Balance

Balance (Dex; Armour Check Penalty)

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 as a move-equivalent action. A successful check lets you move at half your speed along the surface for 1 round. A failure means that you can't move for 1 round. A failure by 5 or more means that you fall. The difficulty varies with the surface:

Surface	DC
7-12 inches wide	10
2-6 inches wide	15
Less than 2 inches wide	20
Uneven floor	10
Surface angled	+5*
Surface slippery	+5*

Modifiers marked with * are cumulative; if both apply, use both.

Being Attacked while Walking a Tightrope: Attacks against you are made as if you were off balance: They gain a +2 attack bonus, and you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC, if any. If you have 5 or more ranks in Balance, then you can retain your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) in the face of attacks. If you take damage, you must make a check again to stay on the tightrope.

Accelerated Movement: You can try to walk a precarious surface more quickly than normal. If you accept a -5 penalty, you can move your full speed as a move-equivalent action. (Moving twice your speed in a round requires two checks.)

Special: If you have 5 or more ranks in Tumble, you get a +2 synergy bonus on Balance checks.