Long Jump questions

[Roxolan]

A PC wants to jump over a 2-squares wide pit. He has a running start. Therefore, he must make an Athletic check, divide his result by 5 (and, I quote, "don't round the result" - PHB p.182), and that is the number of squares he jumps.
So if he rolls a 15, great, he made it. If he rolls a 10, he failed.
But what happens "in between" ? If he rolls a 14, he should jump 2,8 squares. Is that the same as 3 squares ? Or 2 squares ? Or something different ? What if he rolls 12 or 11 ? Supposing that after his jump he has no more movement left, in which square does he ends his movement ? How do you manage half-squares, or 1/5-squares, in combat ?

My first instinct is to use the basic D&D rule "Always round down". 15 makes it, but 14- means falling in the pit. But I'm confused by the bit about not rounding the result. Besides, a DC 15 for jumping over a 10-feet wide pit with a running start... that sounds too harsh. According to the DMG (with errata), that would make it a "Hard" DC for 1st level PCs, but it shouldn't.

Nothing in the errata. Help please ?

 

[RangerWickett]

I thought that, if you're jumping a 10-ft. gap, that's 2 squares, so it's DC 10.

I'd rule that if you get a 5 to 9, you just miss the edge and can choose to hang onto the side instead of falling into the pit. If you roll 4 or less, you just screw up and drop into the pit.

 

[Syrsuro]

I thought that, if you're jumping a 10-ft. gap, that's 2 squares, so it's DC 10.

I'd rule that if you get a 5 to 9, you just miss the edge and can choose to hang onto the side instead of falling into the pit. If you roll 4 or less, you just screw up and drop into the pit.

This is correct. The text says that (for a running jump) you take the Athletics check and divide by five and this is the number of squares you can jump across. It is not, literally, the distance you jump (you would have to literally jump a bit more than 10' to jump over a 10' pit, else you would land just short of the far side of the pit.

But the rules themselves are clear: Roll a 10 on your athletics check and you can jump over two squares.

It is a bit counter-intuitive because jumping over a two-square pit requires a three-square jump. But the Athletics skill is not determining how far you jump, it is determining how large an obstacle you jump over. Thus 10 equals jumping over a 2-square pit, even though that is a three square move.

If his movement runs out before he lands, he falls. I.e. if the character can only move 5 squares and trys to move four squares and then attempts to jump two squares, no matter what the result of the athletics check he runs out of movement after 5 squares and falls into the pit. (If he ran or made a double move, he could - of course - possibly make it). The jump cannot extend your movement beyond your alloted move.

If the character moved three squares and then jumped and rolled high enough to clear the pit, by the RAW he falls into the pit as well: His five movement squares are not sufficient to place him at the far side of the pit. In that case I would certainly give him a chance to grab the far side of the pit (DC chosen from page 42).

All of this should, I believe, answer the questions about extra distance. Since the character has to have enough movement to reach the far side of the pit, you don't worry about it.

If the character (again, able to move 5 squares) moves two squares and then jumps 2.6 squares (Athletics Check = 13), he simply moves the remaining 0.4 squares after he lands to end up at his full movement of 5 squares. Because the jump distance is part of his normal move distance, all that matters is how far he can move in total and whether his jump was sufficient to clear the obstacle. Your move does not end with the completion of the jump, but can continue beyond the jump (as long as you don't fall or trip) as long as you have movement left.

I might allow them to make an attempt to grab the side of the pit on a roll that missed by 1 - or maybe 2, but not any more than that. A roll of a 5 means they cleared only 1 square and are still five feet short of the far side and fall. A roll of a 7 means that they are three feet short of the far side - and will fall.

Edit: And finally, the reason why you don't round down (besides allowing for DMs who don't make their pits and obstacles in nice 5'x5' squares) is because that same number is used to determing the height of your jump.

A roll of 14 may be equivalent to a roll of 10 when it comes to clearing a two-square/10' pit. But if you are jumping over a bench or low wall (or other obstacle), it is the difference between clearing an object that is 2.5 feet high and 3.5 feet high. So rounding down the 14 to a 10 has a noticeable effect on height and that is why you don't automatically round off the jump distance.

Carl

 

[Roxolan]

Ok, question answered. Thank you very much.

 

[Bison]

If his movement runs out before he lands, he falls. I.e. if the character can only move 5 squares and trys to move four squares and then attempts to jump two squares, no matter what the result of the athletics check he runs out of movement after 5 squares and falls into the pit. (If he ran or made a double move, he could - of course - possibly make it). The jump cannot extend your movement beyond your alloted move.

Are you sure about this? it seems very silly to me to run a game this way. I had thought he would not land in the pit, but instead he would actually "land" on his next turn.

I thought I had read this somewhere, but I dont have my books with me at work. Anway, If I were running a game, I would house rule that if RAW says you fall in the pit, it just doesnt make sence that you get too much of a running start

edit: it may be fair to rule that you loose your movement action for your next turn as well, but the jump itself should not auto fail becuase you ran too far.

 

[Shabe]

Are you sure about this? it seems very silly to me to run a game this way. I had thought he would not land in the pit, but instead he would actually "land" on his next turn.

I thought I had read this somewhere, but I dont have my books with me at work. Anway, If I were running a game, I would house rule that if RAW says you fall in the pit, it just doesnt make sence that you get too much of a running start

edit: it may be fair to rule that you loose your movement action for your next turn as well, but the jump itself should not auto fail becuase you ran too far.

Leading to all kinds of silly, like monsters then manouvering to block the leaping player, or the player being immune to melee attacks while hes over the middle of a 3 square pit. Similtaneous actions by turns are quite hard to adjudicate they just went for an easy option.

 

[Bison]

Leading to all kinds of silly, like monsters then manouvering to block the leaping player, or the player being immune to melee attacks while hes over the middle of a 3 square pit. Similtaneous actions by turns are quite hard to adjudicate they just went for an easy option.

I wouldn't consider blocking the leaping player silly. That seems a reasonable reaction for a long run before a jump. The monster would then have time to get in the way, and If he noticed the player was about to leap over a pit, it would be a sound tactic.

And he isnt immune to melee attacks, he is just hard to reach at that moment

 

[Syrsuro]

Are you sure about this? it seems very silly to me to run a game this way. I had thought he would not land in the pit, but instead he would actually "land" on his next turn.

I thought I had read this somewhere, but I dont have my books with me at work. Anway, If I were running a game, I would house rule that if RAW says you fall in the pit, it just doesnt make sence that you get too much of a running start

edit: it may be fair to rule that you loose your movement action for your next turn as well, but the jump itself should not auto fail becuase you ran too far.

Yes, I am sure.

You know exactly how far you will move, so it should never happen that you actually do fall into the pit for this reason. So this really is a rule saying that you can't move+jump further than your own movement along with a consequence if you ignore the rules and try anyway.

From the PHB, page 182 and 183 (multiple boxes): Count the number of squares you jump as part of your move. If you run out of movement, you fall. You can end your first move in midair if you double move.

It avoids the sillyness that would result otherwise. (They can't attack me, I'm suspended in midair over the pit!)

There may be a theoretical simultanaeity behind the game, but each move is a contained and complete thing unto itself in practice. You must be able to complete the jump to make the jump.

Carl

 

[RangerWickett]

I like being able to split a jump over two turns, or even two actions. I always hated that my GM would never let my 3rd edition jump-master PC jump up and attack flying enemies, because by the rules, you fall at the end of your move action, so you never had a chance of attacking while mid-air.

This led to a debate on the rules forum where Hypersmurf posited that if your first action in a turn was to ready an action to attack when an enemy was within range, and then you used your move action to run and jump, your readied action would trigger while you're in mid-air.

 

[RangerWickett]

I like being able to split a jump over two turns, or even two actions. I always hated that my GM would never let my 3rd edition jump-master PC jump up and attack flying enemies, because by the rules, you fall at the end of your move action, so you never had a chance of attacking while mid-air.

This led to a debate on the rules forum where Hypersmurf posited that if your first action in a turn was to ready an action to attack when an enemy was within range, and then you used your move action to run and jump, your readied action would trigger while you're in mid-air.