Armor Check Penalty
Acrobatics is a skill linked to Dexterity.
You can perform an acrobatic stunt, keep your balance while walking on narrow or unstable surfaces, slip free of a grab or restraints, or take less damage from a fall.
Acrobatic Stunt
Make an Acrobatics check to swing from a chandelier, somersault over an opponent, slide down a staircase on your shield, or attempt any other acrobatic stunt that you can imagine and that your DM agrees to let you try. The DM sets the DC based on the complexity of the stunt and the danger of the situation. If the stunt fails, you fall prone in the square where you began the stunt (the DM might change where you land, depending on the specific stunt and situation). Your DM always has the right to say that a stunt won’t work in a particular situation or to set a high DC.
- Acrobatic Stunt: Standard action or move action, depending on the stunt.
Balance
Make an Acrobatics check to move across a surface less than 1 foot wide (such as a ledge or a tightrope) or across an unstable surface(such as a wind-tossed rope bridge or a rocking log).
- Balance: Part of a move action.
- DC: See the table.
- Success: You can move one-half your speed across a narrow or unstable surface.
- Fail by 4 or Less: You stay in the square you started in and lose the rest of your move action, but you don’t fall. You can try again as part of a move action.
- Fail by 5 or More: You fall off the surface (see Falling) and lose the rest of your move action. If you are trying to move across an unstable surface that isn’t narrow, you instead fall prone in the square you started in. You can try again as part of a move action if you’re still on the surface.
- Grant Combat Advantage: While you are balancing, enemies have combat advantage against you.
- Taking Damage: If you take damage, you must make a new Acrobatics check to remain standing.
| Surface | Acrobatics DC |
|---|---|
| Unstable | Moderate [RC:132] |
| Narrow (less than 1 foot wide) | Moderate (+5 if unstable) [RC:132] |
| Very narrow (less than 6 inches) | Hard (+5 if unstable) [RC:132] |
The DCs were previously used fixed values. In the original PHB, the DC was 20 for narrow or unstable surfaces, and increased by +5 if it was very narrow (less than six inches), or both narrow and unstable.
Escape from a Grab
Make an Acrobatics check to wriggle out of a grab(see Escape). You can also make escape attempts to get away from other immobilizing effects, as directed by your DM.
Escape from Restraints
Make an Acrobatics check to slip free of restraints.
- Escape from Restraints: 5 minutes. Alternativly, the creature can attempt to make the check as a standard action but this increases the DC by +5.
- DC: Hard DC of creature's level.
- Success: You slip free of a physical restraint.
- Failure: The creature can try again only if someone else provides assistance (such as through the aid another action).
The base DC was originally 20, and increased by +10 for a fast attempt to escape.
Hop Down
An acrobatics check can be used to avoid damage from a 10 foot fall.
- Action: Part of the move action, but can also be part of any of the creature's actions that involve movement.
Reduce Falling Damage (Trained Only)
If you fall or jump down from a height, you can make an Acrobatics check to reduce the amount of falling damage you take.
- Reduce Falling Damage: Free action, as it is a response to falling.
- Damage Reduced: Make an Acrobatics check, and reduce the amount of falling damage you take by one-half your check result (round down). If the damage is reduced to 0, the creature lands standing.
Example: The floor beneath Kora swings open over a pit, and she makes an Acrobatics check to reduce the falling damage. The pit is 40 feet deep, resulting in 24 points of damage (from a roll of 4d10). Her Acrobatics check result is 21, which reduces the damage by 10. She takes 14 points of damage from the fall.