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Archives of Nethys

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Chapter 5: Skills

Identify Creatures

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 132
You can use certain skills to identify creatures. The skill used to identify each creature type is listed below and in the individual skill descriptions. A successful skill check allows you to recall a useful piece of information about a specific creature, such as its special powers or vulnerabilities. For every 5 points by which the result of your check exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information. You can attempt untrained skill checks to identify a creature if the DC is 10 or less. You can take 20 on a check to identify a creature, but only if you have a means of performing research, such as access to an information network like a planetary infosphere or a downloaded data set (see page 430); this typically takes 2 minutes.

The DCs for skill checks to identify creatures are based on the creature’s rarity.

Creature RarityDC
Very common (space goblin)5 + 1-1/2 × creature’s CR
Average (most monsters)10 + 1-1/2 × creature’s CR
Rare (novaspawn)15 + 1-1/2 × creature’s CR

The list of creature types below indicates which skill is used to identify each creature type.

Creature TypeSkill
AberrationLife Science
AnimalLife Science
Construct (magical)Mysticism
Construct (technological)Engineering
DragonMysticism
FeyMysticism
HumanoidLife Science
Magical beastMysticism
Monstrous humanoidLife Science
OozeLife Science
OutsiderMysticism
PlantLife Science
UndeadMysticism
VerminLife Science