Investigate

This skill represents your training and ability to examine things systematically through observation, inquiry and attention to detail. Unlike the Awareness Skill, which handles processing immediate observations, Investigate requires time and active effort. 

This skill can be used when you attempt to apply logic and reason to reach a conclusion, deduce the solution to a problem, search a specific area to turn up clues, or interrogate a suspect. 

ANALYZE CLUE ⬤ ⬤ ⬤ 

You can make an Investigate check to apply forensics knowledge to a clue. This function of the Investigate skill does not give you clues where none existed before; it simply allows your character to extract extra information from a clue you have found. Spend 3 actions and make a DC 20 Investigate check to analyze a clue you have already located. The base DC for analyzing a clue is modified by the time elapsed since the clue was left and by whether the scene was disturbed. On a success, you glean additional details from the clue that you you might have missed on your initial pass.

COLLECT EVIDENCE (1 Minute)

You can collect and prepare evidentiary material for a lab. To collect a piece of evidence, spend 1 Minute and make a DC 15 Investigate check. This use of the Investigate skill requires an evidence kit; attempting to Collect Evidence without an evidence kit results in an automatic failure. This function of the Investigate skill does not provide you with evidentiary items. It simply allows you to collect items you have found in a manner that best aids in their analysis later, at a crime lab.

CRYPTOGRAPHY (1 Hour)

You can encode and decode ciphers and codes. Spend 1 hour to make an Investigate Check to decipher a particular code. The DC of Cryptography check depends on the code's complexity. Low DC codes include letter-substitution ciphers and mathematical puzzles. Medium DC codes include block or stream ciphers,  and High DC codes utilize mathematical chaos theory or magic in their codes.

Helpful texts or computer programs can provide a bonus (usually a +2 circumstance bonus) on the check, provided they are applicable to the script in question.

INTERROGATE (1 Minute)

An Interrogate action represents your ability to ask the right questions to extract information from a specific target. Spend 1 Minute interacting with the target to make an Investigate check against the target's Composure Defence to break them under the strain of your questioning. 

An Interrogate Check covers the sort of interrogation that might be covered by a seasoned journalist, law enforcement officer, lawyer, or even a trained torturer. It usually involves calm and reasonable debate, rhetoric and trick questions, but, in some unpleasant areas of the world, it can involve threats of violence and actual pain-inducing tactics. 

SEARCH ⬤ ⬤ ⬤ 

A Search Action allows you to make a detailed examination within Close Range of yourself, looking for lost objects, hidden compartments, and traps; or to discern other details that aren't readily apparent at a casual glance. A Search check can reveal individual footprints, but does not allow a character to follow tracks or tell which direction the creature or creatures went or came from, which requires the Survival or Street Smarts skill. Spend 3 Actions to make an Investigate check against the Stealth DC of the hidden objects/traps. On a Success, hidden items are revealed. You can succeed against some hidden items in an area, but not against others (for example, a trap might be easier to find than the hidden vault it's meant to distract from).