Bluff (Cha)
Check: A Bluff check is opposed by the target’s Sense Motive check when trying to con or mislead. Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a bluff. Two circumstances can work against the character: The bluff is hard to believe, or the action that the bluff requires the target to take goes against the target’s self-interest, nature, personality, or orders.
If it’s important, the GM can distinguish between a bluff that fails because the target doesn’t believe it and one that fails because it asks too much of the target. For instance, if the target gets a +10 bonus because the bluff demands something risky of the target, and the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 10 or less, then the target didn’t so much see through the bluff as prove reluctant to go along with it. If the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 11 or more, he has seen through the bluff, and would have succeeded in doing so even if it had not placed any demand on him (that is, even without the +10 bonus).
A successful Bluff check indicates that the target reacts as the character wishes, at least for a short time (usually 1 round or less), or the target believes something that the character wants him or her to believe.
A bluff requires interaction between the character and the target. Targets unaware of the character can’t be bluffed.
| Example Circumstances | Sense Motive Modifier |
|---|---|
| The target wants to believe the character. | –5 |
| The bluff is believable and doesn’t affect the target much one way or the other. | +0 |
| The bluff is a little hard to believe or puts the target at some kind of risk. | +5 |
| The bluff is hard to believe or entails a large risk for the target. | +10 |
| The bluff is way out there; it’s almost too incredible to consider. | +20 |
A bluff is not the same thing as a lie. A bluff is a quick prevarication intended to distract, confuse, or mislead, generally only for the short term. A bluff is not intended to withstand long-term or careful scrutiny, but rather to momentarily deter an action or decision. Bluffs involve attitude and body language. Bluffs often include lies, but they usually aren’t very sophisticated and aren’t intended to deceive the target for more than a few moments.
A lie, on the other hand, is a simple misrepresentation of the facts. Body language and attitude aren’t a big part of communication. The lie may be very sophisticated and well thought-out, and is intended to deceive a character at least until he or she discovers evidence to the contrary. A character should not make a Bluff check every time he or she utters a lie.
Feinting in Combat: A character can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in combat so that the opponent can’t dodge the character’s attack effectively. If the character succeeds, the next attack the character makes against the target ignores his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense (if the opponent has one), thus lowering his or her Defense score. Using Bluff in this way against a creature of animal intelligence (Int 1 or 2) requires a –8 penalty on the check. Against a nonintelligent creature, feinting is impossible.
Creating a Diversion to Hide: A character can use Bluff to help him or her hide. A successful Bluff check gives the character the momentary diversion needed to attempt a Hide check while people are aware of the character. (See the Hide skill)
Sending a Secret Message: A character can use Bluff to send and understand secret messages while appearing to be speaking about other things. The DC for a basic message is 10. Complex messages or messages trying to communicate new information have DCs of 15 or 20. Both the sender and the receiver must make the check for the secret message to be successfully relayed and understood.
Anyone listening in on a secret message can attempt a Sense Motive check (DC equal to the sender’s Bluff check result). If successful, the eavesdropper realizes that a secret message is contained in the communication. If the eavesdropper beats the DC by 5 or more, he or she understands the secret message.
Whether trying to send or intercept a message, a failure by 5 or more points means that one side or the other misinterprets the message in some fashion.
Try Again?: Generally, a failed Bluff check makes the target too suspicious for the character to try another bluff in the same circumstances. For feinting in combat, the character may try again freely.
Special: A character can take 10 when making a bluff (except for feinting in combat), but can’t take 20.
A character with the Deceptive feat gets a +2 bonus on all Bluff checks.
Time: A bluff takes at least 1 round (and is at least a full-round action) but can take much longer if the character tries something elaborate. Using Bluff as a feint in combat is an attack action.
Climb (Str) Armor Penalty
Check: With each successful Climb check, the character can advance up, down, or across a slope or a wall or other steep incline (or even a ceiling with handholds).
A slope is considered to be any incline of less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline of 60 degrees or steeper.
A failed Climb check indicates that the character makes no progress, and a check that fails by 5 or more means that the character falls from whatever height he or she had already attained (unless the character is secured with some kind of harness or other equipment).
The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb. If the climb is less than 10 feet, reduce the DC by 5.
Since the character can’t move to avoid an attack, he or she is flat-footed while climbing (the character loses any Dexterity bonus to Defense).
Any time the character takes damage while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means the character falls from his or her current height and sustains the appropriate falling damage.
Accelerated Climbing: A character can try to climb more quickly than normal. The character can move his or her full speed, but the character takes a –5 penalty on his or her Climb check. (Moving twice the character’s speed in a round requires two checks, one for each move action.)
Making Handholds and Footholds: A character can make handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so takes 1 minute per piton, and one piton is needed per 3 feet. As with any surface with handholds and footholds, a wall with pitons in it has a DC of 15. In similar fashion, a climber with an ice axe or other proper implement can cut handholds or footholds in an ice wall.
Catching Yourself When Falling: It’s practically impossible for a character to catch him or herself on a wall while falling. Make a Climb check (DC equal to wall’s DC + 20) to do so. A slope is relatively easier to catch on (DC equal to slope’s DC + 10).
Special: Someone using a rope can haul a character upward (or lower the character) by means of sheer strength. Use two times a character’s maximum load to determine how much weight he or she can lift.
A character can take 10 while climbing, but can’t take 20.
A character without climbing gear takes a –4 penalty on Climb checks. At the GM’s discretion, certain kinds of climbing attempts might require only a rope or some other implement, or even just one’s hands and feet, rather than a full set of climbing gear to avoid the penalty.
A character with the Athletic feat gets a +2 bonus on all Climb checks.
| DC | Example Wall or Surface or Task |
|---|---|
| 0 | A slope too steep to walk up. |
| 5 | A knotted rope with a wall to brace against. |
| 10 | A rope with a wall to brace against. A knotted rope. A surface with sizable ledges to hold on to and stand on, such as a rugged cliff face. |
| 15 | Any surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial), such as a rough natural rock surface, a tree, or a chain-link fence. An unknotted rope. Pulling yourself up when dangling by your hands. |
| 20 | An uneven surface with just a few narrow handholds and footholds, such as a coarse masonry wall or a sheer cliff face with a few crevices and small toeholds. |
| 25 | A rough surface with no real handholds or footholds, such as a brick wall. |
| 25 | Overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds. |
| — | A perfectly smooth, flat, vertical surface can’t be climbed. |
| –10* | Climbing inside an air duct or other location where one can brace against two opposite walls (reduces normal DC by 10). |
| –5* | Climbing a corner where a character can brace against perpendicular walls (reduces normal DC by 5). |
| +5* | Surface is slippery (increases normal DC by 5). |
| *These modifiers are cumulative; use any that apply. |
Time: Climbing at one-half your speed is a full-round action. Moving half that far (one-fourth the character’s speed) is a move action.
Accelerated climbing, allowing the character to climb at his or her full speed, is a full-round action. A character can move half that far (one-half his or her speed) as a move action.