Acrobatics (Dexterity)

Your ability to perform feats of agility, such as tumbling, balancing, or evading attacks, is measured by your Acrobatics skill. This skill is used when you attempt to perform physical movements that require coordination, precision, and finesse, whether it’s jumping, flipping, dodging through a crowd, or maintaining your footing on unstable surfaces. Acrobatics is essential for navigating dangerous terrain, escaping grapples, and avoiding harm in dynamic situations.

Acrobatics Checks:
An Acrobatics check is typically used when you attempt any of the following actions:

• Balancing: When attempting to maintain your footing on a narrow or unstable surface, such as a tightrope, ice, or a crumbling ledge.
• Avoiding Attacks: When you move through a threatened area or try to avoid an attack of opportunity. You can use Acrobatics to move through a foe’s space, though you’ll need to succeed on a check to avoid provoking an attack.
• Jumping: When you leap over a gap or obstacle, you make an Acrobatics check to determine the distance you clear and whether you land safely.
• Escape from Grapple: If you’re grappling an enemy or attempting to escape from one, an Acrobatics check can be used instead of an Athletics check to break free.
• Stunts and Acrobatics Feats: Performing specific acrobatic maneuvers such as flipping over enemies, diving into combat, or evading a dangerous situation.

Crossing Narrow Surfaces/Uneven Ground

When you move across a narrow or uneven surface, such as a beam or a slick floor, you may need to make an Acrobatics check to maintain your balance. The DC for this check is typically determined by the surface’s difficulty and any environmental conditions, such as obstacles or inclement weather. A failure means you fall or take damage as determined by the DM.

Jumping and Falling

Acrobatics allows you to jump across wide gaps or leap over obstacles. For horizontal jumps, the base DC is determined by the distance, and for vertical jumps, it’s based on the height. You can also use Acrobatics to reduce damage from falls by making a check to land more gracefully, reducing fall damage by half or avoiding it entirely, depending on the roll.

Modifiers and Special Conditions

• Uneven Terrain: Moving across rough terrain (such as rubble or rocky ground) may impose disadvantage on your Acrobatics checks or increase the DC.
• Slippery Surfaces: Ice, water, or wet surfaces may also require Acrobatics checks to avoid slipping or falling.
• Speed and Movement: If you’re trying to move quickly across difficult terrain (like avoiding a fall while rushing), you may need to make an Acrobatics check, with disadvantage if moving at full speed.

Action Economy

• Standard Action: Performing most Acrobatics maneuvers (e.g., balancing, tumbling, avoiding attacks of opportunity) takes up your movement or an action, depending on the situation.
• Reaction: Some Acrobatics checks, such as avoiding damage from a fall, can be made as a reaction to certain environmental hazards.
• Bonus Action: For certain special maneuvers (like a quick tumble), you may be able to perform Acrobatics as a bonus action, depending on your class abilities or feats.

Training and Proficiency

• Proficiency: If you are proficient in Acrobatics, you add your proficiency bonus to the check.
• Expertise: If your class grants you Expertise (such as a Rogue or Bard), your proficiency bonus is doubled for Acrobatics checks.
• Untrained: If you’re not proficient in Acrobatics, you can still make checks, but your roll will not include the proficiency bonus.

Notable Uses in Combat

• Avoiding Opportunity Attacks: You can attempt to use Acrobatics to avoid provoking an attack of opportunity while moving through an enemy’s space or when using the Disengage action.
• Escape Grapple: When grappled, you can make an Acrobatics check to break free, relying on your dexterity and flexibility rather than strength.
• Tumbling: If you’re performing a somersault or roll as part of a maneuver (to evade attacks, for example), Acrobatics could be used to reduce your exposure or avoid damage.

You can keep your balance while traversing narrow or treacherous surfaces. You can also dive, flip, jump, and roll, avoiding attacks and confusing your opponents.

The following modifiers apply to all Acrobatics skill checks. The modifiers stack with one another, but only the most severe modifier for any given condition applies.

Misc. Acrobatics Modifiers
Acrobatics Modifiers	DC Modifier
Lightly Obstructed (gravel, sand)	+2
Severely Obstructed (cavern, rubble)	+5
Slightly Slippery (wet)	+2
Severely Slippery (icy)	+5
Slightly Sloped (<45°)	+2
Severely Sloped (>45°)	+5
Slightly Unsteady (boat in rough water)	+2
Mildly Unsteady (boat in a storm)	+5
Severely Unsteady (earthquake)	+10
Move at full speed on narrow or uneven surfaces	+51
1 This does not apply to checks made to jump.

Common Uses

The Acrobatics skill has three distinct uses:

• Cross Narrow Surfaces/Uneven Ground
• Move Through Threatened Squares
• Jumping and Falling

Cross Narrow Surfaces/Uneven Ground

First, you can use this skill to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling. A successful check allows you to move at half speed across such surfaces – only one check is needed per round. Use the following table to determine the base DC, which is then modified by the Acrobatics skill modifiers noted below.

While you are using Acrobatics in this way, you are considered flat-footed and lose your Dexterity bonus to your AC (if any). If you take damage while using this skill, you must immediately make another Acrobatics check at the same DC to avoid falling or being knocked prone.

Acrobatics DC’s to Cross Narrow Surfaces
Surface Width	Base Acrobatics DC
Greater than 3 feet wide	01
1-3 feet wide	51
7-11 inches wide	10
2-6 inches wide	15
Less than 2 inches wide	20
1 No Acrobatics check is needed to move across these surfaces unless the modifiers increase the DC to 10 or higher.

Cross Narrow Surface DC Modifiers

Balancing Pole: Using a balancing pole while traversing a narrow surface grants a +1 circumstance bonus to the Acrobatics check.

Move Through Threatened Squares

In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics. When moving in this way, you move at half speed. You can move at full speed by increasing the DC of the check by 10. You cannot use Acrobatics to move past foes if your speed is reduced due to carrying a medium or heavy load or wearing medium or heavy armor.

If an ability allows you to move at full speed under such conditions, you can use this skill to move past foes. You can use Acrobatics in this way while prone, but doing so requires a full-round action to move 5 feet, and the DC is increased by 5. If you attempt to move through an enemy’s space and fail the check, you lose the move action and provoke an attack of opportunity.

Acrobatics DC’s to Move Through Threatened Areas
Situation	Base Acrobatics DC1
Move through a threatened area	Opponent’s Combat Maneuver Defense
Move through an enemy’s space	5 + Opponent’s Combat Maneuver Defense
1 This DC is used to avoid an attack of opportunity due to movement. This penalty increases by +2 for each additional opponent avoided in one round.

Jumping and Falling

Finally, you can use the this skill to make jumps or to soften a fall. The base DC to make a jump is equal to the distance to be crossed (if horizontal) or four 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. The only Acrobatics modifiers that apply are those concerning the surface you are jumping from. If you fail this check by 4 or less, you can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save to grab hold of the other side after having missed the jump. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to make the jump and fall (or land prone, in the case of a vertical jump).

Acrobatics
DC’s for Long Jumps
Long Jump	Acrobatics DC
5 feet	5
10 feet	10
15 feet	15
20	feet 20
Greater than 20 feet +5 per 5 feet

Acrobatics DC’s for High Jumps
High Jump	Acrobatics DC
1 foot	4
2 feet	8
3 feet	12
4 feet	16
Greater than 4 feet +4 per foot

Jump DC Modifiers

Faster Base Movement: Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet. Creatures with a base land speed below 30 feet receive a -4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed below 30 feet. No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round.

Running Jump: For a running jump, the result of your Acrobatics check indicates the distance traveled in the jump (and if the check fails, the distance at which you actually land and fall prone). Halve this result for a standing long jump to determine where you land. Also, see Pole.

Pole: If you use a pole as part of a running jump, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on your Acrobatics check (but must let go of the pole in the process).

Falling: When you deliberately fall any distance, even as a result of a missed jump, a DC 15 Acrobatics skill check allows you to ignore the first 10 feet fallen, although you still end up prone if you take damage from a fall. See Falling Damage for more details.)

Special Situation: Diving or Jumping into Water

Source Cerulean Seas © 2010 Alluria Publishing. All rights reserved.

The rules presented here for diving or jumping into water are from a Pathfinder 3rd Party Publisher and are not part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules created by Paizo. Consult your GM to see if these rules are allowed or in use in his or her campaign.

Characters who jump or dive into water take no damage on a successful DC 15 Acrobatics skill 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. Table: Diving 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: Diving.

Dive Height	Minimum Safe Depth	Acrobatics DC	Damage for Failed Dive
10 ft.	10 ft.	15	None
20 ft.	10 ft.	15	None
30 ft.	10 ft.	15	1d3 nonlethal
40 ft.	20 ft.	15	2d3 nonlethal
50 ft.	20 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal +1d6
60 ft.	20 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 2d6
70 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 3d6
80 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 4d6
90 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 5d6
100 ft.	30 ft.	20	2d3 nonlethal + 6d6
110 ft.	30 ft.	25	2d3 nonlethal + 7d6
120 ft.	30 ft.	25	2d3 nonlethal + 8d6
160 ft.	30 ft.	30	2d3 nonlethal + 12d6
210 ft.	30 ft.	35	2d3 nonlethal + 17d6
240 ft.	30 ft.	35	2d3 nonlethal + 20d6*

*Maximum falling damage.

Action: None. An Acrobatics check is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.

Modifiers

Skills If you have 3 or more ranks in this skill, you gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of the usual +2, and a +6 dodge bonus to AC when taking the total defense action instead of the usual +4.

Feats If you have the Acrobatic feat, you get a +2 bonus on all Acrobatics checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in Acrobatics, the bonus increases to +4.

Time Machine!

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game merged the Balance and Jump skills from its predecessor into the Acrobatics skill. While this has been mostly good, in the transition some information seems to have been left behind. Note: The information below is NOT from Paizo Publishing, and is NOT official in the least. However, you may find it helpful in some situations to consider how the rules were previously written. Use at your GMs discretion.

Long Jump

A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap like a chasm or stream. At the midpoint of the jump, you attain a vertical height equal to one-quarter of the horizontal distance.

If your check succeeds, you land on your feet at the far end. If you fail the check by less than 5, you don’t clear the distance, but you can make a DC 15 Reflex save to grab the far edge of the gap. You end your movement grasping the far edge. If that leaves you dangling over a chasm or gap, getting up requires a move action and a DC 15 Climb check.

High Jump

Creature Size	Vertical Reach
Colossal	128 ft.
Gargantuan	64 ft.
Huge	32 ft.
Large	16 ft.
Medium	8 ft.
Small	4 ft.
Tiny	2 ft.
Diminutive	1 ft.
Fine	½ ft.

If you jumped up to grab something, a successful check indicates that you reached the desired height. If you wish to pull yourself up, you can do so with a move action and a DC 15 Climb check. If you fail the Acrobatics check to jump, you do not reach the height, and you land on your feet in the same spot from which you jumped. As with a long jump, the DC is doubled if you do not get a running start of at least 20 feet.

Obviously, the difficulty of reaching a given height varies according to the size of the character or creature. The maximum vertical reach (height the creature can reach without jumping) for an average creature of a given size is shown on the table below. (As a Medium creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.)

Quadrupedal creatures don’t have the same vertical reach as a bipedal creature; treat them as being one size category smaller.

Hop Up

You can jump up onto an object as tall as your waist, such as a table or small boulder, with a DC 10 Acrobatics (jump) check. Doing so counts as 10 feet of movement, so if your speed is 30 feet, you could move 20 feet, then hop up onto a counter. You do not need to get a running start to hop up, so the DC is not doubled if you do not get a running start.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.