D&D 5E Reasonable Movement and Athletic Feats?

[doctorbadwolf]

it does not. dogs can detect a few odours we cannot. we can detect a MASSIVE number of odours they cannot. we demolish them. secondly, we distinguish between odours far better as well. and yes, at the correct threshold you would differentiate two cats better than a dog as well, with training. literally the only thing dogs have on us is threshold. by a bit. i wasn't exagerating when i said EVERY measurable way. all of them. we have a better sense of smell in all ways than a dog except threshold. we even do the task of finding the source of a similar smell between two or more sources when two or more similar smells are present in the same area better too. but all of the smells have to be a concentration high enough. if its in range canines cant even compete.

pigs are indeed one of the animals that truly can compete against humans in the smell arena unlike dogs. no argument there. they even outclass us in some ways. obviously threshold, but some others too.

So far as I can tell, you’re spouting unsupported claims that are probably largely false.
Humans are about in the middle of mammals, in terms of overall smelling capabilities. There have been some studies that suggest that we have been underestimating our noses, but none prove any such thing, and the replication hasn’t been done to any serious degree, unless you know about follow up studies I don’t, and can share some links.
Further, dogs have an entire smelling organ that we don’t, that is comparable to being able to taste a grain of sugar in a gallon of water vs being able to taste a teaspoon in a large glass of water.
The “threshold” is literally the most important factor in determine how well a critter smells. They can smell accurately from much further away, smell much smaller concentrations, and distinguish smells with much less training, and distinguish things humans cannot.

in other words, post proof or retract.

 

[Tonguez]

Okay heres some actual stinking science (PDF) Human and Animal Olfactory Capabilities Compared

and
1 Dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in us, the dogs snout is also designed to provide steady flow of scented air over the olfactory receptors and dogs are instinctually driven to navigate their environment by smell (many dogs have reletively bad eyesight so their nose is their sensory lead).

2 However what has been found is that of the 15 odours that dogs have been tested for humans have a lower threshhold on 5 of them, mostly being the odour of flowers, bananas and other fruit. The other 10 are carbolic acids (found in body odours) ie Dogs smell odours needed for hunting whereas humans are better with flowers and fruit.

3 In terms of our sensing the environment Humans are sight-dominant (vs Dogs being smell-dominant) however humans can learn to follow a scent trail and do well when those scents are either human blood or plant-based

 

[DND_Reborn]

I'd say Advantage against mellee attacks (particularly OAs) while sprinting: You're pretty much going along an easy to predict vector and cannot change direction or parry easily.

However ranged attacks are resolved normally. You're moving predictably and without defence, but you're still moving fast.

Sure, if you want to rule it that way--no harm. We just figured the increased speed would also make you harder to hit, this cancelling out the advantage. But, whatever a table agrees to... meh

 

[Garthanos]

Okay heres some actual stinking science

i loves stinking science

 

[mrpopstar]

So, I’ve read several places that a regionally competitive collegiate long jumper can do 19-20ft reliably, but doing so as a hero in dnd would require maximized Strength, or magic.

This, along with thinking about how far a Goliath could reasonably yeet a small character with and without a good windup, got me thinking about how it shouldn’t be too hard to work out a somewhat more reasonable set of numbers for feats of athleticism, and general movement, in 5e, without getting complicated and overly detailed and picky.

So, for instance, if we base reliable (no check) long jump on a “passive” athletics, do we get more reasonable, but still below what feels like a good showing? A 14 Strength medium character with no weirdness going on and Athletics prof could jump 14-20 ft, depending on level. Damn.

Okay...what about making that calculation explicitly the baseline, the “floor”? so, you can make a check to jump a greater distance, DC is the normal jump distance. If we make the jump the better of the floor and the check result, we are ranging from (at level 1-5) 14ft to 24ft. That seems fair, to me. Expertise will make that pretty incredible at high levels, but that’s absolutely fine, as is increasing magical jumps.

But what about high jump, and increasing speed beyond the normal limits, and determining other athletic feats? Lifting and other feats of strength?

Interesting food for thought, @doctorbadwolf. I would consider the proficiency of a regionally competitive collegiate long jumper to be best represented by Expertise. Same for anyone else who focuses as much effort to master their use of a chosen skill.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Interesting food for thought, @doctorbadwolf. I would consider the proficiency of a regionally competitive collegiate long jumper to be best represented by Expertise. Same for anyone else who focuses as much effort to master their use of a chosen skill.

Well, great, but by the book, expertise doesn’t do anything to your jump distance. This the idea of adding proficiency to jump distance.

 

[Beleriphon]

Okay heres some actual stinking science (PDF) Human and Animal Olfactory Capabilities Compared

and
1 Dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in us, the dogs snout is also designed to provide steady flow of scented air over the olfactory receptors and dogs are instinctually driven to navigate their environment by smell (many dogs have relatively bad eyesight so their nose is their sensory lead).

2 However what has been found is that of the 15 odours that dogs have been tested for humans have a lower threshhold on 5 of them, mostly being the odour of flowers, bananas and other fruit. The other 10 are carbolic acids (found in body odours) ie Dogs smell odours needed for hunting whereas humans are better with flowers and fruit.

3 In terms of our sensing the environment Humans are sight-dominant (vs Dogs being smell-dominant) however humans can learn to follow a scent trail and do well when those scents are either human blood or plant-based

That makes sense that humans have an easier time detecting flowering flowering fruits since our evolutionary ancestors were arboreal primates that ate flowering fruit. While dogs are largely carnivorous. Also, explains pigs being good a scenting out food, they'll eat just about anything with a preference towards buried roots and tubers. Humans being omnivores has its advantages.

 

[mrpopstar]

Well, great, but by the book, expertise doesn’t do anything to your jump distance. This the idea of adding proficiency to jump distance.

But it does! Your Strength determines how far you can jump. A Strength (Athletics) check covers the difficult situation of trying to jump an unusually long distance. The Dungeon Master decides the difficulty, represented by a DC. With Expertise, your proficiency bonus would be doubled for the check.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But it does! Your Strength determines how far you can jump. A Strength (Athletics) check covers the difficult situation of trying to jump an unusually long distance. The Dungeon Master decides the difficulty, represented by a DC. With Expertise, your proficiency bonus would be doubled for the check.

That provides absolutely no guidance on distance, and is unsatisfying in terms of your base distance being completely unchanged by being an expert.

 

[mrpopstar]

That provides absolutely no guidance on distance, and is unsatisfying in terms of your base distance being completely unchanged by being an expert.

If Strength determines how far you can jump, it seems straightforward to me that it would be easy to jump an additional 5 ft., hard to jump an additional 10 ft., and nearly impossible to jump an additional 15 ft.

A 10th-level character with Strength 10 who has applied Expertise to their proficiency in the Athletics skill can succeed at a 15 ft. long jump if the d20 roll for their check is anything higher than a 1.

The same character with Strength 15 automatically succeeds at a 20 ft. long jump.