The Athletics skill family includes all things physical that require raw Strength over skill.

You are skilled at scaling vertical surfaces, from smooth city walls to rocky cliffs.

Check: With a successful Climb check, you can advance up, down, or across a slope, wall, or other steep incline (or even across a ceiling, provided it has handholds) at one-quarter your normal speed. A slope is considered to be any incline at an angle measuring less than 60 degrees; a wall is any incline at an angle measuring 60 degrees or more.

A Climb check that fails by 4 or less means that you make no progress, and one that fails by 5 or more means that you fall from whatever height you have already attained.

The DC of the check depends on the conditions of the climb. Compare the task with those on the following table to determine an appropriate DC.

— A perfectly smooth, flat vertical (or inverted) surface cannot be climbed.

* These modifiers are cumulative; use all that apply.

You need both hands free to climb, but you may cling to a wall with one hand while bending or taking some other action that requires only one hand. You can't use a shield while climbing. Anytime you are hit while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage.

Accelerated Climbing: You try to climb more quickly than normal. By accepting a –5 penalty, you can move half your speed (instead of one-quarter your speed).

Make Your Own Handholds and Footholds: You can make your own handholds and footholds by pounding pitons into a wall. Doing so takes 1 minute per piton, and one piton is needed per 5 feet of distance. As with any surface that offers handholds and footholds, a wall with pitons in it has a DC of 15. In the same way, a climber with a handaxe or similar implement can cut handholds in an ice wall.

Catch Yourself When Falling: It's practically impossible to catch yourself on a wall while falling, yet if you wish to attempt such a difficult task, you can make a Climb check (DC = wall's DC + 20) to do so. It's much easier to catch yourself on a slope (DC = slope's DC + 10).

Catch a Falling Character While Climbing: If someone climbing above you or adjacent to you falls, you can attempt to catch the falling character if he or she is within your reach. Doing so requires that the person falling is in your normal reach (usually adjacent squares). If you can catch them, you must immediately attempt a Climb check (DC = wall's DC + 10). Success indicates that you catch the falling character, but his total weight, including equipment, cannot exceed your heavy load limit or you automatically fall. If you fail your Climb check by 4 or less, you fail to stop the character's fall but don't lose your grip on the wall. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to stop the character's fall and begin falling as well.

Action: Climbing is part of movement, so it's generally part of a move action (and may be combined with other types of movement in a move action). Each move action that includes any climbing requires a separate Climb check. Catching yourself or another falling character doesn't take an action.

Special: A creature with a climb speed has a +8 racial bonus on all Climb checks. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0, but it can always choose to Take Half, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. If a creature with a climb speed chooses an accelerated climb (see above), it moves at double its climb speed (or at its land speed, whichever is slower) and makes a single Climb check at a –5 penalty. It cannot, however, use the run action while climbing.

The base DC to make a jump is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or three times the height to be reached (if vertical). These DCs double if you do not have at least 10 feet of space to get a running start.

Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on jump checks for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet. Creatures with modifiers which reduce their movement speed receive a –4 racial bonus on jump checks for every 10 feet of their speed below 30 feet.

A jump which would exceed your maximum movement for the round must be completed in the next round, and still requires actions that grant movement

Failing a jump
If you fail a horizontal jump by 5 or less, you may grab hold of the target ledge after having missed the jump. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to make the jump and fall.

If you fail a vertical jump by any amount, you fall. If you fall more than four times your own height, you fall prone

You know how to swim and can do so even in stormy water.

Check: Make a Swim check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to half your speed (as a full-round action) or at a quarter of your speed (as a move action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress. 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 twice your Strength score plus your Resolve Modifier, 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, the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. After that period of time, you must make a DC 10 Strength + Resolve + 3d6 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 table below.

Each hour that you swim, you must make a DC 20 Swim check if you fail this check twice consecutively or five times in total, you become fatigued. You may swim an absolute maximum of 4 hours per point of Strength you have, regardless of checks. Resting for 30 minutes resets your swim checks, but you must get 8 hours of sleep in order to reset the counter towards your maximum swimming cap.

Action: A successful Swim check allows you to swim a quarter of your speed as a move action or half your speed as a full-round action.

Special: 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 can always 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.

You can run as a full-round action. When you run, you can move up to four times your speed in a straight line. You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Strength score plus your Resolve modifier, but after that you must make a DC 10 check to continue running. You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increases by 1 for each check you have made. When you fail this check, you must stop running. A character who has run to her limit must rest for 1 minute (10 rounds) before running again, using the same mechanic. Alternatively, a character can rest for 10 seconds (2 rounds) and continue running for a number of rounds equal to their Resolve modifier before making a check to continue running. The check's difficulty is increased by one and the check increase is increased by one (DC 11, increasing by 2 each round). Each time this alternative rest period is used, the checks increase by 1 (DC 13, increasing by 3, etc). During a rest period, a character can move no faster than a normal move action per round.

You can't run across difficult terrain or if you can't see where you're going.

A run represents a speed of about 13 miles per hour for an unencumbered human.

A character can lift as much as his maximum load over his head. A character's maximum load is the highest amount of weight listed for a character's Strength in the heavy load column of the table above.

A character can lift as much as double his maximum load off the ground, but he or she can only stagger around with it. While overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus and can move only 5 feet per round (as a full-round action).

A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more.