Why is Jump skill so useless?

[Lord Pendragon]

real world atheletes can only dream of such a standing jump.... 4 foot for a standing jump is already almost inhuman(if not impossible).

From the first link I posted in a previous post:

The standing high jump is rarely seen in regular athletic meetings. The jumper stands sideways to the bar with his arms extended upwards. He then swings his arms down slowly, bending his knees at the same time, and, giving his arms a violent upward swing, springs from the ground. As the body rises the arms are brought down, one leg is thrown over the bar, and the other pulled, almost jerked, after it. The record for the standing high jump without weights is 6 ft., by J. Darby in 1892.

So it's not inhuman. It's the record.

If i could jump 6 foot up, i would be able to jump turn and land with my ass on the basket from a standing position... i could only dream of such a thing

heh.

 

[feydras]

As I type I'm watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and just saw the scene where the sword is stolen. The thief and her pursurer do all kinds of amazing jumps and climbs bordering on flying that are impossible for real world but are fantastic for a fantasy world.

I want my Monk 6 / thief-acrobat 1 to begin to move like that or at least have the potential to in a few levels.

- Feydras

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

The current world record for a standing jump high kick is nine feet and I believe 2 inches. That's the world record to jump then throw one foot as high as you can and break a board held aloft. The non-kicking foot probably makes about 2 to 3 feet. Vertically jumping 10 feet and clearing that with both feet would be super-human.

http://www.wushukwan.com/announce.html (picture of the old world record of 8 feet nine inches not the current one)

 

[Tonguez]

The celtic Fianna (Red Branch) were reputed to be able to jump their own height from standing and as it says above 6ft is probably real human max. However when you have a Jump skill of +24 you should at least have a chance of clearing 10 ft

Personally I'd probably set DCs as Height x 5 (so 5ft = DC 25, 10ft = DC 50) still dificult but with circumstance mods not impossible

 

[Thanee]

It's just a matter of how the DM let's you use the skill. The DM can make it as useful as any other.

Bye
Thanee

 

[NewbyDM]

So it's not inhuman. It's the record.heh.

But this is a other kind of jumping, this is just clearance from the ground.
The jump from the PHB talks about jumping with your legs extended... vertical lift

These people jump about 4 ft. and thrown their legs high, to jump over the bar.

With your legs pulled up, you have to have a vertical lift of about 8 ft. to jump onto something 10 ft. high. (in the real world)

High Jump: A high jump is a vertical leap made to reach a ledge high above or to grasp something overhead.

 

[Liquidsabre]

For a situation such as this I'd have asked the DM for two jump checks in order to jump to the first branch (10 feet high). The first to jump off the ground and hit the trunk of the tree (say 5ft jump) and the second to jump from the trunk to the branch (another 5ft jump). I imagine the 2nd jump check would be more difficulty given the precarious purchase the feet might have for jumping on the side of a tree.

Whenever I play a monk and begin to do some difficult stunt, I alwasy ask myslef: "How would Jackie Chan do this?"

 

[Darmanicus]

For a situation such as this I'd have asked the DM for two jump checks in order to jump to the first branch (10 feet high). The first to jump off the ground and hit the trunk of the tree (say 5ft jump) and the second to jump from the trunk to the branch (another 5ft jump). I imagine the 2nd jump check would be more difficulty given the precarious purchase the feet might have for jumping on the side of a tree.

Whenever I play a monk and begin to do some difficult stunt, I alwasy ask myslef: "How would Jackie Chan do this?"

I agree with Liquidsabre wholeheartedley on this. Take a look at what Jackie Chan can do and that jump up to the 10ft branch off of the trunk is very feasible. I saw this programme the other day called "Jump Britain" and it was basically this bunch of guys doing some pretty amazing jumps all over the place and using the terrain to help facilitate these seemingly impossible feats.

 

[ender_wiggin]

Your character doesn't even have to necessarily clear the branch. Being a monk, he can probably make better use of his vertical momentum by twisting around the branch and using his arm strength, ending up crouched on the 10ft branch preparing to jump to the second.

So, all in all, he would probably have to make two 4 ft jump checks. DC 32 each. And then maybe a DC 18ish balance check. I don't suppose this is too difficult.

 

[Henry]

Let's take a look at what ELSE a +24 Jump skill can do.

With a 20-foot running start and a little prep, you can jump 34 FEET vertically. With no prep but a little luck, you could make up to 44 FEET - about 1/8th of a Football Field.

With NO run and a little prep, you can clear a 17 foot jump easily.

Any of these are figures an olympic athlete would kill for. As it is, he could still on average make a standing jump of 4 feet with no room to run.