List of actions
Administer First Aid
Administer First Aid
Source: Player Core pg. 241
You perform first aid on an adjacent creature that is dying or bleeding. If a creature is both dying and bleeding, choose which ailment you’re trying to treat before you roll. You can Administer First Aid again to attempt to remedy the other effect.
- Stabilize Attempt a Medicine check on a creature that has 0 Hit Points and the dying condition. The DC is equal to 5 + that creature’s recovery roll DC (typically 15 + its dying value).
- Stop Bleeding Attempt a Medicine check on a creature that is taking persistent bleed damage. The DC is usually the DC of the effect that caused the bleed.
Success If you’re trying to stabilize, the target loses the dying condition (but remains unconscious). If you’re trying to stop bleeding, the target benefits from an assisted recovery with the lowered DC for particularly appropriate help.
Critical Failure If you were trying to stabilize, the target’s dying value increases by 1. If you were trying to stop bleeding, the target immediately takes an amount of damage equal to its persistent bleed damage.
Affix a Talisman
Affix a Talisman
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You spend 10 minutes affixing a talisman to an item, placing the item on a stable surface and using the repair toolkit with both hands. You can also use this activity to remove a talisman. Attaching more than one talisman to an item deactivates all the talismans. They must be removed and re-affixed before they can be used again.
Aid
Aid
Source: Player Core pg. 416
You try to help your ally with a task. To use this reaction, you must first prepare to help, usually by using an action during your turn. You must explain to the GM exactly how you’re trying to help, and they determine whether you can Aid your ally.
When you use your Aid reaction, attempt a skill check or attack roll of a type decided by the GM. The typical DC is 15, but the GM might adjust this DC for particularly hard or easy tasks. The GM can add any relevant traits to your preparatory action or to your Aid reaction depending on the situation, or even allow you to Aid checks other than skill checks and attack rolls.
Critical Success You grant your ally a +2 circumstance bonus to the triggering check. If you’re a master with the check you attempted, the bonus is +3, and if you’re legendary, it’s +4.
Success You grant your ally a +1 circumstance bonus to the triggering check.
Critical Failure Your ally takes a –1 circumstance penalty to the triggering check.
Arrest a Fall
Arrest a Fall
Source: Player Core pg. 418
You attempt your choice of an Acrobatics check or Reflex save to slow your fall. The DC is typically 15, but it might be higher due to air turbulence or other circumstances.
Success You take no damage from the fall.
Avert Gaze
Avert Gaze
Avoid Notice
Avoid Notice
Source: Player Core pg. 438
You attempt a Stealth check to avoid notice while traveling at half speed. If you’re Avoiding Notice at the start of an encounter, you usually roll a Stealth check instead of a Perception check both to determine your initiative and to see if the enemies notice you (based on their Perception DCs, as normal for Sneak, regardless of their initiative check results).
Badger Rage
Badger Rage
Source: Player Core pg. 207
The badger enters a state of pure rage that lasts for 1 minute, until there are no enemies it can perceive, or until it falls unconscious, whichever comes first. It can’t voluntarily stop raging. While raging, the badger is affected in the following ways.
- It deals 4 additional damage with its bite attacks and 2 additional damage with its claw attacks.
- It takes a –1 penalty to AC.
- It can’t use actions that have the concentrate trait. The animal companion can Seek even while raging.
Balance
Balance
Source: Player Core pg. 233
You move across a narrow surface or uneven ground, attempting an Acrobatics check against its Balance DC. You are off-guard while on a narrow surface or uneven ground.
Critical Success You move up to your Speed.
Success You move up to your Speed, treating it as difficult terrain (every 5 feet costs 10 feet of movement).
Failure You must remain stationary to keep your balance (wasting the action) or you fall. If you fall, your turn ends.
Critical Failure You fall and your turn ends.
Bear Hug
Bear Hug
Boar Charge
Boar Charge
Source: Player Core pg. 208
The boar Strides twice in a straight line and then makes a tusk Strike. As long as it moved at least 20 feet, it gains a +2 circumstance bonus to its attack roll.
Borrow an Arcane Spell
Borrow an Arcane Spell
Source: Player Core pg. 234
If you’re an arcane spellcaster who prepares spells, you can attempt to prepare a spell from someone else’s arcane spellbook, arcane witch familiar, or the like. The GM sets the DC for the check based on the spell’s rank and rarity; it’s typically a bit easier than Learning the Spell.
Success You prepare the borrowed spell as part of your normal spell preparation.
Failure You fail to prepare the spell, but the spell slot remains available for you to prepare a different spell. You can’t try to borrow this spell again until the next time you prepare spells.
Burrow
Burrow
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You dig your way through dirt, sand, or a similar loose material at a rate up to your burrow Speed. You can’t burrow through rock or other substances denser than dirt unless you have an ability that allows you to do so.
Call on Ancient Blood
Call on Ancient Blood
Source: Player Core pg. 43
Your ancestors’ innate resistance to magic surges, before slowly ebbing down. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus until the end of this turn. This bonus also applies to the triggering save.
Cat Pounce
Cat Pounce
Source: Player Core pg. 208
The cat Strides and then Strikes. If it was undetected at the start of its Cat Pounce, it remains undetected until after the attack.
Climb
Climb
Source: Player Core pg. 234
You attempt an Athletics check to move a maximum distance of 5 feet up, down, or across an incline. You’re off-guard while climbing unless you have a climb Speed. The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the incline and environmental circumstances; you might get an automatic critical success on an incline that’s trivial to climb. If your land Speed is 40 feet or higher, increase the maximum distance by 5 feet for every 20 feet of Speed above 20 feet.
Critical Success You move along the incline, increasing the maximum distance by 5 feet.
Success You move along the incline.
Critical Failure You fall. If you began the climb on stable ground, you fall and land prone.
Coerce
Coerce
Source: Player Core pg. 240
With threats either veiled or overt, you attempt to bully a creature into doing what you want. You must spend at least 1 minute of conversation with the creature. At the end of the conversation, attempt an Intimidation check against the target’s Will DC, modified by any circumstances the GM determines. (The attitudes referenced in the effects below are summarized in the Changing Attitudes sidebar and described in full in the Conditions Appendix.)
Critical Success The target gives you the information you seek or agrees to follow your directives so long as they aren’t likely to harm the target in any way. The target continues to comply for an amount of time determined by the GM but not exceeding 1 day, at which point the target becomes unfriendly (if it wasn’t already unfriendly or hostile). However, the target is too scared of you to retaliate—at least in the short term.
Success As critical success, but once the target becomes unfriendly, they might decide to act against you—for example, by reporting you to the authorities or assisting your enemies.
Failure The target doesn’t do what you say, and if they were not already unfriendly or hostile, they become unfriendly.
Critical Failure The target refuses to comply, becomes hostile if they weren’t already, and is temporarily immune to your Coercion for at least 1 week.
Command an Animal
Command an Animal
Source: Player Core pg. 242
You issue an order to an animal. Attempt a Nature check against the animal’s Will DC. The GM might adjust the DC if the animal has a good attitude toward you, you suggest a course of action it was predisposed toward, or you offer it a treat.
You automatically fail if the animal is hostile or unfriendly to you. If the animal is helpful to you, increase your degree of success by one step. You might be able to Command an Animal more easily with a feat like Ride. Most animals know the Drop Prone, Leap, Seek, Stand, Stride, and Strike basic actions. If an animal knows an activity, such as a horse’s Gallop, you can Command the Animal to perform the activity, but you must spend as many actions on Command an Animal as the activity’s number of actions. You can also spend multiple actions to Command the Animal to perform that number of basic actions on its next turn; for instance, you could spend 3 actions to Command an Animal to Stride three times or to Stride twice and then make a Strike.
Success The animal does as you command on its next turn.
Failure The animal is hesitant or resistant, and it does nothing.
Critical Failure The animal misbehaves or misunderstands, and it takes some other action determined by the GM.
Conceal an Object
Conceal an Object
Source: Player Core pg. 244
You hide a small object on your person (such as a weapon of light Bulk). When you try to sneak a concealed object past someone who might notice it, the GM rolls your Stealth check and compares it to this passive observer’s Perception DC. Once the GM rolls your check for a concealed object, that same result is used no matter how many passive observers you try to sneak it past. If a creature is specifically searching you for an item, it can attempt a Perception check against your Stealth DC (finding the object on success).
You can also conceal an object somewhere other than your person, such as among undergrowth or in a secret compartment within a piece of furniture. In this case, characters Seeking in an area compare their Perception check results to your Stealth DC to determine whether they find the object.
Success The object remains undetected.
Failure The searcher finds the object.
Constrict
Constrict
Cover Tracks
Cover Tracks
Source: Player Core pg. 246
You cover your tracks, moving up to half your travel Speed. You don’t need to attempt a Survival check to cover your tracks, but anyone tracking you must succeed at a Survival check against your Survival DC if it is higher than the normal DC to Track.
In some cases, you might Cover Tracks in an encounter. In this case, Cover Tracks is a single action and doesn’t have the exploration trait.
Craft
Craft
Source: Player Core pg. 237
You can make an item from raw materials. You need the Alchemical Crafting skill feat to create alchemical items and the Magical Crafting skill feat to create magic items.
To Craft an item, you must meet the following requirements:
- The item is your level or lower. An item that doesn’t list a level is level 0. If the item is 9th level or higher, you must be a master in Crafting, and if it’s 17th or higher, you must be legendary.
- The item must be common, or you must otherwise have access to it.
- You have an appropriate set of tools and, in many cases, a workshop. For example, you need access to a smithy to forge a metal shield, or an alchemist’s lab to produce alchemical items.
- You must supply raw materials worth at least half the item’s Price. You always expend at least that amount of raw materials when you Craft successfully. If you’re in a settlement, you can usually spend currency to get the amount of raw materials you need, except in the case of rarer precious materials.
If your attempt to create the item is successful, you expend the raw materials you supplied. You can pay the remaining portion of the item’s Price in materials to complete the item immediately, or you can spend additional downtime days working on it. For each additional day you spend, reduce the value of the materials you need to expend to complete the item. This amount is determined using the Income Earned table, based on your proficiency rank in Crafting and using your own level instead of a task level.
After any of these downtime days, you can complete the item by spending the remaining portion of its Price in materials. If the downtime days you spend are interrupted, you can return to finish the item later, continuing where you left off. An example of Crafting appears in the sidebar below.
Critical Success Your attempt is successful. Each additional day spent Crafting reduces the materials needed to complete the item by an amount based on your level + 1 and your proficiency rank in Crafting.
Success Your attempt is successful. Each additional day spent Crafting reduces the materials needed to complete the item by an amount based on your level and your proficiency rank.
Failure You fail to complete the item. You can salvage the raw materials you supplied for their full value. If you want to try again, you must start over.
Critical Failure You fail to complete the item. You ruin 10% of the raw materials you supplied, but you can salvage the rest. If you want to try again, you must start over.
Income Earned
| Task Level | DC | Failed | Trained | Expert | Master | Legendary |
| 0 | 14 | 1 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp |
| 1 | 15 | 2 cp | 2 sp | 2 sp | 2 sp | 2 sp |
| 2 | 16 | 4 cp | 3 sp | 3 sp | 3 sp | 3 sp |
| 3 | 18 | 8 cp | 5 sp | 5 sp | 5 sp | 5 sp |
| 4 | 19 | 1 sp | 7 sp | 8 sp | 8 sp | 8 sp |
| 5 | 20 | 2 sp | 9 sp | 1 gp | 1 gp | 1 gp |
| 6 | 22 | 3 sp | 1 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp | 2 gp | 2 gp |
| 7 | 23 | 4 sp | 2 gp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp |
| 8 | 24 | 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 3 gp | 3 gp | 3 gp |
| 9 | 26 | 6 sp | 3 gp | 4 gp | 4 gp | 4 gp |
| 10 | 27 | 7 sp | 4 gp | 5 gp | 6 gp | 6 gp |
| 11 | 28 | 8 sp | 5 gp | 6 gp | 8 gp | 8 gp |
| 12 | 30 | 9 sp | 6 gp | 8 gp | 10 gp | 10 gp |
| 13 | 31 | 1 gp | 7 gp | 10 gp | 15 gp | 15 gp |
| 14 | 32 | 1 gp, 5 sp | 8 gp | 15 gp | 20 gp | 20 gp |
| 15 | 34 | 2 gp | 10 gp | 20 gp | 28 gp | 28 gp |
| 16 | 35 | 2 gp, 5 sp | 13 gp | 25 gp | 36 gp | 40 gp |
| 17 | 36 | 3 gp | 15 gp | 30 gp | 45 gp | 55 gp |
| 18 | 38 | 4 gp | 20 gp | 45 gp | 70 gp | 90 gp |
| 19 | 39 | 6 gp | 30 gp | 60 gp | 100 gp | 130 gp |
| 20 | 40 | 8 gp | 40 gp | 75 gp | 150 gp | 200 gp |
| 20 (critical success) | — | — | 50 gp | 90 gp | 175 gp | 300 gp |
Crawl
Crawl
Create Forgery
Create Forgery
Source: Player Core pg. 244
You create a forged document, usually over the course of a day or a week. The GM rolls a secret DC 20 Society check. If you need to forge a specific person’s handwriting, you need a sample of that person’s handwriting. Otherwise, you need only to have seen a similar document, and you gain up to a +4 circumstance bonus to the check (the GM determines the bonus).
Success The forgery is of good enough quality that passive observers can’t notice the fake (but see Examining Forgeries).
Failure The forgery has some obvious signs of being a fake, potentially allowing passive observers to detect it. Each time a passive observer sees the document, the GM compares your check result to the observer’s Perception DC or Society DC, whichever is higher. If your result doesn’t exceed a passive observer’s DC, that observer knows the document is a forgery.
Create a Diversion
Create a Diversion
Source: Player Core pg. 237
With a gesture, a trick, or some distracting words, you can create a diversion that draws creatures’ attention elsewhere. If you use a gesture or trick, this action gains the manipulate trait. If you use distracting words, it gains the auditory and linguistic traits.
Attempt a single Deception check and compare it to the Perception DCs of the creatures whose attention you’re trying to divert. Whether or not you succeed, creatures you attempt to divert gain a +4 circumstance bonus to their Perception DCs against your attempts to Create a Diversion for 1 minute.
Success You become hidden to each creature whose Perception DC is less than or equal to your result. (The hidden condition allows you to Sneak away) This lasts until the end of your turn or until you do anything except Step or use the Stealth skill to Hide or Sneak. If you Strike a creature, the creature remains off-guard against that attack, and you then become observed. If you do anything else, you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise.
Failure You don’t divert the attention of any creatures whose Perception DC exceeds your result, and those creatures are aware you were trying to trick them.
Darting Attack
Darting Attack
Source: Player Core pg. 209
The raptor Steps up to 10 feet and then Strikes, or Strikes and then Steps up to 10 feet.
Death Roll
Death Roll
Source: Player Core pg. 208
The crocodile tucks its legs and rolls rapidly, twisting its victim. It makes a jaws Strike with a +2 circumstance bonus to the attack roll against the grabbed creature. If it hits, it also knocks the creature prone. If it misses, it releases the creature.
Debilitating Strike
Debilitating Strike
Source: Player Core pg. 168
You apply one of the following debilitations, which lasts until the end of your next turn.
- Debilitation The target takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds.
- Debilitation The target becomes enfeebled 1.
Decipher Writing
Decipher Writing
Source: Player Core pg. 228
You attempt to decipher complicated writing or literature on an obscure topic. This usually takes 1 minute per page of text, but might take longer (typically an hour per page for decrypting ciphers or the like). The text must be in a language you can read, though the GM might allow you to attempt to decipher text written in an unfamiliar language using Society instead.
The DC is determined by the GM based on the state or complexity of the document. The GM might have you roll one check for a short text or a check for each section of a larger text.
Critical Success You understand the true meaning of the text.
Success You understand the true meaning of the text. If it was a coded document, you know the general meaning but might not have a word-for-word translation.
Failure You can’t understand the text and take a –2 circumstance penalty to further checks to decipher it.
Critical Failure You believe you understand the text on that page, but you have in fact misconstrued its message.
Defend
Defend
Source: Player Core pg. 438
You move at half your travel speed with your shield raised. If combat breaks out, you gain the benefits of Raising a Shield before your first turn begins.
Delay
Delay
Source: Player Core pg. 416
You wait for the right moment to act. The rest of your turn doesn’t happen yet. Instead, you’re removed from the initiative order. You can return to the initiative order as a free action triggered by the end of any other creature’s turn. This permanently changes your initiative to the new position. You can’t use reactions until you return to the initiative order. If you Delay an entire round without returning to the initiative order, the actions from the Delayed turn are lost, your initiative doesn’t change, and your next turn occurs at your original position in the initiative order.
When you Delay, any persistent damage or other negative effects that normally occur at the start or end of your turn occur immediately when you use the Delay action. Any beneficial effects that would end at any point during your turn also end. The GM might determine that other effects end when you Delay as well. Essentially, you can’t Delay to avoid negative consequences that would happen on your turn or to extend beneficial effects that would end on your turn.
Demoralize
Demoralize
Source: Player Core pg. 240
With a sudden shout, a well-timed taunt, or a cutting put-down, you can shake an enemy’s resolve. Choose a creature within 30 feet of you who you’re aware of. Attempt an Intimidation check against that target’s Will DC. If the target doesn’t understand the language you are speaking, or you’re not speaking a language, you take a –4 circumstance penalty to the check. Regardless of your result, the target is temporarily immune to your attempts to Demoralize it for 10 minutes.
Critical Success The target becomes frightened 2.
Success The target becomes frightened 1.
Detect Magic
Detect Magic
Source: Player Core pg. 438
You cast detect magic at regular intervals. You move at half your travel speed or slower. You have no chance of accidentally overlooking a magic aura at a travel speed up to 300 feet per minute, but must be traveling no more than 150 feet per minute to detect magic auras before the party moves into them.
Disable a Device
Disable a Device
Source: Player Core pg. 247
This action allows you to disarm a trap or another complex device. Often, a device requires numerous successes before becoming disabled, depending on its construction and complexity. A thieves’ toolkit is helpful and sometimes even required to Disable a Device, as determined by the GM, and sometimes a device requires a higher proficiency rank in Thievery to disable it.
Your Thievery check result determines your progress.
Critical Success You disable the device, or you achieve two successes toward disabling a device requiring more than one success. You leave no trace of your tampering, and you can rearm the device later, if that type of device can be rearmed.
Success You disable the device, or you achieve one success toward disabling a device that requires more than one success.
Critical Failure You trigger the device.
Disarm
Disarm
Source: Player Core pg. 236
You try to knock an item out of a creature’s grasp. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Reflex DC.
Critical Success You knock the item out of the target’s grasp. It falls to the ground in the target’s space.
Success You weaken your target’s grasp on the item. Further attempts to Disarm the target of that item gain a +2 circumstance bonus, and the target takes a –2 circumstance penalty to attacks with the item or other checks requiring a firm grasp on the item. The creature can end the effect by Interacting to change its grip on the item; otherwise, it lasts as long as the creature holds the item.
Critical Failure You lose your balance and become off-guard until the start of your next turn.
Dismiss
Dismiss
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You end an effect that states you can Dismiss it. Dismissing ends the entire effect unless noted otherwise.
Drain Bonded Item
Drain Bonded Item
Source: Player Core pg. 197
You expend the magical power stored in your bonded item. During the current turn, you can cast one spell you prepared today and already cast, without spending a spell slot. You must still Cast the Spell and meet the spell’s other requirements.
Drop Prone
Drop Prone
Earn Income
Earn Income
Source: Player Core pg. 228
You use one of your skills to make money during downtime. The GM assigns a task level representing the most lucrative job available. You can search for lower-level tasks, with the GM determining whether you find any. Sometimes you can attempt to find better work than the initial offerings, though this takes time and requires using the Diplomacy skill to Gather Information, doing some research, or socializing.
When you take on a job, the GM secretly sets the DC of your skill check. After your first day of work, you roll to determine your earnings. You gain an amount of income based on your result, the task’s level, and your proficiency rank (as listed on the Income Earned table).
You can continue working at the task on subsequent days without needing to roll again. For each day you spend after the first, you earn the same amount as the first day, up until the task’s completion. The GM determines how long you can work at the task. Most tasks last a week or two, though some can take months or even years.
Critical Success You do outstanding work. Gain the amount of currency listed for the task level + 1 and your proficiency rank.
Success You do competent work. Gain the amount of currency listed for the task level and your proficiency rank.
Failure You do shoddy work and get paid the bare minimum for your time. Gain the amount of currency listed in the failure column for the task level. The GM will likely reduce how long you can continue at the task.
Critical Failure You earn nothing for your work and are fired immediately. You can’t continue at the task. Your reputation suffers, potentially making it difficult for you to find rewarding jobs in that community in the future.
Table 4-2: Income Earned
| Task Level | DC | Failed | Trained | Expert | Master | Legendary |
| 0 | 14 | 1 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp | 5 cp |
| 1 | 15 | 2 cp | 2 sp | 2 sp | 2 sp | 2 sp |
| 2 | 16 | 4 cp | 3 sp | 3 sp | 3 sp | 3 sp |
| 3 | 18 | 8 cp | 5 sp | 5 sp | 5 sp | 5 sp |
| 4 | 19 | 1 sp | 7 sp | 8 sp | 8 sp | 8 sp |
| 5 | 20 | 2 sp | 9 sp | 1 gp | 1 gp | 1 gp |
| 6 | 22 | 3 sp | 1 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp | 2 gp | 2 gp |
| 7 | 23 | 4 sp | 2 gp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp |
| 8 | 24 | 5 sp | 2 gp, 5 sp | 3 gp | 3 gp | 3 gp |
| 9 | 26 | 6 sp | 3 gp | 4 gp | 4 gp | 4 gp |
| 10 | 27 | 7 sp | 4 gp | 5 gp | 6 gp | 6 gp |
| 11 | 28 | 8 sp | 5 gp | 6 gp | 8 gp | 8 gp |
| 12 | 30 | 9 sp | 6 gp | 8 gp | 10 gp | 10 gp |
| 13 | 31 | 1 gp | 7 gp | 10 gp | 15 gp | 15 gp |
| 14 | 32 | 1 gp, 5 sp | 8 gp | 15 gp | 20 gp | 20 gp |
| 15 | 34 | 2 gp | 10 gp | 20 gp | 28 gp | 28 gp |
| 16 | 35 | 2 gp, 5 sp | 13 gp | 25 gp | 36 gp | 40 gp |
| 17 | 36 | 3 gp | 15 gp | 30 gp | 45 gp | 55 gp |
| 18 | 38 | 4 gp | 20 gp | 45 gp | 70 gp | 90 gp |
| 19 | 39 | 6 gp | 30 gp | 60 gp | 100 gp | 130 gp |
| 20 | 40 | 8 gp | 40 gp | 75 gp | 150 gp | 200 gp |
| 20 (critical success) | — | — | 50 gp | 90 gp | 175 gp | 300 gp |
Escape
Escape
Source: Player Core pg. 416
You attempt to escape from being grabbed, immobilized, or restrained. Choose one creature, object, spell effect, hazard, or other impediment imposing any of those conditions on you. Attempt a check using your unarmed attack modifier against the DC of the effect. This is typically the Athletics DC of a creature grabbing you, the Thievery DC of a creature who tied you up, the spell DC for a spell effect, or the listed Escape DC of an object, hazard, or other impediment. You can attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics check instead of using your attack modifier if you choose (but this action still has the attack trait).
Critical Success You get free and remove the grabbed, immobilized, and restrained conditions imposed by your chosen target. You can then Stride up to 5 feet.
Success You get free and remove the grabbed, immobilized, and restrained conditions imposed by your chosen target.
Critical Failure You don’t get free, and you can’t attempt to Escape again until your next turn.
Feint
Feint
Source: Player Core pg. 239
With a misleading flourish, you leave an opponent unprepared for your real attack. Attempt a Deception check against your target’s Perception DC.
Critical Success You throw your enemy’s defenses against you entirely off. The target is off-guard against melee attacks that you attempt against it until the end of your next turn.
Success Your foe is fooled, but only momentarily. The target is off-guard against the next melee attack that you attempt against it before the end of your current turn.
Critical Failure Your feint backfires. You are off-guard against melee attacks the target attempts against you until the end of your next turn.
Fire Breath
Fire Breath
Source: Player Core pg. 209
The riding drake breathes a 30-foot cone of fire, dealing 1d6 fire damage for every 2 levels the drake has to all creatures in the area (basic Reflex save). This uses a trained DC using the drake’s Constitution modifier or an expert DC if the drake is specialized.
Fly
Fly
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You move through the air up to your fly Speed. Moving upward (straight up or diagonally) uses the rules for moving through difficult terrain. You can move straight down 10 feet for every 5 feet of movement you spend. If you Fly to the ground, you don’t take falling damage. You can use an action to Fly 0 feet to hover in place. If you’re airborne at the end of your turn and didn’t use a Fly action this round, you fall.
Flyby Attack
Flyby Attack
Source: Player Core pg. 208
The bird Flies and makes a talon Strike at any point along the way.
Follow the Expert
Follow the Expert
Source: Player Core pg. 438
Choose an ally attempting a recurring skill check while exploring, such as climbing, or performing a different exploration tactic that requires a skill check (like Avoiding Notice). The ally must be at least an expert in that skill and must be willing to provide assistance. While Following the Expert, you match their tactic or attempt similar skill checks.
Thanks to your ally’s assistance, you can add your level as a proficiency bonus to the associated skill check, even if you’re untrained. Additionally, you gain a circumstance bonus to your skill check based on your ally’s proficiency (+2 for expert, +3 for master, and +4 for legendary).
Force Open
Force Open
Source: Player Core pg. 234
Using your body, a lever, or some other tool, you attempt to forcefully open a door, window, container or heavy gate. With a high enough result, you can even smash through walls. Without a crowbar, prying something open takes a –2 item penalty to the Athletics check to Force Open.
Critical Success You open the door, window, container, or gate and can avoid damaging it in the process.
Success You break the door, window, container, or gate open, and it gains the broken condition. If it’s especially sturdy, the GM might have it take damage but not be broken.
Critical Failure Your attempt jams the door, window, container, or gate shut, imposing a –2 circumstance penalty on future attempts to Force it Open.
Frightening Display
Frightening Display
Source: Player Core pg. 206
Your ape makes a loud and frightening display, throwing a foe off balance. The ape attempts to Demoralize the target creature; this display gains the visual trait and doesn’t require language. While frightened by this ability, the target is off-guard to your ape.
Gallop
Gallop
Source: Player Core pg. 209
The horse Strides twice at a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed.
Gather Information
Gather Information
Source: Player Core pg. 239
You canvass local markets, taverns, and gathering places in an attempt to learn about a specific individual or topic. The GM determines the DC of the check and the amount of time it takes (typically 2 hours, but sometimes more), along with any benefit you might be able to gain by spending coin on bribes, drinks, or gifts.
Success You collect information about the individual or topic. The GM determines the specifics.
Critical Failure You collect incorrect information about the individual or topic.
Grab an Edge
Grab an Edge
Source: Player Core pg. 419
When you fall off or past an edge or other handhold, you can try to grab it, potentially stopping your fall. You must succeed at your choice of an Acrobatics check or a Reflex save, usually at the Climb DC. If you grab the edge or handhold, you can then Climb up using Athletics.
Critical Success You grab the edge or handhold, whether or not you have a hand free, typically by using a suitable held item to catch yourself (catching a battle axe on a ledge, for example). You still take damage from the distance fallen so far, but you treat the fall as though it were 30 feet shorter.
Success If you have at least one hand free, you grab the edge or handhold, stopping your fall. You still take damage from the distance fallen so far, but you treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter. If you have no hands free, you continue to fall as if you had failed the check.
Critical Failure You continue to fall, and if you’ve fallen 20 feet or more before you use this reaction, you take 10 bludgeoning damage from the impact for every 20 feet fallen.
Grab and Sting
Grab and Sting
Source: Player Core pg. 210
The scorpion holds its foe in place with its pincers in order to sting it. It makes a pincer Strike. If the Strike hits, the target creature automatically becomes grabbed by the scorpion, which then makes a stinger Strike against it. The grabbed condition lasts until the end of your next turn.
Grapple
Grapple
Source: Player Core pg. 235
Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Fortitude DC. You can Grapple a target you already have grabbed or restrained without having a hand free.
Critical Success Your target is restrained until the end of your next turn unless you move or your target Escapes.
Success Your target is grabbed until the end of your next turn unless you move or your target Escapes.
Failure You fail to grab your target. If you already had the target grabbed or restrained using a Grapple, those conditions on the target end.
Critical Failure If you already had the target grabbed or restrained, it breaks free. Your target can either grab you, as if it succeeded at using the Grapple action against you, or force you to fall and land prone.
Hide
Hide
Source: Player Core pg. 244
You huddle behind cover or greater cover or deeper into concealment to become hidden, rather than observed. The GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DC of each creature you’re observed by but that you have cover or greater cover against or are concealed from. You get a +2 circumstance bonus to your check if you have standard cover (or +4 from greater cover).
Success If the creature could see you, you’re now hidden from it instead of observed. If you were hidden from or undetected by the creature, you retain that condition.
If you successfully become hidden to a creature but then cease to have cover or greater cover against it or be concealed from it, you become observed again. You cease being hidden if you do anything except Hide, Sneak, or Step. If you attempt to Strike a creature, the creature remains off-guard against that attack, and you then become observed. If you do anything else, you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check.
If a creature uses Seek to make you observed by it, you must successfully Hide to become hidden from it again.
High Jump
High Jump
Source: Player Core pg. 235
You Stride, then attempt a DC 30 Athletics check to jump vertically. If you didn’t Stride at least 10 feet, you automatically fail. This DC might be increased or decreased due to the situation, as determined by the GM.
Critical Success You Leap up to 8 feet vertically and 10 feet horizontally.
Success You Leap up to 5 feet vertically and 5 feet horizontally.
Failure You Leap normally.
Critical Failure You fall prone in your space.
Hunt Prey
Hunt Prey
Source: Player Core pg. 154
You designate a single creature as your prey and focus your attacks against that creature. You must be able to see or hear the prey, or you must be tracking the prey during exploration. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks when you Seek your prey and a +2 circumstance bonus to Survival checks when you Track your prey. You also ignore the penalty for making ranged attacks within your second range increment against the prey you’re hunting.
You can have only one creature designated as your prey at a time. If you use Hunt Prey against a creature when you already have a creature designated, the prior creature loses the designation and the new prey gains the designation. Your designation lasts until your next daily preparations.
Hustle
Hustle
Source: Player Core pg. 438
You strain yourself to move at double your travel speed. You can Hustle only for a number of minutes equal to your Constitution modifier × 10 (minimum 10 minutes). If you are in a group that is Hustling, use the lowest Constitution modifier among everyone to determine how fast the group can Hustle together.
Identify Alchemy
Identify Alchemy
Source: Player Core pg. 237
You can identify the nature of an alchemical item with 10 minutes of testing using your alchemist’s toolkit. If your attempt is interrupted in any way, you must start over.
Success You identify the item and the means of activating it.
Failure You fail to identify the item but can try again.
Critical Failure You misidentify the item as another item of the GM’s choice.
Identify Magic
Identify Magic
Source: Player Core pg. 230
Once you discover that an item, location, or ongoing effect is magical, you can spend 10 minutes to try to identify the particulars of its magic. If your attempt is interrupted, you must start over. The GM sets the DC for your check. Cursed magic or esoteric subjects usually have higher DCs or might even be impossible to identify using this activity alone. Heightening a spell doesn’t increase the DC to identify it.
Critical Success You learn all the attributes of the magic, including its name (for an effect), what it does, any means of activating it (for an item or location), and whether it is cursed.
Success For an item or location, you get a sense of what it does and learn any means of activating it. For an ongoing effect (such as a spell with a duration), you learn the effect’s name and what it does. You can’t try again in hopes of getting a critical success.
Failure You fail to identify the magic and can’t try again for 1 day.
Critical Failure You misidentify the magic as something else of the GM’s choice.
Impersonate
Impersonate
Source: Player Core pg. 238
You create a disguise to pass yourself off as someone or something you are not. Assembling a convincing disguise takes 10 minutes and requires a disguise kit, but a simpler, quicker disguise might do the job if you’re not trying to imitate a specific individual, at the GM’s discretion.
In most cases, creatures have a chance to detect your deception only if they use the Seek action to attempt Perception checks against your Deception DC. If you attempt to directly interact with someone while disguised, the GM rolls a secret Deception check for you against that creature’s Perception DC instead.
If you’re disguised as a specific individual, the GM might give creatures you interact with a circumstance bonus based on how well they know the person you’re imitating, or the GM might roll a secret Deception check even if you aren’t directly interacting with others.
Success You trick the creature into thinking you’re the person you’re disguised as. You might have to attempt a new check if your behavior changes.
Failure The creature can tell you’re not who you claim to be.
Critical Failure The creature can tell you’re not who you claim to be, and it recognizes you if it would know you without a disguise.
Investigate
Investigate
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You seek out information about your surroundings while traveling at half speed. You use Recall Knowledge as a secret check to discover clues among the various things you can see and engage with as you journey along. You can use any skill that has a Recall Knowledge action while Investigating, but the GM determines whether the skill is relevant to the clues you could find.
Jinx
Jinx
Source: Player Core pg. 62
You can curse another creature with clumsiness. This curse has a range of 30 feet, and you must be able to see your target. The target gets a Will saving throw against your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher.
Success The target is unaffected and temporarily immune for 24 hours.
Failure The target is clumsy 1 for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The target is clumsy 2 for 1 minute.
Leap
Leap
Source: Player Core pg. 417
You take a short horizontal or vertical jump. Jumping a greater distance requires using the Athletics skill for a High Jump or Long Jump.
- Horizontal Jump up to 10 feet horizontally if your Speed is at least 15 feet, or up to 15 feet horizontally if your Speed is at least 30 feet. You land in the space where your Leap ends (meaning you can typically clear a 5-foot gap, or a 10-foot gap if your Speed is 30 feet or more). You can’t make a horizontal Leap if your Speed is less than 15 feet.
- Vertical Jump up to 3 feet vertically and 5 feet horizontally onto an elevated surface.
Learn a Spell
Learn a Spell
Source: Player Core pg. 230
You can gain access to a new spell of your tradition from someone who knows that spell or from magical writing like a spellbook or scroll. If you can cast spells of multiple traditions, you can Learn a Spell of any of those traditions, but you must use the corresponding skill to do so. For example, if you were a cleric with the bard multiclass archetype, you couldn’t use Religion to add an occult spell to your bardic spell repertoire.
To learn the spell, you must do the following:
- Spend 1 hour per spell rank, during which you must remain in conversation with a person who knows the spell or have the magical writing in your possession.
- Have materials with the Price indicated in the Learning a Spell table.
- Attempt a skill check for the skill corresponding to your tradition (DC determined by the GM, often close to the DC on the Learning a Spell Table). Uncommon or rare spells have higher DCs; full guidelines for the GM appear on page 52 of GM Core.
Critical Success You expend half the materials and learn the spell.
Success You expend the materials and learn the spell.
Failure You fail to learn the spell but can try again after you gain a level. The materials aren’t expended.
Critical Failure As failure, except you expend half the materials.
Table 4-3: Learning a Spell
| Spell Level | Price | Typical DC |
| 1st or cantrip | 2 gp | 15 |
| 2nd | 6 gp | 18 |
| 3rd | 16 gp | 20 |
| 4th | 36 gp | 23 |
| 5th | 70 gp | 26 |
| 6th | 140 gp | 28 |
| 7th | 300 gp | 31 |
| 8th | 650 gp | 34 |
| 9th | 1,500 gp | 36 |
| 10th | 7,000 gp | 41 |
Lie
Lie
Source: Player Core pg. 238
You try to fool someone with an untruth. Doing so takes at least 1 round, or longer if the lie is elaborate. You roll a single Deception check and compare it against the Perception DC of every creature you are trying to fool. The GM might give them a circumstance bonus based on the situation and the nature of the lie you are trying to tell. Elaborate or highly unbelievable lies are much harder to get a creature to believe than simpler and more believable lies, and some lies are so big that it’s impossible to get anyone to believe them.
At the GM’s discretion, if a creature initially believes your lie, it might attempt a Perception check later to Sense Motive against your Deception DC to realize it’s a lie. This usually happens if the creature discovers enough evidence to counter your statements.
Success The target believes your lie.
Failure The target doesn’t believe your lie and gains a +4 circumstance bonus against your attempts to Lie for the duration of your conversation. The target is also more likely to be suspicious of you in the future.
Long Jump
Long Jump
Source: Player Core pg. 235
You Stride, then attempt a DC 15 Athletics check to make a long jump in the direction you were Striding. If you didn’t Stride at least 10 feet, you automatically fail your check. The GM might increase or decrease this DC depending on the situation.
Success You Leap up to a distance equal to your check result rounded down to the nearest 5 feet. You can’t jump farther than your land Speed.
Failure You make a normal horizontal Leap.
Critical Failure You make a normal horizontal Leap, then fall and land prone.
Long-Term Rest
Long-Term Rest
Source: Player Core pg. 440
You can spend an entire day and night resting during downtime to recover Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1) multiplied by twice your level.
Make an Impression
Make an Impression
Source: Player Core pg. 239
With at least 1 minute of conversation, during which you engage in charismatic overtures, flattery, and other acts of goodwill, you seek to make a good impression on someone to make them temporarily agreeable. At the end of the conversation, attempt a Diplomacy check against the Will DC of one target. You can instead choose up to five targets if you take a –2 penalty. The GM might add other bonuses or penalties based on the situation. Any impression you make lasts for only the current social interaction unless the GM decides otherwise. See the Changing Attitudes sidebar for a summary of the attitude conditions.
Critical Success The target’s attitude toward you improves by two steps.
Success The target’s attitude toward you improves by one step.
Critical Failure The target’s attitude toward you decreases by one step.
Maneuver in Flight
Maneuver in Flight
Source: Player Core pg. 233
You try a difficult maneuver while flying. Attempt an Acrobatics check. The GM determines what maneuvers are possible, but they rarely allow you to move farther than your fly Speed.
Success You succeed at the maneuver.
Failure Your maneuver fails. The GM chooses if you simply can’t move or if some other detrimental effect happens. The outcome should be appropriate for the maneuver you attempted (for instance, being blown off course if you were trying to fly against a strong wind).
Critical Failure As failure, but the consequence is more dire.
Master Strike
Master Strike
Source: Player Core pg. 169
The target attempts a Fortitude save against your class DC. It then becomes temporarily immune to your Master Strike for 1 day.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is enfeebled 2 until the end of your next turn.
Failure The target is paralyzed for 4 rounds.
Critical Failure The target is paralyzed for 4 rounds, knocked unconscious for 2 hours, or killed (your choice).
Mount
Mount
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You move onto the creature and ride it. If you’re already mounted, you can instead use this action to dismount, moving off the mount into a space adjacent to it.
Palm an Object
Palm an Object
Source: Player Core pg. 246
You pick up a small, unattended object and try not to be noticed. Roll a single Thievery check against the Perception DCs of all creatures who are currently observing you. You can typically only Palm Objects of negligible Bulk, though the GM might determine otherwise depending on the situation.
Success The creature doesn’t notice you Palming the Object.
Failure The creature notices you Palming the Object.
Perform
Perform
Source: Player Core pg. 243
When making a brief performance—one song, a quick dance, or a few jokes—you use the Perform action. This action is most useful when you want to prove your capability or impress someone quickly. Performing rarely has an impact on its own, but it might influence the DCs of subsequent Diplomacy checks against the observers, or even change their attitudes if the GM sees fit.
Critical Success Your performance impresses the observers, and they’re likely to share stories of your ability.
Success You prove yourself, and observers appreciate the quality of your performance.
Failure Your performance falls flat.
Critical Failure You demonstrate only incompetence.
Pick a Lock
Pick a Lock
Source: Player Core pg. 247
Opening a lock without a key is very similar to Disabling a Device, but the DC of the check is determined by the complexity and construction of the lock you are attempting to pick (locks and their DCs can be found on their page). Locks of higher quality might require multiple successes to unlock. If you lack the proper tools, the GM might let you use improvised picks, which are treated as a shoddy toolkit.
Critical Success You unlock the lock, or you achieve two successes toward opening a lock that requires more than one success. You leave no trace of your tampering.
Success You open the lock, or you achieve one success toward opening a lock that requires more than one success. You leave behind damage that indicates the lock was picked on close scrutiny.
Critical Failure You break your toolkit and leave behind obvious damage. Fixing a broken toolkit requires using Crafting to Repair it or else swapping in replacement picks (costing 3 sp, or 3 gp for an infiltrator thieves’ toolkit).
Point Out
Point Out
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You indicate a creature that you can see to one or more allies, gesturing in a direction and describing the distance verbally. That creature is hidden to your allies, rather than undetected. This works only for allies who can see you and are in a position where they could potentially detect the target. If your allies can’t hear or understand you, they must succeed at a Perception check against the creature’s Stealth DC or they misunderstand and believe the target is in a different location.
Raise a Shield
Raise a Shield
Source: Player Core pg. 419
You position your shield to protect yourself. When you have Raised a Shield, you gain its listed circumstance bonus to AC. Your shield remains raised until the start of your next turn.
Reactive Strike
Reactive Strike
Source: Player Core pg. 138
You lash out at a foe that leaves an opening. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Ready
Ready
Source: Player Core pg. 417
You prepare to use an action that will occur outside your turn. Choose a single action or free action you can use, and designate a trigger. Your turn then ends. If the trigger you designated occurs before the start of your next turn, you can use the chosen action as a reaction (provided you still meet the requirements to use it). You can’t Ready a free action that already has a trigger.
If you have a multiple attack penalty and your readied action is an attack action, your readied attack takes the multiple attack penalty you had at the time you used Ready. This is one of the few times the multiple attack penalty applies when it’s not your turn.
Recall Knowledge
Recall Knowledge
Source: Player Core pg. 231
You attempt a skill check to try to remember a bit of knowledge regarding a topic related to that skill. Suggest which skill you’d like to use and ask the GM one question. The GM determines the DC. You might need to collaborate with the GM to narrow down the question or skills, and you can decide not to Recall Knowledge before committing to the action if you can’t don’t like your options.
Critical Success You recall the knowledge accurately. The GM answers your question truthfully and either tells you additional information or context, or answers one followup question.
Success You recall the knowledge accurately. The GM answers your question truthfully.
Critical Failure You recall incorrect information. The GM answers your question falsely (or decides to give you no information, as on a failure).
Refocus
Refocus
Source: Player Core pg. 298
You spend 10 minutes performing deeds to restore your magical connection. This restores 1 Focus Point to your focus pool. The deeds you need to perform are specified in the class or ability that gives you your focus spells. These deeds can usually overlap with other tasks that relate to the source of your focus spells. For instance, a cleric with focus spells from a holy deity can usually Refocus while tending the wounds of their allies.
Release
Release
Source: Player Core pg. 417
You release something you’re holding in your hand or hands. This might mean dropping an item, removing one hand from your weapon while continuing to hold it in another hand, releasing a rope suspending a chandelier, or performing a similar action. Unlike most manipulate actions, Release does not trigger reactions that can be triggered by actions with the manipulate trait (such as Reactive Strike).
If you want to prepare to Release something outside of your turn, use the Ready activity.
Repair
Repair
Source: Player Core pg. 236
You spend 10 minutes attempting to fix a damaged item, placing the item on a stable surface and using the repair toolkit with both hands. Roll a Crafting check. The GM sets the DC, but it’s usually about the same DC to Repair a given item as it is to Craft it in the first place. You can’t Repair a destroyed item.
Critical Success You restore 10 Hit Points to the item, plus an additional 10 Hit Points per proficiency rank you have in Crafting (a total of 20 HP if you’re trained, 30 HP if you’re an expert, 40 HP if you’re a master, or 50 HP if you’re legendary).
Success You restore 5 Hit Points to the item, plus an additional 5 per proficiency rank you have in Crafting (for a total of 10 HP if you are trained, 15 HP if you’re an expert, 20 HP if you’re a master, or 25 HP if you’re legendary).
Critical Failure You deal 2d6 damage to the item. Apply the item’s Hardness to this damage.
Repeat a Spell
Repeat a Spell
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You repeatedly cast the same spell while moving at half speed. Typically, this spell is a cantrip that you want to have in effect in the event a combat breaks out, and it must be one you can cast in 2 actions or fewer. Repeating a spell that requires making complex decisions, such as figment, can make you fatigued, as determined by the GM.
Reposition
Reposition
Source: Player Core pg. 235
You muscle a creature or object around. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Fortitude DC.
Critical Success You move the creature up to 10 feet. It must remain within your reach during this movement, and you can’t move it into or through obstacles.
Success You move the target up to 5 feet. It must remain within your reach during this movement, and you can’t move it into or through obstacles.
Critical Failure The target can move you up to 5 feet as though it successfully Repositioned you.
Request
Request
Source: Player Core pg. 239
You can make a request of a creature that’s friendly or helpful to you. You must couch the request in terms that the target would accept given their current attitude toward you. The GM sets the DC based on the difficulty of the request. Some requests are unsavory or impossible, and even a helpful NPC would never agree to them.
Critical Success The target agrees to your request without qualifications.
Success The target agrees to your request, but they might demand added provisions or alterations to the request.
Failure The target refuses the request, though they might propose an alternative that is less extreme.
Critical Failure Not only does the target refuse the request, but their attitude toward you decreases by one step due to the temerity of the request.
Retraining
Retraining
Source: Player Core pg. 440
Retraining offers a way to alter some of your character choices, which is helpful when you want to take your character in a new direction or change decisions that didn’t meet your expectations. You can retrain feats, skills, and some selectable class features. You can’t retrain your ancestry, heritage, background, class, or ability scores. You can’t perform other downtime activities while retraining.
Retraining usually requires you to spend time learning from a teacher, whether that entails physical training, studying at a library, or falling into shared magical trances. Your GM determines whether you can get proper training or whether something can be retrained at all. In some cases, you’ll have to pay your instructor.
Some abilities can be difficult or impossible to retrain (for instance, a sorcerer can retrain their bloodline only in extraordinary circumstances).
When retraining, you generally can’t make choices you couldn’t make when you selected the original option. For instance, you can’t exchange a 2nd-level skill feat for a 4th-level one, or for one that requires prerequisites you didn’t meet at the time you took the original feat. If you don’t remember whether you met the prerequisites at the time, ask your GM to make the call. If you cease to meet the prerequisites for an ability due to retraining, you can’t use that ability. You might need to retrain several abilities in sequence in order to get all the abilities you want.
You can also spend a week to retrain an initial trained skill you gained during character creation.
Scout
Scout
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You scout ahead and behind the group to watch danger, moving at half speed. At the start of the next encounter, every creature in your party gains a +1 circumstance bonus to their initiative rolls.
Search
Search
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You Seek meticulously for hidden doors, concealed hazards, and so on. You can usually make an educated guess as to which locations are best to check and move at half speed, but if you want to be thorough and guarantee you checked everything, you need to travel at a Speed of no more than 300 feet per minute, or 150 feet per minute to ensure you check everything before you walk into it. You can always move more slowly while Searching to cover the area more thoroughly, and the Expeditious Search feat increases these maximum Speeds. If you come across a secret door, item, or hazard while Searching, the GM will attempt a free secret check to Seek to see if you notice the hidden object or hazard. In locations with many objects to search, you have to stop and spend significantly longer to search thoroughly.
Seek
Seek
Source: Player Core pg. 417
You scan an area for signs of creatures or objects, possibly including secret doors or hazards. Choose an area to scan. The GM determines the area you can scan with one Seek action—almost always 30 feet or less in any dimension. The GM might impose a penalty if you search far away from you or adjust the number of actions it takes to Seek a particularly cluttered area.
The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Stealth DCs of any undetected or hidden creatures in the area, or the DC to detect each object in the area (as determined by the GM or by someone Concealing the Object). A creature you detect might remain hidden, rather than becoming observed, if you’re using an imprecise sense or if an effect (such as invisibility) prevents the subject from being observed.
Critical Success Any undetected or hidden creature you critically succeeded against becomes observed by you. You learn the location of objects in the area you critically succeeded against.
Success Any undetected creature you succeeded against becomes hidden from you instead of undetected, and any hidden creature you succeeded against becomes observed by you. You learn the location of any object or get a clue to its whereabouts, as determined by the GM.
Sense Direction
Sense Direction
Source: Player Core pg. 246
Using the stars, the position of the sun, traits of the geography or flora, or the behavior of fauna, you can stay oriented in the wild. Typically, you attempt a Survival check only once per day, but some environments or changes might necessitate rolling more often. The GM determines the DC and how long this activity takes (usually just a minute or so). More unusual locales or those you’re unfamiliar with might require you to have a minimum proficiency rank to Sense Direction. Without a compass, you take a –2 item penalty to checks to Sense Direction.
Critical Success You get an excellent sense of where you are. If you are in an environment with cardinal directions, you know them exactly.
Success You gain enough orientation to avoid becoming hopelessly lost. If you are in an environment with cardinal directions, you have a sense of those directions.
Sense Motive
Sense Motive
Source: Player Core pg. 417
You try to tell whether a creature’s behavior is abnormal. Choose one creature and assess it for odd body language, signs of nervousness, and other indicators that it might be trying to deceive someone. The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Deception DC of the creature, the DC of a spell affecting the creature’s mental state, or another appropriate DC determined by the GM. You typically can’t try to Sense the Motive of the same creature again until the situation changes significantly.
Critical Success You determine the creature’s true intentions and get a solid idea of any mental magic affecting it.
Success You can tell whether the creature is behaving normally, but you don’t know its exact intentions or what magic might be affecting it.
Failure You detect what a deceptive creature wants you to believe. If they’re not being deceptive, you believe they’re behaving normally.
Critical Failure You get a false sense of the creature’s intentions.
Shove
Shove
Source: Player Core pg. 235
You push a creature away from you. Attempt an Athletics check against your target’s Fortitude DC.
Critical Success You push your target up to 10 feet away from you. You can Stride after it, but you must move the same distance and in the same direction.
Success You push your target back 5 feet. You can Stride after it, but you must move the same distance and in the same direction.
Critical Failure You lose your balance, fall, and land prone.
Shred
Shred
Source: Player Core pg. 210
The shark viciously rips into the wound. The target of the shark’s Strike takes 1d8 slashing damage (2d8 for a mature shark or 3d8 for a specialized companion).
Sneak
Sneak
Source: Player Core pg. 245
You attempt to move to another place while becoming or staying undetected. Stride up to half your Speed. (You can use Sneak while Burrowing, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming instead of Striding if you have the corresponding movement type; you must move at half that Speed.)
At the end of your movement, the GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DC of each creature you were hidden from or undetected by at the start of your movement. If you have cover or greater cover from the creature throughout your Stride, you gain the +2 circumstance bonus from cover (or +4 from greater cover) to your Stealth check. Because you’re moving, the bonus increase from Taking Cover doesn’t apply. You don’t get to roll against a creature if, at the end of your movement, you neither are concealed from it nor have cover or greater cover against it. You automatically become observed by such a creature.
Success You’re undetected by the creature during your movement and remain undetected by the creature at the end of it.
You become observed as soon as you do anything other than Hide, Sneak, or Step. If you attempt to Strike a creature, the creature remains off-guard against that attack, and you then become observed. If you do anything else, you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check. If you speak or make a deliberate loud noise, you become hidden instead of undetected.
If a creature uses Seek and you become hidden to it as a result, you must Sneak if you want to become undetected by that creature again.
Failure A telltale sound or other sign gives your position away, though you still remain unseen. You’re hidden from the creature throughout your movement and remain so.
Critical Failure You’re spotted! You’re observed by the creature throughout your movement and remain so. If you’re invisible and were hidden from the creature, instead of being observed you’re hidden throughout your movement and remain so.
Squeeze
Squeeze
Source: Player Core pg. 233
You contort yourself to squeeze through a space so small you can barely fit through. This action is for exceptionally small spaces; many tight spaces are difficult terrain that you can move through more quickly and without a check.
Critical Success You squeeze through the tight space in 1 minute per 10 feet of squeezing.
Success You squeeze through in 1 minute per 5 feet.
Critical Failure You become stuck in the tight space. While you’re stuck, you can spend 1 minute attempting another Acrobatics check at the same DC. Any result on that check other than a critical failure causes you to become unstuck.
Stand
Stand
Steal
Steal
Source: Player Core pg. 246
You try to take a small object from another creature without being noticed. Typically, you can Steal only an object of negligible Bulk, and you automatically fail if the creature who has the object is in combat or on guard.
Attempt a Thievery check to determine if you successfully Steal the object. The DC is usually the Perception DC of the creature wearing the object. It’s easiest to steal an object that is worn but not closely guarded (like a loosely carried pouch filled with coins, or an object within such a pouch). The GM might increase the DC if the object is protected or if the nature of the object makes it harder to steal (such as a very small item in a large pack, or a sheet of parchment mixed in with other documents). For instance, the DC is typically 5 higher if the object is in a pocket, held in a creature’s hand, or similarly protected.
You might also need to compare your Thievery check result against the Perception DCs of observers other than the person wearing the object. The GM might impose a circumstance penalty to the DCs of observers who are distracted.
Success You steal the item without the bearer noticing, or an observer doesn’t see you take or attempt to take the item.
Failure The item’s bearer notices your attempt before you can take the object, or an observer sees you take or attempt to take the item. The GM determines the response of any creature that notices your theft.
Step
Step
Source: Player Core pg. 418
You carefully move 5 feet. Unlike most types of movement, Stepping doesn’t trigger reactions, such as Reactive Strike, that can be triggered by move actions or upon leaving or entering a square.
You can’t Step into difficult terrain, and you can’t Step using a Speed other than your land Speed.
Stride
Stride
Strike
Strike
Source: Player Core pg. 418
You attack with a weapon you’re wielding or with an unarmed attack, targeting one creature within your reach (for a melee attack) or within range (for a ranged attack). Roll an attack roll using the attack modifier for the weapon or unarmed attack you’re using, and compare the result to the target creature’s AC to determine the effect.
Critical Success You make a damage roll according to the weapon or unarmed attack and deal double damage (see Doubling and Halving Damage for rules on doubling damage).
Success You make a damage roll according to the weapon or unarmed attack and deal damage.
Subsist
Subsist
Source: Player Core pg. 232
You try to provide food and shelter for yourself, and possibly others as well, with a standard of living described on page 295. The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the place where you’re trying to Subsist. You might need a minimum proficiency rank to Subsist in particularly strange environments. Unlike most downtime activities, you can Subsist after 8 hours or less of exploration, but if you do, you take a –5 penalty.
Critical Success You either provide a subsistence living for yourself and one additional creature, or you improve your own food and shelter, granting yourself a comfortable living.
Success You find enough food and shelter with basic protection from the elements to provide you a subsistence living.
Failure You’re exposed to the elements and don’t get enough food, becoming fatigued until you attain sufficient food and shelter.
Critical Failure You attract trouble, eat something you shouldn’t, or otherwise worsen your situation. You take a –2 circumstance penalty to checks to Subsist for 1 week. You don’t find any food at all; if you don’t have any stored up, you’re in danger of starving or dying of thirst if you continue failing.
Sustain
Sustain
Source: Player Core pg. 419
Choose one of your effects that has a sustained duration or lists a special benefit when you Sustain it. Most such effects come from spells or magic item activations. If the effect has a sustained duration, its duration extends until the end of your next turn. (Sustaining more than once in the same turn doesn’t extend the duration to subsequent turns.) If an ability can be sustained but doesn’t list how long, it can be sustained up to 10 minutes.
An effect might list an additional benefit that occurs if you Sustain it, and this can even appear on effects that don’t have a sustained duration. If the effect has both a special benefit and a sustained duration, your Sustain action extends the duration as well as having the special benefit.
If your Sustain action is disrupted, the ability ends.
Sustain and Effect
Sustain and Effect
Source: Player Core pg. 439
You Sustain one effect with a sustained duration while moving at half speed. Most such effects can be sustained for 10 minutes, though some specify they can be sustained for a different duration. Sustaining an effect that requires making complex decisions, such as spectral weapon, can make you fatigued, as determined by the GM.
Swim
Swim
Source: Player Core pg. 235
You attempt an Athletics check to move a maximum distance of 10 feet through water. The GM determines the DC based on the turbulence or danger of the water; in most instances of calm water, you get an automatic critical success. If your land Speed is 40 feet or higher, increase the maximum possible distance by 5 feet for every 20 feet of Speed above 20 feet.
If you end your turn in water and haven’t succeeded at a Swim action that turn, you sink 10 feet or get moved by the current, as determined by the GM. This doesn’t apply if your last action on your turn was to enter the water.
Critical Success You move through the water, increasing the maximum distance by 5 feet.
Success You move through the water.
Critical Failure You make no progress. If you’re holding your breath, you lose 1 round of air.
Take Cover
Take Cover
Source: Player Core pg. 418
You press yourself against a wall or duck behind an obstacle to take better advantage of cover. If you would have standard cover, you instead gain greater cover, which provides a +4 circumstance bonus to AC; to Reflex saves against area effects; and to Stealth checks to Hide, Sneak, or otherwise avoid detection. Otherwise, you gain the benefits of standard cover (a +2 circumstance bonus instead). This lasts until you move from your current space, use an attack action, become unconscious, or end this effect as a free action.
Takedown
Takedown
Throw Rock
Throw Rock
Source: Player Core pg. 206
The arboreal sapling Interacts to pick up a rock within reach or retrieve a stowed rock, then throws it with a ranged rock Strike that deals a base of 1d6 bludgeoning damage with a range increment of 30 feet. The damage is 2d6 for a mature arboreal sapling and 3d6 for a specialized one.
Track
Track
Source: Player Core pg. 246
You follow tracks, moving at up to half your travel Speed. After a successful check to Track, you can continue following the tracks at half your Speed without attempting additional checks for up to 1 hour.
In some cases, you might Track in an encounter. In this case, Track is a single action and doesn’t have the exploration trait, but you might need to roll more often because you’re in a tense situation. The GM determines how often you must attempt this check.
You attempt your Survival check when you start Tracking, once every hour you continue tracking, and any time something significant changes in the trail. The GM determines the DCs for such checks, depending on the freshness of the trail, the weather, and the type of ground.
Success You find the trail or continue to follow the one you’re already following.
Failure You lose the trail but can try again after a 1-hour delay.
Critical Failure You lose the trail and can’t try again for 24 hours.
Treat Disease
Treat Disease
Source: Player Core pg. 242
You spend at least 8 hours caring for a diseased creature. Attempt a Medicine check against the disease’s DC. After you attempt to Treat a Disease for a creature, you can’t try again until after that creature’s next save against the disease.
Critical Success You grant the creature a +4 circumstance bonus to its next saving throw against the disease.
Success You grant the creature a +2 circumstance bonus to its next saving throw against the disease.
Critical Failure Your efforts cause the creature to take a –2 circumstance penalty to its next save against the disease.
Treat Poison
Treat Poison
Source: Player Core pg. 242
You treat a patient to prevent the spread of poison. Attempt a Medicine check against the poison’s DC. After you attempt to Treat a Poison for a creature, you can’t try again until after the next time that creature attempts a save against the poison.
Critical Success You grant the creature a +4 circumstance bonus to its next saving throw against the poison.
Success You grant the creature a +2 circumstance bonus to its next saving throw against the poison.
Critical Failure Your efforts cause the creature to take a –2 circumstance penalty to its next save against the poison.
Treat Wounds
Treat Wounds
Source: Player Core pg. 242
You spend 10 minutes treating one injured living creature (targeting yourself, if you so choose). The target is then temporarily immune to Treat Wounds actions for 1 hour, but this interval overlaps with the time you spent treating (so a patient can be treated once per hour, not once per 70 minutes).
The Medicine check DC is usually 15, though the GM might adjust it based on the circumstances, such as treating a patient outside in a storm, or treating magically cursed wounds. If you’re an expert in Medicine, you can instead attempt a DC 20 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 10; if you’re a master of Medicine, you can instead attempt a DC 30 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 30; and if you’re legendary, you can instead attempt a DC 40 check to increase the Hit Points regained by 50. The damage dealt on a critical failure remains the same.
If you succeed at your check, you can continue treating the target to grant additional healing. If you treat it for a total of 1 hour, double the Hit Points it regains from Treat Wounds.
The result of your Medicine check determines how many Hit Points the target regains.
Critical Success The target regains 4d8 Hit Points and loses the wounded condition.
Success The target regains 2d8 Hit Points, and loses the wounded condition.
Critical Failure The target takes 1d8 damage.
Trip
Trip
Source: Player Core pg. 236
You try to knock a creature to the ground. Attempt an Athletics check against the target’s Reflex DC.
Critical Success The target falls, lands prone, and takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
Success The target falls and lands prone.
Critical Failure You lose your balance, fall, and land prone.
Tumble Through
Tumble Through
Source: Player Core pg. 233
You Stride up to your Speed. During this movement, you can try to move through the space of one enemy. Attempt an Acrobatics check against the enemy’s Reflex DC as soon as you try to enter its space. You can Tumble Through using Climb, Fly, Swim, or another action instead of Stride in the appropriate environment.
Success You move through the enemy’s space, treating the squares in its space as difficult terrain (every 5 feet costs 10 feet of movement). If you don’t have enough Speed to move all the way through its space, you get the same effect as a failure.
Failure Your movement ends, and you trigger reactions as if you had moved out of the square you started in.
Wing Thrash
Wing Thrash
Source: Player Core pg. 207
The bat thrashes wildly with its wings, making wing Strikes against up to three adjacent foes. Each attack counts toward the bat’s multiple attack penalty, but the penalty only increases after all the attacks have been made.