[Skill] Scent

[Psionic Dog]

With Spot and Listen standard skills, I have to ask "Why not Scent?"

If a book or anouther homebrewer has this, please direct me to it. Otherwise, how balanced is my version shown below?

Note: This does not replace the scent special abuility. Creatures without the scent special abuility suffer a -10 penalty, and may only attempt DC 10 checks or lower.

Scent (Wis)

You can notice, identify, and locate objects and creatures by their odor. This skill replaces survival for following tracks by scent.

DC -5: Overpowering. (Example: Troglodyte Stench, concentrated perfume, skunk oil)
DC 5: Strong (Example: Fresh dong, fish, baking/burning bread, standard perfume, unbathed creatures with naturally bad body odor, animal sent markings)
DC 10 Moderate (Example: Living Creatures, stale bread, fleshed undead,
DC 20 Faint (Example: cold brimstone, skeletons)
DC 30 Very Faint (See text for object reading)

Base DCs for 20 feet.
Adjacent to target: -5 DC
Per 10 feet extra: +2
Raining: +5
An overpowering odor is present: +10 for all weaker scents
A Strong oder is present: +5 for all weaker scents

If a wind is blowing, treat all upwind targets as if they were half their normal distance and downwind targets as if they were twice their normal distance.

Action: Noticing the presence of a creature or object is an imediate action, but only if the target is out-of-place or the user is alert for said target. Otherwise a move-action notes the types of odors present or the direction of a particular scent. (If the DC is beaten by 5 + 2/ 10 feet distant [This is in addition to the distance penalty for noticing the scent] the targets location is pinpointed.)

Other Actions:
Tracking: Same as feat description, but time penalty is +2/hour and rain penalty is +5/hour.
Object reading: User learns what scent sources (Like creatures) have passed through/ associated with a square/ an object. Use the sources listed odor class if the source was strongly associated with (Slept there / used item for week+), or one odor class lower if not strongly associated.

Special: Any racial bonus to tracking by sent are applied to this skill. A +2 synergy bonus applies to any creatures with 5 or more ranks in survival. Familiarity bonus apply to this skills usage.

Normal: Any creature without the scent special ability may attempt to use this skill at a -10 penalty. Also, they may not attempt to use this skill whenever the modified DC is greater than 10.

Synergy: (Only applies for creatures with the Scent Special Ability)
5 ranks of scent give +2 Sense Motive and Craft(Alchemy)

[Collin152]

Seems a little too strong. The average peasant has a 50% chance of Identifying the presence of somebody in a completly dark, silenced room. Creatures have pretty faint smells, really.

[Psionic Dog]

Seems a little too strong. The average peasant has a 50% chance of Identifying the presence of somebody in a completly dark, silenced room. Creatures have pretty faint smells, really.

Not quite.
The average animal could do this, but the typical commoner without the Scent special ability would have only a 5% chance. :smallsmile:

The only way the peasant would have a 50% chance would be if the creature was wearing perfume and standing adjacent to our peasant, or if the peasant's wife (with whom he is intimately familiar) is the creature approaching.

[Citizen Joe]

Many animals already have the scent ability (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#scent)

[Psionic Dog]

Many animals already have the scent ability (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#scent)

I know. This skill is mostly to expand the use of the Scent Ability. As it is, the scent ability is too static for my tastes.
Allowing creatures without the ability to use the skill at penalty is just flavor. Even humans can occasionally smell apple pie baking around the corner.

[Khantalas]

Well, sense for many player races is a sense neither acute (reliably usable to identify creatures) nor accurate (reliably usable to locate and pinpoint creatures). For those that have scent as an accurate or acute sense, I think the feat is enough.

Then again, I like how M&M handles things, where there is only one notice skill and the Super-Senses power makes senses other than sight and hearing usable with Notice.

[Tracersmith]

So... Change spot to notice and notice can be used by sight or smell.