Climb Walls (sage ability)

Climb walls is an authority status sage ability that allows characters to climb a vertical surface, with or without equipment, provided that surface retains cracks or mortared separations at least ⅓ of an inch deep. Surfaces that are polished or plastered smooth, made of metal or glass, or that possess a vertical slope greater than 95°, are not included in the ability. Unskilled climbers will not be able to perform this feat without equipment; doing so with equipment is called mountain climbing.

The distance that may be climbed safely, without requiring a die roll of any kind, equals the character's dexterity, +3 ft./level of the climber. Thus, a 3rd level climber with a 14 dexterity would be able to climb a 23 ft. vertical wall without trouble. Each foot of climbing would require 1 action point, so that at best a character would be able to climb 5 ft. per round. If, at any point within this distance, the climber is able to rest upon a surface that is at least 4 in. wide (a window ledge or a tree branch), and does so for a period of not less than three rounds, the climber may reset the distance they may climb safely from that point.

For example: Kaitlyn, who is able to safely climb 23 feet, wants to climb a 40 foot cliff. She sees that there is a narrow but sufficient sized ledge just 18 feet above the ground. She climbs to it and rests, without having to make a die roll. From there, it is just 22 feet to the top of the cliff. This is within her range, so she continues up the cliff from the ledge, reaching the top without, again, needing a die roll.

Risk

Beyond the point where a distance may be climbed safely, the character risks a dangerous fall due to accumulated fatigue in the character's fingertips and toes. In the example above, if there were no ledge, then Kaitlyn would be at the comfortable limit of her ability when she was still 17 feet from the top.

WORKING...

This presumes that if the thief is able to rest (remain in fixed position without having to use his or her hands to hold on), the thief would then be able to climb another 27 feet without fault. Thus, imaginably, the thief could climb a 3,000 foot cliff, so long as there was a place to rest every 27 feet or less, without any danger of falling.

Danger Climbing

If the distance between places to rest is greater than the distance the thief is able to climb safely, then the thief must take a chance of falling. This chance of falling is equal to the standard climb walls percentage found in the player's handbook (table posted here to follow later), up to an additional distance equal to twice the thief's no-fault climbing distance.

Thus, a 4th level thief with a 15 dexterity has a climb walls of 88%, and is faced with a single climb of 80 feet. The thief can easily accomplish the first 27 feet; since the remaining distance is less than twice 27 feet (which would be 54 feet, and the remaining distance if 53 feet), the thief need only succeed at rolling 88 or less on a d100 in order to successfully climb to a place where rest is possible.

If the distance is greater than twice (say, it were 55 more feet), but less than five times the thief's no fault distance (a total of 135 ft. beyond the initial 27 ft.), then the thief must roll his or her climbing percentage twice to succeed in climbing that additional distance (anywhere between 82 and 162 ft.

If the distance is still greater, then the thief must roll three times to succeed in climbing a distance more than five and up to 8 times their no fault distance (up to an additional 256 ft., or between 163 and 283 ft.). Further distance calculations are based on 13 times the distance, 21 times the distance and 34 times the distance.

Obviously, a different base dexterity and a different level would modify the above numbers, which are all part of the same example.

Pitons

Modern pitons do not exist in a D&D world, but spikes may be driven into walls or rock faces as often as availability allows. If pitons are used, there is a good chance that they will belay the fall of an individual who has slipped. For the remainder of this document, pitons will refer to spikes, and not to modern mountainclimbing tools.

Pitons must be placed by persons with wisdom in order to be at their most effective. Any individual can hammer a piton into a rock; only a wise person will put it in place so as to perform its purpose. Note that proper placement of a piton does not guarantee success — but poor piton placement guarantees placement.

Piton effectiveness is never determined until such time as the piton is actually employed to arrest a fall. At that time, the individual who placed the piton (which may not be the individual who has fallen) must make a wisdom check (roll equal wisdom or less). If the wisdom check succeeds, then the piton has been placed properly and has a chance to arrest a fall. Otherwise, the piton will become unfixed from the rock when weight is applied and the piton will be useless.

The chance of a piton holding (when placed correctly) is equal to 100% minus the total weight of all persons falling divided by 50 lbs. multiplied by the number of 32 ft. distances dropped. Thus, a 150 to 199 lb. climber falls a distance of between 64 and 95 feet, which equals a subtraction of 3 x 3 percent — in which case the piton will hold if 91% or less is rolled.

The distance fallen is determined by the length of rope plus the distance above the piton prior to the actual fall.

Tying Together

If individuals tie together, without the use of a piton, the chance of a resting individual (not holding on with his or her hands) on the rock face arresting the fall of another individual is equal to a percentage of 5 times the anchor's strength minus the same percentage applied above. If this percentage fails, the anchor is pulled off the face of the climb and will fall.

If the individual is not resting, and is in fact also climbing, then the chance of that individual arresting another individual's fall is equal to twice the anchor's strength minus the usual percentage.

Unskilled Climbing

Those without sufficient knowledge in climb walls are able to perform no-fault climbing up to a distance equal to their dexterity. They are able to danger climb just as thieves do, only their percentage climb walls ability is equal to 70%, subject to race adjustments. This climb wall ability does not increase with level.

See Sure-footedness