Epic Skills (Rules)

Despite the near-magical nature of some epic level skill uses, all uses of skills are considered exceptional abilities (unless otherwise indicated) and thus function normally even within areas of antimagic.

## Acrobatics

The character can stand instantly, leap up adjacent surfaces, and keep their balance on almost any surface.

 35
 40
 50
 60
 90
 120

**Free Stand:** The character can stand up from prone as a free action (instead of as a move-equivalent action).

**Climb Vertical Surface:** The character can climb up to their base speed by jumping and bouncing off walls, trees, or similar vertical surfaces. The character must have at least two vertical surfaces to bounce off, and the two must be within 10 feet of each other.

**Special:** If you have 23 or more ranks in Acrobatics, you gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of the usual +2 (or +3 for having 3 or more ranks), and a +8 dodge bonus to AC when taking the total defense action instead of the usual +4 (or +6 for having 3 or more ranks). This bonus increases by +1 for every additional 10 ranks above 23 the character has.

## Appraise

The character can sense magical auras in objects. With a successful appraise check against a DC 50, the character can sense if an item has a magical aura as if using detect magic. This requires a full-round action.

## Bluff

The character can implant a non-magical suggestion in a target, display a false alignment, or disguise his or her surface thoughts.

 vs target's Sense Motive + 50
 70
 100

**Instill Suggestion in Target:** This is identical to the effect of the suggestion spell, except that it is non-magical and lasts for only 10 minutes.
**Display False Alignment:** The character can fool alignment-sensing effects by displaying a false alignment of his or her choice. Once set, a false alignment remains as long as the character remains conscious and awake. Setting or changing a false alignment requires a full-round action.

**Disguise Surface Thoughts:** The character can fool spells such as detect thoughts or similar effects by displaying false surface thoughts. While the character can’t completely mask the presence of his or her thoughts, he or she can change his or her apparent Intelligence score (and thus the character’s apparent mental strength) by as much as 10 points and can place any thought in his or her “surface thoughts” to be read by such spells or effects. If a character attempts to use Sense Motive to detect his or her surface thoughts (see the Sense Motive skill description), this becomes an opposed check.

## Climb

The character can climb otherwise unclimbable surfaces.

 70
 100
 +20

**Rapid Climbing:** A character can climb his or her speed as a move-equivalent action, or double his or her speed as a full round action (requiring two Climb checks), but the character takes a -20 penalty on his or her check.

**Special:** The Legendary Climber feat allows a character to ignore any penalties for accelerated or rapid climbing.

## Craft

The character can craft items more quickly than normal.

A character can voluntarily increase the DC of crafting an item by any multiple of 10. This allows the character to create an item more quickly (since he or she will be multiplying this higher DC by his or her skill check result to determine progress). The character must decide the increase to the DC before making the check.

## Diplomacy

The character can shift a character's attitude by more than 2 steps, turn a person into a fanatic follower, and avoid suspicion while gathering information.

 +5
 +10
 +20
 +40
 +50
increase for shifting attitude by multiple steps, if
applicable)

**Fanatic:** A fanatic will give life to serve you, fighting to the death against overwhelming odds or throwing themselves in front of onrushing dragon. In addition to the obvious effects, any NPC whose attitude is fanatic gains a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -1 penalty to AC whenever fighting for the character or his or her cause. This attitude will remain for one day plus one day per point of the character’s Charisma bonus, at which point the NPC’s attitude will revert to its original attitude.
Treat the fanatic attitude as a mind-affecting enchantment effect for purposes of immunity, save bonuses, or being detected by the Sense Motive skill. Since it is non magical, it can’t be dispelled; however, any effect that suppresses or counters mind-affecting effects will affect it normally. A fanatic NPC’s attitude cannot be further adjusted by the use of skills.

**Avoid Suspicion:** By accepting a -20 penalty on his or her check, a character can avoid any suspicions that might otherwise be aroused by someone pursuing sensitive information.

## Disable Device

The character can rush his or her attempt, reducing the amount of time it takes to disable a device or open a lock.

 +20
 +30
 +50
 +60
 +100

## Escape Artist

The character can pass through spaces smaller than his or her head, or even through a wall of force.

 80
 120

**Extremely Tight Space:** This is the DC for getting through a space when one’s head shouldn’t be able to fit; this can be as small as 2 inches square for Medium-size creatures. Halve this limit for each size category less than Medium-size; double it for each size category greater than Medium-size. If the space is long, such as in a chimney, multiple checks may be called for.

**Pass Through Wall of Force:** This allows a character to find a gap of weakness in a wall of force (or similar force effect) and squeeze through it.

## Handle Animal

The character can handle creatures other than animals, and can teach or train in much less time than normally required.

Reduce Teaching/Training Time: Normally, teaching a creature a trick takes a week; training it for a purpose requires two to six weeks. A character can accelerate the, reducing the time required to the listed time, by adding the DC modifier to the base DC for teaching or training the creature. A character can’t reduce the required time to less than 1 minute.

## Heal

The character can simulate curative magic or greatly speed a patient’s recovery of hit points.

 50
 50
 75
 100
 100
 125

**Cure:** As a full-round action, the character can simulate the effects of a cure spell on a target. No character can receive the effects of being healed by this skill more than once per day.

**Quicken Recovery:** The character can allow a character to regain hit points in a single hour as if he or she had provided long-term care for a full day. The character can quicken the recovery of up to six patients at a time. No character’s recovery can be quickened more than once per day.

**Perfect Recovery:** The character can allow a character to regain hit points in a single hour as if he or she had provided long-term care for a full week. The character can use perfect recovery on up to six patients at a time. No character’s recovery can be perfected more than once per day, nor can perfect recovery and quicken recovery both be used on the same patient in the same day.

## Intimidate

Intimidate does not possess an epic usage, though it can be affected by an epic use of Diplomacy.

**Special:** The DC to intimidate any creature whose attitude has been made fanatic through use of Diplomacy or Perform is increased by +20.

## Knowledge

Knowledge does not possess an epic usage.

## Linguistics

The character can decipher magic scrolls and forge handwriting he or she hasn't even seen.

 50 + (spell
level x 5)
 +50

Forge Document without Sample: The character can forge a document without having seen a similar document or having a sample of the handwriting to be copied.

## Perception

The character can see magic auras or defeat illusions.

 60
 70 + Spell DC

**Sense Magic:** The character can sense the presence of active magical effects in the area being searched, though not the number, strength, or type of the effects.

**Defeat Illusion:** The character can automatically detect any illusion for what it truly is. No Will save is required, and the character doesn’t have to interact with the illusion.

## Perform

The character can sway an audience’s attitude with his or her performance.

**Sway Audience:** You can use Perform as Diplomacy, but increase the DCs by +20.

## Profession

Profession does not possess an epic usage.

## Ride

The character can stand upon his or her mount in combat, control it with a thought, or use it for cover while riding.

 40
 50
 60

**Stand on Mount:** The character stands on his or her mount’s back even during movement or combat. The character takes no penalties to actions while doing so.

**Unconscious Control:** As a free action, the character can attempt to expertly control their mount while in combat without any outward signs of activity on their part. If the character fails, he or she controls the mount as a move equivalent action.

**Attack from Cover:** The character can drop down and hang alongside his or her mount as an immediate action, using it as a shield. Doing so provides the character with cover. If they exceed the check DC by +5 or more, they instead gain the benefits of improved cover. They can attack and cast spells while using his or her mount as cover without penalty. If the character fails, they may still act as normal, but he or she does not gain the cover benefit.

## Sense Motive

The character can discern a target’s alignment and even detect surface thoughts.

 60
 80
 100

**Discern Partial Alignment:** This use of this skill allows a character to discern one component of a target’s alignment. When making the check, the character states whether he or she is trying to discern the law-chaos or good-evil component. A character can’t retry the check, and he or she can’t use this to discern more than one component of the target's alignment. The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

**Discern Full Alignment:** This use of the skill lets a character determine both components of a target’s alignment. The character can’t retry the check. The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

**Detect Surface Thoughts:** This lets a character read the surface thoughts of a single target (as the 3rd-round effect of the detect thoughts spell). There is no saving throw to resist this effect, though the target can use Bluff to disguise his or her surface thoughts, in which case this becomes an opposed check; any result lower than 100 automatically fails. The target must be visible and within 30 feet of the character.

## Sleight of Hand

The character can lift another’s weapon and perform major feats of legerdemain.

 50
 70
 80
size or smaller “disappear” while in plain view. In fact, the
willing creature or object is displaced up to 10 feet away; make
a separate Stealth check to determine how well the
 +30
piece of clothing.

## Spellcraft

The character can identify properties of a magic item without use of detect magic.

**Identify Magic Item:** By increasing the DC by +60 and with one minute of inspection, the character identifies all properties of a single magic item (including command words and charges remaining) without the use of detect magic. A character can’t attempt this on the same item more than once.

## Stealth

The character can hide others along with him or herself.

Hide Another: By accepting a -30 penalty on his or her Hide check, a character can hide another adjacent creature whose size is no more than one category larger than the character’s own. Modifiers to the check for the size of the creature still apply, as do all other penalties, including those for moving faster than half speed. Likewise, a character can only hide another creature when it is not under direct observation by a third party. The creature the character hides remains hidden until it is spotted or it takes some other action that breaks its concealment, as normal.

## Survival

The character can ignore the effects of terrain on movement, withstand even the harshest weather, and determine the direction to a location on the same plane. If the character is capable of tracking, he or she can identify the races of creatures being tracked.

 40
can provide food and water for one other person for every 2
 60
The character can extend this benefit to one other character for
 60
can move at full overland speed regardless of terrain. The
character can extend this benefit to one other character for
 60

Wherever the character is, he or she can determine the direction to a location on the same plane

 40
 60
 80
 100
 120

With a successful check, the character knows the direction to the desired location. This merely points the character in the direction of the location; it doesn’t provide him or her with information on how to get there, nor does it take into account any obstacles in the path. “Very familiar” represents a place where the character has been very often and where he or she feels at home. “Studied carefully” represents a place the character knows well, either because he or she has been there often or has used other means to study the place. “Seen casually” is a place that the character has viewed more than once, but which he or she has not studied. “Viewed once” is a place that the character has seen once, possibly using magic. “Description only” is a place whose location and appearance the character knows through someone else’s description.

## Swim

The character can swim up vertical surfaces or swim much faster than normal.

 80
 +20

**Swim up Waterfall:** This use of the skill allows a character to swim an angled or vertical surface, as long as he or she remains completely or mostly immersed in water. Other examples might include swimming up a whirlpool or an incredibly large wave.

**Speed Swimming:** By taking a -20 penalty on the check, a character can swim his or her speed as a move-equivalent action, or double his or her speed as a full-round action.

## Use Magic Device

Use Magic Device does not possess an epic usage.