( ⇪ Skills, Feats, and Flaws )

GM’s Note: There are other uses for many skills imported from other books as well as clarifications on a few skills .

Concentration

The following are additional uses for the Concentration skill.

Aim as a Move Action

You can as a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity make a Concentration check that will make the next ranged attack or ranged touch attack you make this round more accurate. Pick a target within line-of-sight and one or both of the following:

1. Reduce the total penalty you take on your ranged attack roll from range increments by a number equal to the check result – 10 (minimum reduction 0, maximum reduction is your Base Attack Bonus). You are still limited by the maximum range of your attack. If you don’t make a ranged attack before your next turn, or if you lose line-of-sight to your target, then this check is wasted.

2. When making a ranged called shot attack, reduce the bonus to AC for a body part being smaller by a number equal to the check result – 10 (minimum reduction 0, maximum reduction is half your Base Attack Bonus). You apply these reductions before determining your modifier for pressing your luck. If you don’t make a ranged called shot attack before your next turn, or if you lose line-of-sight to your target, then this check is wasted.

You can make both Concentration checks as part of the same move action, but they must be separate checks. The reductions stack with aiming as a swift action. You can be distracted during the move action as if you were casting a 0-level spell, but failing just means the move action is wasted.

Aim as a Swift Action

You can as a swift action (that does not provoke an attack of opportunity) make a Concentration check that will make the next ranged attack or ranged touch attack you make this round more accurate. Pick a target within line-of-sight and one or both of the following:

1. Reduce the total penalty you take on your attack roll from range increments by a number equal to the check result – 10 (minimum reduction 0, maximum reduction is your half your Base Attack Bonus). You are still limited by the maximum range of your attack. If you don’t make a ranged attack before your next turn, or if you lose line-of-sight to your target, then this check is wasted.

2. When making a ranged called shot attack, reduce the bonus to AC for a body part being smaller by a number equal to the check result – 10 (minimum reduction 0, maximum reduction is one-quarter your Base Attack Bonus). You apply these reductions before determining your modifier for pressing your luck. If you don’t make a ranged called shot attack before your next turn, or if you lose line-of-sight to your target, then this check is wasted.

You can make both Concentration checks as part of the same swift action, but they must be separate checks. The reductions stack with aiming as a move action. You can be distracted during the swift action as if you were casting a 0-level spell, but failing just means the swift action is wasted.

Craft

Once per day, a living construct or one other creature (although they can benefit from aid another) can work on repairing that living construct for up to 8 hours solely for this purpose using artisan’s tools for the Craft (armorsmithing, blacksmithing, gemcutting, or sculpting) skill and suitable materials which cost and function similar to a Healer’s Kit, after which they must succeed at the same kind of Craft check (DC 25, +1 per 5 wounds, -1 for every hour spent beyond the first) to reduce the living construct’s wounds by half the total of their Craft check. If they fail, they still reduce the living construct’s wounds by a quarter of the total on their Craft check.

Heal

Once per day, you can have another creature with at least one rank in “Profession: Doctor” (although they can benefit from aid another) perform surgery on you (although you may have no choice in the matter) for up to 8 uninterrupted hours solely for this purpose while you are unconscious.

• They must have both supplies (a Healer’s Kit) and equipment (a masterwork tool for the Heal skill, or plausible improvised tools) to even attempt this. If the surgery takes place in an ideal environment (such as an operating room), they get an additional +5 circumstance bonus on the Heal check. A black bag spell counts as a masterwork tool for the heal skill (granting the normal bonus) and grants an additional +2 circumstance bonus on surgery checks.
• After the procedure is finished they must expend one or more uses of Healer’s Kits, up to as many as the number of hours spent in surgery, but each use only grants a +1 to the Heal check (instead of their normal bonus). Then they make a single Heal check (DC 25, +1 per 5 wounds, -1 for every hour spent beyond the first) and if successful it reduces your wounds by half the total of their Heal check.
• If they fail the check, they still reduce your wounds by a quarter of their total on their Heal check. If the procedure is significantly interrupted or you regain consciousness during the procedure for more than two rounds, the procedure automatically fails to no benefit, and you instead gain wounds equal to one-quarter the check’s DC.
• This can be done while you’re having “complete bed rest”, and can be done at the same time as they’re providing you with long-term care , although it counts as strenuous activity.
• If they spend more than 2 hours on the procedure, they cannot also provide long-term care to other creatures for that day.
• For the first hours after the surgery is completed (for as many hours thereafter as the surgery took), if you are awake you are nauseated ^T, sickened ^T, or both, at the GM’s discretion. You may also be fatigued ^T or exhausted ^T and need to recover from those conditions normally.
• This “surgery” option is not available to a living construct or quesar.

For Example: Alex has a +10 bonus to the Heal Skill and has a Healer’s Kit with 5 uses remaining. Bob has 30 wounds, 0 HP, and is currently “dying”. To stabilize Bob, Alex first has to succeed at a DC 15 Heal check and decides to use the Healer’s Kit to make the total bonus +12 (making the minimum possible roll a 15) which means he doesn’t even have to roll to succeed, but does expend one use of the Healer’s Kit. Bob still has 30 wounds and 0 HP, but is stable. At the end of the fight, Alex uses the spell cure light wounds on Bob so that Bob doesn’t have to keep making checks for being stable, and so that Bob can flee. Once Alex and Bob are safe, Alex tends to Bob and only Bob for 8 hours of long-term care, and makes two Heal checks, one at DC 15 to provide long-term care, and one at DC 23 to remove some of Bob’s wounds, and Alex chooses to use the Healer’s kit for both both checks. Alex’s bonuses mean he doesn’t have to roll for the DC 15 long-term care Heal check, but does have to roll to remove some wounds. They roll a total of 24, so they remove 12 of Bob’s wounds (Bob’s Wounds are now 18). The next morning, Bob has completed 24 hours of complete bed rest, and so makes an ordinary Fortitude save against DC 13 and gets a 20, healing 10 Wounds (Bob’s Wounds are now 8). After another 8 hours of long-term care, Alex makes another DC 15 Heal check for long-term care and a DC 17 Heal check to heal wounds, succeeding enough to heal all of Bob’s remaining Wounds.

Intimidate

When you use the Demoralize Opponent option of this skill and succeed, you inflict strife equal to your Intimidate ranks, and then an additional + 1d6 strife if it causes the shaken condition as a fear effect (or more if they were already shaken as a fear effect, as then they’d be frightened or panicked). Even if they’re immune to fear effects, you still inflict strife equal to your number of Intimidate ranks. A second character using the demoralize opponent option in the same round would not escalate the opponent’s fear to the frightened condition, but would still inflict strife equal to that character’s Intimidate ranks (plus extra if the opponent is then subjected to a fear effect), and the shaken fear effect’s duration would continue until one round after that initiative.

Knowledge (Hypertechnology)

A class skill to anyone with “Knowledge (Arcana)”, “Knowledge (Psionics)” or “Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering)” in their class skill list. This skill represents an understanding of how to use hypertechnology. This skill also is used to determine success with uncommon uses of hypertechnology, such as hacking.

Hyperion devices with a primary purpose of arcane or divine origin do not count as hypertechnology.

You can use Knowledge (Arcana) to remember details about constructs with the hypertech subtype, except you can only use half your ranks (which prevents you from making the check outright if you only have 1 rank). If you’re trained in Knowledge (Hypertechnology), you can use that skill in place of Knowledge (Arcana), and you get to use your full number of ranks.

If you encounter technology that is similar to hypertechnology but isn’t of Hyperion origin, you make this check as normal but with half your ranks in Knowledge (Hypertechnology). You can add half of your combined ranks in Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) and Knowledge (Xenolore) to these checks.

Hacking

Most of what people call “hacking” is essentially just the application of knowledge of hypertechnology and arcane devices to convince a set of networked constructs to do what you want despite you not normally having permission for that. Hacking requires the use of hypertooth interfaces as a medium, and you must be trained (have at least one rank) in both Knowledge (Hypertechnology) and Use Magic Device to hack.

Most forms of hypertechnology have at least two components (immobile constructs) on their internal network: the hypertooth interface, and the core. On rare occasions, the hypertooth interface and the core are the same component, but that would generally be considered an insecure system. While you can “talk” to the hypertooth interface (using your own hypertooth interface), the hypertooth interface and core communicate in their own unique language (called a “protocol”) that is impossible for you to perceive or understand (not even magically). Therefore, usually what you actually “hack” is the device’s hypertooth interface. The hypertooth interface then talks to the core on your behalf as if you were a legitimate user of that device and attempts to convince it to do what you want, such as open up a Cyberspace Access Point (“C.A.P.”). You must first locate and correctly identify the signal of a Hypertooth interface in order to hack it.

To “hack”, you make a complex skill check that involves at least one Knowledge (Hypertechnology) check and at least one Use Magic Device check (how many of each varies by device) before three failures in total. Remember that having a Hypertech Bracer grants a +10 bonus on UMD checks to use hypertech devices and treats you as trained in UMD for this purpose. These checks have a DC determined by the persuasion diplomacy variant. The hypertooth interface and the core count as a group for the purposes of the Wisdom bonus to the DC. It takes 1 round to hack for every 2 checks made in the attempt (round up to the later round), with the 2 skill checks made at the end of each round. That means that it takes a full-round action to start, and you make the rolls at the start of your next turn and cannot be interrupted (as if concentrating on a 0-level spell) or you fail the entire complex skill check. If you succeed with no failures, you’re treated as a super-administrator of that device (although the device’s actual capabilities are limited), akin to a fanatic attitude. With one failure, you’re treated as a regular administrator, and it treats you with a helpful attitude. With two failures, you might have some difficulty using the device but it’s at least responsive, treating you with a friendly attitude.

If a device is equipped with a Cyberspace Access Point, opening it then allows anyone (or specific creatures, at the device’s choice) to login to the core’s cyberspace with their Avatar. Cyberspace is an abstraction that represents the core’s memory and functions. The player’s mind makes sense of the complex technological activity by tricking the player’s senses, albeit at 60 times the normal speed of perception. A locked door in cyberspace is a password, traps and hostile creatures in cyberspace are security measures, and friendly creatures are data handlers and terminals. Usually, Cyberspace Access Points that require hacking to become accessible have no ability to connect to a Wide Area Network (WAN). However, they may have the capability to tunnel into (and allow a hacker to access) the cyberspaces of other hypertechnology on the Local Area Network (LAN).

Knowledge (Xenolore)

A class skill to anyone with “Knowledge (Dungeoneering)” or “Knowledge (Nature)” in their class skill list. This skill represents an intuition about never-before-seen alien cultures, based on problem-solving. While you are always told that this will involve a Knowledge (Xenolore) check, the GM makes this check secretly using your modifier. You’re still allowed to press your luck (which is also rolled secretly by the GM) so long as you’re actively “attempting to intuit the answer”.

Failing the DC by 5 or more gives you a significantly wrong intuition about the subject. Every additional 5 failed below the DC makes the intuition you receive even worse. (The GM should not reveal that this is wrong, but if multiple allies attempt the roll, use the best result as usual).

Profession (Doctor)

Having at least one rank in this skill allows you to perform surgery if you have the necessary equipment.

Profession (Sailor)

Earning money as a sailor isn’t exactly conducive to a campaign, as that could take weeks or months. Any class skill list entry for Profession (Sailor) can instead refer to Knowledge (Hypertechnology). Any class, race, feat, or other effect that refers to Profession (Sailor) can instead refer to any skill checks related to space travel, and knowledge checks related to spaceports and exotic planets.