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Climbing and falling
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<blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 8086544" data-attributes="member: 6809274"><p>Climbing checks can be made either during exploration or combat.</p><p></p><p>My games don't feature all that much exploration. If they did, I'd use climbing checks to determine how long it took to climb the surface, or whether a character lost equipment or hit dice, etc. It would basically be a way of determining resource attrition.</p><p></p><p>In combat, I use climbable surfaces as an interesting terrain feature to make the encounter more cinematic. For example, in my Dragon Heist game I recently set an encounter in the Shadow Clock, which I lifted from the Skinsaw Murders adventure in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. Inside the clock tower was a spiral staircase that rose 100 feet to the top of the tower. At two levels inside the tower I placed huge webs spun by giant spiders. PCs who fell off the stairs would land on the webs, becoming prey for the spiders. The primary foes then hacked loose the bells, which ripped huge gaps in the staircase as they plummeted to the ground. The result is that PCs were forced to jump or climb to traverse the gaps. This made the combat on the staircase much more dynamic and unpredictable. And, as I said, falling simply resulted in PCs becoming ensnared in the giant spider's web.</p><p></p><p>Short version: I don't use climbing checks to determine falling damage or to make fallen PCs feel incompetent.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="THEMNGMNT, post: 8086544, member: 6809274"] Climbing checks can be made either during exploration or combat. My games don't feature all that much exploration. If they did, I'd use climbing checks to determine how long it took to climb the surface, or whether a character lost equipment or hit dice, etc. It would basically be a way of determining resource attrition. In combat, I use climbable surfaces as an interesting terrain feature to make the encounter more cinematic. For example, in my Dragon Heist game I recently set an encounter in the Shadow Clock, which I lifted from the Skinsaw Murders adventure in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. Inside the clock tower was a spiral staircase that rose 100 feet to the top of the tower. At two levels inside the tower I placed huge webs spun by giant spiders. PCs who fell off the stairs would land on the webs, becoming prey for the spiders. The primary foes then hacked loose the bells, which ripped huge gaps in the staircase as they plummeted to the ground. The result is that PCs were forced to jump or climb to traverse the gaps. This made the combat on the staircase much more dynamic and unpredictable. And, as I said, falling simply resulted in PCs becoming ensnared in the giant spider's web. Short version: I don't use climbing checks to determine falling damage or to make fallen PCs feel incompetent. [/QUOTE]
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