Profession

(Wisdom; Trained Only)

You are trained in a livelihood or a professional role, such as apothecary, boater, bookkeeper, brewer, cook, driver, farmer, fisher, guide, herbalist, herder, hunter, innkeeper, lumberjack, miller, miner, porter, rancher, sailor, scribe, siege engineer, stablehand, tanner, teamster, woodcutter, or the like. Like Craft, Knowledge, and Perform, Profession is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Profession skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill. While a Craft skill represents ability in creating or making an item, a Profession skill represents an aptitude in a vocation requiring a broader range of less specific knowledge. Every Player Character begins play with one profession chosen as part of their background. They always treat that skill as trained, and gain a free rank in it at first level. This rank may never be removed from that profession, even with Retraining, though further ranks added may.

Check

You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your Profession check result in gold pieces per day of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession's daily tasks, how to supervise helpers, and how to handle common problems. The following aspects of the Profession skill may also prove useful. Profession (Barrister): While circumstances can be an important mitigating factor, the fact of the matter is that the skill of the barrister plays the most important role in the outcome of the case. Over the course of the trial, each barrister makes three Profession (barrister) checks; compare the results, with the higher total winning the round. Whoever wins two out of three rounds wins the case. The DM should modify these rolls based on the circumstances of the case. If the jury is hostile, the prosecuting barrister receives a +1 to +5 Circumstance Bonus; if the jury is friendly, the defending barrister receives this bonus. There is no rule stating that a recognized barrister must represent a defendant, so a character can choose to speak in his own defense or to appoint a friend as his advocate.

Profession (Executioner): The executioner seeks death for the condemned with a swift stroke. Sometimes, death by torture is the command given to the executioner, but in such a case he will often remand the client to a torturer to carry out the sentence. However, many execution devices are also extraordinarily painful for those destined to feel their cruel, final embrace. The condemned must first be secured by being tied in place, Pinned in a Grapple, or successfully restrained in a stationary execution device. If restrained in an execution device, the condemned can attempt to make a Escape Artist check every round against the DC noted in the table below, unless magically held or otherwise Helpless. If Grappled, the condemned can attempt to break the Grapple normally. Once the victim is secure, the executioner can attempt the chosen method of execution. The executioner makes a Profession (executioner) check against the DC given for the device. If the check is successful, the condemned is slain according to the nature of the device. If the executioner fails, the execution is botched, and the executioner can make another check the following round. Botched attempts deal the damage noted for the device, so the condemned may be killed even if the executioner botches the attempt. Prideful executioners - which includes most of them - take it as a personal point of dishonor if they kill the condemned on a botched execution. Some execution devices, such as headsman's axes, make adequate melee weapons. In melee, such an item deals normal damage for an item of its kind (such as a greataxe) and cannot kill instantly. Most other devices of execution cannot be used in melee. Hundreds, if not thousands, of execution methods are possible beyond those described here. The profession checks table identifies common techniques from which more exotic forms of execution can be extrapolated. Profession (Miner): Mining work involves digging, removing dirt, and building supports. A Profession (miner) check can be used to indicate the progress of mining or digging operations. Excavation is represented as a fixed number of 5-foot cubes per miner, based on the Profession (miner) check result of the lead worker. Even a pair of unskilled miners can remove a 5-foot cube of stone with 8 hours of labor, while reasonably talented workers can remove twice or even three times as much. Two Medium miners can work together on a single 5-foot cube, with one using the Aid Another action to assist the other's check. Only a single Large or larger miner can work on any given 5-foot cube. Up to four Small or smaller miners can work together on the same 5-foot cube, with as many as three miners using the Aid Another action to assist the lead miner's check. Kobolds are an exception to this rule (see Special, below). The default check result assumes the miners are digging through sedimentary rock, such as limestone, sandstone, or shale. Other substances apply a modifier on the check, as shown in the table. Profession (Sailor): This skill covers a broad variety of tasks and training, ranging from routine jobs such as steering, setting sails, and dropping or raising anchor to smart shiphandling, tactical maneuver, and handling a ship in a storm. Characters with only 1 or 2 ranks in Profession (sailor) are simple deckhands - competent to work as part of a crew and handle jobs such as reefing sails, manning the helm under the direction of a commander, and generally make themselves useful. Characters with 3 to 7 ranks in Profession (sailor) are petty officers, officers, or technical experts such as boatswains. Characters with 8 or more ranks in Profession (sailor) are expert shiphandlers. They know how sails should be set for current winds. They can handle tricky tasks of piloting such as crossing a river bar. And they are skilled at tactical maneuvers in battle such as executing or avoiding a ramming attack, bringing a ship alongside for boarding, and using the weather gauge ability to remain at range, rake an enemy's bow or stern, or fall away from action. Steering a ship in good Weather conditions with sufficient crew requires no skill check. However, adverse conditions might require you to make skill checks every round, minute, or hour to keep your ship on course and out of danger. Any Profession (sailor) checks you make to control or navigate a vessel require a full watch or complement of able-bodied crew. If your ship is undermanned, modify the DCs as shown in the sailor checks table

Foundering: Your vessel is at risk of foundering when you are in high winds, heavy seas, or rough surf. Check for foundering once per day, or once per hour in high winds or storms, or once per minute in heavy surf. Add your vessel's seaworthiness modifier to foundering checks. If you fail a foundering check, your ship begins to sink.

Sailing in High Winds: Keeping control over a vessel in powerful winds requires a check. Add your vessel's seaworthiness modifier to your check. If you fail your Profession (sailor) check in dangerous winds, your ship is driven before the wind, but you can retry your check in 1 hour or when the wind drops.

Steering in Fast Currents: Handling a vessel in fast-moving waters requires a Profession (sailor) check modified by your vessel's ship handling modifier. Check once per round. If you fail to steer a vessel through rough waters or vigorous currents, your speed falls to zero and you are simply swept along with the current, unable to turn or avoid obstacles until you regain control. Rivers with fast-moving water also create surflike conditions that might swamp or overturn your vessel, even if you are steering successfully. A vigorous current is treated like light surf; a dangerous current is equal to heavy surf; and an irresistible current is equal to very heavy surf. See Foundering, above.

Profession (Siege Engineer): Aiming and loading an indirect-fire catapult such as a trebuchet, scorpion, or mangonel requires a Profession (siege engineer) check.

Action

Not applicable. A single check generally represents a day of work.

Try Again

Varies. An attempt to use a Profession skill to earn an income cannot be retried. You are stuck with whatever weekly wage your check result brought you. Another check may be made after a week to determine a new income for the next period of time. An attempt to accomplish some specific task can usually be retried.

Special

Kobolds mine more efficiently than other Small creatures. Treat them as Medium creatures for determining their daily progress, but as Small creatures when determining how many kobolds can work on a given 5-foot cube. A weak ditherbomb used in conjunction with a Profession (miner) check grants a +2 Alchemical Bonus on the check. A strong ditherbomb grants a +4 Alchemical Bonus, while a wyrm ditherbomb grants a +6 bonus. Using more than one ditherbomb doesn't add to this bonus.

Untrained

Untrained laborers and assistants (that is, characters without any ranks in Profession) earn an average of 1 gold piece per day.

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: When using Profession checks to earn income, you earn gold pieces equal to twice the result of your check each day.
10 Ranks: When attempting Profession checks, you can roll twice and take the better result. When answering questions about your Profession, you can always take 10.
15 Ranks: When using Profession checks to earn income, you earn platinum pieces equal to the result of your check each day (1pp = 10gp).
20 Ranks: When attempting Profession checks and the result of a die roll is less than 10, replace it with 10. When answering questions about your Profession, you can always take 20.