Skills

Skills are the abilities you will use in your everyday life. Each skill is associated with a base stat, such as Stealth being associated with Dexterity. Rolling a skill check is explained lower below. Characters begin "Untrained" in all skills. This means they have no special ability or bonus to skill checks associated with the skill past their base stat bonus (or other misc bonuses). Once a skill has skill points applied, you are considered "Trained" in that skill. Some skills require some level of training to even attempt a skill check. See the skill table below.
Upon choosing a Race and Background, certain skills recieve skill points by default. When a skill has skill points applied you gain a bonus to skill checks equal to your skill points in that skill. You gain more skill points per level shown in the table below. The maximum number of skill points that can be in a skill at a given time cannot exceed your Character Level.

Skill	Base Stat	Can attempt untrained?	Example Uses
Acrobatics	Dex	Yes	jump from roof to roof, catch a rope or platform midair, use agility to evade someone or something
Alchemy	Wis	No	brew potions or craft reagents
Animal Handling	Wis	Yes	calm a startled mount, lure a wild creature
Arcana	Int	No	identify magic runes, spell components, or reagents, understand traces of magic
Athletics	Str	Yes	shove or carry a heavy object, pry open a door, resist being moved or shaken around
Deception	Cha	Yes	lie, conceal emotions
Culture	Int	Yes	recall information of major historical events or of the worlds of the Archipelago
Insight	Wis	Yes	scrutinize motives or get a feel for an environment
Intimidation	Cha	Yes	scare or otherwise use force of will to sway another's opinion
Investigation	Int	Yes	search through an area of object
Magecraft	Int	No	indentify aspects magical items and craft your own
Medicine	Wis	No	stabilize a creature or identify sickness
Nature	Wis	No	identify plants or know about locations or behaviors of animals
Perception	Wis	Yes	see incoming attacks or fleeing targets
Performance	Cha	Yes	attempt to play an instrument or act with dramatic flair
Persuasion	Cha	Yes	argue to change someone's mind
Sleight of Hand	Dex	Yes	mislead others with misdirection
Stealth	Dex	Yes	move about unnoticed or heard

Gaining New Skill Points

Each level, including 1st, you gain 5 skill points. Investing a rank in a skill represents training gained through experience or intense study. Each skill point increases your total skill bonus by 1. As you level up, you can invest new points to upgrade existing skills or become trained in new ones. Additionally, your class will have certain skills that are closely associated with it. You gain an additional +2 bonus on skills checks with those related skills if you are trained in them. If you multiclass, you recieve bonuses from all skills of the classes your character has, though if two classes share a skill it still only recieves a +2 and does not stack.

Skill Checks

When the DM deems apropriate, a skill check may be called for. The DM will specify either a generat stat check or a specific skill and whether or not a character must be trained or untrained to attmept the check.
Checks are made against a Difficulty Class (DC) determined by the DM. Typically the DC is kept secret until the check has been made. When making a check, the formula to determine the result is: 1d20 + stat bonus + skill point value + misc bonuses (including the +2 if it is a class skill).
The following DCs are standard thresholds though DMs may alter them as necessary.

DC 5: Easy / Simple tasks

DC 10: Normal / average risk

DC 15: Difficult

DC 20: Hard

DC 30: Extremely Hard

DC 40: Nigh Impossible

Ocassionally, you may have to make contested checks. This occurs when you and another character are competing for the same objective or actively trying to thwart each other. In these scenarios, you would roll the check called for and compare the end result with the opposing party's end result. The higher value wins.

Take 10

Most of the time, you attempt skill checks while under pressure or during times of great stress. Other times, the situation is more favorable, making success more certain. When you are not in immediate danger or distracted, the DM might allow you to take 10 on a skill check. When you take 10, you don’t roll a d20, but rather assume that you rolled a 10 on that die, then add the relevant skill modifiers. For many routine tasks, or for tasks you are particularly skilled at, taking 10 ensures success. If you still fail when taking 10, you might require more time and energy to succeed at that task. The time taken for the check is determined by the DM though is often short (typically 10 minutes or under).
Unless you have an ability that states otherwise, you cannot take 10 during a combat encounter. Also, you can’t take 10 when the GM rules that a situation is too hectic or that you are distracted, and taking 10 is almost never an option for a check that requires some sort of crucial effect as a key part of the adventure's story.

Take 20

When you have plenty of time to devote to a skill’s task and that task has no adverse effect upon failure, the GM might rule that you can take 20 on that skill check. This is similar to taking 10, but instead of assuming your roll was a 10, you assume it’s a 20. Taking 20 means you are making multiple attempts at the task until you get it right. It also assumes that you are failing many times before you succeed. Taking 20 typically takes 20 times as long as attempting a single check would take (usually 2 minutes for a skill that takes a standard action to perform).