[d20house]

Skill Changes

• Appraise.
  Instead, use Search, Search x Craft, or Search x Profession.
• Balance → Tumble.
• Climb (1/2 price skill)
• Craft (1/2 price skill).
  Craft is actually 10 separate skills based on the medium:
  • Alchemy (poison/venoms; drugs/antitoxins; marvelous substances)
  • Disguises (makeup, prosthetics, clothing)
  • Leather (armorsmithing(leather); cobbling; leatherworking)
  • Mechanical (clockwork; firing mechanisms; locksmithing; trapmaking)
  • Metal (armorsmithing(metal); blacksmithing; weaponsmithing(metal))
  • Paper (bookbinding; calligraphy; document forgery; papermaking; painting; printing)
  • Precious (fine statuary; gemcutting; jewelry)
  • Stone (inscribing; pottery; sculpting; stonemasonry)
  • Textile (basketweaving; rope-making; sewing; weaving)
  • Wood (bowmaking; carpentry; carving; shipmaking)
  Very simple items are DC10 and take a couple hours. Simple items are DC15 and generally take a day. Most complex or masterwork items are DC20 and take a week. Spend 1/3 the cost in materials. Good success shortens the item; on failure half the time is lost; on a bad failure, half the materials are also lost.
• Decipher Script → Speak Language
• Disguise
  Instead, use Craft(Disguise) (vs Spot) or Perform(Acting) (vs Sense Motive) to act in character, or an average of the two.
• Escape Artist (1/2 price skill)
• Forgery.
  Instead, use Craft(Paper) to create forged documents or Search to detect.
• Jump (1/2 price skill)
• Knowledge(Architecture & Engineering).
  Instead, use Search x Craft(Stone) to appraise quality or Knowledge(History) to date or determine style.
• Knowledge(Local)
  Instead, use Knowledge(Society) for living persons and social details or Knowledge(Geography) for physical details.
• Knowledge(Nobility)
  Instead, use Knowledge(Society) for current nobility or Knowledge(History) for past lineages.
• Knowledge(Society) (new skill)
  This is essentially the old Knowledge(local) skill: legends, personalities, celebrity, nobility, inhabitants, laws, customs, etiquette, traditions, humanoids.
• (Open Lock) → Disable Device
  Mark the ranks field of the Open Lock skill with "D.D.". You cannot buy ranks of Open Lock directly; instead, calculate your bonus from your Disable Device ranks. Open Lock is based on DEX, as normal. Open Lock counts as a separate skill for things like Skill Focus feats, etc.
• Perform (1/2 price skill)
  
• Profession (1/2 price skill)
  
• (Ride) → Handle Animal
  Mark the ranks field of the Ride skill with "H.A.". You cannot buy ranks of Ride; instead, calculate your bonus from your Handle Animal ranks. Ride is based on DEX, as normal. Ride counts as a separate skill for things like Skill Focus feats, etc.
• Search
  is frequently made as a passive check by the DM now, especially with regards to traps and secret doors: Take 5 if hurrying along; Take 10 if moving cautiously; or Take 20 if actively searching.
• (Speak Language)
  This skill technically covers reading and writing as much as speaking (but name kept for backwards compatiblity). Each rank lets you speak another language or read and write another script, as described in Adventuring: Language. Use this skill when attempting to identify a language or script you do not know, or when trying to decode/translate such a message (provided you have sufficient context to even attempt to do so).
• Swim (1/2 price skill)
• Use Rope.
  Instead, use Escape Artist if binding a foe, or Climb if part of climbing, or Profession if part of some mundane task.

Class Skills

Since the skill list changed a bit (6 crossed off the character sheet; 6 made 1/2 price; 2 dependent on another skill's ranks) and a few tweaks (Craft and Knowledge, mostly), here's how the class skills work out. Those marked ^½ are half priced.

Buying Skills

Only Spellcraft is a "Trained Only" skill. For all others, anyone can try anything.

½-price skills: Each rank in these skills gives a +2 rather than +1. Or, if bought cross-class, each rank gives a +1 rather than +½. Normal lvl limits apply (so can only buy 1/2 number of ranks than normal).

Skill synergies: Ignore those for skills that no longer exist or for skills that are based on each other's ranks. Also:

• Bluff does NOT help Craft(Disguise).
• Spellcraft and Use Magic Device help each other universally (not just for scrolls).
• Know(local) = Know(society), so +2 to Gather Info

Skill Checks

The rules (especially for skills) should be viewed as guidelines for offline reading. Rather than getting out an imaginary ruler to decided just how wide the chasm is, just estimate the DC difficulty: "yeah, pretty wide... worse than your normal little chasm... DC20." (See DM Fiat.)

Think of DCs in steps of 5. If there's some external circumstances, use +/-2 modifiers (+/-5 if they're significant): "The chasm edges are pretty crumbly though (+2), so DC 22." If you're not sure, call it DC15 and move on. If there's damage taken or spell levels involved, maybe add them to the DC.

Here are some sample DCs and how difficult they are for your average peasant (someone with a +0 modifier on the roll).

Remember too the outcomes table.

Skill Help

Averaging: Often, a task seems to involve 2 skills relatively equally. In this case, average their modifier (rounding down) and apply that to a single the roll. This averaging is usually designated using a x. Some examples:

• Perform(Acting) x Craft(Disguise): Pass yourself off as someone else.
• Spot x Language(Lip-reading): Read someone's lips from a distance at dusk.
• Gather Information x Bluff: Find out specific gossip while making certain no one notices you were asking around about it.

Complex checks: And sometimes a job requires a few different skills, but with different outcomes depending on which skill fails. In this case, separately roll one skill and then the next. These are written with a &. For example:

• Gather Information & Bluff: As above, but trying to do both. If the first succeeds, you get the info. If the second succeeds, no one remembers you asking around.
• Use Magic Device & Use Magic Device: Blindly activate a magic item meant for a race other than yours.

Last resort: If all else fails, and none of the skills quite seem to cover the task, call for an ability check.