I'm new to DnD, having only played a few sessions with some friends, but I'm currently starting a new campaign and decided to make a rogue. I want them to be a super cool scout that is agile and sneaky, and check enemies before we fight them. I have all of my skill stuff in acrobatics, because I thought it was good, investigation, perception, insight, sleight of hand, and stealth. I also rolled my stats because that's more fun to me and I ended up with 6 strength. No big deal I thought, My character also only has 10 con, so the reason i's so agile would be because they would be skinny, lanky, and manipulate their weight to get around. I now realize that climbing, jumping from roof to roof, and all of that batman-esque maneuvers is REALLY hard now because it requires athletics, which I have -2 in. I think it's a bit silly that rogues, which has the main focus on dexterity to my understanding, isn't very good at climbing. Is there a way my DM could allow me to use acrobatics to do those things? Maybe since my character is small(goblin), if I took off all of my equipment that would be fair? I really just don't want to be neutered of the main thing I wanted to do with this character.
As a DM I would allow it depending on the situation. If for example you are trying to use the angles where two walls come together and step from one side to the other I would allow that, it seems acrobatic to me. If you are just trying to scale a wall with only handholds and upper body strength I would not.
It'd be up to the DM since jumping, climbing a cliff or scaling a wall generally rely on Strenght (Athetics) check. While a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check more your balance the DM might also call for one to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts. Personally i allow it under specific circumstances such as when surfaces have sufficient holds or are close enought to jump from one to another like we often see in Assassin Creed or Prince of Persia.
If you have ever tried climbing you would know that it requires a lot of strength, though if you have practised it (are proficient) you are able to get up using less strength than those who have not.
Dexterity is already the most important stat in the game (ranged martials have to use it as their primary stat and melee martials can, unless to wear heavty armor or are a tortle you AC depends on it, it is used for initiative, it is one of the most important saves and is the base for a number of skills including stealth which is a very highly used skill). On the other hand unless you are using it as your primary stat strength offers little apart from athletics. Having a very low score in an ability should mean something. You might be able to think of a say of solving a problem using you dexterity rather than strength (for example instead of leaping over a chasm you get someone to tie a rope at the other end and go accross using it as a tightrope) where as a DM I might call for an acrobatics roll or an athletics (dexterity) roll.
The rules state that the palyer describes what they want to do and the DM narrates the results, it is the DM who calls for any ability checks that might be required to attempt an action. You decide to do things that are more dex based than str based but it is up to the DM to decide whether the action is most dependent on strength or dex.
"a super cool scout that is agile and sneaky, and check enemies before we fight them" does not need to be good at athletics. it will be rare that you have to climb anywhere to check on the enemies, spying on them from above might be one option that is difficult for you but it is not the only one. If you want to have adequate athletics skills you could ask your DM if you can swap in Athletics proficiency for something else.
Having said that there are plenty of DMs that are happy to let virtually any athletics check to be replaced with amn accrobatics check (some with a higher DC)
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I'm new to DnD, having only played a few sessions with some friends, but I'm currently starting a new campaign and decided to make a rogue. I want them to be a super cool scout that is agile and sneaky, and check enemies before we fight them. I have all of my skill stuff in acrobatics, because I thought it was good, investigation, perception, insight, sleight of hand, and stealth. I also rolled my stats because that's more fun to me and I ended up with 6 strength. No big deal I thought, My character also only has 10 con, so the reason i's so agile would be because they would be skinny, lanky, and manipulate their weight to get around. I now realize that climbing, jumping from roof to roof, and all of that batman-esque maneuvers is REALLY hard now because it requires athletics, which I have -2 in. I think it's a bit silly that rogues, which has the main focus on dexterity to my understanding, isn't very good at climbing. Is there a way my DM could allow me to use acrobatics to do those things? Maybe since my character is small(goblin), if I took off all of my equipment that would be fair? I really just don't want to be neutered of the main thing I wanted to do with this character.
As a DM I would allow it depending on the situation. If for example you are trying to use the angles where two walls come together and step from one side to the other I would allow that, it seems acrobatic to me. If you are just trying to scale a wall with only handholds and upper body strength I would not.
It'd be up to the DM since jumping, climbing a cliff or scaling a wall generally rely on Strenght (Athetics) check. While a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check more your balance the DM might also call for one to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts. Personally i allow it under specific circumstances such as when surfaces have sufficient holds or are close enought to jump from one to another like we often see in Assassin Creed or Prince of Persia.
If you have ever tried climbing you would know that it requires a lot of strength, though if you have practised it (are proficient) you are able to get up using less strength than those who have not.
Dexterity is already the most important stat in the game (ranged martials have to use it as their primary stat and melee martials can, unless to wear heavty armor or are a tortle you AC depends on it, it is used for initiative, it is one of the most important saves and is the base for a number of skills including stealth which is a very highly used skill). On the other hand unless you are using it as your primary stat strength offers little apart from athletics. Having a very low score in an ability should mean something. You might be able to think of a say of solving a problem using you dexterity rather than strength (for example instead of leaping over a chasm you get someone to tie a rope at the other end and go accross using it as a tightrope) where as a DM I might call for an acrobatics roll or an athletics (dexterity) roll.
The rules state that the palyer describes what they want to do and the DM narrates the results, it is the DM who calls for any ability checks that might be required to attempt an action. You decide to do things that are more dex based than str based but it is up to the DM to decide whether the action is most dependent on strength or dex.
"a super cool scout that is agile and sneaky, and check enemies before we fight them" does not need to be good at athletics. it will be rare that you have to climb anywhere to check on the enemies, spying on them from above might be one option that is difficult for you but it is not the only one. If you want to have adequate athletics skills you could ask your DM if you can swap in Athletics proficiency for something else.
Having said that there are plenty of DMs that are happy to let virtually any athletics check to be replaced with amn accrobatics check (some with a higher DC)