Climb (Str)
Armor Check Penalty
Use this skill to scale a cliff, to get to a window on the second story of a building, or to climb up an antenna array after falling out of an airway at the bottom of a floating city.
Check: With each successful Climb check, you can advance up, down, or across a slope or a wall or other steep incline (or even a ceiling with handholds).
A failed Climb check indicates that you make no progress, and a check that fails by 5 or more means that you fall from whatever height you have already attained.
The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb.
| DC | Example Wall or Surface |
| 0 | A slope too steep to walk up. A knotted rope with a wall to brace against. |
| 5 | A rope with a wall to brace against or a knotted rope, but not both. |
| 10 | A surface with ledges to hold on to and stand on, such as a very rough wall. |
| 15 | Any surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial), such as a very rough natural rock surface or a tree. An unknotted rope. |
| 20 | An uneven surface with some narrow handholds and footholds. |
| 25 | Overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds. |
| - | A perfectly smooth, flat, vertical surface cannot be climbed. |
| -10* | Climbing inside an air duct or other location where one can brace against two opposite walls (reduces normal DC by 10). |
| -5* | Climbing a corner where you can brace against perpendicular walls (reduces normal DC by 5). |
| +5* | Surface is slippery (increase normal DC by 5). |
*These modifiers are cumulative; use any that apply.
Since you can’t move to avoid an attack while climbing, opponents get a +2 bonus on attack rolls against you, and you lose any Dexterity bonus to Defense.
Any time you take damage while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage. (See Falling Damage)
Accelerated Climbing: You try to climb more quickly than normal, attempting to cover your full speed in climbing distance, but you take a -5 penalty on Climb checks.
Making Handholds and Footholds: You can make your own handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so take 1 minute per piton, and one piton is needed per meter. As with any surface with handholds and footholds, a wall with pitons in it has a DC of 15. In the same way, a climber with an ice axe or similar implement can cut handholds or footholds in an ice wall.
Catching Yourself When Falling: It’s practically impossible to catch yourself on a wall while falling. Make a Climb check (DC = wall’s DC +20) to do so. A slope is relatively easier to catch yourself on (DC = slope’s DC +10).
Grab My Arm!: You can catch someone who is falling past you. If you can make a melee touch attack against someone falling within your reach, you may attempt a Climb check (DC = wall’s DC +10) to prevent that person’s fall. (The DC for catching someone falling on a slope is the slope’s DC +5.) If you fail the Climb check, you fail to stop the person’s fall. If you fail by 5 or more, you fall as well. The person’s total weight (including equipment) cannot exceed your heavy load, or you automatically fall.
Special: Someone using a rope can haul a character upward (or lower the character) by means of sheer strength. Using double your maximum load (see [Carrying Capacity in Chapter 6: Heroic Characteristics) to determine how much weight a character can lift.
You can take 10 while climbing, but you can’t take 20.
A character with the Athletic feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Climb checks.
Time: Climbing is a part of movement, so it’s generally part of a move action (and may be combined with other types of movement in a move action). Each move action that includes any climbing requires a separate Climb check. Catching yourself when falling doesn’t take an action.
