(Strength; Armor Check Penalty)
Using this skill, a land-based creature can swim, dive, navigate underwater obstacles, and so on.
Check
Make a Swim check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to one-half your speed (as a
Full-Round Action) or at one-quarter your speed (as a
Move Action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress through the water. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater.
If you are underwater, either because you failed a Swim check or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to your
Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a
Standard Action or a
Full-Round Action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. (Effectively, a character in combat can hold his or her breath only half as long as normal.) After that period of time, you must make a DC 10
Constitution check every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the
Constitution check, you begin to drown.
The DC for the Swim check depends on the water, as given on the swim checks table.
Each hour that you swim, you must make a DC 20 Swim check or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage from fatigue.
Accelerated Swimming: You try to swim more quickly than normal. By accepting a -10 penalty on your Swim check, you can swim at up to your speed as a
Full-Round Action (rather than half your speed) or at half your speed as a
Move Action (rather than one-quarter).
Speed Swimming: By taking a -20 penalty on the check, you can swim your speed as a move-equivalent action, or double your speed as a
Full-Round Action.
Diving: Characters who dive into water take no damage on a successful DC 15 Swim check or DC 15 Tumble check, so long as the water is at least 10 feet deep for every 30 feet fallen. Water 30 feet deep is sufficient for a dive from any height. However, the DC of the check increases by 5 for every 50 feet of the dive. The dive checks table summarizes these rules.
If the water is not deep enough for a safe dive, add 5 to the DC and treat your dive or fall as 30 feet higher than its actual height on the table above.
Extra Breath: As a
Move Action, you can prepare yourself for a long submergence with some careful breathing. On a successful DC 15 Swim check, you can add 4 to the number of rounds you could otherwise hold your breath, provided you start to hold your breath immediately after making the check.
Action
A successful Swim check allows you to swim one-quarter of your speed as a
Move Action or one-half your speed as a
Full-Round Action.
Special
Swim checks are subject to double the normal armor check penalty and encumbrance penalty.
A creature with a
Swim speed can move through water at its indicated speed without making Swim checks. It gains a +8
Racial bonus on any Swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. The creature always can choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered when swimming. Such a creature can use the
Run action while swimming, provided that it swims in a straight line.
Skill Unlock
A character who selects this skill for the Signature Skill feat or a
Rogue who selects it for their Rogue's Edge class ability gains the following abilities when they reach the designated number of ranks in this skill:
- 5 Ranks: You gain a Swim speed of 10 feet, but only in water with a Swim DC of 15 or lower.
- 10 Ranks: You gain a Swim speed (though you do not gain the +8 Racial bonus on swim checks) equal to your base speed in water with a Swim DC of 15 or lower, or 10 feet in all other water.
- 15 Ranks: You ignore the penalties for using slashing or bludgeoning weapons underwater, as freedom of movement.
- 20 Ranks: You gain a Swim speed equal to your base speed in all water. If you have both hands free, you gain a +8 Racial bonus on Swim checks.
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