Tome of Prowess (3.5e Sourcebook)/Appraisal

Appraisal

Appraisal is an analysis skill. It represents an attention to detail that allows you to price and identify goods as well as recognize forgeries, doctored goods, or knockoffs. Those with substantial skill in appraisal can even determine the functions of magical objects by simple examination. They can also turn their eye for detail towards illusions, transmutations, and other transformations to discern falsified objects and (with slightly more time) people from the real things.

Those with strong attention to detail are also those who make good adulterers and forgers of work, so this skill can also used to make objects appear to be worth more than they are. It can also be used to create duplicate documents or seals for nefarious purposes.

Key Attribute: Intelligence

Table: Check Modifiers

Circumstance	Example	Check Modifier
No knowledge of subject	No prior experience or interraction with, nor a description of, subject	-3
Minimal knowledge of subject	A second hand or minimal familiarity with subject, a description or very few previous interactions	+0
Fair knowledge of subject	First hand familiarity with subject, many previous interactions within the recent past	+2
Substantial knowledge of subject	Very familiar with subject, a lot of previous interactions stretching over a long period of time	+5
Distracted and not fully focused	Being talked to, using your standard action on another task	-5
Extremely distracted and barely focused	Being yelled at, defending against an obvious threat in combat	-10

Condition	Check Modifier
Rushing a 10 minute action to a 2 ½ minutes action	-5
Rushing a 5 minute action to a 1 minute action	-5
Rushing a 2 ½ minute action to a 5 round action	-5
Rushing a 1 minute action to a 2 round action	-5
Rushing a 5 round action to a 1 round action	-5
Rushing a 2 round action to a standard action	-5
Rushing a 1 round or full-round action to a standard action	-3
Rushing a standard action to a move action	-2
Rushing a standard or move action to a swift action	-5

Minimum Rank 2 Uses

Determine Value

When you’re out shopping, it’s nice to not be ripped off by the merchants or tricked by snake oil salesmen. You know what you’re looking for, and can make a good guess at the fair market value of many objects. Initially, you can only appraise common or familiar goods and objects, but as you grow in skill you learn to appraise uncommon, rare, exotic, and even one-of-a-kind items like artwork and jewelry in addition to magical items.

If you spend a full-round action examining an item, you can make a check to appraise it. The DC of this check is based on the item type, and you may not appraise some types of items until you have met a rank prerequisite. You gain a bonus to this check based on your familiarity with the goods.

You also use this to see past knockoffs and doctored goods, but not forged documents or other non-trade goods with no inherent value. The DC to recognize a doctored item is determined by the forger, and is treated separately from the normal DC to appraise an item. If you exceed the base item type DC but do not exceed the forgery DC, you learn the false fair market value that the forger enhanced the object to appear as. If you exceed the forgery DC, you learn the real value of the item and know that it was doctored to appear more valuable.

DC: By target item, or by forgery DC (special results case)
Check	Result
DC+0 and above	You know the general value of the item. If you know the local economic conditions relating to the item, you know its exact value in the market. If the item is a forgery, you know its apparent value as a result of the forging unless your check result exceeded the forgery DC, in which case you recognize it as a forgery and know its real value.
DC-1 to DC-5	You do not have a firm grasp of the value of the item. Even though you are not confident in your appraisal, you believe the item to be worth 2d6+3 times 10% (so 50% to 150%) of its actual value, or apparent value if it is a forgery. It is entirely possible to fail the check and still come up with an accurate Appraisal; it’s just not a confident one.
DC-6 and below	You fail to recognize the value of the item at all, and have no idea of its fair market worth.

Collectibles and Sentimental Value Items

Some items, like obscure collectibles or poorly-made jewelry pieces with high emotional value to wealthy kings, are not well valued by this check. The ability generally returns an objective and fair market value of an object, and that tends to be much lower than the higher value that some items may be worth to a particular individual or market subset. If you are familiar with such a market or buyer, and your DM permits you to make a check for the sale price of an item in such a market, you may use this ability to determine the value of an item within that market instead of in the general market. Different item availability DCs may apply between markets however, which may cause your check to be harder than it otherwise would be.

Ability Progression

Rank	Benefit
2	You may appraise common (DC 12) and uncommon (DC 15) goods.
4	You may appraise common (DC 12), uncommon (DC 15), rare (DC 18), and exotic (DC 20) goods. You may also appraise art and other one-of-a-kind objects,
6	You may appraise common (DC 12), uncommon (DC 15), rare (DC 18), exotic (DC 20), and magical (DC 15 + caster level) goods.

Minimum Rank 4 Uses

Falsify Object

When you have determined the qualities of an object that flaw its value or appearance, you’ve also learned what you have to correct or hide in order to improve it. Anything that you can appraise you can modify in ways that make it look like something official or more expensive. For example, you can make a normal sword appear to be a masterwork one, remove the telltale signs from a barrel of fish that would indicate spoilage, or create fake documents.

There is no set time for altering the apparent value of a good, as it strongly depends on what you’re working on and the actions needed to hide the flaws. However long the base time is, you may take 15 or 20 to do a better job of hiding them, with the subsequent increase in required time. The DC to detect your forgery is equal to your check result, modified by some special conditions that depend on the type of object you are working with.

Seeing past a modified or counterfeit item to it’s true worth is covered by earlier appraise abilities against your check result, as explained above. Seeing past forged documents and security marks can be done with either an Appraise check (as explained above) or a Perception check.

Note that cons and straight bluffs aren’t covered by this ability. If you’re attempting to sell a rare or exotic item to a buyer who has never seen one before or present falsified patronage letters from a country a guard has never heard of, you should be using Bluff instead of Appraise to convince them. A well falsified object can make it a more believable lie though.

DC: None. Your check result determines the Appraise or Perception DC to detect your conterfeiting.
Condition	Check Adjustment
Increase/decrease apparent value of sundries	-1 per 10% increase
Increase/decrease adventuring gear category (damaged to standard to masterwork)	-2 per category
Increase/decrease apparent value of art object	-2 per 50% increase
Forging a document you’ve never seen	Not Possible
Forging a document you’ve only glanced at	-5
Forging a document you’re familiar with	0
Forging a document you have on hand	+2
Forging a security measure into a document (watermark, arcane mark)	-3 per security mark

Ability Progression

None. Your maximum ranks scale with the CR of your opposition, providing similar levels of information on foes regardless of level.

Identify Tell

Everything that isn’t what it appears to be has a “tell”, some little thing that doesn’t fit with the whole. Your eye for detail and ability to spot forgeries extends beyond simple counterfeit documents and doctored goods, but to magically altered or created objects and creatures that aren’t what they appear to and illusions as well. You are able to pierce disguises, transfigurations, transmutations, and illusions with your appraisal abilities, finding the critical flaws that ruin the entire façade.

The amount of study you must spend on this check is dependent on your skill and the type of thing you are looking at. Since you are more familiar with objects, it takes longer to find a crack in a change on a creature than it does to find a change in an item you can hold. After you have spent the required time you may make an Appraisal check to determine if you are dealing with an illusion, transmutation, or similar transformation. The DC for this ability is the effect save DC + spell level (or 10 + twice spell level + caster’s relevant attribute modifier for spells that normally don’t allow a save) or the DC set by the individual. The results of your check are listed in the table below. You gain a bonus to this check based on your familiarity with the target.

Special: You may not use this ability and the Discern Fraud ability on the same target. Once you have made a check with one ability, you can not gain additional insight by using the other.

DC: effect save DC + spell level, or 10 + twice spell level + caster’s relevant attribute modifier, or the DC set by the individual (as appropriate)
Check	Result
DC+10 and above	If the target is a forgery or disguised, you recognize it as such. You also spot a flaw in the disguise that you could easily exploit to ruin it utterly, and automatically succeed at convincing others that it is a fake.
DC+5 to DC+9	You recognize if the target is a forgery or disguised. You also spot a flaw in the disguise that you could easily exploit to ruin it utterly, and automatically succeed at convincing others that it is a fake. If the target is genuine, you recognize that.
DC+0 to DC+4	You recognize if the thing in front of you is a fake. If you attempt to convince someone else that it is a fake, they gain a +4 bonus on their check. If the target is genuine, you recognize that.
DC-1 to DC-5	If the target is not genuine, you believe that there is something odd about them but can not identify any flaws that would actually give it away. You gain no bonus to assisting others in reaching the same conclusion. If the target is genuine, you recognize that.
DC-6 and below	You do not notice anything that would lead you to suspect that the target is a fake, and believe that they are genuine. Even if they're not. Note that if you make this check on an authentic target you will get this result, so you shouldn’t discount it just because you think something is up. Sometimes you’re just paranoid.

Ability Progression

Rank	Benefit
4	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a full-round action and in creatures as a 10-minute action.
6	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a full-round action and in creatures as a 5-minute action.
8	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a standard action and in creatures as a 2-minute action.
10	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a standard action and in creatures as a 1-minute action.
12	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a standard action and in creatures as a 5-round action.
14	You may attempt to identify tells in an object as a standard action and in creatures as a 2-round action.

Minimum Rank 8 Uses

Identify Magic Items

You’ve learned enough about items that you can recognize them fairly accurately by the common elements and trace identifiers present on every magical item. Armed with this knowledge, you can determine the properties of any item you know to be magical through appraisal or spell abilities.

The DC for this check is 15 + the caster level required to create the item. You do not gain a bonus to this check based on conditions, as each item is a custom piece of equipment. It takes an hour to learn the properties of an item, at the end of which you make this check. If you have previously activated the item, you may make your initial check for the item after only 10 minutes.

DC: 15 + the caster level required to create the item
Check	Result
DC+5 and above	You learn every function of the item, and their methods of activation. This doesn’t mean you can use every function, just that you know them all.
DC+0 to DC+4	You learn the function with the lowest caster level that you do not yet know, as well as its method of activation. If there are no additional functions of the item, you learn that as well. If there are additional functions, you may continue your identification after another hour and another check.
DC-1 to DC-5	You learn nothing about the item this hour, but you may attempt identification again after another hour and another check.
DC-6 and below	You’re not sure if you offended the item or not with your poorly thought out groping and babbling, but it’s probably best to leave it alone for now. You learn nothing and can not attempt further identification for 24 hours.

Ability Progression

Rank	Benefit
8	You may affect up to 4 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 20’ of each other.
10	You may affect up to 10 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 40’ of each other.
12	You may affect up to 20 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 60’ of each other.

Think It Through

Your ability to appraise objects and people looking for the flaws that betrays their false nature also applies to situations as well. And these insights can be shared just like any others. You can counter confusion and fascination effects just by talking to those suffering under them. You can not affect yourself with this ability, however, as those conditions detract from your ability to analyze a situation.

As a standard action, make an appraise check against the effect’s save DC + the effect’s level (in the case of spells like hypnotic pattern or confusion) or 10 + the effect initiator’s character level + the effect initiator’s Cha modifier (in the case of supernatural abilities without an effect level). If you succeed on the check, you suppress the ability as indicated in the check result table below. The number of targets you can affect in this fashion is dependent on your skill.

DC: effect save DC + effect level, or 10 + initiator’s CR + initiator’s Intelligence modifier
Check	Result
DC+10 and above	You suppress the effect for 3 rounds without additional checks or actions, at the end of which it is dispelled.
DC+5 to DC+9	You suppress the effect in your targets for this round, and may continue suppressing it for up to two additional rounds without an additional check. You must spend a swift action in the additional rounds to keep the effects suppressed. At the end of that time, the effects return if their duration has not expired, though you may make a new check as a standard action to suppress them again.
DC+0 to DC+4	You suppress the effect in your targets for this round. Next round, the effects return if their duration has not expired, though you may make a new check as a standard action to suppress them again.
DC-1 to DC-5	You fail to affect the ability this round, but may try again next round if you like.
DC-6 and below	You not only fail to impact the targeted effect, but also plant your foot firmly in your mouth and become unable to affect this instance of the targeted effect at all. Any further retries against this instance of the effect are automatic failures.

Ability Progression

Rank	Benefit
8	You may affect up to 4 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 20’ of each other.
10	You may affect up to 10 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 40’ of each other.
12	You may affect up to 20 creatures at once. All creatures must be within 60’ of each other.

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