A Totally Serious Guide to Pathfinder Skills: Part 1

Pathfinder skills are slightly different than its ancestor, D&D 3.5 or its modern equivalents of D&D 4th or 5th edition. I thought over three posts I'd run through the skills while having a little fun with it.

A clay cookie jar sits on the shelf, filled with delicious gnomish shortbread cookies. Your mother won't let you have any of the tasty treats because you refuse to clean your room. It's time to attempt to raid the cookie jar! (CR 0.1)

Disguise: You've got a great plan, you'll wear your brother's tunic so if you do get caught, your mom will blame it on your brother. So you put on his clothes and it's time for a disguise check! Disguise can be a great skill for some more subtle characters, especially when paired with a high bluff skill.

Craft: Your young mind decided that the best way to get to the cookie jars is to build a tower of chairs. You stack three chairs on top of each other, looking for the best way to balance them so that you can reach up to the cookie jar. Time to make a Craft check to build the tower! Craft is one of the fill-in-the-blank skills, where you pick a specialization like weapons, armor, traps, ships etc. In this case, we are going to pick Craft(furniture stacks). Craft can be a useful skill, but few max out craft unless they have a very specific character design in mind.

Climb: Now you have to climb your stack of furniture. With great concentration, you slowly make your way up the chair tower. Time for a Climb check! Climb can be situationally useful, especially at lower levels. Some steal based classes may appreciate the maneuverability, but by later levels, magical flying and other mobility aids eliminates the need for a high climb check.

Disable Device: Your mom was wise to your plans and devised a latch on the cookie jar that she thought you couldn't figure out. Time for a Disable device check. Disable device is a very useful skill that at least one member of the party should have because you'll never know when you'll need to open a lock or bypass a trap.

Appraise: When you finally get to the cookie jar, you know it's best to only take one cookie. So you carefully examine the jar to determine which is the best cookie to take. It's time for an appraise check! Appraise is probably one of the most infrequently used skills, for determining the worth of items, most often adventure loot. Unless it is central to your character concept, it's probably best to not devote too many ranks to this skill.

Acrobatics: Now you have to climb your stack of chairs, but unfortunately, you failed your craft check, and the tower comes tumbling down. You try to land on your feet, it's time to roll an acrobatics check. Acrobatics is a useful skill for some characters. A hulking armored knight will not do much tumbling, but a nimble rogue can use acrobatics to land on her feet and avoid strikes as she dances through a fight. If you do choose to be acrobatic, it makes sense to max it out.

Bluff: The clatter of falling chairs has attracted your mother, the cookie theft has been discovered! It's time for drastic measures! It's time to blame your brother! You concoct a complicated story that explains why you are standing there with a cookie but it's all really your brother's fault. Time for a bluff check! Bluff is the ability to deceive, which can come in handy in many a Pathfinder session, but those noble Paladins out there might not favor this skill.

Diplomacy: Your mother doesn't believe your story blaming your brother and decides on your punishment. You try and negotiate a minimal punishment. Time for a Diplomacy check! Bluff, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy are a kit of diplomatic skills that are useful if you are going to be the face of the party. Swords and fireballs are not the only way to solve problems in Pathfinder sessions.

You get away with only losing the cookie and your favorite toy for one day. Congratulation, you are have leveled up, you are now a level 2 Rascal!