Discern

Use: A powerful general stands high over a battlefield deducing his opponent’s objectives. A judge hears a defendant’s case, and then determines if he’s telling the truth. A powerful wizard sees through the disguise of an assassin posing as one of his servants. All of these are perfect examples of the use of the Discern skill. Difficulty: Since Discern can be used for multiple purposes, the DL differs depending on the task. Mostly, Discern is an opposed roll.

Example DL Realizing a ferocious bear is only protecting her young 10 Get the gist of what a mute person (or person whose language you don’t speak) is trying to tell you 15 Figuring out that someone is being magically controlled, or that something about a situation is otherwise amiss 20

Learning battle plans: with a successful Discern check, you can determine your enemy’s (or ally’s) battle strategy. Oppose your Discern against their Bluff. Sense aura: with a successful Discern check, you can figure out specific things about people you meet. A DL of 10 will get you comparative skill (they’re better/worse/as good as you). A DL of 15 will get you style specifics (the clothes they wear indicate they practice fire magic, etc.). A DL of 20 will get you limited statistic information (a ballpark of how many Health Points remaining, what percentage of their Mana is drained, or what’s the neighborhood of their endurance score, etc.) A DL of 25 or over gets you specifics. One stat is allowed per roll. Opposed Rolls: Discern checks are used versus Bluff and Disguise checks Retry: Discern attempts cannot be retried without the expenditure of a fate point, however, the character can try to Discern something different about the same subject.