Tome of Prowess (3.5e Sourcebook)/Utility Skills
Utility Skills
Contents
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Appraisal
Key Attribute: Intelligence
Appraisal is an analysis skill. It signifies an attention to detail that allows you to recognize forgeries, doctored goods, or knockoffs as well as price and identify goods and even share your insights with those suffering from a lack of logic.
Untrained Uses
Appraise Common Items
When you’re out shopping, it’s nice to not be ripped off by the merchants. If you spend a full-round action examining an item, you can appraise common or familiar goods and objects. You cannot appraise uncommon, rare, or exotic items untrained. The DC for this check is 10.
You also use appraise to see past knockoffs and forgeries. If you exceed the DC to detect the forgery, you learn the real value of the item and know that it was doctored to appear more valuable. If you succeed on the DC to appraise an item but do not exceed the DC to spot the forgery, you learn the false value of the item as set by the forger.
Base DC: 10, and Special
Check Result:
- DC and above: You know the general value of the item. If you know the local economic conditions relating to the item, you know its exact value in the market. If the item is a forgery you know its apparent value as a result of the forging unless your check result exceeded the forgery DC, in which case you recognize it as a forgery and know its real value.
- DC-1 and below: You do not have a firm grasp of the value of the item. Even though you are not confident in your appraisal, you believe the item to be worth 2d6+3 times 10% (so 50% to 150%) of its actual value, or apparent value if it is a forgery. It is entirely possible to fail the check and still come up with an accurate appraisal, it’s just not a confident one.
Detect Forged Documents
Forged documents are as good a liar as any silver tongued devil, but they sit in front of you and let you examine them for a longer time. With a full-round action and an appraisal check, you can spot forged documents, and deal with those who would pass them off on you appropriately.
Base DC: Forgery DC as set by forger
Check Result:
- DC and above: You recognize the document as a forgery and can point out several places where they went wrong, if you’re into mocking people who try to slip one by you.
- DC-1 and below: You believe the document is genuine. Note that if you make this check on a genuine document you will still get this result, so you shouldn’t discount it just because you think something is up. If their papers are in order, their papers are in order.
Rank 1 Uses
Appraise Anything Mundane
You know what you’re looking for, and have a fair guess of what most things are worth. In addition to common items, you can also appraise uncommon, rare, exotic, and one-of-a-kind mundane items. This includes artwork, gems and jewelry, and all of the other pieces of loot that adventures often find themselves saddled with. Uncommon items should have a DC no higher than 15. Rare or exotic mundane items have a DC no higher than 20 in general, but exceptions may exist. The exact DC for this check is set by the GM, but they should follow the guidelines here. It is a full-round action to appraise objects with this ability.
Some items, like artifacts or poorly made jewelry pieces with high emotional value to wealthy kings, are fundamentally un–appraisable and likely to return a completely wrong objective measure of their worth. These should be rare; otherwise this ability is worth considerably less and you should complain loudly to your GM about it.
Base DC: 12 to 20 or (rarely) above, as set by GM
Check Result:
- DC and above: You know the general value of the item. If you know the local economic conditions relating to the item, you know its exact value in the market. If the item is a forgery you know its apparent value as a result of the forging unless your check result exceeded the forgery DC, in which case you recognize it as a forgery and know its real value.
- DC-1 and below: You do not have a firm grasp of the value of the item. Even though you are not confident in your appraisal, you believe the item to be worth 2d6+3 times 10% (so 50% to 150%) of its actual value, or apparent value if it is a forgery. It is entirely possible to fail the check and still come up with an accurate appraisal, it’s just not a confident one.
Detail Oriented
Your eye for detail and ability to spot forgeries extends beyond goods, but to people as well. You are able to pierce disguises with your appraisal abilities, finding the critical flaws that ruin the entire disguise. After five full rounds of interaction, you may make an appraisal check to determine if the creature is disguised. The DC for this ability is set by the individual who applied the disguise at the time of its application, and the results of your check are listed in the table below even though they will actually be given to you by the GM based on your check.
Base DC: Determined by the individual who applied the disguise
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: If the target is disguised, you recognize it as such. You also spot a flaw in the disguise that you could easily exploit to ruin it utterly.
- DC+0 to DC+4: If the target is disguised, you believe that there is something odd about them but can not identify any flaws in the disguise that actually give them away. If you attempt to remove the disguise you likely fail, and make yourself look foolish in the process. You may retry this check after another minute of observation.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You do not notice anything that would lead you to suspect that the target is disguised.
- DC-6 and below: If the target is disguised, you believe you’ve found a flaw in the disguise that you can exploit. Any attempt to exploit it will fail, however. Sometimes you’re wrong after all, and a manly woman is still a woman.
Rank 4 Uses
Forgery
Attention to detail can go both ways, allowing you to find or create forgeries and knockoffs. Anything that you can create, you can create in ways that make it look like something official or more expensive. You can create fake documents for example, make a normal sword appear to be a masterwork one, or remove the signs from a barrel of fish that would indicate its low quality. There is no set time for use of this ability as it strongly depends on what you’re working on. The DC to detect your forgery is your check result, less some special modifiers that depend on the type of object you are working with. Seeing past forged documents can be done with either an appraise check, as explained above, or a perception check against the above DC. Seeing past the forgery to an item’s true worth is covered by earlier appraise abilities, as explained above. If you’re attempting to sell a rare or exotic item for more than it is worth, and the buyer has never seen it before, you should be using bluff instead of appraise to sell it to them. Con games aren’t covered by this ability.
If you are working with art objects or sundries, you suffer a penalty that increases as you try to make it look more valuable. For items with bullshit inflated market values, like most adventuring gear and weapons, you suffer a penalty for each category improvement you wish to show.
If you are instead trying to forge a document or identifying mark (such as an imperial sigil or an artist's signature), you suffer penalties to your check based your familiarity. You must have at least glanced at an original to make a forgery of something (otherwise you’re just creating something and attempting to bluff with it), and you must be familiar with the written language if you don’t have a sample on hand to copy.
Base DC: None. Your total check result sets the DC for others.
| Condition | Check Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Increase apparent value of sundries | -1 per 10% increase |
| Increase apparent value of art object | -2 per 50% increase |
| Increase adventuring gear category (damaged to standard to masterwork) | -2 per category |
| Forging a document you’ve never seen | Not Possible |
| Forging a document you’ve only glanced at | -5 |
| Forging a document you’re familiar with | 0 |
| Forging a document you have on hand | +2 |
| Forging a security measure into a document (watermark, arcane mark) | -3 per security mark |
| Rushing a job (1/4 the time) | -5 |
| Rushing a job (1/10 the time) | -10 |
Rank 6 Uses
Eye for Magic
You can tell if an object is magical just by handling it. You may also appraise magical items; this is a full-round action with a DC of 15 + the caster level needed to create the item. A successful appraisal doesn’t mean you know what it is of course, just that you have an approximate idea of its value and power level. If you fail this check by 10 or less, you guess an incorrect value, as if you had failed to appraise a common item. If you fail by more than 10 you have no idea what it is worth.
This ability may work on artifacts, but only on ones that you would have a reasonable chance of recognizing from stories or research. As such, it is essentially up to the GM if you can appraise an artifact, as well as what the DC is.
Base DC: 15 + the caster level required to create the item, or Special for artifacts
Check Result:
- DC and above: You recognize that the item is magical and determine the caster level required to create the item. You believe its value to be 2d4+5 times 10% (70% to 130%) of its actual value. It is impossible to guess its value more closely than that without knowing what it can actually do. If the item in question is an artifact, you learn its name in place of its value (which is probably incalculable anyway).
- DC-1 to DC-5: You recognize that the item is magical, but learn nothing more about it. Because you are unable to guess at its level of power, you learn nothing of its value.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to recognize the item as magical at all, and guess its value as if it were a mundane item.
Rank 8 Uses
Identify Magic Items
You’ve learned enough about items that you can identify them fairly accurately. You can determine the properties of any item you know to be magical, or you may attempt this check on an item you simply believe to be magical. The DC for this check is 15 + the caster level required to create the item, though it can not be used on artifacts. It takes an hour to learn the properties of an item, at the end of which you make this check. If you have activated the item blindly with another skill, you may make your initial check for the item after only 10 minutes.
Base DC: 15 + the caster level required to create the item
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: You learn every function of the item, and their methods of activation. This doesn’t mean you can use every function, just that you know them all.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You learn the function with the lowest caster level that you do not yet know, as well as its method of activation. If there are no additional functions of the item, you learn that as well. If there are additional functions, you may continue your identification after another hour and another check.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You learn nothing about the item this hour, but you may attempt identification again after another hour and another check.
- DC-6 and below: You’re not sure if you offended the item or not with your poorly thought out groping and babbling, but it’s probably best to leave it alone for now. You learn nothing and can not attempt further until you gain another rank in the skill.
Think It Through
Your ability to appraise a situation also lets you talk others through them. You can counter confusion and fascination effects just by talking to those suffering under them, affecting up to 1 target per 2 ranks in appraise. You can not affect yourself with this ability, however, as those conditions detract from your ability to analyze a situation. As a standard action, make an appraise check against the effect’s save DC + the effect’s level (in the case of spells like Hypnotic Pattern or Confusion) or 10 + the effect initiator’s character level + the effect initiator’s Chr modifier (in the case of supernatural abilities without an effect level). If you succeed on the check, you suppress the ability as indicated in the check result table below. Only make one roll for the round, and compare that roll to the DCs for each effect to see which are suppressed and which are not.
Base DC: Effect Save DC + Effect level, or 10 + Initiator’s Character Level + Cha mod
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You dispel the effect on your targets. This probably annoys whoever placed it on them.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You suppress the effect in your targets for this round, and may continue suppressing it for up to two additional rounds without an additional check. You must spend a swift action in the additional rounds to keep the effects suppressed however. At the end of that time the effects return if their duration has not expired, though you may make a new check as a standard action to suppress them again.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You suppress the effect in your targets for this round. Next round the effects return if their duration has not expired, though you may make a new check as a standard action to suppress them again.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You fail to affect the ability this round, but may try again next round if you wish.
- DC-6 and below: After accidentally talking them deeper into their condition, you become unable to affect this instance of the ability at all. Any further retries are futile, and you should really find something else to do with your actions next round.
Concentration
Key Attribute: Wisdom
Untrained Uses
None. Sorry, you actually can’t do this stuff without a bit of training.
Rank 1 Uses
Ignore Distraction
It’s tough to pick a lock while you’re being melted with acid, pick a pocket while you’re bleeding out of your ears, or cast a spell while you’re being molested by plants. If you focus hard enough though, you can block these distractions out. Generally, a distraction will be listed as a modifier on a different skill check. As a swift action you may attempt to block the distraction entirely, such that you suffer no penalty from that condition or conditions. The standard DC for this check is 15; it rises to 20 for conditions where you are partially restrained or being tossed about or, for magical distractions, the save DC of the distracting spell. You must wait a full round between retries of this check, delaying whatever other task you had intended to complete.
Base DC: 15, or 20 if you are partially restrained / being moved by outside forces, or the save DC of the distracting spell
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: You successfully tune the distraction out, and may proceed with your work without penalty.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You fail to block the distraction, but it doesn’t cause you to miss a step. You make your check as usual, suffering full penalties for the distraction.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to block the distraction, and actually get a bit caught up in it. You lose the entire round, and must work through the distraction on subsequent turns.
Rank 4 Uses
Get Out of my Head!
The concentration skill may be used to fight off any lingering effects that would require a Will save. This includes almost all charm and compulsion effects like Charm Person or Suggestion, mental confusion effects, mental paralysis effects like Hold Person, and other status effect inducing effects. While it does include persistent damage over time effects that do not allow additional saves, it does not include instantaneous damage effects. If a spell contains both an instantaneous damage effect and a status effect, only the status effect may be fought with this ability. If you fail a save against such an effect you suffer the full effect immediately but perhaps not all of the time.
The DC for this check is the save DC + the spell level, or 10 + CR + relevant stat mod. This check is a free action, made on your turn after suffering an eligible effect. The check results below indicate how you respond to the mental effect.
Base DC:Spell save DC + the spell level, or 10 + CR + relevant stat mod
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You shrug off the effect as if you had made your saving throw, suffering all effects normally associated with a successful saving throw. You no longer need to make these checks, as there is nothing left to fight against from this effect.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You are able to act normally this round, as you fight the cloud in your mind back for now. You gain a +2 cumulative bonus to any future checks to resist the effect.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You are able to take a standard action normally this round, as you work to keep your mind your own. You gain a +1 cumulative bonus to any future checks to resist the effect.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You force yourself to get a swift action off normally this round, though you are gradually losing the will necessary to resist. You suffer a -1 cumulative penalty to any future checks to resist the effect. If your total penalty reaches -5 you immediately suffer the full effects of the spell or ability and may no longer make checks to resist it.
- DC-6 and below: You are unable to will yourself to take any action free of the effect this round, instead suffering fully under your mental condition this round. You suffer a -2 cumulative penalty to any future checks to resist the effect. If your total penalty reaches -5 you immediately suffer the full effects of the spell or ability and may no longer make checks to resist it.
Photographic Memorization
Once you’ve seen something, you can pretty easily recall it. You can attempt to memorize a written string of numbers, a long passage of verse, a street scene, or some other particularly difficult piece of information. While you can memorize magical writing or similarly exotic scripts with this ability, you never gain the ability to understand or translate them if you did not have at the time you memorized it. The DC for this check is 20, though non-static magical work or extraordinarily complicated work may have a DC as high as 30, and the check requires one full minute of concentration. Each successful check allows you to memorize a single page of text (up to 800 words), numbers, diagrams, or sigils (even if you don’t recognize their meaning). If a document is longer than one page, you can make additional checks for each additional page.
Once memorized you retain this information indefinitely; however, you can recall it only with another successful check as a swift action. Once recalled you have access to it for 1 minute and can read it, describe it, attempt to analyze it, or even put it to paper or canvas as long as you have the proper implements at hand. You can not properly recreate a magical or exotic image that you did not understand, however. Your lack of understanding will make you unable to get or properly utilize some of the proper implements. You’ll know the recreation is wrong though, and can express that to others, so they’ll be able to treat any recreation as an approximation or degraded source. These recreations are not generally useful. This is why most people don’t memorize things they don’t comprehend, since it’s rarely useful to anybody. That doesn’t stop you from doing it if you want to though.
Base DC: 20, though it may rise to 30 for exceedingly complicated scenes, images, or texts.
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: You successfully memorize the image, storing it away for later recall. If you were attempting to recall it, you do that instead, and have access to the image for one minute before you have to make an additional check.
- DC-1 and below: You fail to store the image, and you know it, so you probably try again if you have the time. If you were attempting to recall it, you fail to do so this round, but can try again next round time permitting.
Devices
Key Attribute: Intelligence
| Note for the GM |
| Even though there may be temptation to make these checks yourself so players don’t know how well they do, you really should let players roll them. You don't need to tell them the disable DC, all you need to tell them is if they learn how it works, believe they have disabled it, or have set it off. If they roll catastrophically low, they probably set it off and know it. If they roll very well, they know how it works and how to bypass it so there’s not much suspense there. The middle case is the fun one; since they don’t actually know how they did compared to the DC they may open the still trapped door. In this setup, you don't actually lose anything by allowing your players to roll their own checks. Your players retain control over their actions and their rolls and you still get to surprise them once in a while when they roll poorly. Everyone wins! |
The devices skill is an applied skill that helps you bypass dangers. With it you can disarm mechanical traps, disable waiting magics, open secured locks, and sabotage complex devices.
Base DC Modifiers
| Condition | DC Modifier | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing: 2d4 to 1d4 rounds | +2 | Disabling a trap twice as fast. |
| Rushing: 1d4 to 1 round | +5 | Disabling a trap in 1 round. |
| Attempting to hide your work | +5 | Disabling a trap, but making it hard to see that you have done so. |
| Device has been tampered with | +5 | Attempting to disable a device after someone else has done so. If they attempted to hide their work, you may suffer this penalty without knowing it. You do not suffer this penalty on your own retries, however, assuming you know that the previous attempt was a failure and actually need to try again. |
Untrained Uses
Smash simple devices
While anyone can point a spike into an arrow trap to prevent it from coming out, or dip a lock in acid to get it to open, it takes a check to disable simple things with less brute force. This ability allows you to disable a trip wire without triggering it and other obvious, relatively simple stuff. Simple devices also include simple bits of sabotage, suck as jamming a lock so it is unusable rather than smashing it into bits. In general, you may disable any device or perform an act of sabotage with a base DC of 10 or less.
The base DC for this check is the disable DC of the lock, trap, or desired sabotage modified by the conditions of the task. You must spend 2d4 rounds working on the device before you make your check, though you may rush the job. Your check result indicates whether you complete the task. You may still use this ability even if the modified DC is raised above 10 with these modifiers.
Since you don’t actually know the disable DC of a particular device, you can attempt to disable anything you want with this ability. Attempts to disarm tricky devices (DC 11 to 20) are treated as attempting to use the rank 1 ability, and subject to the standard disable length and a -5 check penalty. Any attempt to disarm fiendish devices (DC 21 and above) is treated as an attempt to use the Disable Fiendish Devices ability. If you are unable to use this ability due to a lack of ranks, you automatically fail regardless of how well you roll and spring the trap immediately.
Base DC: As disable device DC (which may not exceed 10 with this ability) + special modifiers
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: You believe you have disabled the device, and actually have. Good job.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You believe you have disabled the device, but really haven’t.
- DC-6 and below: You don’t believe you have disabled the device, because it triggers or otherwise does the worst possible thing for you. If you were attempting to damage a lever so that the gate stayed closed, for example, you have instead damaged the lever and stuck the gate in an open position.
Rank 1 Uses
Disable Tricky Devices
You know a bit about how mechanical traps, locks, and other devices work, and can successfully disable more difficult devices. Tricky devices include traps with DCs between 11 and 20. Straightforward sabotage of mechanical devices like weapon handles or wagon wheels rests in the DC 11-15 range, while more complicated sabotage like bowstrings that snap on first use are between 16 and 20.
The base DC for this check is the disable DC of the lock, trap, or desired sabotage modified by the conditions of the task. You must spend 2d4 rounds working on the device before you make your check, though you may rush the job. Your check result indicates whether you complete the task. You may still use this ability even if the modified DC is raised above 20 with these modifiers. You may retry this check if you have reason to believe the check failed and a retry would still be appropriate, like when you test a door and find it still locked.
If you attempt to hide your work, the DC to notice your tampering is equal to your check result +5. If this is lower than the search DC of the device, it is obvious to anyone who discovers it. If it is higher than the search DC of the device, it is only obvious if their search check exceeds the DC you set.
Since you don’t actually know the disable DC of a particular device, you can attempt to disable anything you want with this ability. Any attempt to disarm fiendish devices (DC 21 and above) is treated as an attempt to use the Disable Fiendish Devices ability. If you are unable to use this ability due to a lack of ranks, you automatically fail regardless of how well you roll and spring the trap immediately.
Base DC: As device DC (which may not exceed 20 with this ability) + special modifiers
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You understand how the device operates, and how to simply bypass it if you want. You can deactivate the device if you like, leave it active and just walk past it (along with anyone else you want to direct), or temporarily disable it so that you can re-enable it later on with only a standard action. If you were instead attempting to sabotage the device, you have done a very fine job of it.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You understand how the device operates. You can deactivate the device if you like or leave it active and just walk past it (along with anyone else you want to direct). If you were instead attempting to sabotage the device, you have done a very fine job of it.
- DC+0 and above: You believe you have disabled or sabotaged the device, and actually have. Good job.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You believe you have disabled or sabotaged the device, but really haven’t.
- DC-6 and below: You don’t believe you have disabled or sabotaged the device, because it triggers, breaks, or otherwise does the worst possible thing for you. If you were attempting to damage a gear so that a gate stayed closed, for example, you have instead damaged the lever and stuck the gate in an open position. This is generally not repairable without substantial time and effort or handy replacement parts.
Rank 4 Uses
Disable Fiendish Devices
You’ve got all the basics down and can attempt to disable anything you run across, mundane or magical. You can attempt to disarm any mechanical trap with a DC of 21 or higher, as well as perform complicated, precision sabotage. You can also disarm magical traps, which makes you fun to take into wizard tombs.
The base DC for this check for physical devices is the disable DC of the lock, trap, or desired sabotage. The base DC for magical traps is 15 + caster level. Both of these base DCs are modified by the conditions of the task. You must spend 2d4 rounds working before you make your check, though you may rush the job. Your check result indicates whether you complete the task. You may retry this check if you have reason to believe the check failed and a retry would still be appropriate, like when you test a door and find it still locked.
This ability otherwise functions as the Disable Tricky Devices ability.
Base DC: As disable device DC (for physical traps) or 15 + caster level (for magical traps), + special modifiers
Check Result: As Disable Tricky Devices ability above.
Rank 6 Uses
Item Feedback
You can use your knowledge of magical traps and items to rig magic items to backfire when next used. You can specify any parameters of the spell you like or set it to simply fail; other modifications may be made to other items if your GM allows it. This would allow you to pre-determine the target of a sleep wand, change the spell activated from a stave, or even to short an item out and cause it to be inoperable for 1d4 minutes as if it had been dispelled. The DC for this check is 15 + caster level of the item, and doing so requires 1d4 rounds of work. This base DC may be modified by the conditions of the job.
Once an item has been trapped it remains so for a period determined by your check result. If you attempted to hide your work, the DC to notice your sabotage is your check result + 5. Most people don't search their gear for traps though. A trapped item can be disarmed like any other magical trap; the DC is equal to your check result + 5.
Base DC: 15 + item caster level
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You alter the functions of the device until your trap is disabled. That item won’t be much use for a while.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You successfully trap the item, and may extend your work to its next three uses if you like.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You believe you have successfully trapped the item, and this is in fact the case. When it is next activated, it behaves as you have set it.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You believe you have successfully trapped the item, but have in fact failed.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to trap the item, and instead simply drain it slightly. If it is a charged item, it also loses 1d4 charges. If it is a daily use item, it loses 1d2 daily uses. If it is a permanent or continuous use item, it becomes non-functional for 1d10 rounds. Depending on your goals, these might still be good things.
Rank 8 Uses
Pick Arcane Locks
Nothing is more annoying than a lock you can’t pick. You have learned how to disable the binding created from an Arcane Lock and similar spells in addition to regular locks. The DC to suppress an Arcane Lock is 15 + the spell’s caster level, plus conditions of the job. You must spend 2d4 rounds working on the arcane lock before you make your check, but this may be rushed. Since you know when you've failed to crack the lock, you may retry this check as long as you have not caused the lock to seize.
Base DC: 15 + spell’s caster level
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You suppress the arcane lock for 10 minutes, or may re-key it so that it believes you are the owner for the next 24 hours.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You suppress the arcane lock for 5 minutes.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You suppress the arcane lock for 1 minute.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You fail to suppress the lock. Since this will be pretty obvious after you attempt to open it, you’ll be able to retry again soon.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to suppress the lock, and also cause the door to seize. You may not attempt to suppress it again until the caster walks through it or it is suppressed in another fashion.
Hey, Look, A Trap
With a bit of work, you can make it look like an object is trapped. With 1d4 rounds worth of work, you add enough bits to fake a trap. Since the trap is intended to slow people down instead of actually harming them (which would be accomplished with an actual trap), this false trap is easy to find, requiring only a DC 10 search check to uncover. When an attempt is made to disarm it, the attempt is always successful, revealing the trap to be a fake.
Rank 10 Uses
Disable Active Spell
Spells waiting in traps are really just practice for active spells that are less forgiving. You are able to dispel magic that is active on objects or in an area, but you are unable to dispel magic that is active upon specific creatures. This would allow you to disable invisibility on an object, a wall of fire, or even an Antipathy effect (since it affects an area) but not to remove a charm monster or sleep effect (which affects specific creatures in an area at the time of casting). The DC for this check is 15 + the spell’s caster level plus conditions of the job. The check is made after 1d4 rounds, though it may be rushed. You must be adjacent or in the same square as the spell to attempt this check, likely suffering under the effects of the spell for that time.
Base DC:15 + spell's caster level
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: You disable the effect, ending it as if it entered an anti-magic field or was disjoined if you so choose.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You disable the effect, ending it as if it were dispelled.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You fail to disable the effect, but can try again later if it doesn’t consume you first.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to disable the effect, but succeed in altering it such that you can’t actually try to end it with this ability anymore. It can still be dispelled, disjoined, suppressed by an anti-magic field, or even disabled by someone else normally though.
Dowsing
Key Attribute: Wisdom
Healing
Key Attribute: Charisma
The healing skill is an active skill that allows you restore the health of yourself and your allies. With it you can bind wounds, treat poison, accelerate natural healing, and even bring the recently dead back to life.
Special
The healing skill is intended to be used on creatures with a familiar anatomy. Some tasks, like binding wounds and treating poison, are fairly universal and can be applied to any living being while others, like accelerate healing, require some special knowledge to use effectively on non-humanoid creatures. If it seems unlikely that a healer would know how to work on a particular target, they suffer a -5 penalty to their check.
Untrained Uses
Treat Wound
Nothing is worse than watching a friend bleed to death on you, although tiptoeing around a battle because you stepped in caltrops is close. With a DC 15 healing check and a standard action you can reduce recurring hit point loss, like the 1 point/round suffered while at negative hit points or bleeding damage, or attempt to treat a debilitating injury, like those suffered from caltrops. The success of your attempt as well as how much you reduce the bleeding of a patient is indicated in the check results below.
If the patient is only losing hit points because they are below 0, they stop dying and become stable. Any condition mitigated by this is not immediately removed, and if the bandages are removed before the condition expires naturally the bleeding and condition resume. If the condition expires upon healing it is removed after 5 rounds of binding.
Note: this ability supersedes the text of many spells; this is intentional. If an orison can eliminate the penalty as a standard action, the DC for a skill to de the same really is only 15 and it really doesn’t take a minute. If you don’t like that for some reason, change the healing required to eliminate the penalty in the spells.
Base DC: 15
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: You stop all bleeding on the subject, and suppress any injury based movement penalty until the duration expires, it heals, or the bindings are removed.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You reduce bleeding by 1 point plus 1 for each 2 points your check exceeds 15. If the amount that you reduced bleeding by would heal an injury based debilitating condition, that condition is also suppressed until the duration expires, it heals, or the bindings are removed.
- DC-1 and below: You neither reduce bleeding not mitigate any injury based debilitating conditions this round. But at least you didn’t make them worse.
Rank 1 Uses
Care for Patients
You know the rudiments of healing, and can provide more care than simple wound bindings. With a DC 15 healing check, you may care for up to six patients; you may care for an additional patient for every 2 points that you exceed the DC. If you do not meet the DC, you are able to care for one fewer patient for each point your roll missed the DC by. You may care for yourself in this way, though you count as two patients, but you may not be someone else’s patient while caring for others.
While under your care, patients recover hit points and ability damage twice as quickly as normal. With a full day of rest, for example, a character would recover four hit points per character level and four points of ability damage. Additionally, you can make a healing check for each patient suffering a disease under your care; they can use your check in place of their save if it is higher. You may treat patients while travelling without penalty, though most forms of movement are active enough that you will only gain the healing benefit from the evening’s rest.
Base DC: 15, and as disease DC
Check Result: See text.
Mitigate Poison
You can help victims survive beyond the initial stab of a nasty poison. As a standard action, you can treat a poisonous wound. The next time that the victim makes a save against the effects of the poison, you also make a healing check. They may use your healing check in place of their save if it is higher. You may mitigate your own poisoned wounds as well, allowing you both a healing check and a saving throw at next check, but this requires a full round action.
Base DC: As poison DC
Check Result: A successful check saves a patient from further poison damage even if they fail their saving throw.
Rank 4 Uses
Triage Assessment
It’s useful to know who you can save with your healing knowledge, and who you’d be wasting your time on. As a move action, you can make a healing check to determine someone’s condition. The DC for this check is 15, meeting that DC will let you know whether your target is below one-quarter of their maximum hit points, if they are dying you learn their exact negative hp amount, as well as whether or not they are suffering from any bleeding effects, diseases, or poisons. Diseases and poisons in their incubation periods are not detected with this ability. For every 2 points you exceed the DC by you can also learn one of the following things: the lowest unknown DC of a disease they are suffering from (in the event of a tie determine randomly), the effect of a failed save against a disease of known DC, the lowest unknown DC of a poison they are suffering from, the time remaining until next poison save, the effect of a failed save against a poison of known DC, or the duration of a bleeding or injury based debility effect
Base DC: 15
Check Result: See text.
Rank 6 Uses
Immediate Healing
You can work wonders with bandages, leaches, and almost no time. As a full round action you can attempt to heal someone of damage. The DC is 15 + their level or your level (whichever is less). Each additional check on a patient before they have taken a full night’s rest suffers a cumulative +5 DC penalty; you’ve got talent, there is a limit to what you can accomplish with a patient without actual time and rest. The amount that you heal is based on your check result, as indicated below.
Base DC: 15 + your level or your target’s level, whichever is less, +5 for each additional check before a full night’s rest
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: You heal your patient either one quarter of their maximum hit points or one quarter of your maximum hit points, whichever is less.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You heal your patient either one eighth of their maximum hit points or one eighth of your maximum hit points, whichever is less.
- DC-6 and below: You deal subdual damage equal to your level to your patient. You can only push a body so far.
Rank 8 Uses
Detailed Assessment
You can spend a bit of time with people, and learns thing about them they didn’t know about themselves. After you have performed a Triage Assessment on someone, you can spend 1 more minute with them and make a DC 20 heal check. On a success you learn if there are any poisons or diseases in their incubation period, and the identity and DC of whichever has the lowest DC. For every 2 points you exceed the check by you also learn the identity and DC of another disease or poison, in order of ascending DC.
Base DC: 20
Check Result: See text.
Rank 10 Uses
Accelerated Care
You’re either a fantastic doctor, or patients just can’t wait to be free of you. Patients under your care, as the above ability, heal twice the standard amount after a night of rest. Patients who take a full day of bed rest under your care heal three times the base amounts. If any patient is suffering from a disease, you can make two healing checks when they make a save; the patient uses any successful rolls from among them and may recover from the disease immediately if two of these rolls are successful.
Base DC: 15, or as disease DC
Check Result: See text
Rank 12 Uses
Resuscitate
You can drag the recently dead back to the land of the living, kicking and screaming if necessary. With 1 full round, you can attempt to bring someone who recently died back to life. The DC for this check is 15 + their CR, +1 for every round since they died, and +5 for any immediate healing attempted on them since their last rest. The results of your check are indicated in the table below. As the person or creature hasn’t fully entered the afterlife yet, they have no idea who is attempting to bring them back and would be unable to resist even if they did.
Base DC: 15 + target’s CR, +1 for every round since they died, and +5 for each immediate healing attempted on them since their last rest
Check Result:
- DC+10 and above: You bring the target back from the dead. Their current hit points are set to either one quarter of their maximum or one quarter of your maximum, whichever is less. This counts as an attempt at immediate healing. Seems they were only mostly dead.
- DC+5 to DC+9: You bring the target back from the dead. Their current hit points are set to either one eighth of their maximum or one eighth of your maximum, whichever is less. This counts as an attempt at immediate healing.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You bring the target back from the dead. Their current hit points are set to 0, and they should probably take it easy for a bit. This counts as an attempt at immediate healing.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You fail to bring the dead back this round. You’re welcome to continue pounding on their chest and breathing into their mouth or whatever and try again next round.
- DC-6 and below: You not only fail to bring the dead back this round, but you’ve made certain that you can’t bring them back in future rounds with this ability. You’d be tried for murder if they weren’t already dead.
Perception
Key Attribute: Wisdom
Special
| ”Roll a perception check…” |
| Those are words you should never say again unless the player asks if they can make something out. When you volunteer those words you ruin immersion, break the mood, and alert the players that there’s something they should be looking for that they weren’t previously. The “Take 0” rule for perception ensures that some players will simply become aware of things that happen and you can just tell them about it. If there’s a brief flash of lightning that outlines the villain’s army against the dark night or a faint scream from somewhere deep in the dungeon, you can just tell the player with a perception bonus that would allow them to notice it, and thus deepen the atmosphere. If they want to try to make something out of it, and it’s going on long enough for them to get the rest of the party to quit being a distraction, they will get their perception check to learn more about it. In this way the check is an active thing in response to a set piece instead of a reactive thing that serves as a warning, just like it should be. |
All characters should be considered to be taking 0 on their perception checks, all of the time. Seriously. They may not be actively paying attention, but they don’t ignore everything either. If a character would not need to roll to detect or notice something, they need not spend any action to do so.
At low levels, this means that anytime a character is not distracted and is exposed to an event with a DC no greater than their perception ranks + 5 they are at least aware of it. If the event has a notice DC no greater than their perception ranks, they detect it clearly. And if the event has a DC 5 less than their ranks in perception, they know details about it because they can make them out. Being distracted just means that the characters have one step less information. This is simply the effects of the Notice ability applied to taking 0 on a roll.
At higher levels they might automatically detect poor magical forgeries or see right through low level illusions. This means it is possible for a high level character to automatically see a low level sneak without even rolling or announcing that they are keeping a wary eye, and all of that is both fine and good. It’s part of what makes higher level characters harder to manipulate in social settings, and also the only way to write a perception skill so that actually keeping a wary eye or actively trying to see what's going on means anything.
This is such an important concept that there’s even a sidebar here to reinforce it.
Base DCs and Modifiers
| Notice Example | Base DC | Standard Range | Additional Range Increment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read a Book | -5 | 2 ft. | 1 ft. |
| Condition | Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| Somewhat familiar with target, knows what to look for but may not have experienced the event directly |
+2 |
| Familiar with target, has witnessed before | +4 |
| Very familiar with target, many previous interactions | +8 |
| Distracted | -5 |
| align="center"| -8 | |
| Ambient conditions impair a sense used to notice event | -2 |
| Ambient conditions block a sense used to notice event | -5 |
| Ambient conditions block all senses that could notice event | N/A1 |
| Additional range increments to event | -12 |
| Hurrying: standard action to move action | -2 |
| Hurrying: standard action to swift action | -5 |
| |
Untrained Uses
Discern Fraud
Forged documents are as good a liar as any silver tongued devil, but they sit in front of you and let you examine them for a longer time. Disguised individuals aren’t much different, since they practically parade in front of you. With a full-round action and a perception check, you can spot counterfeit objects and creatures, and deal with those who would pass them off on you appropriately. The base DC for this check is determined by whoever created the falsehood, and modified by your distance as indicated in the table above.
Base DC: Check result of forgery or disguise, + conditions
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: You recognize if it is a fake and can even point out several places they went wrong, if you’re into mocking people who try to slip one by you. You automatically succeed at convincing others that it is a counterfeit.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You realize if the thing in front of you is a fake. If you attempt to convince someone else that it is a fake, they gain a +4 bonus on their check.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You believe something is off about the document or individual, but don't have any strong evidence to point at. You may retry this check or simply wait for your target to slip up and reveal themselves.
- DC-6 and below: You believe that it’s genuine, and can not retry this check unless you have new reason to suspect the object. Note that if you make this check on an authentic object you will still get this result, so you shouldn’t discount it just because you think something is up. Sometimes you’re just paranoid.
Notice
You have eyes, ears, and various other sense organs that allow you to notice things going on in your world. While you are always assumed to be paying some attention to the world, and thus taking 0 with the ability, actually making a check with this ability implies that you are focusing on your senses to take your surroundings in. Thus using this ability requires a standard action, though you use a smaller action with a penalty to indicate your lack of attention. The DC to notice or detect something is dependant on the type event it, and modified by local conditions. Sample DCs are listed above, as are the conditions that provide a penalty to your check.
A notice check uses all of your relevant senses. You do not roll multiple times in a round for multiple senses. If you get a bonus to a particular sense, then that bonus applies to this ability whenever that sense would help you notice the event.
Base DC: Event DC + conditions
Check Result:
- DC+5 and above: You notice the event very clearly, and can make out fine details about it that others might have difficulty with.
- DC+0 to DC+4: You notice the thing in question, and are rather clear about what it is.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You noticed... something. You’re not sure of any details, but there was definitely something there. If it’s still there next round you may be able to find out more with another check.
- DC-6 and below: You didn’t notice a thing.
Rank 8 Uses
See the Invisible, Hear the Silenced
By focusing on one of your senses, you can ignore illusory sensation and instead notice the reality beneath. You can pierce illusions affecting only one sense at a time: sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing. You can not pierce illusions with more than one sense at a time. Attempting to pierce illusions is a standard action; the DC for this check is 15 + caster level of the illusion, modified by conditions as above. A special exception is made for being distracted, however, and you do not suffer that penalty when you use this ability.
This check is valid against all illusions that interact with the selected sense, and so your check is compared against the DC of any effect in range. Any illusions with a DC lower than your check are treated as illusions for your selected sense, though you may need to spend actions on future rounds to maintain your clarity.
This is mostly useful for piercing single sense illusions, like invisibility or silence, since it only works against a single sense at a time. Against anything affecting more senses, a save is really your only option. Since you can only pierce illusions for a particular sense at a time, your other senses are still firmly convinced that the sensation is real. This means you can’t simply ignore multi-sense illusions that you have partially pierced. Piercing an illusion counts as interacting with it, however, and you may then attempt a will save to disbelieve as per normal rules. Since you know that it is an illusion, you gain a +4 bonus on this save.
Base DC: 15 + illusion caster level, + conditions (except distracted)
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: The chosen sense pierces the illusion and understands it to be such. The illusion is persistent, however, and you must spend a swift action every round following to maintain the level of focus, carrying your check result into each new round.
- DC-1 and below: Whether it was cast by someone more skilled than yourself or you simply lack the necessary concentration, you fail to pierce the illusory sensory component for the illusion. There is nothing stopping you from retrying next round if you want though.
Rank 10 Uses
Discern Transformation
Magical transmutations of objects can be forgeries as well, since they could revert to their original form at some point in the future. You can discern these magical alterations, in both people and objects. Like the discern fraud ability, this is a full-round action. The DC is 15 + caster level, and the check results are the same as for the mundane ability.
Base DC: 15 + transmutation caster level, + conditions
Check Result: As Discern Fraud ability.
Rank 14 Uses
Sight Beyond Sight
Perception is strong with you, so strong that you can pierce illusions affecting all of your senses at once. Using this ability actively is a standard action; the DC for this check is 15 + caster level. You can make a perception check against this DC in place of a save to pierce an illusion, even an illusion that wouldn’t normally allow a save. As you are assumed to be always taking 0 with this ability, it is possible that you will just see right though the illusions of less trained casters. Unlike the See the invisible, Hear the Silenced ability, this ability only works on a single illusion at a time.
Base DC:15 + caster level
Check Result:
- DC+0 and above: You recognize the illusion for what it is, and effectively disbelieve it.
- DC-1 to DC-5: You recognize that something is odd with the sensation, and that it might be an illusion, but are unable to actually pierce it. You may focus and retry, however.
- DC-6 and below: You fail to pierce the illusion, and may not attempt to do so again with this ability until you have gained a level. You may still defeat portions of the illusion with the See the invisible, Hear the Silenced ability.
Survival
Key Attribute: Wisdom
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