Climber's Kit
From climbing dangerous cliffs to scaling ice covered mountains to even scaling a castle wall, the Climber's Kit can allow you to get into places you just shouldn't be in.
Climber's Kit
A climber's kit includes 10 special pitons, boot tips, gloves, 50 feet of hempen rope, and a harness.
Climber's Kit weighs 22 lbs and costs 25 gp.
Using Your Kit
You can use the climber's kit as an action to anchor yourself; when you do, you can't fall more than 25 feet from the point where you anchored yourself, and you can't climb more than 25 feet away from that point without undoing the anchor.
You can create a number of anchors equal to the number of pitons that you have available, allowing others to utilize your anchors or for you to use them at a later date.
Climbing
There are a wide variety of situations when it comes to climbing and just as many dangers. Falling is one of the most common dangers of climbing, though sudden rock slides, mud slides, frayed rope, storms, and magic can also be a danger for anyone.
Movement
Most times while climbing a surface, this activity requires no check except each foot of movement costs you 1 extra foot, and difficult terrain costing an additional 1 foot of movement.
Dangerous Terrain
When attempting to climb dangerous terrain, you are required to make a Strength (Athletics) check appropriate to the terrain you are climbing, see the chart below. This check is only made if you have no rope to climb up and is to be repeated for every 100 feet you climb, though having certain gear, like the boot tips from the Climber's Kit, can provide advantage on the check per the DM's discretion.
Magical Terrain
Sometimes you might find yourself in a situation that requires you to climb up magical surfaces or deal with magical situations outside of your control. In these situations, the DM might decide that you must make a Strength (Athletics) check more often, that your Climber's Kit gear isn't effective or that you can not use pitons to anchor yourself. A few examples of magical terrain is provided later on.
Utilizing Rope
When climbing, being able to use rope will typically remove any Strength (Athletics) checks, though climbing the rope still costs 1 extra foot of movement for each foot you climb. This rope must be properly anchored or tied off to a sturdy object such as the crenellations along a wall or to a suitably large outcropping or tree.
Falling
On a failed Strength (Athletics) check, if the climber failed the DC by 5 or more, they fall. If they failed the check by less than 5, they simply make no progress on their climb.
If a creature is using the pitons found in a Climber's Kit and have anchored themselves, they are caught before they fall to the ground beneath them.
Variant: Poor Anchors
Under this variant rule, whenever a creature falls and they have attached anchors to the wall they must roll a d20 to determine how effective the piton is. On a result of a 1, the anchor they placed into the wall fails and they continue falling, either to the next anchor or to the ground. If there is another anchor that would catch them after the first, they must repeat the roll but the chances of this second anchor to fail are increased by +1 so that a result of a 1 or 2 on the d20 results in that anchor failing as well.
This chance is cumulative across each anchor with each previous anchor failing resulting in the next one having a +1 chance of failure on a d20 roll, up to a maximum of 19 on the d20 roll. This fall can only end by the falling creature hitting the ground, an anchor catching them or by using a spell, like feather fall, to save them.
Example Terrain
| Terrain | Climb DC |
Advantage with Climber's Kit? |
|---|---|---|
| Mundane | - | - |
| Rocky Cliffs | N/A | Yes |
| Smooth Cliffs | 10 | Yes |
| Castle Walls | 5 | Yes |
| Waterfall | 15 | No |
| Violent Storm | +5/10/15 | Maybe |
| Magical | - | - |
| Magical Walls | 10 | Yes |
| Gargantuan Construct | 15 | No |
| Wizard's Tower | 20 | No |
Mundane Terrain Examples
Rocky Cliffs
These rocky cliffs provide ample footholds and handholds to climb up, allowing anyone to easily move up its surface.
Smooth Cliffs
These cliffs are almost completely smooth, offering little in the way of natural handholds or footholds. This requires a climber with some skill in climbing and they must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to move 100 feet up its surface.
Castle Walls
These walls offer jutting bricks and rough mortar as small handholds to assist in your climb. A climber must succeed on a DC 5 Strength (Athletics) check to move 100 feet up its surface.
Waterfalls
Forced to climb up a waterfall, the crashing water is constantly trying to knock you off and dash you on the rocks below. A climber must succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to force themselves up against the thundering water and its slippery handholds. If a climber does not have any gear to assist in the climb, like boot tips, they have disadvantage on any checks to climb up its slippery surface. If you have the appropriate equipment, you do not suffer disadvantage on the climb.
Violent Storm
As you are climbing up a surface, a storm has erupted around you. With winds threatening to rip you off the surface, you must fight hard to climb up the slippery walls and not fall to your death. The DC for climbing is the base DC of the wall you are climbing plus an increase to the DC by 5, 10 or 15 depending on how bad the storm is.
A light rain only makes the surface slippery increasing the base DC by 5. A storm with winds up to 10 MPH increases the base DC by 10, while a raging storm with winds reaching up to 20 MPH increases the DC by 15. If the climber is trying to attempt a climb during a hurricane or similar weather event, the DC might increase even more or become impossible depending on the situation.
Boot tips and similar climbing gear is required in order to not have disadvantage on climbing up the surface. If you have the appropriate equipment, you do not suffer disadvantage.
Magical Terrain Examples
Magical Walls
These walls have been enchanted to throw climbers off and the stones are constantly moving and shifting, or they just are illusions used to confuse climbers. While climbing these walls, the climber must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check in order to make progress.
If there are illusions covering parts of the wall, the climber may first have to succeed on an Investigation check against the DC of the illusion in order to perform their Athletics check and to make progress.
Gargantuan Construct
You are attempting to climb the massive legs of a giant construct that towers high above you. Every round you are climbing, you must succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check in order to cling to the legs of this construct as it walks forward, jostling and tossing you about.
If the construct isn't moving, the difficulty of climbing this construct is only DC 5. Due to the impenetrable metal plating, your climbing gear can not work on this surface.
Wizard's Tower
This tower has a magical field of energy causing it's surface to be incredibly smooth with no handholds or footholds to properly hold on to. A climber must succeed on a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check to grip on to this slick surface and to pull themselves up.
Because of the magical field, your Climber's Kit can not be used on this surface.
Magic Items for Climbers
Climber's Kit can come in a variety of materials or allow more options in their use.
Adamantine Climber's Kit
This Climber's Kit is made from adamantine and is incredibly sturdy. When you place anchors into a stone wall, it takes only a bonus action as the anchors easily sink into solid stone.
If you are using the Variant rule when falling, you can reroll the d20 on a failed anchor check.
Climbing Gloves
These gloves have small metal hooks over the palm and fingers, allowing you to easily grip into the walls and make use of any small handholds available. While climbing a surface, you gain a +2 bonus to your climbing checks or checks to stay on a surface while being pushed off.
Mithral Climber's Kit
These tools are made of mithral and extremely lightweight, though they are still fully functional, this kit only weighs 15 lbs and is very resilient to damage.
Neverending Rope
This rope looks to be made of hempen and is 50 feet long until you use a command word as an action and it begins stretching out to 1,000 feet long. If a portion of this rope is cut, the rope's other form shrinks proportionally by however much was cut off from it, permanently shortening the rope in both forms.