The HIGHEST made the people of the earth in HER image, and HER image was of heights. We were built to share the heavens with HER, but, in our folly and imperfection, we DESCENDED, and the earth became our lot and our inheritance.
Need it remain so?
The heavens are beyond our reach. Even birds and dragons and mages find their limits where the blue meets the dark. Yet, when we DESCENDED, we must have followed a path to the earth. Should we find it again, we might ASCEND, and reclaim our place alongside the HIGHEST.
SHE has told us so. We dream of a mountain higher than any, of a thousand ropes stretching beyond the clouds. We dream of the path back to heaven - but our dreams are fraught with endeavour and peril. We must learn the use of the tools of earth, of piton and grapnel and sacred rope, if we are to ASCEND.
Trust in the HIGHEST. Trust in your line. And, above all, look not down.
Class: Acrolyte
Starting equipment: pickaxe, claw hammer, pocket knife, grapnel, 5 pitons, bosun's chair inscribed with a holy symbol.
Starting skill: 1: Steeplejack, 2: Mountaineer, 3: Cat Burglar.
A: Just Enough Rope, Climbing Lead, +6 RD
B: Gifts from Above, Drop Hazard, +2 RD
C: Rope Tricks, +2 RD
D: Height of Achievement, +2 RD
For each Acrolyte template you possess, you gain +1 Movement.
A: Just Enough Rope
You gain a stock of Rope Dice, or RD. These dice are d10s and represent rope, the HIGHEST's greatest gift unto mortalkind. As an Acrolyte, you have a special relationship with rope - it's a precious thing, and you must be judicious in its use, but your command of it is beyond compare. You regain 2 RD from a night's rest, and your RD refresh to full when you get a night's rest anywhere rope is readily available (almost any settlement will do). You are forbidden from buying or acquiring rope in any other way - if you do, you lose access to all your abilities from this class for as long as you carry it.
Whenever you spend RD, roll them. RD rolls of 1-5 return to your pool; rolls of 6-10 are expended. Items produced by spending RD always count as coming from a quickdraw slot.
You can spend any number of RD to produce a coil of rope [sum]' long. Once produced, the coil is completely ordinary rope, takes up inventory space, and can be cut, tied, set on fire, etc., as normal.
A: Climbing Lead
You can climb up or laterally on ropes as fast as you can run, and descend safely at twice that speed. If you set up the rope yourself, your party also gains these benefits.
B: Gifts from Above
The HIGHEST provides when spirits are low. You can spend any number of RD to produce an item of mundane climbing gear worth [dice]sp or less that could fit in a bag or container you're carrying - pitons (1 RD) and grappling hooks (3 RD) are fine, but no conjuring 10' ladders out of thin air.
B: Drop Hazard
Whenever you attack with at least 5' of height advantage and hit, you can spend a number of RD up to the number of damage dice you'd usually roll for your weapon, and roll those RD for damage instead.
Additionally, you're considered proficient in anything you throw or drop onto an enemy from a height. Such items usually count as light thrown weapons, but you can spend RD on them to increase their damage as usual.
C: Rope Tricks
You have learned to bend rope to your will. You can spend 1 RD to command a coil of rope, cord, or similar flexible material within arm's reach (you needn't actually touch it) to do any of the following:
- Launch one end to a point you can see that's no further away than the rope's length - this can let you affix a grappling hook beyond your natural throwing reach.
- Form or undo a loop around something within its reach.
- Tighten or loosen a loop - anything it's tightened around is secured and possibly bound. Creatures can save to avoid this.
- Tie or untie a knot at any point along its length.
- Undo all knots and loops and form a neat coil at your feet.
If used in combat, you can perform one of these tricks per round for free, two if you forego moving or attacking, and three if you forego moving and attacking.
D: Height of Achievement
In your devotion to the HIGHEST, the rope has whispered its greatest secrets to you.
- RD now return to your pool on a 1-6.
- You are immune to altitude sickness.
- You have perfect balance on tightropes and similar tethers, and can traverse them safely at normal speed.
- You can use Rope Tricks reflexively to save yourself from peril - catching a grapnel on the edge of a bottomless pit, tying back a swinging blade that's about to bisect you, and so on.
- Whenever you personally tie a knot (i.e. not using Rope Tricks), you can permanently invest one of your RD in it to fortify it. That knot and any ropes attached to it cannot be cut, broken, untied, or otherwise destroyed by any means, including magic, until you reclaim the RD (by touching the knot and speaking a brief prayer) or die.
