balance.md

Balance

(Dex; Armor Check Penalty)

Balance on a Surface

With a successful Balance check, you can walk on a precarious surface at half speed for one move action. A failure by 4 or less means you lose that action. A failure by 5 or more means you fall prone.

The difficulty varies with the surface. Narrow surfaces are as follows:

Narrow Surface	DC
7-12 in. wide	10
2-6 in. wide	15
1-2 in. wide	20
<1 in. wide	25
Hair Thin	30

Some surfaces are hard to balance on even without being narrow:

Difficult Surface	DC
Charging/Running on uneven flagstone*	10
Charging/Running on hewn stone floor*	10
Charging/Running on sloped or angled floor*	10
Grease spell, or oil slick	10
Liquid, or fragile surface that can't normally support the character	40
Smoke and/or clouds	50

• A failure by 4 or less on a Balance check triggered by Charging/Running means that the character's Charge or Run action is converted into a normal Move action, and the character can then take a Standard Action after that.

Additional modifiers are as follows:

Surface is...	DC
Lightly obstructed	+2
Severely obstructed	+5
Lightly slippery	+2
Severely slippery	+5
Sloped or angled	+2

Being Attacked while Balancing: You are considered flat-footed while balancing, since you can't move to avoid a blow, and thus you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). If you have 5 or more ranks in Balance, you aren't considered flat-footed while balancing. If you take damage while balancing, you must immediately make another Balance check to remain standing (against the same DC as normal).

Accelerated Movement: You can try to walk across a precarious surface more quickly than normal. If you accept a -5 penalty, you can move at full speed for one move action. Moving twice requires two move actions. Charging requires one Balance check for each multiple of your speed (or fraction thereof) that you charge.

• Action: None. Balancing is always made either as part of another action, or as a reaction to the situation.
• Try Again: Yes.