Skill (PSR Supplement)

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Unpaired Skills

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.

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

You gain proficiency in skills through your class, species, and sometimes other features.

Example: If you make a Charisma check to convince a king to avoid war, this falls under the domain of the Persuasion skill. If you're proficient in Persuasion you could add your PB to the check result. This is written as Charisma (Persuasion).

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?"

Skills

• 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. The study 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 research and logic to discern facts, such as the culprit in a criminal case, the answer to a riddle, or the solution to an academic mystery.
• Lore. The study of people and their history—including culture, religion, cults, myths, rituals, cities, maps, language, archaeology, and modern trends.
• Medicine. Familiarity with how a living body functions, especially regarding care for the ill or injured, and the effect potions and poisons might have on the body.
• Performance. Entertaining or impressing others through one's words or actions, especially with music, dance, jokes, stories, or similar 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. Awareness of 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. Proficiency increases the Stealth mark used when you Hide.
• Wilderness. Familiarity with the natural world, including animals, plants, weather, geology, and surviving in the wild.