Secondary Products of your Craft

The first product of your craft is an almost mystical kind of experience. Sorta whatnot and hard to describe. Its something that you know but don't really per se precisely wanna put things in terms that you may not want to really describe or be misunderstood by someone about.

It's marmalade.

What does that mean? It meant something to someone once. I think I understood, and I certainly heard the sentiment. I say that the first, the real, product of the craft of DnD is the shared vision of the players. Their consensus of what is happening - their ability to generate concepts into the world of the Conductor and have those contributions become primary themes of the story that is created.

As a Dungeon Conductor you create a story from the players elements. There is a strong similarity to Improv Theater. Particularly improv theater that calls for elements from the audience to focus their jokes on. Also DnD playing is different from Improvisational Action in that playing DnD is part of the product. Watching it is something that only a real nerd would want to do. Were you to have professional actors playing DnD that would be worth watching ... but -that- would be a secondary product.

Improve acting is done for an audience. No matter how fun or exhilarating the performance is for the actor it is still work performed for others. Playing DnD is a fun activity. There is a larger similarity to Religious Sermons than there is to Improv Acting in that the Conductor / Master person is performing for a small audience. In many games there is a significant similarity to a dice, card, or other gambling table. The Conductor standing in the place of the Deck Dealer or Money Changer. A stand up comedy style performance is also very similar.

To a certain extent the primary, secondary, product of DnD is the vocal performance of one trained performer combined with a number of untrained voices. That is simply the good that comes out of the popular performance of DnD. Were we to be recording the majority of sessions what we would have right now, and only more so going into the future, is a collection of vocal performances and character sketches. Maps and graphics are often produced as well, but are not truly integral to the best performances of DnD.

Conducting involves paying close attention to the many player elements- that is the primary action. Several players create a dynamic environment that the Dungeon Conductor must maintain and respond too. Therein it differs from Improv acting again in that the players rarely take up the entirety of the characters on the conceptual stage. The director of an immprovisational performance has at most a part in the actual performance of the play, while the Dungeon Conductor (Be they a Dungeon Crafter or simply the Chamber Narrator) is the focal point of the performance of DnD.

Imrpov Acting, Religious Sermons, and Stand-Up share audience sizes. The audience of the DnD is the players themselves. There is no way that the players should ever be considered to be not playing unless they are literally not playing at all and are ordering pizza or having a fist fight with someone for real. So long as they are participating in "the game" the players are intended to not fail or lose in any way at any point. Death and all consequences of fate are entierly in the hands of the "Game Master" which is simply a terrible vocal catastrophy - Gamaster ... Gameaster, Gamster? Gleemax - I liked Glee Master, but what is Glee really? An improve actor may be considered to have failed their performance by many, but there is no "many" for DnD.

The player is the "many" and if you are not playing then you don't have a say as to whether the Conductor is doing well or not. Were the performance of the players to be "cool" or "sick" or "rad" or "wow" or something - then that makes a fine Secondary Product of DnD.

Can you guess my name?

If you are able to recognize this feat from your familiarity with the rules then "no fair" try again, but if you are not a walking encyclopedia I dare you to try and guess what the name of the feat presented here is?

General -
Prerequisite: Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks.
Benefit: You can create any dragoncraft itm whose prerequisites you meet. Creating a dragoncraft item follows the normal rules for the craft skill.
See dragon craft items.

Now my guess would be "Craft Dragoncraft Item" ala Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Wand Item. It seems reasonable. Its a crafting feat that, while its very existence makes me ponder the idea of "Craft Mithral Item" as a serious modification to the base crafting rules, allows you to create special type items. Armor and more using a special material (dragon) with special Dragoncraft item abilities. Its an interesting feat. It has an odd name. It is an interesting feat with an odd name, and an odd mechanic when you consider the nature of the Dragoncraft items and the abilities they have.

The name of the feat is not "Craft Dragoncraft Item" though it could be if you wanted it to be. My second guess is just plain "Dragoncraft" which is another perfectly reasonable name for a feat. That however is not it. Now it is possible that "Dragoncraft" the term is copyrighted and Product Identity of Wizards of the Coast llc and Hasbro int. Should that be the case (which I question) it is a simple matter to redesignate the term Dragoncraft and retain its abilities. As I have for the feat presented here - that I have dubbed ... "FeatDraconomicon13"

See http://completesrd.wikidot.com/draconomicon for more.

Bluff I say!

You Should Use the Bluff Skill
by Shea C. Reinke

originally posted on Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572454/Bluff_I_say?post_id=332691726#332691726

Republished on ArticlesBase.com
http://www.articlesbase.com/theater-articles/bluff-i-say-836088.html

Bluff is one of those skills that is easy to use. In nearly any situation a Bluff check can be made to gain some benefit. Using the skill in combat costs you an action, but out of combat a Bluff is made within normal talking or other forms of communication. If you are interacting with any character consider if you are attempting to motivate them, and if you are; Bluff them. You don't have to be falsifying to make with a Bluff check.

Bluff Does Not Lie

Bluff is simultaneously one of the most used skills, and one of the most misused skills, RAWise. It is written that the Bluff skill does not let you lie, but in countless games a lie calls for a Bluff check. It is not surprising that Bluff is often misused, it is a skill with allot of utility. It is easy to take the skill one step farther, to the point of actual taking care of deception for you. The skill that would most realistically be checked to cover the details of lying would be Perform (Storytelling), however lying is not an action that is managed by a skill check. You simply tell the truth or you don't. An NPC believes, or disbelieves, what you say based on what that NPC knows.

A Diplomacy check could make the NPC feel helpful enough to believe you, but a Bluff check will convince the target of the importance of the information, regardless of truth. Bluffing is a motivational action that relates to, but does not actually include, deception. You can make a Bluff check to give persuasion to a lie, "... and there are riches in it for you ..." is a lie to make them want to believe you. A Bluff check is ironically the skill check used to gauge the communication of the greatest truths, Innuendo (oh, I mean Delivering a Secret Message). A successful Bluff check conveys belief in something, a belief about something about you. What you mean, what is important to you, or what you are going to do.

The Feint

The feint function is one of the finest combat injections to the mostly non-combat social skills system of D&D. Feints are fully functional in combat. Use them, you'll see. If you have Bluff ranks, and your enemies are quick with a low BAB, you don't really have to try to hit them. Power Attack on a feint. The feint, like the attack roll, is not one quick dart to the left. Fining involves a complex series of movements. The dramatic backhand swing, is a gorgeous example of a feint in combat. Improved feint, best for melee capable rogues and bards, gives you a total turn attack pattern as a pseudo full attack action.

A fighter with improved feint, and at least a few ranks in Bluff presumably, will have a two turn attack pattern. First round power attack (or other single attack action, perhaps even aid), and a feint. Second round Full-Attack. Third round repeat. Improved feint turns the fighter into a one-two punch mechanical killing machine. Pair fighter levels with rouge, one for one (no XP penalty), and you eventually end up with a thing that can dance through fireballs (evasion), through infantry (tumbling), past your opponents guard (feint), hit him (3/5th attack bonus), and steal the key off his neck (slight of hand).

Pairing with fighter levels with bardic can create a potent field commander, slightly spendy with bardic music uses though. A fighter/bard can't really afford to spend the entire fight singing. The pattern is more flexible. He uses a strike-feint-full-attack one-two, but takes third or fifth turns off to make with the inspiration. In a single combat scenario, with a few bard levels under the character's belt, this pattern keeps the entire party attacking at a higher success rate. Yourself even more so because you are using improved feint. The charismatic bard, or any other character, should not take their score modifier for sufficient when it comes to Bluff. To maintain the fin's utility in combat you must put ranks into the skill to counter act the rising resistance of base attack bonus.

A feint takes the base attack bonus of a target into account when being resisted. Bluff is the only combat useful skill to do this. The simple reason is that the combat instincts of the target are motivating that target to disbelieve you. A feint really is a form of lie actually; you are implying an action that you are not going to do. The subtle difference here is that the feint is a microburst of miscommunication. Your target knows you are trying to hit them, you are really only lying about where. For the rouge/bard the fascinate sneak attack pattern is like "super feint," but it really only works once at the beginning of combat. Feint, improved or otherwise, allows you to make single move maneuvering though combat an effective tactic. Move, feint, disarm, move, feint, trip, move, feint, sneak attack from flank.

A Quick Diversion

Hiding can save your life, and if you have a sneak attack that diversion could lead to massive damage dealt by you. As far as modifiers, remember that the target may want to believe that you have left, but probably finds your disappearance unlikely. A NPC that is hunting you in particular probably doesn't want you to take a powder, but is more likely to belive that you ran away. Creating a diversion to hide does not take attack bonus into account so besides the normal Bluff modifiers the check is pretty easy. Sense motive is a skill that low level NPCs rarely take ranks in. Intelligent, or wise, NPCs are, of course, each a unique story.

Delivering a Secret Message

When you really want to tell a character something, and you want the target to understand, use Bluff to deliver a secret message. Bluff lays a DC on intelligible communication; complex DC 20 and simple DC 15. Were you into rolling allot of dice, Bluff could be taken as the skill of simply talking. When you want to tell an NPC something, anything, roll Bluff. Your success or failure on the skill and rank modified d20 roll determines how well the NPC receives the intent of the message you role play. Delivering secret messages this way implies that you are only ever really talking to one person at a time. Everyone else has to make Sense Motive checks to get in on your one-on-one jive.

In that sense the Bluff check is the skill check of actual inter-character communication. NPC to NPC, PC to NPC, even PC to PC. Diplomacy deals with general attitudes, and Perform lets you touch the hearts, and money pouches, of many; but Bluff is the skill you can use to tell one target what you want that target to know, and have rules for failure. Unlike a standard Bluff check delivering a secret message translates only information. Oddly, the general function of Bluff, when not using one of the subfunctions, is made with the consideration that the target already knows what you are saying. You are making the Bluff check to use the knowledge the NPC already has to motivate that target do want to do something. Technically delivering a secret message is only needed to conceal what you are saying to a target from listeners. You don't have to make a skill check to tell someone something, just like you don't need to make a skill check to lie.

Why Sense Motive

The mighty resistance skill of Sense Motive appears often in the description of Bluff. Every function of Bluff is resisted by Sense Motive. Primary purpose, feint, diversion, and deliver all have a relationship with Sense Motive. This relationship can be likened to the BAB and AC relationship. Charisma is like strength; adding punch to the attack. Wisdom is like Dexterity; assisting with evasive maneuvers. Intelligence analogizes to Constitution making Skill Points Like HP. Of course, you don't loose Skill Points dynamically the way you do HP, so that's the break in the analogy. Another is that Sense Motive is Bluff's big evil bad guy. Always able to frustrate Bluff until the very last feinted turn.

Now Let Me Tell Ya

No one needs an explanation of what the Bluff skill, does. Sometimes you need to be reminded of what the Bluff skill don't do. So I made sure to tell you first thing, if you'll notice. However, you will be using the Bluff whenever you lie, because you don't lie unless you want somebody to do something for you. Go away! Do this! Do that! Whatever, but, remember to Bluff when telling the Truth too. If you want someone to take an action on your behalf, regardless of the veracity of what you are saying, Bluff! That is my secret message for you.
Did the rest of ya'll hear that!


Shea's Research & Development (SR&D
What Does Bluff Need?

"Not much," I'd say. Bluff is already a paragon of a skill. It is flexible in and out of combat. To say that it is under used would be a lie. Bluff can however be slightly modified based on conceptual lines. Not for utility, but for the sake of reality. Using Bluff in the following ways may enable you to save a few skill points too, if that is what you need to do. Basically, the real question is: where do you draw the line?

How About an Example?
This is me bluffing you:

You need to change the way you use the Bluff skill. Honestly. When analyzed as part of the whole set of social skill functions Bluff is an oddity. Half communication, half deception, and hard to conceptually separate from negotiation. Too much work for you? Just read up on the below.

Bluff and Social Skill Functions Like Negotiation

The premise of Bluff is in that motivational feeling you can produce. So Bluff as a performance. How about motivating an attitude. Bluff as Diplomacy. Talk that street talk? Bluff as Profession too. Why is Diplomacy the skill of negotiation? Why not Bluff? Why not both? "I like the way you negotiation" says the fast talking man. If you include Bluff into a general negotiation function, then you should pull in Intimidation too. How do you make a bargain sir? By reason, silver tung, or force? These skills could mix and mingle with Bluff as easily as Sense Motive does.

You could also, maybe, just use Bluff to resist Bluffs. Stick with me here, but the ability to fast talk could be seen as the ability to resist the very tactics you know how to use. You can't fool an old con, they say. You would be creating a sort of Bluff battle. Corollary to a grapple, Bluff battles would continue, the upper hand changing throughout perhaps, until the winner has the loser clearly in a pinned in a conceptual corner and reasonably beaten, or both parties give up. This, however, sounds allot like a negotiation. Now, this might send Sense Motive the way of the dodo, but you could treat all general Bluffs as a form of negotiation. Opposed by Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidation.

If you take Sense Motive away this way you need other ways to defend and detect the sub functions of Bluff. Beyond your BAB what else do you need to resist a feint? As far as hiding and delivering a secret message? Why not just let those stay spot and listen checks? If you add the modifiers from the Bluff skill to the resisting wisdom based sense roll the numbers are sufficiently skewed to represent the more complex conceptual situation. In the case of creating a diversion to hide a character would receive two spots. One based on the diversion, and one based on the Hide.

The Cold Hard Line

Bluffs, like the other social skill checks in the game, are not spells. The target character is under no abnormal compulsion to do anything they would not normally do. Bluff, the paragon of effective social skills is really no more able to force action than a knowledge skill. Bluff has this eerie reality to it in that only with an epic modifier of +50 to the DC are you able to actually know that what you said is going to motivate a target to do anything. Remember to make it brief; you got ten minutes. If you are not satisfied with this; there is a down and dirty way to fix it.

Use Bluff to set a will save DC (and there went Sense Motive). You should definitely give the will save all appropriate morale modifiers and apply the circumstantial modifiers listed in the skill description of Bluff. If you don't anybody with Bluff will be able to tell everyone within five levels of them what to do by taking ten. The compulsion functions like a mental poison. A character receives an initial save to resist the compelling idea, and then a secondary save right before they do what they are compulsed. Any Bluff that the target would consider harmless and acceptable should not be rolled because that means the NPC already wants to do it, eh?

Procrastination is allowed with this compulsion, but once the compulsion is unstilled you may reinforce it with an subsequent Bluff check. Reinforcement prompts another will save and resets the secondary save to the result of the reinforcement Bluff check. If the target fails the reinforcement save the target immediately sets out to satisfy their compulsion. With this system remember that the source of the compulsion is non-magical, and, more importantly, you. Removing you from the equation brings the compulsion to an end. My message? Be wary of negotiating with the Evil or the Cruel.

There are a number of variant systems available that add modifiers to social skill rolls based on the current attitude or degree of familiarity a character has with their target. Any and all of these are acceptable modifiers when determining a Bluff set will save DC. The message behind that eerie epic reality is that it should not be easy to motivate a target to do something that they don't want to do. If the modifiers are all in your favor, instead of familiarity mitigating the danger involved or some such, then you should consider if Bluffing is actually necessary. Sometimes all you have to do is explain something to a character to motivate them. If you find this the case, when reviewing the modifiers, consider making a Knowledge check instead.

To get rid of a compulsion a Bluff, Diplomacy, Heal, Intimidation, or Profession check can be made on the compulsed character. The function mimics the way that Heal treats poison. A concerned assistant, or king's attendant, can substitute their skill roll for the compulsed character's will save. Unlike poison, the effects are immediate. You either succeed at talking the target out of the idea or you don't. You don't have to wait until the last moment to find out if the treatment worked. Of course, the target is free to Bluff you back that they are still under the influence, but that is degenerating into the realm of what metagame the players are playing.

Greater Feint and Some Other Things

Dancing Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Perform (Dance) 5 ranks, Improved Feint, Spring Attack.
Benefit: You may make a feint as a free action when you make a standard move action in combat.
Normal: You cannot combine a standard move with a feint.
Special: You cannot make a free action feint if you are making a double move or faster move action.

Feint Flurry [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus + 13, Improved Feint, Flurry of Blows.
Benefit: You may feint an opponent and ignore their Dexterity bonus to AC for an entire full attack round.
Normal: A feint only allows you to ignore a target's Dexterity bonus to AC for a single attack.
Special: If you do not start your full attack with your next available action the feint is wasted.

Greater Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus + 8, Improved Feint, Combat Expertise.
Benefit: You may make a feint as a move equivalent action or as one of your attacks in a full attack action.
Normal: With improved feint you make a feint as a move equivalent action.
Note: You only gain the benefit of a feint on the single attack action that follows the feint.

Heckle [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidation 5 ranks.
Benefit: You may make a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check as a free action immediately after an opponent succeeds at a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check. The DC is equal to the result of the successful check. If you succeed you negate the success of the provoking Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check. You do not have to use the same skill your target succeeded on to heckle their check.
Normal: You cannot resist the effect of a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform roll unless you are the target.
Special: You may not heckle if you are one the targets of the Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check. You may heckle a Perform check that includes you in the audience.

Honest [TALENT]
Benefit: Gain a +4 competence bonus on Bluff checks when you are telling the truth.
Special: This feat does not grant you a bonus on Bluff checks made to feint, create a diversion, or deliver a secret message.

Liar [TALENT]
Benefit: Gain a + 4 morale bonus to your Bluff check when you are lying.
Special: This feat does not grant you a bonus on Bluff checks made to feint, create a diversion, or deliver a secret message.

Quick Feet [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Uncanny Dodge.
Benefit: You do not lose your Dexterity bonus to AC even when you fail to resist a feint.
Normal: You lose your Dexterity bonus to AC when you fail to resist a feint even if you have the uncanny dodge class feature.

Quick Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Improved Feint, Combat Reflexes.
Benefit: You may attempt a feint as a free action when making an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A feint requires a separate action prior to an attack.
Special: You must make your attack roll regardless of the result of the feint, and you do not gain the benefit of a successful feint on any attack other than that attack of opportunity.

Spending Money on Bluff

Bluff is not a skill that you need allot of stuff to use. Bribery is always an option, but that gets back into the realm of negotiation. As a common rule you could set a + 1 circumstance bonus to Bluff per 10gp spent on bribery, but when Bluffing the excessively rich, 10 gp is a pittance. Depending on the social strata you are maneuvering on you may need 100, or 1,000 gp per + 1 circumstantial modifier. Equipment given as gifts should be valued with some consideration for who the gift is given to. A promise really comes in handy with a Bluff, but a promise costs you nothing, at least in gp. Perhaps perfume ranging from 1 to 100 in gp value could grant you a + 2 under the right circumstances, but, for Bluff, equipment really doesn't help you.

A note about lying, it really helps to have proof. Bluff motivates, but skills like craft and forgery allow you to make objects that "confirm" your story.

Magical Items that Relate to the Bluff Skill

Silver Tongue: This small slip of silver must be placed on your tongue. A silver tongue takes up an amulet slot. When wearing a silver tongue you gain a +10 competence bonus to non-combat Bluff checks. In addition you gain a spell resistance of 20 against any spell or ability that would detect the truth or force you to tell the truth.
Moderate Transmutation; CL 8th; Craft Wondrous Item, Glibness; Price 12,500 gp.

Flashing: A weapon enhanced with flashing becomes very difficult to see. The wielder of the weapon gains a +5 enhancement bonus to make a feint when wielding a flashing weapon.
Moderate Illusion [mind-altering]; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blur; Price +1 bonus.

Flashing, Improved: A weapon enhanced with improved flashing becomes nearly invisible. The wielder of the weapon gains a +10 enhancement bonus to make a feint when wielding an improved flashing weapon.
Strong Transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blink; Price +3 bonus.

Overhear Ring: This simple ring takes up a ring slot, but is worn as an ear ring. The wearer of the Overhear Ring gains a +5 competence bonus when discerning a secret message transmitted by Bluff.
Faint Divination; CL 12th; Forge Ring, comprehend languages; Price 5,800 gp.

Holy! Knowledges and Castin' Divine Magic

Play testing "evangelical magic"
by Shea C Reinke.

Originally posted on Wizards of the Coast
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572390/Holy_Knowledges_and_Castin_Divine_Magic?post_id=332690914#332690914

The story of Esperanto Eff, Pixie Mathmatologist.
A tale of a play testing, a why and a what for.

A player, Sarah, once wanted to be a scientist. The world she was playing in, however, was a world of magic. So what was she to do? She thought, and she thought, and she decided to ask her DM is there was anything stylistic or similar she could play in his game. A number of rule variants flowed like a fountain from her young rapscallion of a GM's mind, but one in particular caught her by the ear. "You could be a cleric of math" he said to her.
This, she thought, "I can do".

Sarah now had her race and class, but she thought there were a few other things her DM had said that the group might do that could be interesting too. She spoke with her fellow players, and they all agreed to test, what was by her referred to as, Evangelical Divine Magic. When the mighty mathmatologist, the pixie Eff, was to make a Spellcraft roll, Sarah rolled Knowledge (Math) instead. Knowledge (Math) was Spellcraft for Esperanto, and more than just this, the greatest of mathmatologists rolled her cleric level checks with Performance.

In place of her level, when making caster level checks was a skill, Perform (Preach) to be precise. Turning, spell resistance, domain abilities, and any spells that referred to caster level were linked numerically to the magnificent mathmatologist's ranks in Perform (Preach) instead. This allowed her to multiclass while still practice her homework and her preaching. Of course Esperanto Eff's rouge levels gave no new spells, but availed other options. To top this package off Sarah created a homebrew math domain for Eff, it is down below if you want to see.

Esperanto was not the only cleric in this group. At her side stood Merrik gnome druid of the natural way and master of the six pillars. His prestige class, the master of the five pillars, is also described below. Merrik had not a single level of the class druid. Instead he used these divine rules to make a character much more like what, he thought, a druid should be. Merrik's Spellcraft became Knowledge (Nature) and his caster level was replaced by the Survival skill. Sarah and Merrik's player, Joe, found this to be the most satisfying of the variants that their rule playful GM had thus far formulated.

How this works
A description of the Holy Knowledge Variant Rule System

The setting flavor that this rule variant gives you is the feeling of actually doing something sacred when casting divine spells. "What does my magic miracle really look like?", "What am I doing?", and "Why does this work this way?" are questions that many players of D&D ask their DMs. With this system you have a better way of answering those questions for yourself. Esperanto drew diagrams and measured things. She spoke the equation of creation aloud to rebuke and command her undead minions. Merrik mixed herbs and poultice, munched mushrooms and wild berries, and spoke of the words on the wings of butterflies as divine oracles.

The second half of this system was referred to as Player Defined Components at the time. Clerics and sorcerers are allowed to define the exact form that their spell components take. The gnome sorcerer, Hopkins, wielded a pick axe because it was his chosen material component for knock. While, clerics have a subtle form of this already, a diagram could easily be called a holy symbol of math, the variant pushes much farther than that. Wizards get toyed with because they learn spells with components decided by the GM or resort to crafting themselves a spell of their own.

When characters are defining their spell's components first refer to the default components. XP and any material component that you cannot eschew, can not be exchanged for any thing other than equal value, but verbal, somatic, focal, and minor material components can be interchanged for an alternate. Character story lines and backgrounds should guide the selection of spell components. Additionally, a Spellcraft (in this case Knowledge) roll is allowed in order to "emulate" components. The DC being the same as a Concentration check to cast defensively + 10.

The details are simple, use a Knowledge check, that retains the functionality it has originally as well, in place of all Spellcraft checks for the chosen kind of divine magic. Select another skill that identifies the effect your faith has on other characters. A cleric of nature knows how to survive, and help others do so as well. If in doubt Perform (Preach) covers the average aspect of the common holy man's miracles. Disable Device, Disguise, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Heal are some other skills that have been discussed as well.

Both Merrik and Esperanto had Spellcraft too, just not very much. The intermittent bard, Ector Snaps, and good sorcerer Hopkins both used the Spellcraft skill allot. Spellcraft, in this system, is also Knowledge (arcana), the skill of the arcane. The bard gained the ability to use his Performance (any) as his caster level, that's what he wanted to do. The sorcerer fellow, now he liked this system, because it made him a real expert in the arcane, far more than any of the clerics or that lowly bardic bumbler.


The final aspect of this is that the spells cast by NPCs all have specific Knowledge skills too. If you want to know more than what Knowledge you don't have when someone casts a spell, you must be trained in that particular Knowledge skill. That's why Merrik and Esperanto had Spellcraft too, they wanted a chance at knowing more about what that goodie goodie sorcerer was doing, and the subtle sorcerer had a point or few of Holy Knowledge as well. This system should be used with the intent of providing character flavor to magic systems, and prevent resorting to eschew.

SR&D
These rules are intended to compatible with the D20 SRD, each other, and the Holy Knowledge variant rule presented here.

Feats
Five feats that were used in the play testing session.

Carrier [LEADERSHIP]
Prerequisite: 1st level in any PC Class.
Benefit: You can attract one dedicated ally that will stay near you at all times. This ally has the ability to aid you in any skill check regardless of whether or not the ally has the skill to do so normally. When first attracted a carrier is always first level, and may not be equal in level to you except at first level. Carriers effect your Leadership rating the same way as animal companions, familiars, and special mounts. You control all actions of the carrier in all situations, except in the case of abandonment (below).
A carrier and XP.
You carrier is not calculated into your party experience award like a normal ally. Your carriers' levels ( -1 per carrier ) are added to your level as a level adjustment. Your carrier gains XP from your total, and the totals of any characters that you approve of donating to the carrier's total. When your carrier is involved in an XP award without you, you receive that experience and allocate (usually at least half) as much XP to the carrier as you want to.
Abandoning and Carriers.
A carrier may abandon you, die, or simply retire. You have no control over the time or circumstances of abandonment. The death of a carrier has no effect on your leadership rating, and you may have as many carriers as you have leadership feats. Until the time of abandonment arrives you retain complete control over the actions of the carrier. Warning signs of immanent carrier abandonment may be obvious, obscure, or concealed.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times, each time you gain an additional carrier availability. You also gain a carrier availability for any other leadership feat you take after the carrier feat.

Extra Domain[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Oathbound.
Benefit: Add a domain to your list and gain all domain powers and spells as though you had selected the domain as a first level cleric.

Oathbound [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: You must make and keep an oath.
Benefit: You get a +4 bonus on all Diplomacy checks.
Special: If you break your oath you loose the benefits of this feat until you undergo an atonement and take a new oath. The Atonement spell or simply a suitable self sacrifice will serve this purpose, and the new oath must be a related, if not the same, oath as the previous oath.

Practiced Performer[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Five Perform skills with 5 ranks each.
Benefit: You receive a + 2 synergy bonus to any Perform check per each Perform skill you have 5 or more ranks in.

Translator[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Five language skills (in addition to automatic languages), access to the tongues spell, and Sense Motive 5 ranks.
Benefit: You can speak any language as though trained.
Special: This feat does not grant you the ability to read or write any language.

Domains
Three domains created in the play testing session.

MATH
Created in conjunction with Sarah Smith.
Granted Power: You gain the power of analysis, which is usable once per day. This extraordinary ability grants you or a subject a synergy bonus equal to your cleric caster level on any one skill check. You or the subject gain this bonus whenever the check is attempted until the circumstances of the check have changed significantly. Analyzing the circumstances of any skill check takes one hour of exclusive activity, and a notebook to record measurements and equations.
Math Domain Spells
1. True Strike: +20 on your next attack roll.
2. Bestow Curse: –6 to an ability score; –4 on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or 50% chance of losing each action.
3. Heroism: Gives +2 bonus on attack rolls, saves, skill checks.
4. Scrying (F): Spies on subject from a distance.
5. Find the Path: Shows most direct way to a location.
6. Arcane Sight, Greater: As arcane sight, but also reveals magic effects on creatures and objects.
7. Control Weather: Changes weather in local area.
9. Time Stop: You act freely for 1d4+1 rounds.

NECROMANCY
Granted Power: Rebuke or command undead as an evil cleric rebukes undead. Use these abilities a total number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This granted power is a supernatural ability.
Add Knowledge (The Planes) to your list of cleric class skills.
Necromancy Domain Spells
1. Restoration, Lesser: Dispels magical ability penalty or repairs 1d4 ability damage.
2. Speak with Dead: Corpse answers one question/two levels.
3. Spectral Hand: Creates disembodied glowing hand to deliver touch attacks.
4. Vampiric Touch: Touch deals 1d6/two levels damage; caster gains damage as hp.
5. Create Undead: Create ghouls, ghasts, mummies, or mohrgs.
6. Circle of Death (M): Kills 1d4/level HD of creatures.
7. Create Greater Undead (M): Create shadows, wraiths, spectres, or devourers.
8. Clone (M, F): Duplicate awakens when original dies.
9. Wail of the Banshee: Kills one creature/level.

BEAST
Created in conjunction with Joseph Henderson
Granted Power: Rebuke or command animals or magical beasts as an evil cleric rebukes undead. Use these abilities a total number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This granted power is a supernatural ability.
Add Knowledge (Nature) to your list of cleric class skills.
Beast Domain Spells
1. Detect Animals or Plants: Detects kinds of animals or plants.
2. Speak with Animals: You can communicate with animals.
3. Summon Swarm: Summons swarm of bats, rats, but not spiders.
4. Summon Nature’s Ally III: Calls creature to fight.
5. Commune with Nature: Learn about terrain and animal life for 1 mile/level.
6. Regenerate: Subject’s severed limbs grow back, cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +35).
7. Summon Nature’s Ally VI: Calls creature to fight.
9. Shapechange (F): Transforms you into any creature, and change forms once per round.

Merrik's Prestige Class
Created in conjunction with Joseph Henderson. A "turn check master" prestige class.

MASTER OF THE SIX PILLARS
The master of the six pillars seeks to stand at the center point of the great energy pattern of the universe. The ability to channel the energy of the elemental, the natural, and the divine is paramount to the master of the six pillars. The title is given as a sign of status by the loose confederation of atheists and pantheists known as the order of the natural way. True masters of the six pillars travel the planes by walking on the metaphysical pillars of reality and can mold energy and matter into whatever form desired. No official organization of masters exists, however their unique position amidst the power flow of the universe, and their understanding of that great pattern, means you can expect a master of the six pillars to be found amongst both the holy and the profane.

Hit Die: d8
Requirements
To qualify to become a master of the six pillars you must fulfill all the following criteria.
Domains: You must have two out of this list of domains. Air, Beast, Earth, Fire, Plant, or Water.
Feat: Extra Turning and Improved Turning or Oathbound, Your oath must be connected to the order of the natural way. Violation of your oath prevents you from using the master of the six pillar's special class abilities, however you retain your base attack bonus, saves, HP, skill points, and spells per day.
Skills: Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Elements), Knowledge (Planes), and Spellcraft 5 ranks.

Class Features
Class Skills
The Master of the Six Pillars class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Elements) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Knowledge (Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Base Attack Bonus: 3/4th class level.
Primary Save: Willpower.
Special
Level Table
1 - Alter Type, Bonus Domain I
2 -
3 - Elemental Conversion, Bonus Domain II
4 -
5 - Elemental Axis, Elemental Creation
6 -
7 - Bonus Domain III
8 - Pillar Walk
9 -
10 - Universal Axis, Bonus Domain IV

All of the following are Class Features of the master of the six pillars prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Masters of the six pillars gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells and Spells per Day: When a new master of the six pillars level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as an increase in the character's spell list), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting and spell slots per day. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a master of the six pillars, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day. Master of the six pillars spells and spells per day can only be applied to a divine spellcasting class, not an arcane. A
Turn or Rebuke Checks: Master of the six pillars levels are combined with clerical levels when making turn or rebuke checks.
Bonus Domain: The master of the six pillars may select any one of the following domains, that he does not have, and gain that domain's ability as normal. Air, Beast, Earth, Fire, Plant, or Water.
Alter Type: The master of the six pillars may expend an appropriate turn check to give himself or a target an elemental subtype for 1 hour per caster level.
A fire turn check adds the fire subtype or the ice subtype at the master of the six pillars' choosing.
An air turn check gives the air subtype, and a flight speed of 30 feet with good maneuverability.
A beast turn check gives the animal type and +4 natural armor, but does not alter any of the subject's racial traits.
A water turn check gives the aquatic subtype, and grants the subject a swim speed equal to the subject's landspeed.
An earth turn check gives the earth subtype, and a burrow speed of 30 feet.
A positive energy turn check grants the native subtype of the plane the subject is on at the time of alteration.
A negative energy turn check applies an extraplaner subtype of the master of the six pillars' choosing.
A plant turn check gives the plant type and removes the subject's need to breath, but does not alter any other of the subject's racial traits.
Elemental Conversion: The master of the six pillars may expend any one of his four elemental turn checks to transmute any inanimate element into another. To determine the amount of material that can be transmuted roll the master of the six pillar's turn damage. Multiply that number by 10 and you have the gp value of the material that can be affected. This ability can be used in combination with a craft check to create non-magical equipment, such as an iron short sword, instantly from natural material, such as raw stone.
Elemental Axis: The master of the six pillars may now decide to turn or rebuke all types of elementals with any elemental turn check he has available. A turn check provided by the Earth domain can be used to rebuke a fire elemental, and a turn check provided by the water domain can be used destroy a water elemental. This ability only applies to the master of the six pillars four elemental turn checks.
Elemental Creation: The master of the six pillars may expend a turn check to create a creature of a type determined by the turn check expended. A turn check provided by the Fire domain creates a fire elemental, and a turn check provided by the Plant domain creates a plant. To determine the HD of the creature created roll the master of the six pillar's turn damage. The result of the roll is the HD of the created creature. If the master of the six pillars uses positive energy the turn checks provided by the basic Turn Undead ability create positive energy beings that resemble medium sized humanoids. If the master of the six pillars uses negative energy the turn checks provided by the basic Turn Undead ability create undead of an appropriate hit die. Creatures created this way persist for a number of rounds equal to the master's level, or a master may choose to create with a number of HD less than half his effective clerical level permanently.
Pillar Walk: A master of the six pillars may teleport to any plane he is aware of 3 times a day. This ability works exactly like the teleport spell, except that the master of the six pillars may only use this ability to travel to another plane. You can not use pillar walk to teleport to anywhere on the plane you are currently on.
Universal Axis: All of the master of the six pillars' turn check allotments can be interchanged for the others. The master of the six pillars can now decide to channel (through a turn check only, not spontaneous casting) positive or negative energy at will.

Atheist Faiths
These "religions" are intended to be used with or without the Holy Knowledge variant rule.

Note: Using the Holy Knowledge variant, any cleric may choose Perform (Preach) in place of the skill designated by their faith. This choice represent the cleric's attitude about their religion. The designated skill is the skill of the aesthetic, and Perform (Preach) is the art of the evangelist.

The Order of the Natural Way
Created in conjunction with Joseph Henderson.
The order of the natural way is more an association than an actual religion. The collective opinion of the clerics that follow this faith is that the world works the way it is supposed to. The laws of nature are harsh but ultimately fulfilling. A holy man of the natural way is as at home in the wild as in a city, both are natural things. In a city the cleric dons the local dress. In the woods he allows the mud and leaves become his dress. No two clerics of the natural way are exactly alike. Each one follows his own natural path, and seeks to achieve a personal vision of the truth.
Alignment: Any neutral.
Domains: Earth, Air, Wind, Fire, Plant, Animal, Beast, Healing, Death, and Travel.
Spellcraft: Knowledge (Nature).
Caster Level: Survival.

Mathmatology
Created in conjunction with Sarah Smith.
Mathmotologists are serious scienticians! They demand respect from their less analytical peers in the divine community, but refrain from participating in any "holy" rituals if they can help it. The works of great Mathmatologist such as the Amazing Esperanto Eff are studied as though they were the words of gods themselves. These texts define and describe the equations of creation and the secret numbers of the universe. A diagram can describe all of the wonders of the world to a Mathmatologist. Most Mathmatologists are rather meek and prone to reading books of any kind, mathmatology preferably.
Alignment: Any.
Domains: Math, Trickery, Protection, Necromancy, Magic, Luck, Law, Chaos, Knowledge, and Destruction.
Spellcraft: Knowledge (Math)
Caster Level: Disable Device.

The Grand Guild Dedicated to the overthrow of Religious Hegemony
Money talks louder than the gods to the members of the grand guild. Profit is the only prophet. Many come to the guild for as many reasons. None are turned away if they are worth anything, and it is the holy money changers of the guild who judge that worth. Rarely explorers, the guild members most dedicated to highest principles of the guild are found tucked away in safe houses kept by the more mercantile members of the guild. Coordination and logistics are their primary functions to the guild. A coin keeper of the grand guild dedicated to the overthrow of religious hegemony is always in the finest clothes. Only masterwork, or magical, items are ever in their possession.
Alignment: Any Lawful.
Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Protection, Strength, Travel, and War.
Spellcraft: Knowledge (Economy).
Caster Level: Appraise.

Base Initiative and Tidal Initiative

On The Initiative System
by Shea C. Reinke

Originally posted on the Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572374/Base_Initiative_and_Tidal_Initiative?post_id=332690494#332690494

The act of determining who goes first, who goes last, and who gets what done before who is called Initiative. Like attack actions, Initiative is an IF roll that all meta-games have some kind of rule for. The rules for Initiative interact with all of the concepts of time in the game. How you use Initiative, how you rule Initiative, has a significant impact on how your games are played. There are many, many, many ways to play with Initiative, in this article I will review the basics. I will also play with the rules a little bit, with optional rules and a tidal Initiative

SRD D20 Core System Initiative

In SRD D20 Initiative is determined on one of two very similar ways. Like most systems you have a collective Initiative IF roll. IF, or Interactive Function, being my term (a very short term) for an opposed or contested roll. A roll that does not have static DC. Your D20 Initiative IF is: 1d20 + Dexterity Modifier + Initiative Bonus. All participants in the combat situation must roll before they can take an action in the turn sequence. If, they do not roll Initiative, then how are you supposed to know when they go?

The core system uses a static Initiative method that requires all characters in a combat situation determine their Initiative at the start of a scenario with an IF roll, and then places all of the participants in to a sequence. Most dungeon masters use some sort of table, either impromptu or pregenerated, to record this sequence for easy reference throughout the scenario. Once this sequence is generated, in the default method, it stays static. The sequence set at the begging of the scenario is maintained throughout, and only the special Initiative actions, delay and ready, allow participants to change their place in that sequence.

Dynamic Initiative is an optional rule that has all of the participants in a combat event roll Initiative IFs prior to the first action of every round. Using dynamic Initiative creates a sense of unpredictability in combat that many groups enjoy, however you must sacrifice the simplicity of static Initiative and some of the utility of the special Initiative actions. With static Initiative you can spend one turn delaying, putting yourself at a particular place on the sequence, and expect to retain that position for the remainder of the scenario. With dynamic Initiative you are "wasting" a turn to go first on the next round with no assurance of going first on the round after.


Ties, Surprise, and Special Initiative Actions

Ties and Surprise are the most commonly faced Initiative issues. If one or more of the participants in a combat scenario are unaware of what is going on at the beginning of combat (or round with dynamic Initiative) you find yourself in a Surprise round. The Surprised characters roll initiative, but they remain flat-footed until their turn. If the Surprised participants are still unaware of what is happening around them when it comes to their turn in the sequence they may attempt to observe, and figure out that their in combat, or they may continue to act as if nothing is happening (remaining "Surprised" and flat-footed). Combat actions happen at a much more rapid pace than non-combat actions. So a character that does not know that that they are in combat is not likely to take a combat worthy action. Particularly move at a their full combat rate.

A tie in Initiative sequence is resolved by comparing the total Initiative bonuses of the tied characters. If those numbers are equal then they must IF against each other. The IF does not effect their place in the larger Initiative sequence, only their relative Initiative sequence. Its like rolling Initiative just for that one turn in the round. Later in this article I will suggest an optional rule for dealing with ties in a different manner, but the core systems work very well to resolve Initiative ties simply. Of course, with dynamic Initiative resolving ties must be done every round, further multiplying the number of Initiative rolls that you need to make to get through a round.

Delay and ready are the two, very similar, special Initiative actions. Both delay and ready allow you to designate another spot on the Initiative sequence to take your turn. Delay is a free action, and ready is a move equivalent action. To delay you must state a specific point in the sequence that you are going to act, whereas with ready you can declare a specific event that will trigger your action. There is a common optional Initiative action called observe the scene. Observing the scene is a full round action that allows you to reroll your initiative with a +10 or +20 Initiative bonus to the roll. A simpler method that achieves a similar result in both static and dynamic Initiative is to delay until the bottom of the round, aka the top of the next.

Optional Initiative Rules

Reroll Ties Every Round

In static Initiative, instead of resolving ties at the beginning of the scenario, you can allow the ties to remain a point of contention. Every round the tied characters declare the action they want to do, and if one of their actions needs to happen before the other (say they are opponents in melee) then they IF roll. If their actions do not compete for timing (say they are flanking a shared enemy) it is simple enough to allow them to take their actions at effectively the same time. Courtesy and player readiness should be enough to determine which player will actually declare and roll first.

"I'll get him next round, you'll see! Somebody cast cat's grace on me!"

Damage allocation at the End of the Round

Six seconds is a very short time. In a number of movies we have seen a character take a mortal blow and continue to act for a moment. It takes a few seconds for the body to realize that it isn't working anymore. In that light you could have the effect of damage (in this case a character dropping below 0) be delayed until the end of the round. With this rule characters will not change their mind as often in combat. There are many times when I have been planning on hitting a monster, but the turn right before mine an ally has killed the beast. The dungeon master promptly declares "and he falls" leaving me with the opportunity to, in a split second, switch tactics and strike another character. Damage allocation at the end of the round adds a little bit of suspense to combat.

"34 damage!? That one should take him down, right?"

Declare First and Act at the Same Time

The first suggestion I have for alternate Initiative rules is actually not very different, as far as the rules are concerned. The difference is in the playing. I call it declare first and act at the same time. The idea being that six seconds is not a very long time. Part of having a higher Initiative is the idea of the idea that your character is more "on top of things" than the other characters. Declare first and act at the same time is a method that gives the high Initiative spot a better view of what they want to do on their turn by forcing the participants with lower Initiatives to declare their actions first.

Starting with the character that rolled the lowest on their Initiative, have each participant declare what their action is going to be and discuss, but do not roll, the DC. This way the characters with higher Initiatives will have the benefit of foresight when declaring their actions. When the highest Initiative finishes declaring their action, everyone rolls at once. All the DCs have already been set so everyone knows what they are rolling for, and hopefully the players will help each other track their successes and failures while the dungeon master makes all the rolls for the NPCs.

If one action interferes with another action saves, concentration checks, or spot Initiative checks can be made to resolve the outcome. In real life sometimes things happen so quickly that you take actions that you wouldn't want to. Giving a character a spot Initiative check to change their previously declared action captures that idea. The DC for that spot check is their own Initiative sequence. They must IF against themselves to change their momentum mid action, in less than six seconds. If the character fails to achieve their set Initiative in the spot Initiative check then they must take the action they were intending as well as they can.

"I was going to hit the orc, but it fell down, so I did 9 damage to the wall by accident."

Tidal Initiative

Somewhere between static and dynamic Initiative is my idea of tidal Initiative. Tidal Initiative requires fewer IF rolls than dynamic Initiative, and creates a more fluid, and unpredictable, combat environment. I use the declare first and act all at once method when I use tidal Initiative, but it is not an integral component. Part of tidal Initiative is the designation of Initiative zones. As you might expect, you want to be in the zone. Tidal Initiative is an option that works well with groups that keep track of higher ground bonuses, and know how to use flanking to their advantage.

To get started, tidal Initiative works the same way that static Initiative does. You roll once for all the participants at the start of the conflict. Any time anything significant happens to alter the scene, such as the entrance of new combatants into the conflict, the group rerolls the open Initiative IF. Tidal Initiative has a number of additional special Initiative actions that make your Initiative sequence more malleable. Such as divide enemies and work together. Zones, zone bonuses, and a tidal Initiative bonus add consequences beyond the order of action to the Initiative sequence.

With tidal Initiative there is an additional Initiative bonuses to keep track of and additional bonuses to actions determined by your Initiative zone. The tidal Initiative bonus is applied to your Initiative IFs. Each participant in a combat scenario receives a tidal bonus to Initiative equal to the number of warm bodies on your side (incorporeals and constructs, while not always warm, are still counted for this purpose). Swarms and hordes will almost always get high Initiative when using tidal Initiative. This is intended to reflect the way that overwhelming numbers can control a combat situation. Hordes and large military forces should be subdivided into combat "squads" of no more than 25, when determining tidal Initiative bonuses.


There are three tidal Initiative zones
The teamwork zone, the pointman zone, and the underdog zone.

When allies are acting on the same Initiative turn they are in the teamwork zone. Characters in the teamwork zone receive a competence bonus on all checks equal to the number of allies in the zone with them, including themselves. This competence bonus applies to all attacks, saves, and checks, and it stacks with any other morale or competence bonuses.

The character that has the highest Initiative total is in the pointman zone. Only one character can be in the pointman zone at one time unless allies are creating a teamwork zone in the pointman zone. If you are in the pointman zone you may take a -4 penalty to your action to influence the flow of combat. If you succeed at the action you attempt (with the -4) you give your allies a +4 morale bonus on their actions that round, alternatively you may give your enemies a -4 on all their actions that round.

If a character has the lowest Initiative total, and no ally shares that Initiative spot, they are in the underdog zone. A character in the underdog zone receives their tidal bonus to Initiative to any social IF rolls they attempt to make. Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidation checks are made best when you are following behind the tide. The character in the underdog zone can also choose to take a special tidal Initiative action called break the tide.

There are four special tidal Initiative actions
Work together, divide enemies, race point, and break the tide.

Work Together: When two characters are allies and they are not in a teamwork zone they may attempt to work together. Working together is a move equivalent action that changes your Initiative sequence by two. You move two steps closer to the Initiative spot of the ally you are trying to work together with.

Divide Enemies: You can take a standard action on your turn to disrupt your enemies teamwork zone. When you attempt to divide enemies you take any normal attack, or social IF action that could distract or demoralize your enemies. Apply a -4 penalty to this action, and if you succeed with the action you have also succeeded in shifting your target enemy's Initiative sequence by three in any direction.

Race Point: As a full round action you may attempt to change your Initiative to the pointman zone. You make an Initiative IF roll that is resisted by the current character in the pointman zone's Initiative IF roll. If you win then the Initiative sequence does not change, but your spot in the sequence is considered the top of the round (all "end of round" effects and abilities such as regeneration or full round action spells are delayed or accelerated accordingly). If you fail nothing happens, and your Initiative sequence does not change.

Break the Tide: Only a character in the underdog zone may attempt to break the tide. Breaking the tide is a full round action that is a special level check modified by your tidal bonus. Roll 1d20 + ECL + tidal bonus vs a DC equal to the tidal bonus of your enemies. If you succeed your enemies tidal bonus is reduced by 4, and the entire field must reroll Initiative.

In Conclusion,

There you are, a quick overview of the core system Initiative rules, a few minor optional rules and methods, and a full sail tidal Initiative system. I hope that this analysis of timing inspires, or at least amuses, you and your play group. I have always like the declare first and act later system ever since I read about it in an old D&D 1st ed. book (of course, that set recommended that only one player actually get to talk to the dungeon master). I hope that the tidal Initiative system works as well for you as it has for me. Lastly, I encourage you to not only role play and roll play, but to rule play as well.

What do I know?

On the Sense Motive Skill
by Shea C. Reinke

Originally posted on Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572370/What_Do_I_Know?post_id=332690546#332690546

Of all the skills in all of d20 there is one most under used. I write it on my character sheet "SeMo".

What it does

Sense Motive is under used. Now that's not to say that the Sense Motive skill is not designed for use. Just that there is a strange sort of disregard for using the skill in any manner other than to resist a Bluff. Hunches are frowned upon. Some DMs like to play with obvious DCs but the rules call for twenty. That's Sense Motive Hunch DC 20. No more no less. That's what you should be using Sense Motive for, when you are in the pickle jar, take a twenty. "I sit there until I figure out a plan" you say to your DM. "Here's your hunch" the DM says to you. That's the rule.

"What is wrong with you?"

One of the most missrolled of the features of Sense Motive is the detection of enchantment spells. Players often simply roll Spellcraft, or abruptly detect magic. First, however, you should be rolling your Sense Motive. Sadly, the reality of the situation is that it is almost simpler to wait the however long period of interaction that it would take to take 20 on a Sense Motive check, get a hunch, and probably beat a 25 (dominate 15) getting an idea of what is going on, potentially an accurate idea. Of course, Sense Motive is a skill that is supposed to be rolled for you. That way you don't know what you don't know until you roll, or take, a twenty.

"What am I going to do?"

Of course there are the failures of the world. Those who have negative wisdom bonus. Those poor characters that can't count on getting a good idea in even a half an hour. Taking twenty just leaves their mind spinning. They have to get lucky just to have a reasonable hunch about what to do as a general rule. That or learn how to think with a few well placed skill ranks, and remember you don't have to roll Sense Motive versus Bluff to detect a lie. Bluff will not let someone lie to you. There is no skill for lying, but you can get a hunch that someone is lying to you.

"What am I doing?"

A feint is an entirely different matter. That is a combat interaction now. No taking 10s there. Those that lack wisdom and base attack are really out of luck as far as predicting feint moves. If you are quick, when you're round footed, you can really feel a feint in a fight. Uncanny dodgers not so much, but uncanny dodge is, in a sense, a Sense Motive bonus ability. You are never fooled about erratic offensive actions. Wisdom bonus to defenses of any kind is a form of motive analysis. Resisting the feint, when feint is often used, should be motive enough to put ranks into Sense Motive, but some have meager few skill points to put forward.

"What are you telling me?"

Bluff and Sense Motive, they are like skill mates. Not to mention the skills used, and usable by animal intelligence, creatures in a mating dance. Sense Motive is not used to catch a good Bluff, but it does allow you to catch one that is dropped. When talk is spun with double tung it is the skill Sense Motive that tells you where that tung is split in two. What is being said here? Of four functions found in the Sense Motive skill two, hunch and detect enchantment, you do yourself and two are only done in reaction to a Bluff. The majority of skills work by themselves, you see. Sense Motive is one of the few skills that allows you to catch another skill's "things."

Without an exhaustive and complicated table to reference, rules can be hard feel the need to use. Dms learn these rules to an exhaustive level and players tend to pick actions off them at random. "I am going to make a character entirely based around these feats" a player once said, and in such a way many characters are created. Sense Motive is one of those skills that is usually used for you. So it is really up to the dm to come up with the opportunities for this to happen. Rolling secret Sense Motive checks is not really necessary if your players can handle a little meta-play.

"Once upon a time."

There was a player in a game who rolled his own Sense Motive checks, and one time, while examining an obviously enchanted art piece, he rolled a one. He immediately grabbed the thing, at player decision, and, after a failed will save, spent several days thinking he was a dwarf. He wasn't by the way.

What could be done

First, Sense Motive needs a better combat function. In relation to this you should have to roll Sense Motive against either 20 or the obvious DCs below to determine someone's attitude in relation to you. You should be able to do this in combat. Getting a hunch, or a hunch like understanding of the situation, should suffer a - 10 penalty ala Diplomacy. The intensity of combat situations is relevant when considering your sense of perception. Using hunch to determine the power structure of a royal court is an affair that just takes time, but analyzing the tactical maneuvers of a squad of battle hardened kobolds while they swarm over you is a different story. Hunches in combat can be used to predict the battle plan of the enemy. Is there a leader behind their tactics? Is there a weak point in their front? Is that thing over there actually a kobold? Fighting for your life is in the very least distracting, if not outright confusing.

Most games presume a sort of top down view to what the characters in combat know. There is no role playing reason to support the attitude that your character is in complete possession of faculties and perceptions in a heated conflict. You can Spot something of medium size moving around the field, but will you actually understand what you see? Could you make a mistake, not in seeing, but in understanding? Use a Spot check to see the basic forms, but use a hunch to learn more things. With multi-skill hunches, below, these understandings will of course be colored by limited relevance and relationships.

Second, take the Sense Motive skill entirely out of the game. Yep, gone. For conversion purposes put your skill points in places that they belong. Pick up a point or two of training you deserve. What are you saying? Don't remove Sense Motive entirely! What about Bluff? You can resist Bluff with Bluff (Bluff should really be called Fast Talk), detect enchantment with Spellcraft, but what about hunch? You should be able to get a hunch with any skill, every skill. Instead of a single skill that represents the totality of understanding use each skill as a filter for hunches. When you want a hunch pick a skill that you are looking at the world through. Check that skill versus twenty, and if you win you get a hunch that is related to the skill you used.

Skills are conceptually a set of related actions and understandings. That understanding is focused, but not so focused that it doesn't give you a way to view the world. In the real life game what you know defines how you see your situation. How many people do you know sense motives with their Profession? You use your sense of balance to gauge a difficulty before you walk across it, and you should roll your skill in Climb to get a hunch at the DC of a wall you intend on climbing. Sense Motive is under used because you have a hunch that it doesn't do what its supposed to. Take a twenty and see if that's true. Every skill should give you chance at understanding. Skill are what skills are because they are each a form of understanding. A good, practiced and trained, hunch about what to do.

Third, with the pervasive use of the hunch function you should ponder the relevance of obvious DCs. It is simply true that some things are not as obvious as others. Particularly if there is some sort of deception going on. Some lies are better than others, and some traps better hidden. First consider a base hunch DC of 10 plus challenge rating, and when appropriate consult this table:

True 5, Blatant 8, Obvious 11, Obtuse 14, Veiled 17, Concealed 20, Hidden 26, Weird 32, Exotic 38, Outlandish 44, Unbelievable 50, Epic 62, Otherworldly 74, Ascendant 98, Chaos 123, Divinity 149.

These are referential obvious DCs. These are DCs meant to be used in combat. Hunches can be split decisions. "I had a hunch he was going for that key". Hunches can be used to predict moves, judge HD if you want it to, and gauge how, and what is, important about which characters on the field. Fights happen for different reasons. Some are distractions, and some are accidents. Some conflict has a purpose, and sometimes that purpose is secret. Are there reinforcements? Which one wears the pot on his head? To use dice to predict tactics you have no other skill to use, but unless you take ten rounds or break that minute rule it takes a noncombat moment to gather your senses into a hunch.

"You Sense my Motive don't you?"

Most games presume a sort of top down view to what the characters in combat know. There is no role playing reason to support the attitude that your character is in complete possession of faculties and perceptions in a heated conflict. You can Spot something of medium size moving around the field, but will you actually understand what you see? Could you make a mistake, not in seeing, but in understanding? Use a Spot check to see the basic forms, but use a hunch to learn something more. With all skill hunches these understandings will of course be colored by relative knowledge and functional relationships of the skill chosen.

"What are you telling me."

A Survival check hunch will tell you whether that thing is going to eat you, whereas the Knowledge (Nature) hunch could tell you how long it has been since the animal had lunch. A Handle Animal hunch could tell you if you could train it, and a Use Rope hunch tells you how tight you will have to tie your knots. Healing hunches tell you how much damage someone has taken, maybe how much they deal. Craft hunches would work allot like Appraise, and Appraise hunches could tell you if you have Appraised wrong. Use Magic Device. "I just had a hunch that this wand with the torch on the end was the one to use on that troll!"

The implication here is that all of these hunches, all of these bits of understandings are already what Sense Motive should do, but doesn't seem to want to. Perhaps splintering Sense Motive into every skill will be good practice. Perhaps this is what Sense Motive has always wanted to do. Obliterating an entire skill, in this way, should not be taken lightly. Sense Motive doesn't become another skill, it becomes every skill. If you don't use Sense Motive because you don't like rolling to understand things then don't do this. If you use Sense Motive some, but not much, give it a try. At least rolling for hunches in combat.

Expanded rules to Use[b]

[b]Feats for Sense Motive.
These feats are designed to be used with D&D, Sense Motive skill intact.

Shot Caller[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack + 3, Sense Motive 5 ranks
Benefit: You grant a + 4 bonus to aid ranged attack rolls in combat.
Normal: You grant a + 2 bonus to aid any attack rolls in combat.

Distraction[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack +3, Sense Motive 5 ranks.
Benefit: You grant a + 4 bonus to aid melee attack rolls in combat.
Normal: You grant a + 2 bonus to aid any attack rolls in combat.

Moves[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Dodge, Spring Attack, Sense Motive 10 ranks.
Benefit: You gain an additional + 1 dodge bonus to AC when acting defensively, or grant a + 4 deflection bonus to AC when aiding another's defence in combat.
Normal: You can grant a +2 bonus to AC when aiding another's defence in combat.

Secrets[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive 13 ranks.
Benefit: You gain a Sense Motive synergy bonus to Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge, Move Silent, Perform, and Profession.
Normal: Sense Motive gives you a synergy bonus to Diplomacy.

Organized[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive and Profession 7 ranks.
Benefit: A successful hunch allows you to earn about your Profession check result in gp over a week.
Normal: A Profession check allows you to earn about half of your Profession check result in gp in a week.

Read the Crowd[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive and Perform 7 ranks.
Benefit: A successful hunch allows you to earn double your amount in gp or goods for a Performance.
Special: Regardless of how well your Performance is you cannot receive more gp or gold than is available for them to give.

Con Man[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive and Bluff 7 ranks.
Benefit: If you make a successful hunch check about your target before you attempt to Bluff that target then you can attempt to retry a failed Bluff with no penalty.
Normal: A failed Bluff check makes your target more suspicious of you and prevents retries until the same circumstance changes.

Inspire[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive 10 ranks, Leadership.
Benefit: You can make a Sense Motive check vs the DC of the enchantment effect's original save. Success allows your target an additional chance to resist the enchantment. You must be aware of the magical compulsion before you can attempt to inspire.
Normal: A skill check will not allow any character to retry a save check.
Special: You cannot inspire an unwilling target and you cannot inspire yourself if your enchantment specifically prevents you.

Some additional Sense Motive feats.
These feats will only work if you use hunches in combat.

Improved Hunch[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Combat reflexes.
Benefit: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a standard action.
Normal: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a full round action.

Greater Hunch[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Improved Hunch.
Benefit: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a move equivalent action.
Normal: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a full round action.

Supreme Hunch[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Greater Hunch.
Benefit: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a free action.
Normal: You can make a Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat as a full round action.

Battle Wise[COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack +10, Greater Hunch.
Benefit: You take no penalties on a Sense Motive check in combat.
Normal: You suffer a -10 penalty to any Sense Motive check made in combat.

Combat Commander[GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Sense Motive 7 ranks.
Benefit: You can aid all allies within one of your move actions with a successful Sense Motive check to get a hunch in combat. You must designate one type of aid (offensive, defensive, or skill: + 2) before you make your Sense Motive check.
Normal: You can only aid one ally at a time, and you must beat a DC 15 using the same skill or action that they are attempting.
Special: You gain a synergy bonus to this roll if you are aiding a skill that you have 5 or more ranks in.

In Conclusion,
What do you think? Can you use this? What's your hunch in regards to combat hunches? Do you have any more questions about what Sense Motive, or something like it, can do for you? Do you understand that the Sense Motive check is about questions and answers? When a character asks a question about it's world, the world should answer that character on it's own terms. In D&D those terms are dice rolls and DCs. A d20 to be particular, and one more: What? I see uh WHAT!?

What do you gather here?

The Skill of Gathering Information
by Shea C. Reinke

Originally posted on Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572342/What_do_you_Gather_here?post_id=332689722#332689722

Questions

The first question that pops out of a player's mouth, about the Gather Information skill, is "Why should I bother?" His thought, "If I know the right questions to ask then I don't need to make a skill roll" is a misunderstanding of the meta-play. The Gather Information skill is not an escape from asking the right questions, but a release from the monotony of the single player dialogue, and massive amounts of time, that are required to role play out the entire process of Gathering Information in the game.

There are two functions of a Gather Information check, and they can be taken to involve taking ten on numerous Diplomacy checks, conceptually. Throughout an evening, generally 1d4 + 1 hours (give or take a candle mark), you change a number of NPC attitudes to friendly enough to give you information. The epic, - 20 to avoid attention, penalty can be considered both the finer arts of eavesdropping, and changing attitudes to helpful enough to "forget" you. Avoiding attention and actually getting people to trust you are not a part of Gather Information. If you don't want anyone to find you, use Hide. Unwanted attention can be a consequence of even a successful Gather Information check.

The primary point of focus for the Gather Information skill not the same as the Diplomacy skill. There is a world between the basic premises. Diplomacy is a consensual skill function. You change an attitude by your state of being in relation to the targets. A Gather Information check is more like people skimming. If you already know who has the answers to your questions, say if you can think to yourself "I need to talk to the Viceroy of Southreach," use Diplomacy. Ask your question, and be done with it. Negotiate if necessary. Gather Information finds facts not from one source, but from two and three. Source A, B, and C. Half of what she said and three parts what you see.

Answers

"What were you saying?"

The simpler function of the Gather Information skill is one in which can you can usually hide, without concern for being seen by someone you will receive negative attention from, assuming your not wanted for something important or pressing locally. You are simply learning what anyone should learn from where you are standing. This check could reasonably be rolled for you whenever you spend more than an hour in a public place. Anytime you have a reasonable chance to learn something while time is passing you can roll, or have rolled for you, a Gather Information check. This is what the skill can do, put a information gather list next to the city encounter table in your campaigns. After spending days in a city you would be rather well informed of the general goings on, particularly at that Tanzian dance hall the stable hands are always talking about.

"I say, what's the goings on?"

Another side effect of keeping such a record is that you can have a pulse of the city, Gather Information is only useful in something that qualifies as a city. A group that spends months and years in a city should expect to be able to recall the talk of the town, and how it went up and down. "The festival every summer brings stories of the southern hills, as the riverfolk turn upstream" players might say in memory. This does involve producing the occasional random story. Many times a player will be satisfied with information gathered such as "Two old men are speaking of the river man who claims to have seen a dragon down south." Sometimes that simple statement will lead your group off to a side quest.

"Really? That's strange."

Most city talk revolves around the doings of the government figures, the local entertainment, and the goings on of those "not from here". If you are in an intimate setting, say a small clan house with some dozen NPCs, you may also learn a few intimate details about the NPCs' lives. What qualifies as entertainment in a place can often be the most conducive angle to analyze before describing your Gather Information process. If a rumor of contention is known amongst a group of NPCs, spend time around them and you may just overhear something useful to you. This is something you don't even really need to ask questions to do, and unless you're already marked you should be able to avoid attention.

"Do you know this man?"

In some cities, it could be you that everyone is talking about. Random rumors are one issue, but pointed questions are something different. You have to control your targets more. Bend the conversation a little bit, if you will. This is what draws attention to you. You are not talking about what your target wants to, and they notice you. "He wanted something from me" they say. They may tell you what you want to know, but they may also tell on you to someone else asking pointed questions about you. Idle gossip, and good rumor, is usually available for free save for time, but answers for questions comes close to negotiating. A bargain is struck, sometimes with your presence, but sometimes for some more concrete form of pay.

"Who do you think you are?"

DC 15 implies simple subjects. Rumor almost already in hand, but you have to know right now. As your difficulty moves up to 25 and higher you are asking for more, and likely spending more of something or another. Making friends implies that you will have a lingering attachment to some NPC, of some kind or another. You may have learned of the secret entrance to the black tower from a low level guard that will be on duty when you are attacking. What is a friend worth to your character's description? Good or evil, lawful or chaotic, a friendly should mean something to you. Of course you may make the best friends with those who have absolutely nothing to tell you.

"Ok, now where are we going?"

The interesting thing about the cost involved in Gather Information is that the real expenditures may have nothing to do with the eventual source of the information you seek to gather. You may spend hundreds of gold at a noble's favorite bar, and learn what you want to know from a street performer on the way back home. Maybe you promise a date with your cute friend to an old man who thinks he knows something, but you hear the truth from the mouth of a flower girl for a silver. Knowledge, in every world, can come in amazingly odd ways. The Gather Information check can include a plan but the result of spending hours chasing a town for rumors can result in very strange happenings.

Playing with Gather Information

Gather Information is a skill that should collapse long periods of time into a playable, and entertaining, sequence. Ideally the entire play group should be able to enjoy the descriptions involved in a Gather Information check. The act of checking Gather Information places the players in the hands of fate (the dm). Your roll is made and your DM takes the result to define the events of a vague span of time and a number of possible unusual circumstances. Random encounters can often be the most likely result of the actual actions that are component of making a Gather Information check (particularly a failure), but the intent is to minimize the amount of one-on-one play not start a single player combat sequence spontaneously.

The patter involved between player and dm should go something along this line:
"OK, I make a Gather Information check of (rolls) 18, im asking about the duke, you know."
"Right, so you are heading to the stables, then off to the docks, and you end up at the golden goose"
"Yeah, I go buy stuff and talk to street hawkers"
"Uhh, the stable boy said something about a ceremony, that you asked a fruit vendor in the open market about and he told you it was being performed by the duke and other noble houses for some cult whose name he would not speak, and some lady at the golden goose said that the duke always performs ceremonies at his country manor, and she said something else 'have a care sir, keep an eye for the tracks of goats'."
"When is the ceremony?"
"The fruit vendor said next week, and you heard some street preacher say that it was ... five days until the time, That's 10 gp you spent buying fruit, and drinks at the goose."

A Gather Information check should take no more than a minute or two of play time, but it covers hours of game time. The skill is like Craft (Information) in that way. Groups that have crafters will find that Craft checks and Gather Information checks are best made at the same time. Almost like a supplemental non-conflict turn of rounds, measured in hours of activity instead of seconds of action.

When the entire group is waiting on the results of information before taking real actions you can heighten the anticipation by waiting to roll an actual Gather Information check until after all the other players have had a chance to describe what their activities are while the researching characters are on an about. Remember, multiple party members can aid each other in Gather Information. The entire group can go out on the town, together or with a game plan, and perform a more complete canvas of a city. Gather Information can be used untrained, it gives any of your players an activity to do, and provides a space of civil exposition for the dm to use. A five or ten minute description of how the city and the activities of several hours go by that the players need only contribute lightly to.

The Half-Elf, Investigator, and Synergy

Half-Elves gain a racial bonus to Gather Information. Why? They are perpetually out of place. There is no natural place for them in pure breed social interaction, and therefore they have an advantageous position. A known position. Never having had an acceptable spot to stand in a social stratification they are familiar with the process of passing that first threshold, and only that first threshold matters for the design of Gather Information. Inversely, the synergy bonus from Knowledge (local) represents the palpable ability to behave when in a particular locale, to know where you stand. You can laugh at the jokes at all the right times, or all the right-wrong times if you are born out of place, like a half-elf.

A character with the investigator feat is also working from a practiced position, the feat implies that you have asked these kind of questions so many times before that you no longer exude the same kind of nervous energy that most do when investigating rumors. You may have developed tactics and tricks for asking questions in round about ways. You probably have good poker face, and you know how to provoke someone into talking about what they want to; in a way that is rewarding to both of you. You can be certain that one of a city's star reporters is a half-elf with the Investigator feat, and 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (His City).

Gather Information and Challenge Rating

Gather Information skill checks should usually reduce the amount of time that random action monopolizes in play, but by making the skill check more involved you can make the experience into something worth a challenge rating. When actual threat of retaliation is present, and when the majority of the party declares that they are Gathering Information together; the dm begins to provoke social skill DCs for certain key circumstances, with drastic consequences. The rouge needs to Bluff a few times, the cleric may make Diplomacy or Knowledge (Religion), and the Bard is told to Perform (Sing), Perform (Dance), and make a few Bluffs too. Perhaps a duel ensues, one opposed attack roll will do for first blood, or maybe you reflex save against damage as a bar fight breaks out.

Depending on the number of checks your players are required to make, and the severity of the consequences, you can determine the challenge rating. Success in the Gather Information check is similar to disarming the trap, a social trap. Damage is only one of the many possible dire consequences. Getting the info and not alerting the attention of the local nasty that you are attempting to avoid should be two criterion of success. You may not gain the XP for participating in the challenge until a threat you provoked is abated. This may involve combat or a hasty bit of traveling. Using Gather Information like this can be the source of spontaneous quest XP. Using Gather Information can give some structure to non-combat time, but should not be used as the only source of quest XP.

Doing More With Gather Information
The above is RAW. The below is R&D.

The other reason that the Gather Information skill is allot like a Craft (Information) skill is that you really can't use it in combat. There is simply no way to qualify a Gather Information check into a combat turn in any way. Unless you play with the rules such as these,

Gather Information could make something,
Make a Plan: When you successfully make a plan you can grant a + 1 morale, or insight see DCs, bonus to any one type of check per participant in the plan. Only allies can participate in plans together. The DC to make a plan is determined by the duration of the plan, and the number of details (see plan duration and detail table). The participants in the plan must enact, produce, or qualify for any details of the plan. If not, the plan ceases to grant a bonus for the designated check. A masterworked plan grants an additional + 2 insight bonus to a second designated check. The check designated by either the primary + 1 morale, or insight see DCs, bonus per participant or the secondary + 2 insight bonus can apply to any one skill check, attack roll, or save.

-----
_Plan duration DCs_
1 turn DC 5
10 turns DC 10
One Combat 15
One Hour DC 20
One Day DC 30
One Month DC 40
Insight Bonus DC +5
Master wok Component DC +10*1
_Epic Plan duration DCs_
One Season DC 50
One Year DC 70
Ten Years DC 90
A lifetime DC 110
Epic Master wok Component DC +30*1
---
*1 Creating a master work component requires you to double the amount of time spent making your plan, in combat 2 minutes (20 consecutive rounds).
---
_Details_
Details are any specific action.
Details must be organized in order.
Details are determined by the circumstance.

You reduce your DC by 1 for each detail involved in a plan.
-----

Action: Making a plan requires 1 minute (10 full combat rounds). You can take a day to make a plan and gain a + 5 bonus to your check. You can take more than one day to make a plan. Each day you spend planning grants an additional + 5 bonus to your Gather Information check.
Special: A plan starts when the first detail is fulfilled.
Untrained: An untrained Knowledge can only make a plan of a DC 15 or less.

Gather Information could work faster,
Analyze Character: You can observe the actions of a target and gain information about their character and equipment. This roll is opposed by a reactive Bluff check. A target that is aware of being analyzed and may choose to substitute Diplomacy, Disguise, Perform, or a Knowledge skill in place of Bluff to oppose your attempt to analyze their character.
Action: Analyzing a character usually requires several minutes of interaction but you can make a Gather Information check to analyze a character in combat with a - 10 penalty.
Special: An aware target may determine, to the the extent allowed by the opposing skill, the information gained when your Gather Information check to analyze a character fails.

Gather Information could help Knowledge and Appraise,
Research: When you have reason to believe that you have failed a Knowledge or Appraise check a successful Gather Information check to research the issue will allow you to retry the skill check. The DC is equal to the DC of the original skill check.

Action: Research requires a number of hours and an acceptable source of information or reference.
Special: You cannot research a question unless you have unless you have already attempted to and failed a trained Knowledge or Appraise check.

Information isn't cheap,
PROFESSION (WIS; TRAINED ONLY)
...
Special: In addition to using the Profession skill, you can use Gather Information to practice the information trade.

and Gather Information really could just be a part of Diplomacy.
To convert a 3.X character simply move all ranks of Gather Information into Diplomacy (adjust for class skills, if necessary). When Diplomacy reaches max ranks put the remainder into Sense Motive, Bluff, or Perform. Conceptually Gather Information is related to the Diplomacy skill, and, for mechanic purposes, there is no overwhelming need to have them be separate skills. They make a sensical link from immediate combat behavior, to collapsed contested discussion, and all the way up to an overland travel, profession, or crafting time rate.

These Feats are intended to be used with SRD compatible material, and the skill functions of Gather Information described above.

OUT OF PLACE [racial]
Shea - Based off the half-elf ability. Hence the negation of stacking.
Prerequisites: Special.
Benefit: Gain a + 2 morale bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information. This bonus does not stack with the half-elf bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information.
Special: You can only take this feat before your first class level, and you must be of mixed blood. Pure blood races such as dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, and humans cannot take this feat.

FRIEND OF FATE [general]
Shea - Reduced expenditures!
Benefit: You generally do not have to spend any money to make a Gather Information check. In situations where gp or barter are unavoidable you will always spend less than normal.

PROFESSIONAL [general]
Shea - No chance of suspicion when making profession check.
Prerequisites: Profession 5 ranks.
Benefit: You do not risk any chance of attracting suspicion when making Gather Information checks if you can make a Gather Information check at the same time as you are making a Profession check.

REPRESENTATIVE [general]
Shea - Any suspicion is directed at the party you represent, hehe.
Prerequisites: Diplomacy and Bluff 5 ranks, Gather Information 10 ranks.
Benefit: If you attract attention while making a Gather Information check you redirect that negative attention to another character. That character may or may not exist.

CONFIDANT [general]
Shea - Reduce DC 15 specific rumors to DC 10 general info.
Prerequisites: Charisma 13.
Benefit: You can seek out a specific rumor, or a specific item, or obtain a map, or do something else along those lines while getting a general idea of a city's major news items. You cannot use this ability if the DC to find the information is greater than 20.

DARK SECRET [general]
Shea - Gain bonus on diplomacy or intimidation because you know THE TRUTH!
Prerequisites: Gather Information 10 ranks.
Benefit: When you take this feat you gain the ability to use a Gather Information check DC 30 to learn a dark secret about a target. Knowing a dark secret about a target NPC grants you a + 4 morale bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidation checks targeting them.

LIFE OF THE PARTY [general]
Shea - NPCs become friendly, and stay that way.
Prerequisites: Perform 5 ranks.
Benefit: When you successfully make a Gather Information check you also gain a number of NPCs in the area that you may treat as friendly.
Special: Having this feat and using Gather Information in an area several times will most likely make you something of celebrity.

These feats are redundant if you use the similarly named skill functions for Gather Information that I have described above.

RESEARCHER [general]
Shea - UH.. never mind..
Benefit: +2 bonus to Gather Information and Knowledge checks.

ANALYZE OPPONENT [general]
Shea - not the same but a little of both.
Prerequisites: Gather Information 5 ranks, Dodge.
Benefit: This feat grants a +2 insight bonus to attack the opponent you have decided to dodge. If you Aid an ally in combat you may grant this bonus to that ally. You may grant a +4 (aid + insight) bonus to attack, or you may grant a +2 to both attack and AC. An aid bonus to AC, and an Insight bonus to attack. You do not gain the benefit of this feat if you are granting it to an ally.

IMPROVED ANALYZE OPPONENT [general]
Shea - Rounded tactical fighting.
Prerequisites: Gather Information 10 ranks, Analyze Opponent.
Benefit: In addition to the insight bonuses provided by the analyze opponent feat you gain a +2 morale bonus to AC against attacks from any ally of the opponent you have designated for your dodge.

GREATER ANALYZE OPPONENT [general]
Shea - And, crazy.
Prerequisites: Gather Information 15 Ranks, Improved Analyze Opponent, Improved Initiative.
Benefit: You gain grant all your allies in combat a + 2 bonus to Initiative. This bonus stacks with the bonus from improved initiative, and you do not gain a bonus to initiative from this feat.

SUPREME ANALYZE OPPONENT [general]
Shea - Why not?
Prerequisites: Gather Information 20 Ranks, Greater Analyze Opponent.
Benefit: You gain a +4 insight bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate checks made against the opponent designated as your dodge.

EPIC ANALYZE OPPONENT [general]
Shea - All the way up.
Prerequisite: Gather Information 40 Ranks, Supreme Analyze Opponent, Epic Dodge, Superior Initiative.
Benefit: You may make a full round defensive combat action to aid all of your allies. Make a standard action Gather Information check DC 15. Success grants a + 4 insight bonus on all your allies attack rolls until your next action. If you are distracted you must make a Concentration check or you automatically fail the Gather Information check.

INFORMATION BROKER [general]
Shea - Gather Information as Profession (Reporter).
Prerequisites: Gather Information 1 rank, Profession 1 rank.
Benefit: You can use a Gather Information check as though it were a Profession by bartering information. The check works exactly like a Profession check except that you use your Gather Information ranks to determine your result.

TACTICIAN [general]
Shea - AND! You may not have asked for it, but here it is!
Prerequisites: Skill Focus (Gather Information).
Benefit: You can make a plan using the Gather Information skill.
This feat allows you to use the Make a Plan function of Gather Information described above. See plan duration and details table for DCs.

Some Stuff to Spend Some Gold and Silver Pieces.

-----
_Services Table Additions_

Assistant | 1 sp per rumor
Information Gatherer | 1 gp per rumor
Information Network | 10 go per rumor
Major Domo | 1 gp per day
-----

_Equipment and Services Description Additions_

Novelty: An item of interest that can serve as the tacit topic of conversation while investigating rumors. An appropriate novelty grants a +2 circumstance bonus to Gather Information checks. A novelty can be any item, but an item must be worth more than 100 gp to be used as a novelty in high society. In some noble aristocracies an item may need to be worth 1000 gp or more to be considered a novelty.
Rounds: A round of drinks for the house on you. A round may or may not be a beverage. Buying a few rounds grants you a +2 morale bonus to Gather Information checks. The cost of a round varies by the establishment.
Meals: Paying for a meal is a perfect tool to assist Gather Information. Purchasing a meal for an informant grants you a +2 competence bonus to Gather Information checks. The cost of a meal varies by the establishment.
Bribes: Paying for information directly gets more expensive depending on the rumors you are looking for. Involving bribery in you Gather Information check grants a +4 morale bonus to your check.

Information Gatherer: An NPC that can Gather Information for you.
Information Network: A network grants a +3 insight bonus to Gather Information in the area covered by the network.
Major Domo: A major domo grants a +4 aid bonus to Gather Information checks.
Assistant: Assistants grant a +2 aid bonus to Gather Information checks.

Lastly a Prestige Class.

Field Commander

prerequisites: Profession 5 ranks, Gather Information 10 ranks, Skill Focus (Gather Information), Skill Focus (Diplomacy), and the Fascinate special ability.

HD: d8
Will and Reflex Prime
BAB: 3/4 Class Level.
Skills: 8 + Int

Class Skills: Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).

1 Follower's Boon, Inspire Weakness
2
3 Inspire Organization
4
5 Obsession
6 Inspire Tactics
7
8 Bonus Meta-Magic Feat
9
10 Enemies' Thorn, Obsession, Mass.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Field Commander is not proficient in any weapon or armor.
Practicing Spell Caster: Field Commander Prestige Class levels increase your effective caster level in one designated spell casting class, but Field Commander levels grant you no additional spells per day or spells known.
Improved Bardic Music: Field Commander levels add to the number of times you can use your bardic music ability in a day as though they were Bard levels.
Follower's Boon (Ex): Your allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information checks when acting in your interests.
Inspire Organization (Su): This ability expends a bardic music usage, and has the same action and duration details. Inspire Organization applies a +4 insight bonus to a number of designated skill checks for your allies. The number of skills you can designat is equal to your Field Commander level.
Obsession (Su): This ability does not expend a bardic music usage. An already fascinated target must make a will save DC equal to 10 + Charisma modifier + your combined Bard and Field Commander level. This is a supernatural ability that otherwise works exactly like the psionic manifestations Attraction or Aversion, using your combined Bard and Field Commander levels for the manifester level. You must declare the obsession an Attraction or an Aversion when you use the ability.
Inspire Tactics (Su): This ability expends a bardic music usage, and has the same action and duration details. Inspire Tactics grants a +4 insight bonus to all saves to a number of your allies equal to your Field Commander levels.
Inspire Weakness (Su): This ability expends a bardic music usage, and has the same action and duration details. Inspire weakness applies a -2 morale penalty to the attack and damage rolls of any enemy that can perceive your Performance.
Enemies' Thorn (Ex): When Making Gather Information checks you never risk negative attention. Non-Epic Gathering Information checks made to find rumors about you always fail. When an Epic character attempts to Gather Information about you they suffer a -20 penalty to the check.
Obsession, Mass (Su): This ability works the same as obsession only you can effect any number of targets that you have already fascinated. You must declare the same type of obsession (Attraction or Aversion) for all targets.

Research and development in the vein of information gathering. I believe that using Diplomacy as Gather Information is probably the simplest and most realistic proposition herein. Like I said in the RAW description, the two skills share allot of conceptual space. Diplomacy lacks a structured function for learning about your targets (an important facet of real world diplomacy), and Gather Information is unusable in combat. You could collapse Profession and Gather Information, but you would be adding a daily function to Profession and not a combat function to Gather Information.

Knowledge is power, but the game mechanics do not reflect that. A dm can apply circumstantial benefits all over the place, but it is nice to have a table to refer to. The Field Commander? Well its an information based character concept. Proper application of knowns instead of the confidence boost of a powerful performance. The equipment is vague, but drinks, meals, and the appropriate amount of money spent up front should count when Gathering Information. The Services are calculated in light of using Gather Information linked with Profession, otherwise they are just hirelings.

Have you gathered any information here that you can use?