Spellcraft
Key Ability: Int | Trained Only: No | Armor Check Penalty: No
You are skilled at the art of identifying magic items, crafting magic items, and identifying spells as they are being cast. This skill also helps with performing magical class functions.
Check: Spellcraft is used whenever your knowledge and skill of the technical art of casting a spell or crafting a magic item comes into question. This skill is also used to identify the properties of magic items in your possession through the use of spells such as detect magic and identify. The DC of this check varies depending upon the task at hand.
| Task | Spellcraft DC |
|---|---|
| Identify a specific spell as it is being cast | 10 + spell level |
| Identify a spell school after you made a successful save against it | 10 + spell level |
| Identify a specific spell after you made a successful save against it | 15 + spell level |
| Learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll (wizards only) | 10 + spell level |
| Identify the properties of a magic item using detect magic | 5 + item's caster level |
| Decipher a scroll | 10 + spell level |
| Craft a magic item | Varies by item |
Action: Identifying a spell as it is being cast requires a free action, and you must be able to clearly perceive the spell's components as it is being cast. If the spell has both verbal and somatic components and you can see or hear only one of the two, then this check suffers a -5 penalty, It is practically impossible (-20 on the check) to identify a spell being cast without somatic or verbal components. There is an additional -1 on this check as a distance penalty for every 10 feet between you and the caster.
Learning a spell from a spellbook takes 1 hour per level of the spell (0-level spells take 30 minutes). Preparing a spell from a borrowed spellbook does not add any time to your spell preparation. Making a Spellcraft check to craft a magic item is made as part of the creation process. Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object.
Retry: You cannot retry checks made to identify a spell. If you fail to learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll, you must wait at least 1 week before you can try again. When using detect magic or identify to learn the properties of magic items, you can only attempt to ascertain the properties of an individual item once per day. Additional attempts reveal the same results.
Special: If you are a specialist wizard, you get a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify, learn, and prepare spells from your chosen school. Similarly, you take a -5 penalty on similar checks made concerning spells from your opposition schools.
You can identify the school and name of spell-like abilities that target you if you save against them. Treat these as if they were spells, but the DC to do so is increased by 5. You cannot identify an SLA as it is being activated because it has no components.
Elves gain a +3 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks.