Balance (Skill)
Check
You can walk on a precarious surface. A successful check lets you move at half your speed along the surface for 1 round. A failure by 4 or less means you can’t move for 1 round. A failure by 5 or more means you fall. The difficulty varies with the surface, as follows:
| Narrow Surface | Balance DC1 | Difficult Surface | Balance DC1 |
| 7–12 inches wide | 10 | Uneven flagstone | 102 |
| 2–6 inches wide | 15 | Hewn stone floor | 102 |
| Less than 2 inches wide | 20 | Sloped or angled floor | 102 |
1. Add modifiers from Narrow Surface Modifiers, below, as appropriate.
2. Only if running or charging. Failure by 4 or less means the character can’t run or charge, but may otherwise act normally.
| Epic Surface | DC |
| 1–2 inches wide | 20 |
| Up to 1 inch wide | 40 |
| Hair-thin | 60 |
| Liquid1 | 90 |
| Cloud | 120 |
1. Includes any other surface that couldn’t support the character’s weight, such as a fragile branch.
Narrow Surface Modifiers
| Surface | DC Modifier1 |
| Lightly obstructed | +2 |
| Severely obstructed | +5 |
| Lightly slippery | +2 |
| Severely slippery | +5 |
| Sloped or angled | +2 |
1. Add the appropriate modifier to the Balance DC of a narrow surface. These modifiers stack.
Being Attacked while Balancing
You are considered flat-footed while balancing, since you can’t move to avoid a blow, and thus you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). If you have 5 or more ranks in Balance, you aren’t considered flat-footed while balancing. If you take damage while balancing, you must make another Balance check against the same DC to remain standing.
Accelerated Movement
You can try to walk across a precarious surface more quickly than normal. If you accept a –5 penalty, you can move your full speed as a move action. (Moving twice your speed in a round requires two Balance checks, one for each move action used.) You may also accept this penalty in order to charge across a precarious surface; charging requires one Balance check for each multiple of your speed (or fraction thereof ) that you charge.
Action
None. A Balance check doesn’t require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.
Special
If you have the Agile feat, you get a +2 bonus on Balance checks.
Synergy
If you have 5 or more ranks in Tumble, you get a +2 bonus on Balance checks.
Balance (Armor Property)
Price: +3,750 gp
Property: Armor
Caster Level: 5th
Aura: Faint; (DC 17) abjuration
Activation: —
This elegant armor appears streamlined yet sturdy. Its surface is decorated with precise, perfectly symmetrical, geometric designs.
While wearing armor that has this property, you gain a +5 competence bonus on Balance checks.
Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, balancing lorecall (SC 23).
Cost to Create: 1,875 gp, 150 XP, 4 days.
IMPROVED BALANCE
Price: +11,250 gp
Caster Level: 10th
Aura: Moderate; (DC 20) abjuration
As the balance property, except the armor grants a +10 competence bonus on Balance checks.
Cost to Create: 5,625 gp, 450 XP, 12 days.
GREATER BALANCE
Price: +18,750 gp
Caster Level: 15th
Aura: Strong; (DC 22) abjuration
As the balance property, except the armor grants a +15 competence bonus on Balance checks.
Cost to Create: 9,375 gp, 750 XP, 19 days.
Source: Magic Item Compendium
