Climbing/Swimming Ranks

[Uryens]

I have looked around the threads and havent found the answer I am looking for, so sorry if it is out there somewhere. Just trying to figure out how many ranks in climbing and swimming a character should have.... Trying to mess with some skills and thinking I could lose some ranks in climbing and swimming to up other skils. At level 36 I currently have 21 ranks in each, seems to be a waste of TP's to me.

[Kitsun]

It depends where you want to go. If you don't mind not being able to access some places then you can even set it to 0.

21 ranks in each should be sufficient for most major areas. I'd only expect problems in Pinefar if you're wounded/encumbered.

[AestheticDeath]

These days a lot of my younger guys have 10 ranks in climbing and no swimming. 10 ranks in climb gets me back and forth to most hunting areas, and across the dragonspine. And there aren't any areas I have to swim to.

24 used to be the normal 'get anywhere' with just enough ranks

30 was more common, and 40 got you there with almost no failure

these days, that seems to hold true for most places unless you are encumbered or have very low dex/ref

The worst being Temple Nelemar on Teras, where you really need 50 ranks in swimming if not 100.

Next would be the bowels where you can swim in.. I have severe failures there even with 30 ranks. I am not sure what the actual recommendation is for that area.

OTF and the Rift both require swim of 24+ the more the better off you are.

Darkstone has a check - anyone recall what that is now after the change?

[thefarmer]

5 ranks gets me into DS, with bad stats..
Dexterity (DEX): 64 (12) ... 64 (12)
Agility (AGI): 89 (29) ... 89 (29)

[DaCapn]

Purely from qualitative observation, I've kind of noticed that I've had a harder time climbing in heavier armor. It would make sense to have armor action penalty come into play here, but I've never seen documentation specifically state it. With my halfling rogue in MBP, I have 35 ranks of climb. 30 was probably good, but since climb is dirt cheap for me anyway, I went ahead with 5 more ranks. Just the other day I made it down from the top of the mountain in Icemule with a missing leg (among other injuries) without falling once and only incurring minimal roundtime here and there. I spend a lot of time on the mountain so I think it's worth it. I don't think I'll have to take swim until I want to get into the rift, so I don't have ranks in it right now. For my wizards which wear full leathers, I have 25 ranks of climb but if they're more than a little encumbered, they can't climb the rolaren gate.

I wouldn't sweat a 5 rank margin of something like climb or swim since it's pretty cheap. Even if you're a wizard/sorcerer where it's the most expensive, that's only 25 PTP.

[Beguiler]

Next would be the bowels where you can swim in.. I have severe failures there even with 30 ranks. I am not sure what the actual recommendation is for that area.

At 30 ranks I had serious failures, bumped it up to 40 and have had none since. Not sure if it's the official limit, but seems to work for me.