Your Streetwise skill gives you understanding of street and urban culture, local underworld personalities and events. It also represents your awareness, experience, and resourcefulness when trying to survive in dangerous urban environments.
Recall Information
You can use the Streetwise skill to recall information about cities, towns, local buildings and businesses, organizations, culture, and criminal activity. This functions as the Recall Information ability of the Academics skill but only covers this specialized field of study.
Identify Organization
This functions similar to the Identify Creatures ability of the Academics skill but only covers this specialized field of study. Streetwise can’t identify types of creatures but it can be used in the same way to identify any signs that a creature belongs to a particular organization, such as tattoos, particular clothing, or other insignias.
You can also identify these markings in locations, such as to identify territory claimed by different groups.
Urban Tracking
| Community Size | Base DC | Number of Checks |
|---|---|---|
| Thorp, hamlet, or village | 5 | 1d3 |
| Small or large town | 10 | 1d4+1 |
| Small or large city | 15 | 2d4 |
| Metropolis | 20 | 2d4+2 |
| Condition | Modifier | Modifier |
| Every 24 hours since party was last seen | +1 | +0 |
| Every week since party was last seen | +0 | +1 |
| Tracked party “lies low” | +5 | +2 |
| Every three creatures in the group being tracked | -1 | +0 |
| Tracked party matches community’s primary racial demographic | +2 | +1 |
| Tracked party does not match community’s primary, or secondary racial demographic | -2 | +0 |
You can use Streetwise to track down the location of missing persons or wanted individuals within communities.
To find the trail of an individual or to follow it for 1 hour requires a Streetwise check. You must make another check every hour of the search, as well as each time the trail becomes difficult to follow, such as when it moves to a different area of town.
The DC of the check, and the number of checks required to track down your quarry, depends on the community size and the conditions.
Each check requires 1 hour, but you can cut the time between checks in half to 30 minutes by taking a -5 penalty on the check.
If you fail an urban tracking check, you can retry after 1 hour of questioning and searching. The GM should roll the number of checks required secretly, so that the player doesn’t know exactly how long the task will require.
Urban Survival
You can keep yourself and others safe and fed in the city. A DC 10 check allows you to beg and forage for food and water on the streets without drawing undue attention. You can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which your check result exceeds 10.
You can keep from getting lost and avoid common hazards, such as wandering into gang territory, with a DC 15 check.