Athletics or Acrobatics - Dungeon Master Tools

Acrobatics or Athletics... never mind, just RUN!

For Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons characters have a variety of skills they can excel in. Some of these get boosts based on race, class, and experience. One of the trickier determination players and DMs run into during the course of the game is determining if a physical action requires an Athletics skill roll or an Acrobatics skill roll.

What I have seen happen is that the player wants to roll the skill they have the higher score in (naturally) and may push back on the DM when the call for the other.

For example, the Rogue is attempting to climb up a castle wall. Like most Rogues, her Dexterity score is high and she gets a bonus to Acrobatics skill roll. She asks to use her Acrobatics skill to see if she succeeds in climbing the wall. But the DM asks for the strength based Athletics skill instead, determining that it takes physical strength to climb the castle wall. The Rogue scoffs. Her Strength ability score is low and she has no proficiency in her Athletics skill. Her attempt at being the cool infiltrator is neutralized.

Was the DM correct?

On page 175 of Players Guide you see an explanation of the Strength ability score. It describes it as the measure of... "bodily power, athletic training and the event to which you can exert raw physical force." Page 176 describes Dexterity as the measure of "agility, reflexes and balance." So the skills related to those abilities would correspond.

Specifically, the Athletics skill which is related to the Strength ability "covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping or swimming. The Acrobatics skill which is related to the Dexterity ability "covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you're trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope or stay upright on a rocking ship's deck".

Having the right gear at the right time is always good.

I would say that the DM in my example made the right call. Climbing a castle wall would require an athletics skill roll. This doesn't mean the Rogue is neutralized. If she has climbing gear in her equipment pack, she can use that to reduce the difficulty class (DC) of the climb check. Or maybe she has rope and grappling hook prepared. Because she has a high dexterity, she would probably get a nice bonus to throwing the grappling hook (the DM could treat that as a missile weapon attack, something that a high Dexterity score would improve). Once the rope is secured, her climbing DC will either drop or vanish completely (depending on the DM).

Let's try a different example. A Paladin and Rogue are on top of a tower watching a battle between dragons. It is all fun and exciting until the brass dragon hurls the blue dragon directly into the tower they are on. The violent shock causes both characters to loose their footing and start to fall off the tower. The Paladin wants to roll Athletics counting on his high Strength ability to keep his solid stance. The Rogue thinks an Acrobatics roll is needed instead, her high Dexterity would surely come into play in this situation. The DM decides that it will be an Acrobatics check. Sure enough the Rogue keeps her footing, but the Paladin loses his. Crying out in alarm, the Paladin falls over and the weight of his armor and momentum from the tremor sends him hurtling toward the edge!

At this point the Paladin can attempt to grab hold of a piece of masonry to stop from tumbling over the side. As a DM I would ask for a Strength saving throw and if he fails that, maybe let the Rogue roll a Dexterity saving throw to see if she gets her rope out to the Paladin in time for him to grab at it.

"How dare you sir. I would never smash into a tower!"

There are other instances that may be a bit grey, where it seems like either check may apply. In that case, if the players can provide convincing reasoning why they would use one skill check instead of the other, go ahead and let them roll it. Remember that the idea is to create a fun exciting story around these characters. You don't want to stop them from being the cool heroes. As a DM you want them to succeed, but not with out peril.

With new players it is important to remind them that they can use anything in the environment on their person in unique ways. Before they make that check, ask them to look through their gear, review their spell list or give them a hint from the environment description. New players may be more used to video games, where that kind of thinking isn't as frequent.

Hopefully this helps guide you on how to adjudicate which of these two skill rolls to ask for and when. They are ones I see most often confused and argued, but have you seen ones that come up more frequently?