Wits

Your logic, raw brainpower, and problem-solving skills.
==Uses==
Hint, Planning, Recovery.
===Hint===
Your quick thinking picks up on clues to solve problems that others might miss. When facing a difficult problem or riddle, you may make a Wits check (once per problem, although in the interest of moving the game along, the GM might ask for additional checks; this is exclusively the GM's option). For most problems, it is DC 20 to receive a useful clue from the GM, though the GM may modify this DC for tougher or easier problems.
===Planning===
If you have the opportunity to prepare for an encounter you can formulate a plan. This requires at least a few minutes, longer at the Gamemaster's discretion. Make a Wits check (DC 15). If successful, at any point during the next encounter, you may initiate your plan as a Free Action. All opponents are treated as Off-Balance against your own and your allies' attacks this round, and yourself and your allies each gain 1 Bonus on non-Attack and non-Resistance skill checks for the next 3 rounds. If you succeed by 5 or more, your opponents are instead treated as Flat-Footed for the round against your own and your allies' attacks, and yourself and your allies gain 2 Bonuses instead of 1 to non-Attack and non-Resistance skill checks. If you succeed by 10 or more, yourself and your allies gain 3 Bonuses instead of 1 for the next three rounds. Your opponents do not suffer any worse penalties, though.
You can only use this option when you have the opportunity to prepare for an encounter in advance, not when dealing with sudden or unexpected encounters. You may grant these advantages to yourself and one additional ally for every point of Intelligence you have.
===Recovery===
Your wits allow you to find the logical shortcomings of effects which might ensorcel your mind. You spot mistakes in illusions or uncharacteristic word-choices in mind-control, and use this knowledge to free yourself. At a cost of one action, you may make an additional recovery check against a mental or illusory effect you are currently affected by. You may use your Wits check in place of your normal Will check to recover from the effect. If you succeed, you recover normally. If you fail, you remain under the effect, though the action you used to recover is still lost. You may attempt to recover in this way as many times in one round as you have actions.
Using a Wits check to recover from an effect which normally grants you a cumulative modifier for each failed recovery attempt does not count towards the cumulative modifier. So if you failed two Will checks to recover from an effect and two Wits checks, you still only have a cumulative +2 on your third attempt to recover from the effect (whether you use Will or Wits for that particular check). The cumulative modifier to Will checks to recover from these lasting effects does apply to your Wits checks, though failed Wits checks won't increase the modifier.
==Try Again==
You cannot retry a check to make a Plan or to receive a Hint (though the GM might ask for additional Wits checks if deemed appropriate).
You may retry a Wits check to Recover from a Mental or Illusory effect, though you must spend another action to do so. If you do not have any actions left, you cannot make another check to Recover.
==Action==
It's a reaction to make a Wits check for a Hint, while it takes one action to make a Wits check to Recover. It takes several minutes to form a Plan with a Wits check.
==Extended==
An extended Wits check for Planning can be used for a long-term scheme, where each individual component of a grand master plan requires its own Plan to succeed. This is particularly common in the crime genre, where heists and capers are often long and involved with extensive planning, or in military games, where operations are planned down to the last detail.
==Challenges==
* Brilliant Insight: Your clever observations and comprehension reveal even more than others might have ever considered. For each penalty you accept to your Wits check to receive a Hint, the GM gives you another hint if you are successful.
* Multi-Staged Plan: Your plan relies on a carefully-designed sequence of events to work correctly. If you accept 2 penalties to your Wits check to make a plan, you gain the ability to choose when each of your allies first get the bonus, allowing you to parcel out the activation of the bonuses as you like, rather than activating them all at once.
Category:Rulebook
Category:Characters
Category:Skills
Category:Intelligence