Other Climbing Techniques

Thieves can use their climbing skills to help them scale a wall, in the absence of ladders or grapples. Although very unlikely, it’s possible that a unit of one or more figures might be designated as having thief skills. This rare event might occur should one thieves’ guild be trying to force entry into the stronghold of another such guild, for example. Since such troops could theoretically assist each other, it becomes easier to assume that all of them will complete the ascent unless they are opposed. If they are opposed, however, they suffer the same effects as troops scaling the walls on grapples, and must make the same Morale Check when they reach the top to determine if they can attack.

It’s much more likely that only one or at most a handful of attackers are trained thieves. In this case, their ascent of the walls should be handled using the standard AD&D game rules.

The same is true for mages using spells like spider climb, though it’s almost unthinkable that a unit of wizards should be thrown against the wall of a castle as there are surely better ways of using their talents. Assaults on the walls by one or a few spellcasters should also be handled using role-playing rules.