EPIC SKILLS

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.

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

Skill Synergy

Many skills are noted as granting a synergy bonus to the use of another skill when a character has 5 or more ranks in the first skill. This synergy bonus increases by +2 for every additional 20 ranks the character has in the skill.

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS

This section describes new DCs and new modifiers for skills.

Appraise

The character can sense magical auras in objects.

Task	DC
Detect magic	50

Detect Magic: The character can sense if an item has a magical aura. He or she can then use Spellcraft to learn more about the item as if he or she had already cast detect magic on the item. This requires a full-round action.

Balance

Surface	DC
1–2 inches wide	20
Up to 1 inch wide	40
Hair-thin	60
Liquid*	90
Cloud	120

*Includes any other surface that couldn’t support the character’s weight, such as a fragile branch.

Bluff

The character can implant a nonmagical suggestion in a target, display a false alignment, or disguise his or her surface thoughts.

Example Circumstance	Sense Motive Modifier
Instill suggestion in target	+50
Task	DC
Display false alignment	70
Disguise surface thoughts	100

Instill Suggestion in Target: This is identical to the effect of the suggestion spell, except that it is nonmagical and lasts for only 10 minutes. It can be sensed as if it were an enchantment effect (Sense Motive DC 25).

Display False Alignment: The character can fool alignment-sensing effects by displaying a false alignment of his or her choice. Once set, a false alignment remains as long as the character remains conscious and awake. Setting or changing a false alignment requires a full-round action.

Disguise Surface Thoughts: The character can fool spells such as detect thoughts (or similar effects) by displaying false surface thoughts. While the character can’t completely mask the presence of his or her thoughts, he or she can change his or her apparent Intelligence score (and thus the character’s apparent mental strength) by as much as 10 points and can place any thought in his or her “surface thoughts” to be read by such spells or effects. If a character attempts to use Sense Motive to detect his or her surface thoughts (see the Sense Motive skill description), this becomes an opposed check (though any result lower than 100 automatically fails).

Climb

The character can climb otherwise unclimbable surfaces.

DC	Surface
70	A perfectly smooth, flat, vertical surface
100	A perfectly smooth, flat, overhang or ceiling

Rapid Climbing: A character can climb his or her speed as a move-equivalent action, or double his or her speed as a full-round action (requiring two Climb checks), but the character takes a –20 penalty on his or her check.

Special: The Legendary Climber feat allows a character to ignore any penalties for accelerated or rapid climbing.

Concentration

The character can cast spells with somatic components even while grappled.

Task	DC
Cast spell with somatic component while grappled	50 + spell level

Craft

The character can craft items more quickly than normal.

Task	DC
Quick creation	+10 or more to DC

Quick Creation: A character can voluntarily increase the DC of crafting an item by any multiple of 10. This allows the character to create an item more quickly (since he or she will be multiplying this higher DC by his or her skill check result to determine progress). The character must decide the increase to the DC before making the check.

Craft (Alchemy)

Task	DC (or DC Modifier)
Create augmented substance	+20 or more to DC

Create Augmented Alchemical Item or Substance: This requires the Augmented Alchemy feat, and allows a character to create alchemical items and substances of greater power than normal. To augment an alchemical substance, add +20 to the DC required to create the item and multiply the cost by 5. If the item or substance deals damage, double the damage dealt. If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage, double the duration of its effect. If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage and doesn’t have a specific listed duration (or has an instantaneous duration), double all dimensions of its area. If the item or substance doesn’t fit any of these categories, then it cannot be improved in this manner. A character can create an item with multiple degrees of augmentation. For every additional multiplier applied to damage, duration, or area, add an additional +20 to the DC and add an additional 5 to the cost multiplier.

Item	Effect of Augmenting
Acid	Direct hit 2d6, splash 2
Alchemist’s fire	Direct hit 2d6, splash 2
Antitoxin	Duration 2 hours
Smokestick	Smoke fills a 20-foot cube
Sunrod	Glows for 12 hours
Tanglefoot bag	Becomes brittle and fragile after 20 minutes
Tindertwig	No effect

Decipher Script

The character can decipher magic scrolls.

Task	DC
Decipher a written spell (such as a scroll) without using read magic. One try per day.	50 + 5 times spell level

Diplomacy

The character can turn a person into a fanatic follower. Refer to the accompanying table.

	——————New Attitude ——————
Initial Attitude	Hos	Unf	Indif	Friend	Help	Fanatic
Hostile	Less than 20	20	25	35	50	150
Unfriendly	Less than 5	5	15	25	40	120
Indifferent	—	Less than 1	1	15	30	90
Friendly	—	—	Less than 1	1	20	60
Helpful	—	—	—	Less than 1	1	50

Hos: hostile. Unf: unfriendly. Indif: indifferent. Friend: friendly. Help: helpful.

Fanatic: The attitude of fanatic is added here. In addition to the obvious effects, any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a –1 penalty to AC whenever fighting for the character or his or her cause. This attitude will remain for one day plus one day per point of the character’s Charisma bonus, at which point the NPC’s attitude will revert to its original attitude (or indifferent, if no attitude is specified).

Treat the fanatic attitude as a mind-affecting enchantment effect for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is nonmagical, it can’t be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC’s attitude can’t be further adjusted by the use of skills.

Attitude	Means	Possible Actions
Fanatic	Will give life to serve you	Fight to the death against overwhelming odds, throw self in front of onrushing dragon

Disable Device

The character can rush his or her Disable Device attempt, reducing the amount of time it takes to perform the attempt.

Reduce to	DC Modifier
1 round	+20
Move-equivalent action	+50
Free action	+100

Disguise

The character can change his or her apparent height and weight much more than normal.

Disguise	Modifier
Change height and/or weight 11% to 25%	–25*
Change height and/or weight 26% to 50%	–50*

*Can be negated by any effect that can duplicate a height and/or weight change of this degree.

Escape Artist

The character can pass through spaces smaller than his or her head, or even through a wall of force.

DC	Task
80	Extremely tight space
120	Pass through wall of force

Extremely Tight Space: This is the DC for getting through a space when one’s head shouldn’t even be able to fit; this can be as small as 2 inches square for Medium-size creatures. Halve this limit for each size category less than Medium-size; double it for each size category greater than Medium-size. If the space is long, such as in a chimney, multiple checks may be called for.

Pass through Wall of Force: This allows a character to find a gap of weakness in a wall of force (or similar force effect) and squeeze through it.

Forgery

The character can forge handwriting he or she haven’t even seen.

Condition	Reader’s Check Modifier
Forge document without sample	+50

Forge Document without Sample: The character can forge a document without having seen a similar document or having a sample of the handwriting to be copied.

Gather Information

The character can gather information without eliciting suspicion.

Task	Check Modifier
Avoid suspicion	–20

Avoid Suspicion: By accepting a –20 penalty on his or her Gather Information check, a character can avoid any suspicions that might otherwise be aroused by someone pursuing sensitive information.

Handle Animal

The character can handle creatures other than animals, and can teach or train in much less time than normally required.

Task	Time	DC
Rear magical beast	1 year	30 + HD of magical beast
Train magical beast	2 months	40 + HD of magical beast
Rear vermin	6 months	35 + HD of vermin
Train vermin	2 months	50 + HD of vermin
Rear other creature	Varies	40 + HD of creature
Train other creature	2 months	60 + HD of creature

Reduce Teaching/Training to . . .	DC Modifier
1 month	+25
1 day	+50
1 hour	+75
1 minute	+100

Reduce Teaching/Training: Normally, teaching or training a creature requires two months of time. A character can accelerate the process of teaching or training a creature, reducing the time required to the listed time, by adding the DC modifier to the base DC for teaching or training the creature. A character can’t reduce the required time to less than 1 minute.

Heal

The character can greatly speed a patient’s recovery of hit points.

Task	DC
Quicken recovery	50
Perfect recovery	100

Quicken Recovery: The character can allow a character to regain hit points in a single hour as if he or she had provided long-term care for a full day (2 or 3 hit points per level, based on activity). The character can quicken the recovery of up to six patients at a time. No character’s recovery can be quickened more than once per day (even by different healers).

Perfect Recovery: The character can allow a character to regain hit points in a single hour as if he or she had provided long-term care for a full week (2 or 3 hit points per level per day, based on activity). The character can use perfect recovery on up to six patients at a time. No character’s recovery can be perfected more than once per day, nor can perfect recovery and quicken recovery both be used on the same patient in the same day (even by different healers).

Hide

The character can hide others as well as hiding him or herself.

Task	Check Modifier
Hide another	–30

Hide Another: By accepting a –30 penalty on his or her Hide check, a character can hide another adjacent creature whose size is no more than one category larger than the character’s own. Modifiers to the check for the size of the creature still apply, as do all other penalties, including those for moving faster than half speed. Likewise, a character can only hide another creature when it is not under direct observation by a third party. The creature the character hides remains hidden until it is spotted or it takes some other action that breaks its concealment, as normal.

Intimidate

Intimidate does not possess an epic usage.

Special: The DC to intimidate any creature whose attitude is fanatic is increased by +20.

Jump

Jump does not possess an epic usage.

Knowledge

Knowledge does not possess an epic usage.

Listen

The character can pinpoint the location of an invisible creature, or detect an illusion with an auditory component.

DC	Task
80	Defeat illusion with auditory component

Defeat Illusion: The character can automatically detect any illusion with an auditory component for what it truly is. No Will save is required, and the character doesn’t have to interact with the illusion (but he or she must be able to hear its auditory component). Special: A character can use Listen to notice the presence of an invisible creature (generally opposed by a Move Silently check). If the character beats the DC by 20 or more, he or she can pinpoint the location of the invisible creature, though it still maintains total concealment from the character (50% miss chance).

Move Silently

Move Silently does not possess an epic usage.

Open Lock

The character can open locks more quickly than normal.

Open lock as . . .	DC Modifier
Move-equivalent action	+20
Free action	+50

Perform

The character can sway an audience’s attitude with his or her performance.

	——————New Attitude ——————
Initial Attitude	Hos	Unf	Indif	Friend	Help	Fanatic
Hostile	Less than 20	20	25	35	50	150
Unfriendly	Less than 5	5	15	25	40	120
Indifferent	—	Less than 1	1	15	30	90
Friendly	—	—	Less than 1	1	20	60
Helpful	—	—	—	Less than 1	1	50

Hos: hostile. Unf: unfriendly. Indif: indifferent. Friend: friendly. Help: helpful.

Fanatic: The attitude of fanatic is added here. In addition to the obvious effects, any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a –1 penalty to AC whenever fighting for the character or his or her cause. This attitude will remain for one day plus one day per point of the character’s Charisma bonus, at which point the NPC’s attitude will revert to its original attitude (or indifferent, if no attitude is specified).

Treat the fanatic attitude as a mind-affecting enchantment effect for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is nonmagical, it can’t be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC’s attitude can’t be further adjusted by the use of skills.

Attitude	Means	Possible Actions
Fanatic	Will give life to serve you	Fight to the death against overwhelming odds, throw self in front of onrushing dragon

Profession

Profession does not possess an epic usage.

Ride

The character can stand upon his or her mount in combat.

DC	Task
40	Stand on mount
50	Unconscious control
60	Attack from cover

Stand on Mount: This allows the character to stand on his or her mount’s back even during movement or combat. The character takes no penalties to actions while doing so.

Unconscious Control: As a free action, the character can attempt to control a light horse, pony, or heavy horse while in combat. If the character fails, he or she controls the mount as a move-equivalent action. A character does not need to roll for warhorses or warponies.

Attack from Cover: The character can react instantly to drop down and hang alongside his or her mount, using it as one-half cover. The character can attack and cast spells while using his or her mount as cover without penalty. If the character fails, he or she doesn’t get the cover benefit.

Search

The character can sense the presence of magic in an area.

Task	DC
Sense magic	60

Sense Magic: The character senses the presence of any active magical effects in the area being searched. The character can’t determine the number, strength, or type of the effects.

Sense Motive

The character can discern a target’s alignment and even detect surface thoughts.

Task	DC
Discern partial alignment	60
Discern full alignment	80
Detect surface thoughts	100

Discern Partial Alignment: This use of the skill lets a character discern one component of a target’s alignment. When making the check, the character states whether he or she is trying to discern the law–chaos or good–evil component. A character can’t retry the check, and he or she can’t use this to discern more than one component of the alignment (but see below). The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

Discern Full Alignment: This use of the skill lets a character determine both components of a target’s alignment. The character can’t retry the check. The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

Detect Surface Thoughts: This lets a character read the surface thoughts of a single target (as the 3rd-round effect of the detect thoughts spell). There is no saving throw to resist this effect, though the target can use Bluff to disguise his or her surface thoughts (see the Bluff skill description), in which case this becomes an opposed check (any result lower than 100 automatically fails). The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

Sleight of Hand

The character can lift another’s weapon and perform major feats of legerdemain.

DC	Task
50	Lift a sheathed weapon from another creature and hide it on the character’s person, if the weapon is no more than one size category larger than the character’s own size.
80	Make an adjacent, willing creature or object of the character’s size or smaller “disappear” while in plain view. In fact, the willing creature or object is displaced up to 10 feet away—make a separate Hide check to determine how well the “disappeared” creature or object is hidden.

Spellcraft

The character can identify properties of a magic item.

DC	Task
50 + caster level	Identify basic property of magic item
70 + caster level	Identify all properties of magic item
50	Quick identification of alchemical substances and potions

Identify Basic Property of Magic Item: This use of the skill requires one round of inspection, and functions exactly as if the character had cast an identify spell on the item. A character can’t attempt this on the same item more than once.

Identify All Properties of Magic Item: This requires one minute of inspection, and reveals all properties of a single magic item (including command words and charges remaining). A character can’t attempt this on the same item more than once. If an item has different caster levels for different properties, use the highest caster level.

Quick Identification: A character can identify a substance or potion in the field as a full-round action, without an alchemical lab or any cost. The character can’t retry this check (or take 20); if he or she fails, the character must identify the substance in an alchemical lab, as normal.

Spot

The character can pinpoint the location of an invisible creature, or detect an illusion with a visual component.

DC	Task
20	Notice presence of active invisible creature
30	Notice presence of unmoving, living invisible creature
40	Notice presence of inanimate invisible object
40	Notice presence of unmoving, unliving invisible creature
80	Defeat illusion

A character can use Spot to notice the presence of an invisible creature. The relevant DCs are reprinted here. If the character beats the DC by 20 or more, he or she can pinpoint the location of the invisible creature, though it still maintains total concealment from the character (50% miss chance).

Defeat Illusion: The character can automatically detect any illusion with a visual component for what it truly is. No Will save is required, and the character doesn’t have to interact with the illusion (but he or she must be able to see it).

Using Spot to Read Lips

Task	DC Modifier
Read lips while moving at up to full speed	+20
Pronounce unfamiliar language	+20

Pronounce Unfamiliar Language: This use of the skill allows a character to repeat the speech of an observed creature, potentially allowing a comrade to translate the speech. It doesn’t grant the character any ability to understand the language spoken.

Survival

The character can ignore the effects of terrain on movement and withstand even the harshest weather. If the character is capable of tracking, he or she can identify the races of creatures being tracked.

DC	Task
40	Get along in the wild while moving at full speed. The character can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds 40.
60	Automatically succeed on all Fortitude saves against severe weather. The character can extend this benefit to one other character for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds 60.
60	Ignore overland movement penalties of terrain. The character and his or her mount can move at full overland speed regardless of terrain. The character can extend this benefit to one other character for every 5 points by which the check result exceeds 60.
60	Identify race/kind of creature(s) by tracks.*

*Requires the Track feat.

Wherever the character is, he or she can determine the direction to a location on the same plane.

DC	Familiarity with Location
40	Very familiar
60	Studied carefully
80	Seen casually
100	Viewed once
120	Description only

With a successful check, the character knows the direction to the desired location. This merely points the character in the direction of the location; it doesn’t provide him or her with information on how to get there, nor does it take into account any obstacles in the path. “Very familiar” represents a place where the character has been very often and where he or she feels at home. “Studied carefully” represents a place the character knows well, either because he or she has been there often or has used other means to study the place. “Seen casually” is a place that the character has viewed more than once, but which he or she has not studied. “Viewed once” is a place that the character has seen once, possibly using magic. “Description only” is a place whose location and appearance the character knows through someone else’s description.

Swim

The character can swim up vertical surfaces, or swim much faster than normal.

DC	Task
80	Swim up waterfall

Swim up Waterfall: This use of the skill allows a character to swim an angled or vertical surface, as long as he or she remains completely or mostly immersed in water. Other examples might include swimming up a whirlpool or an incredibly large wave.

Circumstance	DC Modifier
Speed swimming	–20

Speed Swimming: By taking a –20 penalty on the check, a character can swim his or her speed as a move-equivalent action, or double his or her speed as a full-round action.

Tumble

The character can fall from great heights without taking damage, move greater distances with an adjustment, or “climb” vertical surfaces with a series of bounces.

DC	Task
30	Treat a fall as if it were 20 feet shorter when determining damage.
35	Free stand.
45	Treat a fall as if it were 30 feet shorter when determining damage.
50	Climb vertical surface.
60	Treat a fall as if it were 40 feet shorter when determining damage.
100	Ignore falling damage.

Free Stand: The character can stand up from prone as a free action (instead of as a move-equivalent action).

Climb Vertical Surface: The character can climb up to 20 feet (as part of normal move-ment) by jumping and bouncing off walls, trees, or similar vertical surfaces. The character must have at least two vertical surfaces to bounce off, and the two must be within 10 feet of each other.

Ignore Falling Damage: The character can fall from any height and take no damage.

Special: A character with 25 or more ranks in Tumble gains a +5 dodge bonus when executing the fight defensively standard or full-round action, instead of a +2 bonus (or the +3 bonus from having 5 or more ranks). Increase this dodge bonus by +1 for every 10 additional ranks above 25 the character has. A character with 25 or more ranks in Tumble gains a +10 dodge bonus to AC when executing the total defense standard action, instead of a +4 bonus (or the +6 bonus from having 5 or more ranks). Increase this dodge bonus by +2 for every 10 additional ranks above 25 the character has.

Use Magic Device

Use Magic Device does not possess an epic usage.

Use Rope

The character can splice ropes together quickly, tie unique knots, and even animate a rope he or she holds.

Task	DC
Quick splicing	50
Tie unique knot	60
Animate held rope	80

Quick Splicing: The character can splice two ropes together as a move-equivalent action.

Tie Unique Knot: The character can tie a knot that only he or she knows how to untie. This doesn’t affect any Escape Artist checks made to escape these bindings.

Animate Held Rope: The character can command any rope he or she holds as if it had the animate rope spell cast upon it (except that using the skill in this way doesn’t grant any bonus on Use Rope checks made with the animated rope). Each command requires a separate Use Rope check. Because the effect isn’t magical, it can’t be dispelled.

PSIONIC SKILLS

Autohypnosis

The character has trained his or her mind to ignore poison, resist mental influence, and convince his or her body that he or she is tougher than normal.

DC	Task
Poison’s DC + 5	When poisoned, the character can make an Autohypnosis check on his or her next action. A successful check indicates the character does not have to make a saving throw against the poison’s secondary damage, which he or she instead automatically ignores.
50	If a failed saving throw indicates the character is affected by any mind-affecting powers, spells, or spell-like effects, a successful Autohypnosis check allows an immediate second saving throw to resist the effect. If the mind-affecting effect normally does not allow a saving throw, a successful Autohypnosis check allows a saving throw.
60	With a successful Autohypnosis check, the character gains temporary hit points equal to 10 + his or her Wisdom modifier. The temporary hit points persist until lost. A character cannot check for temporary hit points more than once per day. Temporary hit points gained through Autohypnosis do not stack with temporary hit points gained through any other source

Stabilize Self

Mortal wounds are less lethal for the character.

DC	Task
30	If reduced to negative hit points but not dead, make a Stabilize Self check. If successful, the character does not go unconscious and can continue taking actions until he or she bleeds to death or stabilizes (the character can also continue making stabilization checks). If healed or stabilized, the character continues to take actions normally.
60	On a successful Stabilize Self check, the character gains damage reduction 2/–. The damage reduction lasts for 12 hours. The character cannot check for damage reduction more than once per day. Damage reduction gained through Stabilize Self does not stack with damage reduction gained through any other source.

Miscellaneous

Scrying spells

To attempt any of these tasks, the scrying spell must be on your class spell list (though it need not be among your spells known). If you have any bonuses that would apply to the caster level of your scrying spell, add these to your caster level check.

Task	DC
Learn scryer	30
Return scrying	50
Break scrying	Opposed caster level check

Learn Scryer: If you determine that you’re being scried upon, you can learn the identity of the scryer with a DC 30 caster level check. If successful, you learn the name, race, and location of the scryer.

Return Scrying: If you determine that you’re being scried upon, you can look back through the sensor at the scryer with a DC 50 caster level check. This allows you to spy on the scrying being as if you had cast a scrying spell upon that person. This return scrying can be detected by your target as normal.

Break Scrying: If you determine that you’re being scried, you can make an opposed caster level check with the scryer. (Your caster level must be at least 21st to attempt this task.) If you are successful, the scrying ends, and the scryer may not target you with a Divination (Scrying) spell or effect for a number of hours equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).