Skills/Climb

Climb is the skill used to scale rocky cliffs to smooth city walls.

Check
A successful Climb check allows a creature to advance in any direction on a slope, wall, or other steep incline, even a ceiling. A creature without a climb speed must move at one-quarter their normal speed. A climb check that fails by less than one degree results in no progress but does not fall, while a failure by one degree or more causes the creature to fall. The DC of a climb check varies based on conditions as well as the type of surface that is attempting to be climbed upon. A creature may choose to accept a -5 penalty to their climb check to instead climb at half their normal speed.

A character usually needs both hands to climb, though some creatures may have additional limbs to assist with climbing. A character may cling to a wall with one hand to perform some other actions with one hand (such as casting a spell or making an attack with a one-handed weapon). A creature that is climbing cannot use a shield and is denied their dexterity bonus while climbing.

Climbing Tools
You can make your own handholds or footholds by using pitons and pounding them into the wall or surface. This process usually takes 1 minute per piton, with one needed per 5 feet of distance traveled. Some other equipment may also be useful in climbing on different types of surfaces.

Catching A Ledge While Falling
It is usually impossible to catch yourself on a wall while falling. While on a wall the DC becomes the wall’s climb DC + 20, though if the surface is a ledge or other surface with adequate handholds the DC instead becomes a DC 15 reflex save (similar to an intentional fall using acrobatics or a failed acrobatics check made to jump a distance).

Catch Another While Climbing
If a creature above you or adjacent to you fails, you may attempt to catch the falling character if they are within your reach. You must make a melee touch attack against the falling character (though they are considered flat footed against this touch attack). A successful hit allows you to make a Climb check at the current  wall’s climb DC +10. If successful you catch the creature, but the caught character cannot exceed your heavy load. Failure by less than one degree fails to catch the creature but you do not lose your grip on the wall, failure by 5 or more causes you to also begin to fall.

If you are the one falling, you may attempt to grab onto another creature, this also requires a melee touch attack, though the creature in question can willingly be denied their dexterity against this attack if they are not already flat-footed. If you succeed you grab onto the creature and the creature must make a climb DC as if they had caught you to determine if they can hold on or fall.

Action
Climbing is made as part of movement, usually a move action, though can be made as part of any type of action that involves movement.

Climb Speed
A creature with a climb speed gains a +8 racial bonus to all Climb checks. The creature must still make a climb check but may choose to take a 10 in any situation. Such creatures are also not considered flat-footed while climbing.