======Expertise (Int, Specialty, Trained Only)======

Expertise is a broad skill encompassing knowledge and training in a variety of specialized fields, particularly professional disciplines and scholarship. Each is considered a separate skill and training in each is acquired separately, so a former police officer turned district attorney might have Expertise: Police Officer and Expertise: Law, each with their own ranks, for example.

Expertise covers all areas except those tasks specifically covered by other skills. So, for example, a police detective is going to be trained in [[MMInvestigate Investigate]] (and probably [[MMSenseMotive Sense Motive]] and [[MMNotice Notice]]) in addition to Expertise: Police Officer, the same for an intrepid reporter with Expertise: Journalism. A doctor needs training in [[MMMedicine Medicine]] along with Expertise: Physician, and a trial lawyer is going to want skill in [[MMSenseMotive Sense Motive]] and [[MMDiplomacy Diplomacy]] (and possibly [[MMBluff Bluff]]) along with the training in the law that comes with Expertise: Lawyer.

The ability modifier for Expertise is typically Intellligence, but some areas of expertise may call for different abilities, depending on the task involved. For example, a technical expert might rely on Intellligence to answer questions and handle day-to-day procedures, but need Dexterity to perform the actual functions of the job. Performance skills, such as acting or music, may rely on Charisma. The GM sets the ability modifier as needed for the specific Expertise check.

	- //Making Items:// The difficulty and time required to make a particular item depends on its complexity. If your campaign uses the optional rules for Wealth and Purchasing Equipment, you will have to make a Wealth Check with a Difficulty Class 10 less than the Expertise DC to acquire the necessary materials (see Wealth and Purchasing Equipment, page 132). If your Expertise check succeeds, you have made the item. If the Expertise check fails, you did not produce a usable end result, and any materials are wasted.

||**Complexity**||**Craft DC**||**Time**||**Examples**||
||Simple||15||1 hour||electronic timer or detonator, tripwire trap, bookcase||
||Moderate||20||12 hours||radio direction finder, lock, engine component, shed, furniture||
||Complex||25||24 hours||cell phone, combustion engine, bunker||
||Advanced||30||60 hours||computer, jet engine, building||


	- //Repairing Items:// You can use the electronic, mechanical, and structural Expertise skills to repair damaged items of the appropriate type. Most repair checks are made to fix electronic or mechanical devices. The GM sets the DC. In general, simple repairs have a DC of 10 to 15 and require no more than a few minutes. More complex repair work has a DC of 20 or higher and can require an hour or more.

||**Repair Task (Example)**||**DC**||**Time**||
||Simple (tool, simple weapon)||10||1 min.||
||Moderate (mechanical or electronic component)||15||10 min.||
||Complex (mechanical or electronic device)||20||1 hr.||
||Advanced (cutting-edge mechanical or electronic device)||25||10 hr.||


	- //Jury-Rigging:// You can also attempt jury-rigged, or temporary, repairs. Doing this reduces the DC by 5 from that of a regular repair, and allows you to make the check as a full-round action. However, a jury-rigged repair can only fix a single problem, and the repair only lasts until the end of the current encounter. The jury-rigged item must be fully repaired thereafter, and cannot be jury-rigged again until it is fully repaired.

	You can also use jury-rigging to hot-wire a car or jump-start an engine or electronic device. The DC for this is at least 15, and can be higher depending on the presence of security devices.

	- //Demolitions:// Characters can use Expertise (chemical) to make explosives. Setting a simple explosive to blow up at a certain spot doesn|t require a check, but connecting and setting a detonator does. Also, placing an explosive for maximum effect against a structure calls for a check, as does disarming an explosive device.

	Most explosives require a detonator to go off. Connecting a detonator to an explosive requires an Expertise (mechanical) check (DC 10). Failure means the explosive fails to go off as planned. Failure by 10 or more means the explosive goes off as the detonator is being installed.

	You can make an explosive more difficult to disarm. To do so, choose the disarm DC before making your check to set the detonator (it must be higher than 10). Your DC to set the detonator is equal to the disarm DC.

	Disarming an explosive requires an Expertise (mechanical) or [[MMDisableDevice Disable Device]] check. The DC is usually 10, unless the person who set the detonator chose a higher disarm DC. If you fail the check, you do not disarm the explosive. If you fail by 5 or more, the explosive goes off. Setting or disarming a detonator is a full-round action.

	Carefully placing an explosive against a fixed structure can maximize the damage by exploiting vulnerabilities in the construction. This requires at least a minute and an Expertise (structural) check. The GM makes the check (so you don|t know exactly how well you have done until the explosive goes off). On a result of 15 or higher, the explosive deals +5 damage to the structure. On a result of 25 or higher, it deals +10 damage. In all cases, it deals normal damage to all other targets within its blast radius.

	- //Forgery:// Characters can use Expertise to produce forgeries of any item they can normally make. The result of the check becomes the DC for a [[MMNotice Notice]] check to detect the forgery. The GM can modify either check based on the conditions and the characters| familiarity with the original subject.

	- //Inventing:// If you have the [[MMInventor Inventor]] feat, you can use Expertise to build inventions, temporary devices. See Inventing, page 131, for details.

	- //Knowledge:// You can make Expertise checks to see if your character knows the answer to a particular question related to the area of expertise, such as a scientist confronted with a technical issue, or a lawyer considering a legal question. The DC is 10 for easy questions, 15 for basic questions, and 20 or higher for difficult questions. You can usually take 10 on checks made to answer questions, and the GM may make a check for you in secret, so you won|t know whether or not your character|s skill is entirely up to the task.

	- //Perform:// The quality of your performance depends on your check result.

||**Check Result**||**Performance**||
||10||Amateur performance. Audience appreciates your performance, but isn|t impressed.||
||15||Routine performance. Audience enjoys your performance, but it isn|t exceptional.||
||20||Great performance. Audience impressed.||
||25||Memorable performance. Audience enthusiastic.||
||30||Masterful performance. Audience awed||


	- //Profession:// If you are trained in an Expertise, you can practice and make a living at it. You know how to use the tools of that trade, perform the profession|s daily tasks, supervise untrained helpers, and handle common problems. For example, someone trained in Expertise: Sailor knows how to tie basic knots, tend and repair sails, and stand a deck watch at sea. The GM sets DCs for job-related tasks.

	Characters with expertise in a profession are also assumed to be licensed or certified to practice it, if necessary. Problems like licensing issues, professional rivalries, and so forth can be handled as complications.

**Try Again:** Yes for making and repairing items, jury-rigging, demolitions, forgery and inventing, although in some cases the GM may decide a failed attempt to repair or jury-rig an item has a negative effect, preventing further attempts;no for the same performance and audience; no for knowledge, although the GM may allow another Expertise check if a character gets access to a better source of information. For example, a hero who doesn|t know the answer to a particular question off-hand might get another check with access to a library or online database (and could take 10 or take 20 on that check, depending on the circumstances).
**Action:** The time to make something varies according on its complexity. The Gamemaster may increase or decrease the time for a particular Expertise project as necessary. You can cut the time for making or repairing an item in half by taking a -5 penalty.

A knowledge check can be a reaction, but otherwise requires a full-round action. Taking 20 on a Knowledge check requires at least an hour, longer if the GM decides the information you|re looking for is particularly obscure or otherwise restricted.

A perform check usually requires at least several minutes to an hour or more. A profession check usually requires a minute or more, depending on the task.

A profession check usually requires a minute or more, depending on the task.

**Special:** You can take 10 on repairing items, jury-rigging, demolitions, forging and inventing checks, but can|t take 20 since doing so represents multiple attempts, and you use up raw materials with each attempt. You can take 10 or 20 on repair checks. If you don|t have the proper tools, you take a -4 penalty on repairing items, jury-rigging, demolitions, forging and inventing checks. These are considered manipulation skills.

Every 5 full points of bonus in Expertise give you a +1 bonus to Wealth (see page 132).

An untrained knowledge check is simply an Intelligence check. Without actual training, a character can only answer easy or basic questions about a topic. You can take 10 when making a knowledge check. You can take 20 only if you have access to research materials (such as a library or online database) that allow you to keep looking for the answer.

You can take 10 when making a perform check, but can|t take 20. Expertise skills requiring musical instruments are manipulation skills. If you don|t have an appropriate instrument you automatically fail any perform check requiring it. At the GM|s discretion, impromptu instruments may be employed, but you take a -4 penalty on the check.

[[MMSkills]]