Sleight of Hand (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Innocuous Spellcasting

When you cast a spell or use a spell-like ability, you can attempt to conceal verbal and somatic components among other speech and gestures, and to conceal the manifestation of casting the spell, so others don't realize you're casting a spell or using a spell-like ability until it is too late.

The attempt to hide the spell slows your casting slightly, such that spells that normally take a standard action to cast now take a full-round action, and spells that normally take longer than a standard action take twice as long. (Swift action spells still take a swift action.)

To discover your ruse, a creature must succeed at a Perception, Sense Motive, or Spellcraft check (the creature receives an automatic check with whichever of those skills has the highest bonus) opposed to your Sleight of Hand check. Your check suffers a penalty equal to the level of the spell. If the spell has verbal or somatic component, you suffer a -5 penalty for each. Since you are concealing the spell's manifestation through other actions, others observing you realize you're doing something, even if they don't realize you're casting a spell. If there is a verbal component, they still hear your loud, clear voice but don't notice the spell woven within. Apply modifiers to the creature's check as if it was a Perception check.

Circumstance	Perception modifier
Observer is distracted (busy, in melee)	-5
Observer is asleep	-10
Distance	-1 per 10 ft.
Against an event behind an obstacle (corner, screen)	-5
Against improved cover or behind a closed door Halve this modifier if adjacent to a known door or cover.	-10
Against total concealment (invisible, full cover) Assumes distractions, like a city street or busy room. In a quiet setting or when another sense could reveal the character this modifier is reduced to -10, or even less in an absolute quiet.	-20

If an opponent fails its check, your casting also does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and an opponent that fails its check can't use readied actions that depend on realizing that you're casting a spell or using a spell-like ability, or readied actions such as counterspelling that require identifying the spell you're casting. Spells such as fireball that create an additional obvious effect (aside from the manifestation of casting that all spells and spell-like abilities share) still create that effect, though it might not be obvious who cast the spell unless it emanates from you. A creature that successfully saves against a spell that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack.

Special

A character with the Conceal Spell feat can either use the rules outlined in that feat, or take a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks to use innocuous spellcasting.

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