Tumble (skill)

Skill
Skill Class skill Skill point Skill usefulness
Skills Cross-class skill Skill rank
Passive													Active

Tumble (skill) (Dexterity)

Description

Tumble enables you to make agile movements during combat.

• Class Skill for Bard, Monk, Rogue

Use of Tumbling

Character with 3 tumble charges, ready to roll

There are two ways to tumble:

• Hold your block key (Default: left shift) to enter the blocking stance. Use the movement keys to tumble in the desired direction.
• With Experimental Tumble Controls (under Options > Gameplay) enabled, you can tumble while running (forward or backward) by tapping the block key.

If you do not have at least 1 full Rank* of Tumble, or if your total Tumble score is 0 or lower due to things like low Dexterity or Armor Check Penalties, you will make little hops instead of tumbling.

(* i.e. 1 Skill Point if a Class skill, or 2 Skill Points if cross-class.)

As of Update 66, Tumbling now requires a charge to work. You start with two charges by default and spend one whenever you tumble. While you have less than your maximum charges, you gain one every eight seconds. Hold your block key to display the number of available charges.

Certain abilities increase your number of Tumble charges by 1:

• The feat Mobility
• Thief-Acrobat's third core (Tumbler)
• 10 natural ranks of Tumble skill (you must have trained the Tumble skill 10 times during heroic levelling; bonuses from items or spells won't help)
• 20 natural ranks of Tumble skill

Damage Avoidance

Tumbling's primary use is to avoid damage from enemy attacks. While tumbling, you gain a bonus to your Reflex saves equal to your total Tumble score, and also gain an amount of uncapped Dodge depending on what armor you have equipped:

• Players in no armor, cloth armor, or light armor gain +95% uncapped Dodge.
• Players in medium armor gain +75% uncapped Dodge.
• Players in heavy armor gain +50% uncapped Dodge.

Increasing your skill in Tumble allows you to tumble further. This will help to allow the player to avoid damage altogether because they are no longer within the threatened area.

The Feat Mobility, however, gives an additional +4 bonus to Armor Class while tumbling. This bonus applies even if the character does not roll (he only takes the hop.) Thus, a heavily armored warrior may benefit from the Mobility Feat even with only 1 rank of Tumble, in heavy armor, with a negative total score.

Misc use of tumble

Move around quickly

If you hit a Tumble around 35 your forward rolls will be about even with the run speed of Haste. If you hit a Tumble around 10 your backward rolls will be about even with the run speed of Haste when running backwards. (This is no longer very effective as a mobility option, since Tumble is now limited by charges.)

Reduce falling damage

Another feature of this skill is that you take less damage from falling. The higher your skill the higher is the distance you can fall without taking damage.

Break long animations

You can tumble out of many long animations. For example, when you start casting a spell with long casting time and you discover that it is no longer necessary, you can tumble to cancel the animation. The spell is lost but you can act immediately after tumbling. Some effects, for example bard songs, still trigger even if you tumble out of the animation.

Additional animations

As your tumble skill becomes higher, different animations will happen when you hold shift and push a movement key. With a 1 tumble, you roll a somersault in that direction. No further improvement comes until tumble 31, which enables a back flip and sideways dives, which goes further than a somersault in the same time. A 36, a forward dive.

• At least one (full?) rank of Tumble is necessary to unlock these additional animations. Tome of Skill does not seem to be enough. ^{(2023 tests)}
• The Tumble spell also unlocks the animations.

Tumble skill	Milestone
<1	Hops only - no tumble
1	Roll a somersault in that direction
10(*)	Backward rolls will be about even with the run speed of Haste
31	Back flips and sideways dives
35	Forward rolls will be about even with the run speed of Haste
36	Forward dive

(*) For 5 gold, you can get a 5 minute, +10 Tumbling buff from Tad Hardcastle. You can also get a 60 minute +10 buff for 10 pp, same as the House Phiarlan Favor buff. These do not stack.)

Additional benefits

Several class and race abilities are either triggered by tumbling or are active while tumbling:

• Deep Gnome Illusory Escape (tier 1): Pass through enemies when you tumble.
• Grandmaster of Flowers mantle: Pass through enemies when you tumble.
• Rogue Thief-Acrobat
  • Tumbler (core 3): Pass through enemies when you tumble.
  • Cartwheel Charge (core 5): After tumbling, gain bonus Strength and Dexterity for 12 seconds.
  • Followthrough (core 6): After tumbling, gain Strikethrough and knock down enemies with quarterstaff for 12 seconds.

See also

• DDO Forums