Official Rules - Skills

Use this skill to tell an antique from old junk, a sword that's old and fancy from an elven heirloom, and high quality jewelry from cheap stuff made to look good.

Check: You can appraise common or well-known objects within 10% of their value (DC 12 : DM rolls). Failure means you estimate the value at 50% to 150% of actual value. The DM secretly rolls 2d6+3, multiplies by 10%, multiplies the actual value by that percentage, and tells you that value for the item. (For a common or well-known item, your chance of estimating value within 10% is fairly high even if you fail the check - in such a case, you made a lucky guess.)

Rare or exotic items require a successful check against DC 15, 20, or higher. If successful, you estimate the value at 10% to 130% of its actual value. The DM secretly rolls 2d4+5, multiplies by 10%, multiplies the actual value by that percentage, and tells you that value for the item. Failure means you cannot estimate the item's value.

A magnifying glass (page 111) gives a +2 circumstance bonus to Appraise checks involving any item that is small or highly detailed, such as a gem. A merchant's scale (page 111) gives a +2 circumstance bonus to Appraise checks involving any items that are valued by weight, including anything made of precious metals. These bonuses stack.

Appraising an item takes 1 minute.

Retry:Not on the same object, regardless of success.

Special:If you are making the check untrained, for common items, failure means no estimate, and for rare items, success means an estimate of 50% to 150% (2d6+3 times 10% : Use this chart).

Dwarves have a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to rare or exotic items because they are familiar with valuable items of all kinds (especially those made of stone or metal).

Common Item Success Chart (DC 12)

Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier

1 -10% 2 -9% 3 -8% 4 -7% 5 -6%

6 -5% 7 -4% 8 -3% 9 -2% 10 -1%

11 Actual Value 12 +1% 13 +2% 14 +3% 15 +4%

16 +5% 17 +7% 18 +8% 19 +9% 20 +10%

Common Item Failure Chart (DC 12)

Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier

1 -50% 2 -45% 3 -40% 4 -35% 5 -30%

6 -25% 7 +25% 8 +30% 9 +35% 10 +40%

11 +50% 12 +60% 13 +70% 14 +80% 15 +90%

16 +100% 17 +110% 18 +120% 19 +130% 20 +150%

Rare Item Success Chart (DC 15, 20 or higher)

Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier Roll Modifier

1 *70% 2 *75% 3 *80% 4 *85% 5 *90%

6 *95% 7 Actual Value 8 *101% 9 *102% 10 *103%

11 *104% 12 *105% 13 *106% 14 *107% 15 *108%

16 *110% 17 *115% 18 *120% 19 *125% 20 *130%

Balance (Dex; Armor Check Penalty)
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You can keep your balance while walking on a tightrope, a narrow beam, a ledge, or an uneven floor.

Check: You can walk on a precarious surface as a move-equivalent action. A successful check lets you move at half your speed along the surface for 1 round. A failure mean that you can't move for 1 round. A failure by 5 or more means that you fall. The difficulty varies with the surface.

Surface	DC	SurfaceDC
7-12 inches wide	10	Uneven Floor	10
2-6 inches wide	15	Surface angled	+5*
Less than 2 inches wide	20	Surface slippery	+5*

*Cumulative; if both apply, use both
Being Attacked while Walking a Tightrope: Attacks against you are made as if you were off balance: They gain a +2 attack bonus, and you lose your Desterity bonus to AC, if any. If you have 5 or more ranks in Balance, then you can retain your Dexterity bousus to AC (if any) in the face of attacks. If you take damage, you must make a check again to stay on the tightrope.

Accelerated Movement:You can try to walk a precarious surface more quicluy than normal. If you accept a -5 penalty, you can move your full speed as a move-equivalent action. (Moving twice your speed in a round requires two checks.)

Special: If you have 5 or more ranks in Tumble, you get a +2 synergy bonus on Balance checks.

Disguise (Cha)
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Use this skill to change your appearance or someone else's. The effort requires at least a few props, some makeup, and 1d3 x 10 minutes of work. The use of a disguise kit (page 110) provides a +2 circumstance bonus to a Disguise check. A disguise can include an apparent change of height or weight of no more than one-tenth the original.
You can also impersonate people, either individuals or types, so that, for example, you might, with little or no actual disguise, make yourself seem like a traveler even if you're a local.
Check: Your Disguise check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others' Spot check results. Make one Disguise check even if several people make Spot checks. The DM makes your Disguise check secretly so that you're not sure how good it is.
If you don't draw any attention to yourself, however, others do not get to make Spot checks. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), the DM can assume that such observers are taking 10 on their Spot checks.
The effectiveness of your disguise depends in part on how much you're attempting to change your appearance:
Disguise Modifier
Minor details only +5
Disguised as different sex Ś2
Disguised as different race Ś2
Disguised as different age category Ś2*
Disguised as specific class Ś2
*Per step of difference between character™s actual age category and disguised age category (young [younger than adulthood], adulthood, middle age, old, venerable).
If you are impersonating a particular individual, those who know what that person looks like get a bonus on their Spot checks (and are automatically considered to be suspicious of you, so opposed checks are always invoked).
Familiarity Bonus
Recognizes on sight +4
Friends or associates +6
Close friends +8
Intimate +10
Usually, an individual makes a check for detection immediately upon meeting you and each hour thereafter. If you casually meet many different creatures, each for a short time, check once per day or hour, using an average Spot bonus for the group. For example, if a character is trying to pass for a merchant at a bazaar, the DM can make one Spot check per hour for the people she encounters using a +1 bonus on the check to represent the average of the crowd (most people with no Spot ranks and a few with good Spot skills).
Retry: A character may try to redo a failed disguise, but once others know that a disguise was attempted they'll be more suspicious.
Special: If you have 5 or more ranks of Bluff, you get a +2 synergy bonus on Disguise checks when you know that you're being observed and you try to act in character.
Magic that alters the recipient's form, such as alter self, change self, polymorph other, or shapechange, grants the disguised individual a +10 bonus on her Disguise check (see the individual spell descriptions in Chapter 11: Spells). You must succeed at a Disguise check with a +10 bonus to duplicate the appearance of a specific individual using the veil spell. Divination magic that sees through illusions, such as true seeing, does not see through a mundane disguise, but can see through the magical component of a magically enhanced one.
You must make a Disguise check when you cast a simulacrum spell (page 252) to determine how good the likeness is.

Heal (Wis)
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Use this skill to keep a badly wounded friend from dying, to help others recover faster from wounds, to keep your friend from succumbing to a wyvern's sting, or to treat disease.

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

Task	DC
First Aid	15
Long-term care	15
Treat caltrop wound	15
Treat poison	Poison's DC
Treat disease	Disease's DC

First Aid: First aid usually means saving a dying character. If a character has negative hit points and is losing hit points (at 1 per round, 1 per hour, or 1 per day), you can make him stable. The character regains no hit points, but he does stop losing them. The check is a standard action. (see Dying, page 129)

Long-term Care: First usually means

Treat Wound from Caltrop, Spike Growth, or Spike Stones: First usually means

Treat Poison: First usually means

Treat Disease: First usually means

Jump (Str; Armor Check Penalty)
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Use this skill to leap over pits, vault low fences, or reach a tree's lowest branches.

Check: You jump a minimum distance plus an additional distance depending on the amount by which your jump check result exceeds 10. The maximum distance of any jump is a function of your height.

Type of Jump	Minimum Distance	Additional Distance	Maximum Distance
Running jump*	5 ft.	+1 ft./1 point above 10	Height x 6
Standing jump	3 ft.	+1 ft./2 points above 10	Height x 2
Running high jump*	2 ft.	+1 ft./4 points above 10	Height x 1 1/2
Standing High jump	2 ft.	+1 ft./8 points above 10	Height
Jump back	1 ft.	+1 ft./8 points above 10	Height

*You must move 20 feet before jumping. A character can't take a running jump in heavy armor.

The distances listed are for characters with speeds of 30 feet. If you have a lower speed (from armor, encumbrance, or wieght carried, for instance), reduce the distance jumped proportionally. If you have a higher speed (because you're a barbarian or an experienced monk, for instance), increase the distance jumped proportionally.

For example, Krusk the barbarian has a Jump skill modifier or +2 (no ranks, +3 Strength bonus, -1 armor check penalty) and a base speed of 40 feet. He attempts a running jump across a 10-foot wide chasm, and his player rolls an 11 for a result of 13. That's 3 over 10, so he clears 3 feet more than the minimum distance, or 8 feet. Also, his base speed is one-third higher than normal (40 feet instead of 30 feet), so his jumping distance is likewise one-third greater. Adding one-third of 8 feet yields another 2 feet, 8 inches, for a total of 10 feet, 8 inches. Krusk clears the chasm by 8 inches.

Distnace moved by jumping is counted against maximum movement in a round normally. For example, Krusk runs 20 feet toward the chasm, leaps 10 feet over it, and then moves an additional 10 feet to be next to a hobgoblin. He can now attack the hobgoblin since he can move 40 feet and make an attack in the same round.

If you intentionally jump down from a height, you might take less damage than if you just fall. If you succeed at a Jump check (DC 15), you take damage as if you had fallen 10 feet less than you actually did.

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

The spellexpitious retreat doubles both your speed and your maximum jumping distances. These increases count as enhancement bonuses.

The subject of a jump spell gets a +30 bonus on Jump checks and does not have the usual maximums for jumping distance. For leaps of maximum horizontal distance, the jump reachs its peak (one-forth the horizontal distance) at the halfway point.

A character who has the Run feat and who makes a running jump increases the distance or height he clears by one-forth, but not past the maximum.

Halflings get a +2 racial bonus on Jump checks because they are agile and athletic.

Wilderness Lore (Wis)
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Use this skill to hunt wild game, guide a party safely through frozen wastelands, identify signs that owlbears live nearby, or avoid quicksand and other natural hazards.

Check: You can keep youself and others safe and fed in the world.

DC	Task
10	Get along in the wild. Move up to one-half your overland speed while hunting and foraging (no food or water supplies needed). You can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which your check result exceeds 10.
15	Gain +2 on all Fortitude saves against severe weather while moving up to one-half your overland speed, or gain +4 if stationary. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 1 point by whish the check result exceeds 15.
15	Avoid getting lost or avoid natural hazards, such as quicksand

| Player's Handbook Main |

DC	Door
10 or lower	A door just about anyone can break open.
11 to 15	A door that a strong person could break open with one try and an average person might break with one try.
13	Typical DC for a simple wooden door.
16 to 20	A door that almost anyone could break, given time.
18	Typical DC for a good wooden door.
21 to 25	A door that only a strong or very strong person has a hope of breaking, and probably not on the first try.
23	Typical DC for a strong wooden door.
25	Typical DC for an iron-barred wooden door.
26 or higher	A door that only an exceptionally strong person has a hope of breaking.
28	Typical DC for an iron door.
+5*	Hold portal (Increases DC by 5).
+10*	Arcane lock (Increases DC by 10).
* Not cumulative; of both apply, use the large number.

Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier
1	-10%	2	-9%	3	-8%	4	-7%	5	-6%
6	-5%	7	-4%	8	-3%	9	-2%	10	-1%
11	Actual Value	12	+1%	13	+2%	14	+3%	15	+4%
16	+5%	17	+7%	18	+8%	19	+9%	20	+10%

Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier
1	-50%	2	-45%	3	-40%	4	-35%	5	-30%
6	-25%	7	+25%	8	+30%	9	+35%	10	+40%
11	+50%	12	+60%	13	+70%	14	+80%	15	+90%
16	+100%	17	+110%	18	+120%	19	+130%	20	+150%

Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier
1	*70%	2	*75%	3	*80%	4	*85%	5	*90%
6	*95%	7	Actual Value	8	*101%	9	*102%	10	*103%
11	*104%	12	*105%	13	*106%	14	*107%	15	*108%
16	*110%	17	*115%	18	*120%	19	*125%	20	*130%