Skills

       Rules for Skills in Temporal Storm

         Skills in Temporal Storm have a few distinct features that separate them from those in other games built on the core rules mechanics. Temporal Storm characters tend to rely on their skills quite heavily, so the skills are designed to be robust, useful, and easy to improve.

 In addition:

• Skill groups represent the close relationship between different skills. Your character class grants you access to one or more skill groups. Rather than  train in a single skill, a skill group allows you to improve in many skills at once. In game terms, you can spend 1 skill point (see below) to improve in several skills at once.

• Most skills have direct applications in combat situations.

• Skills have explicit guidelines on what you can accomplish against Difficulty Classes above 20.

• Skill challenges allow you to gain additional benefits from a skill check. By voluntarily increasing a check’s Difficulty Class or taking a penalty to the check, you gain an advantage on a successful check. For example, you might opt for a penalty to your Disguise check in order to change your appearance before an approaching guard rounds the corner.

• There are no class and cross-class skills. Instead, the skill groups grant you an advantage in purchasing abilities closely related to your class’ talents.

• The Craft and Knowledge skills are simplified and both include canonical lists of the different areas they cover.
   

USING SKILLS
        The classes each list the number of skill points available at every level to a character of that class. You spend those points to buy ranks in skills in order to improve them. Your maximum rank in a skill is your character level + 3. (The one exception to this rule is the thief.) The more ranks you have in a skill, the better you are at using it.

        Every skill is associated with one of your six abilities. For example, the Knowledge skill relies on Intelligence. When you attempt to use a skill, you make a skill check; this key ability contributes its modifier to the roll. If you have an ability penalty, you may have trouble using the skill. If you have an ability bonus, you have a superior natural talent with the skill.

        In some cases, miscellaneous modifiers also apply to a skill check. These modifiers reflect the conditions, the environment, and other factors that make a skill easier or harder to use. For instance, it is much more difficult to sneak quietly across a creaky old floor than a smooth, clear stone bridge.
The creaky floor might assess a penalty to your Move Silently skill check. On the other hand, if you wear soft, padded sandals, they may provide a bonus to your Move Silently check.

SKILL CHECKS
        To make a skill check, roll 1d20 and add your skill modifier. Your skill modifier is the sum of the character’s ranks in that skill + his key ability modifier for that skill + any miscellaneous modifiers.

        As with all d20 checks, a higher result is better than a lower one in a skill check.

        Below is a summary of the factors that go into a skill check.

SKILL RANKS
        A character’s number of ranks in a skill is based on how many skill points he has invested in it. Many skills can be used even if the character has no ranks in them; this is called making an untrained skill check. You can have a maximum number of ranks in a skill equal to your level + 3.
 

        Each skill point you spend on an individual skill buys you 1 rank in that skill. Skill groups, described later, allow you to spend 1 skill point to gain 1 rank in several skills at once.

KEY ABILITY MODIFIER
        The ability modifier used in a skill check is the modifier for the skill’s key ability: the ability associated with the skill’s use. The key ability of each skill is noted after its name in its description.
 

MISCELLANEOUS MODIFIERS
        Miscellaneous modifiers include trait bonuses, armor check penalties, and bonuses provided by feats, relevant environmental factors, and so forth.

MAKING THE SKILL CHECK
        In Temporal Storm, you attempt a skill check in one of two basic ways: as a static check or an opposed check.
 

STATIC SKILL CHECKS
        Static checks represent your effort against an inanimate obstacle. In this case, you make your skill check and must beat a Difficulty Class (DC) in order to succeed. The Difficulty Class is the number a character must score as the result of a skill check in order to succeed at a task he’s attempting. The Difficulty Class is always the same for a given task. For example, the Climb skill DC needed to scale a crumbling wall is 10. Whether you or your friend attempts the check, the Difficulty Class remains the same. The wall is an inert obstacle. It doesn’t make an active effort to foil you.
        The table below offers some examples of static skill checks.

    Difficulty (DC)                         Example (Skill Used)
Very easy (0)                         Notice something large in plain sight (Spot)
Easy (5)                                 Climb a knotted rope (Climb)
Average (10)                         Hear an approaching guard (Listen)
Tough (15)                             Rig a wagon wheel to fall off (Disable Device)
Challenging (20)                     Swim in stormy water (Swim)
Formidable (25)                     Open an average lock (Open Lock)
Heroic (30)                            Leap across a 30-foot chasm (Jump)
Nearly impossible (40)           Track a werewolf across hard ground  after 24 hours of rainfall (Survival)

OPPOSED SKILL CHECKS
        In an opposed check, you pit your skill against an opponent who tries to prevent you from succeeding in your task. In this case, the DM picks one person as the attacker and the other as the defender. The attacker is always the person who wants to gain something from a skill check. The defender tries to prevent his check from succeeding. Both the attacker and defender make skill checks. If the attacker’s result is higher,
he succeeds. If his result is lower than the defender’s or if he ties it, he fails.

        If it helps, think of the attacker’s check result as the
Difficulty Class for the defender’s skill check.

        In many opposed checks, the two sides use different skills. A thief might use Move Silently to approach a guard, who, in turn, tries to use Listen to hear him. The table above shows some examples of opposed checks.

TRYING AGAIN
        In general, you can try a skill check again if you fail, and you can keep trying indefinitely. Some skills, however, have consequences of failure that you must take into account. A few skills are virtually useless once a check has failed in an attempt to accomplish a particular task. If you fail to use Bluff to trick the duke into trusting you with the key to his treasury, you can’t try to trick him again. He has already seen through your ruse. In most skills, when you have succeeded once at a given task, additional successes are meaningless.

UNTRAINED AND TRAINED SKILL CHECKS
        Generally, if you attempt to use a skill in which you possess no ranks, you make a skill check as normal. The skill modifier doesn’t have a skill rank added in, because you have zero ranks in the skill. Any other applicable modifiers, such as the skill’s key ability modifier, apply to the check as normal.
        Many skills require a minimal level of training before you can attempt to use them. In their descriptions, these skills are marked as “trained only.” For such skills, no amount of natural aptitude can replace formal study. You cannot attempt a skill check with a “trained only” skill if you lack ranks in it.

FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS
        Some situations may make a skill easier or harder than normal to use, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the skill modifier for the skill check or a change to the Difficulty Class of the skill check.
        The DM can alter the chance of success in four ways to take into account exceptional circumstances.

1. A skill user gains a +2 circumstance bonus to the check to represent conditions that improve performance, such as having the perfect tool for the
job, getting help from another character (see “Combining Skill Attempts,” page 76), or possessing unusually accurate information. You may gain this
benefit multiple times to represent a series of factors that make a check easier. If you have the perfect tools for the job, help from a friend, and accurate information, you would gain three +2 bonuses, for a total of +6.
        You can also gain this benefit if the DM rules that you have a good idea, a sound plan, or some other clever inspiration to make a skill check easier. If you decide to smear a sticky resin on your hands before trying to scale an arcanist’s tower, your DM might give you a bonus to your Climb check.
        In many cases, your DM has the final say as to whether a bonus applies. In some cases, he might opt to increase the bonus above +2 to represent a particularly useful or cleverly realized advantage. You might gain a +2 bonus to a Bluff check to trick a guard into believing that someone dropped a bag of coins around a corner. The DM might increase this bonus to +4 if he knows that the guard is greedy or dishonest.

2. A skill user suffers a –2 circumstance penalty to represent conditions that hamper performance, such as being forced to use improvised tools or
having misleading information. As with a circumstance bonus, your DM usually adjudicates this penalty based on conditions in the game. He might impose a penalty of more than –2 to represent a decisive obstacle or multiple factors that work against you.

3. Your DM might reduce the Difficulty Class of the skill check by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task easier, such as using Disable Device on a trap that someone has already partially disarmed. The extended skill check rules starting on page 76 give you the option of working slowly over time to make a difficult action easier.

4. Your DM may increase the skill check’s Difficulty Class by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task harder, such as using Craft to create an item of higher than normal quality.

        Conditions that affect your character’s ability to perform the skill change the skill check modifier. Conditions that
modify how well the character has to perform the skill to succeed change the Difficulty Class. A bonus to the skill modifier and a reduction in the check’s DC have the same result— they create a better chance of success. But they represent different circumstances, and sometimes that difference
becomes important. Generally speaking, it is much more likely that your DM assesses bonuses or penalties to a check rather than to a Difficulty Class.
 

TIME AND SKILL CHECKS
        Using a skill might take 1 round, take no time, or take several rounds or even longer. Most skill uses are standard actions, move actions, or full-round actions. (See Chapter Eight: Combat for action descriptions.) Others require days or weeks of hard work, such as a Craft check to forge a sword or suit of armor. Unless otherwise noted, assume that a skill check is a standard action. The specific skill descriptions in this chapter note any exceptions to this rule.

CHECKS WITHOUT ROLLS
        The typical skill check represents an attempt to accomplish a task while under some sort of time pressure or distraction. Sometimes you can use a skill under more favorable conditions and eliminate the luck factor. In these situations, you have the time needed to approach a skill attempt slowly and carefully.

Taking 10: When you are not threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10 on a skill check. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them succeed automatically. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure. You know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail. Taking 10 proves especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.

Taking 20: When you have plenty of time, you operate under no threats or distractions, and you don’t think you face any danger for a failed check, you can take 20. When you take 20, treat your d20 roll for your check as a 20. This attempt represents trial and error.
        In order to take 20, you must spend the amount of time needed to make 20 skill checks. In addition, you must resolve the effects of a skill check with a d20 roll of 1. In most cases, this has no special effect. However, some skills cause you injury or drawbacks with a failed roll. In such cases, you suffer the drawbacks as normal and you cannot continue to take 20.
        For example, you could not take 20 on a Climb check if a result of a 1 would cause you to fall to the ground. Taking 10, Taking 20, and Challenges: Skill challenges (see page 76) allow you to increase a task’s difficulty in return