Spider Climb

[pmlyon]

I just had a situation where my players circumvented making a climb check on an extremly slippery surface.

The rules for a creature with a climb speed say "The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0". However, the rules for Spider Climb say "it need not make Climb checks to traverse a vertical or horizontal surface".

As they climbed a vertical surface, the spell (as written) says they need not make a check, without any mention of the DC.

This seems like a cheesy way to bypass a climb check on any horizontal or vertical surface.

Is this correct??

 

[Infiniti2000]

That's correct per the spell description. I'm not sure why you think it's cheesy since that's the purpose of the spell.

 

[Len]

Is this correct??

Yes, that is precisely the purpose of the spell.

Note that it's not as useful as Slippers of Spider Climbing, because the spell requires you to use your hands to climb but the slippers leave your hands free for fighting or making rude gestures or whatever.

 

[Aeson]

Seems ok to me. Many spells look cheesy until you need to use it then it is the best spell in the world.

 

[RigaMortus]

What did you think the spell was used for?

 

[IronWolf]

Sounds right to me. I think that is spider climb's purpose to let you scale walls and such that were potentially unscalable.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yes, that is precisely the purpose of the spell.

Note that it's not as useful as Slippers of Spider Climbing, because the spell requires you to use your hands to climb but the slippers leave your hands free for fighting or making rude gestures or whatever.

The Slippers would have been of no use in this situation; they have an extra restriction that the spell does not.

"Severely slippery surfaces—icy, oiled, or greased surfaces— make these slippers useless."

The original poster noted "I just had a situation where my players circumvented making a climb check on an extremly slippery surface."... the very situation where the spell trumps the slippers.

-Hyp.

 

[Bront]

The spell is always open to interpretation. If you simply want to grant a bonus and make them make a check in this instance, that's your ruling.

My favorite use for spider climb was to prevent someone from being thrown durring a Bullette riding contest.

 

[RigaMortus]

The spell is always open to interpretation. If you simply want to grant a bonus and make them make a check in this instance, that's your ruling.

My favorite use for spider climb was to prevent someone from being thrown durring a Bullette riding contest.

Is that Bullette as in "bullet" or as in "boo-lay"?

 

[Bront]

Is that Bullette as in "bullet" or as in "boo-lay"?

as in Land Shark (I may have had an extra L)