Bluff
Bluff
(Charisma)
You can make the outrageous or the untrue seem plausible, or use doublespeak or innuendo to deliver a secret message to another character. The skill encompasses acting, conning, fast talking, misdirection, prevarication, and misleading body language. Use a bluff to sow temporary confusion, get someone to turn and look where you point, or simply look innocuous.Check
A Bluff check is typically opposed by the target's Sense Motive check. See the accompanying table for examples of different modifiers to the check.| Example Circumstances | Bluff Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| The target wants to believe you. "These emeralds aren't stolen. I'm just desperate for coin right now, so I'm offering them to you cheap." | +5 |
| The bluff is believable and doesn't affect the target much. "I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I'm just a simple peasant girl here for the fair." | +0 |
| The bluff is a little hard to believe or puts the target at some risk. "You orcs want to fight? I'll take you all on myself. I don't need my friends' help. Just don't get your blood all over my new surcoat." | -5 |
| The bluff is hard to believe or puts the target at significant risk. "This diadem doesn't belong to the duchess. It just looks like hers. Trust me, I wouldn't sell you jewelry that would get you hanged, would I?" | -10 |
| The bluff is way out there, almost too incredible to consider. "You might find this hard to believe, but I'm actually a lammasu who's been polymorphed into halfling form by an evil sorcerer. You know we lammasu are trustworthy, so you can believe me." | -20 |
| Target is drunk or impaired | +5 |
| You possess convincing proof of the lie, such as a forged document or believable false witness | up to +10 |
Suggest a Course of Action
You can gradually coax a target into thinking a suggestion is entirely its own idea, making the creature more likely to act on the idea than if you had suggested it outright. You discuss topics subtly relevant to the request, asking leading questions and narrowing the scope of the conversation so that the target eventually decides to take a specific action you have led it to. You first attempt a Bluff check to convince the target that your request was actually its idea. This is always treated as far-fetched circumstances, resulting in a -10 penalty on the check. If successful, you then attempt your Diplomacy check for persuasion, negating the target's disposition towards you for this single act. Action: Planting the notion and then coaxing a target into suggesting the notion themselves requires at least 1 minute of continuous interaction, paired with the required action for the actual persuasion attempt. This can be difficult to arrange with a hostile or unfriendly creature. Try Again: Once you have failed to convince a target the request is their idea, you cannot generally convince them otherwise.Deceive or Lie
If you use Bluff to fool someone, with a successful check you convince your opponent that what you are saying is true. Bluff checks are modified depending upon the believability of the lie. The modifiers above are applied to the roll of the creature attempting to tell the lie. Note that some lies are so improbable that it is impossible to convince anyone that they are true (subject to DM discretion). Action: A bluff made to deceive or lie to someone always takes at least a Full-Round Action, but can take much longer if you try something elaborate. When used as part of a Diplomacy check for persuasion, it takes place as part of that action. If the act of persuasion was rushed, the bluff check suffers the same penalty as the Diplomacy check (typically -10). Try Again: A failed attempt to deceive or lie to someone generally makes the target too suspicious for you to try again in the same circumstances, and failed attempts to deceive someone makes future attempts to do so more difficult. Special: You can use Bluff in this way to convince someone of a true (or at least believed by you to be true) statement as well, but if they succeed on the opposed Sense Motive check they will still believe the statement to be a deception due to the nature in which you are conveying it.Feign Harmlessness
You can attempt to convince your target you are harmless through your actions and posture. If you are at least one size category smaller than your target and have taken no effective offensive actions that your target has seen, you gain a +5 Circumstance Bonus on this check. Even if you have proven yourself capable of dealing damage, an effort to present your previous success as a one-time fluke takes only a –10 penalty on the check. Action: Taking steps to appear harmless requires a Full-Round Action, though the DM may require more involved Bluff attempts to take longer. Try Again: You can attempt to feign harmlessness to the same target again, but each previous failed check increases the DC to convince your target by 5. This increase resets after 1 hour has passed.Feign Injury
Whenever you are dealt damage, you can make a Bluff check as an Immediate Action to convince foes you have been injured to a different extent than you truly have been, opposed by a Sense Motive check. You can appear to be uninjured, mildly injured (with more than half your total hit points remaining), significantly injured (reduced to less than half hit points), Disabled (at 0 hit points), (at negative hit points), or Dead. For each step away from your true condition you pretend to be, you suffer a cumulative –2 penalty on your Bluff check. If you pretend to be or Dead, you must fall Prone accordingly (a Free Action). Action: Feigning an injury is an Immediate Action. Try Again: You may attempt another bluff to feign injury with each additional injury you take, though each requires an Immediate Action. Once you have failed an attempt to hide an injury, you cannot attempt to hide it again unless you receive healing.Feinting in Combat
You can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in melee combat (so that it can't dodge your next attack effectively). The DC of the check is 10 + your target's base attack bonus + your target's Wisdom modifier. If your target is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + the target's Sense Motive bonus, if higher. If the check succeeds, your target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for the next Melee Attack you make against it. This attack must be made on or before your next turn. Action: Performing a Feint is a Standard Action. Try Again: You may retry a feint without penalty, but each attempt requires another Standard Action. Restrictions: Feinting in this way against a nonhumanoid is difficult because it's harder to read a strange creature's body language; you take a -4 penalty on your Bluff check. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2) it's even harder; you take a -8 penalty. Against a nonintelligent creature, it's impossible. Special: Feinting in combat does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.Creating a Diversion to hide
You can use the Bluff skill to help you hide. A successful Bluff check gives you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Stealth check while people are aware of you. This usage does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity. Action: Creating a diversion with bluff is a Standard Action. Try Again: You may retry without penalty, but each attempt requires another Standard Action.Delivering a Secret Message
You can use Bluff to get a message across to another character without others understanding it. The DC is 15 for simple messages, or 20 for complex messages, especially those that rely on getting across new information. Failure by 4 or less means you can't get the message across. Failure by 5 or more means that some false information has been implied or inferred. Anyone listening to the exchange can make a Sense Motive check opposed by the Bluff check you made to transmit in order to intercept your message (see Sense Motive). Action: Delivering a secret message doesn't take an action; it is part of your normal communication. Try Again: You may make multiple attempts to deliver a secret message, but only one attempt may be made per round. Each retry carries the same chance of miscommunication and interception. Special: You can substitute Dexterity for Charisma when making Bluff checks to deliver a secret message, if you and the recipient are both fluent in Drow Sign Language.Remain Inconspicuous
You can use bluff to avoid drawing attention to yourself, such as picking up an object that is not typically allowed to be handled (like an art peice in a museum), closely studying someone across the room at a party, or looking innocuous after failing a Stealth check while tailing someone. This check is opposed by the Sense Motive check of those whose attention you are trying to avoid. Action: You attempt the Bluff check as part of performing the action you wish to render inconspicuous. Normally, you must take twice as long as normal to perform the action in order to make it inconspicuous. A Standard Action becomes a Full-Round Action completed just before the start of your next turn and a Free Action, Immediate Action, Move Action, or Swift Action becomes a Standard Action. Try Again: No. A failed check to remain inconspicuous alerts your targets to your presence and the actions you are attempting to hide, making further checks irrelevant.Pep Talk
You can use this skill to create a sense of confidence in your troops. You can make a group of soldiers believe they are stronger than they actually are, bolstering their morale temporarily. You can also convince them that an enemy force is not quite as powerful as they believe it to be, or that a mission is less dangerous than it truly is. This bolstered confidence does not necessarily last long, and your words might be quickly forgotten if the tide of battle turns against the troops. The base DC of the check is equal to the morale bonus of the unit, but may be modified by the DM by the circumstances surrounding the pep talk. On success, the affected targets gain a +2 bonus on their next morale check, plus an additional +2 bonus for every 5 points by which the check beats the DC. If an affected unit becomes diminished, the unit gains a -2 penalty on every subsequent morale check in the battle. If a unit routes from the field after recieving a pep talk, that unit has a permanent -2 morale check penalty in any subsequent battle in which they fight under your command. Action: Performing a pep talk takes 10 minutes. Try Again: Once you've attempted this check in battle or prior to battle, you cannot use it again on the same troops for at least 24 hours. Restrictions: The units you attempt a pep talk on must be able to hear your pep talk. Outside of battle, they must be within 3 hexes of you, and in battle they must be adjacent to the hex you are in. Some magic may increase this range if it increases the ability of your troops to hear you. Special: This ability affects one unit, plus one additional unit for every 2 ranks you have in the Bluff skill. The check is rolled once, and success for each unit is determined using their individual morale bonus. Units whose value is equal to or higher than your character level are immune to this effect.| Example Circumstances | Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| The target wants to believe you. "You have trained for this. You are ready. They'll never know what hit them." | -5 |
| The bluff is believable. "Orcs don't fight well in sunlight! We can take them!" | +0 |
| The bluff is a little hard to believe. "Ogres aren't that much taller than you! Just gang up on them!" | +5 |
| The bluff is hard to believe. "Back to the battle! That dragon can only breathe fire once per day! Quick, let's get him while he's vulnerable!" | +10 |
| The bluff is way out there, almost too incredible to consider. "Let's just simply walk into Mordor" | +20 |
Skill Unlock
A character who selects this skill for the Signature Skill feat or a Rogue who selects it for their Rogue's Edge class ability gains the following abilities when they reach the designated number of ranks in this skill:- 5 Ranks: You take no penalty to Bluff a creature after a failed check and can attempt to do so again unless you failed by 5 or more.
- 10 Ranks: You take no penalty to Bluff a creature after a failed check and can attempt to do so again, regardless of how much you failed by.
- 15 Ranks: Creatures magically attempting to read your thoughts, detect your alignment, or reveal when you are lying must attempt a caster level check (DC = 11 + your ranks in Bluff ) or the effect reveals nothing.
- 20 Ranks: As a Full-Round Action, you can make a suggestion to a creature within 30 feet (Will negates, DC = 15 + your Charisma modifier). A creature that saves against your suggestion is immune to further uses of this effect for 24 hours, and whenever the suggested creature is specifically confronted with proof of your manipulation, it receives another saving throw. This is an extraordinary mind-affecting Compulsion.
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