D&D 5E Jumping

[SkidAce]

So what about setting the DC at the distance to be jumped? for a 20' gap with a 10' run the DC would be 20. The d20 rolls needed for various characters would be:
Str 10 no athletics: needs a 20
Str 10 +2 athletics: needs a 18
Str 8 no athletics: needs a nat 20 or don't allow the roll
Str 16 +2 athletics: needs a 15
Str 18 +3 athletics: needs a 13

For a 15 foot gap DC 15
Str 8 no athletics: needs a 16
Str 12 +6 athletics: needs an 8

for a 25 foot gap DC 25
Str 8 no athletics: nat 20
Str 16 no athletics: nat 20
Str 8 +6 athletics: nat 20
Str 16 +3 athletics needs a 19
Str 20 +6 athletics needs a 14

for a 30 foot gap DC 30
Str 20 +6 athletics: needs a 19

Setting the DC equal to the distance seems to keep the difficulty suitably high while still attainable for those that invest in strength or athletics. It also leaves the 30 foot jump firmly in Olympic world record territory since only the character with the maxed out stats can attain it. If a DM does not want someone without maxed out stats to get 30 feet, just don't allow a roll.

EDIT: A DM could also throw an equal Dexterity (Acrobatics) check on the other end of any successful jump. So the character successfully making the 30 foot jump needs a DC30 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on their feet on the other side.

Interesting.

 

[Tormyr]

I crunched a few more numbers, and since a character can jump half the distance if it does not get the 10 foot running start, doubling the feet to get the DC would work. So a 15 foot standing long jump would have a DC of 30, and our strength 20 character with +6 to athletics would still need the 19 on d20 to clear it.

Looking at high jumps, our strength 20 character can clear 3 + 5 = 8 feet (!!!) with a 10 foot running start. If we set a DC by using the feet * 3, the DC for a 10 foot high jump with a 10 foot running start would be 30. With characters only getting half of that without the 10 foot running start, the DC for that would be feet * 3 * 2. So a 5 foot jump would have a DC of 30.

The progression of the difficulty stays the same for each character whether they are doing a running long jump, a standing long jump, a running high jump or a standing high jump.

Setting the DC is simple, and the progression from easy to hard seems to work. Can anyone see any problems with this?
Running long jump: DC = feet
Standing long jump: DC = feet * 2
Running high jump: DC = feet * 3
Standing high jump: DC = feet * 3 * 2 or DC = feet * 6

 

[Paraxis]

Don't forget that movement is used when you jump.

So a halfling with a 15 strength who gets his 10 feet of a running start can clear a 15' gap without a roll but that uses up all 25' of his movement. Now if he takes the Dash action on his turn it won't make much of a difference because then his movement is 50'.

 

[77IM]

This is why I wish they had made your running long jump distance your passive Athletics. It would then be easy to say, "well if you need to go farther, just roll Athletics and you go that far (or half as far for a standing jump)." Plus I feel like passive Perception is getting lonely as the only passive skill anyone ever uses.

 

[aramis erak]

Recently I had to come up with a house rule on the fly for this: when you want to clear a distance longer than your ability score in a jump, you make an Athletics check at DC 10 and clear an extra foot for each number over the check's difficulty.

pretty much what I do.