Bear climbing a rope?

[jlhorner1974]

That's kind of odd, IMO. And yes, I agree with you from a game perspective, but it doesn't seem to jive with reality. Maybe bears are a little better than I thought in real life, but the actual infromation I got about bears climbing in the real world is based on the Encarta article about bears, so I don't think I'm too far off.

I know bears are capable of climbing trees (and I've seem them do it on film) but +10 just seems like a lot to me. I mean, by the rules, a bear would get a hefty bonus when climbing a mountain, with the +10 and the bear's formidable Str mod. But I just don't see that happening. At all. What bonus do monkeys get? Climbing should be a cakewalk for them. If a bear gets +10, a monkey should get +20 at least. Monkeys are in trees most of the time, and I don't think most bears are. But that's a different subject altogether.

Based on what Lucius said, in the strictest sense of the game rules, bears have a hefty bonus to their Climb skill, so it should possible from a completely rule-based perspective. But I think that this is so unrealistic that as a DM, you really have to step in and say, this is just so far out there that it isn't gonna happen.

As the other posters mentioned, climbing an average sized rope is hardly the same as climbing a big tree, and I suspect that the bear's (relatively large) bonus to Climb is supposed to reflect the fact that they are decent tree climbers. D&D often involves suspending belief in terms of rule interpretation, but IMO, a bear climbing a rope is just too much belief for me to suspend.

 

[smetzger]

By the rules a Black Bear can climb up a Dungeon wall if it rolls a 14 on its climb check (they have +6 and a dungeon wall is DC 20).

There is nothing in the rules that indicate a bear cannot climb a rope.

Also, a dog would be able to climb a rope by the rules.

 

[jlhorner1974]

Acutally, by the rules, just about anything could climb a normal rope with at least a 30% chance of success since Climb is an untrained skill and climbing a normal rope is DC 15 (a rope created by the rope trick spell is only DC 5).

So by the rules, an elephant, a hippopotamus, a horse, a moose, and a bull would all have at least a 30% chance to climb a normal rope, right? (and since most of them have good strength scores, it would actually be much more than 30% for many of them).

I think this exercise in ludicrosity clearly implies that there has to be a point where as a DM, you have to step in and say, "no, an elephant cannot climb a rope".

 

[Zad]

How much does the bear weigh? (With or without poo)

How much weight can the rope hold?

It's ridiculous for a bear to be climbing a rope. Can't grip it, certainly not with enough strength.

But even if you, say, tie the rope around the bear, how much weight can the rope stand before it snaps?

(I can't find anything useful in the SRD but...)

 

[Fast Learner]

Note, though, that the player could cast rope trick such that the opening was only 5' off the ground, and the bear should be able to stand up and pull himself in without the rope.

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Note, though, that the player could cast rope trick such that the opening was only 5' off the ground, and the bear should be able to stand up and pull himself in without the rope.

Fast Leaner .. you are the MAN! That will totally work. Take that you magnificent bastard of a DM, Tom Cashel!!!

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

I think this exercise in ludicrosity clearly implies that there has to be a point where as a DM, you have to step in and say, "no, an elephant cannot climb a rope".

Ummm... he could pull himself up with his trunk.

 

[Epametheus]

Dire Elephants have a +23 to climb checks. +8 of that is actually skill ranks.

Which causes me to wonder, "what the hell could a dire elephant possibly climb?" Do these things go on expeditions to Mt. Everest? Anything that showed up in their native habitat, up to and including houses, could just be knocked over if they wanted to get at something at the top. By by the rules this colossus could actually hang from a ceiling on a roll of 2 or better.

It's almost as silly as the fact that under CoC d20 rules, Azathoth has a +5 to its hide check (the +20 it gets to all of its checks basically by virtue of being Azathoth isn't factored into its stats block for some reason, though). Nevertheless, a creature of infinite size actually gets a postive hide modifier...

"look, it's the center of the universe!"
"Huh? I don't see anything."

 

[Tom Cashel]

(claps the Core Rules on the back a few times)

Core Rules: *BU-U-RRP!*

Now doesn't that feel better?

 

[Drawmack]

My responses to things like this are usually

Sure your bear can climb a rope, but my vampire has dentures and can bite you as a ranged attack.