D&D 5E Monk Jump Distance

Yaarel

He Mage
The Jump mechanics is an other reason why Strength (athletics) and Dexterity (agility) need to merge into a single ability score.

The division into to separate ability scores is too awkward mechanically.

Let Intelligence handle ‘steady hand’, let Strength handle ‘acrobatics’. There is no need for the Dexterity ability. And Dexterity is a broken ability as it is anyway.
 

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Hussar

Legend
/snip

However, I believe that you could jump 12' multiple times in your turn due to your speed.

This is a good point. It's not like you can't jump more than once during a movement. It's just that you can't jump very far because you simply aren't strong enough. So, you could do 12 foot "hops" for the length of your movement, -10 for the initial run up of course.

Seems pretty fair to me. This is a very, very physically weak character. As [MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] mentions, this is a character that is borderline physically challenged in some way. So, while the character is very, very fast, it simply can't jump all that far. Speed is not the determining factor in how far something can jump after all.

Dogs are considerably faster than humans (at least in short distances), but, you wouldn't expect a terrier to be able to long jump farther than a human.
 

Seems pretty fair to me. This is a very, very physically weak character. As [MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] mentions, this is a character that is borderline physically challenged in some way. So, while the character is very, very fast, it simply can't jump all that far. Speed is not the determining factor in how far something can jump after all.
Um. I'm guessing that you didn't actually intend to be insulting there.

However . . . :rant:
 


CapnZapp

Legend
On topic, just a glance at http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/jump.htm :uhoh: makes me immediately understand why the 5e designers went with "simpler"...

That said, there's something definitely off with the 5e jump implementation. I'm not thinking of Tabaxi Monks, however. I'm thinking of the way you're literally left hanging in mid-air if you want to jump longer than your (remaining) movement allowance.

If I'm forced to come up with a house-rule suggestion (remember, I'm not even sure why I'm in this thread at all), I would say that the rule:
1) you can jump up to your Strength score in feet
2) this assumes a running start (moving at least 10 ft before the jump)
3) each foot of jumping costs one foot of movement

1) should assume a base speed of 30.
1a) Each 5 ft slower reduces your jump score by -2 feet. This is based on the fact that -5 ft corresponds to 1/6th, and 1/6th of the default Strength, 10, is 2. In other words, 10/6 is approximately 2. Yes, this means a slow speed doesn't wipe out a high Strength. Having a Strength of 20 doesn't increase this reduction to -4, for instance - it's still -2. A Dwarf with Strength 18 thus jumps as well as a human with Strength 16.
1b) Each 10 ft increases your jump score by +2 feet. While speed can only be reduced by -30, it can be increased by much more than +30, so better speed needs a worse benefit than lower speed gives a penalty. A character moving 80 ft still gets +10 feet, though. A Monk with Strength 8 thus jumps as well as a human with Strength 18 (in this case).

But mostly it's 3) that needs to go. In particular, the Jump spell is entirely rubbish if it can't make you jump longer than your current Speed. Having a Dwarf Wizard cast Jump and still be confined to 15 ft* is ridiculous. In a game with levitate, fly and misty step there is nothing over-powered with allowing you to jump longer than your speed.
*) Remember, the dwarf needs to move 10 ft before jumping**, and he just spent his action casting a spell.
**) That his "jump distance" has been tripled does nothing, since the movement available from his Speed is only ever going to be 40, and that only if he spends his entire round on just a frackin' jump...

I would actually not remove the stipulation - I would only add the rule that you can always finish your jump even when you've run out of movement. (The way the rule stops you from cheesing lots more movement by "free" jumping is good. This way, you CAN jump, only you have to stop when you land).
 
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Tormyr

Adventurer
Personally, I like the hang in mid-air between turns when you run out of movement house-rule. It opens up different combat possibilities while allowing a creature to use a jump distance that exceeds their remaining movement. An enemy wizard could put up a wall of force to block access to the other side of the jump, or the jumping character could use its next turn to fire a spell back the way they came or down into the gap before completing the jump. It helps give combat a more flowing, cinematic feel while keeping the restriction of not being able to jump further to exceed your movement.
 

cooperjer

Explorer
I'm not sure I would allow the strength 6 and super fast character to increase their jump distance in my game. In this particular case the monk has several features that increase their mobility and thus several features available to address terrain challenges. I would put it back to the monk player to find a creative way to cross a 15-ft or 20-ft pit. As [MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION] already mentioned a strength (athletics) check can be used to increase the base jump distance. Maybe the monk has a decanter of endless water to fill the pit up and then runs across it. Maybe there is a way to put a beam across the pit. Maybe there is a way to secure a rope to the ceiling near the center of the pit. Maybe the monk can run along the wall next to the pit. Maybe the strong character readies an action to launch the strength 6 Tabaxi and give them advantage on the strength (athletics) jump roll.
 

pukunui

Legend
As [MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION] already mentioned a strength (athletics) check can be used to increase the base jump distance.
Correction: A successful Strength (Athletics) check allows you to jump *farther than* your base jump distance (which is a number of feet equal to your Strength score).
 

G

Guest 6801328

Guest
Wait...what? There's something that Strength can do that Dex can't do better?

Yeah, we need to houserule that :):):):) into the trash heap, stat.
 

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