Skill (PSR Supplement)

---

Where's Perception?

In Proxi's System Reference, if your senses or awareness is tested, you make a Wisdom save. There are no Perception checks and there is no passive Perception. Moreover awareness and detection is the only thing Wisdom saves are meant to be used for, giving more room for Intelligence and especially Charisma saves to take over for spells and conditions like Frightened. Thus proficiency in Wisdom saves is effectively the same as proficiency in something like a Perception skill.

When you make an ability check, and you are proficient in a skill relevant to the task, you add your PB to the d20 roll.

Example: if you make a Charisma check to convince a king to avoid war, this falls under the domain of the Persuasion skill. So if you're proficient in Persuasion you could add your PB to the result of this check. Typically you gain skill proficiencies through your class or other features.

Sometimes your narrator might ask for an ability check using a specific skill—for example, "Make a Charisma (Persuasion) check." At other times, a player might ask the narrator if proficiency in a particular skill applies to a check—for example, "I'm coming in with weapons drawn as an overt threat, so could I use the Intimidation skill instead?"

While it is conventional to pair certain skills with certain abilities, they are not strictly bound to one another. For example Athletics is often seen as a skill associated with Strength, but for balancing on a tightrope a Dexterity (Athletics) is more appropriate, and running a marathon would surely be a test of Constitution (Athletics) instead.

Skills (Example)

The skills detailed below are the default in PSR, but depending on your campaign and your narrator, other skills might replace these.

• Athletics. Coordination and mastery over one's body, from swimming across an ocean to backflipping on a tightrope. Most Strength and Constitution checks employ this skill.
• Deception. Deceit in all its forms: telling bold-faced lies, doublespeak, omitting pertinent information, pulling off a disguise, or even acting.
• Engineering. Knowledge of materials, construction, structures, crafting, repair, physical sciences, and technology—as appropriate to the setting, whether it's aqueducts or starships.
• Insight. Empathy and understanding of others; useful for connecting with creatures, seeing the truth behind deception, predicting someone's next move, understanding in the absence of language, reading a room, or getting a hunch.
• Intimidation. Influencing others with threats, coercion, blackmail, pomposity, or force—including use of status, rank, or caste.
• Investigation. Using senses and logic to deduce that which isn't obvious, such as the location of a hidden object, the culprit in a criminal case, or the answer to a riddle.
• Lore. Knowledge of people and their history—including culture, religion, cults, myths, rituals, cities, maps, language, archaeology, and modern trends.
• Medicine. Knowledge of how a living body functions, especially in regards to caring for the ill or injured.
• Performance. Entertaining or impressing others through one's words or actions, especially in regards to performing music, dancing, telling jokes, reciting stories, or utilizing talents.
• Persuasion. The art of influencing others through words and body language, especially when acting in good faith, through social graces, by displaying etiquette, or to foster friendships.
• Secrets. Knowledge regarding supernatural or paranormal phenomena beyond conventional understanding, such as arcana, spells, magic, extrasensory perception, astrology, and creatures not of this world.
• Sleight of Hand. Nimble fingers and legerdemain, useful for picking both locks and pockets; concealing an item on your person, slipping something unnoticed into another's pocket, juggling, and so on.
• Stealth. Hiding, remaining hidden, moving quietly, staying out of sight, sneaking around, or otherwise avoiding detection.
• Wilderness. Knowledge of the natural world, including animals, plants, weather, geology, and surviving in the wild.