Armor Penalty

Use this skill to slip binders or manacles, to wriggle through tight spaces, or to escape the grip of an angry grappler.

Check: Make a check to escape from restraints or to squeeze through a tight space.

Ropes: Your Escape Artist check is opposed by your opponent’s [Dexterity check] to tie the bonds. Since it’s easier to tie someone up than to escape from being tied up, the opponent gets a special +10 bonus on her check.

Net: Getting out of the tangle of a net is tricky.

Binders and Manacles: These confine wrists or ankles and may be secured to stationary objects.

Tight Space: This is the DC for getting through a space where one’s head fits but one’s shoulders don’t. If the space is long, such as in an air shaft, the GM may call for multiple checks. You can’t fit through a space that your head doesn’t fit through.

Grappler: You can make an Escape Artist check opposed by your opponent’s grapple check to get out of a grapple or out of a pinned condition (so that you’re just being grappled). Doing so is an attack action, so if you escape the grapple you can move in the same round.

Retrieve: You can retrieve objects from tight spaces. As with moving through such spaces yourself, you may attempt an Escape Artist check (DC 30) to reach into a space where your hand fits, but your arm ordinarily doesn’t. Obviously, the maximum distance you can reach into a tight space in this fashion is limited by the length of your appendage (about 1 meter for most Medium-size creatures). If the object is physically incapable of passing through the opening, your attempt automatically fails.

Try Again?: You can make another check after a failed check if you’re squeezing your way through a tight space, making multiple checks. If the situation permits, you can make additional checks as long as you’re not being actively opposed.

Special: You can take 10 or 20 on an Escape Artist check, unless you’re being actively opposed (such as in a Grapple)

A character with the Nimble feat gets a +2 bonus to all Escape Artist checks.

A character with the Lithe feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Escape Artist checks.

Time: Making a check to escape from being bound by ropes, handcuffs, or other restraints requires 1 minute. Escaping a net is a full-round action. Making a single check to squeeze through a tight space requires 1 minute. If multiple checks are required to get through a long, tight space (such as an air duct), each check requires 1 minute. Escaping from a grapple or pin is an attack action that can only be attempted once per round, even if you normally have multiple attacks.