SRD - Skills Overview (2024)

Skills

SKILLS SUMMARY

A character’s skills represent a variety of abilities. As a characteradvances in level, he or she gets better at using some or all of herskills.

Getting Skills: A character gets a base allotment of 2, 4, 6, or 8skill points for each new level, depending on the class to which thatlevel was added. If the character gaining his or her 1st characterlevel overall (that is, gaining his or her first level in any class), addhis or her Intelligence modifier to the base skill point allotment forthe class and multiply the total by four; then add an extra 4 points ofthe character is human.

If you buy a class skill, your character gets1 rank (equal to a +1 bonus on checks with that skill) for eachskill point. If you buy other classes’ skills (cross-classskills), you get 1/2 rank per skill point. Your maximum rank in aclass skill is your character level + 3. Your maximum rank in across-class skill is one-half of this number (do not round up ordown).

Using Skills: To make a skill check, roll:

1d20 + skill modifier (Skill modifier = skill rank +ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers)

This roll works just like an attack roll or a savingthrow - the higher the roll, the better. Either you’retrying to match or exceed a certain Difficulty Class (DC), oryou’re trying to beat another character’s checkresult.

Skill Ranks: A character’s number of ranks in askill is based on how many skill points a character has investedin a skill. Many skills can be used even if the character has noranks in them; doing this is called making an untrained skillcheck.

Ability Modifier: The ability modifier used in a skillcheck is the modifier for the skill’s key ability (theability associated with the skill’s use). The key abilityof each skill is noted in its description.

Miscellaneous Modifiers: Miscellaneous modifiersinclude racial bonuses, armor check penalties, and bonusesprovided by feats, among others.

Acquiring Skill Ranks: Each skill point you spend on a class skill gets you 1 rank inthat skill. Class skills are the skills found on yourcharacter’s class skill list. Each skill point you spend ona cross-class skill gets your character 1/2 rank in that skill.Cross-class skills are skills not found on your character’sclass skill list. (Half ranks do not improve your skill check,but two 1/2 ranks make 1 rank.) You can’t save skill pointsto spend later.

The maximum rank in a class skill is the character’slevel + 3. If it’s a cross-class skill, the maximum rank ishalf of that number (do not round up or down).

Regardless of whether a skill is purchased as a class skill ora cross-class skill, if it is a class skill for any of yourclasses, your maximum rank equals your total character level +3.

Table: Skill Points per Level

USING SKILLS

When your character uses a skill, you make askill check to see how well he or she does. The higher the resultof the skill check, the better. Based on the circ*mstances, yourresult must match or beat a particular number (a DC or the resultof an opposed skill check) for the check to be successful. Theharder the task, the higher the number you need to roll.

Circ*mstances can affect your check. A character who is freeto work without distractions can make a careful attempt and avoidsimple mistakes. A character who has lots of time can try overand over again, thereby assuring the best outcome. If othershelp, the character may succeed where otherwise he or she wouldfail.

SKILL CHECKS

A skill check takes into account acharacter’s training (skill rank), natural talent (abilitymodifier), and luck (the die roll). It may also take into accounthis or her race’s knack for doing certain things (racialbonus) or what armor he or she is wearing (armor check penalty),or a certain feat the character possesses, among otherthings.

To make a skill check, roll 1d20 and add yourcharacter’s skill modifier for that skill. The skillmodifier incorporates the character’s ranks in that skilland the ability modifier for that skill’s key ability, plusany other miscellaneous modifiers that may apply, includingracial bonuses and armor check penalties. The higher the result,the better. Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a naturalroll of 20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a naturalroll of 1 is not an automatic failure.

Difficulty Class

Some checks are made against a DifficultyClass (DC). The DC is a number (set using the skill rules as aguideline) that you must score as a result on your skill check inorder to succeed.

Table: Difficulty Class Examples

Opposed Checks

An opposed check is a check whose success orfailure is determined by comparing the check result to anothercharacter’s check result. In an opposed check, the higherresult succeeds, while the lower result fails. In case of a tie,the higher skill modifier wins. If these scores are the same,roll again to break the tie.

Table: Example Opposed Checks

Trying Again

In general, you can try a skill check again ifyou fail, and you can keep trying indefinitely. Some skills,however, have consequences of failure that must be taken intoaccount. A few skills are virtually useless once a check hasfailed on an attempt to accomplish a particular task. For mostskills, when a character has succeeded once at a given task,additional successes are meaningless.

If a skill carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20 andassume that you go at it long enough to eventually succeed eventually(see Checks without Rolls).

Untrained Skill Checks

Generally, if your character attempts to use askill he or she does not possess, you make a skill check asnormal. The skill modifier doesn’t have a skill rank addedin because the character has no ranks in the skill. Any otherapplicable modifiers, such as the modifier for the skill’skey ability, are applied to the check.

Many skills can be used only by someone who is trained inthem.

Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions

Some situations may make a skill easier orharder to use, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the skillmodifier for a skill check or a change to the DC of the skillcheck.

The chance of success can be altered in four ways to take intoaccount exceptional circ*mstances.

1. Give the skill user a +2 circ*mstance bonus to representconditions that improve performance, such as having the perfecttool for the job, getting help from another character (seeCombining Skill Attempts),or possessing unusually accurateinformation.
2. Give the skill user a -2 circ*mstance penalty torepresent conditions that hamper performance, such as beingforced to use improvised tools or having misleadinginformation.
3. Reduce the DC by 2 to represent circ*mstances that make thetask easier, such as having a friendly audience or doing workthat can be subpar.
4. Increase the DC by 2 to represent circ*mstances that make thetask harder, such as having an uncooperative audience or doingwork that must be flawless.

Conditions that affect your character’s ability toperform the skill change the skill modifier. Conditions thatmodify how well the character has to perform the skill to succeedchange the DC. A bonus to the skill modifier and a reduction inthe check’s DC have the same result: They create a betterchance of success. But they represent different circ*mstances,and sometimes that difference is important.

Time and Skill Checks

Using a skill might take a round, take notime, or take several rounds or even longer. Most skill uses arestandard actions, move actions, or full-round actions. Types ofactions define how long activities take to perform within theframework of a combat round (6 seconds) and how movement istreated with respect to the activity. Some skill checks areinstant and represent reactions to an event, or are included aspart of an action. These skill checks are not actions. Otherskill checks represent part of movement.

Practically Impossible Tasks

Sometimes you want to do something that seems practicallyimpossible. In general, a task considered practically impossible has aDC of 40, 60, or even higher (or it carries a modifier of +20 or moreto the DC).

Practically impossible tasks are hard to delineate ahead of time.They’re the accomplishments that represent incredible, almostlogic-defying skill and luck. Picking a lock by giving it a single, swiftkick might entail a +20 modifier to the DC; swimming up a waterfallcould require a Swim check against DC 80; and balancing on afragile tree branch might have a DC of 90.

The DM decides what is actually impossible and what is merelypractically impossible. Characters with very high skill modifiers arecapable of accomplishing incredible, almost unbelievable tasks, justas characters with very high combat bonuses are.

Despite the near-magical nature of some epic level skilluses, all uses of skills are considered exceptional abilities(except if noted otherwise), and thus function normallyeven within areas of antimagic.

Checks without Rolls

A skill check represents an attempt toaccomplish some goal, usually while under some sort of timepressure or distraction. Sometimes, though, a character can use askill under more favorable conditions and eliminate the luckfactor.

Taking 10: When your character is not being threatenedor distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automaticallysuccessful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make itimpossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10is purely a safety measure - you know (or expect) that anaverage roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail,so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 isespecially useful in situations where a particularly high rollwouldn’t help. Characters with the Skill Mastery ability cantake 10 on certain skills even when threatened or distracted.

Taking 20: When you have plenty of time (generally 2minutes for a skill that can normally be checked in 1 round, onefull-round action, or one standard action), you are faced with nothreats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries nopenalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words,eventually you will get a 20 on 1d20 if you roll enough times.Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate yourresult as if you had rolled a 20. Taking 20 means you are tryinguntil you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many timesbefore succeeding. Taking 20 takes twenty times as long as makinga single check would take. Since taking 20 assumes that thecharacter will fail many times before succeeding, if you didattempt to take 20 on a skill that carries penalties for failure,your character would automatically incur those penalties beforehe or she could complete the task. Common “take 20”skills include Escape Artist, Open Lock, and Search.

Ability Checks and Caster Level Checks: The normal take10 and take 20 rules apply for ability checks. Neither ruleapplies to caster level checks (unless the character has theArcane Mastery feat).

COMBINING SKILL ATTEMPTS

When more than one character tries the sameskill at the same time and for the same purpose, their effortsmay overlap.

Individual Events

Often, several characters attempt some actionand each succeeds or fails independently. The result of onecharacter’s Climb check does not influence the results ofother characters Climb check.

Even in some cases where several characters attempt thesame action, with each succeeding or failing as a resultof separate checks, characters can assist one another. Byoffering advice, guidance, or simply leading by example,a character can effectively share some of her expertisewith her comrades. However, this activity comes at acost, since the character’s concentration is split betweenmultiple tasks (and thus she isn’t as capable at the task asshe would normally be).

A character with 5 or more ranks in a skill who is engagedin a task using that skill can voluntarily accept a -4 penaltyon the check in order to grant a +2 circ*mstance bonuson the same skill checks made by nearby allies engaged inthe same task. For example, Lidda the 2nd-level rogue canhelp her allies sneak through a dungeon. By accepting a-4 penalty on her Hide and Move Silently checks, Liddagrants Jozan, Tordek, and Mialee each a +2 circ*mstancebonus on the same checks. While Lidda isn’t as quiet andhidden as she’d normally be, the group overall is morestealthy than they would be without her help.

At higher levels, a character can grant more assistance,but at a greater cost. A character with 15 or more ranksin a skill can accept a -10 penalty on the check to granta +5 circ*mstance bonus on the same skill checks madeby nearby allies engaged in the same task.

An ally must be within 30 feet of you to gain the bonus,and you must be able to see and hear each other. Usingthe previous example, if Lidda were invisible, she couldn’tgrant the bonus to any character who couldn’t see her; ifMialee were invisible, Lidda couldn’t grant her the bonusunless she could see invisible creatures (but she couldstill grant the bonus to the other characters).

Typically, only the following skills can be assisted in thismanner: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, EscapeArtist, Handle Animal, Hide, Move Silently, Ride, Search,Survival, and Swim. In special circ*mstances, the DMmay rule that other skills can benefit from this assistance,or that characters can’t benefit from this form of assistanceeven when using the skills described above.

Aid Another

You can help another character achieve successon his or her skill check by making the same kind of skill checkin a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on yourcheck, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to his orher check, as per the rule for favorable conditions. (Youcan’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In manycases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, oronly a limited number of characters can help at once.

When a character with 5 or more ranks in a skill usesthe aid another action to assist another character’s skillcheck, he can grant a higher bonus than that describedabove. For every 10 points of thehelper’s check result above 10, the circ*mstance bonusincreases by 1. Thus, a result of 10-19 would grant a+2 circ*mstance bonus (as normal), a result of 20-29would grant a +3 circ*mstance bonus, a result of 30-39a +4 circ*mstance bonus, and so on. (To determine thecirc*mstance bonus quickly, simply divide the helper’scheck result by 10, round down, and add 1.)

This higher bonus is available only to helpers with atleast 5 ranks in the skill being used. Only experiencedcharacters have the ability to provide the extra assistanceoffered by this rule.

At the DM’s option, this rule can also be extended tousing the aid another action in combat to improve anally’s attack roll or AC. Any character with a base attackbonus of +5 or higher can grant a greater bonus on an ally’sattack roll or AC as described above. This rule rewardsthe tactic of experienced combatants helping each otherin a fight (often the best option when fighting a monsterwith an extremely high AC or attack bonus).

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certainresults you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a taskthat your character couldn’t achieve alone.

Skill Synergy

It’s possible for a character to havetwo skills that work well together. In general, having 5 or moreranks in one skill gives the character a +2 synergy bonus on skill checkswith each of its synergistic skills, as noted in the skilldescription. This synergy bonus increases by +2 for every additional 20ranks the character has in the skill. For instance, if you have 5 ormore ranks in Tumble, you get a +2 synergy bonus on Balance checks. Ifyou have 25 or more ranks in Tumble, this synergy bonusincreases to +4, with 45 or more ranks to +6, and so forth.

In some cases, this bonus applies only to specificuses of the skill in question, and not to all checks. Some skillsprovide benefits on other checks made by a character, such asthose checks required to use certain class features.

In addition to helping a character’s own skill checks, skillsynergies can be used to aid the checks of allies as well.A character with 5 or more ranks in a skill that offers abonus on another skill due to synergy can make a checkusing the first skill to aid the skill that would normallyreceive the bonus from synergy. For example, Sovelissthe 2nd-level ranger could make a Handle Animal checkto aid Jozan’s Ride check (using the aid another rulesdescribed above), becausea character with 5 ranks in Handle Animal gains a +2bonus on Ride checks due to synergy.

The normal rules for aiding another still apply. Forinstance, even if Krusk the barbarian had 5 ranks inHandle Animal, he couldn’t use it to aid Vadania thedruid’s wild empathy check, because Krusk can’t makea wild empathy check himself. Some combinations maybe difficult to imagine, but the DM should allow anysynergistic aid another attempt that seems reasonable.For instance, it might seem odd at first glance for Mialeeto use Spellcraft to assist Lidda’s Use Magic Device checkwhen reading a scroll - until you imagine the wizardleaning over the rogue’s shoulder, helping her sound outthe tougher words.

Table: Skill Synergies

ABILITY CHECKS

Sometimes a character tries to do something towhich no specific skill really applies. In these cases, you makean ability check. An ability check is a roll of 1d20 plus theappropriate ability modifier. Essentially, you’re making anuntrained skill check. The DM assignsa Difficulty Class, or sets up an opposed check when two charactersare engaged in a contest using one ability score or another. Theinitiative check in combat, for example, is essentially a Dexteritycheck. The character who rolls highest goes first.

In some cases, an action is a straight test of one’sability with no luck involved. Just as you wouldn’t make aheight check to see who is taller, you don’t make aStrength check to see who is stronger. When two characters arm wrestle, for example, the strongercharacter simply wins. In the case of identical scores, roll a die.

Table: Example Ability Checks

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS

This section describes each skill, includingcommon uses and typical modifiers. Characters can sometimes useskills for purposes other than those noted here.

Here is the format for skill descriptions.

SKILL NAME

The skill name line includes (in addition tothe name of the skill) the following information.

Key Ability: The abbreviation of the ability whosemodifier applies to the skill check. Exception: Speak Language has“None” as its key ability because the use of thisskill does not require a check.

Trained Only: If this notation is included in the skillname line, you must have at least 1 rank in the skill to use it.If it is omitted, the skill can be used untrained (with a rank of0). If any special notes apply to trained or untrained use, theyare covered in the Untrained section (see below).

Armor Check Penalty: If this notation is included inthe skill name line, an armor check penalty applies (whenappropriate) to checks using this skill. If this entry is absent,an armor check penalty does not apply.

The skill name line is followed by a general description ofwhat using the skill represents. After the description are a fewother types of information:

Check: What a character (“you” in the skilldescription) can do with a successful skill check and thecheck’s DC.

Action: The type of action using the skill requires, orthe amount of time required for a check.

Try Again: Any conditions that apply to successiveattempts to use the skill successfully. If the skilldoesn’t allow you to attempt the same task more than once,or if failure carries an inherent penalty (such as with theClimb skill), you can’ttake 20. If this paragraph is omitted, the skill can be retriedwithout any inherent penalty, other than the additional timerequired.

Special: Any extra facts that apply to the skill, suchas special effects deriving from its use or bonuses that certaincharacters receive because of class, feat choices, or race.

Synergy: Some skills grant a bonus to the use of one ormore other skills because of a synergistic effect. This entry,when present, indicates what bonuses this skill may grant orreceive because of such synergies. See Table:Skill Synergiesfor a complete list of bonuses granted by synergy between skills (orbetween a skill and a class feature).

Restriction: The full utility of certain skills isrestricted to characters of certain classes or characters whopossess certain feats. This entry indicates whether any suchrestrictions exist for the skill.

Untrained: This entry indicates what a characterwithout at least 1 rank in the skill can do with it. If thisentry doesn’t appear, it means that the skill functionsnormally for untrained characters (if it can be used untrained)or that an untrained character can’t attempt checks withthis skill (for skills that are designated as “TrainedOnly”).