Skills

1d20 + Ability Modifier + Skill Rank + Class Skill Bonus (if applicable)

Skill ranks. Ranks indicate training or experience with a given skill. Each of your skills has a rank. The minimum rank is 0, and the maximum rank is equal to your level. Skill ranks are gained by spending skill points at character creation and each time you gain a level. The number of skill points you receive depends on your class.

Class skills. You gain a +3 bonus on any class skill in which you have at least 1 rank. This bonus can be increased to +6 for a specific skill if you gain the Skill Expertise feat.

More detailed lists of DC’s for various skills are given in an appendix. These may be used as a guide during gameplay, and as a resource when designing adventure sites.

Sometimes, characters work in direct opposition to one another. An opposed check is a check where the difficulty class is set by another character’s check. For example, you might make a Move Silently check to sneak up on a guard. In this case, you succeed if your skill check is higher than the guard’s Listen check. Possible examples of opposed skill checks include the following.

In the event of a tie on an opposed check, the referee may call for a reroll, or adjudicate a mixed outcome that is not a complete success for either party.

Naturally, the referee may assign a circumstance modifier to one of side of an opposed check if the situation does not suggest a fair contest.

A passive skill check represents the average result for a task. It is calculated by taking the usual modifiers for a skill check and then assuming the die roll is 10. For this reason, a passive check can also be known as “taking 10.”

You can opt to make a passive check when performing a task that is routine to you. On the other hand, you cannot make a passive check when in immediate danger, when facing a new or unusual challenge, or when pushing yourself past your usual limits.

The referee may ask for a passive check when a character performs a task passively over a period of time. For example, a sentry standing watch for several hours is making a passive Listen check. The referee may also use passive checks to avoid rolling separate skill checks for large groups of similar creatures.

Sometimes, a character wishes to attempt a skill check repeatedly until success is attained. Rather than rolling dice over and over again, you can simply announce that you intend to “take 20.” It can then be assumed that the character makes twenty consecutive skill checks and eventually rolls a natural 20 on the twentieth check.

It is only possible to take 20 in cases where failure carries no significant penalty. For example, you could normally take 20 on a check to pick a lock or break down a door, but not on a check to leap over a chasm or to avoid setting off a trap.

Taking 20 takes twenty times as long as a normal skill check. For a task that normally takes about 30 seconds (such as picking a lock), taking 20 takes 10 minutes.

When more than one character tries to use the same skill at the same time and for the same purpose, their efforts may overlap. Here are two different cases.

Each character needs to succeed. When climbing a wall, jumping over a pit, sneaking past guards, or running from monsters, each character must succeed individually to avoid danger. In such a case, make a separate roll for each character.

The characters succeed as a group. When keeping watch, tracking gnolls, guiding a boat through rapids, or lifting a portcullis, several characters can work together to succeed as a group. In such a case, the character in the group with the highest total modifier to the check is considered the leader of the effort. The leader’s skill check determines whether the group succeeds overall. Each additional character who is helping makes a skill check against DC 10. For each helper who succeeds, the leader gets a +2 bonus on the main check. Based on the circumstances, the referee may limit the number of characters who can help.

You can spend skill points on any skill you want. Each skill point spent increases your skill rank in the skill by one. You cannot raise a skill’s rank above your current level.

Racial bonus skills. Based on your race, you may receive ranks in certain skills at every level without the need to spend skill points. You cannot spend additional skill points on these skills, since you receive the maximum number of ranks for free.

A lore check determines whether you happen to have read (and remembered) something about a given subject. In some cases, the referee may rule that a Lore check is not possible—in particular, if the subject would not be described in any book you could have read. You might be the first person who has lived to tell the tale!

Lore specialties. An expert is only truly an expert within her own field. To reflect this, the Lore skill has a number of specialties representing distinct fields of study. You can only make a Lore check about a topic related to one of your specialties. If the relationship is tenuous, a check may be allowed with disadvantage. The following specialties are available: