Access Infosphere
Activate an Item [variable]
[Pseudo activity] Activating any item counts as the Activate an Item activity.
See the item for actions, traits, and effects.
Long Activation Times
Limited Activations
Cast a Spell
Sustaining Activations
Dismissing Activations
Disrupting Activations
Administer First Aid [one-action]
You perform first aid on an adjacent creature that is dying or bleeding. If a creature is both dying and bleeding, choose which ailment you’re trying to treat before you roll. You can Administer First Aid again to attempt to remedy the other effect.
- Stabilize Attempt a Medicine check on a creature that has 0 Hit Points and the dying condition. The DC is equal to 5 + that creature’s recovery roll DC (typically 15 + its dying value).
- Stop Bleeding Attempt a Medicine check on a creature that is taking persistent bleed damage (page 409). The DC is usually the DC of the effect that caused the bleed.
Affix a Talisman
You spend 10 minutes affixing a talisman to an item, placing the item on a stable surface and using the repair toolkit with both hands. You can also use this activity to remove a talisman. Attaching more than one talisman to an item deactivates all the talismans. They must be removed and re-affixed before they can be used again.
Aid [reaction]
You try to help your ally with a task. To use this reaction, you must first prepare to help, usually by using an action during your turn. You must explain to the GM exactly how you’re trying to help, and they determine whether you can Aid your ally.
When you use your Aid reaction, attempt a skill check or attack roll of a type decided by the GM. The typical DC is 15, but the GM might adjust this DC for particularly hard or easy tasks. The GM can add any relevant traits to your preparatory action or to your Aid reaction depending on the situation, or even allow you to Aid checks other than skill checks and attack rolls.
Area Fire [two-actions]
You hit each creature in the designated area with a range equal to the weapon’s range increment (for cone or line) or the designated radius of the explosion (for burst). For burst, you can position the center point anywhere within your first range increment. Any creatures in the area must succeed at a basic Reflex save against your class DC plus the tracking value of the weapon (you do not roll an attack roll). This damage is area damage. Creatures who critically fail this save are subject to effects that occur on a critical hit with this weapon, including the weapon’s critical specialization effect. Area Fire has an expend equal to the value listed on the weapon.
Area (burst, cone, line) trait
Arrest a Fall [reaction]
You attempt your choice of an Acrobatics check or Reflex save to slow your fall. The DC is typically 15, but it might be higher due to air turbulence or other circumstances.
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Auto-fire [two-actions]
You hit each creature in a cone with a range equal to half the weapon’s range increment without making an attack roll. Any creatures in the area take damage equal to the weapon’s damage (basic Reflex save against your class DC plus the tracking value of the weapon). This damage is area damage. Creatures that critically fail this save are subject to effects that occur on a critical hit with this weapon, including the weapon’s critical specialization effect. Automatic Fire has an expend equal to the number of targets in the area × 2.
Automatic trait
Avert Gaze [one-action]
You avert your gaze from danger, such as a medusa’s gaze. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to saves against visual abilities that require you to look at a creature or object, such as a medusa’s petrifying gaze. Your gaze remains averted until the start of your next turn.
Avoid Notice
You attempt a Stealth check to avoid notice while traveling at half speed. If you’re Avoiding Notice at the start of an encounter, you usually roll a Stealth check instead of a Perception check both to determine your initiative and to see if the enemies notice you (based on their Perception DCs, as normal for Sneak, regardless of their initiative check results).
Balance [one-action]
You move across a narrow surface or uneven ground, attempting an Acrobatics check against its Balance DC. You are off-guard while on a narrow surface or uneven ground.
Sample Balance Tasks
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Borrow an Arcane Spell (Trained)
If you’re an arcane spellcaster who prepares spells, you can attempt to prepare a spell from someone else’s arcane spellbook, arcane witch familiar, or the like. The GM sets the DC for the check based on the spell’s rank and rarity; it’s typically a bit easier than Learning the Spell (page 230).
Burrow [one-action]
You dig your way through dirt, sand, or a similar loose material at a rate up to your burrow Speed. You can’t burrow through rock or other substances denser than dirt unless you have an ability that allows you to do so.
Cast a Spell [variable]
[Pseudo activity] Casting any spell counts as the Cast a Spell activity.
See the spell for actions, traits, and effects.
Climb [one-action]
You attempt an Athletics check to move a maximum distance of 5 feet up, down, or across an incline. You’re off-guard while climbing unless you have a climb Speed. The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the incline and environmental circumstances; you might get an automatic critical success on an incline that’s trivial to climb. If your land Speed is 40 feet or higher, increase the maximum distance by 5 feet for every 20 feet of Speed above 20 feet.
Sample Climb Tasks
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Coerce
With threats either veiled or overt, you attempt to bully a creature into doing what you want. You must spend at least 1 minute of conversation with the creature. At the end of the conversation, attempt an Intimidation check against the target’s Will DC, modified by any circumstances the GM determines. (The attitudes referenced in the effects below are summarized in the Changing Attitudes sidebar on page 239 and described in full in the Conditions Appendix, starting on page 442.)
Changing Attitudes
Your influence on NPCs is measured with a set of attitudes that reflect how they view your character. These are only a brief summary of a creature’s disposition. The GM will supply additional nuance based on the history and beliefs of the characters you’re interacting with, and their attitudes can change in accordance with the story. The attitudes are detailed in the Conditions Appendix and are summarized here.
- Helpful: Willing to help you and responds favorably to your requests.
- Friendly: Has a good attitude toward you, but won’t necessarily stick their neck out to help you.
- Indifferent: Doesn’t care about you either way. (Most NPCs start out indifferent.)
- Unfriendly: Dislikes you and doesn’t want to help you.
- Hostile: Actively works against you—and might attack you just because of their dislike.
No one can ever change the attitude of a player character with these skills. You can roleplay interactions with player characters, and even use Diplomacy results if the player wants a mechanical sense of how convincing or charming a character is, but players make the ultimate decisions about how their characters respond.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Infosphere Anonymity
Checks using Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation are much harder when you post anonymously on the infosphere, whether or not you are using an unremarkable or throwaway account. In most cases, you should treat all checks made using these skills online as one degree of success worse, depending on the circumstances of the check and the likelihood of someone taking the infosphere content seriously. This is especially true on attempts to Lie, Make an Impression, and Coerce.
Infosphere Reputation
Your influence on an infosphere is measured using the same attitudes as NPCs your character knows offline (GM Core 200). However, your character’s activities and other people’s attitudes toward your character on a public infosphere are easier to find and can result in characters having a different initial attitude based on your online activities.
Using an alias can fool those who lack the skill or interest in figuring out your identity, often requiring a character to Hack or Gather Information against your Computers DC to figure out your identity and find your content. This can also result in having a single NPC harbor different attitudes toward your character and their online persona. In the event the NPC uncovers the truth, they tend to side with the more hostile attitude.
Command an Animal [one-action]
You issue an order to an animal. Attempt a Nature check against the animal’s Will DC. The GM might adjust the DC if the animal has a good attitude toward you, you suggest a course of action it was predisposed toward, or you offer it a treat.
You automatically fail if the animal is hostile or unfriendly to you. If the animal is helpful to you, increase your degree of success by one step. You might be able to Command an Animal more easily with a feat like Ride (page 261).
Most animals know the Drop Prone, Leap, Seek, Stand, Stride, and Strike basic actions. If an animal knows an activity, such as a horse’s Gallop, you can Command the Animal to perform the activity, but you must spend as many actions on Command an Animal as the activity’s number of actions. You can also spend multiple actions to Command the Animal to perform that number of basic actions on its next turn; for instance, you could spend 3 actions to Command an Animal to Stride three times or to Stride twice and then make a Strike.
Commanded Animals
Issuing commands to an animal doesn’t always go smoothly. An animal is an independent creature with limited intelligence. Most animals understand only the simplest instructions, so you might be able to instruct an animal to move to a certain square but not dictate a specific path to get there, or command it to attack a certain creature but not to make its attack nonlethal. The GM decides the specifics of the action the animal uses.
The animal does what you commanded as soon as it can, usually as its first action on its next turn. If you successfully commanded it multiple times, it does what you said in order. It forgets all commands beyond what it can accomplish on its turn. If multiple people command the same animal, the GM determines how the animal reacts. The GM might also make the DC higher if someone has already tried to Command the Animal that round.
If you have a pet, animal companion, familiar, or similar minion, you can command it much more effectively.
Animal Companions
An animal companion is a loyal comrade who follows your orders. Your animal companion has the animal and minion traits, and it gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command an Animal action to command it; this replaces the usual effects of Command an Animal, and you don’t need to attempt a Nature check. If your companion dies, you can spend a week of downtime to replace it at no cost. You can have only one animal companion at a time.
Riding Animal Companions
You or an ally can ride your animal companion as long as it is at least one size larger than the rider. If it is carrying a rider, the animal companion can use only its land Speed, and it can’t move and Support you on the same turn. However, if your companion has the mount special ability, it’s especially suited for riding and ignores both of these restrictions.
Minion (trait)
Minions are creatures that directly serve another creature. Your minion acts on your turn in combat, once per turn, when you spend an action to issue it commands. For an animal companion, you Command an Animal; for a minion that’s a spell or magic item effect, like a summoned minion, you Sustain the effect (page 419); if not otherwise specified, you issue a verbal command as a single action with the auditory and concentrate traits. If given no commands, minions use no actions except to defend themselves or to escape obvious harm. If left unattended for long enough, typically 1 minute, mindless minions usually don’t act, animals follow their instincts, and sapient minions act how they please.
A minion has only 2 actions and 0 reactions per turn, though certain conditions (such as slowed or quickened) or abilities might give them a reaction that they can use. Alterations to a minion’s actions occur when they gain their actions for the round. A minion can’t control other creatures.
Conceal an Object [one-action]
You hide a small object on your person (such as a weapon of light Bulk). When you try to sneak a concealed object past someone who might notice it, the GM rolls your Stealth check and compares it to this passive observer’s Perception DC. Once the GM rolls your check for a concealed object, that same result is used no matter how many passive observers you try to sneak it past. If a creature is specifically searching you for an item, it can attempt a Perception check against your Stealth DC (finding the object on success).
You can also conceal an object somewhere other than your person, such as among undergrowth or in a secret compartment within a piece of furniture. In this case, characters Seeking in an area compare their Perception check results to your Stealth DC to determine whether they find the object.
Cover Tracks (Trained)
You cover your tracks, moving up to half your travel Speed, using the rules on page 438. You don’t need to attempt a Survival check to cover your tracks, but anyone tracking you must succeed at a Survival check against your Survival DC if it is higher than the normal DC to Track.
In some cases, you might Cover Tracks in an encounter. In this case, Cover Tracks is a single action and doesn’t have the exploration trait.
Craft (Trained)
You can make an item from raw materials. You need the Alchemical Crafting skill feat to create alchemical items and the Magical Crafting skill feat to create magic items.
To Craft an item, you must meet the following requirements:
- The item is your level or lower. An item that doesn’t list a level is level 0. If the item is 9th level or higher, you must be a master in Crafting, and if it’s 17th or higher, you must be legendary.
- The item must be common, or you must otherwise have access to it.
- You have an appropriate set of tools and, in many cases, a workshop. For example, you need access to a smithy to forge a metal shield, or an alchemist’s lab to produce alchemical items.
- You must supply raw materials worth at least half the item’s Price. You always expend at least that amount of raw materials when you Craft successfully. If you’re in a settlement, you can usually spend currency to get the amount of raw materials you need, except in the case of rarer precious materials.
You attempt a Crafting check after you spend 2 days of work setting up, or 1 day if you have the item’s formula. The GM determines the DC to Craft the item based on its level, rarity, and other circumstances.
If your attempt to create the item is successful, you expend the raw materials you supplied. You can pay the remaining portion of the item’s Price in materials to complete the item immediately, or you can spend additional downtime days working on it. For each additional day you spend, reduce the value of the materials you need to expend to complete the item. This amount is determined using the Income Earned table (page 229), based on your proficiency rank in Crafting and using your own level instead of a task level.
After any of these downtime days, you can complete the item by spending the remaining portion of its Price in materials. If the downtime days you spend are interrupted, you can return to finish the item later, continuing where you left off. An example of Crafting appears in the sidebar below.
Alchemical and Magical Items
If you want to Craft alchemical items or magic items, you need to select the skill feat for Alchemical Crafting (page 252) or Magical Crafting (page 258) in addition to being trained. Stat blocks and details of these items appear in GM Core, so consult with your GM.
Consumables and Ammunition
You can Craft items with the consumable trait in batches, making up to four of the same item at once with a single check. This requires you to include the raw materials for all the items in the batch at the start, and you must complete the batch all at once. You also Craft non-magical ammunition in batches, using the quantity listed in the Ranged Weapons Table (typically 10, page 281).
Transferring Runes
You can transfer runes between two items. This uses the Craft activity, and you must be able to craft magical items. You can either move one rune from one item to another or swap a rune on one item with a rune on the other item (which can be a runestone; page 269). To swap, the runes must both be fundamental runes or both be property runes.
If an item can have two or more property runes, you decide which runes to swap and which to leave when transferring. If you attempt to transfer a rune to an item that can’t accept it, such as transferring a melee weapon rune to a ranged weapon, you get an automatic critical failure on your Crafting check. If you transfer a potency rune, you might end up with property runes on an item that can’t benefit from them. These property runes go dormant until transferred to an item with the necessary potency rune or until you etch the appropriate potency rune on the item bearing them.
The DC of the Crafting check to transfer a rune is determined by the item level of the rune being transferred, and the Price of the transfer is 10% of the rune’s Price, unless transferring from a runestone, which is free. If you’re swapping, use the higher level and higher Price between the two runes to determine these values. It takes 1 day (instead of the 4 days usually needed to Craft) to transfer a rune or swap a pair of runes, and you can continue to work over additional days to get a discount, as usual with Craft.
Formulas (sidebar)
A written formula for an item helps you create it with less difficulty. This has two functions. First, it reduces the time needed to start Crafting from 2 days to 1, as you have less preparation to do. Second, you can Craft uncommon and rarer items if you’re able to acquire their formulas. See the rules on page 294 for information on formulas.
Formulas
Formulas are formalized instructions for making items. Their primary purpose is to reduce the time it takes you to start the Craft activity, which is helpful for items you’ll make frequently. You can usually read a formula as long as you can read the language it’s written in, even if you lack the skill to Craft the item. Often, alchemists and crafting guilds use obscure languages or create codes to protect their formulas. If you obtain a formula for an uncommon or rarer item, you have access to that item so you can Craft it. These formulas can be significantly more valuable—if you can find them at all!
For the Price listed on the table, you can buy a common formula or pay an NPC to let you copy their formula. A purchased formula is typically a schematic on rolled-up parchment of light Bulk. You can copy a formula into your formula book in 1 hour.
If you have a formula, you can Craft a copy of it using the Crafting skill. You can also Craft a formula by reverse-engineering it from an item you possess. Use the formula’s Price and the item’s Craft DC. You must meet any requirements to Craft the item, except you don’t need to have access to the item or meet any special Craft Requirements listed in the item’s stat block unless the GM determines otherwise.
can be purchased collectively in a basic crafter’s book.
Income Earned
Crafting Example
Ezren is a 5th-level wizard and an expert in Crafting. He has a Crafting modifier of +13 and the Magical Crafting feat. With 2 weeks of downtime ahead of him, he decides to craft a striking rune, a 4th-level item. The GM secretly chooses a DC of 19.
The item has a Price of 65 gp, so Ezren prepares 32 gp, 5 sp worth of raw materials. He has another 32 gp, 5 sp worth of raw materials on hand. After spending 1 day building and incanting spells, he rolls a 12 on his Crafting check, for a result of 25. That’s a success! At this point, Ezren can spend the additional 32 gp, 5 sp worth of materials to complete the item immediately for 65 gp.
However, Ezren has 13 more days on his hands, so he decides to spend additional time to complete the item. Because he’s a 5th-level character and an expert at Crafting, he reduces the amount he has to pay by 1 gp for each day spent. After spending 13 days working, he reduces the total cost to complete the item from 65 gp to 52 gp. He spends the remaining portion of its Price in materials, completes the striking rune, and goes out on his next adventure. (He could have stayed home to keep working on the striking rune, eventually reducing the item’s total Price to just the half he paid up front, but adventuring is far more lucrative!)
If Ezren’s Crafting check result were a 29 or higher, he’d have gotten a critical success. In that case, he’d reduce the remaining amount by 2 gp per day (the amount for a 6th-level expert), lowering the amount needed to complete the item after 13 additional days of work to 39 gp.
Crawl [one-action]
You move 5 feet by crawling and continue to stay prone.
Create a Diversion [one-action]
With a gesture, a trick, or some distracting words, you can create a diversion that draws creatures’ attention elsewhere. If you use a gesture or trick, this action gains the manipulate trait. If you use distracting words, it gains the auditory and linguistic traits.
Attempt a single Deception check and compare it to the Perception DCs of the creatures whose attention you’re trying to divert. Whether or not you succeed, creatures you attempt to divert gain a +4 circumstance bonus to their Perception DCs against your attempts to Create a Diversion for 1 minute.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Create Forgery (Trained)
You create a forged document, usually over the course of a day or a week. The GM rolls a secret DC 20 Society check. If you need to forge a specific person’s handwriting, you need a sample of that person’s handwriting. Otherwise, you need only to have seen a similar document, and you gain up to a +4 circumstance bonus to the check (the GM determines the bonus).
Examining Forgeries
A creature on the lookout for forgeries, even one who was fooled on a passive glance, can take time to closely examine a document to see if it’s a forgery. They apply different techniques and analysis methods to look beyond the surface elements and attempt a secret Perception or Society check against the forger’s Society DC; any bonus you had to create the forgery initially applies to this DC. On a success, the examiner knows the document is a forgery. On a failure, they think the document is genuine and can’t try again unless they get a new reason to be suspicious of the document. If a PC examines a genuine document, the GM might still pretend to roll a secret check before revealing the document is genuine.
Decipher Writing (Trained)
You attempt to decipher complicated writing or literature on an obscure topic. This usually takes 1 minute per page of text, but might take longer (typically an hour per page for decrypting ciphers or the like). The text must be in a language you can read, though the GM might allow you to attempt to decipher text written in an unfamiliar language using Society instead.
The DC is determined by the GM based on the state or complexity of the document. The GM might have you roll one check for a short text or a check for each section of a larger text.
Sample Decipher Tasks
Defend
You move at half your travel speed with your shield raised. If combat breaks out, you gain the benefits of Raising a Shield before your first turn begins.
Delay [free-action]
You wait for the right moment to act. The rest of your turn doesn’t happen yet. Instead, you’re removed from the initiative order. You can return to the initiative order as a free action triggered by the end of any other creature’s turn. This permanently changes your initiative to the new position. You can’t use reactions until you return to the initiative order. If you Delay an entire round without returning to the initiative order, the actions from the Delayed turn are lost, your initiative doesn’t change, and your next turn occurs at your original position in the initiative order.
When you Delay, any persistent damage or other negative effects that normally occur at the start or end of your turn occur immediately when you use the Delay action. Any beneficial effects that would end at any point during your turn also end. The GM might determine that other effects end when you Delay as well. Essentially, you can’t Delay to avoid negative consequences that would happen on your turn or to extend beneficial effects that would end on your turn.
Demoralize [one-action]
With a sudden shout, a well-timed taunt, or a cutting put-down, you can shake an enemy’s resolve. Choose a creature within 30 feet of you who you’re aware of. Attempt an Intimidation check against that target’s Will DC. If the target doesn’t understand the language you are speaking, or you’re not speaking a language, you take a –4 circumstance penalty to the check. Regardless of your result, the target is temporarily immune to your attempts to Demoralize it for 10 minutes.
Detect Magic
You cast detect magic at regular intervals. You move at half your travel speed or slower. You have no chance of accidentally overlooking a magic aura at a travel speed up to 300 feet per minute, but must be traveling no more than 150 feet per minute to detect magic auras before the party moves into them.
Disable a Device [two-actions] (Trained)
This action allows you to disarm a trap or another complex device. Often, a device requires numerous successes before becoming disabled, depending on its construction and complexity. A thieves’ toolkit is helpful and sometimes even required to Disable a Device, as determined by the GM, and sometimes a device requires a higher proficiency rank in Thievery to disable it.
Your Thievery check result determines your progress.
Disarm [one-action] (Trained)
You try to knock an item out of a creature’s grasp. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Reflex DC.
Dismiss [one-action]
You end an effect that states you can Dismiss it. Dismissing ends the entire effect unless noted otherwise.
Drive [variable] (Trained)
You pilot your vehicle to move. Decide how many actions you intend to spend before you begin Driving. The effects depend on the number of actions you spend. You can’t Drive through spaces occupied by creatures, even if they are allies.
- [one-action] Attempt a Piloting check. On a success, the vehicle moves up to its Speed and can turn normally. On a failure, the vehicle moves its Speed in a straight line. On a critical failure, the vehicle moves its Speed in a straight line and becomes uncontrolled.
- [two-actions] (reckless) The vehicle moves up to twice its Speed in a straight line at the vehicle’s current heading.
- [three-actions] (reckless) You take a –5 penalty on your piloting check to maintain control of the vehicle. The vehicle moves up to three times its Speed in a straight line at the vehicle’s current heading.
Reckless Piloting
Actions that have the reckless trait push the pilot and the vehicle beyond the normal parameters for safe operation, and the pilot risks losing control of the vehicle. When performing a reckless action, the pilot must first attempt an appropriate piloting check to keep control of the vehicle, with the following effects. Resolve this piloting check before resolving the action itself.
Uncontrolled Vehicles
Some situations can cause a pilot to lose control of their vehicle. Most commonly, this is due to a failed piloting check for a reckless action, but it can also occur if a round passes without a pilot using a move action to control the vehicle or Stopping the vehicle. A vehicle can also become uncontrolled if the pilot becomes unable to act during a move action to control the vehicle. An uncontrolled vehicle continues to move each round at its most recent pilot’s initiative position. The distance it moves each round is 10 feet less than on the previous round, always in a straight line at its current heading until it crashes or it comes to a stop.
At your discretion, it could slow down more if it’s on uneven terrain, difficult terrain, on an upward slope, or facing other adverse conditions; by the same token, it could stay at the same speed or even accelerate if it’s on a downward slope or other advantageous condition. An uncontrolled vehicle in motion interacts with obstacles, other vehicles, and creatures using the effects of the Run Over action, except that the distance it moves is dictated by the factors above instead of the Speed specified in that action.
Earn Income (Trained)
You use one of your skills to make money during downtime. The GM assigns a task level representing the most lucrative job available. You can search for lower-level tasks, with the GM determining whether you find any. Sometimes you can attempt to find better work than the initial offerings, though this takes time and requires using the Diplomacy skill to Gather Information, doing some research, or socializing.
When you take on a job, the GM secretly sets the DC of your skill check. After your first day of work, you roll to determine your earnings. You gain an amount of income based on your result, the task’s level, and your proficiency rank (as listed on the Income Earned table).
You can continue working at the task on subsequent days without needing to roll again. For each day you spend after the first, you earn the same amount as the first day, up until the task’s completion. The GM determines how long you can work at the task. Most tasks last a week or two, though some can take months or even years.
Sample Earn Income Tasks
Income Earned
Basic Competence
Some performances require you to be more than just charismatic, and if you don’t meet the demands of the art form or the audience, the GM might apply a penalty based on the relevant attribute. For example, if you’re dancing and have a negative Dexterity modifier, you might take a penalty to your attempt at dancing. Likewise, if you are orating and have a negative Intelligence modifier, you might have to hope your raw Charisma can overcome the penalties from your intellectual shortcomings—or ask someone to help write your speeches!
Performance Traits
When you use an action that utilizes the Performance skill, it gains one or more traits relevant to the type of performance. The GM might change these depending on the circumstances, but the most common performance-based traits are listed below.
If you want to be particularly skilled with one type of performance, you can select the Virtuosic Performer skill feat (page 264). That feat breaks down some of the performance listed above into specific instrument types, and your GM might allow you to add your own type.
Escape [one-action]
You attempt to escape from being grabbed, immobilized, or restrained. Choose one creature, object, spell effect, hazard, or other impediment imposing any of those conditions on you. Attempt a check using your unarmed attack modifier against the DC of the effect. This is typically the Athletics DC of a creature grabbing you, the Thievery DC of a creature who tied you up, the spell DC for a spell effect, or the listed Escape DC of an object, hazard, or other impediment. You can attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics check instead of using your attack modifier if you choose (but this action still has the attack trait).
Feint [one-action] (Trained)
With a misleading flourish, you leave an opponent unprepared for your real attack. Attempt a Deception check against your target’s Perception DC.
Fly [one-action]
You move through the air up to your fly Speed. Moving upward (straight up or diagonally) uses the rules for moving through difficult terrain. You can move straight down 10 feet for every 5 feet of movement you spend. If you Fly to the ground, you don’t take falling damage. You can use an action to Fly 0 feet to hover in place. If you’re airborne at the end of your turn and didn’t use a Fly action this round, you fall.
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Follow the Expert
Choose an ally attempting a recurring skill check while exploring, such as climbing, or performing a different exploration tactic that requires a skill check (like Avoiding Notice). The ally must be at least an expert in that skill and must be willing to provide assistance. While Following the Expert, you match their tactic or attempt similar skill checks.
Thanks to your ally’s assistance, you can add your level as a proficiency bonus to the associated skill check, even if you’re untrained. Additionally, you gain a circumstance bonus to your skill check based on your ally’s proficiency (+2 for expert, +3 for master, and +4 for legendary).
Force Open [one-action]
Using your body, a lever, or some other tool, you attempt to forcefully open a door, window, container or heavy gate. With a high enough result, you can even smash through walls. Without a crowbar, prying something open takes a –2 item penalty to the Athletics check to Force Open.
Sample Force Open Tasks
Gather Information
You canvass local markets, taverns, and gathering places in an attempt to learn about a specific individual or topic. The GM determines the DC of the check and the amount of time it takes (typically 2 hours, but sometimes more), along with any benefit you might be able to gain by spending coin on bribes, drinks, or gifts.
Sample Gather Information Tasks
Grab an Edge [reaction]
When you fall off or past an edge or other handhold, you can try to grab it, potentially stopping your fall. You must succeed at your choice of an Acrobatics check or a Reflex save, usually at the Climb DC. If you grab the edge or handhold, you can then Climb up using Athletics.
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Grapple [one-action]
You attempt to grab a creature or object with your free hand. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Fortitude DC. You can Grapple a target you already have grabbed or restrained without having a hand free.
Athletics in Low Gravity
Various Athletics actions function differently in zero gravity. Leap allows you to move in any direction twice the distance you would move if you had Leapt in normal gravity (up to twice your Speed). Shove and Reposition move targets twice their normal speed and changes the direction they float. Trip causes the target to change the direction they float on a Success and become untethered on a Critical Success. The grabbed condition removes the untethered condition unless all the creatures in a grab are untethered, and the direction the creatures in a grab float usually follows the direction of the grabbing creature.
Hack (Trained)
Infosphere Reputation
Your influence on an infosphere is measured using the same attitudes as NPCs your character knows offline (GM Core 200). However, your character’s activities and other people’s attitudes toward your character on a public infosphere are easier to find and can result in characters having a different initial attitude based on your online activities.
Using an alias can fool those who lack the skill or interest in figuring out your identity, often requiring a character to Hack or Gather Information against your Computers DC to figure out your identity and find your content. This can also result in having a single NPC harbor different attitudes toward your character and their online persona. In the event the NPC uncovers the truth, they tend to side with the more hostile attitude.
Hide [one-action]
You huddle behind cover or greater cover or deeper into concealment to become hidden, rather than observed. The GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DC of each creature you’re observed by but that you have cover or greater cover against or are concealed from. You get a +2 circumstance bonus to your check if you have standard cover (or +4 from greater cover).
If you successfully become hidden to a creature but then cease to have cover or greater cover against it or be concealed from it, you become observed again. You cease being hidden if you do anything except Hide, Sneak, or Step. If you attempt to Strike a creature, the creature remains off-guard against that attack, and you then become observed. If you do anything else, you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check.
If a creature uses Seek to make you observed by it, you must successfully Hide to become hidden from it again.
Being Stealthy
If you want to sneak around when there are creatures that can see you, you can use a combination of Hide and Sneak to do so.
- First, Hide behind something (either by taking advantage of cover or having the concealed condition due to fog, a spell, or a similar effect). A successful Stealth check makes you hidden, though the creatures still know roughly where you are.
- Second, now that you’re hidden, you can Sneak. That means you can move at half your Speed and attempt another Stealth check. If it’s successful, you’re now undetected. That means the creatures don’t know which square you’re in anymore.
If you were approaching creatures that didn’t know you were there, you could begin Sneaking right away, since they didn’t know your location to start with. Some actions can cause you to become observed again, but they’re mostly what you’d expect: standing out in the open, attacking someone, making a bunch of noise, and so forth. If you Strike someone after successfully Hiding or Sneaking, though, they’re off-guard to that Strike.
Creatures can try to find you using the Seek action, described on page 417.
Three conditions explain the states of detection. Remember that these conditions are relative to each creature—you can be observed by one creature while hidden to another and undetected by a third.
Observed (page 444)
You’re in the creature’s clear view.Hidden (page 444)
The creature knows your location but can’t see you.Undetected (page 446)
The creature doesn’t know your location.Unobservable Stealth
In some cases, it can be impossible for a creature to fully observe you. Typically this happens if you’re invisible, the observer is blinded, or you’re in darkness and the creature can’t see in darkness. In such cases, any critical failure you roll on a check to Sneak is a failure instead. You also continue to be undetected if you lose cover or greater cover against or are no longer concealed from such a creature.
High Jump [two-actions]
You Stride, then attempt a DC 30 Athletics check to jump vertically. If you didn’t Stride at least 10 feet, you automatically fail. This DC might be increased or decreased due to the situation, as determined by the GM.
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Hustle
You strain yourself to move at double your travel speed. You can Hustle only for a number of minutes equal to your Constitution modifier × 10 (minimum 10 minutes). If you are in a group that is Hustling, use the lowest Constitution modifier among everyone to determine how fast the group can Hustle together.
Identify Alchemy (Trained)
You can identify the nature of an alchemical item with 10 minutes of testing using your alchemist’s toolkit. If your attempt is interrupted in any way, you must start over.
Identify Magic (Trained)
Once you discover that an item, location, or ongoing effect is magical, you can spend 10 minutes to try to identify the particulars of its magic. If your attempt is interrupted, you must start over. The GM sets the DC for your check. Cursed magic or esoteric subjects usually have higher DCs or might even be impossible to identify using this activity alone. Heightening a spell doesn’t increase the DC to identify it.
Magical Traditions and Skills
Each magical tradition has a corresponding skill, as shown on the table below. You must have the trained proficiency rank in a skill to use it to Identify Magic or Learn a Spell. Something without a specific tradition, such as an item with the magical trait, can be identified using any of these skills.
Impersonate
You create a disguise to pass yourself off as someone or something you are not. Assembling a convincing disguise takes 10 minutes and requires a disguise kit (found on page 288), but a simpler, quicker disguise might do the job if you’re not trying to imitate a specific individual, at the GM’s discretion.
In most cases, creatures have a chance to detect your deception only if they use the Seek action to attempt Perception checks against your Deception DC. If you attempt to directly interact with someone while disguised, the GM rolls a secret Deception check for you against that creature’s Perception DC instead.
If you’re disguised as a specific individual, the GM might give creatures you interact with a circumstance bonus based on how well they know the person you’re imitating, or the GM might roll a secret Deception check even if you aren’t directly interacting with others.
Additional Impersonation Rules [for SF2e]
Using a holoskin (page 212) or shapeshifting abilities may allow you to disguise in less time, but assuming a new disguise can still take 10 minutes to get into character and practice your mannerisms as this new creature, at the GM’s discretion.
You can use this skill to pretend to be someone else on the infosphere, but without a hackers toolkit anyone can use the Hack action to uncover your identity without having to compare it to your Computers DC.
Infosphere Reputation
Your influence on an infosphere is measured using the same attitudes as NPCs your character knows offline (GM Core 200). However, your character’s activities and other people’s attitudes toward your character on a public infosphere are easier to find and can result in characters having a different initial attitude based on your online activities.
Using an alias can fool those who lack the skill or interest in figuring out your identity, often requiring a character to Hack or Gather Information against your Computers DC to figure out your identity and find your content. This can also result in having a single NPC harbor different attitudes toward your character and their online persona. In the event the NPC uncovers the truth, they tend to side with the more hostile attitude.
Interact [one-action]
You use your hand or hands to manipulate an object or the terrain. You can grab an unattended or stored object, draw a weapon, swap a held item for another (page 268), open a door, or achieve a similar effect. On rare occasions, you might have to attempt a skill check to determine if your Interact action was successful.
Interact
You can use the Interact action (page 416) to:
- Draw, put away, or swap an item. You must be holding the item to put it away or wearing it to draw it. Swapping allows you to put away one item and draw another in the same action (such as putting away a dagger and drawing a mace). Abilities that specify what you do when you Interact only allow this if they say so; the Quick Draw feat lets a rogue Interact to draw a weapon, but doesn’t allow them to stow one as well. Swapping lets you swap only one item for another; if you were wielding two weapons, you could put away one of them and draw a different item, but you would need to put away the second weapon separately.
- Pick up an item from the ground.
- Pass off or take a held item from a willing creature. The creature you’re passing to must have a hand free. You can also attempt to throw an item to someone. You typically need to succeed at a DC 15 ranged attack with a 10-foot range increment to do so.
- Detach a shield or other item from you using one hand.
- Change your grip by adding a hand to an item.
- Retrieve a stowed item from a backpack, pouch, or similar container (or put one away). You’ll often need to Interact to open or close the backpack or container.
Invest an Item [variable]
You invest your energy in an item with the invested trait as you don it. This process requires 1 or more Interact actions, usually taking the same amount of time it takes to don the item. Once you’ve Invested the Item, you benefit from its constant magical abilities as long as you meet its other requirements (for most invested items, the only other requirement is that you must be wearing the item). This investiture lasts until you remove the item.
You can invest no more than 10 items per day. If you remove an invested item, it loses its investiture. The item still counts against your daily limit after it loses its investiture. You reset the limit during your daily preparations, at which point you Invest your Items anew. If you’re still wearing items you had invested the previous day, you can typically keep them invested on the new day, but they still count against your limit.
Investigate
You seek out information about your surroundings while traveling at half speed. You use Recall Knowledge as a secret check to discover clues among the various things you can see and engage with as you journey along. You can use any skill that has a Recall Knowledge action while Investigating, but the GM determines whether the skill is relevant to the clues you could find.
Leap [one-action]
You take a short horizontal or vertical jump. Jumping a greater distance requires using the Athletics skill for a High Jump or Long Jump (page 235).
- Horizontal Jump up to 10 feet horizontally if your Speed is at least 15 feet, or up to 15 feet horizontally if your Speed is at least 30 feet. You land in the space where your Leap ends (meaning you can typically clear a 5-foot gap, or a 10-foot gap if your Speed is 30 feet or more). You can’t make a horizontal Leap if your Speed is less than 15 feet.
- Vertical Jump up to 3 feet vertically and 5 feet horizontally onto an elevated surface.
Athletics in Low Gravity
Various Athletics actions function differently in zero gravity. Leap allows you to move in any direction twice the distance you would move if you had Leapt in normal gravity (up to twice your Speed). Shove and Reposition move targets twice their normal speed and changes the direction they float. Trip causes the target to change the direction they float on a Success and become untethered on a Critical Success. The grabbed condition removes the untethered condition unless all the creatures in a grab are untethered, and the direction the creatures in a grab float usually follows the direction of the grabbing creature.
Learn a Spell (Trained)
You can gain access to a new spell of your tradition from someone who knows that spell or from magical writing like a spellbook or scroll. If you can cast spells of multiple traditions, you can Learn a Spell of any of those traditions, but you must use the corresponding skill to do so. For example, if you were a cleric with the bard multiclass archetype, you couldn’t use Religion to add an occult spell to your bardic spell repertoire.
To learn the spell, you must do the following:
- Spend 1 hour per spell rank, during which you must remain in conversation with a person who knows the spell or have the magical writing in your possession.
- Have materials with the Price indicated in the Learning a Spell table.
- Attempt a skill check for the skill corresponding to your tradition (DC determined by the GM, often close to the DC on the Learning a Spell Table). Uncommon or rare spells have higher DCs; full guidelines for the GM appear on page 52 of GM Core.
Learning a Spell
Magical Traditions and Skills
Each magical tradition has a corresponding skill, as shown on the table below. You must have the trained proficiency rank in a skill to use it to Identify Magic or Learn a Spell. Something without a specific tradition, such as an item with the magical trait, can be identified using any of these skills.
Lie [extended]
You try to fool someone with an untruth. Doing so takes at least 1 round, or longer if the lie is elaborate. You roll a single Deception check and compare it against the Perception DC of every creature you are trying to fool. The GM might give them a circumstance bonus based on the situation and the nature of the lie you are trying to tell. Elaborate or highly unbelievable lies are much harder to get a creature to believe than simpler and more believable lies, and some lies are so big that it’s impossible to get anyone to believe them.
At the GM’s discretion, if a creature initially believes your lie, it might attempt a Perception check later to Sense Motive against your Deception DC to realize it’s a lie. This usually happens if the creature discovers enough evidence to counter your statements.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Infosphere Anonymity
Checks using Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation are much harder when you post anonymously on the infosphere, whether or not you are using an unremarkable or throwaway account. In most cases, you should treat all checks made using these skills online as one degree of success worse, depending on the circumstances of the check and the likelihood of someone taking the infosphere content seriously. This is especially true on attempts to Lie, Make an Impression, and Coerce.
Long Jump [two-actions]
You Stride, then attempt a DC 15 Athletics check to make a long jump in the direction you were Striding. If you didn’t Stride at least 10 feet, you automatically fail your check. The GM might increase or decrease this DC depending on the situation.
Falling
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls (page 419), or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed (page 418). In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can’t be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Long-Term Rest
You can spend an entire day and night resting during downtime to recover Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1) multiplied by double your level.
Cost of Living
You might need to pay your cost of living for days spent in downtime (the prices can be found on page 295). To avoid paying the cost, you can Subsist (see page 232), using Society in a settlement or Survival in the wild. Experienced adventurers often have friends or patrons who take care of their living expenses. They might even have so much treasure that their cost of living—even one of the more expensive options—becomes a pittance.
Make an Impression
With at least 1 minute of conversation, during which you engage in charismatic overtures, flattery, and other acts of goodwill, you seek to make a good impression on someone to make them temporarily agreeable. At the end of the conversation, attempt a Diplomacy check against the Will DC of one target. You can instead choose up to five targets if you take a –2 penalty. The GM might add other bonuses or penalties based on the situation. Any impression you make lasts for only the current social interaction unless the GM decides otherwise. See the Changing Attitudes sidebar for a summary of the attitude conditions.
Changing Attitudes
Your influence on NPCs is measured with a set of attitudes that reflect how they view your character. These are only a brief summary of a creature’s disposition. The GM will supply additional nuance based on the history and beliefs of the characters you’re interacting with, and their attitudes can change in accordance with the story. The attitudes are detailed in the Conditions Appendix and are summarized here.
- Helpful: Willing to help you and responds favorably to your requests.
- Friendly: Has a good attitude toward you, but won’t necessarily stick their neck out to help you.
- Indifferent: Doesn’t care about you either way. (Most NPCs start out indifferent.)
- Unfriendly: Dislikes you and doesn’t want to help you.
- Hostile: Actively works against you—and might attack you just because of their dislike.
No one can ever change the attitude of a player character with these skills. You can roleplay interactions with player characters, and even use Diplomacy results if the player wants a mechanical sense of how convincing or charming a character is, but players make the ultimate decisions about how their characters respond.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Infosphere Anonymity
Checks using Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation are much harder when you post anonymously on the infosphere, whether or not you are using an unremarkable or throwaway account. In most cases, you should treat all checks made using these skills online as one degree of success worse, depending on the circumstances of the check and the likelihood of someone taking the infosphere content seriously. This is especially true on attempts to Lie, Make an Impression, and Coerce.
Infosphere Reputation
Your influence on an infosphere is measured using the same attitudes as NPCs your character knows offline (GM Core 200). However, your character’s activities and other people’s attitudes toward your character on a public infosphere are easier to find and can result in characters having a different initial attitude based on your online activities.
Using an alias can fool those who lack the skill or interest in figuring out your identity, often requiring a character to Hack or Gather Information against your Computers DC to figure out your identity and find your content. This can also result in having a single NPC harbor different attitudes toward your character and their online persona. In the event the NPC uncovers the truth, they tend to side with the more hostile attitude.
Maneuver in Flight [one-action] (Trained)
You try a difficult maneuver while flying. Attempt an Acrobatics check. The GM determines what maneuvers are possible, but they rarely allow you to move farther than your fly Speed.
Sample Maneuver in Flight Tasks
Mount [one-action]
You move onto the creature and ride it. If you’re already mounted, you can instead use this action to dismount, moving off the mount into a space adjacent to it.
Riding Animal Companions
You or an ally can ride your animal companion as long as it is at least one size larger than the rider. If it is carrying a rider, the animal companion can use only its land Speed, and it can’t move and Support you on the same turn. However, if your companion has the mount special ability, it’s especially suited for riding and ignores both of these restrictions.
Palm an Object [one-action]
You pick up a small, unattended object and try not to be noticed. Roll a single Thievery check against the Perception DCs of all creatures who are currently observing you. You can typically only Palm Objects of negligible Bulk, though the GM might determine otherwise depending on the situation.
Perform [one-action]
When making a brief performance—one song, a quick dance, or a few jokes—you use the Perform action. This action is most useful when you want to prove your capability or impress someone quickly. Performing rarely has an impact on its own, but it might influence the DCs of subsequent Diplomacy checks against the observers, or even change their attitudes if the GM sees fit.
Sample Perform Tasks
Basic Competence
Some performances require you to be more than just charismatic, and if you don’t meet the demands of the art form or the audience, the GM might apply a penalty based on the relevant attribute. For example, if you’re dancing and have a negative Dexterity modifier, you might take a penalty to your attempt at dancing. Likewise, if you are orating and have a negative Intelligence modifier, you might have to hope your raw Charisma can overcome the penalties from your intellectual shortcomings—or ask someone to help write your speeches!
Performance Traits
When you use an action that utilizes the Performance skill, it gains one or more traits relevant to the type of performance. The GM might change these depending on the circumstances, but the most common performance-based traits are listed below.
If you want to be particularly skilled with one type of performance, you can select the Virtuosic Performer skill feat (page 264). That feat breaks down some of the performance listed above into specific instrument types, and your GM might allow you to add your own type.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Online Presence
Performing online can attract the attention of entire civilizations across an infosphere, jettisoning your character to untold heights of stardom. However, infospheres can develop dramatically different opinions of a performer, and once you post a performance, your career can wane or sour without spending a downtime activity to monitor it.
Pick a Lock [two-actions] (Trained)
Opening a lock without a key is very similar to Disabling a Device, but the DC of the check is determined by the complexity and construction of the lock you are attempting to pick (locks and their DCs are found on page 288). Locks of higher quality might require multiple successes to unlock. If you lack the proper tools, the GM might let you use improvised picks, which are treated as a shoddy toolkit.
Plot Course (Trained)
You prepare for a longer journey into the stars, likely making use of your starship’s Drift Engine (or similar FTL device). Attempt a Piloting check to determine if you can chart a suitable path to your ultimate destination. The GM determines how long this activity takes and the DC (GM Core 52-53).
Point Out [one-action]
You indicate a creature that you can see to one or more allies, gesturing in a direction and describing the distance verbally. That creature is hidden to your allies, rather than undetected (page 434). This works only for allies who can see you and are in a position where they could potentially detect the target. If your allies can’t hear or understand you, they must succeed at a Perception check against the creature’s Stealth DC or they misunderstand and believe the target is in a different location.
Program (Trained)
Push Off [one-action]
You use an object or creature of the same size or larger as you as leverage to change the direction you’re floating in. Float up to half your Speed in your chosen direction. The distance you move at the end of your turn while untethered changes to the amount you moved during this action.
You can Push Off as a free action immediately after you make a successful melee Strike or Shove.
Raise a Shield [one-action]
You position your shield to protect yourself. When you have Raised a Shield, you gain its listed circumstance bonus to AC. Your shield remains raised until the start of your next turn.
Reactive Strike [reaction]
Ready [two-actions]
You prepare to use an action that will occur outside your turn. Choose a single action or free action you can use, and designate a trigger. Your turn then ends. If the trigger you designated occurs before the start of your next turn, you can use the chosen action as a reaction (provided you still meet the requirements to use it). You can’t Ready a free action that already has a trigger.
If you have a multiple attack penalty and your readied action is an attack action, your readied attack takes the multiple attack penalty you had at the time you used Ready. This is one of the few times the multiple attack penalty applies when it’s not your turn.
Recall Knowledge [one-action]
You attempt a skill check to try to remember a bit of knowledge regarding a topic related to that skill. Suggest which skill you’d like to use and ask the GM one question. The GM determines the DC. You might need to collaborate with the GM to narrow down the question or skills, and you can decide not to Recall Knowledge before committing to the action if you can’t don’t like your options.
Recall Knowledge Tasks
Recall Knowledge Skills
The following skills can be used to Recall Knowledge about the listed topics. Some topics might appear on multiple lists, but the skills could give different information. For example, Arcana might tell you about the magical defenses of a construct, whereas Crafting could tell you about its sturdy resistance to physical attacks.
- Arcana: Arcane theories, magical traditions, creatures of arcane significance, and arcane planes.
- Crafting: Alchemical reactions and creatures, item value, engineering, unusual materials, and constructs.
- Lore: The subject of the Lore skill’s subcategory.
- Medicine: Diseases, poisons, wounds, and forensics.
- Nature: The environment, flora, geography, weather, creatures of natural origin, and natural planes.
- Occultism: Ancient mysteries, folk superstition, obscure philosophy, creatures of occult significance, and esoteric planes.
- Religion: Divine agents, divine planes, theology, obscure myths, and creatures of religious significance.
- Society: Local history, key personalities, legal institutions, societal structure, and humanoid culture.
Using an applicable Lore to Recall Knowledge about a topic, such as Engineering Lore instead of Crafting to find structural weaknesses in a bridge, typically comes with a lower DC. Your special interests can pay off! In some cases, you can get the GM’s permission to use a different but related skill, usually against a higher DC than normal. The GM might allow checks to Recall Knowledge using other skills. For example, you might assess the skill of an acrobat using Acrobatics. If you’re using a physical skill (like in this example), the GM will most likely have you use a mental modifier—typically Intelligence—instead of the skill’s normal physical attribute modifier.
Recall Knowledge Questions
When encountering a subject for the first time, your first question will likely be a basic “What is it?”, which the GM can answer with a name and basic description like, “That’s an ogre, a tough and cruel giant” or “This is the symbol of Urgathoa, a goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath.” If you already know this base level of detail on the subject, the list below includes some reasonable questions. The GM determines what other questions to allow. Usually this is simple as long as you stick to one question. Any question must be about something observable in the game world, not the abstract numbers of the rules. The GM might tell you a lumbering monster’s Reflex save is its weakest—translating a concept your character could understand using the game term for clarity—but wouldn’t reveal the exact Reflex modifier. The GM can find more guidance on page 54 of GM Core.
Creatures: “Can it be reasoned with?” “What environments does it live in?” “What’s its most notable offensive ability?” “Is it highly vulnerable or resistant to anything?” “Are any of its defenses weak?”
Magic: “How can it be avoided?” “What type of people use this magic?” “How long does it last?”
Organizations: “What kind of influence does it have?” “Where is it headquartered?” “How large is it?” “What kind of members does it have?” “Who are its major authorities?” “Do they have any notable allies and enemies?”
People: “What’s their personality like?” “What do they look like?” “Do they have any notable talents?” “Do they have notable allies and enemies?” “What kind of influence do they have?” “Do they have any vices?”
Sites: “What’s its general location?” “How large is it?” “What’s the government like?” “Do any notable people live there?” “What kind of monsters dwell there?” “What’s the environment and terrain like?”
Refocus
You spend 10 minutes performing deeds to restore your magical connection. This restores 1 Focus Point to your focus pool. The deeds you need to perform are specified in the class or ability that gives you your focus spells. These deeds can usually overlap with other tasks that relate to the source of your focus spells. For instance, a cleric with focus spells from a holy deity can usually Refocus while tending the wounds of their allies.
Release [free-action]
You release something you’re holding in your hand or hands. This might mean dropping an item, removing one hand from your weapon while continuing to hold it in another hand, releasing a rope suspending a chandelier, or performing a similar action. Unlike most manipulate actions, Release does not trigger reactions that can be triggered by actions with the manipulate trait (such as
You can use the Release free action (page 417) to:Release
Repair
You spend 10 minutes attempting to fix a damaged item, placing the item on a stable surface and using the repair toolkit with both hands. Roll a Crafting check. The GM sets the DC, but it’s usually about the same DC to Repair a given item as it is to Craft it in the first place. You can’t Repair a destroyed item.
Repeat a Spell
You repeatedly cast the same spell while moving at half speed. Typically, this spell is a cantrip that you want to have in effect in the event a combat breaks out, and it must be one you can cast in 2 actions or fewer. Repeating a spell that requires making complex decisions, such as figment, can make you fatigued, as determined by the GM.
Reposition [one-action]
You muscle a creature or object around. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Fortitude DC.
Athletics in Low Gravity
Various Athletics actions function differently in zero gravity. Leap allows you to move in any direction twice the distance you would move if you had Leapt in normal gravity (up to twice your Speed). Shove and Reposition move targets twice their normal speed and changes the direction they float. Trip causes the target to change the direction they float on a Success and become untethered on a Critical Success. The grabbed condition removes the untethered condition unless all the creatures in a grab are untethered, and the direction the creatures in a grab float usually follows the direction of the grabbing creature.
Request [one-action]
You can make a request of a creature that’s friendly or helpful to you. You must couch the request in terms that the target would accept given their current attitude toward you. The GM sets the DC based on the difficulty of the request. Some requests are unsavory or impossible, and even a helpful NPC would never agree to them.
Changing Attitudes
Your influence on NPCs is measured with a set of attitudes that reflect how they view your character. These are only a brief summary of a creature’s disposition. The GM will supply additional nuance based on the history and beliefs of the characters you’re interacting with, and their attitudes can change in accordance with the story. The attitudes are detailed in the Conditions Appendix and are summarized here.
- Helpful: Willing to help you and responds favorably to your requests.
- Friendly: Has a good attitude toward you, but won’t necessarily stick their neck out to help you.
- Indifferent: Doesn’t care about you either way. (Most NPCs start out indifferent.)
- Unfriendly: Dislikes you and doesn’t want to help you.
- Hostile: Actively works against you—and might attack you just because of their dislike.
No one can ever change the attitude of a player character with these skills. You can roleplay interactions with player characters, and even use Diplomacy results if the player wants a mechanical sense of how convincing or charming a character is, but players make the ultimate decisions about how their characters respond.
Digital Translations
While once heralded as a game changer to adventurers and diplomats alike, being able to translate speech using an app on a comm unit has had some unforeseen problems. Despite their accuracy and breadth, there are nuances of speech that the programs often fail to properly explain. As such, you’re always limited to your proficiency bonus in Society when attempting checks with the linguistic trait when using a comm unit to facilitate communications with a creature whose language you do not share.
Infosphere Anonymity
Checks using Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation are much harder when you post anonymously on the infosphere, whether or not you are using an unremarkable or throwaway account. In most cases, you should treat all checks made using these skills online as one degree of success worse, depending on the circumstances of the check and the likelihood of someone taking the infosphere content seriously. This is especially true on attempts to Lie, Make an Impression, and Coerce.
Infosphere Reputation
Your influence on an infosphere is measured using the same attitudes as NPCs your character knows offline (GM Core 200). However, your character’s activities and other people’s attitudes toward your character on a public infosphere are easier to find and can result in characters having a different initial attitude based on your online activities.
Using an alias can fool those who lack the skill or interest in figuring out your identity, often requiring a character to Hack or Gather Information against your Computers DC to figure out your identity and find your content. This can also result in having a single NPC harbor different attitudes toward your character and their online persona. In the event the NPC uncovers the truth, they tend to side with the more hostile attitude.
Rest and Daily Preparations
You’re at your best when you take time to rest and prepare. Once every 24 hours, you can take a period of rest (typically 8 hours), during which you heal naturally, regaining Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1) times your level, and you might recover from or improve certain conditions. Sleeping in armor results in poor rest that leaves you fatigued. If you go more than 16 hours without resting, you become fatigued (you can’t recover from this fatigue until you rest at least 8 continuous hours).
After you rest, you make your daily preparations, which takes around 1 hour. You can prepare only if you’ve rested, and only once per day. During preparations:
- Spellcasters regain spell slots, and prepared spellcasters choose spells to have available that day.
- Focus Points, abilities that refresh during preparations, and abilities that can be used only a certain number of times per day, including magic item uses, are reset.
- You don armor and equip weapons and other gear.
- You invest up to 10 worn magic items to gain their benefits for the day (as explained in GM Core).
Cost of Living
You might need to pay your cost of living for days spent in downtime (the prices can be found on page 295). To avoid paying the cost, you can Subsist (see page 232), using Society in a settlement or Survival in the wild. Experienced adventurers often have friends or patrons who take care of their living expenses. They might even have so much treasure that their cost of living—even one of the more expensive options—becomes a pittance.
Retrain
Retraining offers a way to alter your character choices, which is helpful when you want to take your character in a new direction or change decisions that didn’t meet your expectations. You can retrain feats, skills, and some selectable class features. You can’t retrain your ancestry, heritage, background, class, or attribute modifiers. You can’t perform other downtime activities while retraining.
Retraining usually requires you to spend time learning from a teacher, whether that entails physical training, studying at a library, or falling into shared magical trances.
Your GM determines whether you can get proper training or whether something can be retrained at all. In some cases, you’ll have to pay your instructor. Some abilities can be difficult or impossible to retrain (for instance, witch can retrain their patron only in extraordinary circumstances).
When retraining, you generally can’t make choices you couldn’t make when you selected the original option. For instance, you can’t replace a skill feat you chose at 2nd level for a 4th-level one, or for one that requires prerequisites you didn’t meet at the time you took the original feat. If you don’t remember whether you met the prerequisites at the time, ask your GM to make the call. If you cease to meet the prerequisites for an ability due to retraining, you can’t use that ability. You might need to retrain several abilities in sequence in order to get all the abilities you want.
Feats
You can spend a week of downtime retraining to swap out one of your feats. Remove the old feat and replace it with another of the same type. For example, you could swap a skill feat for another skill feat, but not for a wizard feat.
Skills
You can spend a week of downtime retraining to swap out one of your skill increases. Reduce your proficiency rank in the skill losing its increase by one step and increase your proficiency rank in another skill by one step. The new proficiency rank has to be equal to or lower than the proficiency rank you traded away. For instance, if your bard is a master in Performance and Stealth, and an expert in Occultism, you could reduce the character’s proficiency in Stealth to expert and become a master in Occultism, but you couldn’t reassign that skill increase to become legendary in Performance. Keep track of your level when you reassign skill increases; the level at which your skill proficiencies changed can influence your ability to retrain feats with skill prerequisites.
You can also spend a week to retrain an initial trained skill you selected during character creation.
Class Features
You can change a class feature that required a choice, making a different choice instead. Some, like changing a spell in your spell repertoire, take a week. The GM will tell you how long it takes to retrain larger choices like a druid order or a wizard school—it is always at least a month.
Run Over [three-actions] (Trained)
You try to run over creatures or ram another vehicle with your vehicle. If you maintain control of your vehicle, it moves up to twice its Speed in a straight line at the vehicle’s current heading. You attempt to run over any creatures in your path two sizes smaller than the vehicle or smaller, and you can attempt to ram one target creature or object in your path one size smaller than the vehicle or larger.
Each creature in your path, including a rammed target, takes the vehicle’s collision damage (basic Reflex save at vehicle’s collision DC). If the rammed target is a vehicle, its pilot can attempt a piloting check in place of this Reflex save, with the same results. If the target of your ram takes damage, you and your vehicle each take collision damage (no save) and your movement ends.
Reckless Piloting
Actions that have the reckless trait push the pilot and the vehicle beyond the normal parameters for safe operation, and the pilot risks losing control of the vehicle. When performing a reckless action, the pilot must first attempt an appropriate piloting check to keep control of the vehicle, with the following effects. Resolve this piloting check before resolving the action itself.
Uncontrolled Vehicles
Some situations can cause a pilot to lose control of their vehicle. Most commonly, this is due to a failed piloting check for a reckless action, but it can also occur if a round passes without a pilot using a move action to control the vehicle or Stopping the vehicle. A vehicle can also become uncontrolled if the pilot becomes unable to act during a move action to control the vehicle. An uncontrolled vehicle continues to move each round at its most recent pilot’s initiative position. The distance it moves each round is 10 feet less than on the previous round, always in a straight line at its current heading until it crashes or it comes to a stop.
At your discretion, it could slow down more if it’s on uneven terrain, difficult terrain, on an upward slope, or facing other adverse conditions; by the same token, it could stay at the same speed or even accelerate if it’s on a downward slope or other advantageous condition. An uncontrolled vehicle in motion interacts with obstacles, other vehicles, and creatures using the effects of the Run Over action, except that the distance it moves is dictated by the factors above instead of the Speed specified in that action.
Scout
You scout ahead and behind the group to watch danger, moving at half speed. At the start of the next encounter, every creature in your party gains a +1 circumstance bonus to their initiative rolls.
Search
You Seek meticulously for hidden doors, concealed hazards, and so on. You can usually make an educated guess as to which locations are best to check and move at half speed, but if you want to be thorough and guarantee you checked everything, you need to travel at a Speed of no more than 300 feet per minute, or 150 feet per minute to ensure you check everything before you walk into it. You can always move more slowly while Searching to cover the area more thoroughly, and the Expeditious Search feat increases these maximum Speeds. If you come across a secret door, item, or hazard while Searching, the GM will attempt a free secret check to Seek to see if you notice the hidden object or hazard. In locations with many objects to search, you have to stop and spend significantly longer to search thoroughly.
Seek [one-action]
You scan an area for signs of creatures or objects, possibly including secret doors or hazards. Choose an area to scan. The GM determines the area you can scan with one Seek action—almost always 30 feet or less in any dimension. The GM might impose a penalty if you search far away from you or adjust the number of actions it takes to Seek a particularly cluttered area.
The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Stealth DCs of any undetected or hidden creatures in the area, or the DC to detect each object in the area (as determined by the GM or by someone Concealing the Object). A creature you detect might remain hidden, rather than becoming observed, if you’re using an imprecise sense or if an effect (such as invisibility) prevents the subject from being observed.
Sense Direction
Using the stars, the position of the sun, traits of the geography or flora, or the behavior of fauna, you can stay oriented in the wild. Typically, you attempt a Survival check only once per day, but some environments or changes might necessitate rolling more often. The GM determines the DC and how long this activity takes (usually just a minute or so). More unusual locales or those you’re unfamiliar with might require you to have a minimum proficiency rank to Sense Direction. Without a compass, you take a –2 item penalty to checks to Sense Direction.
Sense Direction Tasks
Sense Motive [one-action]
You try to tell whether a creature’s behavior is abnormal. Choose one creature and assess it for odd body language, signs of nervousness, and other indicators that it might be trying to deceive someone. The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Deception DC of the creature, the DC of a spell affecting the creature’s mental state, or another appropriate DC determined by the GM. You typically can’t try to Sense the Motive of the same creature again until the situation changes significantly.
Shield Block [reaction]
Shop
If you’re at a location with shops that buy or sell magic items, you can buy, sell, or trade. Ask the GM what types of shopping options are available to you—it can vary greatly depending where you’re spending your downtime!
Because of the complexities of finding shops that are looking for items you want to sell or that offer ones you want to buy, dedicated shopping takes 1 day of downtime. It might take longer if you’re selling a large number of goods, expensive items that require a wealthy buyer, or items that aren’t in high demand.
The Price of an item indicates the full cost to buy it. You can sell an item for half its Price. The GM might adjust these once in a while due to supply and demand or the particular merchants you’re dealing with.
Gems and Art Object
Much like coins, gems and art objects are valuable currency worth their full Price when sold.
Shove [one-action]
You push a creature away from you. Attempt an Athletics check against your target’s Fortitude DC.
Athletics in Low Gravity
Various Athletics actions function differently in zero gravity. Leap allows you to move in any direction twice the distance you would move if you had Leapt in normal gravity (up to twice your Speed). Shove and Reposition move targets twice their normal speed and changes the direction they float. Trip causes the target to change the direction they float on a Success and become untethered on a Critical Success. The grabbed condition removes the untethered condition unless all the creatures in a grab are untethered, and the direction the creatures in a grab float usually follows the direction of the grabbing creature.
Sneak [one-action]
You attempt to move to another place while becoming or staying undetected. Stride up to half your Speed. (You can use Sneak while Burrowing, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming instead of Striding if you have the corresponding movement type; you must move at half that Speed.)
At the end of your movement, the GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DC of each creature you were hidden from or undetected by at the start of your movement. If you have cover or greater cover from the creature throughout your Stride, you gain the +2 circumstance bonus from cover (or +4 from greater cover) to your Stealth check. Because you’re moving, the bonus increase from Taking Cover doesn’t apply. You don’t get to roll against a creature if, at the end of your movement, you neither are concealed from it nor have cover or greater cover against it. You automatically become observed by such a creature.
You become observed as soon as you do anything other than Hide, Sneak, or Step. If you attempt to Strike a creature, the creature remains off-guard against that attack, and you then become observed. If you do anything else, you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check. If you speak or make a deliberate loud noise, you become hidden instead of undetected.
If a creature uses Seek and you become hidden to it as a result, you must Sneak if you want to become undetected by that creature again.
Being Stealthy
If you want to sneak around when there are creatures that can see you, you can use a combination of Hide and Sneak to do so.
- First, Hide behind something (either by taking advantage of cover or having the concealed condition due to fog, a spell, or a similar effect). A successful Stealth check makes you hidden, though the creatures still know roughly where you are.
- Second, now that you’re hidden, you can Sneak. That means you can move at half your Speed and attempt another Stealth check. If it’s successful, you’re now undetected. That means the creatures don’t know which square you’re in anymore.
If you were approaching creatures that didn’t know you were there, you could begin Sneaking right away, since they didn’t know your location to start with. Some actions can cause you to become observed again, but they’re mostly what you’d expect: standing out in the open, attacking someone, making a bunch of noise, and so forth. If you Strike someone after successfully Hiding or Sneaking, though, they’re off-guard to that Strike.
Creatures can try to find you using the Seek action, described on page 417.
Three conditions explain the states of detection. Remember that these conditions are relative to each creature—you can be observed by one creature while hidden to another and undetected by a third.
Observed (page 444)
You’re in the creature’s clear view.Hidden (page 444)
The creature knows your location but can’t see you.Undetected (page 446)
The creature doesn’t know your location.Unobservable Stealth
In some cases, it can be impossible for a creature to fully observe you. Typically this happens if you’re invisible, the observer is blinded, or you’re in darkness and the creature can’t see in darkness. In such cases, any critical failure you roll on a check to Sneak is a failure instead. You also continue to be undetected if you lose cover or greater cover against or are no longer concealed from such a creature.
Squeeze (Trained)
You contort yourself to squeeze through a space so small you can barely fit through. This action is for exceptionally small spaces; many tight spaces are difficult terrain (page 423) that you can move through more quickly and without a check.
Sample Squeeze Tasks
Steal [one-action]
You try to take a small object from another creature without being noticed. Typically, you can Steal only an object of negligible Bulk, and you automatically fail if the creature who has the object is in combat or on guard.
Attempt a Thievery check to determine if you successfully Steal the object. The DC is usually the Perception DC of the creature wearing the object. It’s easiest to steal an object that is worn but not closely guarded (like a loosely carried pouch filled with coins, or an object within such a pouch). The GM might increase the DC if the object is protected or if the nature of the object makes it harder to steal (such as a very small item in a large pack, or a sheet of parchment mixed in with other documents). For instance, the DC is typically 5 higher if the object is in a pocket, held in a creature’s hand, or similarly protected.
You might also need to compare your Thievery check result against the Perception DCs of observers other than the person wearing the object. The GM might impose a circumstance penalty to the DCs of observers who are distracted.
Step [one-action]
You carefully move 5 feet. Unlike most types of movement, Stepping doesn’t trigger reactions, such as Reactive Strike, that can be triggered by move actions or upon leaving or entering a square.
You can’t Step into difficult terrain (page 423), and you can’t Step using a Speed other than your land Speed.
Stop [one-action] (Trained)
You bring the vehicle to a stop.
Stride [one-action]
You move up to your Speed (page 420).
Strike [one-action]
You attack with a weapon you’re wielding or with an unarmed attack, targeting one creature within your reach (for a melee attack) or within range (for a ranged attack). Roll an attack roll using the attack modifier for the weapon or unarmed attack you’re using, and compare the result to the target creature’s AC to determine the effect.
Stunt [one-action] (Trained)
You perform a stunt while Driving your vehicle, temporarily improving its effective capabilities at the risk of losing control. Drive your vehicle and choose a stunt. All piloting checks attempted as part of your Stunt receive the listed penalty, including piloting checks made to take a reckless action. If the Drive action and Stunt are both reckless, you must attempt the piloting check to keep control of the vehicle twice.
Reckless Piloting
Actions that have the reckless trait push the pilot and the vehicle beyond the normal parameters for safe operation, and the pilot risks losing control of the vehicle. When performing a reckless action, the pilot must first attempt an appropriate piloting check to keep control of the vehicle, with the following effects. Resolve this piloting check before resolving the action itself.
Uncontrolled Vehicles
Some situations can cause a pilot to lose control of their vehicle. Most commonly, this is due to a failed piloting check for a reckless action, but it can also occur if a round passes without a pilot using a move action to control the vehicle or Stopping the vehicle. A vehicle can also become uncontrolled if the pilot becomes unable to act during a move action to control the vehicle. An uncontrolled vehicle continues to move each round at its most recent pilot’s initiative position. The distance it moves each round is 10 feet less than on the previous round, always in a straight line at its current heading until it crashes or it comes to a stop.
At your discretion, it could slow down more if it’s on uneven terrain, difficult terrain, on an upward slope, or facing other adverse conditions; by the same token, it could stay at the same speed or even accelerate if it’s on a downward slope or other advantageous condition. An uncontrolled vehicle in motion interacts with obstacles, other vehicles, and creatures using the effects of the Run Over action, except that the distance it moves is dictated by the factors above instead of the Speed specified in that action.
Subsist
You try to provide food and shelter for yourself, and possibly others as well, with a standard of living described on page 295. The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the place where you’re trying to Subsist. You might need a minimum proficiency rank to Subsist in particularly strange environments. Unlike most downtime activities, you can Subsist after 8 hours or less of exploration, but if you do, you take a –5 penalty.
Sample Subsist Tasks
Cost of Living
You might need to pay your cost of living for days spent in downtime (the prices can be found on page 295). To avoid paying the cost, you can Subsist (see page 232), using Society in a settlement or Survival in the wild. Experienced adventurers often have friends or patrons who take care of their living expenses. They might even have so much treasure that their cost of living—even one of the more expensive options—becomes a pittance.
Sustain [one-action]
Choose one of your effects that has a sustained duration or lists a special benefit when you Sustain it. Most such effects come from spells or magic item activations. If the effect has a sustained duration, its duration extends until the end of your next turn. (Sustaining more than once in the same turn doesn’t extend the duration to subsequent turns.) If an ability can be sustained but doesn’t list how long, it can be sustained up to 10 minutes.
An effect might list an additional benefit that occurs if you Sustain it, and this can even appear on effects that don’t have a sustained duration. If the effect has both a special benefit and a sustained duration, your Sustain action extends the duration as well as having the special benefit.
If your Sustain action is disrupted, the ability ends.
Sustain an Effect
You Sustain one effect with a sustained duration while moving at half speed. Most such effects can be sustained for 10 minutes, though some specify they can be sustained for a different duration. Sustaining an effect that requires making complex decisions, such as spectral weapon, can make you fatigued, as determined by the GM.
Swim [one-action]
You attempt an Athletics check to move a maximum distance of 10 feet through water. The GM determines the DC based on the turbulence or danger of the water; in most instances of calm water, you get an automatic critical success. If your land Speed is 40 feet or higher, increase the maximum possible distance by 5 feet for every 20 feet of Speed above 20 feet.
If you end your turn in water and haven’t succeeded at a Swim action that turn, you sink 10 feet or get moved by the current, as determined by the GM. This doesn’t apply if your last action on your turn was to enter the water.
Sample Swim Tasks
Drowning and Suffocating
You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier. Reduce your remaining air by 1 round at the end of each of your turns, or by 2 if you attacked or cast any spells that turn. You also lose 1 round worth of air each time you are critically hit or critically fail a save against a damaging effect. If you speak (including Casting a Spell) you lose all remaining air.
When you run out of air, you fall unconscious and start suffocating. You can’t recover from being unconscious and must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save at the end of each of your turns. On a failure, you take 1d10 damage, and on a critical failure, you die. On each check after the first, the DC increases by 5 and the damage by 1d10; these increases are cumulative. Once your access to air is restored, you stop suffocating and are no longer unconscious (unless you’re at 0 Hit Points).
Switch Hands [one-action]
You designate a pair of limbs as your active hands. You can only have one pair of hands designated as your active hands at a time.
Take Control [one-action] (Trained)
You take control of a vehicle. Attempt a Piloting check; on a success, you become the vehicle’s pilot, or regain control of the vehicle if it was uncontrolled. Some vehicles have complicated controls that cause this action to become a multi-action activity, and most vehicles take at least 3 actions if they aren’t activated.
Take Cover [one-action]
You press yourself against a wall or duck behind an obstacle to take better advantage of cover (page 424). If you would have standard cover, you instead gain greater cover, which provides a +4 circumstance bonus to AC; to Reflex saves against area effects; and to Stealth checks to Hide, Sneak, or otherwise avoid detection. Otherwise, you gain the benefits of standard cover (a +2 circumstance bonus instead). This lasts until you move from your current space, use an attack action, become unconscious, or end this effect as a free action.
Track (Trained)
You follow tracks, moving at up to half your travel Speed, using the rules on page 438. After a successful check to Track, you can continue following the tracks at half your Speed without attempting additional checks for up to 1 hour.
In some cases, you might Track in an encounter. In this case, Track is a single action and doesn’t have the exploration trait, but you might need to roll more often because you’re in a tense situation. The GM determines how often you must attempt this check.
You attempt your Survival check when you start Tracking, once every hour you continue tracking, and any time something significant changes in the trail. The GM determines the DCs for such checks, depending on the freshness of the trail, the weather, and the type of ground.
Sample Track Tasks
Treat Disease (Trained)
You spend at least 8 hours caring for a diseased creature. Attempt a Medicine check against the disease’s DC. After you attempt to Treat a Disease for a creature, you can’t try again until after that creature’s next save against the disease.
Treat Poison [one-action] (Trained)
You treat a patient to prevent the spread of poison. Attempt a Medicine check against the poison’s DC. After you attempt to Treat a Poison for a creature, you can’t try again until after the next time that creature attempts a save against the poison.
Treat Wounds (Trained)
You spend 10 minutes treating one injured living creature (targeting yourself, if you so choose). The target is then temporarily immune to Treat Wounds actions for 1 hour, but this interval overlaps with the time you spent treating (so a patient can be treated once per hour, not once per 70 minutes).
The Medicine check DC is usually 15, though the GM might adjust it based on the circumstances, such as treating a patient outside in a storm, or treating magically cursed wounds. If you’re an expert in Medicine, you can instead attempt a DC 20 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 10; if you’re a master of Medicine, you can instead attempt a DC 30 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 30; and if you’re legendary, you can instead attempt a DC 40 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 50. The damage dealt on a critical failure remains the same.
If you succeed at your check, you can continue treating the target to grant additional healing. If you treat it for a total of 1 hour, double the Hit Points it regains from Treat Wounds.
The result of your Medicine check determines how many Hit Points the target regains.
Trip [one-action]
You try to knock a creature to the ground. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Reflex DC.
Athletics in Low Gravity
Various Athletics actions function differently in zero gravity. Leap allows you to move in any direction twice the distance you would move if you had Leapt in normal gravity (up to twice your Speed). Shove and Reposition move targets twice their normal speed and changes the direction they float. Trip causes the target to change the direction they float on a Success and become untethered on a Critical Success. The grabbed condition removes the untethered condition unless all the creatures in a grab are untethered, and the direction the creatures in a grab float usually follows the direction of the grabbing creature.
Tumble Through [one-action]
You Stride up to your Speed. During this movement, you can try to move through the space of one enemy. Attempt an Acrobatics check against the enemy’s Reflex DC as soon as you try to enter its space. You can Tumble Through using Climb, Fly, Swim, or another action instead of Stride in the appropriate environment.