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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 4: Subsystems / Infiltration

Building an Infiltration

Source GM Core pg. 196 2.0
When creating an infiltration, you’ll want to start with the party’s broad goals and an idea of how much time you and your players want to spend. The more complex an infiltration, the longer it will take to play out at the table.

Objective

Source GM Core pg. 196 2.0
The first thing you'll need to determine is the party's objective, or broad goal. Maybe the PCs need to find their way into some hidden sanctum, find a particular person within an organization, locate and get away with a bit of treasure, or plant a piece of evidence. An infiltration can consist of a single objective, but a more complex one might include two or more objectives in sequence—the PCs might first need to find a way to enter the cult's sanctum, then open the vault, and then escape with the relic.

To achieve an objective, the PCs must overcome a certain number of obstacles—specific challenges the PCs face, such as getting across a moat or past a nosy butler. For a simple objective, they might need to overcome only one or two obstacles, while a more complex one might require several.

It's a good idea to offer more obstacles as options than the characters need to overcome, and the PCs don't all have to choose the same ones. This represents the fact that there's more than one way into a castle, and allows PCs to choose obstacles that play to their strengths. It also means you have more options you can adapt if the PCs decide on a truly novel way to tackle their objective.

Once a character has overcome the required number of obstacles to reach the objective, they move on to the next objective. This might mean that some characters move on to a second objective and start making progress toward it while other characters are still completing obstacles from the first objective. When all characters have completed the final objective, the infiltration is a success!

While the characters are pursuing their objectives, however, they need to avoid notice. Awareness Points (AP) measure the extent to which an opposing party is aware of the PCs' actions, and apply to the party as a whole. As the PCs' Awareness Points increase, the infiltration becomes more difficult as the opposition shores up its defenses. If the PCs generate too many Awareness Points, they are found out, and their infiltration fails altogether!

Obstacles

Source GM Core pg. 196 2.0
Each obstacle has certain statistics that define how it works in play. Infiltration Points (IP) represent a character's progress toward overcoming an obstacle. Each obstacle requires gaining a certain number of Infiltration Points to overcome—typically 1 or 2, but some challenging obstacles might require more. PCs can gain Infiltration Points in multiple ways—usually through a skill or Perception check, but sometimes another roll or even the use of a spell or item. These methods are listed in the obstacle's Overcome entry. Unlike obstacles for chases, these use a difficulty range for the PCs' level instead of set DCs.

The Overcome entry also lists whether the PCs need to overcome an object individually or as a group. For individual obstacles, each PC needs to earn the required number of Infiltration Points themself, while for group obstacles, all PCs working toward that obstacle pool their Infiltration Points toward it together. For example, each PC trying to scale a wall needs to earn points on their own, but the PCs could work together to search a guildhall for clues, and once one PC has picked a lock, everyone can enter.

A particular PC can overcome an individual obstacle only once during an objective; likewise, the party can overcome a group obstacle only once.

Obstacles in Play

Source GM Core pg. 197 2.0
On a character's turn, the character describes what they do to get past the obstacle. They then attempt any required check (or perform the required action, if their choice doesn't require a check). The result of the check determines how many Infiltration Points the character gains toward overcoming that obstacle—or whether they instead raise suspicions and accrue Awareness Points!
Critical Success The PC gains 2 Infiltration Points.
Success The PC gains 1 Infiltration Point.
Failure The PCs accrue 1 Awareness Point.
Critical Failure The PCs accrue 2 Awareness Points.

If the character's actions automatically help without requiring a check, like using a spell, they usually gain 1 IP, but you can award 2 for particularly helpful actions.

Sometimes a PC might become stuck on an individual obstacle. Some opportunities (page 198) allow PCs to spend their turn helping others overcome a tricky obstacle.

Pacing

Source GM Core pg. 197 2.0
The number of obstacles you require the PCs to overcome for an objective depends partly on the complexity of the infiltration. For shorter infiltrations, use fewer and lower-IP obstacles; for a longer, more complex heist, you can add more obstacles with greater complexity. Also, bear in mind how many checks the PCs will need to attempt to complete their obstacles. An objective with mostly low-IP group obstacles will move quickly because only a few rolls are required, compared to one with mostly individual obstacles that each PC needs to roll separately for.

Sample Obstacles

Source GM Core pg. 197 2.0
While you'll want to create custom obstacles to suit the details of your infiltration, the following examples can be used directly in many infiltrations, or as inspiration for your own creations. You can also use the sample chase obstacles on page 195 as starting points.

Guard Post Obstacle

Infiltration Points 2 (individual); Overcome standard, hard, or very hard Deception, Diplomacy, or Stealth
Guards cluster at a checkpoint, alert for unusual activity.

Locked Door Obstacle

Infiltration Points 1 (group); Overcome hard or very hard Athletics or Thievery
A locked door separates the heroes from their target.

Trap Obstacle

Infiltration Points 3 (group); Overcome hard or very hard Thievery A trap bars the characters' passage. This obstacle follows the normal degrees of success for an obstacle, with the following modification for critical failure.
Critical Failure The PCs accrue 2 AP as normal, and the PC who critically fails the Thievery check also triggers the trap.

Setting Infiltration Skills and DCs

Many of the sample infiltration activities and events give a DC range instead of a fixed DC. Set the DCs based on the standard DC of the party level using the table on page 53, and adjust them using the DC Adjustments on page 53. When given a range of skills for an activity or event, you should vary the difficulty based on the needs of the story. For instance, if a PC is Scouting a Location, you might want to use a low DC for Stealth (because it’s easier to scout when unnoticed), a hard one for Perception (because while the PC might see the enemy, the enemy might also see them), and a very hard DC for Society (because walking in like you belong is difficult if you don’t have an invitation or the right uniform). This not only adds a certain degree of plausibility, but by planning for and allowing a broad range of skills as a means to complete the activity, you also become better prepared for when your players improvise.

Awareness Points

Source GM Core pg. 197 2.0
The trick to any infiltration is to get it done before anyone notices. Awareness Points measure the opposition's awareness of the PCs' efforts, helping you keep the pressure on and ramp up the urgency. While Infiltration Points are specific to a given obstacle, Awareness Points are a single pool spanning the entire infiltration and all participants.

Awareness Points increase in three different ways. When a PC fails a check to overcome an obstacle, they incur 1 Awareness Point (or 2 on a critical failure). Other failed checks during the infiltration typically don't increase the Awareness Point total unless the failure would reasonably cause a disruption. Awareness Points also increase by 1 at the end of each round of the infiltration, as the passage of time makes it more likely that the PCs will be discovered. Finally, the PCs earn Awareness Points whenever their activities are disruptive enough to draw attention to the infiltration, subject to GM discretion.

The effects of Awareness Points occur when the PCs reach certain thresholds. The specific effects and thresholds are up to you and your story, but typically for every 5 AP the PCs accrue, the challenges become harder, and if the PCs accrue enough Awareness Points (usually equal to twice the number of Infiltration Points necessary for the party as a whole to overcome all necessary obstacles), the infiltration fails.

Each threshold should have an effect. It might increase the DCs for obstacles, introduce a complication, spark a combat encounter, or have other effects. Reaching the highest tier of Awareness Points means that the PCs fail, but that doesn't have to be the end of the story! Failed infiltrations are an opportunity to introduce new challenges and move the story forward in a different way.

This basic Awareness Point scheme for an infiltration requiring the PCs to earn 10 IP can be used as is or tailored to your game.

5 Awareness Points: Suspicions are raised. Increase the DCs for obstacles by 1. The first time the PCs reach this tier, a complication occurs.
10 Awareness Points: The first time the PCs reach this tier, a complication occurs.
15 Awareness Points: Increase the DCs for obstacles by a total of 2, and the first time the PCs reach this tier, a complication occurs.
20 Awareness Points: The infiltration fails.

Complications

Source GM Core pg. 198 2.0
Sometimes, when a plan goes sour and seems like it can't get worse, it does. Complications are unexpected problems that compound the difficulty of a challenge. The party might trigger a complication by critically failing a check to overcome a challenge, by reaching a certain threshold of Awareness Points, if you need to spice up the infiltration, or through their own decisions—maybe the wizard's castle has various wards, each triggered when a PC attempts to use a different kind of magic.

Many complications increase Awareness Points or otherwise make infiltration more difficult. A common form of complication is attracting the attention of guards who try to stop, capture, or even kill the PCs. When this happens, the infiltration may briefly shift into encounter mode as the PCs attempt to defeat their assailants. The sounds of battle are loud, so unless combat occurs in an isolated area or the PCs take precautions, each round of unmitigated combat noise causes them to gain Awareness Points, at the very least.

When you create a complication, decide on the details of how it will play out. Each complication has a trigger that determines when it occurs. It might affect only a single character, or it might affect everyone in a certain area, and you'll need to determine whether multiple PCs can work together to overcome it or whether only one can. Complications must be overcome before the characters involved can overcome other obstacles, and attempting to overcome a complication takes a character's turn just like trying to overcome an obstacle. Many complications are one-off events and are overcome automatically, even on a failure, though not without a cost. If a complication requires PCs to gain Infiltration Points to clear it, it has an Infiltration Points entry, just like an obstacle.

Don't overwhelm the characters with complications. Typically, you'll want to aim for two complications per AP threshold. Otherwise, the PCs may end up spending more time on the complications than on the heist itself, and the chance of failure may be too high. The following example is a common complication that could occur in almost any infiltration.

Do I Know You? Complication

Trigger The PCs reach 5 Awareness Points for the first time.
Overcome standard, hard, or very hard Deception, Diplomacy, Performance, or Stealth
Someone thinks they recognize you, and you must either convince them otherwise before slipping away or find a way to dodge the person entirely.
Success You convince or otherwise dodge the person.
Failure You are recognized, and the party accrues 1 AP.
Critical Failure As failure, but the party accrues 2 AP.

Opportunities

Source GM Core pg. 198 2.0
Not everything that happens during an infiltration is a challenge that must be solved—sometimes PCs can use their turns to aid the group in some way. Opportunities are very similar to obstacles, but they don't provide Infiltration Points or count toward the objective. They instead provide some kind of benefit, such as a magical password to disable security features further along, reducing the party's Awareness Points, or lowering the DC for a later challenge. But opportunities sometimes come with risks—failing can increase the PCs' Awareness Points or trigger complications. You'll need to decide what opportunities are available and when, and whether they can be completed multiple times or only once. For example, the PCs can steal the guard's keys only once, but can cause a distraction several times.

Some opportunities might be available at almost any time in any infiltration, like this example.

Smooth The Path Opportunity

Requirements The PC has successfully completed an individual objective and some other PCs have not.
Having completed your objective, you help an ally who is still trying to reach that goal. Describe how you are helping. This gives the ally the benefits of Following the Expert (Player Core 438). In unusual cases, the GM might allow you to attempt a relevant skill check to overcome the obstacle on behalf of the other PC instead.