Divinity

Description

Ability Score Used:	Choose One
Armor Check Penalty Applies?	No

Only Clerics and Paladins may learn this bailiwick skill. No other class may place ranks in it unless they have an ability which specifically states they may put ranks into a bailiwick skill not normally offered by their class. A bailiwick skill is a skill that represents the core competency of a style of adventure, and has many useful applications.

The divinity skill is an expression of your practical knowledge of the divine and its effects. For each rank a character places in divinity, the character receives a free rank in Knowledge (Religion). Note that no character may ever have more ranks in a skill than her character level.

Each character class gains a single bailiwick skill at character creation, and this bailiwick skill is always a natural talent for your character. When you place your first rank in this skill, you must select one of your ability modifiers, and use that ability modifier as the key ability modifier for this skill. Once selected, this ability modifier may not be changed, except through the Reselection rules. Natural talent skills never suffer an armor check penalty, even if you associate that skill with your STR or DEX modifier.

If you gain a second bailiwick skill (usually through a racial trait), it is not automatically a natural talent (even though you typically get to choose which of your ability score modifiers is aligned to the second bailiwick skill). Armor check penalties do apply to the second bailiwick skill if you choose to associate it with your STR or DEX modifier, and you do not gain matching ranks in the linked skill for that bailiwick skill (in the case of Divinity, Knowledge (Religion)).

As with all skills, the uses below are merely suggestions, and by no means the full gamut of possible ways a skill can be used. Players and GM's are encouraged to find additional ways to use each skill.

Concentrate

To cast a spell, you must concentrate. If something interrupts your concentration while you're casting, you must make a Concentration skill check or lose the spell. The more distracting the interruption and the higher the level of the spell you are trying to cast, the higher the DC. Concentration checks are typically made for the following reasons (though other reasons may occur as well): to cast a spell while threatened by an enemy in combat to cause a spell to overcome the spell resistance of a creature to manipulate a spell which emulates a combat maneuver (such as Black Tentacles (Sorcerer/Wizard Spell)) to overcome the target's Maneuver Defense casting a spell while grappled or pinned Casting Defensively You can attempt to cast a spell while threatened by an enemy in combat, but it is inherently risky. This is sometimes referred to as 'casting while threatened', 'casting defensively', 'concentration check', or 'combat casting'. These terms are all effectively interchangeable, as they all refer to making a skill check to cast a spell due to being threatened by an enemy. Note that casting defensively cannot normally provoke an attack of opportunity. Instead, the spell either succeeds or fails, depending on the outcome of the check. The target DC of defensive casting is 10 + (spell level x 4). As a result, casting lower level spells while threatened is far less risky to a higher level caster than trying to cast one of their best spells while threatened. Overcome Spell Resistance You can use concentration to attempt to force your spells through the defenses of a creature which is immune to spells. Such creatures have a special ability called Spell Resistance, which means that all spells or spell-like abilities must first make a concentration check versus a DC of the target creature's Maneuver Defense, or the spell fails to affect that creature. This special ability is effectively an immunity to spells! However, as a big damned hero, you can focus your will, and try to blast through this defense anyway. You're just that much of a bad-ass. Manipulate Spell Effect Some spells, such as Black Tentacles (Sorcerer/Wizard Spell), emulate the effects of one or more Combat Maneuvers. As such, the effects of the spell go against the creature's Maneuver Defense score, instead of its Armor Class. Instead of using your own Might or Sleight of Hand skills to challenge your target, you use the power of your spell to manipulate your opponent on your behalf. You don't need bulging muscles and an obsession with high-protein diets to grapple monsters — you've got MAGIC! Spells which work inflict combat maneuver-like effects will also describe the need to use a concentrate check in place of might or sleight of hand in the text of the spell. Casting While Grappling If you are suffering under the grappled condition due to the actions of an enemy creature, you can cast a spell without any somatic components simply by casting defensively (see above). However, spells with somatic components require a Concentration check to cast, versus a DC of the grappler's Maneuver Defense, or the spell fails and the action to cast it is wasted. This Concentration check counts as the Casting Defensively check for casting the spell in melee (i.e. it is not in addition to a defensive casting Concentration check). Adverse Conditions If you are vigorously moving, in the middle of a violent storm, trying to stay upright on a tossing ship, or are otherwise being aggressively affected by your environment, you don't normally need to make a concentration check to cast a spell, because you're just that awesome. However, if you are attempting to cast a spell in the middle of a typhoon while on a sinking ship AND you are forced to make a concentration check for any reason, you suffer one or more penalties to the check due to the adverse conditions present.
Action Required:	Usually part of the same action as casting a spell
DC of Check:	Casting Defensively: 10 + (spell level x 4) Overcome Spell Resistance: the target's Maneuver Defense Manipulate Spell Effect: the target's Maneuver Defense Cast While Grappled: the target's Maneuver Defense
Modifiers to Check	Damaged During Casting: If you suffer damage during the act of casting a spell (usually due to a readied action), you increase the DC of your concentration check by +5. Bad Weather / Hazardous Environment: If you are in a terrible storm, or standing on a crumbling shelf in the midst of an earthquake, or any other adverse conditions that do not inflict damage each round, the DC of any concentration check is increased by +5. Dangerous Weather / Damaging Environment: If you are in a storm with flung debris, standing on a razor-sharp bed of shifting obsidian skree, or standing ankle-deep in an acid swamp, where you are suffering damage from the environment every round, the DC of any concentration check is increased by +10.
Take 10? / Take 20?	No (though some class features, feats, and abilities may allow this).
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	You successfully cast the spell.
Consequences of Failure	You lose the spell, just as if you had cast it to no effect.
Retry Allowed?	Yes, with a new spell. The spell of the initial attempt is lost, as though it had been cast.
Provokes AOO?	No

Identify A Spell

You can attempt to identify a spell or spell-like ability as it is being cast. This may provide useful information about how it can be resisted, or what secondary effects it might inflict. Identifying a spell as it is being cast requires no action, but you must be able to clearly see the spell as it is being cast, and this incurs the same penalties as a Perception check due to distance, poor conditions, and other factors.
Action Required:	Free action, which can be performed outside of your turn.
DC of Check:	10 + double the caster's level or CR
Modifiers to Check	Distance To Caster: Like perception checks, you take a -1 penalty to your divinity check to identify a spell being cast for every 10 feet of distance between you and the target (cumulative). Poor Conditions: Any conditions which hamper your ability to see the target, such as rain, fog, etc. inflict a penalty to your check. This ranges from -2 to -20, depending on how severely the conditions affect your perception of the target. A -2 penalty might be caused by several intervening creatures, while a -20 penalty might be caused by the target having total concealment from a source like Displacement (Sorcerer/Wizard Spell). The GM is the final arbiter of how badly the conditions affect your check. Note that any extraordinary senses you have, such as darkvision or blindsense should be mentioned to the GM when they are assessing this penalty, as they may significantly reduce or eliminate it.
Take 10? / Take 20?	Yes
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	You successfully identify the spell or spell-like ability being cast.
Consequences of Failure	You are unable to determine what the spell or spell-like ability is.
Retry Allowed?	No
Provokes AOO?	No

Obscure Alignment

You can hide your alignment from discovery by spells and abilities which allow someone to determine your alignment. Doing so lasts until the beginning of your next turn, though you may expend a swift action each round after the first to sustain the effect. While sustaining this effect is not a stance, it can be disrupted in exactly the same ways that stances are broken – either by being knocked prone, or subjected to any effect which reduces your number of available actions. Obscure alignment can be used or sustained in the same round(s) in which you are also using a stance. If your character's alignment is so powerful that it produces an aura, this skill use also suppresses the ability for others to detect that aura. Any benefits provided to you or your allies by your aura continue to operate as before, but observing enemies are unable to detect the aura that is providing these benefits. You only need to roll the divinity check once, when the effect is first activated, even if you sustain the effect for multiple rounds.
Action Required:	Standard Action, and a swift action each round after the first to sustain the effect (if desired).
DC of Check:	A Challenging DC for your character level.
Modifiers to Check	You can reduce the time taken to obscure your alignment. To initiate it as a move action, the DC increases by +5. As a swift action or immediate action, the DC increases by +10.
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	The subject is unable to determine your alignment, just as though you have no alignment at all.
Consequences of Failure	If you fail the check, or you cease sustaining the effect, your true alignment becomes visible to anyone who is capable of discerning it.
Retry Allowed?	Yes
Provokes AOO?	No

Identify Magic Item

You can use divinity to identify the properties and command words (if any) of a magic item you are holding. This is identical to the Naturalism, Reason, Spellcraft, Spycraft, and Warfare ability to identify magic items. It is also very similar to the Barter ability, except that it is faster. Divinity may also be used to assist another party member's attempt at determining the properties of a magic item, even if the other party member is using a different skill to make the check.
Action Required:	3 rounds per item you are attempting to identify
DC of Check:	10 + double the caster level of the item
Modifiers to Check	-
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	Yes (up to 5 allies).
Results of Success	Item is identified, including the command words (if any) needed to trigger its magical properties.
Consequences of Failure	Item is not identified
Retry Allowed?	You must wait 24 hours before retrying on the same item. Any attempts in the meantime always fail.
Provokes AOO?	Yes

Evaluate Party Health

Divinity can be used to determine the exact extent of any injuries affecting all allies within 30 feet of you. As a reminder, you can always tell, at a glance, the general health of any creature, among the following statuses: Unharmed, Injured, Bloodied, Staggered, Unconscious, or Dead. This does not require a skill check, and anyone can do it. It is only when you want to know the precise amount of hit points a creature has lost that a divinity check is necessary.
Action Required:	Standard action
DC of Check:	Average DC versus the highest character level of all allies in range.
Modifiers to Check	Hurried Assessment: You can reduce the action required to evaluate party health to a move action by adding +5 to the DC of the check. You can reduce it to a swift action by adding +10 to the DC of the check. Wider Evaluation: You can increase the radius of evaluate party health beyond 30 feet, by adding +5 to the DC of the check for each additional 5 feet of radius you wish to add (cumulative).
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	You learn exactly how many hit points each ally within the range of the skill use has remaining, and/or how much damage each ally in range has sustained. In addition, if any of your allies in range are Dying or Stabilized, you learn this information as well.
Consequences of Failure	You are unable to determine the precise degree of injury of your allies. You only know their general health status: Unharmed, Injured, Bloodied, Staggered, Unconscious, or Dead.
Retry Allowed?	Yes, you can try again with another standard action.
Provokes AOO?	No

Craft Magic Item

When combined with the Creator feat, divinity can be used to create magic items. In addition to the Creator feat, you must have the components listed in the magic item's 'creation' section on its description page. These items include a remnant, an item symbolic of the enchantment, and a gold cost equal to half the item's retail price. If the symbolic item being used has a monetary value, that value is subtracted from the gold required to craft the item. The creator feat and the gold cost are mandatory, but the symbolic item and remnant are not. You may attempt to craft the magic item with a lesser-tier remnant, or a poorly-matched symbolic item, or you can skip these items altogether. However, doing any of this causes the target DC to increase (see 'modifiers' below). You also need an appropriate place in which to work. The nature of such a place can vary wildly. A noisy pugilarium full of hard-training warriors might be ideal for a Brawler to work on his new amulet of natural armor, but it is probably not going to be a good place for a Sorcerer to get anything done. For users of Spellcraft, any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Warfare works best in forges and smithies and training halls; rough, rude places of strife. Spycraft works best in hidden spyholes full of small secretive nooks and hidden tools. Naturalism works great in grottoes and caves and glades, anywhere the Nascent Seed is strong and vital. Divinity works well in temples and crypts and ossuaries, anywhere the sense of the Divine is strong. Reason works best in libraries and meditation halls, dojos and saunas, places where quiet thought is enhanced. If the workspace is considered a poor fit for the item being created, the base time required is doubled. If the workspace is inconsistent, or the item is being moved around between creation days (such as attempting to create an item while journeying overland), the required time is doubled again. Each day of crafting requires 8 hours of work, with no more than 1 hour of interruptions (not counting food and rest breaks). If you are unable to work 8 hours in a given day, the entire day's efforts are wasted, and not counted toward your progress. The days spent creating a magic item need not be consecutive. Partially finished magic items stored in a safe fashion will keep indefinitely. Since magic items in progress keep indefinitely, you may schedule time to work on one as you wish. Once you have determined the base number of days required to craft the magic item, you must craft the item for half this amount of time before you may make a skill check to determine the item's success or failure.
Action Required:	2 days, +1 day per creator level of the item being created. You can never reduce the time to create a magic item below 3 days, no matter how well you roll.
DC of Check:	The base DC of a magic item is 10 + double the Creator Level of the item being created.
Modifiers to Check	Quality Workshop: Using a workshop with very high quality tools and equipment lowers the DC by between -1 and -5, at the GM's discretion. Higher Creator Level: Attempting to create an item that has a Creator Level higher than your own level increases the DC by +2 per level of difference. Lower Creator Level: Attempting to create an item that has a Creator Level lower than your own level grants no bonuses. Lower Remnant Quality: Attempting to use a remnant of a lower quality than the remnant tier listed for the item increases the DC by +1 per tier difference. Higher Remnant Quality: There is no bonus for using a higher-tier remnant. No Remnant: Attempting to create the magic item without the remnant component increases the DC by +10. Excellent Symbolic Item: Creating a magic item while using a symbolic item that is highly relevant to the enchantment being created can reduce the DC by between -1 and -10, at the GM's discretion. Poor Symbolic Item: Attempting to create a magic item using a symbolic item that is a poor match to the enchantment being created increases the DC by between +1 and +10, at the GM's discretion. No Symbolic Item: Attempting to create a magic item without including a symbolic item increases the DC by +10. Rush Job: You may declare you are hurrying the work, reducing the base number of days required by 1 per +5 you add to the DC. You cannot reduce the creation time below 3 days, however. Careful Work: You may also declare you are taking your time, reducing the target DC by -1 per 1 extra day you add to the base time.
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	A result that is between 1 and 5 points less than the adjusted DC is considered an easy success, which increases the base time required by either 1 day or 10%, whichever is worse. A result that equals or exceeds the adjusted DC, by up to +4 above the DC, is considered an average success, and the base time to complete is unchanged. A result that exceeds the adjusted DC by between +5 and +14 is considered a challenging success, and the base time is decreased by either 1 day or 10%, whichever is better, to a minimum of 3 days. A result that exceeds the adjusted DC by 15 or more is considered an impossible success, and the base time is decreased by 3 days or 25%, whichever is better, to a minimum of 3 days.
Consequences of Failure	A result that is between 6 and 10 points less than the adjusted DC is considered a failure. A failure means that half of the material costs and the symbolic item (but no the remnant) are destroyed in the attempt, and half the base time (rounding up) required for the item is also wasted. A natural "1" on the die, or a result of that is 11 or more below the adjusted DC is considered a critical failure. A critical failure means that all of the materials, the remnant, and the symbolic item are destroyed in the attempt, and half the base time (rounding up) required for the item is also wasted.
Retry Allowed?	Yes, though you must procure new components to replace the destroyed ones, and begin the process again. You gain a +5 circumstance bonus on each retry after a failure, as you incorporate your new knowledge of what not to do.
Provokes AOO?	Yes. Don't try this during combat.

Selective Alignment (Epic)

You can make your alignment appear to be anything you want it to be. Doing so lasts until the beginning of your next turn, though you may expend a swift action each round after the first to sustain the effect. While sustaining this effect is not a stance, it can be disrupted in exactly the same ways that stances are broken – either by being knocked prone, or subjected to any effect which reduces your number of available actions. Selective alignment can be used or sustained in the same round(s) in which you are also using a stance. If your character's alignment is so powerful that it produces an aura, this skill use also alters the appearance of that aura, when someone looks at it. Any benefits provided to you or your allies by your aura continue to operate as before, but observing enemies believe the aura is attuned to the alignment you are pretending to have. Once you have declared which alignment you wish to appear to be, you cannot change it without ending the first selective alignment and starting a new one, rolling a new skill check. You only need to roll the divinity check once, when the effect is first activated, even if you sustain the effect for multiple rounds. Note that pretending to be a different alignment may have implications for your real alignment, depending on what you do to 'maintain your cover'. This is an epic skill use, and requires at least 21 ranks in the skill before it may be attempted.
Action Required:	Standard Action, and a swift action each round after the first to sustain the effect (if desired).
DC of Check:	A Challenging DC for your character level
Modifiers to Check	You can reduce the time taken to alter the appearance of your alignment. To initiate it as a move action, the DC increases by +5. As a swift action or immediate action, the DC increases by +10.
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	No
Results of Success	You are able to make observers believe your alignment is whatever you declared it to be, and that any effects caused by your aura are attuned to the alignment you declared, instead of your real alignment.
Consequences of Failure	If you fail the check, or you cease sustaining the effect, your true alignment becomes visible to anyone who is capable of discerning it, as is your aura (if any).
Retry Allowed?	Yes
Provokes AOO?	No

Pierce Immortality (Epic)

You may use divinity to destroy an undead creature forever, after it has been reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. To do so, you exert your will upon the remains of an undead creature and prevent it from ever arising again, severing the necromantic bond and banishing the evil spirit of the monster forever. This skill use can also be used to destroy phylacteries, which are normally immune to damage. This is an epic skill use, and requires at least 21 ranks in the skill before it may be attempted.
Action Required:	Full round action
DC of Check:	Undead Creature: 10 + double the undead creature's CR Phylactery: 15 + double the owner's CR
Modifiers to Check	You can attempt to destroy a phylactery in such a way that the owner is unaware that it has been destroyed, but doing so increases the target DC by +5.
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	Yes, but assisting allies must also have at least 21 ranks in divinity.
Results of Success	You permanently destroy the undead, rendering it incapable of returning to life. If destroying a phylactery, you destroy the phylactery. If you added +5 to the DC prior to the check, the phylactery is destroyed without alerting its owner to its destruction.
Consequences of Failure	You are unable to exert your divine will upon the subject, and its necromantic energies are still intact. Undead creatures will eventually return to unlife, while phylacteries remain usable by their owners.
Retry Allowed?	Yes, but you must wait 24 hours before attempting it again on the same creature or phylactery. Attempts in the meantime automatically fail.
Provokes AOO?	Yes

Sanctify Ground (Epic)

Once per day, you can present your holy symbol, and sanctify ground as though it were under the effects of Consecrate (Spell) or Desecrate (Spell). This is an epic skill use, and requires at least 21 ranks in the skill before it may be attempted.
Action Required:	1 minute
DC of Check:	A hard DC for your character level
Modifiers to Check	-
Take 10? / Take 20?	No
Allows Assists?	Yes, but assisting allies must also have at least 21 ranks in divinity.
Results of Success	You are able to sanctify the ground, as per Consecrate (Spell) or Desecrate (Spell) (depending on your alignment).
Consequences of Failure	Nothing happens.
Retry Allowed?	You must wait 24 hours before trying again, as you can only use this ability once per day.
Provokes AOO?	Yes