Grip

Typically used with: Muscle.

In short: hang on. Awe your onlookers with your fearsome wall-scaling abilities. Play tug-of-war with an ox. Turn a screw with your bare hands. These are the kind of possibilities presented to characters with an exceptional Grip skill. It can be used to effectively ascend or descend vertical distances, ranging from trees and rope ladders to cliffs and glaciers, as well as maintain solid holds on objects.

Characters cannot defend themselves adequately while climbing, and take a −10 to their Defense Roll to attackers in such circumstances. A character cannot use a two-handed weapon while climbing (unless, say, the character has more than one set of arms).

If a party member climbing above you falls, you can attempt to catch him or her with a successful Lift check of 5 + 1/every 10 lbs. of the character. If you fail, the character continues falling. If you Critically Fail the roll, you follow suit in proper arm-flailing fashion. This check requires no Action Points, but you must succeed at a Reaction check against a DL of 10.

Difficulty

When Grip is used to hang on to an object, there are no set difficulties as it's usually in opposition to another character.

Climbing

The difficulty for a Grip check for climbing depends on the conditions of the surface. Detailed below are a few examples of common climbing difficulties.

Example	DL
A ladder, a very steep hill	0
A knotted rope, monkey bars	5
A tree with few branches	10
A flat rocky cliff, a pole, an unknotted rope	15
An uneven wall with small handholds	20
A wall with a very rough surface (cave wall, brick wall)	25
A rough wall with an inverse slant	30
A nearly smooth wall with incredibly tiny handholds	35
The surface is slippery (ice, grease, slime)	+5

The following table lists situational bonuses and penalties to the Grip check for climbing.

Situation	Check
The character is trying to move quickly (see above)	−10
The character can brace him or herself against a parallel surface	+10
The character uses climbing equipment	+5

A smooth, flat surface is basically impossible for mortals to Climb short of using magic spells. Magnetic boots, while not magical, allow for climbing of flat, metal surfaces at a DL of 15.

Characters who employ the use of a grappling hook with attached rope during their Climb and can brace their feet against a wall assume a difficulty of 10. If the rope is knotted, assume a difficulty of 5.

A character that cannot meet the DL for a Climb check is resultantly unable to begin scaling a surface. If he or she is already climbing and fails a check, the character is unable to continue without another check. A critical failure usually signifies falling.

Time

Climbing characters move at one-quarter speed. Characters trying to climb quickly move at half of their normal speed (with the DL penalty listed above). Other uses of Grip are usually determined instantaneously and take no AP.

Opposed Rolls

Grip can be used between two characters to vie for the same held object ("It's my locknar").

Retry

Grip checks for climbing can be retried as many times as necessary (that is, if the character hasn't already failed and fallen to an untimely death.) Other Grip checks can't be retried without the expenditure of a Fate point