Identify Creatures
Starfinder Core Rulebook, page 133
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 RARITY | DC |
|---|---|
| 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 TYPE | SKILL |
|---|---|
| Aberration | Life Science |
| Animal | Life Science |
| Construct (magical) | Mysticism |
| Construct (technological) | Engineering |
| Dragon | Mysticism |
| Fey | Mysticism |
| Humanoid | Life Science |
| Magical beast | Mysticism |
| Monstrous humanoid | Life Science |
| Ooze | Life Science |
| Outsider | Mysticism |
| Plant | Life Science |
| Undead | Mysticism |
| Vermin | Life Science |