How Skills Work
From D20advanced
When you use a skill, make a skill check to see how you do. Based on the circumstances, your result must match or beat a particular number to use the skill successfully. The harder the task, the higher the number you need to roll. (See Checks)
| TABLE 2.2: SKILL BENCMARKS | ||
| Bonus | Skill Level | Example |
| 0 | Untrained | No real background, training or experience. Any degree of success is pretty much luck and luck only. A newbie. |
| 1-4 | Basic | Some training, some experience, or possibly just a glimmer of natural talent. You can perform routine tasks without trouble, and difficult tasks with effort (or luck). |
| 5-8 | Skilled | A fair amount of training, experience, or natural talent. You can easily perform routine tasks and even difficult ones (most of the time). |
| 9-12 | Professional | The character is well-versed in this skill or possesses exceptional natural talent. He performs difficult tasks without great effort and can instruct or manage others in this skill. |
| 13-16 | Master | Difficult tasks in this skill are performed routinely, and unusual or cutting-edge applications are adapted without great effort. |
| 17-20 | Prodigy | One of the best in the world with this skill, routinely accomplishing tasks that give lesser masters difficulty, and developing the cutting edges that others follow. |
| 21-24 | Legend | One of the greatest masters of this skill that has ever lived. You push boundaries, and perform the “impossible” with disturbing regularity. |
| 25+ | Godlike | This person’s ability almost defies rational belief, seeming to appear akin to magic, and regularly cowing even experienced masters. This person doesn’t just push boundaries: he redefines them for the entire conception of the skill. |
Contents |
Combat Skills
Unlike other types of skills, Combat skills are not modified by any ability score. The types of Combat Skills are Weapon Group which governs your attacks, Defense which governs whether you get hit by an attack or not, and Toughness which governs how much, if any, damage you receive from an enemy's successful attack. For more on Combat Skills in general and how they are overcome, see the Skill Descriptions earlier in this chapter or Chapter VII: Combat.
Interactions
Certain skills, called interaction skills (mostly the Persuasion skill), are aimed at dealing with others through social interaction. Interaction skills allow you to influence the attitudes of others and get them to cooperate with you in one way or another. Since interaction skills are intended for dealing with others socially, they have certain requirements.
First, you must be able to interact with the subjects of the skill. The subjects must be aware of you and able to understand you. If you don’t speak the same language, or they can’t hear you for some reason, that’s the same as working without the proper tools, a –4 on your skill check. Interaction skills work best on intelligent subjects, ones with an Int score of 3 or better. You can use them on creatures with Int -5, but with a –8 penalty; they’re just too dumb to get the subtleties of your point. You can’t use interaction skills at all on subjects lacking one or more mental ability scores. (Try convincing a rock to be your friend—or to be afraid of you—sometime.) The Immunity FX can also render some characters immune to interaction skills.
You can use interaction skills on groups of subjects at once, but only to achieve the same result for all. So you can attempt to use Bluff or Diplomacy to convince a group of something, or Intimidate to cow a crowd, for example, but you can’t try to convince some individuals of one thing and the rest of another, or to intimidate some people and not others. The GM decides if a particular use of an interaction skill is effective against a group, and may apply modifiers depending on the situation. The general rules for interaction still apply: everyone in the group must be able to hear and understand you, for example, or you suffer a -4 on your skill check against them. Mindless subjects are unaffected.
Knowledge
Many skills include the ability to make Knowledge checks to remember or know important pieces of information related to that skill. Some skills (like Academics) are applied to a broad swathe of potential knowledges, while others (such as Athletics) might only apply to memorizing a smaller number of things.
Use your base ranks in the applicable skill for the check, but instead of using the normal ability score to modify the check, use your Intelligence score. For example, a check to remember who won the 1992 World Series might use Athletics, but instead of using your Strength score to modify the check, use your Intelligence modifier.
The DC is 10 for easy questions, 15 for basic questions, and 20 to 30 for difficult questions. The GM may make a the roll for you, so you don’t know whether or not your information is accurate.
Manipulation Skills
Some skills, called manipulation skills, require a degree of fine physical manipulation. You need prehensile limbs and a Strength score or some suitable substitute (such as a Precise Move Object FX) to use manipulation skills effectively. Characters lacking the ability to use manipulation skills can still have ranks in them and use them to oversee the work of others (granting an aid bonus).
Resistances
Generally, when subject to an attack or hazard, your relevant Resistance is what protects you from falling victim to it. The types of Resistances are Defense (to dodge out of the way of attacks and explosions), Fortitude (to resist internal bodily harm, like poisons and diseases), Perception (to notice threats or feints), Toughness (to avoid external wounds and attacks) and Will. For more on Resistances in general and how they are overcome, see the Skill Descriptions in this chapter or Chapter VII: Combat.
Specialty Skills
Some skills, such as Expertise, Survival, or Weapon Group, cover a wide range of knowledge or techniques. These skills are actually groups of similar skills, called specialty skills. When putting ranks into one of these skills, you must choose a specialty, a particular aspect of the skill your character knows. For example, you might choose the physical sciences specialty of Knowledge or the mechanical specialty of Craft. Skill ranks in one specialty of a skill do not imply training in the skill’s other specialties.
Untrained Skill Checks
Generally, if you attempt a task requiring a skill you don’t have, you make a skill check as normal. Your skill modifier doesn’t have a skill rank added in because you don’t have any ranks in the skill. You do get other modifiers, though, such as the ability modifier for the skill’s key ability.
Non-Proficient Skill Checks
Alternatively, you might run across a situation where you lack a skill which your background and other abilities seem to suggest you should have some proficiency with. For example, in a fantasy game, a hard-bitten, well-traveled woodsman might have 6 ranks in Survival, only to realize that he doesn't have any ranks in Athletics to climb a tree! By all rights, a woodsman who has spent his whole adult life in the forest should have some idea how to scramble up a tree at night. In this case, with the GM's permission, he can make a non-proficient Survival check to climb a tree.
In order to make a non-proficient check, you may use half of your ranks in the relevant substitute skill check for the purpose of the check (rounded down). So the woodsman described above can use 3 ranks from Survival (the substitute skill) to make a non-proficient check to climb. Instead of using the substitute skill's normal ability modifier (Wisdom for Survival), use the non-proficient skill's ability (Strength for Athletics).
Non-proficient skill checks are also very appropriate for characters making attack rolls with weapons which they lack training with, allowing characters to have great skill with a single type of weapon without being clueless about other forms of combat.
Extended Skill Checks
With most skill checks, a single die roll immediately determines whether or not a character succeeds. If a character wants to make something or recall a specific fact, success or failure is apparent after a single skill check.
For complicated and time-consuming tasks (such as disabling a complex device or researching an obscure bit of knowledge), or at times when the GM wants to build tension and suspense, you can use the extended skill check variant described here.
In an extended skill check, a specific number of successful skills checks must be achieved to complete the task. The complexity of the task is reflected in the DC of the required check, the number of successful rolls required to complete the task, and the maximum number of failed rolls that can occur before the attempt fails. In most cases, one or two failed rolls do not mean an extended skill check has failed; however, if three failed rolls occur before the character makes the required number of successful rolls, the attempt fails. Although three failures is a common baseline, GMs are encouraged to change the number if the situation warrants it.
The GM can also apply a penalty to future rolls in the extended check if the player rolls one or more failures. For instance, an intricate negotiation requiring an extended Diplomacy check might assess a –2 penalty on checks for each failed check made as part of the extended check for poor conditions. The Difficulty Class of an extended skill check should usually be
5 to 10 less than a standard skill check to allow for the number of additional successful checks required and the possibility of failure. So a normally formidable task (DC 25) should only be DC 15–20 for an extended check.
| TABLE 2.1: EXTENDED SKILL CHECKS | ||
| Successes | Complexity | Example |
| 2 or 3 | Slight | Training a horse (Survial) |
| 4 to 6 | Ordinary | Making a piece of artwork (Art) |
| 7 to 9 | Good | Bypassing a fiendishly complex trap (Infiltration) |
| 10 or more | Amazing | Figuring out an alien device (Technology) |
Trying Again
Extended skill checks can usually be retried. However, like normal skill checks, some extended skill checks have consequences and those consequences must be taken into account. For example, a trap that requires an extended Infiltration check to disarm is triggered if the attempt fails, just as with a normal trap and a normal Infiltration check.
Some skills are virtually useless for a particular task once an attempt has failed, and this includes extended skill checks. The Extended Skill Use section describes which skills can be used in extended skill checks and which allow retries after failed attempts.
Like skill checks, ability checks and even power checks can also be complex.
Extended skill checks are rarely used in situations calling for opposed checks.
Interrupting an Extended Check
Most extended skill checks can be interrupted without adversely affecting the outcome of the check. However, the Gamemaster is free to decide that an interruption affects the outcome. An interruption can count as one failed roll in the check's progression or it can mean the extended check fails altogether.
Aid and Extended Checks
You can aid another as normal with an extended skill check. Characters aiding the one making the attempt must roll their aid attempts each time the character makes a new roll as part of the extended skill check, and only apply the aid bonus to those rolls they're available to aid. Assisting characters don’t have to aid the entire extended check unless the GM rules otherwise.
Taking 10 and 20
You can take 10 on any die roll during an extended skill check in any situation where you could normally take 10 on a check using that skill.
You can't take 20 when making an extended skill check. Taking 20 represents making the same check repeatedly until you succeed, but each successful roll in an extended skill check represents only a portion of the success you must achieve to complete the task.
 Option: Under Pressure
If a character is under pressure or stress during an extended skill check (trying to disarm a bomb as the timer ticks down, performing a complex magical rite in the midst of a roaring battle, deciphering the combination to unlock a door before a guard discovers her, etc.), you can require an Expertise check for the relevant specialty at each stage of the extended check with the same DC as the skill check for that stage. If the Expertise check succeeds, the character can attempt the skill check normally, if the Expertise check fails, the character suffers a –4 penalty on the skill check, making it more likely to fail. Optionally, a certain number of failed Expertise checks (three or more) may result in failure with the entire extended task, forcing the character to start over again from the beginning. Conversely, a higher level of success with the Expertise check might apply a bonus to the corresponding skill check, like a use of aid (+1 bonus per 5 points the Expertise check result exceeds the required DC). To really pile on the pressure, you can also require Endurance or Will checks during especially stressful extended checks to avoid suffering fatigue from the effort involved, with the DC of the save rising as the extended check progresses. |
Combined Effort and Extended Checks
At the GM's discretion, some extended checks can allow multiple characters to combine their effects. All the participating characters make the check and combine their successes toward the requirements of the extended check. For example, a group of four characters combine their effort to work on a project requiring six successful checks. Each makes the necessary check, adding up the results. The goal is still the same—to accumulate six successful checks before three failures.
If a group achieves the number of successes it needs at the same time it gets three or more failures, the extended check is considered a success.
Timed Extended Checks
The previous rules for extended checks assume time is not a factor; the process goes on until the character accumulates enough successful checks to complete the task or accumulates enough failed checks to fail. However, some extended checks may also feature a time-limit, such as disabling a device before it goes off, or fixing a starship's engines before it crashes into the sun. The GM can use a time-limit as an additional source of tension for an extended check.
If the time involved is as long or longer than the required number of successes plus three, then it isn't relevant, since the character will either have succeeded or failed before the time runs out. If you want to stretch this out, remove the automatic failure for three failed skill checks.
Skill Challenges
Challenges reflect a capable character’s ability to perform some tasks with superior panache and efficiency. They allow heroes to achieve greater results by making already difficult checks harder.
To take a challenge, increase a check’s Difficulty Class by 5 or suffer a –5 penalty to the check result. In return, you gain an extra benefit in addition to the normal effects of a successful check. If you fail due to the penalty or increased DC, however, you suffer the normal results of failure. Note that, if failing by more than a certain margin imposes a particular outcome, you suffer that outcome as normal if you fail to meet your newly increased Difficulty Class. So, for example, a character who misses an Infiltration check to disable a trap by 10 or more accidentally sets off the device. If the standard Difficulty is 20 and your challenge increases it to 25, then you accidentally set off the device with a skill check result of 15 or less, instead of the usual 10 or less.
You can accept more than on challenge to a check. In some cases, you can take a challenge more than once to gain its benefits multiple times. These are noted in the challenge descriptions.
Generally, challenges allow you to gain added benefits when you face a relatively low DC and have a high modifier. You can also use challenges to attempt heroic actions, even when faced with a high DC. In these cases, spending a hero die can help ensure success with all the added benefits of the successful challenge.
Standard Challenges
The challenges in this section apply to any ability or skill check. The Gamemaster has final say whether a challenge applies to a specific situation. Each challenge imposes either a +5 modifier to a check's DC or a –5 penalty to the check result.
- Fast Task: You reduce the time needed to complete the check. If the check is normally a full-round action, it becomes a standard action. A standard action becomes a move action, while a move action becomes a free action. For checks requiring time in rounds, minutes, or longer, reduce the time needed by 25 percent per challenge. You cannot make a check as a free action via challenges if it normally requires a standard action or longer.
- Calculated Risk: You can take a calculated risk on one check to make a follow-up check easier. For example, you could use Disable Device to overcome an initial safeguard to make disarming the whole trap easier. If you succeed at this challenge, you gain a bonus on the second check equal to the total penalty you accepted on the first. The two checks must be related and the first, penalized, check must carry some consequence for failure (that is, it cannot be a check where you can take 20).
- Simultaneous Tasks: You can accept a challenge in order to perform two checks simultaneously. To attempt simultaneous checks, make the challenge check, followed by a second check using the same or a different trait. Your secondary check suffers a –10 penalty or a +10 increase in Difficulty. The combined task requires the same time as the longest normal task, so if both tasks require a standard action, you accomplish the simultaneous use in a single standard action rather than two.
In addition to these standard challenges, various skills have specific challenges associated with them, described in the following section.
Team Checks
Sometimes an entire team performs a task as a unit and individual success is irrelevant. In this case, the GM may call for a team check for the task. A team check works just like a normal check, except only one character makes the check for the entire team. The situation at hand determines the character who makes the check, as follows:
- If only one character must succeed for the entire team to gain the benefits (e.g., one character can make a Persuasion check and inform others of what he finds), the character with the highest relevant bonus makes the check.
- If every member of the team must succeed to gain the benefits of the check (e.g., every member of the team must succeed on an Infiltration check to slip past a sentry), the character with the lowest relevant bonus makes the check.
In either case, if two or more characters qualify to make the check, the team can jointly choose which of them makes it. If a character goes solo, then the character is no longer a part of the team for purposes of the team check (good reason for the stealthy character to scout ahead, for example, making Stealth checks independent of the rest of the team).
The character making the team skill check may spend Hero Dice on it normally. Also, a character with the Leadership feat can spend a Hero Die on a team check, even if he is not the character making the check, so long as he’s a part of the team making the check, and able to interact with the character making it (to offer direction and encouragement).
