Athletics
From D20advanced
| ATHLETICS | STR |
|---|
You’re skilled at climbing, swimming, jumping, and performing other feats of athleticism.
Contents |
Use
Climb
With each successful Athletics check, you can move up, down, or across a slope, wall, or other steep incline (even a ceiling with handholds). A slope is any incline of less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline of 60 degrees or steeper. A failed Athletics check indicates you make no progress, and failure by 5 or more means you fall from whatever height you already attained (unless you are secured with some kind of harness or other equipment). Make a Climb check to catch yourself (DC equal to wall’s DC + 20). A slope is easier to catch on (DC equal to slope’s DC + 10). It’s somewhat easier to catch someone else who falls, assuming they are within arm’s reach. Make an Athletics check (DC equal to wall’s DC +10) to do so. A slope is easier (DC equal to the slope’s DC +5). If you fail the check, you do not catch the other person. If you fail by 5 or more, you fall as well. The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb. If the climb is less than 10 feet, reduce the DC by 5.
| TABLE 3.4: CLIMB | |
| DC | Example Wall Or Surface Or Task |
| 0 | A slope too steep to walk up. A ladder. |
| 5 | A knotted rope with a wall to brace against. |
| 10 | A rope with a wall to brace against. A knotted rope. A surface with sizable ledges to hold on to and stand on, such as a rugged cliff-face. |
| 15 | Any surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial), such as a rough natural rock surface, a tree, or a chain-link fence. An unknotted rope. Pulling yourself up when dangling by your hands. |
| 20 | An uneven surface with just a few narrow handholds and footholds, such as a coarse masonry wall or a sheer cliff face with a few crevices and small toeholds. |
| 25 | A rough surface with no real handholds or footholds, such as a brick wall. |
| 25 | Overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds. |
| — | A perfectly smooth, flat, vertical surface can’t be climbed without the Wall-Crawling FX. |
| -10 | Climbing inside an air duct, chimney, or other location where you 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 (increases normal DC by 5). |
Fighting While Climbing
Since you can’t easily move to avoid an attack, you lose your dodge bonus while climbing. Any time you take damage while climbing, make an immediate Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall and sustain the appropriate falling damage.
Accelerated Movement
You can try to climb faster than normal. You can move your full speed, but take a –5 penalty on your Climb check. Moving twice your speed requires two checks at –5, one for each move action.
Jumping
You can make an Athletics check to extend the distance you can jump by 1 foot per point your check exceeds DC 15.
Swimming
A successful Athletics check allows you to swim one-quarter your speed as one action or half your speed as two actions. If the check fails, you make no progress through the water. If the check fails by 5 or more, you go underwater. If you are underwater you must hold your breath to avoid drowning. The DC for the Athletics check depends on the condition of the water. Each hour you swim, make an Athletics check (DC 20). If the check fails, you suffer from fatigue. Unconscious characters go underwater and immediately begin to drown.
| TABLE 3.5: SWIMMING | |
| Condition | DC |
| Calm Water | 10 |
| Rough water | 15 |
| Stormy Water | 20 |
Rescuing
Rescuing another character who can’t swim (for whatever reason) increases the DC of your Swim check by +5.
Action
Climbing one-half your speed is two actions. Moving half that fast (one-fourth your speed) is one action. Accelerated climbing, allowing you to climb at full speed, is two actions action. You can move half that far (one-half your speed) as one action.
Swimming is either one or two actions, as described above.
Special
At the GM’s discretion, certain kinds of climbing attempts might require tools like ropes, pitons, harness, and so forth. Attempting such a climb without tools incurs a –4 penalty.
Challenges
The following Challenge is appropriate for Athletics checks:
Accelerated Swim
For a +5 DC increase, you increase your swimming speed by one-quarter your normal speed. You can take this challenge up to three times to increase your swimming speed up to your normal speed. You suffer the normal effects of failing your Swim check.
Accelerated Climb
You can try to climb more quickly than normal. By accepting a +5 DC modifier to your check, you can move half your speed instead of one-quarter your speed while climbing. You can accept this challenge twice, for a total DC modifier of +10, to move at your normal speed while climbing.
Fighting Climb
By accepting a +5 DC modifier to a Climb check, you can maintain your dodge bonus to defense while climbing.
Secured Climb
If you take a +5 DC modifier to your Climb check, you do not have to make a Climb check to maintain your position if you take damage. You climb in such a way as to brace yourself for any attacks.
