +4 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them.

Adoring: Worships you. Place your desires above their needs, Sacrifice lesser love for you well being. You gain a +10 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them.

Fanatic: Will give life to serve you. Fight to the death against overwhelming odds, throw self in front of onrushing dragon

Disable Device (Int) Trained Only

Check: The GM makes the Disable Device check so that the character doesn’t necessarily know whether he or she has succeeded.

Open Lock: A character can pick conventional locks, finesse combination locks, and bypass electronic locks. The character must have a lockpick set (for a mechanical lock) or an electrical tool kit (for an electronic lock). The DC depends on the quality of the lock.

Disable Security Device: A character can disable a security device, such as an electric fence, motion sensor, or security camera. The character must be able to reach the actual device. If the device is monitored, the fact that the character attempted to disable it will probably be noticed.

When disabling a monitored device, the character can prevent his or her tampering from being noticed. Doing so requires 10 minutes and an electrical tool kit, and increases the DC of the check by +10.

Traps and Sabotage: Disabling (or rigging or jamming) a simple mechanical device has a DC of 10. More intricate and complex devices have higher DCs. The GM rolls the check. If the check succeeds, the character disables the device. If the check fails by 4 or less, the character has failed but can try again. If the character fails by 5 or more, something goes wrong. If it’s a trap, the character springs it. If it’s some sort of sabotage, the character thinks the device is disabled, but it still works normally.

A character can rig simple devices to work normally for a while and then fail some time later (usually after 1d4 rounds or minutes of use).

Try Again?: Yes, though the character must be aware that he or she has failed in order to try again.

Special: A character can take 10 when making a Disable Device check. A character can take 20 to open a lock or to disable a security device, unless the character is trying to prevent his or her tampering from being noticed.

Possessing the proper tools gives a character 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). Opening a locked car calls for a car opening kit. Disabling a security device requires either a mechanical tool kit or an electronic toll kit, depending on the nature of the device. If the character does not have the appropriate tools, he or she takes 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.

A character with the Cautious feat and at least 1 rank in this skill gets a +2 bonus on all Disable Device checks.

Time: Disabling a simple mechanical device is a full-round action. Intricate or complex devices require 2d4 rounds.

Disguise (Cha)

Check: A character’s Disguise check result determines how good the disguise is. It is opposed by others’ Spot check results. Make one Disguise check even if several people make Spot checks. The GM makes the character’s Disguise check secretly so that the character is not sure how well his or her disguise holds up to scrutiny.

If the character doesn’t draw any attention to him or herself, however, others don’t get to make Spot checks. If the character comes to the attention of people who are suspicious, the suspicious person gets to make a Spot check. (The GM can assume that such observers take 10 on their Spot checks.)

The effectiveness of the character’s disguise depends in part on how much the character is attempting to change his or her appearance.

Disguised as different sex

If the character is impersonating a particular individual, those who know what that person looks like automatically get to make Spot checks. Furthermore, they get a bonus on their Spot checks.

Usually, an individual makes a Spot check to detect a disguise immediately upon meeting the character and each hour thereafter. If the character casually meets many different people, each for a short time, the GM checks once per day or hour, using an average Spot modifier for the group (assuming they take 10).

Try Again?: No, though the character can assume the same disguise again at a later time. If others saw through the previous disguise, they are automatically treated as suspicious if the character assumes the same disguise again.

Special: A character can take 10 or take 20 when establishing a disguise.

A character without a disguise kit takes a –4 penalty on Disguise checks.

A character with the Deceptive feat gets a +2 bonus on all Disguise checks.

A character can help someone else create a disguise for him or her, treating it as an aid another attempt.

Time: A Disguise check requires 1d4 x10 minutes of preparation. The GM makes Spot checks for those who encounter the character immediately upon meeting the character and again each hour or day thereafter, depending on circumstances.

Escape Artist (Dex) Armor Penalty

Check: Make a check to escape from restraints or to squeeze through a tight space.

For ropes, a character’s Escape Artist check is opposed by the Dexterity check result of the opponent who tied the bonds. Since it’s easier to tie someone up than to escape from being tied up, the opponent gets a +20 bonus on his or her Dexterity check.

For a tight space, a check is only called for if the character’s head fits but his or her shoulders don’t. If the space is long, such as in an airshaft, the GM may call for multiple checks. A character can’t fit through a space that his or her head doesn’t fit through.

A character can make an Escape Artist check opposed by his or her opponent’s grapple check to get out of a grapple or out of a pinned condition (so that the character is just being grappled). Doing so is an attack action, so if the character escapes the grapple he or she can move in the same round.

Try Again?: A character can make another check after a failed check if the character is squeezing through a tight space, making multiple checks. If the situation permits, the character can make additional checks as long as he or she is not being actively opposed.

Special: A character can take 10 on an Escape Artist check. A character can take 20 if he or she is not being actively opposed (a character can take 20 if he or she is tied up, even though it’s an opposed check, because the opponent isn’t actively opposing the character).

A character with the Nimble feat gets a +2 bonus on all Escape Artist checks.

Time: Making a check to escape from being bound by ropes, handcuffs, or other restraints (except a grappler) requires 1 minute. Escaping a net is a full-round action. Squeezing through a tight space takes at least 1 minute, maybe longer, depending on the distance that must be crossed.

FOREPLAY (CON)

Check: You can impress a lover with your talent and skill.  Without this skill you are not going to be leaving any long lasting impressions.

If the creature you are trying to impress is female.  Be ware of the long term consequences.

If the creature you are trying to impress is male

Time: Varies. Any check that results in score less than 5 takes less than 1 minute.  Any check of 10 or more results in a 2d6 minutes per page or longer.

Try Again: Yes. Retries are allowed, but they don’t negate previous failures, and a lover 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 must make a foreplay check to recover before attempting to make more than one check in a day, the DC is 15 +2 for each successful recovery that day, but once you fail you can not attempt to recover again.  You may try again once you have rested for 8 hrs.  Regardless of the number of retries you can only improve a character’s attitude once a week.  The change in attitude only last for a month after the check. 

Special: You don’t have to get a helpful to make them fall in love.

If you have the Lover feat, you get a +2 bonus on Foreplay checks. 

If you have the Endurance feat, you gain a +4 on foreplay checks made to recover.

You take a –4 penalty on your Foreplay check for every size category that you are larger than your target (Dwarves count as small for the purpose of seduction checks; Nephilim, Goliaths, and half giants count as large). Additionally, you take a –4 penalty on your Foreplay check for every size category that you are smaller than your target. 

You take a –2 penalty on your Foreplay check if you and the character do not share a language. 

You take a –30 penalty on your Foreplay check if the character’s sexual orientation does not incline them to your gender.

You take a –100 penalty on your Foreplay check if you are raping the character.

You take a –2 penalty on your Foreplay check if the creature is of another race but similar race such as one humanoid attempting to foreplay with another humanoid, but if the races are radically different such a humanoid and a monstrous humanoid or a dragon and an aberration you suffer a –8.

Dwarves suffer a –2 penalty on your Foreplay check.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Escape Artist, Heal, Knowledge (local), Knowledge pertinent to the target, Seduce, or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Foreplay checks.

Classes: Foreplay is a class skill for Bards, Pirates, Clerics, Fighters, Knights, Monks, Paladins, Priests, Rangers, Slayers, Swashbuckler, and Villians.  Most Prestige classes with bluff as a class skill may add seduce as well, ask the DM.

Attitude Means Possible Actions

Hateful: Will give life to hurt you Attack, interfere, berate, or emotionally mar you.

Hostile: Will take risks to hurt you Attack, interfere, berate, flee

Unfriendly: Wishes you ill Mislead, gossip, avoid, watch suspiciously, insult

Indifferent: Doesn't much care Socially expected interaction

Friendly: Wishes you well Chat, advise, offer limited help, advocate

Helpful: Will take risks to help you Protect, back up, heal, aid

Enamored: Loves you Remain behind to protect your retreat, trusts you. You gain a +2 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them

Cherishing: Truly loves you. May forgive your failings, Sacrifice life to protect you, or Place your needs above their own. You gain a +4 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them.

Adoring: Worships you. Place your desires above their needs, Sacrifice lesser love for you well being. You gain a +10 on sense motive and seduce checks made against them.

Fanatic: Will give life to serve you. Fight to the death against overwhelming odds, throw self in front of onrushing dragon.

Forgery (Int)

Check: Forgery requires ma­terials appropriate to the document being forged, and some time. To forge a document the character needs to have seen a similar document before.  The complexity of the document, the character’s degree of familiarity with it, and whether the character needs to reproduce the signature or handwriting of a specific individual, provide modifiers to the Forgery check, as shown below.

Some documents require security or authorization codes, whether authentic ones or additional forgeries. The GM makes the character’s check secretly so the character is not sure how good his or her forgery is.

The Forgery skill is also used to detect someone else’s forgery. The result of the original Forgery check that created the document is opposed by a Forgery check by the person who examines the document to check its authenticity. If the examiner’s check result is equal to or higher than the original Forgery check, the document is determined to be fraudulent. The examiner gains bonuses or penalties on his or her check as given in the table below.

A document that contradicts procedure, orders, or previous knowledge, or one that requires the examiner to relinquish a possession or a piece of information, can increase the examiner’s suspicion (and thus create favorable circumstances for the examiner’s opposed Forgery check).

Try Again?: No, since the forger isn’t sure of the quality of the original forgery.

Special: To forge documents and detect for­geries, one must be able to read and write the ­language in question. (The skill is language-­dependent.)

A character can take 10 when making a Forgery check, but can’t take 20.

A character with the Meticulous feat gets a +2 bonus on all Forgery checks.

A character without a forgery kit takes a –4 penalty on Forgery checks.

Time: Forging a short, simple document takes about 1 minute. Longer or more complex documents take 1d4 minutes per page or longer.

HANDLE ANIMAL (CHA; TRAINED ONLY)

Check: The DC depends on what you are trying to do.

Handle an Animal: This task involves commanding an animal to perform a task or trick that it knows. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.

“Push” an Animal: To push an animal means to get it to perform a task or trick that it doesn’t know but is physically capable of performing. This category also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. 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 with an Intelligence score of 1 can learn a maximum of three tricks, while an animal with an Intelligence score of 2 can learn a maximum of six tricks. Possible tricks (and their associated DCs) include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following.

Attack (DC 20): The animal attacks apparent enemies. You may point to a particular creature that you wish the animal to attack, and it will comply if able. Normally, an animal will attack only humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants, or other animals. Teaching an animal to attack all creatures (including such unnatural creatures as undead and aberrations) counts as two tricks.

Come (DC 15): The animal comes to you, even if it normally would not do so.

Defend (DC 20): The animal 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.

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

Guard (DC 20): The animal stays in place and prevents others from approaching.

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

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

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

Stay (DC 15): The animal stays in place, waiting for you to return. It does not challenge other creatures that come by,

though it still defends itself if it needs to.

Track (DC 20): The animal tracks the scent presented to it. (This requires the animal to have the scent ability)

Work (DC 15): The animal pulls or pushes a medium or heavy load.

Train an Animal for a Purpose: 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 score of 2.

An animal can be trained for only one general purpose, though if the creature is capable of learning additional tricks (above and beyond those included in its general purpose), it may do so. Training an animal for a purpose requires fewer checks than teaching individual tricks does, but no less time.

Combat Riding (DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also “upgrade” an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal’s previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don’t require any additional training for this purpose.

Fighting (DC 20): An animal trained to engage in combat knows the tricks attack, down, and stay. Training an animal for fighting takes three weeks.

Guarding (DC 20): An animal trained to guard knows the tricks attack, defend, down, and guard. Training an animal for guarding takes four weeks.

Heavy Labor (DC 15): An animal trained for heavy labor knows the tricks come and work. Training an animal for heavy labor takes two weeks.

Hunting (DC 20): An animal trained for hunting knows the tricks attack, down, fetch, heel, seek, and track. Training an animal for hunting takes six weeks.

Performance (DC 15): An animal trained for performance knows the tricks come, fetch, heel, perform, and stay. Training an animal for performance takes five weeks.

Riding (DC 15): An animal trained to bear a rider knows the tricks come, heel, and stay. Training an animal for riding takes three weeks.

Rear a Wild Animal: To rear an animal means 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.

Action: Varies. Handling an animal is a move action, while pushing an animal is a full-round action. (A druid or ranger can handle her 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.

Try Again: Yes, except for rearing an animal.

Special: You can use this skill on a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 that is not an animal, but the DC of any such check increases by 5. Such creatures have the same limit on tricks known as animals do.

A druid or ranger gains a +4 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal checks involving her animal companion.

In addition, a druid’s or ranger’s animal companion knows one or more bonus tricks, which don’t count against the normal limit on tricks known and don’t require any training time or Handle Animal checks to teach.

If you have the Animal Affinity feat, you get a +2 bonus on Handle Animal checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal, you get a +2 bonus on Ride checks and wild empathy checks.

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. A druid or ranger with no ranks in Handle Animal can use a Charisma check to handle and push her animal companion, but she can’t teach, rear, or train other nondomestic animals.

HEAL (WIS)

Check: The DC and effect depend on the task you attempt.

First Aid: 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.

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 or ability score points (lost to ability damage) at twice the normal rate: 2 hit points per level for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 hit points per level for each full day of complete rest; 2 ability score points for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 ability score points for each full day of complete 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.

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.

Treat Poison: To treat poison means to tend a single character 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.

Treat Disease: To treat a disease means to 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.

Action: Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a standard 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.

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 character with the Self-Sufficient feat gets a +2 bonus on Heal checks.

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

HIDE (DEX; ARMOR CHECK PENALTY)

Check: Your Hide check is opposed by the Spot check of anyone who might see you. You can move up to one-half your normal speed and hide at no penalty. When moving at a speed greater than one-half but less than your normal speed, you take a –5 penalty. It’s practically impossible (–20 penalty) to hide while attacking, running or charging.

A creature larger or smaller than Medium takes a size bonus or penalty on Hide checks depending on its size category: Fine +16, Diminutive +12, Tiny +8, Small +4, Large –4, Huge –8, Gargantuan –12, Colossal –16.

You need cover or concealment in order to attempt a Hide check. Total cover or total concealment usually (but not always; see Special, below) obviates the need for a Hide check, since nothing can see you anyway.

If people are observing you, even casually, you can’t hide. You can run around a corner or behind cover so that you’re out of sight and then hide, but the others then know at least where you went.

If your observers are momentarily distracted (such as by a Bluff check; see below), though, you can attempt to hide. While the others turn their attention from you, you can attempt a Hide check if you can get to a hiding place of some kind. (As a general guideline, the hiding place has to be within 1 foot per rank you have in Hide.) This check, however, is made at a –10 penalty because you have to move fast.

Sniping: If you’ve already successfully hidden at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack, then immediately hide again. You take a –20 penalty on your Hide check to conceal yourself after the shot.

Creating a Diversion to Hide: You can use Bluff to help you hide. A successful Bluff check can give you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Hide check while people are aware of you.

Action: Usually none. Normally, you make a Hide check as part of movement, so it doesn’t take a separate action. However, hiding immediately after a ranged attack (see Sniping, above) is a move action.

Special: If you are invisible, you gain a +40 bonus on Hide checks if you are immobile, or a +20 bonus on Hide checks if you’re moving.

If you have the Stealthy feat, you get a +2 bonus on Hide checks.

A 13th-level ranger can attempt a Hide check in any sort of natural terrain, even if it doesn’t grant cover or concealment. A 17thlevel ranger can do this even while being observed.

INTIMIDATE (CHA)

Check: You can change another’s behavior with a successful check. Your Intimidate check is opposed by the target’s modified level check (1d20 + character level or Hit Dice + target’s Wisdom bonus [if any] + target’s modifiers on saves against fear). If you beat your target’s check result, you may treat the target as friendly, but only for the purpose of actions taken while it remains intimidated. (That is, the target retains its normal attitude, but will chat, advise, offer limited help, or advocate on your behalf while intimidated. See the Diplomacy skill, above, for additional details.) The effect lasts as long as the target remains in your presence, and for 1d6×10 minutes afterward. After this time, the target’s default attitude toward you shifts to unfriendly (or, if normally unfriendly, to hostile).

If you fail the check by 5 or more, the target provides you with incorrect or useless information, or otherwise frustrates your efforts.

Demoralize Opponent: You can also use Intimidate to weaken an opponent’s resolve in combat. To do so, make an Intimidate check opposed by the target’s modified level check (see above). If you win, the target becomes shaken for 1 round. A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. You can intimidate only an opponent that you threaten in melee combat and that can see you.

Action: Varies. Changing another’s behavior requires 1 minute of interaction. Intimidating an opponent in combat is a standard action.

Try Again: Optional, but not recommended because retries usually do not work. Even if the initial check succeeds, the other character can be intimidated only so far, and a retry doesn’t help. If the initial check fails, the other character has probably become more firmly resolved to resist the intimidator, and a retry is futile.

Special: You gain a +4 bonus on your Intimidate check for every size category that you are larger than your target. Conversely, you take a –4 penalty on your Intimidate check for every size category that you are smaller than your target.

A character immune to fear can’t be intimidated, nor can nonintelligent creatures.

If you have the Persuasive feat, you get a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, you get a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks.

JUMP (STR; ARMOR CHECK PENALTY)

Check: The DC and the distance you can cover vary according to the type of jump you are attempting (see below).

Your Jump check is modified by your speed. If your speed is 30 feet then no modifier based on speed applies to the check. If your speed is less than 30 feet, you take a –6 penalty for every 10 feet of speed less than 30 feet. If your speed is greater than 30 feet, you gain a +4 bonus for every 10 feet beyond 30 feet.

All Jump DCs given here assume that you get a running start, which requires that you move at least 20 feet in a straight line before attempting the jump. If you do not get a running start, the DC for the jump is doubled.

Distance moved by jumping is counted against your normal maximum movement in a round.

If you have ranks in Jump and you succeed on a Jump check, you land on your feet (when appropriate). If you attempt a Jump check untrained, you land prone unless you beat the DC by 5 or more.

Long Jump: A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap like a chasm or stream. At the midpoint of the jump, you attain a vertical height equal to one-quarter of the horizontal distance. The DC for the jump is equal to the distance jumped (in feet).

If your check succeeds, you land on your feet at the far end. If you fail the check by less than 5, you don’t clear the distance, but you can make a DC 15 Reflex save to grab the far edge of the gap. You end your movement grasping the far edge. If that leaves you dangling over a chasm or gap, getting up requires a move action and a DC 15 Climb check.

High Jump: A high jump is a vertical leap made to reach a ledge high above or to grasp something overhead. The DC is equal to 4 times the distance to be cleared.

If you jumped up to grab something, a successful check indicates that you reached the desired height. If you wish to pull yourself up, you can do so with a move action and a DC 15 Climb check. If you fail the Jump check, you do not reach the height, and you land on your feet in the same spot from which you jumped. As with a long jump, the DC is doubled if you do not get a running start of at least 20 feet.

Obviously, the difficulty of reaching a given height varies according to the size of the character or creature. The maximum vertical reach (height the creature can reach without jumping) for an average creature of a given size is shown on the table below. (As a Medium creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.)

Quadrupedal creatures don’t have the same vertical reach as a bipedal creature; treat them as being one size category smaller.

Hop Up: You can jump up onto an object as tall as your waist, such as a table or small boulder, with a DC 10 Jump check. Doing so counts as 10 feet of movement, so if your speed is 30 feet, you could move 20 feet, then hop up onto a counter. You do not need to get a running start to hop up, so the DC is not doubled if you do not get a running start.

Jumping Down: If you intentionally jump from a height, you take less damage than you would if you just fell. The DC to jump down from a height is 15. You do not have to get a running start to jump down, so 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.

Action: None. A Jump check is included in your movement, so it is part of a move action. If you run out of movement mid-jump, your next action (either on this turn or, if necessary, on your next turn) must be a move action to complete the jump.

Special: Effects that increase your movement also increase your jumping distance, since your check is modified by your speed.

If you have the Run feat, you get a +4 bonus on Jump checks for any jumps made after a running start.

A halfling has a +2 racial bonus on Jump checks because halflings are agile and athletic.

If you have the Acrobatic feat, you get a +2 bonus on Jump checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Tumble, you get a +2 bonus on Jump checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Jump, you get a +2 bonus on Tumble checks.

KNOWLEDGE (INT; TRAINED ONLY)

Like the Craft 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.

Below are listed typical fields of study.

• Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, cryptic phrases, constructs, dragons, magical beasts)

• Architecture and engineering (buildings, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications)

• Dungeoneering (aberrations, caverns, oozes, spelunking)

• Geography (lands, terrain, climate, people)

• History (royalty, wars, colonies, migrations, founding of cities)

• Law (Law, legislation, litigation, and legal rights and obligations. Political and governmental institutions and processes)

• Local (legends, personalities, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, humanoids)

• Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, vermin)

• Nobility and royalty (lineages, heraldry, family trees, mottoes, personalities)

• Religion (gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, outsiders, undead)

• The planes (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, elementals, magic related to

the planes)

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 their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster.

For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.

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.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (arcana), you get a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering), you get a +2 bonus on Search checks made to find secret doors or hidden compartments.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (geography), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made to keep from getting lost or to avoid natural hazards.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), you get a +2 bonus on bardic knowledge checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (local), you get a +2 bonus on Gather Information checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (law), you get a +2 bonus on Forgery checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (nature), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made in aboveground natural environments (aquatic, desert, forest, hill, marsh, mountains, or plains).

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (nobility and royalty), you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (religion), you get a +2 bonus on turning checks against undead.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (the planes), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made while on other planes.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made while underground.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Survival, you get a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks.

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

LISTEN (WIS)

Check: Your Listen check is either made against a DC that reflects how quiet the noise is that you might hear, or it is opposed by your target’s Move Silently check.

In the case of people trying to be quiet, the DCs given on the table could be replaced by Move Silently checks, in which case the indicated DC would be their average check result.

Action: Varies. Every time you have a chance to hear something in a reactive manner (such as when someone makes a noise or you move into a new area), you can make a Listen check without using an action. Trying to hear something you failed to hear previously is a move action.

Try Again: Yes. You can try to hear something that you failed to hear previously with no penalty.

Special: When several characters are listening to the same thing, a single 1d20 roll can be used for all the individuals’ Listen checks.

A fascinated creature takes a –4 penalty on Listen checks made as reactions.

If you have the Alertness feat, you get a +2 bonus on Listen checks.

A ranger gains a bonus on Listen checks when using this skill against a favored enemy.

An elf, gnome, or halfling has a +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.

A half-elf has a +1 racial bonus on Listen checks..

A sleeping character may make Listen checks at a –10 penalty. A successful check awakens the sleeper.

MENTAL DISCIPLINE (WIS; TRAINED ONLY)

Use this skill to realize that you are dreaming, lucid dream. consciously direct elements of a dream, manifest objects of spiritual realm, enter a Zen meditative state, and move into other dreamscapes

Check: Making a Mental Discipline check is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

*You must first successfully grapple your opponent. Then, instead of attempting to pin him or her, make a Mental Discipline check (DC 25) on your next action. If you succeed, you and your foe tumble into the Dreamheart.

** You can replicate something you owned in life.  If it was one your body when you left your body the DC is equal to the value of the item in gp and divided by 1,000.  If it was yours but not on your body when you left your body the DC is equal to the value of the item in gp and divided by 100.  For creating something that you did not posses in life the DC is equal to the value of the item in gp and multiplied by 5.

Change Aspect: An aspect of a dreamscape includes background features such as lighting, terrain, architecture of a given building, vegetation (or lack thereof), and other relatively innocuous characteristics of a dreamscape. You can’t use Mental Discipline to make a bolt of lightning strike a foe or open a pit below an enemy.

Change Appearance: You can adopt the outward appearance of another creature within two size categories of your own. None of your abilities change, just your appearance.

Meditative State: You can’t take any physical actions while meditating.  While meditating you heal at twice the normal amount natural healing.  Treat time meditating as full rest. You gain a +1 bonus to concentration, all knowledge, and all wisdom based skill checks whilst meditating, plus an additional +1 for every 5 points over 15.

Retry: You can make a Mental Discipline check once per round.

Classes:  Consider Mental Discipline a class skill for Champions, Clerics, Druids, Knights, Monks, Paladins, Priests, Reapers, and Shamans

Special: An elf has a +2 racial bonus on Mental Discipline checks.

MOVE SILENTLY (DEX; ARMOR CHECK PENALTY)

Check: Your Move Silently check is opposed by the Listen check of anyone who might hear you. You can move up to one-half your normal speed at no penalty. When moving at a speed greater than one-half but less than your full speed, you take a –5 penalty. It’s practically impossible (–20 penalty) to move silently while running or charging.

Noisy surfaces, such as bogs or undergrowth, are tough to move silently across. When you try to sneak across such a surface, you take a penalty on your Move Silently check as indicated below.

Action:None. A Move Silently check is included in your movement or other activity, so it is part of another action.

Special: The master of a cat familiar gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks.

A halfling has a +2 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.

If you have the Stealthy feat, you get a +2 bonus on Move Silently checks.

OPEN LOCK (DEX; TRAINED ONLY)

Attempting an Open Lock check without a set of thieves’ tools imposes a –2 circumstance penalty on the check, even if a simple tool is employed. If you use masterwork thieves’ tools, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.

Check: The DC for opening a lock varies from 20 to 40, depending on the quality of the lock, as given on the table below.

Action: Opening a lock is a full-round action.

Special: If you have the Nimble Fingers feat, you get a +2 bonus on Open Lock checks.

Untrained: You cannot pick locks untrained, but you might successfully force them open.

PERFORM (CHA)

Like Craft, Knowledge, and Profession, Perform is actually a number of separate skills.

You could have several Perform skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.

Each of the nine categories of the Perform skill includes a variety of methods, instruments, or techniques, a small list of which is provided for each category below.

• Act (comedy, drama, mime)

• Comedy (buffoonery, limericks, joke-telling)

• Dance (ballet, waltz, jig)

• Keyboard instruments (harpsichord, piano, pipe organ)

• Oratory (epic, ode, storytelling)

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

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

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

• Sing (ballad, chant, melody)

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

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

Action: Varies. Trying to earn money by playing in public requires anywhere from an evening’s work to a full day’s performance. The bard’s special Perform-based abilities are described in that class’s description.

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.)

Special: A bard must have at least 3 ranks in a Perform skill to inspire courage in his allies, or to use his countersong or his fascinate ability. A bard needs 6 ranks in a Perform skill to inspire competence, 9 ranks to use his suggestion ability, 12 ranks to inspire greatness, 15 ranks to use his song of freedom ability, 18 ranks to inspire heroics, and 21 ranks to use his mass suggestion ability. See Bardic Music in the bard class description.

In addition to using the Perform skill, you can entertain people with sleight of hand, tumbling, tightrope walking, and spells (especially illusions).

PROFESSION (WIS; TRAINED ONLY)

Like Craft, Knowledge, and Perform, Profession is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Profession skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill. While a Craft skill represents ability in creating or making an item, a Profession skill represents an aptitude in a vocation requiring a broader range of less specific knowledge.

Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your Profession check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession’s daily tasks, how to supervise helpers, and how to handle common problems.

Action: Not applicable. A single check generally represents a week of work.

Try Again: Varies. An attempt to use a Profession skill to earn an income cannot be retried. You are stuck with whatever weekly wage your check result brought you. Another check may be made after a week to determine a new income for the next period of time. An attempt to accomplish some specific task can usually be retried.

Untrained: Untrained laborers and assistants (that is, characters without any ranks in Profession) earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.

Repair (Int) Trained Only

Check: Most Repair checks are made to fix complex electronic or mechanical devices. The DC is set by the GM. 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 can also involves a monetary cost when spare parts or new components.   The GM decides whether this represents a significant problem, causing an increase in time and requiring a monetary loss.

Jury-Rig: A character can choose to attempt jury-rigged, or temporary, repairs. Doing this reduces 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 for a number of hours equal half the check. The jury-rigged object must be fully repaired thereafter.

A character can also use jury-rig to hot-wire a car or jump-start an engine or electronic device. The DC for this is at least 15, and it can be higher depending on the presence of security devices.

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

Try Again?: Yes, though in some specific cases, the GM 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) or Craft (electronic) can provide a +2 synergy bonus on Repair checks made for mechanical or electronic devices (see Skill Synergy).

A character with the Gearhead feat and at least 1 rank in this skill 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.

RIDE (DEX)

If you attempt to ride a creature that is ill suited as a mount, you take a –5 penalty on your Ride checks.

Check: Typical riding actions don’t require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem.

The following tasks do require checks.

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 Ride 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.

Fight with Warhorse: 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.

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 Ride 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 Ride 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 Ride modifier or the mount’s Jump modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the creature can jump. If you fail your Ride 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.

Spur Mount: You can spur your mount to greater speed with a move action. A successful Ride check increases the mount’s speed by 10 feet for 1 round but deals 1 point of damage to the creature. 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).

Control Mount in Battle: As a move action, you can attempt to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Ride check, you can do nothing else in that round. You do not need to roll for warhorses or warponies.

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 Ride 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.

Action: Varies. 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.

Special: If you are riding bareback, you take a –5 penalty on Ride checks.

If your mount has a military saddle you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Ride checks related to staying in the saddle.

The Ride skill is a prerequisite for the feats Mounted Archery, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge,

Trample.

If you have the Animal Affinity feat, you get a +2 bonus on Ride checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal, you get a +2 bonus on Ride checks.

SEARCH (INT)

Check: You generally must be within 10 feet of the object or surface to be searched. The table below gives DCs for typical tasks involving the Search skill.

Action: 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.

Special: An elf has a +2 racial bonus on Search checks, and a half-elf has a +1 racial bonus. An elf (but not a half-elf) who simply passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door can make a Search check to find that door.

If you have the Investigator feat, you get a +2 bonus on Search checks.

The spells explosive runes, fire trap, glyph of warding, symbol, and teleportation circle create magic traps that a rogue can find by making a successful Search check and then can attempt to disarm by using Disable Device. Identifying the location of a snare spell has a DC of 23. Spike growth and spike stones create magic traps that can be found using Search, but against which Disable Device checks do not succeed. See the individual spell descriptions for details.

Active abjuration spells within 10 feet of each other for 24 hours or more create barely visible energy fluctuations. These fluctuations give you a +4 bonus on Search checks to locate such abjuration spells.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Search, you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks to find or follow tracks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering), you get a +2 bonus on Search checks to find secret doors or hidden compartments.

Restriction: While anyone can use Search to find a trap whose DC is 20 or lower, only a rogue can use Search to locate traps with higher DCs. (Exception: The spell find traps temporarily enables a cleric to use the Search skill as if he were a rogue.)

A dwarf, even one who is not a rogue, can use the Search skill to find a difficult trap (one with a DC higher than 20) if the trap is built into or out of stone. He gains a +2 racial bonus on the Search check from his stonecunning ability.

SEDUCE (CHA)

Check: You can change another’s behavior with a successful check. Your Seduce check is opposed by the target’s modified level check (1d20 + character level or Hit Dice + target’s Wisdom bonus [if any] + target’s modifiers on saves against compulsions). If you beat your target’s check result, you may treat the target as friendly, but only for the purpose of actions taken while it remains seduced. (That is, the target retains its normal attitude, but will chat, advise, offer limited help, or advocate on your behalf while seduced. See the Diplomacy skill, above, for additional details.) The effect lasts as long as the target remains in your presence and for 1d 6×10 minutes afterward. After this time, the target’s default attitude will revert to its original attitude (or indifferent, if no attitude is specified).

If you fail the check the target gets to make a bluff at a +2 bonus to convince you your attempt was successful.

If you fail the check by 5 or more, the target provides you with incorrect or useless information, or otherwise frustrates your efforts.

If you succeed the check by 10 or more, the target is willing to bed you and you may treat the target as helpful.  If you do bed the target, you must make a DC 15 Diplomacy within 1d6 days or their Default attitude drops one level.

Beguile Opponent: You can also use Seduce to distract an opponent’s in combat. To do so, make a Seduce check opposed by the target’s modified level check (see above). If you win, the target becomes dazed for 1 round. A dazed character can take no actions, but has no penalty to AC. You can seduce only an opponent that you can threaten in melee combat (you do not have to have a melee weapon out, you just have to be near enough to the opponent to threaten) and that can see you.  If attacked by you after being seduced the target’s gains a +2 cumulative circumstance to the target’s level check for the rest of the fight.

Action: Varies. Changing another’s behavior requires 1 minute of interaction. Seducing an opponent in combat is a standard action.

Try Again: Optional, but not recommended because retries usually do not work. Even if the initial check succeeds, the other character can be seduced only so far, and a retry doesn’t help. If the initial check fails, the other character has probably become more firmly resolved to resist the seducer, and a retry is futile.

Special: You take a –4 penalty on your Seduce check for every size category that you are larger than your target (Dwarves count as small for the purpose of seduction checks; Nephilim, Goliaths, and half giants count as large). Additionally, you take a –4 penalty on your Seduce check for every size category that you are smaller than your target. 

You take a –4 penalty on your Seduce check if you and the character do not share a language. 

You take a –30 penalty on your Seduce check if the character’s sexual orientation does not incline them to your gender.

You take a –2 penalty on your Seduce check if the creature is of another race but similar race such as one humanoid attempting to seduce another humanoid, but if the races are radically different such a humanoid and a monstrous humanoid or a dragon and an aberration you suffer a –4.

A character immune to compulsion can’t be seduced, nor can nonintelligent creatures.

An elf has a +2 racial bonus on seduce checks. 

A Dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on to his or her character level to resist seduction. 

A Halfling suffers a –2 racial penalty on to his or her character level to resist seduction.

Females have a +1 gender bonus on seduce checks

If you have the Lover feat, you get a +2 bonus on Seduce checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Foreplay, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Knowledge pertinent to the target, or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Seduce checks.

Classes: Seduce is a class skill for Bards, Pirates, Knights, Rogues, Priest, Sorcerers, Swashbucklers, and Villains.  Most Prestige classes with bluff as a class skill may add seduce as well, ask the DM.

SENSE MOTIVE (WIS)

Check: A successful check lets you avoid being bluffed (see the Bluff skill). You can also use this skill to determine when “something is up” (that is, something odd is going on) or to assess someone’s trustworthiness.

Hunch: 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.

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.

Discern Secret Message: You may use Sense Motive to detect that a hidden message is being transmitted via the Bluff skill. In this case, your Sense Motive check is opposed by the Bluff check of 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 Sense Motive 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 infer some false information.

Action: Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute, and you could spend a whole evening trying to get a sense of the people around you.

Try Again: No, though you may make a Sense Motive check for each Bluff check made against you.

Special: A ranger gains a bonus on Sense Motive checks when using this skill against a favored enemy.

If you have the Negotiator feat, you get a +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

SLEIGHT OF HAND (DEX; TRAINED ONLY; ARMOR CHECK PENALTY)

Check: A DC 10 Sleight of Hand check lets you palm a coin-sized, unattended object. Performing a minor feat of legerdemain, such as making a coin disappear, also has a DC of 10 unless an observer is determined to note where the item went.

When you use this skill under close observation, your skill check is opposed by the observer’s Spot check. The observer’s success doesn’t prevent you from performing the action, just from doing it unnoticed.

You can hide a small object (including a light weapon or an easily concealed ranged weapon, such as a dart, sling, or hand crossbow) on your body. Your Sleight of Hand check is opposed by the Spot check of anyone observing you or the Search check of anyone frisking you. In the latter case, the searcher gains a +4 bonus on the Search check, since it’s generally easier to find such an object than to hide it. A dagger is easier to hide than most light weapons, and grants you a +2 bonus on your Sleight of Hand check to conceal it. An extraordinarily small object, such as a coin, shuriken, or ring, grants you a +4 bonus on your Sleight of Hand check to conceal it, and heavy or baggy clothing (such as a cloak) grants you a +2 bonus on the check.

Drawing a hidden weapon is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity.

If you try to take something from another creature, you must make a DC 20 Sleight of Hand check to obtain it. The opponent makes a Spot check to detect the attempt, opposed by the same Sleight of Hand check result you achieved when you tried to grab the item. An opponent who succeeds on this check notices the attempt, regardless of whether you got the item.

You can also use Sleight of Hand to entertain an audience as though you were using the Perform skill. In such a case, your “act” encompasses elements of legerdemain, juggling, and the like.

Action: Any Sleight of Hand check normally is a standard action. However, you may perform a Sleight of Hand check as a free action by taking a –20 penalty on the check.

Try Again: Yes, but after an initial failure, a second Sleight of Hand attempt against the same target (or while you are being watched by the same observer who noticed your previous attempt) increases the DC for the task by 10.

Special: If you have the Deft Hands feat, you get a +2 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, you get a +2 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks.

Untrained: An untrained Sleight of Hand check is simply a Dexterity check. Without actual training, you can’t succeed on any Sleight of Hand check with a DC higher than 10, except for hiding an object on your body.

SPEAK LANGUAGE (NONE; TRAINED ONLY)

Languages of Mierdyyn

This is a list available to the denizens of Urth.

(+) indicates languages that use a combined alphabets made of a mixture two other alphabets like English

(/) indicates languages that have multiple complete alphabets as say the Japanese.  A creature gains a bouns language for every 100 yrs of life they have lived.

Name                                      Typical Users                                       Alphabet

Abyssal                                 Chaotic Evil Outsiders                        Infernal+Asurak

Alrithmic                                Alchemist                                              Alruithmic

Albion                                    Omlunners                                             Common

Ashulacah (ancient)            Light Elves                                            Illyashschuioldian/Akhsumeshtal/Berroehk/Dahreen

Astral                                     Chaotic Good Outsiders                     Celestial+Asurak

Asurasen                               Chaotic Outsiders                                Asurak

Aquan                                    Water-based Creatures                       Atlantian

Auran                                     Air-based Creatures                            Draconic

Caledonian                            Shodlunners                                         Common

Celestial                                 Good Outsiders                                    Celestial

Deval                                      Lawful Outsiders                                  Devan

Draconic                                Dragons, lizardfolk                               Draconic

Druidic                                   Druidic                                                   Drudic

Dwarven                                Dwarves                                                                Dwarven

Elvish                                     Elves                                                      Elven

Gargantian                             Giants                                                     Dwarven

Gnomish                                Gnomes                                                  Dwarven

Goblin                                    Goblins                                                  Dwarven

Gnollic                                    Gnoll                                                       Common

Halfling                                  Halflings                                                Common

High Vaellish                        Vaellic Nobles                                       Thaylijian

Hyrallen (eldr. Elf Com.)      The Kingdom of Hyrallosh                 Druidic

Ignan                                      Fire-based Creatures                           Draconic

Infernal                                  Evil Outsiders                                       Infernal

Infernal (Wasteland dialect)  Wastelanders                                       Black Rune

Hibernian                               Aeirslunners                                         Common

Low Vaellish                         Vaellic commoners                               Thaylijian

Lucian                                    Lawful Good Outsiders                       Celestial+Devan

Magian                                  Mertherrin                                             Rune+Draconic

Majique                                 Wizards of the Magi                            Rune

Maol’leionic                          Maoleionish                                         Maol’leionic

Morttorn                                The Dwarves of Morttoria                  Morttorn

Orkish                                    Orcs                                                        Orkish

Noctian                                  Nightelves                                             Lucian+Elven/Illashschuioldian

Runish                                   The Sorcerers of the Magi  Rune

Saurin                                     Reptilians                                              Herpetal

Sylvan                                    Dryads                                                   Elven

Tartarean                               Lawful Evil Outsiders                          Infernal+Devan

Terran                                    Earth-based Creatures                         Dwarven

Umbrian                 Darkelves                                              Elven

Undercommon                      Drow, Mind Flayers                             Elven

Zien                                        Outsiders                                               Zien

Zuul                                        Zul                                                          Xa’tsul

Languages of Regions

This is the language which replaces common for your people.

Name                                                      Land and/or People of Origin             Alphabet

Ashulacah (ancient)                            The Kingdom of Hyrallosh Illashschuioldian/Akhsumeshtal/Berroehk/Dahreen

Infernal (Wasteland dialect)                  Wastelanders                                       Black Rune

Hyr’allen (Elf Common)                       The Kingdom of Hyrallosh Druidic

Magian                                                  Mertherian Kingdom                           Rune+Draconic

Maol’leionic                                          The Maol’eoin Empire                         Maol’leionic

Morttorn (Dwarf common) The Mountains of Morttoria              Morttorn

Noctian                                                  The Forest of the Nightelves             Elven+Lucian/Illashschuioldian

Vaellic                                                    The Uuailslunn Empire                        Thaylijian/Common

Umbrian                                 The Halls of the Darkelves Elven

Nordish                                                  The Northern Wastelands                  Nordic

Languages know only to Certain Classes

Name                                      Required Class                                     Alphabet

Alrithmic                                Alchemist                                              Alrithmic

Druidic                                   Druidic                                                   Drudic

Languages open to clerics as bonus languages.

Name                                      Likely users                                           Alphabet

Abyssal                                 Chaotic Evil Outsiders                        Infernal+Asurak

Astral                                     Chaotic Good Outsiders                     Celestial+Asurak

Asurasen                               Chaotic Outsiders                                Asurak

Devan                                    Lawful Outsiders                                  Devan                                   

Celestial                                 Good Outsiders                                    Celestial

Infernal                                  Evil Outsiders                                       Infernal

Lucian                                    Lawful Good Outsiders                       Celestial+Devan

Tartarean                               Lawful Evil Outsiders                          Infernal+Devan

Zien (the outsider common)    Outsiders                                               Zien  

Languages open to wizards as bonus languages.

Name                      Likely users                                           Alphabet

Draconic                Dragons, lizardfolk                               Draconic

Majique                 Wizards from the academes               Rune

Languages open to Sorcerers as bonus languages.

Name                      Likely users                                           Alphabet

Runish                   Sorcerer from the Majia                       Rune

Action: Not applicable.

Try Again: Not applicable. There are no Speak Language checks to fail.

The Speak Language skill doesn’t work like other skills. Languages work as follows.

• You start at 1st level knowing one or two languages (based on your race), plus an additional number of languages equal to your starting Intelligence bonus.

• You can purchase Speak Language just like any other skill, but instead of buying a rank in it, you choose a new language that you can speak.

• You don’t make Speak Language checks. You either know a language or you don’t.

• A literate character (anyone but a barbarian who has not spent skill points to become literate) can read and write any language she speaks. Each language has an alphabet, though sometimes several spoken languages share a single alphabet.

SPELLCRAFT (INT; TRAINED ONLY)

Use this skill to identify spells as they are cast or spells already in place.