Swim

Description

You can swim through water and other liquids. Swim governs your ability to propel yourself, stay afloat, and navigate currents, waves, and other aquatic hazards.

Check

Make a Swim check once per round to swim or stay afloat. The DC depends on the water conditions.

A successful Swim check lets you move one-quarter of your speed as a move action. You may move at half speed as a full-round action with a –5 penalty. Each failed check means you make no progress; failure by 5 or more causes you to go underwater and begin drowning (see Suffocation rules).

While armored or encumbered, you must make a Swim check each round just to stay afloat, even in calm water. The DC for treading water is 10.

Modifiers

Action

Swimming is part of your move action, requiring one Swim check per round of movement.

Try Again

Yes. You check each round. Failing by 5 or more results in going underwater; from there you must succeed on subsequent checks or begin drowning.

Special

• Armor Check Penalty: Applies to all Swim checks.
• Swim speed: A creature with a natural swim speed gains a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks and can always take 10, even when distracted or threatened. It never needs to make Swim checks for normal movement.
• Endurance (feat): +4 bonus on Swim checks to avoid taking nonlethal damage from a forced march and to avoid drowning or suffocating.
• Rogue: Swim is a class skill; ranks help avoid drowning checks underwater.
• Drowning: A character who fails a Swim check by 5+ goes underwater and must hold their breath (Constitution rounds, or Constitution modifier if not holding breath). At 0 rounds remaining they begin taking nonlethal damage each round.

Untrained

Yes. Any character may attempt Swim checks regardless of ranks, though armor and encumbrance heavily penalize untrained swimmers.