Crafter Level ; Crafting Proficiency Rank ; Crafting Feat
Formula Price
Tools You have an appropriate set of tools and, in many cases, a workshop; Crafting Materials You must supply raw materials worth
Extra Requirements
Difficulty Classes
RULE
As the Game Master, it’s up to you to set the difficulty classes (DCs) for checks that don’t use a predefined DC. The following sections offer advice on how to set appropriate DCs and tweak them as needed to feel natural for your story. Picking a simple DC and using a level-based DC each work well in certain circumstances, and you can adjust both types of DC using the advice on adjusting difficulty.
Simple DCs
Sometimes you need to quickly set a Difficulty Class. The easiest method is to select a simple DC from Table 10–4 by estimating which proficiency rank best matches the task (that rank is usually not required to succeed at the task).
If it’s something pretty much anyone would have a decent chance at, use the untrained DC. If it would require a degree of training, use the DC listed for trained, expert, master, or legendary proficiency, as appropriate to the complexity of the task. For example, say a PC was trying to uncover the true history behind a fable. You determine this requires a check to Recall Knowledge, and that only someone with master proficiency in Folktale Lore would know the information, so you’d set the DC at 30—the simple master DC.
Simple DCs work well when you need a DC on the fly and there’s no level associated with the task. They’re most useful for skill checks. Because there isn’t much gradation between the simple DCs, they don’t work as well for hazards or combatants, where the PCs’ lives are on the line; you’re better off using level-based DCs for such challenges.
| Proficiency Rank | Proficiency |
|---|---|
| Untrained | 10 |
| Trained | 15 |
| Expert | 20 |
| Master | 30 |
| Legendary | 40 |
Level-Based DCs
When you’re determining a skill DC based on something that has a level, use Table 10–5 to set the DC. Find the level of the subject, and assign the corresponding DC. Since spells use a 1–10 scale, use the Spell Level column for them.
Use these DCs when a PC needs to Identify a Spell or Recall Knowledge about a creature, attempts to Earn Income by performing a task of a certain level, and so on. You can also use the level-based DCs for obstacles instead of assigning a simple DC. For example, you might determine that a wall in a high-level dungeon was constructed of smooth metal and is hard to climb. You could simply say only someone with master proficiency could climb it, and use the simple DC of 30. Or you might decide that the 15th-level villain who created the dungeon crafted the wall, and use the 15th-level DC of 34. Either approach is reasonable!
Note that PCs who invest in a skill become more likely to succeed at a DC of their level as they increase in level, and the listed DCs eventually become very easy for them.
| Level | DC | Level | DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 14 | 13 | 31 |
| 1 | 15 | 14 | 32 |
| 2 | 16 | 15 | 34 |
| 3 | 18 | 16 | 35 |
| 4 | 19 | 17 | 36 |
| 5 | 20 | 18 | 38 |
| 6 | 22 | 19 | 39 |
| 7 | 23 | 20 | 40 |
| 8 | 24 | 21 | 42 |
| 9 | 26 | 22 | 44 |
| 10 | 27 | 23 | 46 |
| 11 | 28 | 24 | 48 |
| 12 | 30 | 25 | 50 |
| Spell Level* | DC | ||
| 1st | 15 | ||
| 2nd | 18 | ||
| 3rd | 20 | ||
| 4th | 23 | ||
| 5th | 26 | ||
| 6th | 28 | ||
| 7th | 31 | ||
| 8th | 34 | ||
| 9th | 36 | ||
| 10th | 39 | ||
| * If a spell is uncommon or rare, its difficulty should be adjusted accordingly. | |||
Adjusting Difficulty
You might decide a DC should differ from the baseline, whether to account for PCs’ areas of expertise or to represent the rarity of spells or items. A DC adjustment represents an essential difference in the difficulty of a task and applies to anyone attempting a specific check for it. Adjustments happen most often with tasks whose DCs are based on their level. Adjustments use a scale of –10 to +10, from incredibly easy checks to incredibly hard ones, and are broken into increments of 2, 5, and 10. You’ll often apply the adjustments for uncommon, rare, or unique subjects.
| Difficulty | Adjustment | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
| Incredibly easy | –10 | — |
| Very easy | –5 | — |
| Easy | –2 | — |
| Hard | +2 | Uncommon |
| Very hard | +5 | Rare |
| Incredibly hard | +10 | Unique |
The adjustments’ names don’t translate to how hard a task actually is for a PC or group of PCs, and adjustments aren’t meant to balance out or replace PCs’ bonuses and penalties. PCs who invest in a skill will become better and better at that skill as they increase in level. For example, even the best 1st-level PC has grim odds against an incredibly hard 1st-level DC, with a huge chance of critical failure, but by 20th level, an optimized character with a modicum of magic or assistance can take down incredibly hard 20thlevel DCs over half the time, critically failing only on a 1. At higher levels, many groups will find that the very hard DC is more like standard for them; keep that in mind if you need a check that presents a true challenge to a high level group.
You might use different DCs for a task based on the particular skill or statistic used for the check. Let’s say your PCs encounter a magical tome about aberrant creatures. The tome is 4th-level and has the occult trait, so you set the DC of an Occultism check to Identify the Magic to 19, based on Table 10–5. As noted in Identify Magic, other magic-related skills can typically be used at a higher DC, so you might decide the check is very hard for a character using Arcana and set the DC at 24 for characters using that skill. If a character in your group had Aberration Lore, you might determine that it would be easy or very easy to use that skill and adjust the DC to 17 or 14. These adjustments aren’t taking the place of characters’ bonuses, modifiers, and penalties—they are due to the applicability of the skills being used.
GROUP ATTEMPTS
The DCs in this chapter give an individual character a strong and increasing chance of success if they have some proficiency. On occasion, though, you’ll have a task that only one person in the group needs to succeed at, but that everyone can attempt. The number of dice being rolled means that there’s a very high chance at least one of them will succeed. Most of the time, that’s perfectly fine, but sometimes you’ll want the task to be a challenge, with some uncertainty as to whether the party can succeed. In these cases, make the check very hard, or incredibly hard if you want it to be particularly difficult or at high levels. At these DCs, most of the party will probably fail, but someone will probably still succeed, likely a character who has heavily invested in the given skill, as is expected for specialized characters.