Scrambling (sage ability)

Scrambling is an amateur-status sage ability in the studies of Athletics and Mountaineer. The ability lies between hiking and rock climbing, where the character scales a slope between 30° and 60° without the need for tools, relying on his or her hands and feet, and a good sense of balance in navigating challenging routes. The method overcomes a number of natural features, including shallow rock faces, scree slopes, gullies, ridges and boulder fields.

Scrambling can be a dangerous activity for those who don't know what they're doing. The exposed terrain, with its steep drops and challenging obstacles, requires careful route finding, solid footing, and a keen awareness of the surroundings. Such experience not only affects the likelihood of sustaining or avoiding hit point damage, but also how fast the character can move over the environment.

Unskilled Scrambling

The primary concern for the uninitiated is suffering minor scrapes or cuts upon one's hands and feet while scrambling upwards, as slipping, tripping or suffering minor falls is a constant hazard. In the game world, there's no proper footwear or protective gear as a climber might have today; therefore, characters with less then 10 points of knowledge in scrambling should view anything above a shallow mountain slope with caution. In any case, such a climb must be managed slowly.

Climbing Speed

Unskilled characters can advance over slopes between 30° and 60° at a speed of roughly 1 combat hex per round, using all their action points (AP). Movement downhill is not much faster, so that the character would come down 4 hexes every three rounds. Remember that these distances describe the amount of ground that can be covered; the total climb to be managed must be calculated from the degree of slope and the total vertical height.

This assumes an encumbrance that allows the character a normal movement rate of 4 AP per round. Should the character's movement be 3 AP per round, this climbing speed is halved. An unskilled character carrying enough equipment to lower their movement to 2 AP per round could not climb slopes of this nature.

This means that for most characters, climbing a height to reach the mouth of a dungeon would require either the discarding of much equipment, or the hiring of porters to carry additional armour, weapons and tools for the character, or else do without. The carrying of other heavy loads, such as treasure or wounded companions, would likewise be difficult to manage.

Hazard Damage

For unskilled characters, every 500 ft. of vertical height that's scrambled requires a dexterity check. Failure indicates the character has taken a mis-step of some kind resulting in a minor tumble, grazed skin, a bruise or a strain — sustaining but 1 damage. While not onerous, any sustained climb over several days might amount to a concern.

Additionally, in the last hour of the day, each point of damage taken adds a +10% chance of a malady check.

Skilled Climbing

Those who are amateur-status climbers, who have achieved 10 points of knowledge, are well-versed in this sort of climbing. While held to the same standards of encumbrance, these characters need no roll for hazard damage or make malady checks when navigating these slopes. They move upslope at a speed of 2 hexes per round, and downslope at 3 hexes per round.

An authority-status climber could move even faster, at 5 hexes every two rounds upslope, and 6 hexes per round downslope.

Environments

Slopes of greater than 60° are hazardous to those with this sage ability, who in making such climbs would need to make a dexterity check for every 100 ft. of vertical height attempted. Unskilled climbers could not hope to succeed at such obstacles. Further skills are needed, as described in the sage study, Rock Climbing I.

See also,
Athletics (sage study)
Sure-footedness (sage study)