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Skills work slightly differently in Incursion then they do in its parent system. Characters can gain access to different skills in three ways: by having one or more levels in a class which has a given skill as a class skill, by selecting a race that has the skill as a racial skill or by choosing the Natural Aptitude feat, allowing the player to choose any skill as an extra skill. Some functions of some skills can be performed untrained (such as using Intuition to get a feeling about items, or using Jump to cross a distance by leaping), while most others actually require a character to have the skill, regardless of whether it comes from race, class or feat.
In addition to the binary state of either having a skill or not, every skill has a skill rating associated with it, being a sum total of various bonuses associated with the skill. Characters recieve a +2 training bonus to every skill they have; if they have a given skill as both a race and class skill, this bonus increases to +3.
Skill Ranks and Points
For every level a character has in a class, they recieve an alottment of skill points that may be distributed among the skills of that class, or any class-independant skills the character has from race or feats. The base number of available skill points gained per level in a class in then adjusted by the character's Intelligence modifier; if the character gains 8 or more skill points per class level, the Intelligence modifier is doubled (if positive). A point invested in a skill becomes a rank in that skill; the maximum number of ranks a character can have in any class skill is determined by the sum total levels a character has in classses which have that skill as a class skill. For racial skills and skills gained from feats, the maximum number of ranks is determined based upon total character level.
Levels Max Ranks | Class Skill Points
1 2 | Barbarian [4 + Int] SP/Level
2 4 | Bard [6 + Int] SP/Level
3 6 | Druid [4 + Int] SP/Level
4 7 | Mage [2 + Int] SP/Level
5 8 | Monk [4 + Int] SP/Level
6 9 | Paladin [2 + Int] SP/Level
7 10 | Priest [2 + Int] SP/Level
8 10 | Ranger [6 + Int] SP/Level
9 11 | Rogue [10 + Int] SP/Level
10 12 | Warrior [2 + Int] SP/Level
11 12 |
12 13 |
When a character is initially created, all the points gained for the first level in their chosen class must be spent before play begins. Thereafter, however, any additional levels gained give additional skill points that can be saved and spent at any time the player desires. Points from different classes are stored in different totals, because they can only be spent on skills associated with the class that granted them.
Familiar Skills
Certain skills below are tagged as [Familiar]. While there are some races and classes that excel at these, they are things that any adventurer may find need to learn to some extent. As such, any character can invest up to their character level in ranks (maximum 5) in any of these skills, even if they do not have that skill as a class skill. Multiclass characters use their normally calculated max ranks or their character level, whichever favors them more, but the allowed ranks from familiarity do not stack with the rank cap from having the skill as a class skill.
Skill Rating and Skill Checks
Your total proficiency with any given skill is called your Skill Level (sometimes 'Skill Rating') in that skill. It is the sum of an attribute modifier, your skill ranks and any other modifiers.
Each skill has an associated attribute and the secondary modifier for that attribute is part of your Skill Level. Some skills use the best or the worst of two attributes, others are always tied to a single attribute. The attribute that is currently modifying any given skill is always shown on your Character Sheet.
Every Skill Rank in a skill adds a +1 bonus to your Skill Level in that skill.
Other bonuses or penalties may apply. For example, Kobolds have a +4 racial bonus to Handle Device skill checks. As a second example, wearing full plate armor will apply a -6 armor penalty to Balance skill checks.
When you try to perform an action based on a skill, the game will roll 1d20 and add your skill rating, comparing the result to a set value called the Skill Check DC. If you equal or exceed the value, you pass the check; otherwise you fail. Often, the effectiveness of the action is determined by how high your skill roll is, rather than simply a binary pass/fail based on the skill DC. Some skill checks are shown at the bottom of the screen (and placed in the game log if the proper option is set), while others are made silently behind the scenes by the game, either to avoid revealing something to the player or simply to avoid 'message spam'.
When rolling an Animal Empathy, ... check, the roll is made twice and the better result taken; the same benefit applies for any skill you have chosen the Skill Focus feat for. If you choose Skill Focus for one of the above-listed skills, you roll three times and take the best result. This is significant because being able to gain semi-reliable skill checks can be very valuable in a roguelike game.
Synergy Bonuses
Characters recieve synergy bonuses to skills based on having invested ranks in skills related to the skill in question -- for example, learning Jump improves one's ability to Tumble as well. The synergy bonus is taken by taking the skill ranks of the influencing skill, dividing it by a set factor, and applying the result as a bonus to the original skill. All of the synergy bonuses in Incursion are listed in the table below:
Skill Synergy Bonus Granted
Bluff [Sense Motive Ranks / 3]
Climb [Athletics Ranks / 4],
[Balance Ranks / 3]
Diplomacy [Sense Motive Ranks / 3]
Disguise [Bluff Ranks / 3]
Handle Device [Concentration Ranks / 3]
Heal [Wilderness Lore Ranks / 5]
Intimidate [Sense Motive Ranks / 3]
Jump [Athletics Ranks / 4],
[Tumble Ranks / 5]
Know. (Infernal) [Know. (Planes) Ranks / 3]
Know. (Magic) [Know. (Planes) Ranks / 5],
[Spellcraft Ranks / 5]
Know. (Planes) [Know. (Theology) Ranks / 4]
Lockpicking [Concentration Ranks / 4],
[Handle Device Ranks / 3]
Listen [Concentration Ranks / 4]
Metamagic [Know. (Magic) Ranks / 4]
Perform [Sense Motive Ranks / 3]
Pick Pocket [Bluff Ranks / 4]
Ride [Animal Empathy Ranks / 3]
Spellcraft [Know. (Magic) Ranks / 5]
Spot [Concentration Ranks / 4]
Swim [Athletics Ranks / 4]
Tumble [Balance Ranks / 3]
[Jump Ranks / 5]
Differences from the OGL System
Veteran gamers will note a few differences from Incursion's base system here. Points cannot be invested in 'cross-class' skills, maximum ranks grow rapidly initially and then slow down, no more points are gained at 1st character level than any other, and so forth. All of this is quite intentional -- Incursion characters are intended to start out specialized with ranks in only a few skills, and then grow to master more as the game progresses.
THE SKILL MANAGER {SM}
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The skill manager is relatively simple and straightforward to use. Your character has a pool of unspent skill ranks for the currently displayed class shown as asterisks at the top of the window. Skill points tentatively invested into skills are instead shown as asterisks in that skill's listing instead.
Press [Up] and [Down] to move up and down the skill list, and press [Right] to assign a single rank to a skill, or [Left] to remove an assigned rank from a skill. Pressing [Enter] will make the assigned ranks permanent and leave the skill manager after asking for confirmation, while pressing [Esc] will cancel any changes made and close the skill manager. A multiclass character can cycle through all the classes she has one or more levels in by pressing [Tab].
Pressing [PgDn] or [PgUp] will scroll the description of the currently selected skill shown, as usual with scrolling in Incursion.
THE SKILLS PROPER
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Here follows the full descriptions, with game effects, of all the skills in Incursion. Skills can have three types of uses:
Active: The player must actively choose to use the skill for it to come into play. Normally, this means that the skill will be listed by name on the Use Special Ability ('u') command's menu.
Passive: These skill uses are rolled (or modifiers applied) whenever an appropriate situation arises; they work for the player on a constant basis and no action needs to be taken to use them.
Talking: These skill uses are used to resolve the outcome of social actions initiated with the Talk ('t') command, but are otherwise like Active applications.
Alchemy
(Active) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Gnomes, Bards, Mages, Monks, Rogues, Assassins, Loremasters.
Effects:The Alchemy skill has the following effects:
* Identify Potions (Passive): Characters with exceptional ratings in the Alchemy skill can identify potions. This requires a check against a DC of 15 + twice the depth the potion is usually found at, and is only made one per potion, ever.
* Create Alchemical Items (Active): The primary purpose of the Alchemy skill is the manufacture of alchemical items. A character with the Alchemy skill and access to an alchemy kit can create a number of different items equal to their Alchemy skill rating, albiet with a cost in both experience and time.
* Potion Formulas (Passive): A character with the Brew Potions feat is able to create potions; the number of formulas for potions she knows is based on the average of her skill ratings in Alchemy and Knowledge (Magic). This total does not include any potions she may be able to manufacture as a result of knowing the spell the potion is based on. * Identify Potions (Passive): When your character drinks an unknown potion, and the effect is not immediately obvious, an Alchemy check is allowed against a DC of 10 + the potion's depth in order to identify the effect that potions of that type contain.
Animal Empathy
(Active) best of INT and WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Druids, Rangers, Twilight Huntsmen.
Effects:The Animal Empathy skill represents a primal, empathic link with wild beasts, and has the following use:
* Influence Animals (Passive): This skill allows you to communicate with animals and magical beasts. You can pacify angry animals, making them nonhostile. You can cow angry animals, making them afraid of you. You can soothe allied animals, removing sleep and fear. Finally, you can befriend nonhostile animals, turning them into temporary party members. The DC for an Animal Empty skill check is 15 + the challenge rating of the animal.
Appraise
(Active) [Familiar] WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Drow, Halflings, Bards, Druids, Mages, Monks, Paladins, Rogues, Assassins, Loremasters, Sentinels, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Community priests.
Effects: The Appraise skill has the following Passive uses. All represent new information that shows up in the window when you examine a monster:
* Discern Hiding Awareness (Passive): When you are Hiding in Shadows and you examine a creature, the game will tell you if that creature is aware or unaware of your presence if your [Appraise - 4] is equal to or higher than the subject's Bluff. Otherwise, you do not recieve any indication.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The primary utility of Appraise is the ability to appraise monsters. By carefully observing other creatures and noting tell-tale signs in their behaviour, a character with a high Appraise skill can learn a great deal about intelligent creatures. Appraise is the primary skill that is used to identify the true nature of monsters who initially appear as other kinds of monsters -- a character might spot a vampire, dragon or wererat posing as a normal human, or discern that a kobold is in fact a skilled kobold rogue merely be watching the way she moves. Appraise is not the only skill that helps to identify monsters -- many Knowledge skills aid as well, and Appraise affects only intelligent creatures, but it is the only skill that allows a character to determine if a monster has class levels, or to tell a human priest apart from a human mage.
The check to identify a monster is made automatically the very first time the player character sees the monster. The DC of a check to identify a creature's fundamental nature (telling a vampire apart from a normal human) is DC 10 + the subject's CR, whereas discerning a creature's class or level of skill is DC 15 + CR. This check is only ever made once; if it is successful, the game will tell the player that her character's knowledge aided in identifying the creature in question.
* Sense Motivation (Passive, Unimplemented): The Appraise skill can be used to determine what a creature desires, and how it feels about other creatures around it. Learning this information requires that the character possess a Sense Motive skill of 7, plus the subject's CR, plus 1 per 10 feet currently between the subject and the PC; it's harder to discern motives at a great range, since it involves observing body language. If the player character's Appraise level is sufficient, this information will automatically appear in the monster's description when it is examined.
* Discern Strain (Passive, Unimplemented): Strain represents the status of a follower's relationship with her leader. If a character has an Appraise skill of [10 + a subject's CR], she can see how much strain that creature's leader has accumulated toward it -- the higher a creature's strain, the more likely it is to snap and turn on its leader if something happens that should offend it.
* Psionic Combat (Passive, Unimplemented): The Sense Motive skill is useful for discerning the psychological weaknesses of other characters, and thus plays a strong role in psionic combat. The threat range of a character's psionic attack modes increases by +1 for every full +5 Appraise a psychic character possesses.
Athletics
(Passive) [Familiar] best of STR and CON
Possessed By: Some Humans, Orcs, Barbarians, Monks, Paladins, Rogues, Warriors, Earthsingers, Master Archers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors.
Effects:The Athletics skill has the following effects:
* Increased Movement (Passive): The Athletics skill increases a character's base movement rate. For every +2 worth of a character's overall Athletics rating, her movement rate increases by 5%.
* Increased Fatigue (Passive): Athletic activity also improves endurance and general health. A character with this skill adds [Athletics / 3] to her maximum total Fatigue points.
* Train Attributes (Passive): A character with a high Athletics skill maintains a regular program of calisthenics, dietary management, body training and so forth in order to improve her physical prowess. In game terms, this makes it easier for her to exercise her physical Attributes to gain inherant Attribute bonuses. A character that has the Athletics skill needs only [100 - Skill Rating] percentile points to successfully gain a +1 inherant bonus to Strength, Dexterity or Constitution rather than the full 100.
Balance
(Active) DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Lizardfolk, Monks, Rogues, Assassins, Earthsingers, Master Archers, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors.
Effects:The Balance skill has the following effects:
* Resist Knockdown (Passive): The balance skill aids you in resisting knockdown and knockback in combat; you gain a bonus to the saving throw equal to half your Balance skill rating if you have Balance as a class skill.
* Tightrope Walking (Active): Characters with a rating of 10 or higher in the Balance skill are able to do tightrope walking. Using the skill at the edge of a chasm or other dangerous terrain will create a rope walk-line from your current position to the nearest wall in the specified direction. Every square so affected consumes 10 feet of rope. You must thus have both sufficient rope and a crossbow (to use to fire the rope, like a grappel gun) to do this. Creating a tightrope bridge does not require a skill check, but you do have to have Balance 10+ to do it.
Moving while on a tightrope requires a Balance check (DC 15) for every square covered. If you suffer damage while on the tightrope, you must make a Balance check against DC 20 + 2 per 5% of your total hit points suffered. Failing either of these checks causes you to suffer the effects of the terrain you fall onto, to become prone and to be unable to use the tightrope bridge again until you reach solid flooring.
* Terrain Effects (Passive): Some types of terrain -- notably ice -- require a Balance check to cross or fight on without suffering some side effect, as described in the terrain in question.
* Invisibility to Tremorsense (Passive): Characters with a Balance score of 20+ are able to move so carefully and softly as to be immune to Tremorsense whenever they are Hiding. At 30+, they are immune to Tremorsense at all times, whether they are hiding or not.
* Mounted Casting (Passive): Casting while mounted normally takes a character 15 phases more than usual; characters with Balance 20+ are exempt from this restriction.
* Aeriel Casting (Passive): Characters using magic to fly or levitate must succeed in a Balance check to correctly perform the somatic components of a spell. The DC of this check is 7 + (Spell Level x 3).
Bluff
(Active) CHA
Possessed By: Some Humans, Drow, Bards, Rogues, Warriors, Alienists, Assassins, Shadowdancers, Underdark Warriors, Trickery priests.
Effects: The Bluff skill has these uses:
* Exploitation (Talking): Characters can use the Bluff skill to exploit others, convincing them that damage inflicted wasn't a hostile act and causing creatures who have become hostile as the result of being attacked or suffering damage to become neutral again. Thus, a character with high Bluff can convince summoned creatures to set off traps, use allies as cannon fodder, etc. and still manage to retain their loyalty. This can't be used to change the attitude of creatures who begin play hostile (use Diplomacy for that) -- it is only effective on creatures who began friendly or neutral and became hostile as a result of later events. The DC for this ability varies based on many different circumstances. Exploitation is an evil act -- unless it is used on an inherantly evil creature.
* Create Distraction (Active): The Bluff skill can be used to create a distraction, misleading creatures observing the skill user. If this use is successful, creatures watching the skill user are not counted as witnesses for the purposes of Hiding -- the character can draw the attention of others away from her and slip into the shadows even when surronded by foes. If the character beats a given observer's distraction DC by 10 or more, that observer is so distracted that they are considered flat-footed against the Bluff user's attacks for a full round, in addition to the normal effect.
Every previous distraction attempt against the same creature increases the DC of future attempts by +2 if successful, or +5 if it fails. A character can elect to try and distract everyone watching her at the same time, but this increases the DC by +5. The base DC of a distraction attempt is 10 + the target's Will save modifier or Concentration skill rating, whichever is superior -- for multiple targets, the highest DC from the group determines if a distraction is successful.
* Conceal Alignment (Active): Some creatures are hostile to other creatures based on alignment, and in some cases alignment affects other skill checks, usually giving penalties; furthermore, characters with radically different alignments than a party leader's count as higher effective CR when they join a party. In all these cases, the creatures are assumed to be familiar with the player's alignment based on her reputation and past actions -- however, a character with Bluff as a class skill is assumed to be covert enough in her behaviour and activities that other creatures will not easily be able to percieve her alignment. Such a character suffers alignment-based penalties or hostility only if the subject creature's Sense Motive skill exceeds her Bluff skill. If it does not, creatures percieve her as whatever alignment favors her most -- devils will percieve her as Lawful Evil, for example, and thus be non-hostile to her and eager to deal.
* Trick Magic (Passive): A rogue's special ability to use class or race-specific magic is based on the sum of her Bluff and Use Magic scores.
* Issue Requests (Talking): Characters that lack a strong rating in the Diplomacy skill can choose to use their Bluff skill in place of Diplomacy to Issue Requests. This works exactly as with Diplomacy, except that if the check fails, the target creature will become hostile as a result. Because of this added factor of danger, characters whose Bluff skill exceeds their Diplomacy skill will always be asked which they want to use when issuing a request -- they can then choose to use their lower Diplomacy score and have less chance of success, but not risk causing the creature to become hostile.
Using Bluff to issue requests (i.e., trick people into doing things for you) is an unlawful act unless it is used on monsterous creatures that aren't well recognized as people by human society, and is an evil act if used on non-evil creatures.
* Deceptive Diplomacy: In certain circumstances use of the Diplomacy skill is considered to be deceptive, and it thus requires the Bluff skill to support it. In these cases, the Diplomacy skill check suffers a -1 penalty for every point by which the target's Sense Motive skill exceeds the skill user's Bluff skill.
* Taunt (Talking): The Bluff skill can be used to taunt other characters, causing them to run up and attack you in melee as if affected by the spell dire charm. This requires a successful skill check against a DC of 10 + twice the target's Will save bonus.
Unimplimented Uses:
* Exclusive Guilds (Passive): Certain guilds do not allow members of other guilds to join them, as a result of competitive practices or old enimities between them -- the Thieves and Assassins, Justicars and Templars, the different mercenary orders, etc. A very high (15+) Bluff skill can allow a character to circumvent most of these restrictions by leading a kind of double-life using alternate identities. There is no check involved here; all that is required is a certain level of Bluff on a case-by-case basis.
* Evade Justice (Passive): When a player character angers the guard in a town or city through criminal activities, a Bluff check can be used to deny evidence and get off the hook. These checks start relatively easy, but every such check made increases the DC of all future checks for the same town or city by +2. This modifier is culmulative and never goes away.
* Reputation Buffer (Passive): When a character performs actions that would normally permanently damage his reputation and leave him with penalties to social interactions (notably killing friendly creatures outside of a dungeon), the Bluff skill gives that character a kind of buffer, allowing him to wheedle his way out of otherwise incriminating and damaging situations. Enough psychopathic behaviour will still end up with the character being unable to take allies and being shunned by all but the most chaotic and evil, but a character with Bluff as a high-rated class skill has much more leeway in this regard than most characters do.
Climb
(Active) best of STR and DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Halflings, Barbarians, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Assassins, Earthsingers, Master Archers, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors.
Effects:The Climb skill can be used in several different ways. Most of the passive applications can be invoked with the Ascend and Descend commands -- the same ones used to climb up and down stairs.
* Climb Vines/Trees (Passive): A character with a Climb skill rating of 7+ can climb trees (or giant mushrooms) and move about above the ground in a wooded area by standing in a square with a tree in it ans using the Ascend command. This does not require a skill check, merely the listed skill rating. The Descend command returns the character to ground level. If you are struck for damage while climbing in trees, you must make a Climb check against DC 10 + 2 per 5% of your total hit points suffered. Failure means you suffer falling damage, the terrain effects of whatever square you are climbing over and you become prone.
A skill check against DC 13 allows a character to move from tree to tree while elevated in this manner; with a skill check against DC 25, the character is even able to use the Jump skill as if she were on the ground. When climbing in trees, a character gains a bonus to hit and to her defense class equal to 2 + 1/6th of her Climb skill, and also benefits from 25% cover against missile attacks.
Casting a spell while climbing in trees requires a Climb check against DC 15; failure causes you to fall, and to botch the spell.
* Descend Chasm Safely (Passive): With a Climb check against DC 15, a character standing on the edge of a chasm can attempt to descend to the level below safely, coming to rest in the nearest safe square one dungeon level below where she began.
* Ascend Level (Passive): If you fall down a chasm or trapdoor trap, you can attempt a Climb roll to climb back up to the level you were on. You need to have a Climb score of at least +12 to attempt this, you must have rope equal to the distances to the nearest ledge and you need to succeed on a Climb check versus DC 20. Failure means that you suffer the falling damage again. Anytime you are underground and the game tells you there is no ceiling, you can climb up to the level above -- you can recognize these areas because the floor will be cyan, and the status bar will include '(open above)'.
Failing the Climb check causes falling damage. The fly spell allows you to ascend in such areas automatically, but levitate is insufficient, as you cannot use it to rise very far above the ground.
* Escape Pit Trap (Passive): Attempting to get out of a pit trap requires a Climb check, usually against DC 20. Failing the check causes you to suffer the effects of the trap (falling damage, poisoned spikes, etc.) again, as you climb partially out and then fall.
* Climb Along Ceiling (Passive): If you have an Climb skill rating of 20+ (probably throuh spider climb), you can climb on the roof of the dungeon. You can ascend whenever you're standing next to a wall. On the ceiling, you get a bonus to Hide equal to +6 +1/3 your Climb skill, can walk over creatures undetected, are at a higher layer and gain the same combat benefits as a character climbing in trees, save for the cover. You also avoid traps and terrain effects.
You have no Dex bonus when climbing on the ceiling, and it costs 1 Fatigue to make the climb up. Your movement rate is 30% normal, +5% per point of Climb above 20. On one in thirty movement actions while climbing on the ceiling you must make a Climb check against DC 25. If you fail, you fall; if you score less than 35, the effort costs you one fatigue. Furthermore, if you are struck for damage while on the ceiling, you must make a Climb check against DC 25 + 2 per 5% of your total hit points suffered. Failure means you suffer falling damage, the terrain effects of whatever square you are climbing over and you become prone.
Casting a spell while climbing on the ceiling requires a Climb check against DC 25; failure causes you to fall, and to botch the spell. Even if you succeed, the casting requires 15 phases more than usual, unless the spell is Stilled and thus does not require somatic gestures.
Unimplimented Uses:
* Climb Structures (Passive): On the city map, you can use the Climb skill to climb up on top of any building or barrier, including the city walls (which is counted as criminal if the city guard sees you). Climbing buildings may also allow you to enter some buildings by upper floor windows, which it rumored to be the only way to enter certain locations (such as the thieves' guild and some wizards' towers). The DC of the Climb check is determined by the structure in question.
Characters who have ascended buildings have significant bonuses to Hide and to attack and damage rolls, and if not standing near the edge of a building they simply cannot be seen by other creatures withour exceptional sense abilities.
* Cross Mountains (Passive): You must have the Climb skill and possess a rating of at least +10 in order to travel across mountains on the wilderness map. Any terrain survival checks you make in mountanous areas use the lower of your Climb and Wilderness Lore skills.
Concentration
(Passive) worst of WIS and CON
Possessed By: Some Humans, Lizardfolk, Bards, Druids, Mages, Paladins, Priests, Alienists, Earthsingers, Loremasters, Master Archers, Sentinels, Twilight Huntsmen.
Effects: The Concentration skill has these applications:
* Cast while Distracted (Passive): The primary function of the Concentration skill is being able to cast spells successfully while in difficult circumstances. Every point of Concentration rating above +5 cancels a 5% increase is spell failure chance due to status conditions or enviornment. Multiple distractions form a culmulative spellcasting penalty that Concentration is subtracted from as a whole -- it isn't counted seperately against each penalty, so strong Concentration rating can be very valuable to melee spellcasters. The following situations all impose penalties to spellcasting:
Attacks: Spellcasting in melee provokes attacks of opportunity unless the Defensive Spell feat is used; if these attacks inflict damage on the caster, his spell may be disrupted. Every 1% of the caster's total hit points lost to these attacks adds a 3% chance of spell failure, so a caster who loses 20% of his hit points to an attack of opportunity from spellcasting also suffers a -60% chance of spell success.
Stunning/Nausea: A stunned or nauseated character suffers a -50% chance of spell success.
Confusion: A confused character suffers a -75% chance to spell success, and if they suffer spell failure, the spell may have an odd or unintended effect.
Grappling/Stuck: A character locked in a grapple suffers a -30% spell success chance (assuming use of the Still Spell feat, without which a Grappled character cannot cast at all), and a character that has become stuck (such as from a web spell or the strands from a tanglefoot bag) suffers a -20% chance of spell success.
Distraction: A caster successfully distracted by a use of the Bluff skill suffers a spell success penalty equal to 5% per two points the Bluff check exceeded the spellcaster's distraction DC.
Terrain: Swimming or being waist-deep in mud grants a -15% penalty to spell success.
Hunger: Being Starving inflicts a -15% spell success penalty, and being Weak from hunger increases that penalty to -30%.
Spell Effects: Spells such as insect plague, control winds or hideous laughter penalize spellcasting as described under the spell in question.
Flight: Characters who are levitating or flying suffer a -15% penalty to spellcasting.
Note that Concentration does not cancel penalties to spell success chance from wearing armor, low Intelligence or fighting defensively.
* Reduce Penalties (Passive): An exceptional Concentration skill gives a character a heightened ability to resist pain, and a high Concentration skill will lessen the attack and damage penalties inflicted by magical effects that cause pain, such as pain touch, weapons of pain or a symbol of pain. If a character has Concentration as a class skill and a rating of +10, the sum of all her pain penalties are reduced by 1; at +12, this increases to 2, at +14, 3, at +16, 4, and so forth.
* Contests of Will (Passive): Some spells and magical items (notably spiritwrack and the various planar conjuration spells) require the caster to engage in a contest of wills with another creature, which is resolved an opposed Concentration check -- whichever character scores higher wins.
* Break Paralysis (Passive): Characters with a 15+ rating in Concentration are able to overcome paralysis effects through sheer force of will. If they fail a saving throw against a paralysis effect, they recieve an additional Fortitude save against DC 18 every turn until they have beaten the effect.
Characters with this ability are also able to move when paralyzed and truly, deeply desperate just enough that they cannot be subjected to the Coup de Grace maneuver.
The Escape Artist skill can also provide this benefit.
* Attack while Nauseated (Passive): Characters with a rating of 10+ in Concentration have a chance to attack even while Nauseated -- a state which normally prevents a character from attacking. A DC 20 Concentration check is required, and failing this check costs the character a full 40 segments without any action being taken, and provokes an attack of opportunity.
* Psionic Focus (Active, Unimplemented): When a character is not in combat and not in the immediate presence of hostile creatures, she may spend a fatigue point and make a Concentration check (DC 15) to gain a state of psionic focus (which can be expended to augment psionic powers in various ways, fulfilling a vaguely similar role to metamagic for spellcasters). Failure causes the fatigue point to be wasted, but the attempt can be made freely again on the character's next turn without any further penalty.
* Train Wisdom (Passive): The techniques of meditation and mental focus a character learns in developing the Concentration skill serve as an excelent springboard for heightening perception and strengthening the will overall. Concentration can be used to train the Wisdom attribute in the same manner that Athletics is used to train the three physical attributes.
Craft
(Active) [Familiar] worst of WIS and DEX
Possessed By: Some Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Mages, Paladins, Priests, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Blackguards, Earthsingers, Loremasters, Master Archers, Craft priests.
Effects: The Craft skill has these applications:
* Repair Items (Active): The Craft skill can be used to repair items which have become damaged as a result of magical attacks, acid, rust or any of the other rigors of the dungeon. Mending a metal item requires access to a forge, and mending any item demands a set of craftsman's tools. To repair items, a Craft skill check is made against a base DC of 10, plus a modifier based on the power of an item if it is magical (more advanced magical items require more careful craftwork!), +1 for every 10% of its hit points the item is missing, +2 per previous failed attempt to repair this item.
Repairing an item normally takes two hour, but if the craftsman values the item highly, she may decide to work slowly, taking 8 hours instead and recieving a +4 bonus to the skill check. A successful Craft check repairs a number of hit points of damage to equal to 2d8 + 1/3rd of the crafter's Craft skill rating. Failing a repair DC by 5 or more actually damages the item further, inflicting an additional 1d8 points of damage.
* Temper Masterwork (Active): By tempering and reforging a sword or other item, a character can preserve it in a state of perfect flawlessness - a masterwork. Crafting a weapon so that it becomes a masterwork in this manner requires a Craft skill of at least +12. A masterwork weapon gains a bonus to damage of +1 at Craft +12, +2 at Craft +17, +3 at Craft +22 and so forth. After being used on combat over a period of time, a masterwork blade can lose its edge and revert to being a normal weapon, requiring the crafter to temper it again. The DC to temper an item is 15 + the dungeon depth such an item would be typically found at. Doing this takes 6 hours.
Only long blades, short blades and daggers can be tempered. As always, working with metallic items requires a forge.
* Dwarven Weaponcraft (Active): The dwarven ability to create magical weapons and armor is limited by the Crafts skill. A dwarf using this ability can create items roughly equal to what would be found at a depth equal to her Craft skill rating -- a dwarf with Crafts +8 could create items typically found on dungeon level 8. Note that the best items found on a given level of the dungeon are typically somewhat 'out of depth', being excepyional for the depth they are found at.
* Craft Dragon-Armor (Active, Unimplemented): If a character exceptionally skilled with Craft should be fortunate enough to slay a dragon of young adult age or older, she can use her skill to craft dragon scale mail armor from the beast's remains. Doing this requires that the dragon corpse be dissected in order to obtain dragon scales, and then a forge found at which the character can work. Creating dragon scale mail requires a Craft skill of at least +15, eight hours of work and a Craft check against a DC of 20 plus the dragon's age category. Failing this check causes the dragon scales to be wasted and the attempt to create armor fails.
If the check is successful, the armor gains the base traits of normal scale mail, but its base armor values are increased by +1 per age category of the dragon; additionally, it conveys either a saving throw bonus or an elemental resistance equal is magnitude to twice the dragon's age category -- for example, scale mail made from the hide of an adult red dragon would grant Fire Resistance 12.
Dragonskin is supple and almost infinitely adaptable in the hands of a truly skilled craftsman. For every three points the base DC is beaten by, the mail's armor check penalty decreases by one, to a minimum of 0.
Decipher Script
(Passive) [Familiar] INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Monks, Rogues, Alienists, Loremasters, Shadowdancers, Magic priests.
Effects: The Decipher Script skill has the following applications:
* Read Scrolls (Passive): The primary use of the Decipher Script skill is reading magical scrolls; this may be attempted regardless of whether the character actually has the skill. The base DC to successfully read a scroll is 20 for a scroll of a 'buff' spell, 15 for an offensive spell and 10 for a general purpose spell. Added to this is twice the spell level, minus 1.
Characters have a +5 competance bonus to read any spell from a scroll that is on their class spell list, that they have access to at their current level. (Note the difference between chart levels and spell access as described in the Multiclass Spellcasters section.) If a character reads a scroll of a spell they actually know and are able to cast normally, the casting is automatically successful and costs no mana.
If the reader's Decipher Script check beats the required DC by 10 or more, the reader has a 50% chance of being able to preserve the scroll and use it again.
The effective caster level of a scroll-read spell is the higher of twice the spell's level minus one and the reader's Decipher Script level - 2. Thus, low-level characters with high Decipher Script skills can often produce impressive castings from scrolls. It takes [50 - (Decipher Script x 2)] segments to read a scroll, to a minimum of 10 segments.
* Damaged Spellbooks (Passive): When a mage attempts to cast a spell that she only has in a spellbook that has suffered damage, a Decipher Script check is necessary to make out the partially illegible text. This check has a DC of 10 + 1 per 10% of the spellbook's hit points that have been lost.
* Item Identification (Passive): Certain items of various types are identified by the game as 'runed', 'enscribed', 'rune-covered' or so forth. By reading these runes with the Decipher Script skill, a character may be able to identify the item. This requires that the character actually have the Decipher Script skill as a class skill, and requires a check against a DC of 10 + twice the item's level. This check is made automatically at the same time Intuition information is gained; success reveals the item's plus and magical nature to the player.
Diplomacy
(Passive) CHA
Possessed By: Some Humans, Halflings, Bards, Monks, Paladins, Rogues, Tattoo Mystics, Community priests.
Effects: Diplomacy is a very broad and open-ended skill with the following possible applications:
* Increased PCR (Passive): The total possible CR of your party -- your PCR -- is increased by your Diplomacy rating. If adding a creature to your party would cause the party's total CR to exceed your PCR, that creature won't be able to join unless you dismiss someone else. You must have a Diplomacy score above +5 for it to impact your PCR; every full +5 after the first increases the maximum possible size of your party by 100%.
Creatures whose Personality Architypes or alignments conflict with your own or with other members of your party have an inflated effective CR when it comes to determining their role in the calculation of PCR. This inflation is reduced by a high Diplomacy level on the player character's part. Thus, it requires an exceptional Diplomacy skill to maintain a party with both good and evil characters of any reasonable power in a stable manner.
* Issue Request (Active): One of the possible uses for Diplomacy is the ability to give non-hostile, non-friendly NPCs requests. The creature must be intelligent, and unlike a true ally he will not cross from one map to another with the PC -- his aid is purely situational.
Orders that can be given vary. NPCs can be asked to give the PC items that they picked up in the dungeon (this is difficult), but not items that are part of their inherant equipment. NPCs can also be persuaded to attack other creatures that are already hostile to them -- in other words, their priority of enemies can be changed.
Perhaps the most useful order a player can give is to get an NPC to follow her. By so doing, the player can lead an NPC to other creatures that they hate -- demons vs. devils, elves vs. drow, good vs. evil, etc. -- and allow the NPC to fight the player's battles for him. Once a player has successfully used Diplomacy on a given NPC, he recieves half of the experience for all the creatures that NPC kills, for the remainder of the day Diplomacy was used in. However, creatures that the player guides in this manner do not count as party members for party Hit Dice purposes -- they are still neutrals, not allies.
Diplomacy cannot be used to give a creature orders in the same day it was used to change that creature from hostile to neutral, and every order given after the first in a single day increases the DC by +2.
The DC for a Diplomacy check to convince a creature to do something depends on your race, the creature's race, the request given, your Personality Architype, the creature's alignment and so forth. The one factor that always applies, however, is CR -- the target creature's CR is always added to the DC of an Issue Request check. This function of Diplomacy can also be used to convince creatures to barter with you when they otherwise would not be willing -- dwarves will not trade with drow or orcs without an impressive check, for example.
Storekeepers sell to anyone, but they are often more reluctant to buy wares from dungeon delvers (as opposed to trade guilds). Whether they will purchase items often depends on a character's base Diplomacy skill rating, modified by the normal social modifiers. For example, Roark Ironbeard will purchase powerful magical weapons and armor only from characters with an adjusted Diplomacy rating of +12.
* Enlist Aid (Talking): When you ask a named character to join your party, a Diplomacy check determines if they are willing, modified by personality architypes, alignment, race, etc. You only get one check against a given character in this circumstance, ever.
Unlike most Diplomacy checks, this one cannot be modified by magical bonuses, because it represents a long-term commitment on the NPC's part.
The DC of an Enlist Aid check is 15 + twice the affected character's CR.
* Dismiss Ally (Talking): Conversely, the Diplomacy skill can be used to get a character to leave your party on graceful terms. When you elect to dismiss a character, they will automatically cease to be an ally and become a neutral character. The success or failure of the Diplomacy check determines if they can be added back into your party reliably at a later time. If you fail the Dismiss Ally check, you need to make the Enlist Aid check again, and if that check fails, the character is permanently closed to you as a party member as usual.
If you succeed, you can automatically add the character in question back into your party at any time in the future, provided you have enough free PCR.
The DC of a Dismiss Ally check is 7 + the affected character's CR, and the check does not fail on a natural one.
* Haggling (Passive): Your Diplomacy rating is used internally by the game in calculating shop and barter prices, along with racial affinities, personality modifiers and so forth. Note that regardless of exceptional Charisma and Diplomacy, characters will still always find that there is a very steep difference between buying and selling price in Incursion. Adventurers are a very tiny, very volatile customer base, and merchants trading in magic items must allocate a massive portion of their budget to the protection and procurement of their wares.
An average human character can expect to sell goods for 1/20th of their base price and buy them for five times their base price. A character with maxed-out Diplomacy and Charisma can expect to sell items for 1/10th their base price and buy them for 2-3 times their base price.
More significantly, however, Diplomacy determines how much gold a merchant, adventurer or shop is willing to part with. A merchant may have 10,000 gp worse of loose cash, but being frugally smart only want to spent 3,000 gp to purchase new wares. Every point of a character's Diplomacy increases the amount of cash a merchant can be persuaded to use to purchase goods by 5%, up to an obvious maximum of the total amount of cash the merchant has.
Forcing sellers to expend too much of their operating finances buying items from you can impact your alignment.
* Barter for Services (Talking): In addition to buying items from NPCs, a player character can buy services -- usually the casting of spells -- from them. Spells that can be purchased from NPCs include Identify, Remove Curse, Cure spells, Restoration, and so forth, as well as certain extended protective magics like Resist Fire, Misdirection or Stoneskin.
As with items, Diplomacy influences the price of service spells, and a Diplomacy check (DC 5/10 + caster's CR, with modifiers based on race, alignment, etc.) is required to convince a caster to sell magic to you. Arcane casters are easier to convince to merchandise their magic (base DC 5) than divine casters (base DC 10).
* Resolve Conflict (Active): A Diplomacy check can be used to convince a hostile character to become neutral in some circumstances. The DC for this differs wildly -- it's not hard to calm down an angry goblin, but inherantly evil and vicious creatures like demons can be very hard to make peace with. In some circumstances, a creature will want something -- often a bribe -- in order to stop attacking you.
You cannot make creatures neutral to you with Diplomacy if you have already attacked them; for that, use Bluff.
* Surrender (Active): When you choose to surrender to attacking NPCs, a fairly easy Diplomacy check is made; success causes the NPCs to accept your surrender and become neutral, taking all your gold and your best item in so doing. If you beat the check DC by 10 or more, you can reduce the amount of wealth and goods enemies take from you when you surrender.
Returning to attack enemies you have surrendered to is an unlawful act; if the enemies aren't themselves evil, it is also an evil act.
Disguise
(Active) best of INT and CHA
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Rogues, Assassins.
Effects: The disguise skill has only one, Active, application -- donning a disguise. To do this, you must have a disguise kit and make a disguise check against a varying DC -- 10 to disguise yourself as a different member of the same race, 13 to disguise yourself as a member of a similar- looking race (halfling/gnome, drow/elf, human/elf, human/dwarf, kobold/goblin, kobold/lizardfolk, etc.) or 16 to disguise yourself as any different humanoid race. You suffer a +4 DC to disguise yourself as a member of a race with a different size category than your current size category -- so this penalty can be removed with a magical gain or loss of a size category.
Donning a disguise requires an hour's worth of work. Failing the Disguise check gives you a -2 penalty to all further Disguise checks for the remainder of the day; multiple failures are culmulative.
Whether or not your disguise is seen through is determined by comparing the results of your Disguise check to the sum total of an observer's Spot and Sense Motive skills. Additionally, you need to have a base skill total of +8 to fool creatures with the Sharp Senses ability, and +12 to fool Scent. Disguises can be awkard and bulky, and impose a -2 circumstance penalty to all actions unless the bearer has Disguise 10+, at which point they only impose a -1 penalty. At +15, there is no penalty at all.
Though the Disguise skill only has one use, that use has several different effects, as follows; note that none of these effects apply if the creatures in question can see though your disguise.
* Affect Hostility: The primary function of Disguise is to affect the hostility of other creatures. Creatures that are hostile to you because you struck them will not be hostile to you when you are disguised unless you strike them again while in a given disguise. Creatures that are hostile to you because you are 'the player character invading the dungeon' will not be hostile to you when you are disguised. Creatures that are hostile to you based on racial enemity will re-evaluate you based on the new race you seem to be -- most creatures will not be hostile to members of their own race, or to races that are traditionally friendly.
* Diplomacy Checks: If you make a Diplomacy check while disguised, it is automatically considered to be Deceptive Diplomacy, as described under that skill.
* Shop Prices: Many shop-keepers in Incursion are racist, and adjust their prices based on the percieved race of their customers. Thus, you can use the Disguise skill to get lower prices in the shops by altering your race.
Escape Artist
(Passive) DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Monks, Rogues, Assassins, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors.
Effects: The Escape Artist skill has the following uses:
* Escape Grapples: When a hostile creature grabs a character with this skill, her Escape Artist skill rating may be used in place of her Strength bonus in the manuever check to try to escape.
* Escape Engulfment: When a character with the Escape Artist skill is engulfed or swallowed whole by a monster, she is allowed to make an Escape Artist check each turn to try and force the beast to disgorge her. The DC of this check is 10 + twice the creature's CR or 10 + the creature's Strength score, whichever is higher.
* Tearing Free: When a character has become stuck in entrapping terrain like rubble or bushes, or the effects of a web spell or tanglefoot bag, the Escape Artist skill allows her to try and break free. This requires a skill check against a DC of 15 + a modifier determined by how severely she is held in place.
* Break Paralysis (Passive): Characters with a 15+ rating in Escape Artist are able to overcome paralysis effects through sheer mental chicanery. If they fail a saving throw against a paralysis effect, they recieve an additional Fortitude save against DC 18 every turn until they have beaten the effect.
Characters with this ability are also able to move when paralyzed and truly, deeply desperate just enough that they cannot be subjected to the Coup de Grace maneuver.
The Concentration skill can also provide this benefit.
Find Weakness
(Passive) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Kobolds, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Assassins, Blackguards, Master Archers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors, Retribution priests.
Effects: The Find Weakness skill has the following use:
* Fighting Humanoids (Passive): Characters with the Find Weakness skill are especially proficient at fighting living humanoids -- the skill grants essentially similar benefits as Knowledge skills do for certain monsters. In game terms, the character gains a bonus of [Find Weakness / 3] to his Defense against their attacks, and the threat ranges of his own attacks against living humanoids are increased by [Find Weakness / 9].
* Coup de Grace (Passive): When you perform a Coup de Grace maneuver against an opponent, the DC of the saving throw to avoid instant death, even if you do not deal sufficient damage to kill that opponent, is 15 + your Dexterity modifier + 1/2 your Find Weakness skill.
Characters with a Find Weakness skill of 20+ can Coup de Grace enemies who are both stuck and prone, just as if they were paralyzed.
* Precision Strike (Active): Characters with the Find Weakness skill can use the Precision Strike combat option (in the Combat Options menu), gaining a bonus to a single attack roll against another creature equal to 1/2 their Find Weakness skill rating, at the cost of the attack taking an extra 45 segments.
Gather Information
(NOT IMPLEMENTED!) (Active) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans.
Effects: Learning this skill represents attuning yourself to the flow of information and rumor in a town or city; it can be applied at taverns, certain guilds and similar locales. It has the following use:
* Discover Rumors (Active): A character with this skill can go to a tavern and attempt to uncover knowledge about the whereabouts of a specific legendary magical item. With a successful Gather Information check, the character will be told the dungeon, and the depth within that dungeon, where she can find an item of the type she specified. The item is then guaranteed to be generated at that specific locale, waiting for the character to claim it.
Gather Information can only be used once in any given locale, so a character who seeks many rare items will have to travel across the country to cultivate new sources of information in different cities. Towns are smaller and more insular communities, and the knowledge a rogue can dig up there is much more limited.
Handle Device
(Active) worst of DEX and INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Gnomes, Rogues, Assassins, Sentinels.
Effects: The Handle Device skill is a rough medieval-fantasy equivalent to engineering, and has the following facets:
* Disarm Trap (Passive): A character can make a Handle Device check to attempt to disarm any trap found in the dungeon. The DC of this check is based on the trap in question, but typically increases the deeper into a dungeon a character goes. Failing a check to disarm a trap by more than 5 typically sets it off.
* Reset Traps (Active): Once a trap has been disarmed, a character can examine its mechanism and reset it, calibrating it so that she is able to avoid any danger it presents, but other creatures -- even those native to the area the trap is found in -- may fall victim to its effects. If the trap kills a hostile creature, the player character who set is recieves the experience. Even if it is triggered and does not kill its victim, the player will recieve some experience.
Traps can only be reset if they have been disarmed. If they have been triggered, most aren't usable -- though some traps are multi-use and can be reset and triggered again and again.
The DC to reset a trap is always 5 higher than whatever was needed to disarm it, and a character must have Handle Device 10+ to make the attempt.
* Retrieve Components (Active): A clever rogue can go one set further than setting or disarming traps, actually taking apart a trap and idsmantling it into its base components -- a collection of items she can carry with her through the dungeon. She can then later set up the trap at a new location without a check by 'a'ctivating the trap components.
The check to dismantle a trap is always made at a DC 10 higher than that needed to disarm it, and a character must have Handle Device 15+ to make the attempt. If a rogue should come upon trap components by a means other than dismantling a trap -- buying them in a store, or killing another character that posssessed them, for example -- she must then make the save Retrieve Components check in order to set up the trap components in a new location.
* Mechanical Weapons (Passive, Unimplemented): The Handle Device skill is also used to operate mechanical weapons skillfully. Gnomes begin with these kinds of weapons, and other character may buy them, find them in the dungeon or take them from slain gnomes. Characters that do not have the Handle Device skill are not considered to be proficient with mechanical weapons, even if they would be proficient with a normal weapon of the type. Characters that possess te skill are proficient with any kind of mechanical weapon that they have the appropriate normal weapon group proficiency for.
Additionally, characters with this skill recieve bonuses of various kinds when using mechanical weapons, as follows:
Polearms: Mechanical polearms have spring-loaded telescoping hafts that can change length freely to accomodate their user's desire. These weapons add their wielder's [Handle Device / 3] to the DC of the saving throw to close with the wielder, and if the wielder has a Handle Device score of +10 or higher, they can be used to attack a target who is inside the normal reach in which a polearm of the type in question would be ineffective.
Daggers / Knives: Mechanical daggers or knives have various concealed or spring-loaded blades, whether the primary blade of the weapon or a secondary edge. On one in three attacks, the wielder can use this function to surprise an opponent, treating them as flat-footed if they can beat them on an opposed Handle Device vs. Spot check.
Bows: Mechanical conventional bows feature elaborate balances and pulley systems to direct force and channel torque, allowing the wielder to substitute (10 + [Handle Device / 2]) for her Strength score (if beneficial) when using them.
Flexible Weapons: Flails, whips, spiked chains and similar weapons typically replace the chain with a very intricately crafted mechanical tentacle that flows easily where guided until a slight shift 'locks' it into its current form, turning the weapon rigid and potentially trapping weapons or limbs. This allows the wielder to add [Handle Device / 3] to the DC of saving throws against being tripped or disarmed by a mechanical flexible weapon.
Crossbows: Gnomish crossbows are fit with special sights made with ground glass lenses, allowing their wielder to aim her shots very precisely. They add [Handle Device / 5] to their threat range when used by a competant bearer.
Healing
(Active) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Monks, Paladins, Priests, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Earthsingers, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen.
Effects: The Heal skill has the following uses. Note that in all cases except Improved Healing, a character can only try to treat a given ailment once per day using the Heal skill. The Heal skill requires a kit to use, and cannot be used in combat.
* Improved Healing (Active): Normally, characters heal ([Character Level + 3] x Constitution) / 5 hit points worth of damage every time they rest for a night. However, characters that have Heal as a class skill instead heal ([Character Level + Heal Skill Rating + 3] x Constitution) / 5 hit points per night, which can easily be enough to restore even mid-level characters from seriously wounded to fully healed overnight.
* Treat Attribute Damage (Active): The base DC for a Heal check to treat Attribute Damage is 10 + 2 per point of damage the attribute has suffered. Beating this DC heals one point of attribute damage, plus one per full 5 points the character's check result exceeds the base DC by. Characters can only treat attribute damage with Heal once per day, and they cannot treat both disease or poison and attribute damage in the same day. In this specific case, the player must choose whether it's better tactically to treat the damage to an attribute, or to try and remove the cause of that damage -- the poison or disease -- overall.
* Staunch Bleeding (Active): The Heal skill can also be used to stop bleeding. This requires a skill check against a DC of 10 plus 3 times the number of hit points being lost per turn as a result of bleeding.
* Treat Blindness (Active): A truly skilled healer may be able to cure blindness. This requires a Heal check against DC 30 (permanant blindness), DC 25 (blindness lasting days), or DC 10-20 (blindness with a shorter-term duration).
* Treat Poison/Disease (Active): A Heal check can be made to attempt to treat a poison or disease, but only once per affliction. The DC of the heal check is the same as the DC of the Fortitude saving throw against the disease or poison. A variable number of successful Fortitude saving throws are required to overcome a specific disease or poison. A successful Heal check counts as at least one successful saving throw; for every +5 the check exceeds the base DC by, it counts as another successful save against the poison or disease. Thus, a sufficiently high Heal check can purge a poison or disease instantly, while a less overwhelming one will at least lessen its effect and speed the time it takes for the character's body to overcome it naturally.
* Forestall Petrification (Active): Petrification is a magical effect, and the Healing skill alone cannot cure it. However, by the application of careful herbal remidies and other obscure treatments, a successful Heal check against DC 20 can delay the onset of petrification by [Heal Skill x 20] combat rounds.
Hide in Shadows
(Active) DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Halflings, Bards, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Alienists, Assassins, Master Archers, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors, Trickery priests.
Effects: The Hide in Shadows skill has the following use:
* Hide (Active): Using Hide, you can attain partial invisibility in dimly lit areas of the dungeon at will. This slows your movement rate by 50%, and the invisibility is broken the second that you attack, use a light source stronger than a torch or otherwise draw attention to yourself. You can only Hide when you are out of sight of all monsters hostile to you. You will recieve a warning if you are about to move into a brightly lit area, ending your hiding.
There is no Hide skill check; instead, when a character hides, a random adjustment between -5 and +5 is assigned to their Hide skill, and this adjustment is compared to the Spot skill of creatures nearby them; if an observer's Spot skill rating exceeds the character's adjusted Hide, that creature can then percieve the hiding character.
When a hiding creature steps next to a hostile creature, they may be given away by sound (as described under Move Silently), and which point they are no longer hiding and become visible to everyone -- presumably the creature they stepped close to speaks or takes actions that make their presence apparent. Hiding creatures who do not step next to hostile creatures do not risk being exposed by noise.
Hiding and invisibility overlap. To percieve an invisible, hiding character, one must both be able to see invisible creatures, and must have sufficient Spot to be able to see the hiding creature.
Illusioncraft
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Mages, Loremasters.
Effects: The Illusioncraft skill has the following use:
* Illusory Monsters (Passive): The maximum CR of creature that can be created by an illusion spell like phantasmal force or shadow monsters is equal to the illusionist's [Illusioncraft - 3], to a minimum of one.
* Illusory Items (Passive): An item created with an illusion spell, typically as a lure for monsters, it typical of what would be found at a dungeon depth equal to the creator's Illusioncraft skill -- the higher the skill, the more attractive the item looks to a monster who seeks to acquire it.
* Disbelief DC (Passive): The DC of the saving throw to disbelieve an illusion (not the DC of an Illusion spell's generic saving throw, which is calculated in the normal manner for a spell save) is equal to 10 + half the caster's Illusioncraft skill rating, plus modifiers for school focus, arcane trickery and so forth.
Intimidate
(Passive) best of STR and CHA
Possessed By: Some Humans, Orcs, Barbarians, Rogues, Warriors, Alienists, Assassins, Blackguards.
Effects: The Intimidate skill has the following uses. Note that creatures who are immune to fear are unaffected by all uses of the Intimidate skill, and those who have saving throw bonuses against fear also apply those bonuses as increases to the DC of Intimidate checks made against them.
* Cow Enemies (Talking): Through a display of force or merely an expert display of threatening body language, a fearsome character can terrorize her enemies. By making an Intimidate check against a base DC of 15 + her most powerful foe's Will save modifier, adjusted for the apparent strength of the player's group in contrast with the monsters', a player can cause a group of monsters to become shaken, suffering a -2 morale penalty to all rolls. If she beats the DC by 10 or more, her foes will rout, fleeing in a mad panic.
* Coerce Service (Talking): Intimidate can also be used to extract service from other characters through threat of violence. This works essentially identically to issuing requests with Diplomacy, except that a failed check causes the subjects to become hostile. However, service can be coerced from frightened creatures as well as neutral ones, whereas Diplomacy can only be used on neutral creatures.
* Demoralize (Passive): When a player with the Intimidate skill and a skill rating of 10+ kills a creature with a critical hit, every other creature in that monster's group that witnessed the act must roll a Will saving throw against a DC of the character's [Intimidate + 5]; on a failure, creatures of CR 3 or lower become afraid, and others become shaken, suffering a morale penalty to all rolls of -1 at Intimidate 10+, -2 at 15+, -3 at 20+, etc.
Intuition
(Passive) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Halflings, Lizardfolk, Barbarians, Mages, Priests, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Assassins, Loremasters.
Effects: The Intuition skill has the following use:
* Item Hunches (Passive):This skill allows you to gain special feelings about items picked up in the dungeon, telling you if they are good, bad or neutral. Obviously, this is a valuable skill to single-classed rogues and warriors who lack divination magics or Clairsentient arts. Normally, a character must have possessed an item for at least a day to gain this kind of hunch about it, and the Intuition check will be made immediately after the character rests a full night. However, there is a Character Generation Option that allows intuition to take place when an item is first percieved; by default, this option applies only to weapons and armor.
The Intuition check is a standard skill check with staggered results. If the result exceeds DC 5, the character learns whether items are magical or not. If the result exceeds DC 10, the character will learn which schools of magic the item is related to. With a check result of DC 15 or higher, cursed or blessed items can be discerned from normal items.
There is no messages for Intuition, since it takes place so frequently. Instead, the results appear in curly braces in the full name of the item, when it is seen in a pile on the floor or in the character's inventory screen.
Jump
(Active) best of DEX and STR [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Lizardfolk, Barbarians, Bards, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Assassins, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors.
Effects: The Jump skill has only this one, singular use:
* Jumping (Active): Use this skill to cross from one square to another in the dungeon while missing a square in between. This skill will let you get past a monster without bull-rushing it, or to avoid a trap or pit. Beware, though -- if you try to jump too far, you may not end up where you want! A typical jumping DC is 10 for 1 square, +7 per extra square! Jumping provokes an attack of opportunity.
Knowledge (Theyra)
(NOT IMPLEMENTED!) (Passive) [Familiar] INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Druids, Mages, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Knowledge priests.
Effects: The Knowledge (Theyra) skill has the following uses:
* Map Memory (Passive, Unimplemented): Characters with this skill will find that there is a radius of the overland map already visible around heavily inhabited or famous areas such as cities, ruins and roads based on their skill rating, illuminating areas they might want to travel through or explore. At low skill ratings, this ia a very tiny radius and only appears around the most significant population centers; at higher levels of skill, it is larger and appears around towns and other smaller population centers. At the highest levels of skill, certain secret locations that cannot be found in other ways might be revealed in this manner.
* Area Familiarity (Passive, Unimplemented): Travelling through areas that are made familiar with this skill is both quicker and safer than travelling through other areas. The chance of encounters is less, and there is a bonus to Wilderness Lore checks made in the area.
Knowledge (Infernal)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Rogues, Blackguards, Loremasters, Knowledge priests.
Effects: The Knowledge (Infernal) skill has the following uses:
* Demons and Devils (Passive): Many priests and paladins study demons and devils to learn how to better fight them, while dark sorcerors want to understand exactly what they are summoning. Knowledge (The Infernal) grants certain bonuses when fighting demons and devils. By applying simple hearth wisdom and studying the vulnerabilities of his targets, this skill allows a character the following bonuses when facing demons and devils: his effective DC is increased by [Skill Rating / 3] against their attacks, and his understanding of their banes and biology increases the threat ratings of his attacks against them by [Skill Rating / 9]. He can also summon them more effectively; demons and devils summoned by such a caster have a [Skill Rating x 5]% bonus to their hit points.
* The Lower Planes (Passive): The Knowledge (Infernal) skill works just like Knowledge (Theyra) when the character is on a wilderness map in the Lower Planes.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Infernal) skill can be used to identify demons and devils, as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Magic)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Elves, Lizardfolk, Bards, Mages, Rogues, Alienists, Loremasters, Knowledge priests.
Effects: The Knowledge (Magic) skill has the following uses:
* Formulas (Passive): The Knowledge (Magic) skill figures into the number of formulas you have available when creating certain types of magical items. When you choose the Scribe Scroll feat, you know how to scribe a number of scrolls equal to twice your rating in this skill, in addition to being able to scribe any scroll that you can cast as a spell. Similarly, if you select the Brew Potion feat, you know a number of potion formulas equal to your [Alchemy + Knowledge (Magic)] ratings.
* Learning Spells (Passive, Unimplemented): When you attempt to learn a new spell for which you have an open slot, a Knowledge (Magic) check is made against a DC of [5 + (Spell Level x 2)]. Success indicates you are able to learn the spell normally, while failure means that you will not be able to learn that spell until you've gained a number of caster levels equal to half the amount your roll missed the DC by.
* Research Items (Active): When you are in an Ancient Library, you can attempt to use the books found therein to learn about your magical items. If you can succeed in a Knowledge (Magic) check against a DC of 10 + twice the dungeon depth the item would typically be found at, you will be able to fully identify it as per the identify spell. This research requires two hours, but if you choose to devote 8 hours to it, you recieve a +3 circumstance bonus on the skill check. You must have Knowledge (Magic) as a class skill to research items.
* Research Curses (Active): Similarly to researching items, you can use an Ancient Library to try to discover a way to lift a curse. This requires the full 8 hours and a check against a DC of 10 + the caster level of the curse. Success lifts the effect. You must have Knowledge (Magic) as a class skill to research curses.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Magic) skill can be used to identify inherantly magical monsters as well as those whose origins lie with magical experimentation, as described under Sense Motive.
* Identify Scrolls (Passive): When your character successfully reads an unknown scroll (using the Decipher Script skill), and the effect is not immediately obvious, a Knowledge (Magic) check is allowed against a DC of 10 + the spell's level in order to identify the spell that scrolls of that type contain.
Knowledge (Mythology)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Monks, Rogues, Alienists, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Knowledge priests.
Effects: Knowledge (Mythology) has the following uses:
* Mythic Creatures: A solid understanding of mythology sets up an adventurer to fight more effectively against mythic creatures. By applying simple hearth wisdom and studying the vulnerabilities of his targets, this skill allows a character the following bonuses when facing creatures of mythology: his effective DC is increased by [Skill Rating / 3] against their attacks, and his understanding of their banes and biology increases the threat ratings of his attacks against them by [Skill Rating / 9]. He can also summon them more effectively; mythic creatures summoned by such a caster have a [Skill Rating x 5]% bonus to their hit points.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Mythology) skill can be used to identify mythic hybrids, lycanthropes, nagas, dragons and fae, as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Nature)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Mages, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Knowledge priests.
Effects: The Knowledge (Nature) skill grants the following benefits:
* Identify Herbs (Passive, Unimplemented): With a successful Knowledge (Nature) check, any herb or mushroom can be identified. There are many different herbs and mushrooms on Theyra, some of which possess potent magical effects.
* Herbalism (Active, Unimplemented): Knowledge (Nature) can be used to make certain herbal preparations in exactly the same way that Alchemy is used to make alchemical items.
* Plants and Animals (Passive): Knowledge (Nature) aids a character when fighting, summoning or handling plant creatures and natural animals in the same way that other Knowledge skills do for creatures in their domain.
* Speak to Plant Creatures (Passive): Characters with a Knowledge (Nature) skill of +10 or higher can speak to sapient plant creatures such as the myconids. Other characters find the odd signals of these alien creatures too distant to understand.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Nature) skill can be used to identify plants and fungi, natural animals, sylvan creatures and wilderness beasts, as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Oceans)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Druids, Mages, Rangers, Rogues, Alienists, Loremasters, Knowledge priests.
Effects: Some adventurers spend much of their lives out at sea, exploring the great Western Ocean or scouring trade routes for pirates and other threats. The Knowledge (Oceans) skill grants the following benefits:
* Area Knowledge (Passive): This knowledge skill gives map-memory of oceanic areas in a manner similar to what Knowledge (Theyra) gives for more conventional wilderness locales.
* Aquatic Creatures (Passive): This Knowledge also aids an adventurer in fighting aquatic threats. By using a thourogh knowledge of their behaviour, biology and weaknesses, this skill allows a character the following bonuses when fighting aquatic or amphibious creatures: his effective DC is increased by [Skill Rating / 3] against their attacks, and his understanding of their banes and biology increases the threat ratings of his attacks against them by [Skill Rating / 9]. He can also summon them more effectively; aquatic creatures summoned by such a caster have a [Skill Rating x 5]% bonus to their hit points.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Oceans) skill can be used to identify aquatic creatures, as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Planes)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Monks, Paladins, Rogues, Alienists, Blackguards, Earthsingers, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Knowledge priests.
Effects: This skill gives a character knowledge of the many planes of existance, with the following specific benefits:
* Planar Travel (Passive): This skill is necessary to cast plane-travelling spells like plane shift safely. When moving across a wilderness map on a different plane, the lower of a character's Knowledge (Planes) and Wilderness Lore is used for most things that Wilderness Lore alone usually achieves.
* Outsiders (Passive): Knowledge (Planes) can also aid the character in fighting outsiders who are not also demons, devils or celestials (who are covered by their own skill). By using a thorogh knowledge of their behaviour, biology and weaknesses, this skill allows a character the following bonuses when fighting such outsiders: his effective DC is increased by [Skill Rating / 3] against their attacks, and his understanding of their banes and biology increases the threat ratings of his attacks against them by [Skill Rating / 9]. He can also summon them more effectively; general outsiders summoned by such a caster have a [Skill Rating x 5]% bonus to their hit points.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Planes) skill can be used to identify outsiders (other than celestials, demons and devils), as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Theology)
(Passive) [Familiar] best of INT and WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Monks, Paladins, Priests, Rogues, Blackguards, Loremasters, Tattoo Mystics, Knowledge priests.
Effects: This skill represents a knowledge of the Theryan pantheon and your diety in particular. It has the following specific applications:
* Make Offerings (Passive): When you make a sacrificial offering to your diety, the Knowledge (Theology) skill determines how well you enact the ritual and ceremony of the act, and thus how pleasing your sacrifice is to your diety. The effective value of the sacrifice increases by 10% for every +1 of your Knowledge (Theology) skill rating. Thus, a character with a +15 Knowledge (Theology) finds that his sacrifices are worth twice as much as those of a character with only +5 Knowledge (Theology).
* Identify Altar (Passive): When you discover an unknown or strange altar in your travels, you can learn which diety it belongs to with a Knowledge (Theology) check against DC 15. You only get one chance to identify an altar, and the attempt is made automatically when you walk into the square with the altar on it.
* Conversion (Passive): When you make a sacrifice at an altar that does not belong to your current diety -- whether in an attempt to convert the altar or yourself -- the result is determined by a Knowledge (Theology) check with several circumstantial modifiers; the DC varies with the gods involved and the sacrifice made, but is typically DC 20 or higher. Failing altar conversion angers the god the altar belongs to, while failing self-conversion angers the god you are rejecting. In both cases the diety in question will have the ability to send immediate supernatural retribution if you lapse the ritual mystical protections by failing the Knowledge (Theology) check.
* Opposing Ideals: Certain spells, such as banishment, oppose Outsiders by directing opposing ideals against them. In game terms, you are able to add a third of your Knowledge (Theology) skill rating to the DC of these spells.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Theology) skill can be used to identify celestials, as described under Sense Motive.
Knowledge (Undead)
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Mages, Paladins, Priests, Rogues, Loremasters, Knowledge priests.
Effects: The dead hate the living, and the living often return the sentiment. A character with this skill is a trained undead slayer or master necromancer, well versed in the inherant abilities and weaknesses of the Damned. This skill has the following uses:
* Fighting Undead (Passive): By using a thourogh knowledge of their behaviour, weaknesses and unnatural existance, this skill allows a character the following bonuses when fighting aquatic or the undead: his effective DC is increased by [Skill Rating / 3] against their attacks, and his understanding of their banes and biology increases the threat ratings of his attacks against them by [Skill Rating / 9]. He can also summon them more effectively; aquatic creatures summoned by such a caster have a [Skill Rating x 5]% bonus to their hit points. Note that undead are not normally subject to critical hits, but with this skill they can be struck for such with the threat range it provides alone.
* Identify Monsters (Passive): The Knowledge (Undead) skill can be used to identify all undead, as described under Sense Motive.
Listen
(Passive) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Elves, Barbarians, Bards, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Assassins, Earthsingers, Master Archers, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors, Guardian priests.
Effects: The Listen skill has the following uses:
* Hear Hiding Creatures (Passive): The Listen skill can reveal the presence of hiding creatures with an opposed test against the hidden creature's Move Silently skill, as described under Move Silently.
* Hear Nearby Creatures (Active): The active use of the listen skill can tell a character what kinds of creatures are nearby her based on the noises they make, even if those creatures are behind solid walls or otherwise outside her normal perceptual range.
* Determine Resting Safety (Active): The Listen skill can also tell a character whether or not it is safe to rest -- by listening carefully, a skilled character can determine if any dangerous creatures are nearby and able to ambush her while she sleeps, or if her rest is certain to be safe.
This check is made against DC 15, and if it is failed, it may not be attempted again until either the character has rested, or has gained experience three seperate times.
Lockpicking
(Passive) DEX
Possessed By: Some Humans, Rogues, Assassins, Sentinels.
Effects: The Lockpicking skill has the following uses:
* Unlock Doors (Passive): A successful Lockpicking skill test can open a locked door; the DC is determined by the quality of the lock on the door, but 15 is typical in the earlier dungeon levels. This check may only be made once per day, but if it is failed the character can try again the next day with a +4 retry bonus. The bonus increases to +6 on the third day, then +8, etc. -- eventually a character will be able to pick a given lock regardless of their skill.
If a character fails to pick a lock and does not have time to lose, they can attempt to force the door open by kicking it. This has several disadvantages -- it makes noise, which will wake up sleeping monsters and attract others, and if the door is trapped kicking it will trigger the trap automatically, but picking the lock does not.
* Unlock Chests (Passive): Similarly, the Lockpicking skill can be used to open locked chests. Chests can also be forced by striking them, but this risks breaking fragile items contained inside the chest, such as potions or scrolls, and will automatically trigger any traps on the chest.
Metamagic
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Mages, Priests, Alienists, Loremasters.
Effects: The Metamagic skill has only the following use:
* Reduce Fatigue (Passive): The Metamagic skill can reduce the fatigue cost of using metamagic feats. A successful check against DC 10 reduces the fatigue cost by one point; if the check beats DC 15, the reduction is two points; over DC 20, the cost is reduced by 3 and so forth.
Mining
(Passive) worst of WIS and STR
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Gnomes, Dwarves, Earthsingers.
Effects: The Mining skill has these uses:
* Discern Value (Passive): In addition to actual mining, the Mining skill allows you to discern the location of deposits of diamonds, gold, gemstones and valuable magical metals such as adamant, orichalcum or mithril -- your character is able to percieve where these deposits lie by analyzing the composition and formations of the stone around her. This perception is automatic and reaches out to a range of 1/2 your Mining skill rating in squares; this range is extended by 3 squares for characters with the Stonework Sense ability. These deposits appear on screen as rock glyphs, usually isolated islands in the middle of solid stone, that are colored differently then the normal rock that composes the dungeon -- bright white for diamonds, silver or mithril, yellow for gold, various bright colors for gemstones, dark grey for adamant, etc.
Characters that do not have the Mining skill cannot percieve deposits, even if they have a significant untrained skill rating. Furthermore, only digging releases the mineral treasure from a deposit -- since the metals or gemstones are essentially part of the stone, catching a deposit in the area of a transmute rock to mud spell destroys the treasure along with the stone.
* Mining (Active): Using the Mining skill puts a character into digging mode; in this mode simply walking into walls will cause you to mine through them. A character's rating in the Mining skill determines what materials she can penetrate when digging. The character's skill rating plus a modifier based on the tool they are using must exceed the Hardness of the material in question, otherwise mining cannot occur. Thus, characters with low Mining will be able to dig through streamers but not normal rock, while a character with a magical digging implement and a truly exceptional digging tool might even be able to dig through an adamant wall!
The difference between a character's level in the Mining skill and the hardness of the material they are diffing through is also the factor used to calculate how long mining out a single square, and how much Fatigue, if any, is lost in so doing.
Finally, when the character successfully mines through a vein or deposit containing treasure, the amount of precious materials that can be recovered intact in the mining process is modified by the Mining skill level, as well as the depth the deposit was found at.
* Structural Integrity: Dungeons have already been heavily shaped and altered by human hands, and casual excavation not planned for in their initial creation places a strain on their geological integrity. Fortunately, a skillful miner can choose to remove stone in ways that minimize the strain on existing structures and grant a safe, well- supported mineshaft that stretches a greater distance. A character can mine out a number of squares on a given level equal to thrice their Mining skill rating safely. After this, every additional percent of that total mined increases the chance of a cave-in (with the same effect as an earthquake spell cast at 20th level) by the same percent culmulatively -- so a character with Mining +5 who mines 6 squares has a 20% chance of cave-in on the sixth, since a single square is 1/5th, or 20%, above the total safe limit. The next square would have a 40% chance of collapse, and so forth...
Move Silently
(Passive) DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Elves, Drow, Bards, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Alienists, Assassins, Master Archers, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors, Trickery priests.
Effects: The Move Silently skill has the following uses:
* Stealth: When a character is hiding (using the Hide in Shadows skill) or invisible due to magic, or when she cannot be visually percieved for any other reason, the Move Silently skill comes into play. As long as she stays at least 10 feet (one square) away from all other creatures, her existing methods of imperceptibility are sufficient. However, when she moves directly beside another creature or attempts to attack, an opposed skill check is made with the creature in question: her Move Silently against the creature's Listen. Success allows her to remain undetected and potentially score a surprise attack; failure means that she is exposed, and cannot attack by surprise.
These skill checks is made with tests of (Skill Rating + 1d10 + 10), rather than (Skill Rating + 1d20), in order to decrease the range of the randomness and make the game more playable for low-level rogues.
* Noise: Many actions a character can take make noise, causing sleeping creatures within a certain radius to wake up, and alerting all creatures in that radius to her presence, motivating them to investigate. The radius in question is reduced by 10 feet for every full +2 of a character's Move Silently rating.
Perform
(Passive) CHA
Possessed By: Some Humans, Elves, Bards, Rogues, Earthsingers, Shadowdancers.
Effects: The Perform skill has the following uses:
* Bardic Music (Passive): The Perform skill determines several factors related to bardic music, including range and the DC of saving throws. As such, it is a centrally important skill for bards who intend to make effective use of this class feature.
* Stage Performance (Active, Unimplemented): Characters with the Perform skill can enter different taverns and hold performances, gaining gold from the managers and appreuciative audience. Initiaally, this can be quite lucrative relative to a character of any level, but performing for cash remains valuable only so long as the performer is a novelty in the area. A performer can perform only once per night per locale, and every additional performance in the same locale ever turns in only half of what the last performance at that locale did.
Obviously, then, characters with a high Perform skill have a strong motive to travel from city to city in order to maximize the financial rewards this skill can bring them.
* Recruit Allies (Passive): The Perform skill aids in the recruitment of party members (as described under Diplomacy) -- by telling enthralling tales of her heroic exploits, a character with the Perform skill makes joining her party seem a much more attractive proposition. In game terms, 1/3rd of the character's Perform skill rating is added to the Diplomacy check to enlist a new party member, provided that the player character has Perform as a class skill.
* Prerequisites (Passive): Several prestige classes, notably the shadowdancer and twilight huntsman, depend on Perform as a prerequisite for entry.
* Train Charisma (Passive): A central element of any performer's repitoire is simple flair, and learning various performance arts brings out one's flamboyant, extroverted side by the very nature of the work. In game terms, the Perform skill trains Charisma in exactly the same way as the Athletics skill is used to train the physical Ability scores.
Pick Pockets
(Active) best of DEX and CHA [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Bards, Rogues, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Trickery priests.
Effects: Contrary to it's name, this skill encompasses a wide variety of feats of legerdemain and sleight of hand. It has the following uses:
* Theft (Active): The primary use of the Pick Pockets skill is removing small items from other character. It can be used to steal gold from passing nobles, healing potions from foes in battle or even to slip a sword out of its sheath.
There are two seperate DCs involved in a Pick Pockets attempt. The first is 15 + the victim's Reflex save modifier (and the setting of this DC counts as a saving throw on the victim's part, so bonuses like the Protection Domain granted power apply); whether this DC is beaten or not determines if the attempt to procure an item is successful. The second DC is 15 + the victim's Spot rating, and determines if the attempt is noticed or not. The DC decreases by 5 if the mark can't see the would-be thief. On a failed check, the victim becomes aware of the attempt and likely becomes hostile to the thief; in an urban setting, the guardmen will become hostile as well. If a hostile creature notices a pick-pocket attempt, they get an Attack of Opportunity on the thief.
The thief must be standing next to the character to be pickpocketed. A successful check adds one unattended Small item from the victim's possession to the skill user's inventory -- the thief can choose from any Small, unattended item in the victim's inventory. Lifting larger items is possible, but increases the DC of the attempt by +3 per size category above Small. Removing items from a container (like a backpack) gives a +5 DC. If a victim is distracted, however (as per the Bluff skill), the Pick Pocket DC gains a -10 bonus. Only if the victim is distracted can the skill be used to remove worn or wielded items; if a rogue removes something their mark holds in their hands (i.e., a wielded weapon), or a worn cloak or full backpack, the victim will automatically become hostile -- but the thief still has the item. Stealing worn items has a -10 penalty, which effectively cancels the +10 bonus due to distraction. A Pick Pockets attempt takes (40 - skill level) segments, to a minimum of 15. It is not possible to use the Pick Pockets skill to remove worn armor.
* Apportation (Passive): The mage spell apportation has an effect similar to the Pick Pockets skill, save for being usable at range, and it function depends upon the Pick Pockets skill as explained in the spell description.
* Defense from Theft (Passive): A central element of the Pick Pockets skill is understanding all of the tricks and techniques that can be used to mislead a mark and seperate him from his items. Once these methods are understood, they also become far easier to defend against -- characters with the Pick Pockets skill as a class skill have a a bonus to saving throws against theft equal to a third of their skill rating.
* Conceal Item (Active, Unimplemented): The Pick Pockets skill can also be used to conceal a small-sized item on one's person. Such an item must be placed in a belt inventory slot; using the skill in this manner automatically marks the chose item as concealed. Such an item will not be removed from a character when they enter an area where some items (like weapons, holy symbols, spellbooks and other items capable of producing offensive effects) are not allowed -- such as taverns, which do not permit weapons and automatically remove them from a player character upon entry.
With a Pick Pockets skill of 12 or greater, a character can even conceal items from magical detection, preventing them from being stripped from her upon passing through certain magical portals that normally remove most or all items.
* Catch Thrown Weapons (Passive): In addition to larceny, this skill covers forms of sleight of hand used in service to entertainment, such as juggling. This kind of coordination can be put to a more practical use by snatching items out of the air when thrown at a character. When a character with a Pick Pockets rating of 15+ and Pick Pockets as a class skill is targeted with a thrown weapon, he may make a Pick Pockets check to catch the weapon, avoiding any damage to himself if successful. The DC of this check is 11 + 1/2 the total result of the thrower's attack roll.
Only Small or smaller weapons can be caught in this manner. If the character has [???], he can immediately throw the caught weapon at any target of his choice as an attack of opportunity.
Poison Use
(Passive) worst of DEX and INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Kobolds, Drow, Monks, Rogues, Assassins, Blackguards, Tattoo Mystics.
Effects:Poison Use gives a rogue or assasin a broad understanding of poisons and their use on the battlefield; it has the following applications:
* Poison Familiarity (Passive): Characters are considered to be familiar with poisons based on their rating in the Poison Use skill. Most characters cannot identify what type of poison is on a blade or in a vial when they look at such, but characters with Poison Use as a class skill can recognize any poison whose base save DC is equal to or lower than their [Poison Use +5].
* Create Poisons (Passive): Poisons are alchemical items and are created just like other alchemical items are -- an active use of the Alchemy skill. However, a character must have both the Poison Use and Alchemy skills as class skills to manufacture poisons, must have Poison Use 12+, and the lower of the two skill ratings is used in place of straight Alchemy in the normal process. A character that meets these requirements is able to manufacture any poison whose save DC is equal to or lower than the lower of her Poison Use or Alchemy skills.
* Apply Poison (Active): The primary use of the Poison Use skill is applying poisons to weapons. A DC 10 Poison Use check allows a character to apply poison; failing this check wastes the poison the character was trying to apply. For every three points the character beats the DC 10 base by, the poison will remain potent for another hit with the weapon.
A character without this skill can still attempt to apply poison to a blade using the Apply verb, but on 1 in 3 failed checks she will poison herself!
* Save DC Increase (Passive): A character's Poison Use skill also educates her in how to use a poisoned weapon most effectively, striking to apply the poison to the bloodstream in the most direct routes, ensuring it is placed on the blade in the most effective manner and so forth. In game terms, when a character with Poison Use strikes another with a poisoned weapon, the save DC of the poison in increased by a third of her skill rating.
* Save Bonuses (Passive): A solid knowledge of poisons also increases a character's ability to treat poisoning, and she recieves a bonus to her saving throws against poison equal to 1/4th of her skill rating.
Ride
(Passive) [Familiar] worst of DEX and WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Druids, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Blackguards, Twilight Huntsmen.
Effects: The Ride skill has the following use:
* Riding (Passive): Characters that do not have Ride as a class skill are not trained as horsemen and are thus unable to ride at all. A mounted character uses his mount's movement rate, +5% per two levels of her total Ride rating.
* Elevation Bonuses (Passive): A mounted rider has a significant advantage over a footman, provided he's sufficiently skilled at handling his mount. A mounted character recieves an elevation bonus to Defense equal to two plus a sixth of his Ride skill, an elevation bonus to melee attack rolls equal to one plus a fifth of his Ride skill, and an elevation bonus to melee damage rolls equal to a fifth of his Ride skill.
* Exotic Mounts (Passive): You can ride any neutral animal that is suitable to be a mount, or any other creature suitable to be a mount that has CR 2 or less. To ride a more powerful creature that is not a natural animal, however, you must have a Ride skill equal to twice its Challenge Rating. This is only one of several conditions relating to exotic mounts.
* Staying Mounted (Passive): A DC 20 Ride check is made for a mounted character to avoid being thrown from his mount in situations when a character on foot would become prone. A truly skilled rider can also prevent his mount from being knocked prone (from falling or being tripped, for example), with a DC 40 Ride check.
* Jumping (Passive): When you attempt to jump while mounted, you can use your mount's Jump skill, but only if you first convince it to make the jump with a Ride check against the jump's normal DC. Failure wastes the action.
* Mounted Combat (Passive): If a character with the Mounted Combat feat is attacked while mounted, a Ride skill check is made, and the result can be used in place of said character's normal Defense if it is higher.
* Overrun (Passive): The saving throw DC associated with the Overrun feat is 10 + 1/2 your Ride skill.
Searching
(Active) [Familiar] INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Rangers, Rogues, Earthsingers, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Twilight Huntsmen, Retribution priests.
Effects: The Search skill has the following uses:
* Find Traps (Passive/Active): The Search skill is used to locate traps before they can harm a character. When a character walks into a square with a trap, a Search check is automatically made to see if the trap is found. Success reveals the trap and asks for confirmation if the player wants to move over it and risk triggering it. Traps can also be actively searched for in a 50 foot radius area immediately around the player using the 'S'earch command.
The DC to spot a mundane trap is 15 + the Challenge Rating of the trap for a mundane trap, or 20 + the Challenge Rating of the trap for a magical trap. This check is only ever made once per trap -- if failed, it cannot be retried, though the trap will be revealed when it is triggered.
* Find Secret Doors (Active): The Search skill is also used to locate secret doors and discern a way of opening them. Normal character do not detect secret doors just by walking past them, though elves and other characters with exceptionally acute senses have this ability. Others must rely on using the 'S'earch command.
The Search check to find a secret door is DC 15. If there is a secret door in the search area but the check is failed, the game will mention that the character 'thinks there might be something there, but can't find it', to avoid great frustration on the player's part. A character can try to find a secret door once a day. Additional checks after the first have a +4 retry bonus, then +6, +8, etc. until the character is able to locate the door successfully and move on with the dungeon.
Seneschal
(NOT IMPLEMENTED!) (Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Paladins, Priests, Warriors, Loremasters.
Effects: The Seneschal skill has the following uses:
* Claim Keep (Active, Unimplemented): The Seneschal skill covers courtly etiquette, medieval finance and moneylending and general lordly competance. In game terms, it allows a character to own property and manage it compenantly, building and maintaining a keep or fortress somewhere on the overland map should she complete a quest that would award her with such. In addition to providing her with a safe place to keep items she doesn't carry with her, such a locale would provide the character with a steady income of gold based on her Seneschal rating as time passes, and allow her to attract greater numbers of troops to her banner over time.
Spellcraft
(Passive) INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Druids, Mages, Priests, Alienists, Loremasters.
Effects: Spellcraft can be used in the following ways:
* Identify Spells (Passive): When you witness another spellcaster cast a spell, the game will automatically make a Spellcraft check to see if you can identify the spell. The DC of this check is 10 + the spell's level.
* Counterspell (Passive): If you beat the above check to identify a spell by a high enough margin, you may also be able to quickly issue a counterspell in response, completely negating the enemy's spell. If you know a spell from the same school of magic of equal or higher level than the one you are trying to counter, the DC to counterspell is 15 + spell level. If you do not know such a spell, but you do know dispel magic, you are still capable of issuing a counterspell provided that your Spellcraft check exceeds DC 20 + spell level.
A counterspell costs you the higher of the mana cost of the spell countered or the spell used to counter, unless your Spellcraft exceeds +15, +20 or +25, in which case it costs you 2/3rds, 1/2 or 1/3rd of the casting mana cost. It also costs you [20 - Spellcraft Rating] segments to utter the words (minimum 5), and you must not be magically silenced. Using dispel magic to counterspell takes longer, requiring [30 - Spellcraft Rating] segments instead. There is a Tactical Option which allows you to decide to counterspell always, never, intelligently or to ask the player manually each time the opportunity arises.
Regardless of your Spellcraft score, you cannot counterspell the reading of scrolls, use of wands or other magical items or the invocation of innate abilities unless you have the Broad Counterspell feat; the Reflective Counterspell feat also augments counterspells.
* Discern Standing Magic (Passive, Unimplemented): If you have a Spellcraft score of 11+, you will be able to discern spells that enemy casters or creatures have active on them, provided your Spellcraft equals or exceeds [10 + Spell Level]. If this is the case, this information will automatically be listed after a character's equipment when you examine that character.
Spot
(Passive) [Familiar] WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Barbarians, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Warriors, Assassins, Earthsingers, Master Archers, Sentinels, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors, Guardian priests.
Effects: The Spot skill has these practical applications:
* Discern Hiding Creatures (Passive): The Spot skill is used to percieve creatures that are using the Hide in Shadows skill, as described under Hide in Shadows.
* Spot Invisible Creatures (Passive): A DC 20 Spot skill test is used to discern the slight shimmering effect around an invisible creature, as described in the writeup of the invisibility spell.
* Setup Watches (Passive): The Spot skill is also used to arrange and undertake watches when a character rests in the dungeon at night with companions. The character must have at least one companion who is not a mindless undead or a summoned creature with a summoning duration of less than a full day to use this function.
Each character in the group takes an equal portion of the night to watch over the others, ensuring their safe rest. The total of all the Spot scores in the group is taken, and that total is subtracted from the percentile chance the player's group has of having an encounter during that rest period. (It's assumed that monster groups that ambush the party at night are looking for an easy victory, and can be held at bay with sufficient vigilance.)
Additionally, if the total of the group's Spot scores exceeds three times the current Depth of the dungeon, the group is guaranteed to gain forewarning of any encounter even if one does occur -- the members of the group will all be awake, and will not suffer a delay in acting at the beginning of the encounter. This is especially important, since it prevents monsters from being able to perform a Coup de Grace on the player character or her allies.
Swimming
(Passive) worst of DEX and STR [DOUBLE armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Lizardfolk, Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Rangers, Assassins, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors.
Effects: The Swim skill has the following uses:
* Avoid Drowning (Passive): A Swim check is made when moving through a square containing deep water. The usual DC is 10, though especially turbulent water pushes the DC as high as 20. Failing this check causes the character's equipment to become soaked (it's presumed to be securely packaged otherwise), and the character takes damage and begins choking as described under the water terrain in question.
* Swimming Speed (Passive): A character's swimming movement rate is 70% of her normal movement rate, plus 10% per point of the Swim skill she has above +10. Aquatic creatures (and druids or mages shifted into such beings) have a base movement rate in water of 100%, but still gain a +10% bonus for every point of Swim skill above +10.
These modifiers are distinct from a terrain's movement modifier -- some liquid terrains might slow down movement even further.
* Defense in Water (Passive): A swimming character suffers a -4 penalty to Defense, adjusted up by one for every point of Swim above +10. At +15 and higher, this actually causes her to gain a bonus to Def instead of a penalty, as a result of being so agile and graceful in the water. As with movement, aquatic creatures suffer no penalty, but gain a +1 bonus for every point of Swim above +10.
Tumble
(Active) DEX [armor penalty]
Possessed By: Some Humans, Halflings, Monks, Rogues, Assassins, Shadowdancers, Tattoo Mystics, Underdark Warriors.
Effects: The Tumble skill can be used in these ways:
* Tumbling (Active): Using this skill allows you to move acrobatically; tumbling uses one fatigue point and lasts for [Tumble Rating + 1d4] turns, but gives several advantages. While tumbling, a character adds half of their Tumble skill rating to their DC versus normal attacks, and their full Tumble skill rating to their DC versus attacks of opportunity provoked by movement. Tumbling increases one's movement rate by [(Skill Rating / 2) x 5%], but decreases attack speed by 25% and increases threat ranges by 2 (after any doublings due to keen weapons, Improved Critical, etc.) against any creature whose Wisdom is lower than the tumbler's skill rating.
* Land Gracefully (Passive): When a character with Tumble as a class skill falls, a skill check against DC 20 is made. Success allows her to land gracefully, halving the falling damage and preventing her from becoming prone.
* Defensive Roll (Passive): A Tumble skill total of 15+ is the prerequisite to character that do not recieve Defensive Roll as a class feature gaining it as a feat.
* Reflex Saving Throw (Passive): In addition to the active benefit, characters with Tumble as a class skill and a rating above +5 gain a competance bonus to Reflex saving throws -- +1 at +6, +2 at +9, +3 at +12, +4 at +15 and so forth. This is a constant, nonmagical benefit.
Use Magic
(Passive) best of CHA and INT
Possessed By: Some Humans, Gnomes, Bards, Mages, Rogues, Alienists, Loremasters, Magic priests.
Effects: The Use Magic skill has the following uses:
* Zap Wand (Passive): The Use Magic skill governs the activation of wands. When a character tries to blast a wand, a Use Magic check is made against a DC of 10 + 1/2 the wand's level (the typical depth it would be found at in a dungeon). If this check is successful, the wielder is able to activate the wand. A specialist mage gains bonuses when using wands affiliated with his school of choice, or related schools, equal to +1 per 5% of his specialist modifier for the school in question. Penalties do not apply to oppositional schools, however.
Some wands have a magical plus, which frequently determines the number of dice of damage they inflict, the power of the creatures they summon or some other variable factor of their effect. In this case, a highly successful Use Magic check has a chance of increasing the wand's effective plus, per the following table:
DC Exceeded Increased Plus
[15 + Wand Depth] +1
[20 + Wand Depth] +2
[25 + Wand Depth] +3
[30 + Wand Depth] +4
This can even raise the temporary effective plus of a wand above +5, for the purpose of this single activation.
* Trick Magic (Passive): A rogue's special ability to use class or race-specific magic is based on the sum of her Bluff and Use Magic scores.
Wilderness Lore
(Passive) WIS
Possessed By: Some Humans, Lizardfolk, Barbarians, Druids, Rangers, Master Archers, Twilight Huntsmen, Underdark Warriors, Plant priests.
Effects: The Wilderness Lore skill can be used in these ways:
* Food Tending (Passive): The Wilderness Lore skill covers the cooking and preservation of food in survivalist conditions. The Wilderness Lore skill determines how quickly corpses age when they are in a character's possession -- if a character with Wilderness Lore +9 kills a deer, the meat will last 3 times as long in his possession as it will for a character with Wilderness Lore +3. The same decay rates apply to food items subject to decay that a character with Wilderness Lore can preserve better -- food rations never decay, but apples and melons will.
Wilderness Lore also comes into play when a character eats the corpse of a creature not normally used for food. In this case a character always has a chance of contracting a disease, and a Wilderness Lore check is made against a DC determined by a variety of factors, including the age of the corpse, to see if the character becomes diseased.
* Hunting (Active, Unimplemented): On the overland map, a character can use the Wilderness Lore skill in order to hunt for food; a successful check takes two hours and moves the character to Satiated. Failure can simply result in no suitable food being found, or if the check is failed by five or more can throw the character into a dangerous encounter with wilderness creatures.
The DC of this check is determined by the terrain that the character is moving through.
* Harsh Terrain (Passive, Unimplemented): Some forms of terrain on the Wilderness screen are so hostile to life that they require a Wilderness Lore check for every step the character takes. The DC of this check is set by the terrain in question, and the effects of failing can include encounters, damage, becoming lost (unable to control the direction you move on the overland map), equipment loss, fatigue, disease and so forth.
* Resist Weather (Passive, Unimplemented): Weather effects function in Incursion much like harsh terrain, except that they are invisible fields that move about the overland map rather than being fixed in one location. The predict weather spell allows these fields to be seen. Entering a weather field requires a Wilderness Lore check each turn, with much the same effects for failure as harsh terrain.
* Tracking Range (Passive): One of the factors in determining the range of a ranger's Tracking class feature is the Wilderness Lore skill; see the description of the ranger class for more information on this ability.
* Harvesting Mushrooms/Herbs (Passive, Unimplemented): When a character picks herbs from a bush or mushrooms from the floor of the dungeon (using the normal 'g'et item command), a Wilderness Lore check is made, though not displayed, usually against DC 15, though potent herbs and mushrooms might have a higher DC. If this check is failed, the herb or mushroom automatically becomes cursed, and will have only deleterious effects if consumed.
Since this is not a magical curse, but merely the result of a bad preparation, it does not show up to most things that normally detect curses.