Skills cover most of the basic tasks your character will wish to accomplish. Each level your character will gain more ranks with which to purchase or improve their skills, simulating their improvement and mastery of various skills.
The base number of ranks your character gains each level is determined by your class. You gain bonus ranks equal to your character’s intelligence modifier. When you invest a rank in a skill it shows that your character has studied and/or practiced that skill. The more ranks they possess the better the character is. However, your character can never have more ranks invested than their total character level.
.
Class Skills
Your character’s class grants a number of favored skills that they are more proficient in than others. This simulates the constant practice and training that your character received as a part of the class they chose. Each class skill gains a +3 bonus to all rolls. This bonus does not count as ranks, so the character may still have a number of ranks equal to their level.
Humans gain an additional skill point per level, which stacks with the skill points granted by a character’s class. The number of skill ranks you gain from your class is shown on the following table:
[Skill Ranks By Class]
.
Making Skill Checks
Any time your character attempts a task that is governed by a skill they must make a skill check. To make a skill check your character rolls a d20 and adds their skill total, plus the appropriate ability modifier (such as Charisma for a bluff check), plus any bonuses they may have.
The resulting total is compared to the DC (Difficulty Class) of the task they were attempting. If their total is equal to or greater than the DC they succeed. Some tasks have varying degrees of success, for example getting more than 5 higher than the DC can yield greater results.
If your character is not trained to use the skill they may still attempt to use it, unless the skill specifically states otherwise. They simply add their appropriate ability modifier to the d20 roll, plus any bonuses or penalties they may have.
An opposed check functions much like a regular skill check, but rather than check a character’s roll against a DC they roll against an opponent. The person with the higher total wins the check.
.
Taking 10
Instead of rolling a d20 a character may always elect to take a result of 10 without actually rolling. This prevents character that are very good at a given skill from having to roll, allowing them to succeed at something that would be trivial for someone with their abilities.
A character can always choose to roll instead of taking 10. They may take 10 when making an opposed skill check.
.
Taking 20
The character may also choose to Take 20, which treats the die roll as being a 20. Taking 20 functions much like taking 10 with two caveats. The first is that the character may not take 20 in any stressful situation, such as combat. The second caveat is that the activity takes 10 times as long as it ordinarily would. This simulates the special care a character is taking to be absolutely sure the task is performed perfectly.
Taking 20 may not be used during an opposed skill check.
.
Aiding Another
You can aid another character succeed at a task by making a skill check designed to help them. If your total roll is 10 or higher the person making the primary skill check gains a +2 bonus to the check. Not every skill check allows another to aid them. The GM is the final arbiter over which skills allow aid rolls.
.
Skill Descriptions
The following section lists all the skills in Shattered Gods. It includes the rules governing each skill as well as the circumstances under which each might be used. This isn’t an exhaustive list of uses, and your GM is free to call for a skill check whenever or however they feel it applies to the situation.
Each skill includes the skill name, ability associated with it, whether the skill may be used untrained, whether or not an armor check penalty will affect it and any special rules associated with it. Also included is the skill description, the type of action required to use the skill and the Use, which tells you what you can use the skill to do by achieving certain DCs.
The skills are listed below:
