Divinity: Difference between revisions
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As with all skills, the uses below are merely suggestions, and by no means the full gamut of possible ways a skill can be used. Players and GM's are encouraged to find additional ways to use each skill. | As with all skills, the uses below are merely suggestions, and by no means the full gamut of possible ways a skill can be used. Players and GM's are encouraged to find additional ways to use each skill. | ||
== Concentrate == | |||
{{Template:SkillUse | |||
| Skill-Use = Concentrate | |||
| Core-Skill = Divinity | |||
| Benefit = To cast a spell, you must concentrate. If something interrupts your concentration while you're casting, you must make a Concentration skill check or lose the spell. The more distracting the interruption and the higher the level of the spell you are trying to cast, the higher the DC. | |||
Concentration checks are typically made for the following reasons (though other reasons may occur as well): | |||
:* to cast a spell while threatened by an enemy in combat | |||
:* to cause a spell to overcome the spell resistance of a creature | |||
:* to manipulate a spell which emulates a combat maneuver (such as [[Black Tentacles (Spell)]]) to overcome the target's Maneuver Defense | |||
:* casting a spell while grappled or pinned | |||
'''Casting Defensively''' | |||
You can attempt to cast a spell while threatened by an enemy in combat, but it is inherently risky. This is sometimes referred to as 'casting while threatened', 'casting defensively', 'concentration check', or 'combat casting'. These terms are all effectively interchangeable, as they all refer to making a skill check to cast a spell due to being threatened by an enemy. Note that casting defensively cannot normally provoke an attack of opportunity. Instead, the spell either succeeds or fails, depending on the outcome of the check. | |||
The target DC of defensive casting is 10 + (spell level x 4). As a result, casting lower level spells while threatened is far less risky to a higher level caster than trying to cast one of their best spells while threatened. | |||
'''Overcome Spell Resistance''' | |||
You can use concentration to attempt to force your spells through the defenses of a creature which is immune to spells. Such creatures have a special ability called Spell Resistance, which means that all spells or spell-like abilities must first make a concentration check versus a DC of the target creature's Maneuver Defense, or the spell fails to affect that creature. This special ability is effectively an immunity to spells! However, as a big damned hero, you can focus your will, and try to blast through this defense anyway. You're just that much of a bad-ass. | |||
'''Manipulate Spell Effect''' | |||
Some spells, such as [[Black Tentacles (Spell)]], emulate the effects of one or more [[Combat Maneuvers]]. As such, the effects of the spell go against the creature's Maneuver Defense score, instead of its Armor Class. Instead of using your own [[Might]] or [[Sleight of Hand]] skills to challenge your target, you use the power of your spell to manipulate your opponent on your behalf. You don't need bulging muscles and an obsession with high-protein diets to grapple monsters — you've got MAGIC! Spells which work inflict combat maneuver-like effects will also describe the need to use a concentrate check in place of might or sleight of hand in the text of the spell. | |||
'''Casting While Grappling''' | |||
If you are suffering under the [[grappled]] condition due to the actions of an enemy creature, you can cast a spell without any somatic components simply by casting defensively (see above). However, spells with somatic components require a ''Concentration'' check to cast, versus a DC of the grappler's Maneuver Defense, or the spell fails and the action to cast it is wasted. This ''Concentration'' check counts as the ''Casting Defensively'' check for casting the spell in melee (i.e. it is not in addition to a defensive casting ''Concentration'' check). | |||
'''Adverse Conditions''' | |||
If you are vigorously moving, in the middle of a violent storm, trying to stay upright on a tossing ship, or are otherwise being aggressively affected by your environment, you don't normally need to make a concentration check to cast a spell, because you're just that awesome. However, if you are attempting to cast a spell in the middle of a typhoon while on a sinking ship '''AND''' you are forced to make a concentration check for any reason, you suffer one or more penalties to the check due to the adverse conditions present. | |||
| Action = Usually part of the same action as casting a spell | |||
| DC = | |||
* '''Casting Defensively:''' 10 + (spell level x 4) | |||
* '''Overcome Spell Resistance:''' the target's [[Maneuver Defense]] | |||
* '''Manipulate Spell Effect:''' the target's [[Maneuver Defense]] | |||
* '''Cast While Grappled:''' the target's [[Maneuver Defense]] | |||
| Modifiers = | |||
* '''Damaged During Casting:''' If you suffer damage during the act of casting a spell (usually due to a readied action), you increase the DC of your concentration check by +5. | |||
* '''Bad Weather / Hazardous Environment:''' If you are in a terrible storm, or standing on a crumbling shelf in the midst of an earthquake, or any other adverse conditions that do not inflict damage each round, the DC of any concentration check is increased by +5. | |||
* '''Dangerous Weather / Damaging Environment:''' If you are in a storm with flung debris, standing on a razor-sharp bed of shifting obsidian skree, or standing ankle-deep in an acid swamp, where you are suffering damage from the environment every round, the DC of any concentration check is increased by +10. | |||
| Take10-Take20 = No (though some class features, feats, and abilities may allow this). | |||
| Assist = No | |||
| Success = You successfully cast the spell. | |||
| Failure = You lose the spell, just as if you had cast it to no effect. | |||
| Retry = Yes, with a new spell. The spell of the initial attempt is lost, as though it had been cast. | |||
| Provokes = No | |||
}} | |||
== Identify A Spell == | == Identify A Spell == | ||