D&D 5E Hang Time - What if you jump farther than your speed?

[jgsugden]

I would be willing to agree that anyone who starts their turn mid-jump should have to use their action to Dash if their movement will not finish the jump on the current turn. Thus in your dwarf example, the dwarf would have to spend at least 1 round using the dash action...

He is up in the air for nearly 30 seconds. Other than do dynamic poses as a free action, he can't do anything? I'd give them the benefits of the dash action, but not require them to take it. It tells a better story.

 

[SkidAce]

He is up in the air for nearly 30 seconds. Other than do dynamic poses as a free action, he can't do anything? I'd give them the benefits of the dash action, but not require them to take it. It tells a better story.

How is he in the air for 30 seconds? A round is 6 seconds, and everyone's turns, although sequential in practice, are semi-simultaneous.

Apologies if I misunderstood anything you meant.

 

[jgsugden]

How is he in the air for 30 seconds? A round is 6 seconds, and everyone's turns, although sequential in practice, are semi-simultaneous.

Apologies if I misunderstood anything you meant.

30 seconds would only be if you took advantage of every option to increase jump distance with favorable rulings by the DM.

Let's just say 12 seconds using less favorable rulings for the dwarf with striding and springing boots leaping 100 feet at speed 25. That would be 12 seconds that you're suspended magically in the air following an arc with no control over your path... Why would he not have time to fire his bow, or take some other action?

 

[Shiroiken]

30 seconds would only be if you took advantage of every option to increase jump distance with favorable rulings by the DM.

Let's just say 12 seconds using less favorable rulings for the dwarf with striding and springing boots leaping 100 feet at speed 25. That would be 12 seconds that you're suspended magically in the air following an arc with no control over your path... Why would he not have time to fire his bow, or take some other action?

It's not really any different than someone who's running, rather than jumping. Yes, even 12 seconds is a ridiculously long hang time, but if you were to watch long jumpers and such, they seem to be making small movements during the jump to increase their hang time, which I believe would require the character's attention. Even magic won't overcome someone not putting effort into it (just like someone with 100 ft long jump would be able to jump only 10 ft if they wished).

Of course, that would just be my ruling, which tend to be based closer to "gritty realism" than "the rule of cool." You are free to DM as you wish, based on your style and preference.

 

[Ovinomancer]

30 seconds would only be if you took advantage of every option to increase jump distance with favorable rulings by the DM.

Let's just say 12 seconds using less favorable rulings for the dwarf with striding and springing boots leaping 100 feet at speed 25. That would be 12 seconds that you're suspended magically in the air following an arc with no control over your path... Why would he not have time to fire his bow, or take some other action?

Well... the speed would be 35 (lvl 2 Monk) and if using Step the dwarf could dash and bonus dash for the distance. Technically speaking.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I'd go with these 2 options, by taste:

1. Hang time, but other have advantage to hit you while hanging. When you jump, you're locked into a trajectory and have very limited mobility, so it fits.

2. Just figure a jump speed as a movement type. Sure, you can walk 25', but you can jump 48' as a move. Again, anyone attacking you while jumping (OA, ready) gets advantage. Your jump speed is equal to half your STR score for long jumps and 1/4 your STR score for high jumps. These would mean that you'd have to dash to get the 'running start' values, but wouldn't have to get the 10' lead up.

 

[jgsugden]

Well... the speed would be 35 (lvl 2 Monk) and if using Step the dwarf could dash and bonus dash for the distance. Technically speaking.

We can set up a dwarf with any strength we want (and thus any maximum jump distance) using an many Manuals of Gainful Exercise as needed, and ther are plenty of speed reducers that cut your speed in half but do not state they reduce your maximum jump distance. We can get a PC down to a speed of 5 feet and a jump distance of 1000000000000000000000 if we want to really push it.

The most common situation we'll see, however, that demonstrates the problem at the core of this thread is a PC that dashes and wishes to launch themselves off the ground right before that second set of movement ends. You can fudge a bit to have them be right before launch or right after lnding rather than mid-flight if you want, but at some point the fudging is stretched too far and you need a way to handle it... and thus we have the suggestions above.

If a PC jumps and will spend more than 6 seconds in the air before landing, I see no reason to pretend they're being forced to do physical feats to stay up there... they're supported mostly by magic. Thus, I would allow the PCs to do something while in the air with their action.

 

[Ovinomancer]

We can set up a dwarf with any strength we want (and thus any maximum jump distance) using an many Manuals of Gainful Exercise as needed, and ther are plenty of speed reducers that cut your speed in half but do not state they reduce your maximum jump distance. We can get a PC down to a speed of 5 feet and a jump distance of 1000000000000000000000 if we want to really push it.

The most common situation we'll see, however, that demonstrates the problem at the core of this thread is a PC that dashes and wishes to launch themselves off the ground right before that second set of movement ends. You can fudge a bit to have them be right before launch or right after lnding rather than mid-flight if you want, but at some point the fudging is stretched too far and you need a way to handle it... and thus we have the suggestions above.

If a PC jumps and will spend more than 6 seconds in the air before landing, I see no reason to pretend they're being forced to do physical feats to stay up there... they're supported mostly by magic. Thus, I would allow the PCs to do something while in the air with their action.

Sure, you could, but at what point do the contortions result in a farcical situation that's already blown past the ruleset and left the discussion of those rules behind?

This is really a corner case where the rules are pretty clear* but you're welcome to make rulings. I have, and I provided 2 more options in the post following.

I also treat jump multipliers like AC -- pick one formula; they don't add. That solves a lot of this silliness.

* jumping is part of your normal movement. Having a maximum jump distance that exceeds your movement is nice, but it doesn't change how fast you can move on your turn, and, unless you're flying, you have to be on solid ground at the ends of your turn or you fall.

 

[jgsugden]

Sure, you could, but at what point do the contortions result in a farcical situation that's already blown past the ruleset and left the discussion of those rules behind?

It is a good thing that my post spent two paragraphs dealing with the common situation we actually experience all the time.

Any PC that has a good strength and uses jump will likely encounter stiuations where a DM needs to deal with the problem. And if you have that type of PC in your group, it will happen many times, most likely.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Ooh! It's like when you travel at the speed of light and then turn on a flashlight. Does it turn on? Hmmm...

So I guess the answer is: your character blinks out of existence for a second, but then someone inevitably smacks him in the side of the head a couple times, making sure his batteries are in right.