Struggling with definition of checks, skill checks, attack rolls....

[Kainite101]

SO I have read the page about checks, and am somewhat confused by how they seem to float between "everything is a check", but then break them into skill check, attack roll, ect...

So the core question I have is, are attack rolls considered a skill check vs skill check penalties? In the instance we were struggling with was the fascinated condition -

"You are compelled to focus your attention on something, distracting you from whatever else is going on around you. You take a –2 status penalty to Perception and skill checks, and you can’t use actions with the concentrate trait unless they or their intended consequences are related to the subject of your fascination (as determined by the GM). For instance, you might be able to Seek and Recall Knowledge about the subject, but you likely couldn’t cast a spell targeting a different creature. This condition ends if a creature uses hostile actions against you or any of your allies."

Seems odd that you are distracted, yet this would not affect your melee attack against another target... unless attack rolls are always skill checks...

TLDR - are attack rolls skill checks....

[Aratorin]

No. Attack Rolls are not Skill Checks. Skill Checks involve your Skills.

[thenobledrake]

There's not really any floating.

All the things are checks. Each check is one of the check types in the game, which are attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws, and flat checks

[Franz Lunzer]

Yep, any time you bounce a d20, it's a check.
I'll add the Perception- and counteract-check (very special) to the list of thenobledrake.

Depending on what you add to the d20, you know what type of check it is:

flat check: +nothing
attack roll: +attack bonus
skill check: +skill bonus
saving throw: +saving throw bonus
perception check: +perception bonus
counteract check: +(skill or spell attack or other)

[Nefreet]

Franz Lunzer wrote:

Yep, any time you bounce a d20, it's a check.

^ Basically this.

[Ascalaphus]

Any d20 roll is a check.

If it uses a skill then it's a skill check.

If it has the attack trait then it's an attack roll.

Trying to Trip someone uses the Athletics skill and has the attack trait, so it's both an attack roll and a skill check.

[Kainite101]

Ascalaphus wrote:

Any d20 roll is a check.

If it uses a skill then it's a skill check.

If it has the attack trait then it's an attack roll.

Trying to Trip someone uses the Athletics skill and has the attack trait, so it's both an attack roll and a skill check.

So in my example with the fascinate condition, a melee or ranged attack would not suffer a penalty, but a trip or shove attack would. Since it specifies skill check only and not all or attack rolls...

[Ascalaphus]

Yeah, I guess it's a little harder to trip Joe if you're staring in fascination at Bob. But somehow stabbing isn't any harder.

It's one of those little weird glitches that you can never quite banish entirely from the system.

[Ectar]

Related: all static numbers that you compare your checks to are DCs.

Most critically, armor class is a DC. So if you're frightened or sickened, giving you a penalty on all checks and DCs, your AC goes down by that same value.

[Lawrencelot]

Also good to know: all checks are against a DC, either determined by the GM or by some other factor (such as a monster's Reflex DC). The only exception is when you roll for initiative, only there are checks compared against each other rather than against a DC.