Skills/Bluff

You know how to tell a lie, and deceive others.

Check
Bluff is an opposed skill check against your opponent’s Sense Motive skill.

Convey Secret Message
You can use Bluff to pass hidden messages to another character without others understanding your true meaning. The DC of this check is 15 for simple messages and 20 for complex messages. If you are successful, the target must make a sense motive check at the same DC, if both you and the target succeed they automatically understand you, assuming you are speaking in a language that it understands. If your check fails by 5 or more, you deliver the wrong message. Other creatures that hear the message can decipher the message by succeeding at an opposed Sense Motive check against your Bluff result. This does not convey non-verbal secret messages, a completely non-verbal message or signal is determined by Sleight of Hand checks.

Action: Delivering a secret message generally takes twice as long as the message would otherwise take to relay.

Retry? Yes. Secret messages can be relayed again if the first attempt fails.

Deceive or Lie
If you use Bluff to fool someone, with a successful check you convince your opponent that what you are saying is true. Bluff checks are modified depending upon the believability of the lie. The following modifiers are applied to the roll of the creature attempting to tell the lie. Deceiving may also be used to subtly suggest courses of action to a creature, or make lies about your physical state (such as being injured or infirm even if you’re perfectly healthy). Action: A bluff check to deceive is generally a non-action done as part of a spoken statement of a creature.

Retry? If you fail to deceive someone, any further checks made to deceive them are made at a –10 penalty and may be impossible (GM discretion).

Feign Harmlessness
It’s often useful to attempt to convince your enemies you are no threat to them.

Check: You attempt to convince your target you are harmless through your actions and posture. If you are at least one size category smaller than your target and have taken no effective offensive actions that your target has seen, you gain a +5 circumstance bonus on this check. Even if you have proven yourself capable of dealing damage, an effort to present your previous success as a one-time fluke takes only a –10 penalty on the check. If you are injured or successfully appear injured, you gain an additional +5 circumstance bonus to this check, though this may require an additional bluff check to deceive onlookers that you are injured in some capacity if you aren’t.

Action: Taking steps to appear harmless requires a full-round action, though a GM may require more involved Bluff attempts to take longer.

Retry? You can attempt to feign harmlessness to the same target again, but each previous failed check increases the DC to convince your target by 5. This increase resets after 1 hour has passed.

Feint in Combat
You can also use Bluff to feint in combat, causing your opponent to be denied his Dexterity bonus to his AC against your next attack. The opponent makes an opposed Sense Motive check, or Wisdom check if higher against your Bluff check.

Action: Feinting in combat is a standard action, though some feats and abilities may reduce this action.

Retry? Yes. You can attempt to feint against someone again if you fail.

Perform Inconspicuous Action
You can avoid drawing attention to yourself when performing conspicuous actions such as picking up an object in a museum where handling the exhibits is frowned upon but not a matter of grave concern, or closely studying someone across a room at a party.

Action: You attempt the Bluff check as part of performing the action you wish to render inconspicuous. Normally, you must take twice as long as normal to perform the action in order to make it inconspicuous. A standard action becomes a full-round action completed just before the start of your next turn and a free, immediate, move, or swift action becomes a standard action.

Check: Your Bluff check is opposed by observers’ Sense Motive checks. You can’t attempt the check if your very presence is suspicious.

Actions Used
Feint in Combat: Feinting in combat is normally a standard action.
 * Convey Secret Message: Delivering a secret message generally takes twice as long as the message would otherwise take to relay.
 * Deceive or Lie: Attempting to deceive someone takes at least 1 round, but can possibly take longer if the lie is elaborate (as determined by the GM on a case-by-case basis).
 * Feign Harmlessness: Attempting to appear harmless is at least a full-round action, possibly more.