Spelunker

Prerequisite: Dexterity ••• and Athletics •••


 * Effect: Your character has spent a lot of time caving, pot-holing, and otherwise twisting his body through tight places, a skill-set that comes in damn handy in the twisting tunnels and tight caverns of the Underworld. Note that though this Merit is of a lot of use in the Underworld, it’s just as applicable to cavers who haven’t encountered the supernatural world in any way.
 * Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special athletic manoeuvres. Each manoeuvre is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can’t have “Free Climb” until he has “Squeeze Through.” The manoeuvres and their effects are detailed below, most of which are based on the Athletics Skill.
 * Sure Footed (•): Your character has spent enough time underground to get a feel for caves, allowing him to act on instinct in enclosed spaces. When moving through tight spaces, your character can ignore penalties to his Speed due to hazardous terrain up to his rating in the Spelunking Merit. In addition, rolls to retain balance in an enclosed area gain the 9-again quality.
 * Cave Sense (••): Your character’s been underground long enough that she can supplement her sight with the feel of air currents and pressure. This doesn’t replace normal sight, but can come in handy as a backup to a flashlight. If the character operates with some source of light underground, she can ignore all penalties due to darkness if she has a moment to gather her senses. In combat, she doesn’t have that time but she’s still at an advantage. Halve any penalties for acting in darkness.
 * Squeeze Through (•••): Your character can fit through very small openings without losing speed. He can squeeze through openings as though his Size were two lower than it actually is.
 * Drawback : When scurrying through narrow tunnels, your character cannot move faster than half his Speed unless he takes a point of lethal damage.
 * Free Climb (••••): Assuming your character has even basic equipment, she can climb up almost any surface. She can’t go faster than most people, but she can pick out natural handholds if she takes a moment, and thus is a lot less likely to fall.
 * Action: Instant
 * Dice Pool: Wits + Athletics

Roll Results


 * Dramatic Failure : Your character thinks a hand-hold is stable right until it crumbles under her hand. Her next Strength + Athletics roll to climb the surface is reduced to a chance die.
 * Failure : Your character can’t pick out any useful details of the rock in front of her.
 * Success : Your character identifies a number of useful hand-holds and alternate routes. She adds the number of successes on this roll as a bonus to her Strength + Athletics rolls (maximum +5) to climb the surface. She can make one climbing roll per dot in the Spelunking Merit before she loses this benefit.
 * Exceptional Success : Your character identifies a faster route than is immediately apparent. Her next Strength + Athletics roll covers 15 feet rather than 10.

Born to the Cave (•••••): Your character is so adapted to moving around in cramped spaces that people wonder if he wasn’t born underground. He can see perfectly normally if there’s even the slightest glimmer of light, and can climb rough cavern walls and narrow chimneys at his normal Speed without having to make a roll. If the surface is taxing enough that an Athletics roll to climb it would normally suffer a penalty, he has to roll as normal. If he’s attacked when climbing underground, his unpredictable movement doubles his Defence.

Drawback : Your character isn’t best suited to life above ground, without walls on either side and a roof far above. She gains no benefit from any level of this Merit when she’s not underground, and suffers a -1 penalty to Athletics rolls to climb in the open air.