Grip

Typically used with: Muscle.

In short: hang on. Awe your onlookers with your fearsome wall-scaling abilities. Clutch onto a bucking bronco. 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 as well as maintain solid holds on objects.

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
A neighboring surface can be used for support	+5
The character uses climbing equipment	+5

A smooth, flat surface is basically impossible for mortals to Climb short of using magic spells. A device such as magnetic boots, while not magical, allow for climbing of flat, metal surfaces at a DL of 10.

Characters cannot defend themselves adequately while climbing, and are considered Wide-eyed to attackers in such circumstances (just like in an opposed Grab; in this case you're wrestling the wall). 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 Might check. If you fail, the character continues falling. If you Critically Fail the roll, you follow suit in proper arm-flailing fashion.

Time

Climbing characters can move half their speed per AP (e.g. 5 feet/AP for humans). 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").

When creatures of different sizes roll opposed Grip checks, each should add its Size Muscle Bonus. As noted in the Size table in the Life and Death chapter, a creature's Muscle Bonus is its Size × 5. Thus, firnoy have a penalty of −5 and kulgeris have a bonus of +5. This modifier should only be included when those rolling have different Size scores.

Retry

A character who fails a Grip check to climb is unable to begin scaling a surface. If he's already climbing and fails a check, the character stalls for a round. If he critically fails, he plummets straight down.

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 spending a Fate point