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Archives of Nethys

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

General Skills
Acrobatics | Arcana | Athletics | Crafting | Deception | Diplomacy | Intimidation | Lore | Medicine | Nature | Occultism | Performance | Religion | Society | Stealth | Survival | Thievery

Decipher Writing [Trained]

Source Core Rulebook pg. 234 2.0
When you encounter particularly archaic or esoteric texts, the GM might require you to Decipher the Writing before you can understand it. You must be trained in the relevant skill to Decipher Writing. Arcana is typically used for writing about magic or science, Occultism for esoteric texts about mysteries and philosophy, Religion for scripture, and Society for coded messages or archaic documents.

Skill Uses

[Arcana] Decipher Writing about arcane theory.
[Occultism] Decipher Writing on occult topics, including complex metaphysical systems, syncretic principles, weird philosophies, and incoherent ramblings.
[Religion] Decipher Writing of a religious nature, including allegories, homilies, and proverbs.
[Society] Decipher Writing that’s a coded message, text written in an incomplete or archaic form, or in some cases, text in a language you don’t know.

Decipher Writing

ConcentrateExplorationSecret
Source Core Rulebook pg. 234 2.0
You attempt to decipher complicated writing or literature on an obscure topic. This usually takes 1 minute per page of text, but might take longer (typically an hour per page for decrypting ciphers or the like). The text must be in a language you can read, though the GM might allow you to attempt to decipher text written in an unfamiliar language using Society instead.

The DC is determined by the GM based on the state or complexity of the document. The GM might have you roll one check for a short text or a check for each section of a larger text.

Critical Success You understand the true meaning of the text.
Success You understand the true meaning of the text. If it was a coded document, you know the general meaning but might not have a word-for-word translation.
Failure You can’t understand the text and take a –2 circumstance penalty to further checks to decipher it.
Critical Failure You believe you understand the text on that page, but you have in fact misconstrued its message.

Sample Decipher Writing Tasks

Trained entry-level philosophy treatise
Expert complex code, such as a cipher
Master spymaster’s code or advanced research notes
Legendary esoteric planar text written in metaphor by an ancient celestial