Deception governs any attempt to conceal the truth or mislead another, either verbally or through your actions. This deception can encompass everything from misleading others through ambiguity to telling outright lies, trying to fast-talk a guard, or attempting to con a merchant, pass yourself off in a disguise, create a convincing forgery, or redirect attention.
Bluff/Tell a Lie
| Circumstance | Insight Modifier |
|---|---|
| The target wants to believe you | -5 |
| The bluff is hard to believe or puts the target at some risk. | +5 |
| The bluff is very hard to believe or puts the target at significant risk. | +10 |
| The bluff is outlandish but not quite impossible. | +20 |
You may attempt to tell a convincing lie with a Deception check. This is opposed by the target’s Insight check. Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a bluff.
Two circumstances can weigh against you: The bluff is hard to believe, or the action that the target is asked to take goes against its self-interest, nature, personality, orders, or the like.
If you succeed, the creature you are lying to believes you are telling the truth, at least until confronted with evidence to the contrary.
A bluff attempt requires interaction between you and the target. Creatures unaware of you cannot be bluffed.
Craft or Maintain a Disguise
| Circumstance | Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| Minor details altered only | +5 |
| Major feature altered* | -2 to -5 |
| Disguised as a different creature type | -10 |
| Disguised as a different size category | -10 |
| * Major features include gender, age category, and race (if same creature type) | |
Creating a believable disguise takes 3d10 minutes of work. Your Deception check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others’ Perception checks. The GM makes your disguise check secretly, and you are always slightly unsure of just how good your disguise is.
If someone becomes suspicious of your disguise (their Perception check beats your original Disguise check), you can make one additional Deception check to maintain the disguise. If your new Deception check is higher than their Perception check, they are convinced of your disguise.
If you are impersonating another individual, anyone who knows that person gains a bonus on their Perception checks. If they easily recognize the person, they gain a +5 bonus, and if they are intimate, such as a family member, they gain a +10.
Create Forgery
Forging a document required 1d4 minutes per page. Forging an object requires Profession checks, with the amount of time determined as if crafting an item.
Creating a forgery works much like creating a disguise. Written forgeries are opposed by a Perception check while forged objects are opposed by Profession checks made to appraise the object. Individuals familiar with the forged item gain a +5 or +10 bonus on their checks to detect the forgery, depending on how familiar they are with the original.
Pick Pocket
A Deception check can be made to steal a small object that fits in the palm of your hand without notice. Anyone actively observing you may make an opposed Perception check. If they succeed, they notice your action, but this doesn’t prevent you from successfully pick pocketing the object. It just means you were seen.
Stealing an unattended object has a difficulty class of 10. Lifting a small object from a person has a DC of 20.
This can also be used for minor feats of legerdemain, such as making a coin appear or disappear, card tricks, and the like.
Create Diversion
As a standard action, you can make a Deception check to distract an opponent, opposed by the target’s Insight check. If you win the opposed check, the target remains distracted for 1 round or until a hostile action is directed against the target.
A distracted opponent is not considered to be observing you, allowing you to make a Stealth check to hide or gain a +10 bonus on a Deception check to steal a small object or pick pocket the target and deny the target an opposed Perception check.
Feint in Combat
If used in combat, this distraction is called a feint and usually takes the form of a false attack made to throw the opponent off balance. A distracted foe is flat-footed against your next attack, but the target can oppose your Deception check using the higher of either their base attack bonus or Insight skill.
Delivering a Secret Message
You can use Deception to get a message across to another character without others understanding it. The DC is 15 for simple messages, or 20 for complex messages, especially those that rely on getting across new information. Failure by 4 or less means you can’t get the message across. Failure by 5 or more means that some false information has been implied or inferred. Anyone listening to the exchange can make an Insight check opposed by the Deception check you made to transmit in order to intercept your message.