MSRD:Balance (Skill)
Balance (Dex; Armor Penalty)
Check: The character can walk on a precarious surface. A successful check lets the character move at half his or her speed along the surface as a move action. A failure indicates that the character spends his or her move action keeping his or her balance and does not move. A failure by 5 or more indicates that the character falls. The difficulty varies with the conditions of the surface.
| Narrow Surface | DC* | Difficult Surface | DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 in. wide | 10 | Uneven or angled | 10 |
| 2–6 in. wide | 15 | Slippery surface | 10 |
| Less than 2 in. wide | 20 | ||
| *Add +5 to the DC if the narrow surface is slippery or angled; add +10 if it is both slippery and angled. | |||
Being Attacked While Balancing: While balancing, the character is flat-footed (the character loses his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense, if the character has one), unless the character has 5 or more ranks in Balance. If the character takes damage, he or she must make a Balance check again to remain standing.
Accelerated Movement: The character can try to cross a precarious surface more quickly than normal. The character can move his or her full speed, but the character takes a –5 penalty on his or her Balance check. (Moving twice the character’s speed in a round requires two checks, one for each move action.)
The character can attempt to charge across a precarious surface. Charging requires one Balance check at a –5 penalty for each multiple of the character’s speed (or fraction thereof) that the character charges.
Special: A character can take 10 when making a Balance check, but can’t take 20.
A character with the Focused feat gets a +2 bonus on all Balance checks.
Time: Balancing while moving one-half the character’s speed is a move action.
Accelerated movement, allowing the character to balance while moving his or her full speed, is also a move action.
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