Balance (Dex)
You can keep your balance while walking on a tightrope, a narrow beam, a ledge, or an uneven floor.
Check: You can walk on a precarious surface. A successful check lets you move at half your speed along the surface. A failure indicates that you can’t move for that round. A failure by 5 or more indicates that you fall. The difficulty varies with the surface.
Surface | DC |
17.5-30 cm wide | 10 |
5-15 cm wide | 15 |
Less than 5 cm wide | 20 |
Uneven floor | 10 |
Angled surface | +5* |
Slippery surface | +5* |
*Cumulative; if both apply, use both
Being Attacked While Balancing: Attacks against you while you are balancing gain a +2 bonus on the attack roll, and you lose your Dexterity bonus to Defense (if any). If you have 5 or more ranks in this skill, you retain your Dexterity bonus to Defense when attacked while balancing. If an attack deals damage to you, you immediately make a Balance check or fall.
Accelerated Movement: You can try to walk across a precarious surface more quickly than normal. You can move your full speed, but you take a -5 penalty.
Special: You can take 10 when making a Balance check, but you can’t take 20.
A character with the Lithe feat and at least 1 rank in this skill gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Balance checks.
A character with the Steady feat and at least 1 rank in this skill gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Balance checks.
Time: None. A Balance check doesn’t require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.