Skill Points: Characters no longer buy ranks in a skill, they buy skill abilities with skill points. Spending points on crossclass skill abilities costs 50% more skill points than buying it as a class skill.
Skill checks: Skill checks are no longer done with ranks. They are simply 1d20 + hit dice + ability modifier relevant to the skill. Monsters use their CR in place of hit dice. Characters may still take 10 and 20 as per the normal rules for doing such.
The Skills
Spot (Wis)
Action: Normally spotting happens automatically. Though trying to spot something you had missed previously requires a move action. Becoming observant or wary are move actions.
Try Again: Yes, unless stated otherwise.
Spot States:
Spot has four states.
Distracted: You are focusing on something else that requires significant attention focus, such as picking a lock or casting a spell. Also any search attempt causes you to be distracted against things not in the area you are searching.
Passive: You are not directly expecting trouble but are still somewhat on guard.
Wary: A wary character is searching around and expecting danger. He is looking from side to side and actively listening for threats.
Observant:An observant character is directly looking at a creature or object and watching it intently. Against the things you are not being observant towards, you are considered distracted.
Untrained:
Change State: You may become Wary towards half of the battlefield as a move action. Draw a line through your square in any direction you choose. You can become wary towards all the squares on the opposite side of the line. You may not become wary if you take any action that would make you distracted in the same round. If you previously took any such an action, you are prevented from becoming wary, and if you take an action, you immediately go from wary state to distracted.
You may also become observant of a single target as swift action. You may not become observant if you perform a standard or full action that does not affect that target earlier in the round and lose that state if you perform the actions after becoming observant. So you may be observant of a target you attacked, but not of a secondary target while doing something else.
Either state lasts for 1 round. Normal characters cannot remain wary for very long periods. You can at most keep burning actions on being wary for 10 minutes. Then you must take a break for 10 minutes before you can become wary again. A character that has been wary for 60 minutes in any given day suffers a -2 penalty to spot checks due to mental fatigue until he gets an 8 hour rest.
Check: You rarely make checks for spot, instead your skill acts as a DC for those using stealth against you. If you are part of a group, figure the DC by taking the best spot rating in the group and modifying it for group modifiers (see table).
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[br] Modifier to spot skill Condition [br] +5 Target is 10 ft or less away [br] +0 Target is 15 ft to 50 ft away[br] -2 Target is 50 to 100 ft away. [br] -5 Target is 100 ft to 200 ft. away[br] -10 Target is 200 ft to 500 ft. away[br] -15 Target is 500 ft or more. away[br] -10 You are distracted[br] +5 You are wary. [br] +10 You are observant on the target. [br] +2 Group of at least two[br] +4 Group of at least four[br] +6 Group of at least eight[br]
Abilities:
Skilled Eyes (4 skill points): You receive a +5 skill bonus to your spot skill.
Aware (4 skill points): You may become wary as a swift action instead of a move action, so long as you perform only move actions during that turn.
Combat Perception (4 skill points, prereq: Aware): You may become wary even if you perform a standard or full action, unless that action would make you distracted.
Observant Focus (4 skill points): You can become observant versus a target as a free action instead of a swift action. You can perform actions on other targets without losing your observation, so long as that action doesn’t cause you to become distracted.
Multi-Observation (4 skill points, prereq: Observant Focus): You can follow two targets at once. Each time you take this ability you may be observant towards an extra target.
Greater Observation (4 skill points): When observing a target you are considered passive versus other things, not distracted.
Always Wary (4 skill points, prereq: Combat Perception, Greater Observation): You are always considered to be wary unless you are distracted.
Read Lips (4 skill points): If you can make a successful spot check against DC 0 against a target you can see, you are capable of reading its lips. You must also use and maintain observation on that creature to read its lips.
Stealth (Dex, Armor check penalty)
Action: Stealth generally occurs as part of an action. You can move and sneak or stay stationary and simply hide.
Try Again: So long as you meet the criteria for the stealth action, you can probably retry it.
Untrained: Any character can try to perform some of the following actions, trained characters merely perform them better.
Check: When making stealth checks, a character applies modifiers based on their size. This is a +/- 4 points per size category above or below medium, with smaller creatures receiving a bonus to stealth.
Hiding: A character who is partially behind cover and not moving is considered to be hiding. This entails peeking out around corners and so on. Make a hide check against the target’s spot only. A character that is the target of observation cannot hide at all. Because he’s not moving, a character receives a +5 bonus to his stealth check. A character using special cover (such as something with only eye slits, receives an additional +5 bonus to his stealth skill). Keep the same hide roll through the entire encounter, but note it incase modifiers change. It remains for as long as the character is hidden.
Sneaking: Sneaking involves moving while remaining unseen. It uses the same modifiers as hiding but to detect you, make a hide check against the target’s listen and spot. Apply the same roll to both spot and listen to see if they detected you and treat as two separate DCs. If you fail by only the listen DC, the target can hear but not see you, and vice versa. For each round you sneak, your targets get another check to detect you. Sneaking requires that you begin and end your turn in cover or concealment. Sneaking will not cover up such actions as making attack rolls and spellcasting, which are detected normally. You may not sneak in the same round in which you attacked or cast a spell.
Other modifiers apply to sneaking. For distance modifiers, use the closest distance you would achieve during your sneak.
Breaking Cover: You may momentarily break cover, while sneaking though this inflicts a penalty. To figure out how much of a penalty, find the character’s modified movement on a double move. Factor in the speed he is going due to sneaking (1/4 speed for instance means you use ¼ of his normal double move). Then figure the distance during that sneak in which he has no cover. The table under check gives the penalty for moving half or more than half the distance without cover or concealment. Note that the character need not use his entire move during his turn, he must merely be able to move that fast. Faster characters are exposed for less time.
Camouflage: Camouflage is trying to hide without cover or concealment by blending into one’s environment. Camouflage generally requires special camouflaged clothing that matches the environment in some way. It may involve face paints as well. A character who has camouflage using cover and/or concealment forces a -2 penalty to opponent’s spot skill to detect him. A character who does not have cover or concealment can still attempt to hide or sneak using camouflage alone, but opponents gain a +5 to their spot checks to detect him. It is effectively the same as breaking cover during an entire sneak.
Evading Darkvision: A character does not require cover or concealment to sneak or hide from darkvision, nor does he benefit from camouflage. If a character has cover or concealment versus dark vision, targets get a –2 to their skill to spot him. Those who don’t have either cover or concealment grant opponents a +5 bonus to their spot skills, but otherwise can move about and hide freely.
Surprise Attack: A character using stealth may wish to sneak up on a character and launch a surprise attack. This is treated as a sneak attempt however, the character need not have cover or concealment when he ends his movement. If successful the attempt goes directly into a surprise round. Even if unsuccessful, it merely requires an initiative roll. After the surprise round, the enemy becomes aware of the stealthy character of course. If for whatever reason the character doesn’t decide to take his surprise round, the enemy becomes aware of him if he’s not behind cover or concealment when he ended his move.
Sniping: Sniping is a special surprise attack in which the character attacks with a ranged weapon and tries not to be seen. Treat it as hiding, only at a –10 penalty to stealth skill. Even if not spotted, characters will receive a general idea of the snipers basic direction based on the traveling of the arrow.
Doorway Ambush: You lie in wait behind a corner or along the sides of a doorway, so that you’re right in melee range when a target enters. If you had spotted this target prior to lying in wait and the target isn’t wary towards the direction it is traveling, you automatically get a surprise round. If the target is wary you must beat a DC of 11 + its spot skill to get the surprise round. Otherwise roll initiative as normal. If you are capable of climbing and placing yourself above an archway, you may also treat this as a doorway ambush, so long as you have cover to the creature before it moves through the doorway or passage.
Corner Infiltration: You lie in wait at a corner, similar to a doorway ambush, but instead of attacking the target directly, you move into the room from which the target came from without him knowing you were there. A corner infiltration requires a readied action to set up properly. Treat it as a sneak attempt, but you get a +5 to your skill against passive spotting targets. You do not require that you start with cover or concealment as part of your corner infiltration, but you must end behind cover or concealment.
Check: A stealth check is a skill roll against a DC equal to 11 + the target’s relevant skill (usually spot or listen). If there are multiple targets, use the best skill among the group and apply bonuses to observation skill for numbers described in those skills. If the stealth check is against multiple DCs, such as both spot and listen, only make one stealth check and consider the result versus each DC individually. Thus it is possible to be heard but not seen.
Split modifiers apply separately to spotting or listening. The first is to vision only, the second is to listening only. If the modifier is not split, it applies to both equally.
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[br]Modifiers to Stealth skill[br] +5 Moving at ¼ speed [br] +0 Moving at half speed[br] -5 Moving at normal speed[br] -10 Running[br] +5/+0 Have total cover or concealment for at least half the sneak.[br] -5/+0 Must break cover or concealment for at least half the sneak.[br] -2/+0 Must break cover or conceal for less than half the sneak.[br] -5/+0 Sneaking or hiding in constricting tunnel[br] +0/-5 Sneaking across noisy surface[br] +5/+0 Have the benefit of cover and concealment. [br]
Abilities:
Hide (4 skill points): You receive a +5 skill bonus to your stealth skill when hiding.
Sneaky (4 skill points, prereq: Hide): You receive a +5 skill bonus to your stealth skill when sneaking or performing corner infiltrations.
Darkvision Eluder (4 skill points): Against darkvision, you receive a +5 bonus to your stealth skill (this stacks with other modifiers).
Ambusher (4 skill points): You receive a +5 ambush bonus to your stealth skill when attempting to initiate a surprise attack or a doorway ambush (this stacks with all other modifiers.)
Camouflage Expert (4 skill points): You are adept at creating useful camo gear for yourself and companions. For 2 gp worth of supplies per person, you can grant them improved camouflage. A character using improved camouflage inflicts an additional –2 penalty to their opponent’s spot skill when using camouflage. This does not work against darkvision however. It takes 2 minutes to apply camouflage in this way.
Stealth Aide (4 skill points, prereq: Hide, Sneaky): As a standard action you can confer a +4 skill bonus to the stealth skill of a target of your choice.
Stealth Leader (4 skill points, prereq: Stealth Aide): When traveling with a group, you may choose to roll a single stealth check for the entire group, using your stealth, assuming they are performing an action as one. You take a –1 penalty for each member of the group beyond you and you assume the largest armor check penalty within the group as a penalty to your roll.
Off Guard (4 skill points): Against targets which you successfully use a surprise attack, they lose their dex bonuses while flat footed even if they possess the uncanny dodge ability.
Silent Step (4 skill points): Opponents suffer a –4 penalty on listen skill to hear you while using any stealth skill that requires ground movement.
Improved Silent Step (4 skill points, prereq: Silent Step): You avoid making ground vibrations to prevent creatures with tremorsense from detecting you. While moving, you may utilize the stealth skill against a creature with tremorsense, where that creature uses its listen roll to oppose your sneaking, but suffers no listen penalty for listening through walls.
Stealth Grapple (4 skill points): When making grapple attempts against a target as the result of a surprise attack or doorway ambush, you gain a +5 to your grapple check. This applies to all grapple checks until the grapple ends. If you succeed on your initial grapple check, you prevent the target from making noise until he breaks the grapple.
Listen (Wis)
Listen works similar to spot however has a different set of modifiers. Unlike spotting, listening does not have any specific states. A character is always assumed to be listening for sounds.
Check: A listen check has the following modifiers.
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[br] Modifier to listen skill Condition [br] +5 Target is 10 ft or less away [br] +0 Target is 15 ft to 50 ft away[br] -2 Target is 50 to 100 ft away. [br] -5 Target is 100 ft to 200 ft. away[br] -10 Target is 200 ft to 500 ft. away[br] -15 Target is 500 ft or more. away[br] +5 Area is deathly silent[br] +0 Normal noise (minor footsteps, normal voices)[br] -5 Loud background noise (combat, loud voices, crowds)[br] -10 or worse Exceptional background noise [br] -10 You are asleep. [br] -10 listening through a thin wall or door[br] -20 listening through a thick wall. [br]
Extroardinary Success: If you succeed by 20 or more on your check, you determine the exact square a creature is in based solely on sound it is making.
Abilities:
Alert Ears (4 skill points): You get a +5 skill bonus to your listen skill.
Fight the Unseen (4 skill points): You pinpoint a creature’s exact square by beating the DC by 15 instead of beating it by 20.
Active Listener (4 skill points): If you use a move action specifically to listen, you get a +5 bonus on listen checks for 1 round.
Hear non-sounds (Su) (4 skill points): You can make listen checks at a –10 penalty to hear sounds that would have occurred within the range of a silence spell or similar magical effect which would normally nullify sound.