Deception (Skill)

## **Deception (Cha)**

You can make the untrue seem true, the outrageous seem plausible, and the nefarious seem ordinary. The skill encompasses conning, fast-talking, misdirection, forgery, disguise, and outright lying. Use a Deception check to sow temporary confusion, pass as someone you’re not, get someone to turn his head in the direction you point, or pass faked documents off as genuine.

**Deceive**: When you want to make another character believe something that is untrue, you can attempt to deceive them. You can deceive a target in one of two ways: by producing a deceptive appearance or by communicating deceptive information.

**Deceptive Appearance**:When you produce a deceptive appearance, such as disguising your appearance or producing forged documents, make a Deception check opposed by the Perception check of any target that sees the deception. If you succeed, that character believes that the appearance is authentic. If you fail, the target detects the deception. Creating a deceptive appearance requires at least 1 minute (10 rounds) for simple deceptions, 10 minutes for moderate deceptions, 1 hour for difficult deceptions, 1 day for incredible deceptions, or 2 weeks (10 days) for outrageous deceptions. You can rush and create the deception in less time (treating it as if it were one step easier, to a minimum of simple), but you take a -10 penalty on your Deception check. In all cases, make a single Deception check at the time you create the deceptive appearance and compare your check result to the Perception check of any character who encounters it.

**Deceptive Information**:When you communicate deceptive information, such as telling a lie or distorting facts to lead the target to a false conclusion, make a Deception check against the Will Defense of any target that can understand you. If you succeed, the target believes that what you’re telling them is true. While most cases of deceptive information are either verbal or written (requiring the target to be able to understand you), you can deceive with gestures, body language, facial expressions, and so forth. Communicating deceptive information requires at least a standard action for simple deceptions, a full-round action for moderate deceptions, and 1 minute (10 rounds) or even more for difficult, incredible, or outrageous deceptions. You can rush and communicate your deception in less time (treating as if it were one step easier, to a minimum of simple), but you take a -10 penalty on your Deception check. If your deceptive information is written, recorded, or otherwise preserved for later viewing, your original Deception check result is compared to the Will Defense of all targets who later read or observe your deception.

In some cases, you convey both a deceptive appearance and deceptive information. For example, if you create a falsified document (such as an official report, a letter from a senator, or orders from a military commander), you have to produce something that looks authentic (deceptive appearance) while also creating believable content (deceptive information). In this case, make a single Deception check and compare it to both the target’s Perception check and Will Defense. Similarly, you might disguise yourself as an Imperial general (deceptive appearance) and then give fake orders to a stormtrooper (deceptive information). In this example, you make one Deception check ahead of time to create the disguise and another Deception check at the time you give the stormtrooper his new orders.

Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a deception. Two circumstances can weigh against you: The deception is hard to believe, or the action that the deception 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 deception that fails because the target doesn’t believe it and one that fails because it just asks too much of the target. For instance, if the deception demands something risky of the target, and your Deception check fails by 10 or less, then the target didn’t so much see through the deception as prove reluctant to go along with it even if he believes it’s true. If your Deception check fails by 11 or more, he has seen through the deception (and would have done so even if it had not placed any demand on him).

A successful Deception check indicates that the target reacts as you wish, at least for a short time, or the target believes something that you want him to believe. For example, you could use a deception to put someone off guard by telling him someone was behind him. At best, such a deception would make the target glance over his shoulder. It would not cause the target to ignore you and completely turn around. Alternatively, you could use a deception to make a starship captain believe that he has orders to take his vessel to Tatooine. If successful, the captain would carry out his new “orders” even though that would take quite some time, but as soon as he encounters contradictory information (such as receiving contradictory orders from his real commander, or arriving at Tatooine and discovering that no one sent for him) he will realize that he has been fooled.

**Creating a Diversion to Hide**: You can use Deception to help you hide. A successful Deception check that equals or exceeds the target’s Will Defense gives you the momentary diverson you need to attempt a Stealth check while the target is aware of you.

**Feint**: Make a Deception check as a standard action to set the DC of your opponent’s Initiative check. If you beat your opponent’s roll, that target is treated as flat-footed against the first attack you make against him in the next round. You take a -5 penalty against non-humanoid creatures or against creatures with an Intelligence lower than 3.

**Retry**: Generally, a failed Deception check makes the target too suspicious for you to try another deception in the same circumstances. For feinting in combat, you may retry freely.

**Special**: You can take 10 when making a deception (except for feinting in combat), but you can’t take 20.

**Time**: A deception takes at least a standard action, but can take much longer if you try something elaborate. Disguises that require major changes to your physical outline, or forged documents with many safeguards, can take hours or even days.

  Simple
  Moderate
  Difficult
  Incredible
  Outrageous