Climb command

Climb
Moves you past a climbable obstacle by testing your Athletics skill, optionally with a climbing tool such as a rope. A practice mode trains climbing without moving you.
CLIMB <obstacle> You see: You pick your way up the wall, but reach a point where your footing is questionable. Reluctantly, you climb back down.   Roundtime: 5 sec. Others see: <Name> starts to climb up the wall but doesn't quite make it. You see: You start up the wall, but slip after a few feet and fall to the ground! You are unharmed but feel foolish. Others see: <Name> begins climbing up the wall, but slips and falls on <his/her> rump! CLIMB <obstacle> WITH <tool> You see: You use a coil of heavy rope to aid your climb. Others see: <Name> uses a coil of heavy rope to aid in <his/her> climb. CLIMB PRACTICE <obstacle> You see: You begin to practice your climbing skills. Others see: <Name> begins to practice <his/her> climbing skills. You see: You continue to practice your climbing skills. Others see: <Name> continues to practice <his/her> climbing skills. You see: You finish practicing your climbing skill and take a well-earned break. Others see: <Name> stops practicing <his/her> climbing skills. STOP CLIMB You see: You stop practicing your climbing skills. Others see: <Name> stops practicing <his/her> climbing skills.

Syntax

• CLIMB <climbable item>

Attempt to climb the obstacle. The obstacle may also be a direction such as UP or DOWN where the room offers one.

• CLIMB <climbable item> WITH <climbing tool>

Climb using a tool for a bonus to the attempt, at the cost of reduced experience. Coiled ropes, such as the heavy rope sold at Berolt's Dry Goods in Crossing, are the supported tools.

• CLIMB PRACTICE <climbable item>

Enter practice mode on the obstacle. You do not move, and you gain climbing experience for as long as the session lasts.

• STOP CLIMB

End a practice session.

• CLIMB HELP

Display the helpfile.

Game Helpfile

CLIMB:  Allows you to climb various things like a tree, ladder, or stairs.

  CLIMB (target)                  Basic Climb to get past obstacles.
  CLIMB (target) WITH (tool)      Some tools like rope may make a climb easier.
  CLIMB PRACTICE (target)         Enter practice mode to learn climbing.

Usage

Obstacles come in two grades. Easy stairs and steps are a simple climb that anyone can make for a small fatigue cost. Everything else is a full test of Athletics against the difficulty of the obstacle.

Success moves you to the room on the other side, with arrival messaging supplied by the obstacle itself. Failure keeps you where you are and applies a roundtime of two to ten seconds, scaled to how far short of the climb you fell.

Failing to climb up something can drop you. One of the four upward failures slips you off the obstacle and lands you on the ground sitting, so you have to STAND before you can try again. The fall itself does no harm on a standard climb.

A few special climbs, such as the Aesry stairs and the cliff on Hara'jaal, use their own custom mechanics rather than the standard check, and some of those are genuinely dangerous: a bad enough failure can drop you the full height of the climb, wounding you, leaving you prone, and costing a roundtime of its own.

DRAGGING someone or something through a climbable portal becomes a climb attempt automatically. This is more difficult than a normal climb, and a failure results in "It's too difficult, and you can't manage it."

Things that help

• Appraising the obstacle before the attempt grants a bonus scaled to how well you appraised it.
• Both Agility and Strength aid the climb, so anything that raises either helps.
• A climbing tool held in hand, most commonly a coiled rope.
• Following a group leader who succeeds at the climb. Anyone who would not have made it without that bonus earns reduced experience for the climb.
• Rangers leading a group gain an additional bonus based on their Scouting skill.

Things that hinder

• Fatigue. The more difficult the climb, the greater the fatigue cost, and climbing while already fatigued lowers your chances.
• Items in your hands. The penalty scales with the size of the item and doubles when both hands are full. A climbing tool is exempt on its own, but the both-hands-full penalty still applies if you are holding something else as well.
• Encumbrance.
• Wounds. Climbs harder than stairs and steps check every limb, not just the legs.

Experience

Climbing from one place to another is on an experience timer of roughly 45 to 60 seconds per obstacle, counted separately for each direction, so climbing back and forth repeatedly teaches poorly.

Practice mode sidesteps that timer entirely. It awards experience that builds over the session, does not move you, and does not touch the travel timer, but it heavily restricts what else you can do while it runs. A practice session ends on its own if you engage in combat, leave the area, or if the obstacle turns out to be too easy or too difficult for your skill.

Failure Messaging

Which failure you get is chosen at random from one of three sets. Obstacles that are phrased as a climb straight up or straight down each have their own set; every other climbable obstacle draws from a third, direction-neutral set. The obstacle name varies; a wall is used below.

Climbing up

You see	Others see
You approach the wall, but the steepness is intimidating.	<Name> approaches the wall, glances nervously upward, and backs away.
You pick your way up the wall, but reach a point where your footing is questionable. Reluctantly, you climb back down.	<Name> starts to climb up the wall but doesn't quite make it.
You start up the wall, but slip after a few feet and fall to the ground! You are unharmed but feel foolish. Leaves you sitting.	<Name> begins climbing up the wall, but slips and falls on <his/her> rump! If you are invisible, the room hears only "You hear a thud."
You make your way up the wall. Partway up, you make the mistake of looking down. Struck by vertigo, you cling to the wall for a few moments, then slowly climb back down.	<Name> starts to climb up the wall, but finds it too difficult.

Climbing down

You see	Others see
Trying to judge the climb, you peer over the edge. A wave of dizziness hits you, and you back away from the wall.	<Name> approaches the wall, but is struck by a wave of dizziness and backs away.
You attempt to climb down the wall, but you can't seem to find purchase.	<Name> starts to climb down the wall but finds it too difficult.
You start down the wall, but you find it hard going. Rather than risking a fall, you make your way back up.	<Name> starts to climb the wall but doesn't quite make it.

Other climbs

Used by every climbable obstacle that is not phrased as a plain climb up or down. This includes sideways climbs along something such as a vine or a ledge, and also some obstacles that are vertical but phrased differently, so the messaging here names no direction.

You see	Others see
Before you get very far, you are gripped by a sudden paralyzing fear of heights.	<Name> starts to climb the wall but doesn't quite make it.
You begin to climb the wall, but find it too difficult. You retreat the way you came.	<Name> starts to climb the wall but finds it too difficult.
Partway through the climb, your foot slips and you nearly fall! Shaken, you go back the way you came.	<Name> starts to climb the wall but finds it too difficult.
You start to climb the wall. The farther you go, the more difficult the climb gets. Finally you give up the climb, returning the way you came.	<Name> starts to climb the wall but doesn't quite make it.

Other refusals:

• You can't climb that.
• What were you referring to?
• You will have to open it up first!
• Stand up first.
• You are too tired to climb that.
• Your broadsword makes the climb more difficult. — a warning, not a refusal; the climb still proceeds at a penalty.
• You are already practicing your climbing skills.
• You are engaged in combat, so you cease to practice your climbing skills.
• You are no longer near your practice area, so you cease to practice your climbing skills.
• This climb is no challenge at all, so you stop practicing.
• This climb is too difficult, so you stop practicing.

When part of your group is likely to be left behind, the climb is held up until you confirm it by climbing again:

[Rendarn and Sidorio are having problems making the climb and may get left behind. If you wish to continue climbing anyway, climb again.]

See Also

• GO
• SWIM
• APPRAISE
• Athletics skill
• Climbing and Swimming list

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