Acrobatics

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Acrobatics (DEX)

You can keep your balance while traversing narrow or treacherous surfaces. You can also dive, flip, jump, and roll, avoiding attacks and confusing your opponents.

The following modifiers apply to all Acrobatics skill checks. The modifiers stack with one another, but only the most severe modifier for any given condition applies.

Acrobatics Modifiers	DC Modifier
Lightly Obstructed (gravel, sand)	+2
Severely Obstructed (cavern, rubble)	+5
Slightly Slippery (wet)	+2
Severely Slippery (icy)	+5
Slightly Sloped (<45°)	+2
Severely Sloped (>45°)	+5
Slightly Unsteady (boat in rough water)	+2
Mildly Unsteady (boat in a storm)	+5
Severely Unsteady (earthquake)	+10
Move at full speed on narrow or uneven surfaces	+51

¹ - This does not apply to checks made to jump.

Common Uses

The Acrobatics skill has three distinct uses:

1. Cross Narrow Surfaces/Uneven Ground
2. Move Through Threatened Squares
3. Jumping and Falling

Cross Narrow Surfaces/Uneven Ground

First, you can use Acrobatics to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling. A successful check allows you to move at half speed across such surfaces—only one check is needed per round. Use the following table to determine the base DC, which is then modified by the Acrobatics skill modifiers noted below. While you are using Acrobatics in this way, you are considered flat-footed and lose your Dexterity bonus to your AC (if any). If you take damage while using Acrobatics, you must immediately make another Acrobatics check at the same DC to avoid falling or being knocked prone.

Surface Width Base	Acrobatics DC
Greater than 3 feet wide	01
1–3 feet wide	51
7–11 inches wide	10
2–6 inches wide	15
Less than 2 inches wide	20

¹ - No Acrobatics check is needed to move across these surfaces unless the modifiers increase the DC to 10 or higher.

Cross Narrow Surface DC Modifiers

• Balancing Pole: Using a balancing pole while traversing a narrow surface grants a +1 circumstance bonus to the Acrobatics check.

Move Through Threatened Squares

In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics. When moving in this way, you move at half speed. You can move at full speed by increasing the DC of the check by 10. You cannot use Acrobatics to move past foes if your speed is reduced due to carrying a medium or heavy load or wearing medium or heavy armor. If an ability allows you to move at full speed under such conditions, you can use Acrobatics to move past foes. You can use Acrobatics in this way while prone, but doing so requires a full-round action to move 5 feet, and the DC is increased by 5. If you attempt to move through an enemy’s space and fail the check, you lose the move action and provoke an attack of opportunity.

Situation	Base Acrobatics DC1
Move through a threatened area	Opponent’s Combat Maneuver Defense
Move through an enemy’s space	5 + Opponent’s Combat Maneuver Defense

¹ - This DC is used to avoid an attack of opportunity due to movement. This penalty increases by +2 for each additional opponent avoided in one round.

Jumping and Falling

Finally, you can use the Acrobatics skill to make jumps or to soften a fall. The base DC to make a jump is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or four times the height to be reached (if vertical). These DCs double if you do not have at least 10 feet of space to get a running start. The only Acrobatics modifiers that apply are those concerning the surface you are jumping from. If you fail this check by 4 or less, you can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save to grab hold of the other side after having missed the jump. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to make the jump and fall (or land prone, in the case of a vertical jump).

Long Jump	Acrobatics DC
5 feet	5
10 feet	10
15 feet	15
20 feet	20
Greater than 20 feet	+5 per 5 feet

High Jump	Acrobatics DC
1 foot	4
2 feet	8
3 feet	12
4 feet	16
Greater than 4 feet	+4 per foot

Jump DC Modifiers

• Faster Base Movement: Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet. Creatures with a base land speed below 30 feet receive a –4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed below 30 feet. No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round.
• Running Jump: For a running jump, the result of your Acrobatics check indicates the distance traveled in the jump (and if the check fails, the distance at which you actually land and fall prone). Halve this result for a standing long jump to determine where you land. Also, see Pole.
• Pole: If you use a pole as part of a running jump, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on your Acrobatics check (but must let go of the pole in the process).
• Falling: When you deliberately fall any distance, even as a result of a missed jump, a DC 15 Acrobatics skill check allows you to ignore the first 10 feet fallen, although you still end up prone if you take damage from a fall. See Falling Damage for more details.)

Special Situation: Diving or Jumping into Water

Characters who jump or dive into water take no damage on a successful DC 15 Acrobatics skill check, so long as the water is at least 10 feet deep for every 30 feet fallen. Water 30 feet deep is sufficient for a dive from any height. However, the DC of the check increases by 5 for every 50 feet of the dive. Table: Diving summarizes these rules.

If the water is not deep enough for a safe dive, add 5 to the DC and treat your dive or fall as 30 feet higher than its actual height on the Table: Diving.

Dive Height	Minimum Safe Depth	Acrobatics DC	Damage for Failed Dive
10 ft.	10 ft.	15	None
20 ft.	10 ft.	15	None
30 ft.	10 ft.	15	1d3 nonlethal
40 ft.	20 ft.	15	2d3 nonlethal
50 ft.	20 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal +1d6
60 ft.	20 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 2d6
70 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 3d6
80 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 4d6
90 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 5d6
100 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 6d6
110 ft.	30 ft.	25	2d3 nonlethal + 7d6
120 ft.	30 ft.	25	2d3 nonlethal + 8d6
160 ft.	30 ft.	30	2d3 nonlethal + 12d6
210 ft.	30 ft.	35	2d3 nonlethal + 17d6
240 ft.	30 ft.	35	2d3 nonlethal + 20d6*

^* - Maximum falling damage.

Action: None. An Acrobatics check is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.

Modifiers

Skills If you have 3 or more ranks in Acrobatics, you gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of the usual +2, and a +6 dodge bonus to AC when taking the total defense action instead of the usual +4. Feats If you have the Acrobatic feat, you get a +2 bonus on all Acrobatics checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in Acrobatics, the bonus increases to +4.

Long Jump

A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap like a chasm or stream. At the midpoint of the jump, you attain a vertical height equal to one-quarter of the horizontal distance.

If your check succeeds, you land on your feet at the far end. If you fail the check by less than 5, you don’t clear the distance, but you can make a DC 15 Reflex save to grab the far edge of the gap. You end your movement grasping the far edge. If that leaves you dangling over a chasm or gap, getting up requires a move action and a DC 15 Climb check.

High Jump

Creature Size	Vertical Reach
Colossal	128 ft.
Gargantuan	64 ft.
Huge	32 ft.
Large	16 ft.
Medium	8 ft.
Small	4 ft.
Tiny	2 ft.
Diminutive	1 ft.
Fine	1/2 ft.

A high jump is a vertical leap made to reach a ledge high above or to grasp something overhead.

If you jumped up to grab something, a successful check indicates that you reached the desired height. If you wish to pull yourself up, you can do so with a move action and a DC 15 Climb check. If you fail the Acrobatics check to jump, you do not reach the height, and you land on your feet in the same spot from which you jumped. As with a long jump, the DC is doubled if you do not get a running start of at least 20 feet.

Obviously, the difficulty of reaching a given height varies according to the size of the character or creature. The maximum vertical reach (height the creature can reach without jumping) for an average creature of a given size is shown on the table below. (As a Medium creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.)

Quadrupedal creatures don’t have the same vertical reach as a bipedal creature; treat them as being one size category smaller.

Hop Up

You can jump up onto an object as tall as your waist, such as a table or small boulder, with a DC 10 Acrobatics (jump) check. Doing so counts as 10 feet of movement, so if your speed is 30 feet, you could move 20 feet, then hop up onto a counter. You do not need to get a running start to hop up, so the DC is not doubled if you do not get a running start.

Epic Skill Uses

Note: All uses below require a minimum of 21 Ranks in the skill to use.

Light Step

(DC 40 + 10 per 50 lbs of weight)

You can balance on a solid surface that could not normally take your body weight. (Example: bamboo branch, etc.) The DC for this check increases by 10 for every 50 lbs you weigh (including items and equipment you carry). You still have weight and the laws of inertia still apply.

Epic Jumps

(DC is normal jump DC + 10 per 5 feet above your maximum move)

You can make a Jump check greater than your movement speed. The DC for every 5 feet beyond your maximum movement speed is +10 to the DC.

Walk On Water

(DC 80 + 10 per 50 lbs of weight)

Walk On Gaseous Surface

(DC 110 + 10 per 50 lbs of weight)

Balancing on a hair-thin surface

(DC 60)