Bluff Skill

Bluff (Cha)
You can make the outrageous or the untrue seem plausible. The skill encompasses conning, fast-talking, misdirection, prevarication, and misleading through body language. Use a bluff to sow temporary confusion, get someone to turn his head in the direction you point, or simply to look innocuous.

Check: A Bluff check is opposed by the target’s Sense Motive check. Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a bluff. Two circumstances can weigh against you: The bluff is hard to believe, or the action that the bluff requires the target to take goes against the target’s self-interest, nature, personality, or orders.

If it’s important, the GM can distinguish between a bluff that fails because the target doesn’t believe it and one that fails because it just asks too much of the target. For instance, if the target gets a +10 bonus because the bluff demands something risky of the target, and the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 10 or less, then the target didn’t so much see through the bluff as prove reluctant to go along with it. If the target’s Sense Motive check succeeds by 11 or more, he has seen through the bluff (and would have done so even if it had not placed any demand on him).

A successful Bluff check indicates that the target reacts as you wish, at least for a short time (usually 1 round or less), or the target believes something that you want him to believe. For example, you could use a bluff to put someone off guard by telling him someone was behind him. At best, such a bluff would make the target glance over his shoulder. It would not cause the target to ignore you and completely turn around.

A bluff requires interaction between the character and the target. Targets unaware of the character can’t be bluffed.

Example Circumstances Sense Motive Modifier Example Quote
The target wants to believe you -5 “These droids aren’t stolen. I’m just desperate for credits right now, so I’m offering them to you cheap.”
The bluff is believable and doesn’t affect the target much one way or the other +0 “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I’m just a simple trader here for the fair.”
The bluff is a little hard to believe or puts the target at some kind of risk. +5 “You want to fight? I’ll take you all on myself. I don’t need my friends’ help. Just don’t die on my deck plating”
The bluff is hard to believe or entails a large risk for the target +10 “This shuttle doesn’t belong to the Emperor. It just looks like his. Trust me, I wouldn’t sell you a ship that would get you terminated, would I?”
The bluff is way out there; it’s almost too incredible to consider. +20 “You might find this hard to believe, but I’m actually a Jedi Master who’s been sold into slavery by a dark lord of the Sith. You know that we Jedi are trustworthy, so you can believe me.”

Feinting in Combat: You can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in combat so that he can’t dodge your attack effectively. If you succeed, the next melee attack you make against the target ignores his Dexterity bonus to Defense (if any), thus lowering the Defense score. Feinting in this way against a target of a different species from you is difficult because it’s harder to read an alien’s body language; you take a -4 penalty. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2) it’s even harder; you take a -8 penalty. Against a non-intelligent creature, it’s impossible.

Creating a Diversion to Hide: You can use Bluff to help you hide. A successful Bluff check gives you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a [Hide] check while people are aware of you.

Seduction: You can use Bluff to convince members of the opposite sex to believe that your romantic intentions are sincere (assuming that they aren’t). You make a Bluff check opposed by the target’s Sense Motive. Success allows you to persuade him or her to do a small favor for you, such as looking the other way when you do something suspicious, or providing you with information that is meant to be secret. This form of seduction is only temporary; this use of Bluff is not the way to another person’s heart. It only ensures their complicity for a short time.

This action cannot be performed during combat.

Sending a Secret Message: You can use Bluff to send and understand secret messages while seemingly speaking about other topics. Two Bothan spies might suspect their comlink channels are being monitored, for example, and decide to pass along information about their mission while appearing to be discussing the price of grains from Agamar.

Passing along basic message (“Meet me at noon in the usual place”) has a DC of 10. Complex messages (“Bring your blaster pistol, but only if you think you can get here without being searched”) or messages trying to communicate new information (“Meet me an hour earlier than usual, in the tapcafe down the street from the usual place”) have DCs of 15 or 20. Both the sender and the receiver must make the check for the secret message to be successfully relayed and understood.

Anyone listening in on a secret message can attempt a Sense Motive check (DC equal to the sender’s Bluff check result). If successful, the eavesdropper realizes that a secret message is contained in the communication. If the eavesdropper beats the DC by 5 or more, he understands the secret message.

Whether trying to send or intercept a message, a failure by 5 or more points means that one side or the other misinterprets the message in some fashion. The GM should always roll such Bluff checks in secret. If the message is being communicated from one hero to another, the sender should write the message down and give it to the GM, who in turn makes the secret Bluff check, then copies the not and hands the copy to the intended recipient.

Retry: Generally, a failed Bluff check makes the target too suspicious for you to try another bluff in the same circumstances. For feinting in combat, you may retry freely.

Special: You can take 10 when making a bluff (except for feinting in combat), but you can’t take 20.

A character with the Persuasive feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Bluff checks.

A character with the Street Smart feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Bluff checks.

A character with the Trick feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Bluff checks.

Time: A bluff takes at least 1 round (and is at least a full-round action) but can take much longer if you try something elaborate.

Using Bluff as a feint in combat is an attack action.

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