Bluff

**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.

 The bluff is believable and doesn't affect the target much one way or the other.
 The bluff is a little hard to believe or puts the target at some kind of risk.
 The bluff is hard to believe or entails a large risk for the target.
 The bluff is way out there; it's almost too incredible to consider.

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.

**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 a standard action.

***Feinting in Combat*:** As a standard action, a character can 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. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + your opponent’s base attack bonus + your opponent’s Wisdom modifier. If your opponent is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent’s Sense Motive bonus, if higher. For more information on feinting in combat, see Combat. 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.

***Feign Harmlessness:*** It’s often useful to attempt to convince your enemies you are no threat to them.

*Check:* You attempt to convince your target you are harmless through your actions and posture. If you are at least one size category smaller than your target and have taken no effective offensive actions that your target has seen, you gain a +5 circumstance bonus on this check. Even if you have proven yourself capable of dealing damage, an effort to present your previous success as a one-time fluke takes only a –10 penalty on the check.

*Action:* Taking steps to appear harmless requires a full-round action, though a GM may require more involved Bluff attempts to take longer.

*Try Again?* You can attempt to feign harmlessness to the same target again, but each previous failed check increases the DC to convince your target by 5. This increase resets after 1 hour has passed.

***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 stealth skill)

***Convey Secret Message*:** You can use Bluff to pass hidden messages to another character without others understanding your true meaning. The DC of this check is 15 for simple messages and 20 for complex messages. If you are successful, the target automatically understands you, assuming you are speaking in a language that it understands. If your check fails by 5 or more, you deliver the wrong message. Other creatures that hear the message can decipher the message by succeeding at an opposed Sense Motive check against your Bluff result.

*Action:* Delivering a secret message generally takes twice as long as the message would otherwise take to relay.

*Try Again?* Yes. Secret messages can be relayed again if the first attempt fails.

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.

***Quick Secret Message**:* You can attempt to deliver a secret message in no more time than it would normally take to deliver openly, but you take a –10 penalty on your Bluff check for doing so

#### *Perform Inconspicuous Action:* You can avoid drawing attention to yourself when performing conspicuous actions such as picking up an object in a museum where handling the exhibits is frowned upon but not a matter of grave concern, or closely studying someone across a room at a party.

*Action:* You attempt the Bluff check as part of performing the action you wish to render inconspicuous. Normally, you must take twice as long as normal to perform the action in order to make it inconspicuous. A standard action becomes a full-round action completed just before the start of your next turn and a free, immediate, move, or swift action becomes a standard action.

*Check:* Your Bluff check is opposed by observers’ Sense Motive checks. You can’t attempt the check if your very presence is suspicious (which you could prevent by altering your appearance with the Disguise skill).

#### *Suggest Course of Action:* You can use Bluff and Diplomacy together to make a request of a creature, without it even realizing you have made the request.

*Check:* You can gradually coax a target into thinking a suggestion is entirely its own idea, making the creature more likely to act on the idea than if you had suggested it outright. You discuss topics subtly relevant to the request, asking leading questions and narrowing the scope of the conversation so that the target eventually decides to take a specific action you have led it to.

You first attempt a Bluff check to convince the target that your request was actually its idea. This is always treated as far-fetched circumstances, resulting in a –10 penalty on the check. If successful, you then attempt a Diplomacy check to make the request of the creature, treating its attitude toward you as indifferent for this single request (regardless of its actual attitude).

*Action:* Planting the notion and then coaxing a target into suggesting the notion himself each require at least 1 minute of continuous interaction. This can be difficult to arrange with a hostile or unfriendly creature.

***Fast-Talk**:* You can attempt to tell a lie to a target so quickly that it goes unquestioned. Doing so requires half the normal time to convince the target, to a minimum of one standard action, but in doing so you take a –10 penalty on your Bluff check.

***Feign Injury**:* Whenever you are dealt damage, you can make a Bluff check as an immediate action to convince foes you have been injured to a different extent than you truly have been, opposed by a Sense Motive check. You can appear to be uninjured, mildly injured (with more than half your total hit points remaining), significantly injured (reduced to less than half hit points), disabled (at 0 hit points), dying (at negative hit points), or dead. For each step away from your true condition you pretend to be, you suffer a cumulative –2 penalty on your Bluff check. If you pretend to be dying or dead, you must fall prone accordingly (a free action).

#### **Bluff Unchained**

Characters with the signature skill feat for bluff unlock additional abilities when they attain 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill.

With sufficient ranks in Bluff, you earn the following.

**5 Ranks**: The penalty to Bluff a creature after a failed check is halved unless you failed by 5 or more.

**10 Ranks**: You take no penalty to Bluff a creature after a failed check unless you failed by 5 or more.

**15 Ranks**: Creatures magically or psychically attempting to read your thoughts, detect your alignment, or reveal when you are lying must attempt a caster level check (DC = 11 + your ranks in Bluff ) or the effect reveals nothing.

**20 Ranks**: As a full-round action, you can make a suggestion (as the spell, maximum duration 1 hour) to a creature within 30 feet (Will negates, DC = 15 + your Charisma modifier). A creature that saves against your suggestion is immune to further uses of this effect for 24 hours, and whenever the suggested creature is specifically confronted with proof of your manipulation, it receives another saving throw. This is an extraordinary mind-affecting compulsion.