Use this skill to tell an antique from old junk, a sword that’s old and fancy from an elven heirloom, and high-quality jewelry from cheap stuff made to look good.
Check: You can appraise common or well-known objects with a DC 12 Appraise check. Failure means that you estimate the value at 50% to 150%. The DM secretly rolls a 2d6+3, multiplies the result by 10%, multiplies the actual value by that percentage, then tells you the resulting value for the item. (For a common or well-known item, your chance of estimating the value within 10% is fairly high even if you fail the check—in such a case, you made a lucky guess.)
Appraising a rare or exotic item requires a successful check against DC 15, 20, or higher. If the check is successful, you estimate the value correctly; failure means you cannot estimate the item’s value.
A magnifying glass (page 130) gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving any item that is small or highly detailed, such as a gem. A merchant’s scale (page 130) gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving any items that are valued by weight, including anything made of precious metals. These bonuses stack.
Action: Appraising an item takes 1 minute (ten consecutive full-round actions).
Try again: No. You cannot try again on the same object, regardless of success.
Special: A dwarf gets a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items because dwarves are familiar with valuable items of all kinds (especially those made of stone or metal).
The master of a raven familiar (see Familiars) gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks.
A character with the Diligent feat gets a +2 bonus on Appraise checks.
Synergy: If you have 5 ranks in any Craft skill, you gain a +2 bonus on Appraise checks related to items made with that Craft skill (see Craft).
Untrained: For common items, failure on an untrained check means no estimate. For rare items, success means an estimate of 50% to 150% (2d6+3 times 10%).
Source: Player’s Handbook (version 3.5), page 67.
The character can sense magical auras in objects.
| Task | DC |
|---|---|
| Detect magic | 50 |
Detect Magic: The character can sense if an item has a magical aura. He or she can then use Spellcraft to learn more about the item as if he or she had already cast detect magic on the item. This requires a full-round action.