Can you Jump when Levitating?

[RigaMortus2]

Say I am trying to cross a chasm, but I don't have access to fly, just Levitate... Can I levitate high up, then while levitating make a standing horizontal jump? Keep levitating and standing horizontal jumping until I make my way over?

Edit: meant "horizontal" jump, not vertical.

 

[Vrecknidj]

There's this little bubble above my head, and my high school physics teacher is in there, looking at me, telling me something about Newton's laws about forces. He's shaking his head and telling me that I cannot jump while levitating.

Dave

 

[FalcWP]

Just curious... what does your high school physics teacher say about the levitating in the first place?

 

[FEADIN]

I think that you cannot jump while levitating because you have no ground below your feet, the magical force moves you up but doesn't create a solide surface.

 

[Pinotage]

Just curious... what does your high school physics teacher say about the levitating in the first place?

Every action needs a reaction, I think. You need something to press against to jump anywhere. If you're levatating, you can't boost yourself by generating a reaction force against thin air.

Pinotage

 

[irdeggman]

I'd say no based on the being unstable part of the spell.

Levitate allows you to move yourself, another creature, or an object up and down as you wish. A creature must be willing to be levitated, and an object must be unattended or possessed by a willing creature. You can mentally direct the recipient to move up or down as much as 20 feet each round; doing so is a move action. You cannot move the recipient horizontally, but the recipient could clamber along the face of a cliff, for example, or push against a ceiling to move laterally (generally at half its base land speed).

A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a –1 penalty on attack rolls, the second –2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.

 

[irdeggman]

Combine Levitate and Gust of Wind to accomplish movement. It was an old 2nd ed trick that should still work IMO.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Say I am trying to cross a chasm, but I don't have access to fly, just Levitate... Can I levitate high up, then while levitating make a standing verticle jump? Keep levitating and standing verticle jumping until I make my way over?

My gut reaction is "what the heck are you thinking?" But, on further reflection, I really admire your ability to think outside the box. There could be a loophole in there, so let's look more closely.

The Jump skill says, "If your speed is less than 30 feet, you take a -6 penalty for every 10 feet of speed less than 30 feet." What's your speed while levitating? Your speed is 0 or -, take your pick. Any land movement speed is irrelevant. If your speed is -, then you can't jump and that's that (this is probably sufficient to just say no). If your speed is 0, then you get a -18 on the Jump check. Furthermore, the DC is doubled because you cannot get a running start.

Another interesting line the Jump skill, "If you attempt a Jump check untrained, you land prone unless you beat the DC by 5 or more." If you levitate and (somehow) jump, but do not beat the DC by 5 or more, you land prone. This means that regardless of the height at which you levitate, you fall to the ground (presumably taking damage) prone. This is based on the definition of prone.

That should be enough to say that you can't jump while levitating, but let's look at the levitate spell, "Levitate allows you to move yourself, another creature, or an object up and down as you wish." Up or down, not side to side. Levitate explicitly doesn't allow movement across the chasm. Can levitate allow you to move horizontally, but 'pushing' off whatever force is holding you up? No, because the spell explicitly calls out the means by which horizontal locomotion is achieved, "You cannot move the recipient horizontally, but the recipient could clamber along the face of a cliff, for example, or push against a ceiling to move laterally (generally at half its base land speed)."

So, no, you cannot jump while levitating. But, keep up the good questions.

 

[RigaMortus2]

My gut reaction is "what the heck are you thinking?" But, on further reflection, I really admire your ability to think outside the box. There could be a loophole in there, so let's look more closely.

The Jump skill says, "If your speed is less than 30 feet, you take a -6 penalty for every 10 feet of speed less than 30 feet." What's your speed while levitating? Your speed is 0 or -, take your pick.

I don't know if I agree with that. If you are levitating (or swimming, or burrowing, or flying) you don't suddenly lose your base (ground) movement speed. You may be incapable to taking advantage of it, but you don't simply lose it. There is nothing in the rules that suggest it is reduced to 0 either. AFAIK. This is an assumption one could come to, but I don't think the rules support it.

So while you are levitating, your speed is still 30 feet, you just can't use that speed to move while levitating.

What if you simply Jump straight up in the air? Do you lose your speed momentarily for a split second you are air born?

 

[Infiniti2000]

I don't know if I agree with that. If you are levitating (or swimming, or burrowing, or flying) you don't suddenly lose your base (ground) movement speed. You may be incapable to taking advantage of it, but you don't simply lose it. There is nothing in the rules that suggest it is reduced to 0 either. AFAIK. This is an assumption one could come to, but I don't think the rules support it.

You don't lose it, true, you just don't use it. Think about it. If you use your ground speed, then you need to be on the ground and thus you can't Jump while levitating. If you don't use it, then any ground speed is immaterial. You aren't flying, swimming, burrowing, or climbing, so what are you doing? What Speed do you use for the Jump check? If you argue 20ft, it's still only in the vertical direction. The horizontal direction is either 0 or -.

What if you simply Jump straight up in the air? Do you lose your speed momentarily for a split second you are air born?

Whether or not you can Jump, using a speed of 20ft, is irrelevant because I find it HIGHLY unlikely to jump more than 20ft without a running start and an epic-level check. If you're into epic levels, then this question is even more irrelevant.