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.
Skill Traits
Key Ability: |
|
|---|---|
Trained Only? |
No |
Armor Check Penalty? |
Yes |
Retry: |
No inherent penalties. |
Special: |
Someone using a rope can haul a character upward (or lower the character) by means of sheer strength. Use the encumbrance rules to determine how much weight a character can lift. You can take 10 while climbing, but you can’t take 20. |
Skill Applications
Accelerated Climbing
Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 64.
You try to climb more quickly than normal, but you take a −5 penalty on Climb checks. Accelerated climbing allows you to climb at your full speed as a full-round action. You can move half that far—one-half your speed—as a move action.
Catching Yourself When Falling
Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 64.
It’s practically impossible to catch yourself on a wall while falling. Make a Climb check (DC = the wall’s DC +20) to do so. A slope is relatively easier to catch yourself on (DC = the slope’s DC + 10).
Climb Surface
Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 64.
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 slope is considered to be any incline of less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline of 60 degrees or steeper. You can climb at one-half of your speed as a full-round action. You can move half that far—one-fourth of your speed—as a move action.
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 circumstances of the climb:
| DC | Example Wall or Surface |
|---|---|
| 0 | Slope too steep to walk up; knotted rope with a all to brace against. |
| 5 | Rope with a wall to brace against or a knotted rope, but not both. |
| 10 | Surface with ledges to hold on to and stand on, such as a very rough wall. |
| 15 | Surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial), such as a very rough natural rock surface or a tree; an unknotted rope. |
| 20 | Uneven surface with some narrow handholds and footholds. |
| 25 | Rough surface, such as a natural rock wall or a brick wall. |
| 25 | Overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds. |
| — | Perfectly smooth, flat, vertical surface cannot be climbed. |
| −10* | Climbing inside an airduct or other location where on 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). |
| * 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 your Reflex 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.
Climbing in Low or High Gravity
Knights of the Old Republic, page 30.
When climbing in low-gravity environments, Climb DCs are halved and movement is double. When climbing in high-gravity environments, DCs are doubled and climb speed is halved (minimum 1 square).
Extreme Conditions
Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, page 29.
Climbing in extreme conditions (high altitude, weather, temperature, or unusual climbing surfaces) brings additional challenges. Proper climbing and survival gear is required. Extreme conditions can increase the DC by 5 for each circumstance in addition to the regular DC modifiers. Specialized climbing gear can negate these penalties to Climb checks under those conditions; typically, such gear costs the same as a field kit.
Making Handholds and Footholds
Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 64.
You can make your own handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so takes 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.