Chapter 5: Skills
Has Your character studied ancient tomes that describe the nature of magic and the structure of the universe? Do you have a golden tongue that can pass off the most outrageous lies as truth? Do you have a knack for getting information out of people, or have you trained in balance and tumbling? These capabilities are represented in the game by skills. As an adventurer, you have a basic level of competence in every skill, and you get more competent as you advance in level. Your ability scores affect your use of skills; a halfling rogue with a high Dexterity is better at Acrobatics than a clumsy dwarf paladin with a lower Dexterity. Your aptitude at a skill is measured in the game with a skill check—a d20 roll that determines whether and sometimes how well you succeed at any skill-based task you might attempt. This chapter tells you everything you need to know about skills:
✦ Skill Training: How skill training works, including how you learn additional trained skills.
✦ Using Skills: How you make a skill check, what your target number is, and how to make a check without rolling a die.
✦ Knowledge Skills: General rules for the skills that determine how much you know about the D&D universe and the creatures that populate it.
✦ Skill Descriptions: Descriptions of what you can do with the game’s skills, from Acrobatics to Thievery
Skill Training
Training in a skill means that you have some combination of formal instruction, practical experience, and natural aptitude using that skill. When you select a skill to be trained in, you gain a permanent +5 bonus to that skill. You can’t gain training in a skill more than once. The entry for your class in Chapter 4 tells you how many skills you’re trained in and what skills you can choose at 1st level. For example, if you’re a 1st-level warlock, you can pick four skills from a list of eight. You can take the Skill Training feat to gain training in a skill even if it’s not on your class skill list. Some multiclass feats also give skill training.
Using Skills
USING SKILLS
When you use a skill, you make a skill check. This check represents your training, your natural talent (your ability modifier), your overall experience (one half your level), other applicable factors (relevant bonuses), and sheer luck (a die roll). The DM tells you if a skill check is appropriate in a given situation or directs you to make a check if circumstances call for one. When you create your character, you should determine your base skill check bonus for each skill you know. Your base skill check bonus for a skill includes the following:
✦ One-half your level
✦ Your ability score modifier (each skill is based on one of your ability scores)
✦ A +5 bonus if you’re trained in the skill
In addition, some or all of the following factors might apply to your base skill check bonus:
✦ Armor check penalty, if you’re wearing some kinds of armor (see Chapter 7) and making a check using Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution as the key ability
✦ Racial or feat bonuses
✦ An item bonus from a magic item
✦ A power bonus
✦ Any untyped bonus that might apply
To make a skill check, roll 1d20 and add the following:
✦ Your base skill check bonus with the skill
✦ All situational modifiers that apply
✦ Bonuses and penalties from powers affecting you The total is your check result.
DIFFICULTY CLASS
When you make skill checks, high results are best. You’re always trying to meet or beat a certain number. Often, that’s a fixed number, called a Difficulty Class (DC). The DC depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and is ultimately set by the Dungeon Master. The skill entries in this chapter give sample DCs for each skill. The DM sets the DCs for specific situations based on level, conditions, and circumstances, as detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. All DCs assume acting in situations that are far from mundane; the DM should call for checks only in dramatic situations.
OPPOSED CHECKS
Sometimes, you make a skill check as a test of your skill in one area against another character’s skill in the same area or in a different one. When you use Stealth, for example, you’re testing your ability to hide against someone else’s ability to spot hidden things (the Perception skill). These skill contests are called opposed checks. When you make an opposed check, both characters roll, and the higher check result wins. If there’s a tie, the character with the higher check modifier wins. If it’s still a tie, both sides roll again to break the tie.
CHECKS WITHOUT ROLLS
In some situations, luck does not affect whether you succeed or fail. In a calm environment (outside an encounter), when dealing with a mundane task, you can rely on sheer ability to achieve results. When you’re not in a rush, not being threatened or distracted (when you’re outside an encounter), and when you’re dealing with a mundane task, you can choose to take 10. Instead of rolling a d20, determine your skill check result as if you had rolled the average (10). When you take 10, your result equals your skill modifiers (including one-half your level) + 10. For mundane tasks, taking 10 usually results in a success. When you’re not actively using a skill, you’re assumed to be taking 10 for any opposed checks using that skill. Passive checks are most commonly used for Perception checks and Insight checks, but the DM might also use your passive check result with skills such as Arcana or Dungeoneering to decide how much to tell you about a monster at the start of an encounter. For example, if you’re walking through an area you expect to be safe and thus aren’t actively looking around for danger, you’re taking 10 on your Perception check to notice hidden objects or enemies. If your Perception check is high enough, or a creature rolls poorly on its Stealth check, you might notice the creature even if you aren’t actively looking for it.
COOPERATION
In some situations, you and your allies can work together to use a skill; your allies can help you make a skill check by making a check themselves. Each ally who gets a result of 10 or higher gives you a +2 bonus to your check. Up to four allies can help you, for a maximum bonus of +8. If you have a choice, let the character in your group who has the highest base skill check bonus take the lead, while the other characters cooperate to give bonuses to the check. See “Aid Another,” for how to cooperate in combat.
SKILL CHALLENGES
A skill challenge is an encounter in which your skills, rather than your combat abilities, take center stage. In contrast to an obstacle that requires one successful skill check, a skill challenge is a complex situation in which you must make several successful checks, often using a variety of skills, before you can claim success in the encounter The Dungeon Master’s Guide contains rules for skill challenges, and each encounter has its own guidelines and requirements. In one skill challenge, you might use a Diplomacy check to entreat a duke to send soldiers into a mountain pass, a History check to remind him what happened when his ancestors neglected the pass’s defense, and an Insight check to realize that having your fighter companion lean on the duke with an Intimidate check wouldn’t help your cause. In another skill challenge, you might use Nature checks and Perception checks to track cultists through a jungle, a Religion check to predict a likely spot for their hidden temple, and an Endurance check to fight off the effects of illness and exhaustion over the course of days in the jungle. Whatever the details of a skill challenge, the basic structure of a skill challenge is straightforward. Your goal is to accumulate a specific number of victories (usually in the form of successful skill checks) before you get too many defeats (failed checks). It’s up to you to think of ways you can use your skills to meet the challenges you face.
Knowledge Skills
Some skills deal with knowledge about a particular topic: Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature, and Religion. You can use such a skill to remember a useful bit of information in its field of knowledge or to recognize a clue related to it. You can also use such a skill to identify certain kinds of monsters, as noted in a skill’s description. The check DC increases based on the specific topic and how common the knowledge is. The check DC increases based on the specific topic and how common the knowledge is. Sometimes your DM might decide that the information you seek is available only to characters trained in an appropriate knowledge skill.
KNOWLEDGE CHECKS
Regardless of the knowledge skill you’re using, refer to the rules here when making a knowledge check.
Common Knowledge: This includes the kind of general information that is commonly known about a given topic.
Expert Knowledge: This includes the kind of specialized information that only an expert in the field of study could possibly know.
Master Knowledge: This includes the kind of esoteric information that only a master in the field of study could possibly know.
Knowledge Skill: No action required—either you know the answer or you don’t.
✦ DC: See the table.
✦ Success: You recall a useful bit of information in your field of knowledge or recognize a clue related to it.
✦ Failure: You don’t recall any pertinent information. The DM might allow you to make a new check if further information comes to light.
Level of Knowledge DC
Common 15
Expert 20
Master 25
MONSTER KNOWLEDGE CHECKS
Regardless of the knowledge skill you’re using, refer to the rules here when making a check to identify a monster.
Monster Knowledge: No action required—either you know the answer or you don’t.
✦ DC: See the table.
✦ Success: You identify a creature as well as its type, typical temperament, and keywords. Higher results give you information about the creature’s powers, resistances, and vulnerabilities.
✦ Failure: You don’t recall any pertinent information. The DM might allow you to make a new check if further information comes to light.
Monster Knowledge DC
Name, type, and keywords 15
Powers 20
Resistances and vulnerabilities 25
Skill Descriptions
The first line of a skill description shows the name of the skill, followed by the key ability for that skill. You use the ability modifier for that ability score to figure out your base skill check bonus. For skills based on Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity, the description includes a reminder that your armor check penalty applies to that skill. The skill description explains the different ways you can use the skill and provides typical DCs. Each description also specifies what kind of action is required to use the skill.
ACROBATICS (DEXTERITY)
Armor Check Penalty You can perform an acrobatic stunt, keep your balance while walking on narrow or unstable surfaces, slip free of a grab or restraints, or take less damage from a fall. Make an Acrobatics check to swing from a chandelier, somersault over an opponent, slide down a staircase on your shield, or attempt any other acrobatic stunt that you can imagine and that your DM agrees to let you try. The DM sets the DC based on the complexity of the stunt and the danger of the situation. If the stunt fails, you fall prone in the square where you began the stunt (the DM might change where you land, depending on the specific stunt and situation). Your DM always has the right to say that a stunt won’t work in a particular situation or to set a high DC. Acrobatic Stunt: Standard action or move action, depending on the stunt.
✦ DC: Base DC 15.
✦ Success: You perform an acrobatic stunt.
✦ Failure: You fail to pull off the stunt and might fall or suffer some other consequence.
Make an Acrobatics check to move across a surface less than 1 foot wide (such as a ledge or a tightrope) or across an unstable surface (such as a wind-tossed rope bridge or a rocking log).
Balance: Part of a move action.
✦ DC: See the table.
✦ Success: You can move one-half your speed across a narrow or unstable surface.
✦ Fail by 4 or Less: You stay in the square you started in and lose the rest of your move action, but you don’t fall. You can try again as part of a move action.
✦ Fail by 5 or More: You fall off the surface (see “Falling,” page 284) and lose the rest of your move action. If you are trying to move across an unstable surface that isn’t narrow, you instead fall prone in the square you started in. You can try again as part of a move action if you’re still on the surface.
✦ Grant Combat Advantage: While you are balancing, enemies have combat advantage against you.
✦ Taking Damage: If you take damage, you must make a new Acrobatics check to remain standing
Surface Acrobatics DC
Narrow or unstable 20
Very narrow (less than 6 inches) +5
Narrow and unstable +5
Make an Acrobatics check to wriggle out of a grab. You can also make escape attempts to get away from other immobilizing effects, as directed by your DM. Make an Acrobatics check to slip free of restraints. Escape from Restraints: 5 minutes.
✦ DC: Base DC 20. The DC is determined by the type of restraint and its quality, as set by the DM.
✦ Fast Escape: You can make an escape attempt as a standard action, but the DC increases by 10.
✦ Success: You slip free of a physical restraint. ✦ Failure: You can try again only if someone else aids you.
If you fall or jump down from a height, you can make an Acrobatics check to reduce the amount of falling damage you take.
Reduce Falling Damage: Free action if you fall or a move action if you jump down.
✦ Damage Reduced: Make an Acrobatics check, and reduce the amount of falling damage you take by one-half your check result (round down).
Example: The floor beneath Kora swings open over a pit, and she makes an Acrobatics check to reduce the falling damage. The pit is 40 feet deep, resulting in 24 points of damage (from a roll of 4d10). Her Acrobatics check result is 21, which reduces the damage by 10. She takes 14 points of damage from the fall.
ARCANA (INTELLIGENCE)
You have picked up knowledge about magic-related lore and magic effects. If you have selected this skill as a trained skill, your knowledge represents academic study, either formal- ized or as a hobby. Make an Arcana check to recall a useful bit of magic- related knowledge or to recognize a magic-related clue. Your knowledge of magic allows you to identify magical effects and sense the presence of magic. Identify Conjuration or Zone: Minor action.
✦ DC: DC 15 + one-half the power’s level. You must
be able to see the effect of the conjuration or zone.
✦ Success: You identify the power used to create the
effect and its power source and keywords.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the effect again
during this encounter.
Identify Ritual: Standard action.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the ritual’s level. You must be able to see or otherwise detect the ritual’s effects.
✦ Success: You identify the ritual and its category.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the ritual again until after an extended rest
Identify Magical Effect: Standard action.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the effect’s level, if any. You must be able to see or otherwise detect the effect.
✦ Not a Power or a Ritual: The magical effect must be neither from a magic item nor the product of a power or a ritual.
✦ Success: You learn the effect’s name, power source, and keywords, if any of those apply.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the effect again until after an extended rest
Sense the Presence of Magic: 1 minute.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the level of a magic item, power (conjuration or zone), ritual, or magical phenomenon within range.
✦ Area of Detection: You can detect magic within a number of squares equal to 5 + your level in every direction, and you can ignore any sources of magical energy you’re already aware of. Ignore all barriers; you can detect magic through walls, doors, and such.
✦ Success: You detect each source of magical energy whose DC you meet. You learn the magic’s power source, if any. If the source of magical energy is within line of sight, you pinpoint its location. If it’s not within line of sight, you know the direction from which the magical energy emanates, but you don’t know the distance to it.
✦ Failure: Either you detected nothing or there was nothing in range to detect. You can’t try again in this area until after an extended rest.
ATHLETICS (STRENGTH)
Armor Check Penalty Make an Athletics check to attempt physical activities that rely on muscular strength, including climbing, escaping from a grab, jumping, and swimming Make an Athletics check to climb up or down a surface. Different circumstances and surfaces make climbing easier or harder. Climb: Part of a move action.
✦ DC: See the table. If you use a climber’s kit, you get a +2 bonus to your Athletics check. If you can brace yourself between two surfaces, you get a +5 bonus to your check.
✦ Success: You climb at one-half your speed. When you climb to reach the top of a surface, such as when you climb out of a pit, the distance to reach the top includes allowing you to arrive in the square adjacent to the surface. The last square of movement places you on that square.
✦ Fail by 4 or Less: You stay where you started and lose the rest of your move action, but you don’t fall. You can try again as part of a move action.
✦ Fail by 5 or More: You fall (see “Falling,” page 284) and lose the rest of your move action.
✦ Grant Combat Advantage: While you are climbing, all enemies have combat advantage against you.
✦ Uses Movement: Count the number of squares you climb as part of your move.
✦ Taking Damage: If you take damage while climbing, you must make a Climb check using the DC for the surface you’re climbing. If that damage makes you bloodied, increase the DC by 5. If you fail the check, you fall from your current height. If you try to catch hold when you fall, add the damage you take to the DC to catch yourself.
✦ Catch Hold: If you fall while climbing, you can make an Athletics check as a free action to catch hold of something to stop your fall. The base DC to catch hold of something is the DC of the surface you were climbing plus 5, modified by circumstances. You can make one check to catch hold. If you fail, you can’t try again unless the DM rules otherwise.
✦ Climb Speed: While climbing, creatures that have a climb speed (such as monstrous spiders) use that speed, ignore difficult terrain, do not grant combat advantage because of climbing, and do not make Athletics checks to climb.
Surface Athletics DC
Ladder 0
Rope 10
Uneven surface (cave wall)
15 Rough surface (brick wall)
20 Slippery surface +5
Unusually smooth surface +5
Make an Athletics check to muscle out of a grab (see “Escape,” page 288). You can also make escape attempts to get away from other immobilizing effects, as directed by your DM. Make an Athletics check to jump vertically to reach a dangling rope or a high ledge or to jump horizontally to leap across a pit, a patch of difficult terrain, a low wall, or some other obstacle. High Jump: Part of a move action.
✦ Distance Jumped Vertically: Make an Athletics check and divide your check result by 10 (round down). This is the number of feet you can leap up. The result determines the height that your feet clear with a jump. To determine if you can reach something while leaping, add your character’s height plus one-third rounded down (a 6-foot-tall character would add 8 feet to the final distance, and a 4-foottall character would add 5 feet).
✦ Running Start: If you move at least 2 squares before making the jump, divide your check result by 5, not 10.
✦ Uses Movement: Count the number of squares you jump as part of your move. If you run out of movement, you fall. You can end your first move in midair if you double move
Example: Marc, a 6-foot-tall human, attempts a high jump to catch a rope dangling 12 feet overhead. His check result is 26. With a running start, he leaps the distance (26 ÷ 5 = 5 feet, plus his height and one-third for a final reach of 13 feet). If Marc leaps from a standing position, he can’t quite reach the end of the rope (26 ÷ 10 = 2 feet for a final reach of 10 feet).
Long Jump: Part of a move action.
✦ Distance Jumped Horizontally: Make an Athletics check and divide your check result by 10 (don’t round the result). This is the number of squares you can leap across. You land in the square determined by your result. If you end up over a pit or a chasm, you fall and lose the rest of your move action.
✦ Distance Cleared Vertically: The vertical distance you clear is equal to one-quarter of the distance you jumped horizontally. If you could not clear the vertical distance of an obstacle along the way, you hit the obstacle, fall prone, and lose the rest of your move action.
✦ Running Start: If you move at least 2 squares before making the jump, divide your check result by 5, not 10.
✦ Uses Movement: Count the number of squares you jump as part of your move. If you run out of movement, you fall. You can end your first move in midair if you double move
Example: Marc attempts a long jump to clear a 5-foot-high wall of thorns and the 10-foot-wide pit beyond it. His check result is 24. With a running start, he easily jumps the distance (24 ÷ 5 = 4.8 squares or 24 feet) and clears the wall (24 ÷ 4 = 6 feet). If Marc jumps from a standing position, he can’t quite make it across the pit (24 ÷ 10 = 2.4 squares or 12 feet) and doesn’t clear the wall (12 ÷ 4 = 3 feet). He hits the wall of thorns and falls prone before reaching the pit.
Make an Athletics check to swim or to tread water. Different conditions make swimming harder. See the Endurance skill for information on swimming or treading water for an hour or more. Swim or Tread Water: Part of a move action.
✦ DC: See the table.
✦ Success: You swim at one-half your speed, or you stay afloat and tread water.
✦ Fail by 4 or Less: Stay where you are and lose the rest of your move action. You can try again as part of a move action.
✦ Fail by 5 or More: Sink 1 square and risk suffocation by drowning (details are in Chapter 9 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
✦ Uses Movement: Count the number of squares you swim as part of your move.
✦ Swim Speed: While swimming, creatures that have a swim speed (such as sahuagin) use that speed and do not make Athletics checks to swim.
Water Athletics DC
Calm 10
Rough 15
Stormy 20
BLUFF (CHARISMA)
You can make what’s false appear to be true, what’s outrageous seem plausible, and what’s suspicious seem ordinary. You make a Bluff check to fast-talk a guard, con a merchant, gamble, pass off a disguise or fake documentation, and otherwise tell lies. Your Bluff check is opposed by an observer’s Insight check. Your check might be opposed by multiple Insight checks, depending on how many observers can see and hear you and care about what’s going on. During a skill challenge, you might need to beat your observers’ Insight checks multiple times to succeed at bluffing them. Bluff: Standard action in combat or part of a skill challenge.
✦ Opposed Check: Bluff vs. Insight.
✦ Gain Combat Advantage: Once per combat encounter, you can try to gain combat advantage against an adjacent enemy by feinting. As a standard action, make a Bluff check opposed by the enemy’s Insight check. If you succeed, you gain combat advantage against the enemy until the end of your next turn.
✦ Create a Diversion to Hide: Once per combat encounter, you can create a diversion to hide. As a standard action, make a Bluff check opposed by the Insight check of an enemy that can see you (if multiple enemies can see you, your Bluff check is opposed by each enemy’s Insight check). If you succeed, you create a diversion and can immediately make a Stealth check to hide.
DIPLOMACY (CHARISMA)
You can influence others with your tact, subtlety, and social grace. Make a Diplomacy check to change opinions, to inspire good will, to haggle with a patron, to demonstrate proper etiquette and decorum, or to negotiate a deal in good faith. A Diplomacy check is made against a DC set by the DM. The target’s general attitude toward you (friendly or unfriendly, peaceful or hostile) and other conditional modifiers (such as what you might be seeking to accomplish or what you’re asking for) might apply to the DC. Diplomacy is usually used in a skill challenge that requires a number of successes, but the DM might call for a Diplomacy check in other situations.
DUNGEONEERING (WISDOM)
Dungeoneering deals with two distinct subjects, exploring caves and caverns, and engineering. Dungeoneering in spelunking can be used to see in low-light which improves with races that have low-light visibility (such as dwarves and deep gnomes) Dungeoneering in terms of engineering can be used to both use a piece of technology or in building one. Make a Dungeoneering check to remember a useful bit of knowledge about an underground environment or to recognize an underground hazard or clue. Examples of dungeoneering knowledge include determining cardinal directions while underground (common), recognizing a dangerous underground plant (expert), or spotting new construction or noticing a change in depth while exploring an area (expert).
ENDURANCE (CONSTITUTION)
Armor Check Penalty Make an Endurance check to stave off ill effects and to push yourself beyond normal physical limits. You can hold your breath for long periods of time, forestall the debilitating effects of hunger and thirst, and swim or tread water for extended periods. Some environmental hazards—including extreme temperatures, violent weather, and diseases—require you to make an Endurance check to resist and delay debilitating effects. Endurance: No action required.
✦ DC: See the table. The check DC varies based on the situation and the level of a hazard.
✦ Success: You endure a particular situation.
✦ Failure: You can’t try again until circumstances change or a certain amount of time has elapsed.
Task Endurance DC
Endure extreme weather Base 15
Resist disease Varies Ignore hunger 10 + 2 per day
Ignore thirst 15 + 4 per day
Hold breath (each round after 5) 10 + 1 per round
Swim or tread water (after 1 hour) 15 + 2 per hour
HEAL (WISDOM)
You know how to help someone recover from wounds or debilitating conditions, including disease. Make a Heal check to administer first aid. First Aid: Standard action.
✦ DC: Varies depending on the task you’re attempting.
✦ Use Second Wind: Make a DC 10 Heal check to allow an adjacent character to use his or her second wind (page 291) without the character having to spend an action. The character doesn’t gain the defense bonuses normally granted by second wind.
✦ Stabilize the Dying: Make a DC 15 Heal check to stabilize an adjacent dying character. If you succeed, the character can stop making death saving throws until he or she takes damage. The character’s current hit point total doesn’t change as a result of being stabilized.
✦ Grant a Saving Throw: Make a DC 15 Heal check. If you succeed, an adjacent ally can immediately make a saving throw, or the ally gets a +2 bonus to a saving throw at the end of his or her next turn. Make a Heal check to treat a character suffering from a disease. Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has more information about disease. Treat Disease: Part of the diseased character’s extended rest. You must attend the character periodically throughout the extended rest, and you make your Heal check when the rest ends.
✦ Replaces Endurance: Your Heal check result determines the disease’s effects if the result is higher than the diseased character’s Endurance check result.
HISTORY (INTELLIGENCE)
You have picked up knowledge related to the history of a region and beyond, including the chronological record of significant events and an explanation of their causes. This includes information pertaining to royalty and other leaders, wars, legends, significant personalities, laws, customs, traditions, and memorable events. If you have selected this skill as a trained skill, your knowledge represents academic study, either formalized or as a hobby, and you have a better chance of knowing esoteric information in this field. Make a History check to remember a useful bit of historical knowledge or to recognize a historical clue.
INSIGHT (WISDOM)
You can discern intent and decipher body language during social interactions. You make an Insight check to comprehend motives, to read between the lines, to get a sense of moods and attitudes, and to determine how truthful someone is being. You use Insight to counter a Bluff check, and Insight is used as the social counterpart to the Perception skill. In skill challenges that require a number of successes, use Insight checks to oppose someone’s Bluff checks. Insight can also be used to gain clues, figure out how well you might be doing in a social situation, and to determine if someone is under the influence of an outside force. Whenever you use Insight, you’re making a best guess as to what you think a motive or attitude is or how truthful a target is being. Insight is not an exact science or a supernatural power; it represents your ability to get a sense of how a person is behaving. Insight: No action required when countering a Bluff check, minor action in combat, or part of a skill challenge. Requires some amount of interaction to get a read on a target.
✦ DC: See the table. If you’re trying to see through a bluff, this is an opposed check against your opponent’s Bluff check.
✦ Success: You counter a Bluff check, gain a clue about a social situation, sense an outside influence on someone, or recognize an effect as illusory.
✦ Failure: You can’t try again until circumstances change.
✦ Recognizing an Effect as Illusory: The DM might use your passive Insight check to determine if you notice the telltale signs of an illusion effect. Noticing such an effect doesn’t break the illusion, but you recognize the effect as illusory.
Task Insight DC
Sense motives, attitudes 10 + creature’s level
Sense outside influence 25 + effect’s level
Recognize effect as illusory 15 + effect’s level
INTIMIDATE (CHARISMA)
Make an Intimidate check to influence others through hostile actions, overt threats, and deadly persuasion. Intimidate can be used in combat encounters or as part of a skill challenge that requires a number of successes. Your Intimidate checks are made against a target’s Will defense or a DC set by the DM. The target’s general attitude toward you and other conditional modifiers (such as what you might be seeking to accomplish or what you’re asking for) might apply to the DC. Intimidate: Standard action in combat or part of a skill challenge.
✦ Opposed Check: Intimidate vs. Will (see the table for modifiers to your target’s defense). If you can’t speak a language your target understands, you take a –5 penalty to your check. If you attempt to intimidate multiple enemies at once, make a separate Intimidate check against each enemy’s Will defense. Each target must be able to see and hear you.
✦ Success: You force a bloodied target to surrender, get a target to reveal secrets against its will, or cow a target into taking some other action.
✦ Failure: If you attempted to intimidate the target during combat, you can’t try again against that target during this encounter.
✦ Target Becomes Hostile: Using Intimidate usually makes a target hostile toward you, even if you don’t succeed on the check.
Enemy is . . . Will Defense Modifier
Hostile +10
Unfriendly +5
NATURE (WISDOM)
You have picked up knowledge and skills related to nature, including finding your way through the wilderness, recognizing natural hazards, dealing with and identifying natural creatures, and living off the land. If you have selected this skill as a trained skill, your knowledge represents formalized study or extensive experience, and you have a better chance of knowing esoteric information in this field. Make a Nature check to locate and gather enough food and water to last for 24 hours. Forage: 1 hour.
✦ DC: DC 15 to find food and water for one person, DC 25 for up to five people. The DM might adjust the DC in different environments (5 lower in a cultivated environment or 5 higher in a barren one).
✦ Success: You find enough food and water for 24 hours.
✦ Failure: You find no food or water. You can forage again but in a different area.
Make a Nature check to calm down a natural beast, teach a natural beast some tricks, or otherwise handle a natural beast. Handling a natural beast is usually part of a skill challenge that requires a number of successes. Make a Nature check to remember a useful bit of knowledge about the natural world—about terrain, climate, weather, plants, and seasons—or to recognize a nature-related clue. Examples of Nature knowledge include determining cardinal directions or finding a path (common), recognizing a dangerous plant or another natural hazard (master), or predicting a coming change in the weather (expert).
PERCEPTION (WISDOM)
Make a Perception check to notice clues, detect secret doors, spot imminent dangers, find traps, follow tracks, listen for sounds behind a closed door, or locate hidden objects. This skill is used against another creature’s Stealth check or against a DC set by the DM. In most situations, the DM uses your passive Perception check result to determine if you notice a clue or an imminent danger. Perception: No action required—either you notice something or you don’t. Your DM usually uses your passive Perception check result. If you want to use the skill actively, you need to take a standard action or spend 1 minute listening or searching, depending on the task.
✦ Opposed Check: Perception vs. Stealth when trying to spot or hear a creature using Stealth. Your check might be modified by distance or if you’re listening through a door or a wall (see the table).
✦ DC: See the table for DCs when you’re trying to hear or spot something, searching an area, or looking for tracks.
✦ Success: You spot or hear something.
✦ Failure: You can’t try again unless circumstances change.
✦ Searching: When actively searching an area or looking for something specific, assume you’re searching each adjacent square. The DM might allow you to do this as a standard action, but usually searching requires at least 1 minute.
Listen Perception DC
Battle 0
Normal conversation 10
Whispers 20
Through a door +5
Through a wall +10
More than 10 squares away +2
Spot or Search Perception DC
Barely hidden 10
Well hidden 25
More than 10 squares away +2
Find Tracks Perception DC
Soft ground (snow, loose dirt, mud) 15
Hard ground (wood or stone) 25
Rain or snow since tracks were made +10
Each day since tracks were made +2
Quarry obscured its tracks +5
Huge or larger creature –5
Group of ten or more –5
RELIGION (INTELLIGENCE)
You have picked up knowledge about gods, religious traditions and ceremonies, divine effects, holy symbols, and theology. This knowledge extends to information about the undead and the Astral Sea, including the creatures of that plane. If you have selected this skill as a trained skill, your knowledge represents academic study, either formalized or as a hobby, and you have a better chance of knowing esoteric information in this field. Make a Religion check to remember a useful bit of religious knowledge or to recognize a religion-related clue. Immortal or Undead Make a Religion check to identify a creature that has the immortal origin (a creature of the Astral Sea) or the undead keyword.
STEALTH (DEXTERITY)
Armor Check Penalty Make a Stealth check to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, and sneak up on people without being seen or heard. This skill is used against another creature’s Perception check or against a DC set by the DM. Stealth: Part of whatever action you are trying to perform stealthily.
✦ Opposed Check: Stealth vs. Perception (see the table for modifiers to your check). If there are multiple observers, your Stealth check is opposed by each observer’s Perception check.
✦ Cover or Concealment: Unless a creature is distracted, you must have cover against or concealment from the creature to make a Stealth check. You have to maintain cover or concealment to remain unnoticed. If a creature has unblocked line of sight to you (that is, you lack any cover or concealment), the creature automatically sees you (no Perception check required).
✦ Superior Cover or Total Concealment: If you have superior cover or total concealment, a creature can’t see you and can’t be sure of your exact location. If its Perception check beats your Stealth check, though, it knows you are present, knows the direction to your location, and has a vague idea of the distance between the two of you. If its Perception check beats your Stealth check by 10 or more, the creature can pinpoint your location until the end of your next turn, even if you move.
✦ Distracted Creature: If a creature is distracted, you can attempt to hide from that creature even when you don’t have cover or concealment. In combat, creatures are assumed to be paying attention in all directions. Outside combat, a creature might be paying attention to something in a certain direction, allowing you to hide behind the creature’s back. You make a Stealth check as normal to avoid the creature’s notice, since it might hear you.
✦ Success: You avoid notice, unheard and hidden from view. If you later attack or shout, you’re no longer hidden.
✦ Failure: You can’t try again unless observers become distracted or you manage to obtain cover or concealment.
✦ Combat Advantage: You have combat advantage against a target that isn’t aware of you.
✦ Light Source: Observers automatically see you if you’re carrying a light source.
You . . . Stealth Modifier
Speak –5
Move more than 2 squares –5
Run –10
STREETWISE (CHARISMA)
When in a settlement—a village, a town, or a city— make a Streetwise check to find out what’s going on, who the movers and shakers are, where to get what you need (and how to get there), and where not to go. Streetwise: Using this skill takes 1 hour and might be part of a skill challenge.
✦ DC: See the table.
✦ Success: You collect a useful bit of information, gather rumors, find out about available jobs, or locate the best deal.
✦ Failure: You can try again, but you might draw attention to yourself if you keep chasing after the same information.
Settlement and Information Streetwise DC
Typical settlement 15
Hostile settlement 20
Totally alien settlement 30
Information is readily available –2
Information is hard to come by +5
Information is secret or closely guarded +10
THIEVERY (DEXTERITY)
Armor Check Penalty You have picked up thieving abilities and can perform tasks that require nerves of steel and a steady hand: disabling traps, opening locks, picking pockets, and sleight of hand. The DM might decide that some uses of this skill are so specialized that you are required to be trained in it to have a chance of succeeding. Make a Thievery check to prevent a trap from triggering. You need to be aware of a trap to try to disable it. Make a Perception check to find a hidden trap. Disable Trap: Standard action in combat or part of a skill challenge.
✦ DC: See the table. You get a +2 bonus to the check if you use thieves’ tools.
✦ Delay Trap: You get a +5 bonus to the check if you try to delay a trap, rather than disable it.
✦ Success: You disable or delay the trap. Disabling a trap makes it harmless until it resets. Delaying a trap makes the trapped area safe for passage until the end of your next turn.
✦ Fail by 4 or Less: Nothing happens. You can try again as a new action.
✦ Fail by 5 or More: You trigger the trap.
Trap Thievery DC
Heroic tier 20
Paragon tier 30
Epic tier 35
Make a Thievery check to pick a lock. Open Lock: Standard action in combat or part of a skill challenge.
✦ DC: See the table. You get a +2 bonus to the check if you use thieves’ tools.
✦ Success: You pick the lock.
✦ Failure: You can try again as a new action.
Make a Thievery check to lift a small object (such as a purse or an amulet) from a creature without that creature being aware of the theft. It must be an object that the creature isn’t holding.
Pick Pocket: Standard action.
✦ DC: DC 20 + your target’s level. If in combat, you take a –10 penalty to your check.
✦ Success: You lift a small object from the target without the target noticing.
✦ Fail by 4 or Less: You don’t get the object, but the target didn’t notice. You can try again as a new action.
✦ Fail by 5 or More: You don’t get the object, and the target notices your failed attempt.
Make a Thievery check to palm an unattended object small enough to fit into your hand (such as a coin or a ring) or to perform an act of legerdemain. Sleight of Hand: Standard action in combat or part of a skill challenge.
✦ DC: Base DC 15.
✦ Success: You palm an unattended, small object or perform an act of legerdemain.
✦ Failure: You can still pick up the object, but onlookers see you pick it up, or they see through your act of legerdemain.