Climbing in the dark?

[Java Man]

Anybody know if there's a specific rule covering climbing when unable to see? (Darkness, blinded, whatnot). Or have a suggestion on how they'd handle it? I'm thinking +10 dc and half speed, off the cuff.

[TxSam88]

So. +10 is too harsh of a penalty. That's the difference between a hewn wall (dungeon wall) and built wall (City wall).

Blindness imposes a -4 penalty on Strength based skill checks, so I would stick with that. And since climbing is already 1/4 your speed, I wouldn't impede them any more.

[Java Man]

Okay, somehow my brain wasn't recognizing that climb was a "dex or str based skill", so now I have the RAW in front of me. Not sure I think -4 is enough of a penalty for having to find handholds by feel, but there's the rulez. Thanks!

[Anguish]

The main thing sight brings to the table for most climbing is speed: you can locate holds quicker if you can see them. I grant that fatigue is huge, so faster climbing is better climbing but... aside from dynamic moves (where you're shifting to holds you cannot reach, often with seemingly unsafe leaps), sight isn't as critical as it might seem.

That said, in reality the penalty should scale with overall difficulty. Blind-climbing a ladder is trivial. Blind-climbing a 5.10a isn't remotely trivial. And blind-climbing a 5.12a is likely impossible, mostly because higher-difficulty climbs will require things like dynamic moves.

[Mysterious Stranger]

-4 works out to a 20% penalty that seems like it should be enough. One thing to consider about finding the handholds by feel is that you are usually going to test them a bit more than if you can see the handhold. When you can see what looks like a solid handhold you are more inclined to trust it. If you are feeling your way you are probably going to pull on it before putting your weight on it.

[Azothath]

Blinded condition:

The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength– and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character. Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
===end===

Climb(Str) so there should be -4.

I think as a GM I'd lessen it if they moved at half speed, especially if they had a Climb speed.

[Pizza Lord]

Agree with the -4 penalty as it's a Str-based check. Also half speed. Even though climbing is already 1/4th, this should basically drop you down to about 5 feet per check (if it's less, your GM could just go less and keep track of your movement, requiring 2 checks to achieve 5 feet of movement).

Since you can use your hands to feel your way along a wall (or ladder or rope), there's nothing that should really stop you unless you doing that thing where you leap out around an overhang to catch a handhold you can't reach. If I had to rule in that case (meaning it would be my call), the climber would either have to know exactly where it is, because maybe they've climbing that stretch before, or just can't see it or know it's there. I guess if they were desperate, they could jump blind and grab and pray, but I would probably just give them a 50% miss chance to grab the handhold, just like an attack.