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Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Core Rulebook

See also: Skills

To make a skill check, roll: 1d20 + One-Half Your Character Level + Key Ability Modifier + Miscellaneous Modifiers + 5 (if you are Trained in the skill)

A skill check is made just like an attack roll or a saving throw. The higher the roll, the better. You're either trying to get a result that equals or exceeds a certain Difficulty Class (DC), or you're trying to beat another character's check result. For instance, to sneak quietly past a guard, Deel needs to beat the guard's Perception check with a Stealth check.

Types of Skill Checks[]

When you use a skill, you make a skill check to see how well you do. The higher the result on your skill check, the better you do. Based on the circumstances, your result must equal or exceed a particular number (a DC or the result of an opposed skill check) for you to use the skill successfully. The harder the task, the higher the number you need to roll.

Circumstances can affect your check. If you're free to work without distractions, you can make a careful attempt and avoid simple mistakes. If you have lots of time, you can try over and over again, assuring that you eventually succeed. If others help you, you may succeed where otherwise you would fail.

Opposed Check[]

Some skill checks are Opposed Checks. They are made against a randomized number, usually another character's skill check result. For example, to sneak up on a guard, you need to beat the guard's Perception check result with your Stealth check result. You make a Stealth check, and the GM makes a Perception check for the guard. Whoever scores the highest result wins the check.

For ties on Opposed Checks, the character with the higher skill modifier wins. For instance, if a Stealth check opposed by a Perception check result in a tie, the sneaker's Stealth check modifier would be compared to the noticer's Perception check modifier. If those scores are the same, roll again.

Check Against a Difficult Class (DC)[]

See also: The Math Behind Skill DCs

Some checks are made against a Difficulty Class (DC). The DC is a number set by the GM (using the Skill rules as a guideline) that you must score as a result on your skill check to succeed. For example, climbing the outer wall of a ruined warehouse may have a DC of 15. To climb the wall, you must get a result of 15 or better on a Climb check.

Untrained Checks[]

Some Skills can be used only if you are Trained in the Skill. If you don't have Use the Force, for example, regardless of your Heroic Class, Ability Scores, and experience level, you just don't know enough about using The Force to attempt to manipulate it consciously.

Trying Again[]

In general, you can try a skill check again if you fail, and you can keep trying indefinitely. Many Skills, however, have natural consequences for failing that must be accounted for. Some Skills can't be tried again once a check has failed for a particular task. For most Skills, when a character has succeeded at a given task, additional successes are meaningless.

For example, if Deel Surool misses a Mechanics check to open a mechanical lock, he can try again and keep trying. If, however, an alarm sounds when the Mechanics check is missed by 5 or more, then failing has its own penalty. Similarly, if Rorworr misses a Climb check, he can keep trying, but if he misses by 5 or more, he falls (after which he can get up and try again if the fall wasn't too far or too painful).

If a skill carries no penalty for failure, you can Take 20 and assume that you keep trying until you eventually succeed.

Rerolling[]

Some Species Traits, Talents, and other special abilities allow you to reroll a skill check. You must declare that you are using this option immediately after making the check but before any effects are resolved. Furthermore, you must accept the result of the reroll, even if it is worse. For all purposes, the result of the reroll is treated as the real result of your skill check.

Keeping the Better Result[]

Some Species Traits, Talents, Feats, and other special abilities are more flexible, allowing you to reroll but keep the better of the two results. In most cases, this is more restricted and only available a limited number of times per day (such as the Knack Talent), requires you to spend a Force Point (such as the Force Power Adept Talent), or can only be used by certain applications (such as the Master Slicer Talent). As always, you must declare that you are using this option immediately after making the skill check but before any effects are resolved.

Multiple Rerolls[]

Sometimes you have more than one Talent, trait, or other special ability that allows you to reroll the same skill check. In this case, you may choose to take each reroll one at a time in whatever order you wish, resolving each one before deciding whether to use another.

For example, a Cerean Scoundrel makes an Initiative check. Dissatisfied with the result, he decides to use the Cerean's Intuitive Initiative ability that allows him to reroll his Initiative check, keeping the new result. Unfortunately, the second roll is even worse, so he decides to use the Knack Talent to reroll one more time, this time keeping the better of the second and third rolls. Alternatively, he could have opted to use Knack first, keeping the better of the first and second rolls, and then (if necessary) using Intuitive Initiative to roll a third time, keeping the third result instead of the better of the first two.

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