Escape Artist (Dex; Armor Check Penalty)

Your training allows you to slip bonds and escape from grapples.

Common Uses

The table below gives common DCs to escape various forms of restraints.

Table: Escape Artist DCs, Time Required and Modifiers
Action DC Action/Time Try Again?
Escape rope/bindings Binder’s CMB +20 1 minute Yes, unless DC is > 20 + your Escape Artist bonus
Escape a net, animate rope spell, command plants, control plants, or entangle 20 1 full-round action Not stated (yes by default)
Escape a snare spell 23 1 full-round action Not stated (yes by default)
Escape normal manacles 30 1 minute Yes
Move through a tight space 30 at least 1 minute Yes
Escape masterwork manacles 35 1 minute Yes
Escape grapple or reduce pinned condition to grappled condition Grappler’s CMD standard action Yes

Escape Ropes

The DC of your Escape Artist check is equal to the binder’s combat maneuver bonus +20.

Action Making an Escape Artist check to escape from rope bindings, manacles, or other restraints (except a grappler) requires 1 minute of work.

Retry? Varies. If the DC to escape from rope or bindings is higher than 20 + your Escape Artist skill bonus, you cannot escape from the bonds using Escape Artist.

Escape Manacles

The DC to escape normal manacles is 30. The DC to escape masterwork manacles is 35.

Action Making an Escape Artist check to escape from rope bindings, manacles, or other restraints (except a grappler) requires 1 minute of work.

Retry? Varies. If the DC to escape from rope or bindings is higher than 20 + your Escape Artist skill bonus, you cannot escape from the bonds using Escape Artist.

Escape Net or Certain Spells

The DC to escape a net, an animated rope, commanded or controlled plants, or an entangle spell is 20.

The DC to escape a snare spell is 23.

Action Escaping from a net, animated rope, commanded or controlled plants, or an entangle spell is a full-round action.

Retry? Varies. If the DC to escape from rope or bindings is higher than 20 + your Escape Artist skill bonus, you cannot escape from the bonds using Escape Artist.

Grapple

You can make an Escape Artist check in place of a combat maneuver check to escape a grapple or to change from a pinned condition to merely grappled.

Move Through Tight Space

The DC noted is for getting through a space where your head fits but your shoulders don’t. If the space is long you may need to make multiple checks. You can’t get through a space that your head does not fit through.

Action Squeezing through a tight space takes at least 1 minute, maybe longer, depending on how long the space is.

Retry? Yes. 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, or even take 20, as long as you’re not being actively opposed.

Modifiers

  • Feat If you have the Stealthy feat, you get a +2 bonus on Escape Artist skill checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in Escape Artist, the bonus increases to +4.

Escape Artist Unchained

Source PFU

Optionally, a character who reaches 5, 10, 15, or 20 ranks in a skill unlocks various bonuses and abilities unique to that skill. The unchained rogue uses these rules extensively, but others can gain access to them with a new feat.

In this system, characters unlock additional abilities when they attain 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill. The skill unlocks system interfaces with the unchained rogue to make the rogue the true master of skills.

Skill unlocks give characters new abilities and ways to use their skills upon reaching 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill. Any character with the Signature Skill feat can earn skill unlocks for a single skill, and they are a prime feature of the revised version of the rogue who uses her rogue’s edge ability to gain skill unlocks for several of her most iconic skills. Alternatively, you might make skill unlocks a universal part of the game, but you should be aware they add significant power and flexibility to skills, so giving them for free to all classes would grant power boosts to other highly skilled classes such as the investigator and bard, particularly in comparison to the rogue. Another alternative is to eliminate access to the Signature Skill feat, limiting skill unlocks to rogues and rogues alone.

With sufficient ranks in Escape Artist, you earn the following.

5 Ranks: If you take a –10 penalty, the time required to use this skill is halved; escaping a grapple or pin is a move action, and escaping a net, animate rope, command plants, or control plants spell is a standard action.

10 Ranks: You can attempt to escape from any entangling effect as a standard action with an Escape Artist check (DC = the effect’s save DC + 10). You can attempt an Escape Artist check as a move action to set the DC for a creature to escape from ropes or bindings; you gain a +10 bonus on the check if you instead attempt it as a full-round action.

15 Ranks: You can escape any entangling effect (as above) as a move action. As a standard action, you can attempt an Escape Artist check (DC = the effect’s save DC + 20) to suppress a slow or paralysis effect for 1 round, plus 1 round for every 5 by which you exceed the DC. This action counts as purely mental for the purpose of being able to take it while paralyzed.

20 Ranks: You can escape being entangled, grappled, or pinned as an immediate action with an Escape Artist check (DC = the effect’s DC + 10 or the attacker’s CMB + 10). You can attempt to suppress a slow or paralysis effect as a standard action (increasing the DC by 10), a move action (increasing the DC by 15), or an immediate action (increasing the DC by 20).

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.

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