Jump and Tumble Question...

[Anticitizen One]

Here's a quick little rules question:

A few sessions back, my character was climbing a pillar in a dungeon, and I was 20' up when a dragon swooped into the chamber we were in. My first action was to jump off the pillar, and I wanted to use the Jump skill to reduce the falling damage. Another player suggested that I could use the Tumble skill also to reduce the falling damage even further. The DM said that was OK, and I ended up making both checks and taking no damage.

It didn't seem quite right to me. I would have ruled against using both skills if I was DMing, but I can't really seem to find a clear answer either way in the rules.

Does anyone else allow combining Jump and Tumble for this purpose? It's not game breaking by any means, but I'd like to hear other opinions on it.

 

[Rath the Brown]

I would only have allowed one check, either Jump or Tumble, to reduce the damage by 10' worth of height.

Tumble and Jump already work together by granting each other a synergy bonus. I would not have allowed them to work together even more by allowing separate checks to reduce the damage by a total of 20'.

 

[molonel]

I would have allowed both. If you've ever jumped off a big rock, you can roll and twist when you hit the bottom, but the largest advantage is when you can jump, land and roll.

 

[Len]

Yes, you can do both. The Jump check is to let yourself down gently when you jump off, and the Tumble check is to roll gently when you land. They're two separate things.

Note that you only get the Jump check if you jump off, not if you're pushed off unexpectedly.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Thanks for the input everybody, lot of good points. I've changed my mind and I agree with allowing them to work together. My character is going to start jumping off a lot more things, I have a Jump of +11 and a tumble of +12 so I have a good shot of taking no damage on falls of 20'. Nice

 

[Vegepygmy]

Yes, you can do both. The Jump check is to let yourself down gently when you jump off, and the Tumble check is to roll gently when you land. They're two separate things.

No, that's incorrect. The rule is:

A DC 15 Jump check or DC 15 Tumble check allows the character to avoid any damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts any damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage.

In both cases, the effect of a successful skill check is applied to the first and second 10 feet fallen. Thus, if you succeed on both checks, the second check negates the damage you would have suffered for falling the first 10 feet (but that damage has already been negated by the first successful check, so it doesn't matter) and converts the damage from falling the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage (but again, it's already been converted to nonlethal damage).

 

[Darklone]

Sad but true. Skills are worse than class abilities.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Sounds like room for a feat.

Skillful Jumper
Prerequisites: 5 ranks in both Jump and Tumble
Benefit: When falling, you may combine the effects of the advantageous Jump and Tumble checks so that you reduce your damage from falling by eliminating the first 20 feet rather than just the first 10 feet.

Probably a waste of a feat though.

Dave

 

[Darklone]

The feat would be great if it would allow with higher skillchecks to fall greater distances without taking damage.

 

[Vrecknidj]

The feat would be great if it would allow with higher skillchecks to fall greater distances without taking damage.

True. What about the name though?

Fall Like a Monk
Prerequisites: 5 ranks in Jump and Tumble
Benefit: when you fall, you may reduce the damage you take from the fall. Make both a Jump and a Tumble check. The average of your results is the number of feet you can fall without taking any damage from the fall. (For example, your Jump check is 16 and your Tumble check is 24, the average is 20, so the first 20 feet of your fall causes you no damage.)
Special: all such falls round down to the nearest 10 foot increment.

Analysis
At 2nd level, the character with an 18 Dex and maximum ranks, with synergies, has a +11 to each. So, his minimum rolls are +12 and +12, so he averages a 12 and can clear the first 10 feet with no problem. With decent rolls, he clears a 20 foot drop, and with two 19s, he gets a +30 and a +30 and can fall an amazing 30 feet without taking damage.

At 5th level, the character has magic item so his Dex is 21, has maxed ranks, and so has a +15 to each check. Two minimum rolls is an average of 16, so, it's still a 10 foot fall that gets negated. But, getting two 20s is pretty easy (two rolls of 5 or better). And, getting up to that 30 foot fall is still a challenge (an average of two 15s).

At 8th level, the Dex (with magic) is 22. Maxed ranks, etc., means +19. Minimum rolls are 20s, so the minimum distance covered without damage is 20 feet. Rolling two 10s is an average of 29, so, the rolls will have to be just barely above average to clear 30 feet. And, it's not quite possible to clear that 40 foot jump with no damage yet (except with a circumstance modifier, or a magic item that grants a plus to Jump or Tumble).

Dave