New Skills

How are they different in Dusk Veil?

One thing we must be aware of is the balance of skills in Pathfinder 2^nd Edition.  We cannot go adding new skills willy nilly or it would disrupt the system as presented. Luckily, PF2e is robust enough that many actions are covered by the more open-ended skills, such as Lore, or Subsist action of Society.  That being said, the current skill list does not have everything we need to run a game in a modern setting.

To that end, and with my Core Design Philosophy in mind, we will need two new skills.  But first, let’s give a brief overview of how the current Skills can interact with our modern world.

The skills that pay the bills

Acrobatics and Athletics are already pretty straightforward.  Since these skills simply represent your character’s physical prowess, there is no need to change these at all or go into much detail. The same goes for Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, and Performance (though modern instruments and types of performance should be added). Arcana is a fine skill for our game, but it would certainly be rarer in the world, as would Occultism.  For PC’s who are already steeped in the world of underground magic, it makes perfect sense that they could have these skills.  As most actions are already Trained (other than Recall Knowledge which will be satisfactorily difficult without ranks) little change is needed here. 

Crafting is the first skill we really need to look at.  As it stands now, Crafting is mainly used to repair items (like those pesky broken shields) or earn an income.  Both actions work fine in our setting but may need a slight update on descriptions. 

Crafting should also be used for most DIY-like checks.  Are you the person who fixes their car after watching some videos on the internet?  Roll a craft to replace your alternator.  But should we include bonuses for said video tutorials?  Maybe.  But often just searching for the thing and actually finding it and putting the information to good use are very different.  Here’s how we will handle the use of the modern internet on these skill checks.

Skill Action: Internet Research

The GM makes a Recall Knowledge check against the appropriate DC for the task you are attempting to find information about.  You can use any relevant skill that allows a Recall Knowledge action.  This research takes more time depending on the level of task you are attempting.  This should be determined by your GM, but a good baseline is 20 minutes per level of the task, so Researching a level 3 task would take 1 hour.  You gain bonuses depending on the result of your roll.

Critical Success: You gain a +2 Circumstance Bonus on the resulting Craft Check
Success: You gain a +1 Circumstance Bonus on the resulting Craft Check
Critical Failure: You have gained some misinformation.  You get a -1 penalty on the resulting Craft Check

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One other quick change.  The Skill Feat Specialty Crafting should have two new categories, Electronics (Computers, HAM Radio, RC Cars, etc.)  and Mechanics (Cars, Small Engines, Bicycles, etc.)

The vast majority of other skills can be used as-is.  Just a few suggestions of commonness. Society, especially the Subsist action, would be more common. Nature and Survival are slightly less common as people come to depend more on grocery stores and hiking on maintained trails.  The Disable Device action of Thievery can be used to disable electronic devices such as RFID card readers or Infrared Alarms (but not to manipulate them).

New Skills

Computers (INT).

This skill covers the manipulation of all electronic devices, whether a desktop computer, a mobile phone, an electronic door lock that is Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connected, etc. 
Most simple tasks like browsing the internet, or using a word processor, or generally interacting with electronics the way they are meant to be used, require no roll as people today are generally proficient enough to do this.

Untrained Actions:

            Retrieve Data 

            You find files or information on a computer that you have access to, including hidden files.  The DC depends on how well the information is hidden.

            Critical Success: You find the files and it takes half the time
            Success: You find the files.

Trained Actions:

            Crack

            You are able to access computers, phones, and places on servers that you are not meant to be.  Usually, this means some form of bypassing password protection. Complex devices may require multiple checks.  Attempting a Crack remotely, as opposed to having direct access to the system being Cracked, adds +2 to the DC. (side note: GM’s may require a Thievery check to access physically secure devices that do not have wireless connectivity, such as an electronic door lock that isn’t a smart lock; but if it has Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, you can always use Crack. )

Depending on how difficult the DC is will determine how long it takes to crack a device.

Incredibly easy	1 Action
Very easy	3 Actions
Easy	1 Minute
Hard	10 minutes
Very hard	1 Hour
Incredibly hard	2d4 Hours

Critical Success: You access the device or gain two successes towards a complex device; you leave no trace of your access.  You can access the device any time after this
Success: You access the device or gain a success towards a complex device.
Critical Failure: You are locked out of the device and cannot try again for 2hr/level of device.

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            Hack

            You are able to use electronic devices in ways they were not intended.  This allows you to manipulate someone’s phone to be a spying device, you make the security camera play a feed of cute puppy videos, you turn traffic lights into a disco party.   You must have access to the device to attempt a Hack (usually through a Crack first, but also having a direct connection, or having the passwords).

For how long it take to Hack refer to the table in the Crack Action.

Critical Success: You hack the device and leave no trace of your hacking
Success: You hack the device
Critical Failure: You fail and trigger any safety measures or alarms.

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Pilot (DEX).

 This skill is used for driving all vehicles, whether cars or tanks or boats.

Untrained Actions

            Drive

            This is the basic action of using a vehicle to get around.  Driving an automatic transmission car on safe roads at normal cruising speeds is a DC 5.  Some conditions may make this harder such as trying to drive fast through a crowded street, trying to outrun a dragon on a winding dirt road, driving through a magical storm.  The GM should set the DC for an appropriate level of difficulty based on tables 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 of the Core Rulebook.

Critical Failure:  You lose control and almost crash.  You must succeed at Reflex Save or crash the vehicle. The DC is the same as the check you failed.

Trained Actions

            Maneuver:

            You pull off the moves you often see in movies.  Drifting, 180° turns, driving full speed in reverse, pin maneuvers, or other tactical driving.
Most of the maneuvers will cause the vehicle to lose speed.

(We will go into this further when the full Vehicle Rules come out, but for now, assume most easy maneuvers cause a loss of speed of 1, and difficult maneuvers lose 2 speed – see below for a brief explanation of this)

Critical Success: You pull off the maneuver and lose 1 less speed (So a speed loss of 1 becomes 0).
 Failure: You do not pull of the maneuver but still lose the speed
Critical Failure: You do not pull of the maneuver, lose the speed, and must make a Drive check or lose control

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There will be an in-depth post about vehicle rules in the near future so keep an eye for that.  I’ll put a link here when they go up.

For now, here are a few assumptions.  The standard cruising speed for a basic car would be equivalent to 450 ft per turn or 80 squares.  That’s too much. So instead use squares (or hexes for extra fun – hint: our rules will presented in hexes) that represent 150ft.  Most cars have a cruising speed of 1 (meaning they go a total of 3 in a turn) and a top speed of 2 (6 in a turn, but this will make DC’s go up)  A top of line sports car has a top speed of 3 (very hard DC’s).
Cars need to go forward to make turns, representing their Handling. This can be offset with a Maneuver Check.

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Techie Kit and Car Chase courtesy of Luigi Castellani