New and Variant Skill Uses

Appraise: Find Weak Point
The Appraise skill allows you to determine an item’s value as you assess its quality, workmanship, and design. This expertise extends to weapons and armor. You can use this knowledge to identify weak points in a sword or a breastplate when you are engaged with a foe.
Mechanics: As a full-round action, make an Appraise check (DC 20) to pinpoint a weak spot in a foe’s weapon. This foe must stand in your threatened area in order for you
to examine her weapon closely enough. If you succeed, you gain a +2 bonus on a sunder attempt against the weapon. You can also use Appraise against armor. Make an
Appraise check (DC 25) against a foe who stands in your threatened area. If you succeed, you gain a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls against this foe for the rest of the encounter.
For this check to be effective, your target must have an armor bonus to Armor Class from a physical suit of armor. Your DM may judge that certain protective measures, such as
bracers of armor, provide an armor bonus but are not subject to this use of Appraise. As a rule of thumb, this Appraise check works only against suits of armor, not magic devices
that offer similar protection in a different form.

Bluff: Feign Death
You attempt to play dead, absorbing an opponent’s attack and tumbling to the ground. With luck, your opponent moves on to a different target.
Mechanics: You ready an action to make a Bluff check the next time you take damage. Make a Bluff check opposed by any interested observer’s Sense Motive check. As a rule of thumb, only opponents directly engaged against you should make this check. You automatically fall prone and drop any items you hold. Your DM keeps the result of the Sense Motive check secret, and you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class until your next action. You are not considered helpless, as you can try to dodge a coup de grace or similar attack at the last moment. If you attack an opponent who thinks you are dead, she loses her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against you until the end of your action. Once your action ends, your foes obviously know that you are alive.

Concentration: Focused Determination
In times of dire need, you can clear your mind, focusing your attention on a single act, and blotting out any external distractions.
Mechanics: You can temporarily remove the effect of any morale penalties you suffer on attacks, checks, saves, and damage rolls. As a full-round action, you may make a Concentration check with a DC of 15 + the penalty you wish to remove. Do not treat the penalty as a negative number when you add it. If this check succeeds, you ignore the morale penalty until the end of your next action. You can choose to try to ignore only part of a penalty (thereby making the DC lower).

Diplomacy: Call for Truce
Using your skills of persuasion, you call for a temporary halt to the fighting. Your enemies may halt to listen, but they remain alert and ready for a trick.
Mechanics: As a full-round action, you call for an end to the fighting. Make a Diplomacy check with a Difficulty Class as indicated on the table on the next page. If you succeed, your opponents ready actions to attack when you or your allies attack or take a threatening action. You may then parlay as normal with your foes. Your DM may consider your foes to remain active on their initiative counts. Combat does not end until both sides have stepped down from their alert standing.
CALL FOR TRUCE
Situation DC
Your foes have the advantage 35
The battle is even 25
Your opponents are losing 15
Your DM may rule that certain foes are immune to this skill use, such as fanatics who are inspired by religious or political fervor, raging barbarians, and other hateful enemies. In addition, you must share a language with your opponents or otherwise have some means of communicating with them.

Disguise: Disguise Weapon
You hide a weapon on your person, making it appear as some ornament or other harmless keepsake. When you strike with it, you may surprise your enemy and leave her vulnerable to your attack.
Prerequisite (Feat): Quick Draw.
Mechanics: You may spend 10 minutes hiding a light, one-handed weapon on your body. You may hide only one weapon at a time in this manner. Later, you can use your Quick Draw feat to ready it and attack as normal. When you do so, make a Disguise check opposed by your foe’s Spot check. Your opponent also gains her base attack bonus (without modifiers for Strength, feats, magic, and so forth) as a bonus on this check. If your check succeeds, your opponent loses her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class on your next attack. Anyone who searches you must make a Search check opposed by
your Disguise check to find the weapon. They gain no special bonus on this check unlike with weapons hidden using the Sleight of Hand skill (see next page)—because you have physically modified the weapon in order to disguise it.

Handle Animal: Manipulate Beast
Your knowledge of animals allows you to alter their emotions in combat. For example, you might bat at a wolf’s head to get its attention and compel it to attack you instead of another target, or you could so enrage an alligator that its attacks become frenzied and clumsy.
Mechanics: You may make a Handle Animal check against an animal or vermin as a full-round action. The Difficulty Class of this check is the creature’s Hit Dice + 10. If your check succeeds, you may cause one of the following behaviors:
Anger: The target creature focuses all its attacks on you. It moves toward you if possible, but it does not provoke attacks of opportunity to reach you. If it cannot reach you, it fights as normal. This effect lasts 1d6 rounds.
Calm: If the creature was not trained to fight, not set to guard an area, or not otherwise taught by a master, you can attempt to calm it. If the creature and other members of its pack or other allies are not subjected to an attack, spell, or other hostile act for 1 full round, it stops fighting. It resumes hostilities if anyone makes an aggressive
move toward it.
Rage: The creature thrashes in rage, biting and snapping at its enemies. It suffers a –2 morale penalty on its next attack roll.

Handle Animal and Sense Motive: Study Beast
Animals rely on relatively simple tactics and maneuvers in combat, allowing you to get a handle on their plans with a close study of their actions and bearing.
Mechanics: You may make a conjoined Handle Animal and Sense Motive check against an animal or vermin as a full-round action. The Difficulty Class of these checks equals the creature’s Hit Dice + 5. If both checks succeed, you gain a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls and Armor Class against the creature as you learn to anticipate its actions in combat. In addition, you gain a +4 insight bonus on any Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks you make against it for the rest of the encounter.

Intimidate: Blood-Kissed Threat
As you cleave through your enemies, you use threats, taunts, and a bloody display of your martial prowess to strike terror into your remaining opponents.
Prerequisites (Feats): Power Attack, Cleave.
Mechanics: If you kill an opponent outright by dropping her from positive hit points to –10 or lower, you may make an Intimidate check against a second foe as a free action. The slain foe must have been able to fight when you cut her down. A paralyzed or otherwise
helpless opponent does not qualify for this use of the Intimidate skill. The Difficulty Class of this check is the second foe’s Hit Dice + 15. If your check succeeds, the foe becomes shaken. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Jump: Leaping Charge
As you rush at an opponent, you spring into the air, adding additional momentum to your attack at the cost of accuracy.
Mechanics: When you charge an opponent (see illustration, next page), you can choose to attempt a Jump check to gain additional momentum toward your foe. You lose the standard bonus on attacks after a charge, but you inflict extra damage. Make a Jump check (DC 20) as part of your charge. If you succeed, you inflict +2 damage on your attack. If your check result is 30 or higher, you gain a +4 bonus to damage. Multiply this damage on a successful critical hit. You suffer the standard –2 penalty to Armor Class for charging as normal and end your movement as normal for a charge.

Sense Motive: Predict Action
You can sometimes read an opponent’s body language and eyes to determine the nature of her next action.
Mechanics: As a move action, you can attempt a Sense Motive check opposed by either your opponent’s Bluff check or base attack check (opponent’s choice). If your check succeeds, you learn what your foe plans to do on her next action. You learn only general information, such as whether your foe intends to cast a spell, use a ranged attack against a specific target, or flee. You do not learn exactly which spell she plans to use, but you do know her target. You may then take your standard action as normal. Note that the result of your action, and others’ actions, could cause the target to change her mind. You
only learn what she is planning to do at the moment you act.

Sense Motive: Read Foe
You pause to study your opponent, reading her stance, watching how she sets her feet, and interpreting her mood. Using this information, you learn to predict and counter her moves.
Mechanics: As a full-round action, you may make a Sense Motive check opposed by your opponent’s base attack check. If your check succeeds, you learn to read your opponent’s reactions. You gain a +1 insight bonus on attacks against her and a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class against her attacks until the end of the encounter.

Sleight of Hand: Conceal Weapon
You keep a dagger or other small weapon concealed in your clothing or even in your hand. If you make a sudden attack with it, you can catch an opponent by surprise.
Mechanics: You may make a Sleight of Hand check, opposed by your foe’s Spot check, to ready a weapon in such a way that she fails to note that you are armed. Your foe applies her base attack bonus as a modifier on her Spot check. You may hide only one weapon at a time in this manner. If you then attack with this weapon on your
current turn or your next action, your opponent loses her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. If you hold onto the weapon for more than 1 round, your opponent gains another Spot check (modified by her base attack bonus) to notice it. You oppose this check with another Sleight of Hand check with a –2 penalty. The modifiers listed under Sleight of Hand for different weapon sizes, billowing clothes, and so forth apply to checks made to conceal a weapon. Consult the skill’s description in Chapter Four of the Player’s Handbook for more information. Note that the Disguise skill allows for a similar function (see previous page). The Disguise check takes longer to implement and requires the Quick Draw feat, but it works better when facing someone who may attempt to search you.

Survival: Wilderness Tactics
Your knowledge of the wilds allows you to turn your surroundings to your advantage. You might pick out just the right spot in a snow-bank where you can find a steady position while your foes flail through the snow.
Mechanics: When fighting in any sort of terrain that restricts your movement, you may make a Survival check opposed by your opponent’s base attack check as a standard action. This single opponent must be in your threatened area. If your check succeeds,
you can opt for one of several effects:

Hindering Terrain: You can confer a –1 circumstance penalty on attacks and Armor Class upon your opponent as long as she is in the difficult terrain. You kick snow at her, shift the stones on a gravel slope so that she loses her balance, and so forth.
Tangle and Drop: You pull on a vine to upset your opponent’s footing or hit her at just the right angle to disrupt her balance, causing her to fall prone in her current space.
Terrain Injury: You send a hail of stones, thorns, or some other environmental debris at your opponent. She suffers 1d6 points of damage.

Tumble: Tumbling Strike
You somersault and twist to avoid your opponent’s attacks and make a single, critical strike. Your maneuver catches your foe off guard, allowing you to strike her from an unexpected direction.
Mechanics: As a full-round action, you may make a Tumble check with a Difficulty Class equal to your opponent’s base attack bonus +5. If your check succeeds, you may make a single attack at your best base attack bonus. Your opponent loses her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against this attack. If your check fails, you provoke an attack of opportunity from your opponent.

Use Rope: Create Lasso
You can fashion a lasso from a length of rope and use it to rope an opponent. While a lasso can rarely hold a foe in place for long, it can at least temporarily hinder her.
Mechanics: You must spend 10 minutes fashioning a 50-foot or longer length of rope into a lasso. This requires a Use Rope check (DC 20). If this check succeeds, your lasso is prepared for use. In combat, the lasso has a range of 25 feet, or half the rope’s length. It is a ranged weapon. If you hit, you may make a Use Rope check opposed by your opponent’s Strength check or Escape Artist check (opponent’s choice). If you succeed, your opponent suffers a –2 penalty on attacks, checks, and Reflex saves. She can escape by making a Strength check or Escape Artist check as a move action opposed by your Strength check. She can move only if she succeeds at an opposed Strength check against you. She drags you along unless you choose to drop the rope, at which point she springs free. Dropping the rope is a free action. While you have an opponent lassoed, you must use a standard action each round to keep her tangled. Otherwise, she immediately breaks free.