Zip-line Hook

Adventuring Gear

Price: 5 gp (common), 55 gp (masterwork)
Weight: 1 lb. (common), 1 lb. (masterwork)

Description

This blunt iron hook secures to the user’s forearm with a sturdy strap. When this item is hooked onto a rope or a similar object that has been fastened at a downward angle, the owner can use it to climb down the rope at a speed of 30 feet as a Move Action instead of climbing at her normal speed, but the user must take at least one Move Action doing so each round or she falls. Using a zip-line hook in this way requires a successful DC 5 Climb check for declinations of 90 degrees (straight down), increasing by 5 for every 15 degrees off that baseline in either direction, to a maximum DC of 30 at a 15- or 165-degree declination. It is impossible to utilize a zip-line hook on a rope without a slope, or to ascend an upward-sloping one.

Zip-line hooks are designed for use with two hands. A character can use a zip-line hook one-handed, but if she does so, she takes a –8 penalty on her Climb checks. Moving via a zip line is considered rigorous motion for the purpose of casting spells. If a zip line or its rope becomes Broken while in use, the character using the zip line falls.

A zip-line hook can be improvised from cloth, leather, or any flexible hook-shaped object. Each time the character uses a Move Action to move with an improvised zip-line hook, the hook takes 1d6 points of damage from friction. A masterwork zip-line hook grants a +2 Circumstance Bonus on Climb checks to descend a rope.