7.2 Athletics (Str)

The Athletics skill represents your ability to move with power in challenging circumstances. This includes climbing, jumping, swimming, and other forms of athletic full-body movements.

The distance you can jump changes depending on whether you are trained with the Athletics skill. For details, Jumping.

7.2.1 Common Athletics Tasks

Athletic Movement: While you are climbing, swimming, or otherwise moving athletically, you must make an Athletics check whenever you move. This generally requires two free hands, or one free hand if you take a -5 penalty to the check. The difficulty value is based on the environment you are moving in (see ??). Success means you can move at one quarter speed, so moving 5 feet costs 20 feet of your available movement. Critical success means you can move at half speed instead. If you have a relevant speed, such as a climb speed, you use that speed instead of these multipliers.

Creature Climb: As a standard action, you can make an Athletics vs. Reflex attack against a creature you touch. This requires one free hand, and the target must be two or more size categories larger than you. On a hit, you latch onto the target and can climb on it as if it was a surface with a difficulty value equal to its Reflex defense. The creature takes a -2 accuracy penalty with strikes against you. You must repeat this attack at the end of each of your subsequent turns to stay climbing on the creature. For each consecutive turn that you climb on a non-ally in this way, you take a cumulative -2 penalty to this attack.

Grab Surface: You can make an Athletics check as part of movement to grab a surface that you are passing by. You automatically attempt this as a reactive check if you would fall while being pushed. The difficulty value is 10 higher than normal for the surface if you were moving for reasons out of your control (such as if you are falling). Success means you grab onto the wall and interrupt your movement. This does not prevent you from taking falling damage appropriate for the distance you fell.

Maintain Hold: Whenever you take damage while climbing on a surface, suddenly acquire significantly more weight (such as by catching a falling character), or otherwise are significantly distracted, you must make an Athletics check based on the surface. Failure means you fall off of the surface, and are prone (half speed, -2 Armor and Ref) when you land.

Wall Jump: You can make a difficulty value 10 Athletics check as part of movement to jump off of a wall you are adjacent to. This difficulty value increases by 5 for each time you have used this ability since landing on solid ground. Success means you can jump off of the wall (see Jumping). Failure means your jump fails, and your movement ends, which typically makes you fall to the ground.

Wallrun: You can make an Athletics check as part of your movement while you are touching a solid vertical surface. The difficulty value is 10 higher than normal to climb for the surface, but this does not require free hands. Success means you can move using your walk speed along the wall this turn. You move at half speed while going up. Failure means you fall. For every turn in which you use this ability on the same wall without reaching a stable stopping point, the DV increases by 10.

7.2.2 Common Athletics Modifiers

Slippery and mobile surfaces make it more difficult to climb. If you can brace against multiple surfaces, such as in a corner or between two opposed walls, climbing can be significantly easier.

Creatures that are native to water, such as fish and monsters with a swim speed but no walk speed, gain a +10 bonus to Athletics checks made to swim.

7.2.3 Athletics Difficulty Values

Climbing
DV	Surface or Activity	Example
0	Steep slope	A hill too steep to walk up
5	Large, sturdy hand and foot holds	Knotted rope, heavily damaged stone wall, ship’s rigging
10	Small, sturdy hand and foot holds	Surface with pitons or carved holes, weathered stone wall
10	Inconsistent or unsteady hand and foot holds	Unknotted rope, unweathered natural rock, shoddy brick or brick wall
10	Only large hand holds	Tree limbs, pulling yourself up by your hands while dangling
15	Rough surface with few holds	Weathered natural rock face, quality wood or brick wall
20	Rough surface without holds	Quality stone wall
25	Smooth surface without holds	Window
Swimming
5	Calm water	Pond or lake with little wind, wide and slow river
10	Rough water	Lake on a windy day, ocean on a mild day, fast-moving but steady river
10	Viscous liquid	Muddy swamp
15	Stormy water	Lake during a severe storm, ocean during a mild storm, river rapids
20	Extremely stormy water	Ocean during a severe storm