Athletics (STR)

The Athletics skill determines the physical feats that a character is capable of accomplishing. A character with high Athletics is capable of running longer, jumping higher, and swimming or climbing faster than their peers.

Athletics is most commonly used to climb along surfaces, to swim, and to jump. Each section below provides some further detail on this. At GM discretion, certain conditions may make these example DCs easier or harder.

With a successful Athletics check, you can advance up, down, or across a slope, wall, or other steep incline (or even across a ceiling, provided it has handholds) at one-quarter your normal speed. A slope is considered to be any incline at an angle measuring less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline at an angle measuring 60 degrees or more. An Athletics check that fails by 4 or less means that you make no progress, and one 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 conditions of the climb. Compare the task with those on the following table to determine an appropriate DC.

You need both hands free to climb, but you may cling to a wall with one hand while you cast a spell or take some other action that requires only one hand. While climbing, you can’t move to avoid a blow, so you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). You also can’t use a shield while climbing. Anytime you take damage while climbing, make an Athletics check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage.

Make an Athletics check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to half your speed (as a full-round action) or at a quarter of your speed (as a move action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater.

If you are underwater, either because you failed an Athletics to swim, or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action or a full-round action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round (effectively, a character in combat can hold his breath only half as long as normal). After that period of time, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the Constitution check, you begin to drown. The DC for the Athletics check depends on the water, as given on the table below.

Finally, you can use the Athletics Skill to make jumps or to soften a fall. The base DC to make a jump is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or four times the height to be reached (if vertical). These DCs double if you do not have at least 10 feet of space to get a running start. The only Athletics modifiers that apply are those concerning the surface you are jumping from. If you fail this check by 4 or less, you can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save to grab hold of the other side after having missed the jump. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to make the jump and fall (or land prone, in the case of a vertical jump).

You may apply the following modifiers to jump checks:

• Faster Base Movement: Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on Athletics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet. Creatures with a base land speed below 30 feet receive a –4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed below 30 feet. No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round.
• Running Jump: For a running jump, the result of your Athletics check indicates the distance traveled in the jump (and if the check fails, the distance at which you actually land and fall prone). Halve this result for a standing long jump to determine where you land. Also, see Pole.
• Pole: If you use a pole as part of a running jump, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on your Athletics check (but must let go of the pole in the process).