Skills and Tools
In standard Dnd, when choosing skills and tool proficiencies, it can be a gamble as to how useful a skill is. For DM's it can be difficult to assign the correct skill check or tool needed for an improvised task.
This document endeavors to fix this issue, with each skill being provided with a short synopsis of what the skill would be used for, as well as in game mechanical examples for both skills and tools. It also documents secondary mechanics related to skills and tools such as Masterwork tools.
Skills
These are the in the moment to moment checks, detailing random events within the adventuring day.
Knowledge Checks: Skills with the * tag attached are considered "Knowledge Checks" which can be used within initiative as your knowledge check. They allow you to uncover details and information about the mechanics and abilities of the fight. Some pieces of information can only be discovered with a specific Knowledge skill. Each of these skills details the rough type of ability they identify
Passive Skills: Skills with the ^ tag are considered passive skills, these skills set the passive DC that npcs or undetected skill checks are attempting to beat, such as Stealth or Sleight of Hand vs Passive Perception, Deception or Persuasion Vs Passive Insight. All passive scores equal 10 + your skill bonus
Acrobatics (Dex) Tight Maneuvers, Nimble Climbs, and Elegant Landings, Acrobatics is how dexterously you maneuver around and about terrain. An Acrobatics check covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you’re trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope, or stay upright on a rocking ship’s deck.
Uses:
- Landing | After falling 10ft or more, you may make an acrobatics check to potentially reduce the fall damage
- Mobility | Use a check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.
- Climbing | Acrobatics climbing is more about the ability to maneuver and move about the surface or avoid hazards. A climbing check related to these things may have a lower acrobatics DC than its Athletics DC
Animal Handling (Wis) There are many ways to persuade, lie or perform with people, however animals speak only in the body. Whether it be calming a wild animal, training a small beast, or riding a mount, animal handling is the catch all for checks related to lower intelligence and instinct based creatures.
Uses:
- Calming | Coming across a neutral animal in the wild, a spooked beast of burden, or a lazy guard dog, an animal handling check can be used to avoid combat encounters, or event triggers.
- Riding | While on a mount, doing special maneuvers may provoke an animal handling checks. Alternatively events like your mount taking damage, or you being dismounted can be negated with an animal handling check.
Arcana* (Int) Through much study, and long hours of memorization, you have gained knowledge of arcane feelings and truths. It Using this skill can provide pieces of information regarding the arcane properties of what you are observing
Uses:
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- Knowledge Checks* | In initiative, you may use this skill as your free knowledge check. It may only reveal information regarding magical/arcane effects, abilities, or hazards.
Athletics (Str) Feats of Strength, Endurance, or Brute Force are all athletics. Whether it be throwing a large object, attempting to break a wall, pin an enemy, or climb a gripless wall, athletics represents your knowledge and muscle development to do so.
Uses
- Grappling |
- Jumping | Movement that involves long or standing jumps have their success based on an acrobatics check
- Swimming | The ability to swim or stay afloat in treacherous currents, storm-‐‑tossed waves, or areas of thick seaweed. Or another creature tries to push or pull you underwater or otherwise interfere with your swimming.
- Climbing | Athletics climbing is more about the ability to climb a less easy surface, or hold onto what your climbing as it attempts to make it difficult. A climbing check related to these things may have a lower Athletics DC than its Acrobatics DC
Deception (Cha) whether you can convincingly hide the truth, either verbally or through your actions. This deception can encompass everything from misleading others through ambiguity to telling outright lies. Typical situations include trying to fast-‐‑ talk a guard, con a merchant, earn money through gambling, pass yourself off in a disguise, dull someone’s suspicions with false assurances, or maintain a straight face while telling a blatant lie.
Uses:
- Social | When in an encounter where at any point you are attempting to cause a creature to believe a lack of truth, or a false truth, a Deception Check is used.
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History (Int) This skill measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations. It also functions when you as a player are forgetting something that your character would or should know.
Uses:
- Prompted Recall | If there is an ability, mechanic, or piece of information that you need/ should be using during the adventuring day, the GM may prompt a recall check, to remind you of that piece of info.
- Attempted Recall | In a scenario where there is historical context, a figure of notice or importance, or a specific piece of the past events, or lore, a history check allows you to potentially remember studying some or all of the relevant information desired.
Insight^ (Int) This check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone’s next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.
Uses:
- Read Speech | In order to detect if someone is lying or holding out truth, an insight check is used.
- Sense Motive | Sometimes an Npc or creature is clearly intending something different that what they are saying, an insight check potentially allows you to piece together context and discover what they are really Attempting to do. detecting a Creature's state of mind.
- Passive Insight | Throughout the course of encounters, if an NPC attempts to lie, you will be prompted by the Dm that something is off if their social check does not beat your passive insight (10 + insight bonus) score.
Intimidation (Cha) is used when you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence.
Uses:
- Interrogate | trying to pry information out of a prisoner as apposed to convincing them would use an intimidation check.
- Bully | convincing street thugs to back down from a confrontation, or using the edge of a broken bottle to convince a sneering vizier to reconsider a decision.
- Spook | attempting to scare or frighten creatures to retreat or even gain the shaken condition would involve an intimidation check.
Investigation (Int) is used when you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues. If perception is noticing things that are out of place, or are attempting to be hidden, investigation is deducing how things work, are designed, or are being used.
Uses:
- Search | Finding where a hidden door compartment, or mechanism is located on a surface or object you are suspicious of would involve a targeted investigation check.
- Deduce | discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse, any check to glean information from a specific object or thing is an investigation check.
- Conclude | Pouring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge, piecing together pieces clues of a larger mechanism or plot, might also call for an Investigation check.
Martial* (Wis/Int) The ability to learn from an opponent on the fly, or unearthing tactics of creatures and armies, this is that skill. The martial skill is almost second nature to many fighters, and is always learned through rigorous training and hard lessons.
Uses:
- Strategize| When strategizing with fellow generals, or discerning the weak point in an enemy formation, a Martial Check May be used.
- Knowledge Checks* | In initiative, you may use this skill as your free knowledge check. It may reveal a trait, ability, or hazard of your choice. Sometimes it cannot be used for certain abilities or traits that may require another skill. Alternatively you may instead ask for the "Tactic" of the enemy, revealing a rough plan of the enemies planned actions based on current battlefield state.
Medicine (Wis/Int) This skill involves the study of the body, poisons, and other methods of injury or damage. Characters with this skill are often working to help their party survive the dangers and hazards they encounter.
Uses:
- Diagnose | A medicine check can be used to determine what disease, poison or ailment is effecting a creature. Or cause of death
- Staunch | A way of removing or reducing bleed damage on a creature is making a DC 13 medicine check, for each 1 over 13 you remove 3 counters of Bleed
- Stabilize | When a creature is making death saving throws, you may make a DC 10 Medicine Check as an action to stabilize the creature, causing it to become stable on success.
- Treat | When a creature is fighting a disease or poison, your medicine check can provide a bonus to whatever save or effects the creature is suffering.
Nature* (Wis) this check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.
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- Knowledge Checks* | In initiative, you may use this skill as your free knowledge check. It may only reveal information regarding Primal/ Natural effects, abilities, or hazards. Sometimes nature checks can reveal specific terrain hazards or advantages that the environment/battlefield have.
Perception ^ (Wis) this check lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses.
Uses:
- Notice | Using a combination of senses, notice something that's easy to miss.
- Listen | Trying to hear a conversation through a closed door, eavesdrop under an open window, or hear monsters moving stealthily in the forest all involve a perception check.
- Observe | Trying to spot things that are obscured, easy to miss or is out of place, whether they are orcs lying in ambush on a road, thugs hiding in the shadows of an alley, or candlelight under a closed secret door.
- Passive Perception| Throughout the course of encounters, if an NPC attempts to use Stealth or Sleight of Hand, you will be prompted by the Dm that something is off if their skill check does not beat your passive perception(10 + perception bonus) score.
Performance (Cha) this check determines how well you can delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or some other form of entertainment.
Uses:
- Entertain | Any attempt to enthrall, captivate or embellish a story and hold the attention of creatures could be a performance check
- Distract | Holding the focus of a guard, or getting the attention of a creature to pull the focus to yourself would be a performance check.
Persuasion (Cha) When you attempt to influence someone or a group of people with tact, social graces, or good nature, would be this check. Typically, you use persuasion when acting in good faith, to foster friendships, make cordial requests, or exhibit proper etiquette.
Uses:
- Convince | Talking in a manner that gets you something in return or a reason to be allowed something is a persuasion check.
- Negotiation | Arbiting a deal, or brokering peace or any scenario where you are creating compromise uses your persuasion.
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Religion* (Wis) this check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults. It involves a knowledge of how and why rituals are performed, the different methods and expressions of faith, and information of religious significance or history.
Uses:
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- Knowledge Checks* | In initiative, you may use this skill as your free knowledge check. It may only reveal information regarding Divine/ Faith effects, abilities, or hazards. Sometimes religion checks can reveal specific connections to other forces that can be severed or exploited
Sleight of Hand (Dex) Whenever you attempt an act of precision or manual trickery, such as planting something on someone else or concealing an object on your person, use this skill.
Uses:
- Sleight | determine whether you can lift a coin purse off another person or grab an object undetected would be a use of this skill.
- Disarm | Your ability to mess with or disable a mechanism such as a trap would use sleight of hand
Stealth (Dex) use this check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard.
Uses:
- Hide | Taking the hide action requires a successful Stealth check against an unaware enemies passive perception, or against an alert creatures active perception roll.
- Elude | When Traveling through a civilized area, or attempting to lose a pursuer your stealth check determines how well you do this.
Survival (Wis) this skill represents your ability to track creatures, avoid natural hazards, navigate regions, or survive harsh environments. Often seen through foraging, building a shelter, or avoiding dangers such as poisonous plants or dangerous ground.
Uses:
- Navigate | Your ability to move through an uncivilized region, or an area without a trail requires a Survival check to determine if you stay on course, and how efficiently you travel.
- Forage | An attempt to gain rations or specific components within an environment require a survival check.
- Track | Following a creature, or noticing signs of passage through an area would be a survival check
- Cover Tracks | Your ability to track creatures also helps you cover your own tracks, When in uncivilized territory, Survival may have a lower DC than stealth when preventing being followed or losing pursuers.
Tools
These checks are less common, and oftentimes are methods of using your down time. They are often times used for specialized tasks or objectives, some even have a smaller mini game or mechanic system attached to them as opposed to a single die roll. Proficiencies and possession of a tool also provides further depth to a few skills related to the tool
If a check requires tools, you need to have the physical tools present to even attempt the check, however you can attempt the check even if you don't have proficiency in those tools. Additionally, unlike skill ability checks at most tables, tools are not tied to a single ability score. Dexterity could be used for a finely detailed craft, and Intelligence could be used to sight read a piece of music you are seeing for the first time.
Alchemist's Tools: Alchemist's supplies enable a character to produce useful concoctions, such as acid or alchemist's fire.
Uses:
- Arcana | Proficiency with alchemist's supplies allows you to unlock more information on Arcana checks involving potions and similar materials.
- Investigation | When you inspect an area for clues, proficiency with alchemist's supplies grants additional insight into any chemicals or other substances that might have been used in the area.
- Alchemical Crafting | You can use this tool proficiency to create alchemical items. A character can spend money to collect raw materials, which weigh 1 pound for every 50 gp spent. The DM can allow a character to make a check using the indicated skill with advantage. As part of a long rest, you can use alchemist's supplies to make one dose of acid, alchemist's fire, antitoxin, oil, perfume, or soap. Subtract half the value of the created item from the total gp worth of raw materials you are carrying.
Brewer's Tools: Brewing is the art of producing various drinks and beers. Not only does beer serve as an alcoholic beverage, but the process of brewing purifies water. Crafting beer takes weeks of fermentation, but only a few hours of work.
Uses:
- History | Proficiency with brewer's supplies gives you additional insight on Intelligence (History) checks concerning events that involve alcohol as a significant element.
- Medicine | This tool proficiency grants additional insight when you treat anyone suffering from alcohol poisoning or when you can use alcohol to dull pain.
- Persuasion | A stiff drink can help soften the hardest heart. Your proficiency with brewer's supplies can help you ply someone with drink, giving them just enough alcohol to mellow their mood.
- Potable Water | Your knowledge of brewing enables you to purify water that would otherwise be undrinkable. As part of a long rest, you can purify up to 6 gallons of water, or 1 gallon as part of a short rest.
- Craft Beverage | With these tools you have the supplies needed to create alcoholic beverages.
Calligrapher's Tools: Calligraphy treats writing as a delicate, beautiful art. Calligraphers produce text that is pleasing to the eye, using a style that is difficult to forge. Their supplies also give them some ability to examine scripts and determine if they are legitimate, since a calligrapher's training involves long hours of studying writing and attempting to replicate its style and design.
Uses:
- Arcana | Although calligraphy is of little help in deciphering the content of magical writings, proficiency with these supplies can aid in identifying who wrote a script of a magical nature.
- History | This tool proficiency can augment the benefit of successful checks made to analyze or investigate ancient writings, scrolls, or other texts, including runes etched in stone or messages in frescoes or other displays.
- Decipher Treasure Map | This tool proficiency grants you expertise in examining maps. You can make an Intelligence check to determine a map's age, whether a map includes any hidden messages, or similar facts.
- Forgery | With your knowledge of each stroke and technique within writing, you can attempt to replicate the writing or even signature of writing you know.
Carpenter's Tools: Skill at carpentry enables a character to construct wooden structures. A carpenter can build a house, a shack, a wooden cabinet, or similar items.
Uses:
- History | This tool proficiency aids you in identifying the use and the origin of wooden buildings and other large wooden objects.
- Investigation | You gain additional insight when inspecting areas within wooden structures, because you know tricks of construction that can conceal areas from discovery.
- Perception | You can spot irregularities in wooden walls or floors, making it easier to find trap doors and secret passages.
- Stealth | You can quickly assess the weak spots in a wooden floor, making it easier to avoid the places that creak and groan when they're stepped on.
- Fortify | With 1 minute of work and raw materials, you can make a door or window harder to force open. Increase the DC needed to open it by 5.
- Temporary Shelter | As part of a long rest, you can construct a lean-to or a similar shelter to keep your group dry and in the shade for the duration of the rest. Because it was fashioned quickly from whatever wood was available, the shelter collapses 1d3 days after being assembled.
Cartographer's Tools
Using cartographer's tools, you can create accurate maps to make travel easier for yourself and those who come after you. These maps can range from large-scale depictions of mountain ranges to diagrams that show the layout of a dungeon level.
Uses:
- Arcana, History, Religion | You can use your knowledge of maps and locations to unearth more detailed information when you use these skills. For instance, you might spot hidden messages in a map, identify when the map was made to determine if geographical features have changed since then, and so forth.
- Nature | Your familiarity with physical geography makes it easier for you to answer questions or solve issues relating to the terrain around you.
- Survival | Your understanding of geography makes it easier to find paths to civilization, to predict areas where villages or towns might be found, and to avoid becoming lost. You have studied so many maps that common patterns, such as how trade routes evolve and where settlements a rise in relation to geographic locations, are familiar to you.
- Craft a Map | While traveling, you can draw a map as you go in addition to engaging in other activity.
Cobbler's Tools
Although the cobbler's trade might seem too humble for an adventurer, a good pair of boots will see a character across rugged wilderness and through deadly dungeons.
Uses:
- Arcana, History | Your knowledge of shoes aids you in identifying the magical properties of enchanted boots or the history of such items.
- Investigation | Footwear holds a surprising number of secrets. You can learn where someone has recently visited by examining the wear and the dirt that has accumulated on their shoes. Your experience in repairing shoes makes it easier for you to identify where damage might come from.
- Maintain Shoes | As part of a long rest, you can repair your companions' shoes. For the next 24 hours, up to six creatures of your choice who wear shoes you worked on can travel up to 10 hours a day without making saving throws to avoid exhaustion.
- Craft Hidden Compartment | With 8 hours of work, you can add a hidden compartment to a pair of shoes. The compartment can hold an object up to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide and deep. You make an Intelligence check using your tool proficiency to determine the Intelligence (Investigation) check DC needed to find the compartment.
Cook's Tools:
Adventuring is a hard life. With a cook along on the journey, your meals will be much better than the typical mix of hardtack and dried fruit.
Uses:
- History | Your knowledge of cooking techniques allows you to assess the social patterns involved in a culture's eating habits.
- Medicine | When administering treatment, you can transform medicine that is bitter or sour into a pleasing concoction.
- Survival | When foraging for food, you can make do with ingredients you scavenge that others would be unable to transform into nourishing meals.
- Prepare Meals | As part of a short rest, you can prepare a tasty meal that helps your companions regain their strength. You and up to five creatures of your choice regain 1 extra hit point per Hit Die spent during a short rest, provided you have access to your cook's utensils and sufficient food.
Disguise Tools:
The perfect tool for anyone who wants to engage in trickery, a disguise kit enables its owner to adopt a false identity.
Uses:
- Deception | In certain cases, a disguise can improve your ability to weave convincing lies.
- Intimidation | The right disguise can make you look more fearsome, whether you want to scare someone away by posing as a plague victim or intimidate a gang of thugs by taking the appearance of a bully.
- Performance | A cunning disguise can enhance an audience's enjoyment of a performance, provided the disguise is properly designed to evoke the desired reaction.
- Persuasion | Folk tend to trust a person in uniform. If you disguise yourself as an authority figure, your efforts to persuade others are often more effective.
- Create Disguise | As part of a long rest, you can create a disguise. It takes you 1 minute to don such a disguise once you have created it. You can carry only one such disguise on you at a time without drawing undue attention, unless you have a Bag of Holding or a similar method to keep them hidden. Each disguise weighs 1 pound.
- At other times, it takes 10 minutes to craft a disguise that involves moderate changes to your appearance, and 30 minutes for one that requires more extensive changes.
Forgery Tools:
A forgery kit is designed to duplicate documents and to make it easier to copy a person's seal or signature.
Uses:
- Arcana | A forgery kit can be used in conjunction with the Arcana skill to determine if a magic item is real or fake.
- Deception | A well-crafted forgery, such as papers proclaiming you to be a noble or a writ that grants you safe passage, can lend credence to a lie.
- History | A forgery kit combined with your knowledge of history improves your ability to create fake historical documents or to tell if an old document is authentic.
- Investigation | When you examine objects, proficiency with a forgery kit is useful for determining how an object was made and whether it is genuine.
- Other Tools | Knowledge of other tools makes your forgeries that much more believable. For example, you could combine proficiency with a forgery kit and proficiency with cartographer's tools to make a fake map.
- Quick Fake | As part of a short rest, you can produce a forged document no more than one page in length. As part of a long rest, you can produce a document that is up to four pages long. Your Intelligence check using a forgery kit determines the DC for someone else's Intelligence (Investigation) check to spot the fake.
Gaming Tools
Proficiency with a gaming set applies to one type of game, such as Three-Dragon Ante or games of chance that use dice.
Uses:
- History | Your mastery of a game includes knowledge of its history, as well as of important events it was connected to or prominent historical figures involved with it.
- Insight | Playing games with someone is a good way to gain understanding of their personality, granting you a better ability to discern their lies from their truths and read their mood.
- Sleight of Hand | Sleight of Hand is a useful skill for cheating at a game, as it allows you to swap pieces, palm cards, or alter a die roll. Alternatively, engrossing a target in a game by manipulating the components with dexterous movements is a great distraction for a pickpocketing attempt.
Glassblower's Tools:
Someone who is proficient with glassblower's tools has not only the ability to shape glass, but also specialized knowledge of the methods used to produce glass objects.
Uses:
- Arcana, History | Your knowledge of glassmaking techniques aids you when you examine glass objects, such as potion bottles or glass items found in a treasure hoard. For instance, you can study how a glass potion bottle has been changed by its contents to help determine a potion's effects. (A potion might leave behind a residue, deform the glass, or stain it.)
- Investigation | When you study an area, your knowledge can aid you if the clues include broken glass or glass objects.
- Identify Weakness | With 1 minute of study, you can identify the weak points in a glass object. Any damage dealt to the object by striking a weak spot is doubled.
Herbalism Tools:
Proficiency with an herbalism kit allows you to identify plants and safely collect their useful elements.
Uses:
- Arcana | Your knowledge of the nature and uses of herbs can add insight to your magical studies that deal with plants and your attempts to identify potions.
- Investigation | When you inspect an area overgrown with plants, your proficiency can help you pick out details and clues that others might miss.
- Medicine | Your mastery of herbalism improves your ability to treat illnesses and wounds by augmenting your methods of care with medicinal plants.
- Nature and Survival | When you travel in the wild, your skill in herbalism makes it easier to identify plants and spot sources of food that others might overlook.
- Identify Plants | You can identify most plants with a quick inspection of their appearance and smell.
Jeweler's Tools:
Training with jeweler's tools includes the basic techniques needed to beautify gems. It also gives you expertise in identifying precious stones.
Uses:
- Arcana | Proficiency with jeweler's tools grants you knowledge about the reputed mystical uses of gems. This insight proves handy when you make Arcana checks related to gems or gem-encrusted items.
- Investigation | When you inspect jeweled objects, your proficiency with jeweler's tools aids you in picking out clues they might hold.
- Identify Gems | You can identify gems and determine their value at a glance.
Land and Water Vehicles:
Proficiency with land vehicles covers a wide range of options, from chariots and howdahs to wagons and carts. Proficiency with water vehicles covers anything that navigates waterways. Proficiency with vehicles grants the knowledge needed to handle vehicles of that type, along with knowledge of how to repair and maintain them.
In addition, a character proficient with water vehicles is knowledgeable about anything a professional sailor would be familiar with, such as information about the sea and islands, tying knots, and assessing weather and sea conditions.
Uses:
- Arcana | When you study a magic vehicle, this tool proficiency aids you in uncovering lore or determining how the vehicle operates.
- Investigation, Perception | When you inspect a vehicle for clues or hidden information, your proficiency aids you in noticing things that others might miss.
- Vehicle Handling | When piloting a vehicle, you can apply your proficiency bonus to the vehicle's AC and saving throws.
Leatherworker's Tools:
Knowledge of leatherworking extends to lore concerning animal hides and their properties. It also confers knowledge of leather armor and similar goods.
Uses:
- Arcana | Your expertise in working with leather grants you added insight when you inspect magic items crafted from leather, such as boots and some cloaks.
- Investigation |You gain added insight when studying leather items or clues related to them, as you draw on your knowledge of leather to pick out details that others would overlook.
- Identify Hides | When looking at a hide or a leather item, you can determine the source of the leather and any special techniques used to treat it. For example, you can spot the difference between leather crafted using dwarven methods and leather crafted using halfling methods.
Mason's Tools:
Mason's tools allow you to craft stone structures, including walls and buildings crafted from brick.
Uses:
- History | Your expertise aids you in identifying a stone building's date of construction and purpose, along with insight into who might have built it.
- Investigation | You gain additional insight when inspecting areas within stone structures.
- Perception | You can spot irregularities in stone walls or floors, making it easier to find trap doors and secret passages.
- Demolition | Your knowledge of masonry allows you to spot weak points in brick walls. You deal double damage to such structures with your weapon attacks.
Musical Instruments:
Proficiency with a musical instrument indicates you are familiar with the techniques used to play it. You also have knowledge of some songs commonly performed with that instrument.
Uses:
- History | Your expertise aids you in recalling lore related to your instrument.
- Performance | Your ability to put on a good show is improved when you incorporate an instrument into your act.
- Compose a Tune | As part of a long rest, you can compose a new tune and lyrics for your instrument. You might use this ability to impress a noble or spread scandalous rumors with a catchy tune.
Navigator's Tools:
Proficiency with navigator's tools helps you determine a true course based on observing the stars. It also grants you insight into charts and maps while developing your sense of direction.
Uses:
- Survival | Knowledge of navigator's tools helps you avoid becoming lost and also grants you insight into the most likely location for roads and settlements.
- Sighting | By taking careful measurements, you can determine your position on a nautical chart and the time of day.
Painter's Tools:
Proficiency with painter's supplies represents your ability to paint and draw. You also acquire an understanding of art history, which can aid you in examining works of art.
Uses:
- Arcana, History, Religion | Your expertise aids you in uncovering lore of any sort that is attached to a work of art, such as the magical properties of a painting or the origins of a strange mural found in a dungeon.
- Investigation, Perception | When you inspect a painting or a similar work of visual art, your knowledge of the practices behind creating it can grant you additional insight.
- Painting and Drawing | As part of a short or long rest, you can produce a simple work of art. Although your work might lack precision, you can capture an image or a scene, or make a quick copy of a piece of art you saw.
Poisoner's Tools:
A poisoner's kit is a favored resource for thieves, assassins, and others who engage in skulduggery. It allows you to apply poisons and create them from various materials. Your knowledge of poisons also helps you treat them.
Uses:
- History | Your training with poisons can help you when you try to recall facts about infamous poisonings.
- Investigation, Perception | Your knowledge of poisons has taught you to handle those substances carefully, giving you an edge when you inspect poisoned objects or try to extract clues from events that involve poison.
- Medicine | When you treat the victim of a poison, your knowledge grants you added insight into how to provide the best care to your patient.
- Nature, Survival | Working with poisons enables you to acquire lore about which plants and animals are poisonous.
- Handle Poison | Your proficiency allows you to handle and apply a poison without risk of exposing yourself to its effects.
Potter's Tools:
Potter's tools are used to create a variety of ceramic objects, most typically pots and similar vessels.
Uses:
- History | Your expertise aids you in identifying ceramic objects, including when they were created and their likely place or culture of origin.
- Investigation, Perception | You gain additional insight when inspecting ceramics, uncovering clues others would overlook by spotting minor irregularities.
- Reconstruction | By examining pottery shards, you can determine an object's original, intact form and its likely purpose.
Smith's Tools:
Smith's tools allow you to work metal, beating it to alter its shape, repair damage, or work raw ingots into useful items.
Uses:
- Arcana and History | Your expertise lends you additional insight when examining metal objects, such as weapons.
- Investigation | You can spot clues and make deductions that others might overlook when an investigation involves armor, weapons, or other metalwork.
- Repair | With access to your tools and an open flame hot enough to make metal pliable, you can restore 10 hit points to a damaged metal object for each hour of work.
Thieves' Tools:
Perhaps the most common tools used by adventurers, thieves' tools are designed for picking locks and foiling traps. Proficiency with the tools also grants you a general knowledge of traps and locks.
Uses:
- History | Your knowledge of traps grants you insight when answering questions about locations that are renowned for their traps.
- Investigation and Perception | You gain additional insight when looking for traps, because you have learned a variety of common signs that betray their presence.
- Set a Trap | Just as you can disable traps, you can also set them. As part of a short rest, you can create a trap using items you have on hand. The total of your check becomes the DC for someone else's attempt to discover or disable the trap. The trap deals damage appropriate to the materials used in crafting it (such as poison or a weapon) or damage equal to half the total of your check, whichever the DM deems appropriate.
- Pick lock or Disarm trap | These two activities have minigames associated with these actions.
Tinker's Tools:
A set of tinker's tools is designed to enable you to repair many mundane objects. Though you can't manufacture much with tinker's tools, you can mend torn clothes, sharpen a worn sword, and patch a tattered suit of chain mail.
Uses:
- History | You can determine the age and origin of objects, even if you have only a few pieces remaining from the original.
- Investigation | When you inspect a damaged object, you gain knowledge of how it was damaged and how long ago.
- Repair | You can restore 10 hit points to a damaged object for each hour of work. For any object, you need access to the raw materials required to repair it. For metal objects, you need access to an open flame hot enough to make the metal pliable.
Weaver's Tools:
Weaver's tools allow you to create cloth and tailor it into articles of clothing.
Uses:
- Arcana, History | Your expertise lends you additional insight when examining cloth objects, including cloaks and robes.
- Investigation | Using your knowledge of the process of creating cloth objects, you can spot clues and make deductions that others would overlook when you examine tapestries, upholstery, clothing, and other woven items.
- Repair | As part of a short rest, you can repair a single damaged cloth object.
- Craft Clothing | Assuming you have access to sufficient cloth and thread, you can create an outfit for a creature as part of a long rest.
Woodcarver's Tools:
Woodcarver's tools allow you to craft intricate objects from wood, such as wooden tokens or arrows.
Uses:
- Arcana, History | Your expertise lends you additional insight when you examine wooden objects, such as figurines or arrows.
- Nature | Your knowledge of wooden objects gives you some added insight when you examine trees.
- Repair | As part of a short rest, you can repair a single damaged wooden object.
- Craft Arrows | As part of a short rest, you can craft up to five arrows. As part of a long rest, you can craft up to twenty. You must have enough wood on hand to produce them.
Mechanics
Types of Skill Checks: There are three type of Skill checks: Passive, Spontaneous and Active.
- Passive skills, Represent when you are resisting or setting the DC for a skill check someone makes against you
- Spontaneous Checks, These are called for by the DM, usually for you to do an activity or unearth some information. If the check isnt in "reaction" to something happening, a spell that buffs a skill check such as guidance can be used.
- Active Checks, In the case of actively searching an area, or keeping on the watch are represented by one skill check, that is used against all dcs you would encounter until you use a different skill, or something breaks your "focus" on the task such as an encounter or social situation.
Masterwork tools: Skill checks with masterwork tools allow you to add half your proficiency bonus to the check, regardless of if you have proficiency in the tool.
Proficiency Stacking: Whenever a class feature or ability such as expertise would allow you to "double" your proficiency bonus added to the skill check or tool, and there is another feature that also doubles the bonus, you instead add your proficiency bonus that many times. For example Expertise + Artificer is not ((proficiency X2) X2), instead it is Proficiency Bonus *3.
Help Action: When a creature is attempting a skill check, and another creature wants to use the help action, the secondary must be proficient in the attempted skill to provide advantage. If any of the secondaries have a feature such as expertise which increases their proficiency bonus for a skill, it provides an additional level of advantage for each "bonus" to the secondaries skill.
Proficiency in both a needed skill and tool:
When both the use of a tool and the use of a skill apply to a check and the character is proficient in both, they can be granted advantage. This can be especially useful for passive checks where advantage adds 5 and disadvantage subtracts 5 from the total score. Remind your DM about your passive checks being higher when applicable.
Auxiliary information because of tools:
Additionally, a successful check can be given an added benefit, like more information or the effect of a successful check of a different sort. an example of a character proficient with mason’s tools who makes a successful Wisdom (Perception) check to find a secret door in a stone wall. Not only does the character notice the door’s presence, but the DM rules that the tool proficiency entitles the character to an automatic success on an Intelligence (Investigation) check to determine how to open the door.
Similar Skills, different Uses
Some skills sound like they should encompass the same domain, but in reality are used for different things:
Nature Vs Survival:
Nature is more oriented to knowledge of an area, specific natural phenomena, or different primal effects, whereas Survival is more so your ability to navigate, utilize and live within more hostile or dangerous environments
Perception Vs Investigation:
Perception is the ability to notice things are out of place, or survey large areas, whereas Investigation is discovering how specific things an objects, work or happen. It is broad vs Specific
Athletics Vs Acrobatics:
Acrobatics is how well you move and maneuver, whereas Athletics is your ability to push or pull, especially when forcefully moving objects and creature. It is Force vs Finesse.
Persuasion vs Deception:
Persuasion is your ability to come to an agreement or conclusion based on the truth, based on good faith conversation. Whereas deception is your ability to convince a creature that something which is not true is true. it is correct info vs lies, often times persuasion is a lower DC
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