Races

Cover does not necessarily block precise senses, but it does make it more difficult for enemies to hit you. To determine whether your target has cover from your attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target’s square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover. Cover grants you a +4 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves against attacks that originate from a point on the other side of the cover from you. Note that spread effects can extend around corners and negate these bonuses.

Cover and Attacks of Opportunity

If you have cover relative to an enemy, it can’t make an attack of opportunity against you.

Low Obstacles and Cover

A low obstacle (i.e., a wall half your height) provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet (six squares). The attacker ignores the cover if he’s closer to the obstacle than his target is.

Soft Cover

Creatures, even enemies, between you and the source of an effect provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, soft cover provides no bonus to Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to attempt a Stealth check.

Partial Cover

If more than half of you is visible, your bonuses from cover are reduced to +2 to AC and +1 to Reflex saving throws.

Improved Cover

In some cases, such as when a target is hiding behind a gun port in a defensive wall, cover provides greater bonuses to AC and Reflex saves. In such situations, the normal bonuses to AC and Reflex saves are doubled (to +8 and +4, respectively).

Total Cover

If an enemy doesn’t have line of effect to you (see page 271), you have total cover from the enemy. A creature can’t make an attack against a target that has total cover.

LINE OF SIGHT

Line of sight is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what you can see. Line of sight is like line of effect, except factors that limit normal vision, such as fog, darkness, and total concealment, can block line of sight. If you can’t see a target for any reason, you do not have line of sight to it, and thus you cannot use effects that require you to have line of sight. You cannot have line of sight that exceeds planetary range unless otherwise indicated.

Originating from sources such as dense smoke and battlefield position, concealment obscures precise senses and imposes a miss chance on attacks. When you have concealment, it’s harder for enemies to see you clearly. This might be due to your position on the battlefield, or it might be due to another effect that makes it more difficult for enemies to perceive and hit you with an attack.

To determine whether you have concealment from a creature’s ranged attack, choose a corner of the enemy’s square. If any line from this corner to any corner of your square passes through a square that provides concealment or the border of such a square, you have concealment. Also use these rules when a creature makes a melee attack against a target that isn’t adjacent to it.

When a creature is making a melee attack against an adjacent target, the target has concealment if its space is entirely within an effect that grants concealment.

Additionally, some effects provide concealment against all attacks, regardless of whether any intervening concealment exists..

Concealment Miss Chance

Concealment gives the target of a successful attack a chance that the attacker actually missed. This is called a miss chance. Normally, the miss chance for concealment is 20%. Make the attack normally; if the attacking creature would hit, the target must roll a 20 or lower on a d% roll (see page 513) to avoid being struck. Multiple concealment conditions do not stack.

Varying Degrees of Concealment

Certain situations can provide more or less of a miss chance than typical concealment. In this case, it is up to the GM to determine a character’s degree of concealment.

Total Concealment

If a creature has line of effect to you but not line of sight (see page 271) see below, you have total concealment. An enemy can’t attack you when you have total concealment, though it can attack into a square it thinks you occupy. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of 20%).

Ignoring Concealment

Concealment might be ineffective. Dim light or darkness doesn’t provide concealment against creatures with darkvision. Creatures with low-light vision can see in dim light as if it were normal light.

LINE OF SIGHT

Line of sight is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what you can see. Line of sight is like line of effect, except factors that limit normal vision, such as fog, darkness, and total concealment, can block line of sight. If you can’t see a target for any reason, you do not have line of sight to it, and thus you cannot use effects that require you to have line of sight. You cannot have line of sight that exceeds planetary range unless otherwise indicated.

Take 10

Most of the time, you attempt skill checks while under pressure or during times of great stress. Other times, the situation is more favorable, making success more certain.
When you are not in immediate danger or distracted, the GM might allow you to take 10 on a skill check. When you take 10, you don’t roll a d20, but rather assume that you rolled a 10 on that die, then add the relevant skill modifiers. For many routine tasks, or for tasks you are particularly skilled at, taking 10 ensures success. If you still fail when taking 10, you might require more time and energy to succeed at that task (see Take 20 below).
Unless you have an ability that states otherwise, you cannot take 10 during a combat encounter. Also, you can’t take 10 when the GM rules that a situation is too hectic or that you are distracted, and taking 10 is almost never an option for a check that requires some sort of crucial effect as a key part of the adventure's story.

Take 20

When you have plenty of time to devote to a skill’s task and that task has no adverse effect upon failure, the GM might rule that you can take 20 on that skill check. This is similar to taking 10, but instead of assuming your roll was a 10, you assume it’s a 20.
Taking 20 means you are making multiple attempts at the task until you get it right. It also assumes that you are failing many times before you succeed. Taking 20 typically takes 20 times as long as attempting a single check would take (usually 2 minutes for a skill that takes a standard action to perform).

Aid Another

The GM might rule that you can help someone succeed at a skill check by performing the same action and attempting a skill check as part of a cooperative effort. To do so, you must attempt your skill check before the creature you want to help, and if you succeed at a DC 10 check, that creature gains a +2 bonus to his check, as long as he attempts the check before the end of his next turn. At the GM’s discretion, only a limited number of creatures might be able to aid another. You cannot take 10 or take 20 on an aid another check, but you can use aid another to help a creature who is taking 10 or 20 on a check.

At the start of a combat, if you are surprised, you are flat-footed until you become aware of combat and have had a chance to act. Many other effects can cause you to become flat-footed. You take a –2 penalty to your AC and cannot take reactions while flat-footed.

Your battle concentration is thrown off. You take a –2 penalty to attack rolls while off-target.

You can hide small objects, pick pockets, and accomplish other feats of manual dexterity without being noticed.

Entertain

You can use Sleight of Hand to entertain an audience, as if you were using the earn a living task of the Profession skill.

Hide Object

As a standard action, you can use Sleight of Hand to hide a small object (including a small arm or a one-handed melee weapon with light bulk) on your body. The check is opposed by the Perception check of anyone observing you or searching your body. In the latter case, the searcher gains a +4 bonus to the check. Especially small objects or those created to be easy to hide can grant up to a +4 circumstance bonus to your Sleight of Hand check to hide an object on your person, as can compartments in clothing or armor made to facilitate such hiding. Retrieving a weapon or object hidden on your person is a standard action.

Palm Object

As a standard action, you can use Sleight of Hand to palm a small object no larger than a small communicator or memory stick. The check is opposed by the Perception checks of anyone nearby who could notice the attempt. If you successfully use the Bluff skill to create a diversion, you gain a +10 bonus to this check (see Bluff on page 137). If you fail, you still palm the object, but not without being noticed by those whose Perception check results exceed your Sleight of Hand result. You can’t take 20 on a Sleight of Hand check to palm an object.

Pick Pocket

As a standard action, you can use Sleight of Hand to steal an object from another creature. The DC of this check is usually 20, but it can be modified by any precautions the object’s wearer has taken, as determined by the GM. Whether you succeed or fail, the object’s wearer can attempt an opposed Perception check against your Sleight of Hand result to notice the attempt. You cannot usually attempt this task during combat, and you can’t take 20 on a Sleight of Hand check to pick pockets.

Spell resistance (SR) is the ability to avoid being affected by spells and spell-like abilities, much like an Armor Class against magical attacks. To affect a creature that has spell resistance, a spellcaster must succeed at a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) with a DC equal to the creature’s spell resistance. If the caster fails the check, the spell doesn’t affect the creature. A creature with spell resistance does not have to do anything special to use that ability and need not even be aware of a threat for its spell resistance to function. A creature’s spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities. A creature can voluntarily lower its spell resistance as a standard action. Once a creature lowers its resistance, it remains down until the creature’s next turn. At the beginning of the creature’s next turn, the spell resistance automatically returns unless the creature intentionally keeps it down (this also requires a standard action).

When Spell Resistance Applies

Spell resistance applies if a spell targets a creature with spell resistance, or if such a creature is within a spell’s area of effect. If several creatures with spell resistance are targeted by a spell or within a spell’s area, each checks its spell resistance separately (that is, the caster rolls a separate caster level check for each). Unless a spell specifically targets a single creature, spell resistance protects the resistant creature without affecting the spell itself; other creatures without spell resistance targeted by a spell or within a spell’s area are affected by the spell normally. Some spells can ignore spell resistance; this is detailed in the spells’ descriptions.
Spell resistance can protect a creature from a spell that’s already been cast, such as if the creature enters the area of an active spell effect. Check spell resistance when the creature is first affected by the spell. A creature checks its spell resistance only once for any particular casting of a spell, but separately for each distinct casting of a spell. If spell resistance fails the first time, it fails each time the creature encounters that same casting of the spell, as when the creature enters and reenters an area effect. Likewise, if the spell resistance succeeds the first time, it always succeeds for the same casting of the spell. If the creature has voluntarily lowered its spell resistance and is then subjected to a spell, the creature still has a single chance to resist that spell later, when its spell resistance first resumes.