Piloting

• Ability Score Used: Varies (by vehicle class being piloted)
• Usable Untrained? Yes
• Armor Check Penalty Applies? No (even if the vehicle class is STR- or DEX-based)

Piloting skills are used in conjunction with the optional vehicle combat rules, and measure the skill with which a character is able to pilot and fight with a particular type of vehicle. There are four piloting skills, each of which must be purchased as separate skills, assuming they are permitted in the campaign setting (some campaigns may not have flying vehicles, for example).

The vehicle's type determines what medium it is able to travel across or maneuver (and fight) within, as well as which piloting skill is needed to control it.

Piloting Skill	Vehicle Type(s)	Description
Aviator	Aerial / Aether	Flying vehicles that can move through the air of the Prime Material plane, or the Aether between the planes.
Delver	Subaquatic / Subterranean	Subterranean vehicles burrow through the earth, and subaquatic vehicles slide beneath the waters of the seas (or other liquids).
Drover	Ground	Land-based vehicles, such as chariots, stagecoaches, and Crassus engines, which require solid, relatively level land. Also includes managing and directing teams of draft animals, when required, though it does not include knowledge of how to train them (see Handle Animal).
Sailor	Naval	Vehicles which traverse the surface of liquids, such as sailing ships, skimming over the seas and taming the winds.

Riding on the back of a creature, such as a dragon, or colossal tortoise, utilizes the Ride skill, and operates under the mounted combat rules (see Ride skill), rather than vehicular combat rules.

Ability Score

The ability score used by a piloting skill is determined by the vehicle class being piloted. Refer to the Vehicle Classes pages for details. Some vehicles permit the use of any ability score (pilot's choice) while other vehicles require the use of one particular ability score.

Regardless of which ability score is used for a piloting skill, Armor Check Penalty never applies (even if it's STR or DEX).

Expertise Bonus

When a player places a 7th rank in a piloting skill, he may choose to gain either a +1 bonus CMB or a +1 bonus to Resilience, permanently, any time he is piloting a vehicle of a type supported by the Piloting skill in question. This bonus is gained again when the player places a 14th rank, a 21st rank, a 28th rank and a 35th rank in the skill. Each time he achieves one of these milestones, he can choose to improve either CMB or Resilience by an additional +1. These bonuses stack with themselves and any other bonuses provided by the vehicle class or vehicle upgrade modules.

If the player has more than one piloting skill, he chooses this bonus separately for each skill, as he achieves the appropriate number of ranks, but the bonuses only apply only when piloting vehicles appropriate to that piloting skill. (I.e. a player with 7 ranks in Piloting (Delver) who chooses +1 CMB as his bonus for that milestone would only apply that +1 CMB bonus to subaquatic and subterranean vehicles. If that same player also had 4 ranks in Piloting (Aviator), the +1 CMB bonus from Delver would not apply to flying vehicles.)

Note that these bonuses refer to ranks in the skill, not the skill's total bonus or any integral magic bonuses. A player may never have more ranks in a skill than his total character level.

Common Uses

Piloting is generally only used in conjunction with the Vehicle Combat rules, which includes numerous actions and abilities requiring a Piloting skill check. If the vehicle combat rules are not being used in a campaign, these skills are probably less useful than a comparable Profession skill, such as Crewman.