Scrivening

Key Ability: Int | Trained Only: Yes | Armor Check Penalty: No

You are a master of ink and written arts, from scribing to forgery to cartography to sketching.

Check: The DC depends on what you are trying to do.

Decipher a written text: You can decipher writing in an unfamiliar language or a message written in an incomplete or archaic form. If the check succeeds, you understand the general content of a piece of writing about one page long (or the equivalent). If the check fails, make a DC 5 Intelligence check to see if you avoid drawing a false conclusion about the text. (Success means that you do not draw a false conclusion; failure means that you do.) Both the scrivener check and (if necessary) the Int check are made secretly by the GM, so that you can't tell whether the conclusion you draw is true or false.

Condition	Decipher DCs and Check Modifiers
Identify the alphabet used	5
Identify the language used	10
Understand the gist of a simple document	20
Understand the gist of a standard document	25
Understand the gist of an intricate, exotic, or very old document	30
Understand some of the nuances also	-10
Do not know a language using this alphabet	-10
If you speak the language	+20

You automatically identify the alphabet of an unknown language if you speak a language that uses the same alphabet.

Create or Detect Forgeries: Forgery requires writing materials appropriate to the document being forged. To forge a document on which the handwriting is not specific to a person, you need only to have seen a similar document before, and you gain a +8 bonus on your check. To forge a signature, you need an autograph of that person to copy, and you gain a +4 bonus on the check. To forge a longer document written in the hand of some particular person, a large sample of that person's handwriting is needed.

Condition	Forgery Check Modifier
Type of document unknown to reader	-2
Type of document somewhat known to reader	+0
Type of document well known to reader	+2
Handwriting not known to reader	-2
Handwriting somewhat known to reader	+0
Handwriting intimately known to reader	+2
Reader only casually reviews the document	-2
Document contradicts orders or knowledge	+2

The Scrivening check is made secretly, so that you're not sure how good your forgery is. As with Disguise, you don't make a check until someone examines the work. Your Scrivening check is opposed by the Scrivening check of the person who examines the document to verify its authenticity. The examiner gains modifiers if any of the conditions are listed on the table above.

Draw a Map: You can create a basic map with a DC15 scrivening check. This basic map offers a +4 bonus on checks to help people find their way, per the rules for getting lost. You can create a masterwork map, offering an additional +2 on the roll to find your way, with a DC25 scrivening check. If you have not personally seen the area of the map, increase the DCs to make the map by +10, and the map will still be useless if your information source is incorrect.

Create a Sketch: You create realistic sketches of creatures and places. Roll your Scrivening check and subtract it from 40. That's the Spot DC others can use to identify a person or place from your sketch. If you have not personally seen the person or place you are sketching, subtract your check from 50, and the sketch will still be useless if your information source is incorrect.

Cryptography: You can create codes and ciphers. Your Scrivening check is opposed by the Scrivening check of a potential codebreaker trying to decipher your message. If you teach your cipher to another, they get a +20 on their untrained Scrivener check to read it and to write messages in it. If you use a code, a codebreaker can only try to break it if they have at least 5d4 coded messages and the context in which they were sent; you cannot teach your code to others, but you can give them a codebook they can use to read and write coded messages without making a check.

Accounting and Records Keeping: You can keep accurate records, including travel logs, bestiaries, correspondences, and so forth, with a DC10 check. You can balance financial records with a DC15 check, or keep a convincing second set of books to hide your true finances with a DC20 check.

Action: Varies. Deciphering a page of ordinary text takes 1 minute (10 consecutive rounds). Creating a map or sketch takes 1d4 hours. Creating a forgery can take anywhere from 1 minute to 1d4 minutes per page. Detecting a forgery using Scrivening takes 1 round of examination per page. Creating a code or cipher takes 1d4 days. It takes a day to teach another your cipher, or a day to make a codebook.

Try Again: Yes.

Special: You must be trained to use this skill, but you can always attempt to read archaic and strange forms of languages you know, as well as to break and use cryptography and to attempt to detect a forgery.

Gnomes gain a +3 racial bonus on Scrivening checks.