Apparently there is debate whether after a high jump, if the descent is considered "falling" as per the D&D rules on falling or not. My assumption is that if you end your movement in the air and you can't fly, then you would fall, but am now aware that's not a universal assumption, and after checking I found the rules don't explicitly say either way, so check with your DM on that.
to jump. you must overcome gravity. So you generate force to jump equal to force you need to absorb while landing from that jump. Unless you tumble and fall on your head, I would say that you can negate fall distance equal to your high jump distance.
I believe Jeremy Crawford said that you subtract your jump height from how far you fall so if you jumped off a ten foot cliff you would take ten feet of falling damage. So jumping doesn't cause fall damage normally no matter how high. I could be wrong but I thought I read a tweet about it. Of course this is just his ruling and not the end all be all. Great video as always very nice to listen to :)
Setting aside realism, which I think actually supports taking no fall damage, it’s somewhat counterintuitive for normal movement mechanics to damage you and/or knock you prone. At the very least you’d think that would need to be explicitly stated. Moreover, why even add the beast barbarian ability, jump spell, etc if they’re just going to hurt you?
As someone who's jumped irresponsible distances IRL, even if you tuck and roll you will feel it in your bones. However, in a world of effectively superheroes I'd give the players the benefit of the doubt. If a character has been built to be able to jump super high, punishing them for it seems like the wrong play. If anything I'd lean into it especially with STR-based classes and let them use the jumps to pile-drive foes they've grappled.
I feel like if you can jump 20 feet high somehow then you should feasibly be able to land safely from that hight. Like a halo double jump or like how a jedi jumps. To me the issue would come in on any extra falling you may do after the fall from the jump height
While the rules under jumping doesn't specify an Athletics check can extend the distance of a longjump, it _is_ used as an example of something an Athletics check can do on page 175 of the PHB.
Feels like a missed opportunity to talk about a funny interaction with manta glide and vertical jumps. "Manta Glide (1st level). You have ray-like fins that you use as wings to slow your fall or allow you to glide. When you fall and are not incapacitated, you can subtract up to 100 feet from your fall when calculating your fall damage and can move horizontally 2 feet for every 1 foot you fall." Even with only that 1ft jump height you can glide 2ft without spending movement. This allows you to effectively double your movement at no cost. Simply jump vertically and glide, then repeat as needed until your movement is used up. This works long as you consider the descent after jumping "falling".
As a DM I would rule that if you end your turn mid jump you must use some movement next turn to complete your jump. If you cannot move for any reason at the start of your turn you fall. This just makes sense to me as each characters turn is supposed to be happening within the same 6 second period, but there is nothing wrong with one 6 seconds bleeding into the next.
I vaguely remember Crawford talking about ending a turn in a jump and this was essentially the conclusion I arrived at. The character is left "floating" until that round is over at which point they will complete the jump at the start of the next turn. I think the most important thing here is that people can't use jumps to effectively increase their movement, but as DMs I don't think we should be punishing people for trying to creatively move during combat.
Another possible option could be a GM allowing the character to complete the jump on the turn it's initiated, but reducing next turn's movement speed by whatever amount was necessary to complete the jump.
@@joshuabryant974 true, but I like the idea of interrupting a jump, I think it could be a way to give players options while also making everything feel more dynamic.
Something we came up with regarding jumping is that, just like horisontal movement, diagonal movement doesn't cost anything extra. This is a rules interpretation, not a house rule but neither is it stated that this is how vertical movement works. We just asummed that vertical movement and horisontal movement works the same way. So, if a Harengon jusmps 40 feet and wishes to jump over some opponents, as long as they are not ascending at more than a 45 degree angle, they can jump 40 forward AND for 40 feet up. This also means that if they want to jump over an opponent with a 5 feet space and 5 feet reach, they have to be 10 feet up to do so. And they can be 10 feet up after they have jumped 10 feet forward - unless they want to expend extra movement moving straight up rather than diagonally up. This also solves many falling issues. If you can haregon jump 40 feet, you can jump 40 feet forward and arrive at any desired height from zero feet to 40 feet up. This interpretation also works for flying movement.
This is a good mechanic. Actual long jumpers in track & field don’t jump “out”; they jump up. It’s just their speed that carries them forward. The biomechanics of a running long jump and a standing long jump are completely different. Another mechanic in the game that would be realistic is to make the maximum long jump distance limited by the height of the ceiling. Long jump distance should be limited to twice the difference between the ceiling height and the character height. A 7’ tall goliath barbarian with 20 str in a 10’ high corridor would be limited to a 6’ jump distance. Meanwhile a 3’ tall halfling with 14 strength in the same corridor would be able to long jump their full distance.
I think it makes sense thar if sn ability gives your legs the strength to propel you x height, it'd give them the ability to withstand the descent from that height. Obviously not RAW, but easy to flavour as the magic of a spell, beast feature of springy Harengon legs.
@@TheZandaz This is by far the most reasonable interpretation. If your legs have enough spring in them to launch you X feet in the air, then they also have enough spring to absorb the landing. Fall damage isn't just because you dropped 10 feet. It's because you fell. You're not in control during a fall, you land awkwardly, and it hurts.
I’ve jumped off of the roof of a 1 story house and been fine. At least in my younger years. I definitely don’t have a 10ft vertical. I could see myself getting hurt badly if I fell down that distance unprepared.
It saddens and amuses me that non-spellcasters have this tome of dark secrets to navigate when they want to jump, while spellcasters cast one spell and never worry about it again.
I personally rule that if a character wants to jump (over a chasm, for instance) and is capable of making that jump normally, they will make the jump. If they run out of movement before clearing that area, I rule that, until their next turn starts, they are suspended in midair. This doesn't make literal sense, but neither does standing around for six seconds doing nothing while the enemies go. It allows for cinematic moments like getting attacked or attacking in the middle of a jump.
My only problem with the Long Jumping mechanics is movement speed before- Take a Tabaxian, a Rogue, a Monk, or even a Wizard like a Bladesinger or with the Longstrider spell with something like the Mobile feat strapped attached for added measure; I feel there needs to be clarification or AJ optional rule regarding how many feat you move ahead of time. Because if my group’s Tabaxian Rogue/Monk named Bella, with her abysmal _6_ Strength Score does something ridiculous like sprint 120 feet before leaping through the air over a crowded street from one building’s roof to the next (a solid 30 foot distance), I feel like it should be more than possible
The notion that you can move in any direction before the jump is TRDSIC. As a DM I insist that the 10 ft. of movement prior to the jump be in the direction of the jump. This emulates a running long jump and is why you can get more distance than a standing long jump. It makes zero sense that you would get extra distance on a northerly jump if your movement prior to the jump was to the west, east, or laughably south.
Ironically, in High Jump for track and field, running at where you want to jump is worst option, since you keep too much forward momentum, not being able to convert it as well straight upwards. You instead run at it from an angle so that you get extra distance upwards from that momentum change. Granted, in everyday use (which DnD would be closer to), you'd want it moreso to grip a ledge after, versus an almost acrobatic stunt jumping straight over the ledge. Trying to grab a ledge while controrting midair, would either fail miserably as you instantly lose your grip, or probably snap your arms if you somehow managed to grab hold... Not that it changes much for DnD, but thought that was an interesting thing that isn't intuitive, but could come up in a session potentially. Edit: But a long jump 100% goes the direction you're jumping. Forward momentum is forward momentum.
Pathfinder 2 rules for jump were nice and straight forward. Jump is based on speed. It can be increased by an athletics check where, for example, the DC for a long jump is equal to the distance in feet of the jump. Distance still limited by your speed.
A 10 foot wide gap should only require 10 feet of jump distance regardless of being on a grid or not. You need 15 feet of movement to complete the move on a grid (if your DM doesn't let you stay in partial squares), but you only need to be in the air for 10 of that.
Well, I’d say 11 feet jump distance without an athletics check to grab the edge or an acrobatics check to tuck and roll. Exactly 10 feet of jump distance for a 10’ gap means you’ve missed either the front end or the back end of the jump.
There really ought to be a rule for deliberately jumping down. It’d make sense for someone to be able to use some portion of movement and maybe a skill check to reduce the effective distance you’d fall. Got a 20 foot ledge? Maybe you can take your high-jump distance off the fall length. It ought to be modest, because slow fall abilities ought to be used, but having something there makes sense.
So I always rule it if you can jump 20 ft but you only have 10 ft of movement left you end your turn midjump. Then on the start of your next turn you finish the jump using part of your allowed movement for the next turn. I never say "No you can't do that because you don't have enough movement, even though your strength says you can." I just make them pay it on the next turn.
An interesting thing to consider is that a few of the tallest playable races can have heights of 8 feet. As mentioned in the video a character with 20 Strength can high jump 8 feet and reach an additional 1/2 their height above their head. This lets 8 foot tall character reach ledges and creatures that are 20 feet up, 8(Jump) + 8 (height) + 4 (arms). I've used this a lot, and you be surprised how many things DMs put 20 feet up because they think you can't reach them. Balconies, tops of walls, flying creatures, cookies... fun times
The house rule I use at my table is that you can extend a long jump to the next 5 foot increment with an athletics check. The DC is 10 + the additional distance jumped. e.g. if your strength score is 18, you can extend it to 20 feet with a DC 12 Athletics check. Same deal for high jumps.
Rounding makes everyone’s lives easier and the check is easy enough that most strength based martials hit it just fine, but still provides a small change of failure with a little tension, and it doesn’t slow things down much.
I would also allow Acrobatics here, but otherwise yeah that's a pretty good rule for it. If you jump across a 10 foot gap with an 11 foot jump... your feet probably *did* touch the ground on the other side, but half of you is probably still hanging over that pit in a precarious position and regaining your balance after the jump is certainly more Acrobatics than Athletics.
Funfact: highjump is 3+Strmod It doesnt have a minimum, so... if somehow you have -3str, your highjump would be 0 (zero) (3 + -3) And, the spell Jump triplicate your jump distance... which is zero, so 0x3= still 0... so with a 5 in str, and the spell jump, your long jump would be 15ft, but you can barely highjump a few inches from the ground Under these rules, a cat have a -4str can jump -1ft high even when real cats can jump 6 times their height, and a elephant with a +6str can jump 9ft high even when the real ones cant even jump Enjoy!
Noticed how vague the jumping rules were in a recent session where a wizard wanted to hit two mounted bearded devils with a lightning bolt without hitting their mounts, which were under the effects of a hypnotic pattern. I allowed him to attempt a high jump to line them up so it would work, but ran into the problems of 1) no guidelines on a DC for an athletics check to jump 10 feet in the air (his STR would normally only allow 2 feet) or whether a check should be allowed for that, 2) whether he should be able to cast a spell at the apex of the jump before going down or whether he should immediately fall, and 3) although not related to jumping, the vagueness of where a mounted creature is positioned on its mount. (Ultimately I just gave him a DC 10 athletics check to make it work as intended, which he failed because 8 STR wizard, and only had the jump attempt use up 2 feet of movement, but it was an interesting situation to have to make a ruling on)
I love my Harengon Beast Barbarian! You are right - you get some insane jumps when you combine Rabbit Hop, Beastial Soul, and the Boots of Springing and Striding.
Don't forget Monk. With Step of the Wind, by jump distance is doubled for the turn post Disengage OR Dash. And I obviate any concerns over falling damage with Slow Fall @4. All I have to do is spend 1 Chi! What a deal
Casting Jump on horse or a phantom steed can yield some pretty spectacular results. If your party has an obstacle to cross, the steed can jump back and fourth to bring each party member one at a time. A riding horse has 16 strength and a warhorse has a whopping 18 strength. With that you could get the whole party across a 54 ft gap or over a 21 ft high wall. Not bad for a 1st level spell.
IMO, it would be easier to make the long jump into an Athletics check, with the DC the distance of the jump. Got a 10' ravine to jump? Make a DC 10 Athletics check, and take 10' movement prejump, then 10' for the jump itself. Most characters with 30' total movement would have another 10' to move after the jump
I like the idea of adding athletics, but I fear putting risk on what should be simple jumps. Dc 10, + 7 to athletics? That's still a 10%ish chance to fail, which is too high if falling could mean death. God forbid if you've only a +2 or a -1. I allow base jump distance as written, but allow extra distance at 5dc per 1 foot gained.
If a PC needs to clear a 10 door gap on a grid, I would rule that they need to take 15 feet of movement, 10 of which have to be a jump. Also, I rule that if you run out of movement halfway through the jump, and you can't extend your movement further, you can just finish the jump on your next turn. It's important to note here that theoretically, a player could jump halfway over a gap at the end of their turn (or high in the air or down from a balcony if they're a monk or something), be out of reach for enemy attacks, then land next turn. I've cleverly circumvented this issue by asking my players not to abuse it. On some maps, this can still be a real issue, though, and I plan my encounters accordingly.
I like, literally just have a lecture on this to my group last night. Was reading from the book. We were covering what constitutes "falling" which is a little ambiguous. This is because we were asking what happens if you jump to a lower platform then where you started.
If the “fall” after a jump is considered falling in D&D (which I’m still undecided on), we could use the “Falling on a creature” rule from Xanathar’s to force a creature we fall upon to make a DC 15 Dex save or be prone. If we didnt jump higher than 10ft, then we end up trading some movement to knock an enemy prone while we remain standing!
This would be a great opportunity to mention the TCE optional rule on p. 170 for falling onto a creature which is a potential way to get advantage on all melee attacks using only movement, might need an ally to cast the now decent Jump spell on you if you don't already have a super jump, I think ~15ft high is minimum required: "If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them. The impacted creature is also knocked prone, unless it is two or more sizes larger than the falling creature."
The extra jump distance on the grid luckily checks out to 5 feet (no matter the actual jump distance). You can make use of that for all kinds of simple homebrew rules, e.g. you can simply increase everyone's jump distance by 5 feet. You could also require them to roll an athletics check, and if they fail they only get to jump the normal distance.
I was surprised not to hear anything about difficult terrain, there could be some interesting debate over jumping over Entangle created difficult terrain vs. Web created
@@RTukka I thought jumps landing on difficult terrain called for acrobatics as RAW? Maybe it was homebrew for my games, but could have sworn it was 🤔 Maybe I'm crazy? It comes up so rarely that I definitely couldn't say
Note to self: Properly work out house rules for jumping. So far I always eyeballed it when my players wanted to jump and often just had jumps be bonus actions, which makes was more sense to me.
I never liked the jumping rules in 5e. The best jumpers in the world rely more on technique than strength. Proficiency in Athletism should be playing a bigger role.
@@andrewgreeb916 A t-rex might get some fearsome jumps in however. The arms would probably make them terrible at slam dunking despite that unfortunately.
Balance-wise, I’m glad Strength is the stat it’s keyed to, even if skill proficiency should play a bigger role. Strength is often such a dump stat that it’s good for the game when it’s actually used for something.
There's been an errata where they eliminate negative str modifiers from the jumps. The wizard can jump 10 feet long and 3 or 4 feet high I forget which. I think you can also grab onto a ledge 1.5 times or half your height above your jump. I borrow a rule from older editions where you can safely jump down from a height=to your jump height, that's specifically jumping down not falling. And your own jumps aren't hurting you the leg buff that got you up can take the landing.
The rules system isn’t perfect, for sure. A cat has 3 STR and can jump higher and further than most humans. That being said, a -STR should limit jumps, IMO. Weak people cannot jump 10 feet. I know sage advice said you can safely fall the same height jumped, which I agree should be the standard. But this should only apply for jumping. If falling over a ledge, though, fall damage should still occur as normal.
I'm afraid not. The errata only prevents you from having a negative high jump distance (like if your strength modifier is less than -3): "The first sentence has been changed to 'When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier (minimum of 0 feet) if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump.' "
Pretty sure it was confirmed that you can subtract vertical jump distance from fall distance to reduce damage due to the ruling that you do not take damage from the “fall” portion of a high jump or from jumping down off a wall or building.
I generally avoid house rules, but my house rule for falling is, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics check to avoid taking any damage or falling prone. The DC is the number of feet fallen.
My jump rule Jumping You must declare where you are jumping to before you roll. If the jump isn't long enough, you jump as close to your destination as possible. At minimum, you spend 5ft of movement. Strength (athletics or acrobatics) check. Disadvantage if you don’t have room for a running start. You may spend movement in feet up to the number rolled to move vertically, then horizontally in one direction. Spend an extra foot of movement for every foot you move vertically. Jump multipliers multiply both the distance you can jump and the number of feet you move per foot during the jump. Landing (Partial Credit: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) When you land you may roll an athletics or acrobatics check and apply any bonuses to jumping. Subtract half the total from the distance fallen (rounded down) before calculating fall damage. Toss You may attempt to Toss a creature or sizable object you are grappling. Make the same check as a grapple. On a success, the grapple ends and you make an (athletics) jump check to see how far they are thrown. Jumping rules apply. Instead of spending movement the maximum distance for the throw is your movement speed. When the thrown creature or object crashes into something you may spend an attack to make an unarmed strike against that thing. If what it crashed into is still in the way, the thrown creature or object ends its movement.
You didn't talk about difficult terrain, which isn't a very large part to be sure, but it's worth mentioning the fact that landing in difficult terrain requires you to save or fall prone, and the idea of jumping over difficult terrain.
If you jump past an enemy, does that provoke an OA? And if they have a sentinel ability, does that make them fall where they stop? Also just because you can jump up to a height, do I have to move as high? If I want to jump up to a roof only instead of 10 feet above it?
Jumping is movement, so it treats opportunity attacks like any other movement. Sentinel should work too-you just for swatted out of the air. As to distance, there’s nothing that says you have to jump as far as you can, so it’s totally reasonable to only jump to the roof not 10 feet over.
I played a oneshot where my character was a beast barbarian 6 / monk 2. With a ring of jumping, expertise in athletics (plus advantage when raging), and step of the wind, I could almost literally kill myself by making a single high jump and taking the falling damage.
One question I've had is what happens if we jump outside of combat? Is it still limited by the movement we would have on a turn when we aren't in initiative? Does being out of combat then allow us to potentially jump farther or higher?
The only time it would is if for some reason our jump distance is so high we can't use it all with our movement rate, which would at least be uncommon.
@@TreantmonksTemple Right, I'm thinking of cases like the Beast barbarian combined with the Jump spell or ridiculously high strength like from a Storm Giant Strength belt.
Can you use successive standing jumps to escape from Spike Growth without taking damage? The character would not be moving in the Spike Growth area per se, just jumping over it. Since the spikes require a check to notice, they probably aren't very high, so you might not need any minimum jump height to clear them.
That's poorly defined enough in the RAW that most tables will rule it differently. I believe word from Jcraw aligns with you here though. Personally, I prefer "superjumping" to not be bound by your movement because things like the Jump spell and Grung exist... Basically, I rule it that if you start a jump without enough movement speed to finish it, you complete the jump on your next turn spending the appropriate amount of movement distance then... Admittedly this puts some strain on the monkey brain because it "looks" like the character is hanging stationary in the air, rather than everything happening on the battlefield at roughly the same time, but I think that's a small price to pay for a PC to be able to make the full use of their jumping ability without being constrained by battlemap rules.
Only for classes with a high strength. The Wizard with 8 Strength and the Jump spell would have a running long-jump of 24 feet (effectively 20 feet because needing to move 10 feet prior) and a standing long-jump of 12 feet. While not exactly RAW, I would say the movement limitation only really matters in combat. If a spellcaster wants to expend a resource to allow the Barbarian to jump 60 ft during exploration or downtime, I don't personally know any DMs who'd say they can't.
There’s nothing in the Jump spell that limits the jump distance to movement. The spell would be a broken mechanic immediately for any character with 7 or higher strength and a base movement speed of 30.
So if I make a standing high jump with a modifier of -2 or less, will I proceed to clip into the floor where I am standing? Trying to speedrun our campaign and I'm in a glitches allowed category.
I would be curious to see some of the tactics that might emerge uniquely for a Harengon. For instance, if you grapple a target, jump and drop them. Probably not a great source of damage, but a fun option.
Hey man I just wanted to say that I think you make such great content, and that I have seen that you have a great character through seeing you in various collabs and one-shots. You are great, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. My one BUILD REQUEST: Please make a melee Conquest paladin (main) multiclassed with at least one level in Undead Warlock. Similar to the Undead Supportlock Build by Colby from d4, but melee. Thank, and have a great day night or whatever.
Is there any means of optimizing jumps in combat? I am thinking along the line of the Dragoon from Final Fantasy’s. Which often use jumps as part of their attacks, both high jumps and long jumps. Obvious considerations is to avoid attacks of opportunity, and canceling out falling damage, and obviously making attacks as part of the jump.
Great video. Can you make a similar video about climbing? I’m playing a monk and I’m always frustrated with the climbing action being based on Strength. As you know monks need DEX and WIS so STR is often relatively low. Climbing should allow for a DEX option for DC checks. By the way, my DM never allows automatic climbing success. He always insists on some sort of strength check, which with a STR of 11 I usually fail. Thanks!
I think you might be wrong about the 15 foot grid jump. you "pay" 5 feet of movement to enter a rectangle on the grid. that movement doesnt have to be all jumping though.
Our table doesn't use a lot of pit traps, but every campaign at my table includes at least one ten foot wide trench or hole or gap that we must cross, added in specifically to force the people who dumped strength to get creative. No matter who's DMing, there's always a pit, then we have to look up jumping rules for five minutes and figure out who can do what and when and how. And this happens every time we see a pit that we must all cross. We have to look the rules up EVERY TIME because you just can't memorize these, they slide out of my brain like butter
Unless you do this at very low levels then I largely would see it as incidental. Between Misty Step being dead simple to get and the number of species that have some form of flight (even if they may be very unhappy to use it if it is once a day) it just is not much of an issue. (And that is not counting the fact that I love my equipment. )
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 jokes aside, the idea of using a tall goliath as a bridge for the 8 strength halfling sorcerer is a really fun one and it could actually work lmao
I'm thinking about playing an air genasi swashbuckler rogue that used to be an acrobat in a circus so i want him to be good at jumping but i can't give him high STR because i need high DEX CHA and CON. Does anybody have any ideas? I could ask my DM to start with the ring of jumping or the boots of striding and springing but they require attunement and at high levels it's not worth an attunement slot.
@@MSDoL Violate all three of Newton's laws with a cantrip most often used for party tricks, considered all but useless for any serious mage. Also my Silvery Barb finger is getting itchy.
Not sure if this was a tongue slip, or me just not fully understanding how the feature works, but can you spend a ki point to gain the extended jump of a Step of the Wind without taking the Dash or Disengage actions as you bonus action? Rabbit Hop is a bonus action, so I imagined that the two couldn't be combined.
I only ask because it seems weird to mention Step of the Wind as part of the list of things that can modify the jump distance of a Rabbit Hop when both features require a bonus action to use, whereas the other two features on that list do not.
Do you think a rule that if you attack someone while falling you have disadvantage on the attack roll but deal additional damage equal to the number of feet you fall would be easily abused?
Was kind of expecting some discussion of the “tactic” some other channels and forums have advocated of using high jump plus the falling onto another creature rules (from Tasha’s) to knock opponents prone. I argue that the high jump rules don’t give you the 5’ of forward movement needed to land in the guy next to you’s square so the whole idea is flawed but I’d’ve been interested to hear your thoughts on it.
Horizontal jumps include a degree of vertical movement. Because that's how jumping works. The notion that a vertical jump cannot also include a bit of horizontal movement seems silly.
@@OffRoadRN sure but if it’s 1’ forward then you haven’t succeeded at getting where you need to be for this tactic. Hell if it’s 2’ or 3’ you probably haven’t succeeded. For this tactic to work the player needs control of their forward motion on a high jump and the rules do not give you that.
@@jameshardie7678 In a case like this where the rules are not explicit, it's a good idea to apply some common sense. From your reply, I can only assume you've never jumped. So brace yourself... You do, in fact, have control of your horizontal movement when you jump.
@@OffRoadRN *eyerolls* a combat strategy that is 100% down to DM Fiat is not a viable combat strategy. And it is entirely DM fiat - the rules do not give you the precision you mistakenly think all real humans have. You are arguing in favor of a TRDSIC here, and a particularly ludicrous one at that.
Big-brain TRDSIC: the rules for high jump don't actually say you descend at ALL, so that means you can just walk on air and jump again, right? So as long as you can high jump 1 foot (str 6+) you can spend all your movement repeatedly high jumping until you're 30 ft in the air.
speaking of fall damage, Wasn't there some rule that if you fall onto another creature, you share the damage or divide the damage between the creatures hit by the fall?
I don’t understand one thing Athletics says “you try to jump an unusually long distance” in the player’s handbook - but the rules do not make clear that the skill should be used as such else where? The issue to me is just the “may be used” in parts of the rules when it should be “should be used” and “it giver you x general effect”. We know that in RL technique really can make a big difference in these jump distances so it should be encouraged as well as a roll to make it. (Not going into the fact that size really SHOULD matter in these calculations for jumping) Just my 2 cents worth the interaction it counts as.
I wish jump could give you more movement than your movement speed provides, idk how to balance it I just like the idea of moving farther if you commit to a jump and you are strong
The ability for average-strength creatures to jump across 10 foot spans of terrain for free is one of a handful of reasons why the grease spell just... isn't as good as it sounds.
@@andrewgreeb916 Oh, it's absolutely got it's uses, but they're limited. It's great to counter corner-peeking and making cover harder to use in general, and you might find value setting it at a corner... (or if the GM doesn't know to or is merciful and doesn't make all the monsters just jump over it)
How much do the top-level patrons pay in order to play in the monthly one-shot? I'm brand spankin' new to D&D and living a wretched lifestyle but I would be honored to play a game with treantmonk; been binge-watching this channel for weeks and really itching to play 🎲
Currently that patron level is unpublished as I had so many I couldn't schedule any more one shots. It may be republished at the end of the year with a cap this time.
I believe movies and video games greatly exaggerate what jumping is for humans. I challenge an average person (10 Str) to make a 10 ft jump and say the jumping rules are not close to accurate. That being said, I believe the movement limitations are designed to avoid rule exploits. If a jump was part of an out of combat scenario, I’d ignore the movement/round limitation. In combat, I’d rule that any additional movement needed to complete the jump be subtracted from the next round and you can’t take any other actions until the jump is resolved. This would be interesting if the enemy Lightning Lures the PC out of mid air. 🤔 Because of the grid system and athletics checks, for long jumps, I think a DC equal to the distance to jump is appropriate (15ft = DC 15). Failing by less than 5 results in a DC 10 Acrobatics or Athletics check to grab the ledge. For high jumps, RAW is okay. We don’t really have a lot of rules for vertical movement, in general.
It makes sense that most significant jumps will require a dash. The consequences of running out of movement mid-jump never made sense, though. Maybe you should be committed to finishing the jump at the start of your next turn and can't make Dex saves until you land? Call the condition "free fall" or "mid-jump"? I'm imagining a football player over-committing to a jump and getting plastered by a defender. It seems more reasonable.
One more reason you should join the Grung Gang. All of your friends will love you when you join the Grung Gang. I reccomend Hand of Mercy Monk for maximum Grung Gang potential.
The best jumping character I've built is a Loxodon Monk: the Leaping Pachyderm! This character not only can perform powerful leaps for supreme battlefield mobility (second only to actually Flying), but can employ an unorthodox, yet deadly battle strategy: Grab! Leap! Drop! Monk gives this character three features to improve their jumping: Step of the Wind (doubles jump distance), Unarmored Movement (increases the maximum distance a jump can cover), and Slow Fall (negates fall damage). Loxodon provides many fantastic racial traits for a martial character (Powerful Build allows for heavy/numerous creatures and objects to be carried/dragged, Serenity protects from mental conditions, Trunk grapples one additional creature, & Keen Smell provides advantage on spotting ambushes and hidden enemies), but the most important trait is its Natural Armor (12 AC + Constitution modifier), which allows this build to dump Dexterity, pump Strength, and still have a decent AC (for a Monk). Tortle could also be used with its own Natural Armor (17 AC), but it otherwise lacks any significant racial traits for this martial build (Claws are redundant with Unarmed Strikes, Hold Breath is situational, Survival Instinct provides a non-combat skill, and Shell Defense prevents jumping). At level 20, assuming this character has a Strength score of 20, doesn't have access to magic items or spells, and uses both its action and bonus action to Dash (by activating Step of Wind), it can cover the following distances in 1 Round (6 seconds): Maximum Movement: 180 feet (60 feet x 3) Running Long Jump: 40 feet (20 feet x 2) Running High Jump: 16 feet (8 feet x 2) If this character does have access to magic items (Boots of Striding and Springing, Ring of Jumping) and spells (Jump, Haste), then it can cover the following distances 1 Round: Maximum Movement (Haste spell): 480 feet (60 feet x 2 x 4) Running Long Jump (B.o.S.a.S., Ring of Jumping/Jump spell, & Haste spell): 360 feet (20 feet x 2 x 3 x 3) Running High Jump (B.o.S.a.S., Ring of Jumping/Jump spell, & Haste spell): 144 feet (8 feet x 2 x 3 x 3)
So an elephant (STR 22) can jump 22 feet. Meanwhile, in mundane world, elephants can't jump at all. Hmm, I wonder if strength is not the limiting factor here.
Not to be difficult, but when you say jumping is a reason why strength isn't completely useless it seem to ring hollow to me. Has it come up that often that the strength character can jump high or far enough to save the day but a fly, spider climb or grappling hook was not available/useful in the situation? Strength isn't pointless to me but it's more part of character fantasy than an effective way to solve adventuring problems.
The gap is 10 feet no way I would make someone jump 15 to get 10.. if you need to jump 15 say it’s a 15 gap… if it’s 12 day it’s 12… I will so split if need be. I could see an argue if it meets you have to fall prone… but why… Also high jump… jumping to grab us easy to understand… but jumping to clear, jumping to stand. For example: nfl players average 36ish inches… 3 feet…. They are not “10”s. But then again a jr high weenie can “high jump” hurdle or even more so using good form, over 5 feet. Then you have that standing box jump… aka you can jump up and land on feet. That will be more then jump from ground, but less then “clear a bar” jump. So I always struggle with. Jump x high to hit, jump x high to grab, jump x high to get on table/ledge, jump x high to clear a wall (with out grabbing and pulling up) or jumping over an enemy. I have to leave it to a full up judgment call, but that risks inconsistency, and maybe that is fine…
Apparently there is debate whether after a high jump, if the descent is considered "falling" as per the D&D rules on falling or not. My assumption is that if you end your movement in the air and you can't fly, then you would fall, but am now aware that's not a universal assumption, and after checking I found the rules don't explicitly say either way, so check with your DM on that.
to jump. you must overcome gravity. So you generate force to jump equal to force you need to absorb while landing from that jump. Unless you tumble and fall on your head, I would say that you can negate fall distance equal to your high jump distance.
I believe Jeremy Crawford said that you subtract your jump height from how far you fall so if you jumped off a ten foot cliff you would take ten feet of falling damage. So jumping doesn't cause fall damage normally no matter how high. I could be wrong but I thought I read a tweet about it. Of course this is just his ruling and not the end all be all. Great video as always very nice to listen to :)
Setting aside realism, which I think actually supports taking no fall damage, it’s somewhat counterintuitive for normal movement mechanics to damage you and/or knock you prone. At the very least you’d think that would need to be explicitly stated. Moreover, why even add the beast barbarian ability, jump spell, etc if they’re just going to hurt you?
As someone who's jumped irresponsible distances IRL, even if you tuck and roll you will feel it in your bones. However, in a world of effectively superheroes I'd give the players the benefit of the doubt. If a character has been built to be able to jump super high, punishing them for it seems like the wrong play. If anything I'd lean into it especially with STR-based classes and let them use the jumps to pile-drive foes they've grappled.
I feel like if you can jump 20 feet high somehow then you should feasibly be able to land safely from that hight. Like a halo double jump or like how a jedi jumps. To me the issue would come in on any extra falling you may do after the fall from the jump height
While the rules under jumping doesn't specify an Athletics check can extend the distance of a longjump, it _is_ used as an example of something an Athletics check can do on page 175 of the PHB.
For sure. It's weird that under the athletics skill it refers to something that the jump rules do not.
Hopfully they address this in the next edition. As an unintentional houserule, I've always used the Athletics score as the base.
Worth noting that Step of the Wind and Rabbit Hop don't actually work together because both are bonus actions.
Feels like a missed opportunity to talk about a funny interaction with manta glide and vertical jumps.
"Manta Glide (1st level). You have ray-like fins that you use as wings to slow your fall or allow you to glide. When you fall and are not incapacitated, you can subtract up to 100 feet from your fall when calculating your fall damage and can move horizontally 2 feet for every 1 foot you fall."
Even with only that 1ft jump height you can glide 2ft without spending movement. This allows you to effectively double your movement at no cost. Simply jump vertically and glide, then repeat as needed until your movement is used up. This works long as you consider the descent after jumping "falling".
wavedashing in dnd
elytra hopping in minecraft
Sadly, because the wording is "you can *move* up to 2 feet horizontally for every 1 foot you descent", you are still limited by your movement speed.
As a DM I would rule that if you end your turn mid jump you must use some movement next turn to complete your jump. If you cannot move for any reason at the start of your turn you fall. This just makes sense to me as each characters turn is supposed to be happening within the same 6 second period, but there is nothing wrong with one 6 seconds bleeding into the next.
After so many editions of DnD I can't be exactly certain of it's origins but this is how I run it.
I vaguely remember Crawford talking about ending a turn in a jump and this was essentially the conclusion I arrived at. The character is left "floating" until that round is over at which point they will complete the jump at the start of the next turn. I think the most important thing here is that people can't use jumps to effectively increase their movement, but as DMs I don't think we should be punishing people for trying to creatively move during combat.
Another possible option could be a GM allowing the character to complete the jump on the turn it's initiated, but reducing next turn's movement speed by whatever amount was necessary to complete the jump.
@@joshuabryant974 true, but I like the idea of interrupting a jump, I think it could be a way to give players options while also making everything feel more dynamic.
Something we came up with regarding jumping is that, just like horisontal movement, diagonal movement doesn't cost anything extra. This is a rules interpretation, not a house rule but neither is it stated that this is how vertical movement works. We just asummed that vertical movement and horisontal movement works the same way.
So, if a Harengon jusmps 40 feet and wishes to jump over some opponents, as long as they are not ascending at more than a 45 degree angle, they can jump 40 forward AND for 40 feet up. This also means that if they want to jump over an opponent with a 5 feet space and 5 feet reach, they have to be 10 feet up to do so. And they can be 10 feet up after they have jumped 10 feet forward - unless they want to expend extra movement moving straight up rather than diagonally up.
This also solves many falling issues. If you can haregon jump 40 feet, you can jump 40 feet forward and arrive at any desired height from zero feet to 40 feet up.
This interpretation also works for flying movement.
This is a good mechanic. Actual long jumpers in track & field don’t jump “out”; they jump up. It’s just their speed that carries them forward. The biomechanics of a running long jump and a standing long jump are completely different.
Another mechanic in the game that would be realistic is to make the maximum long jump distance limited by the height of the ceiling. Long jump distance should be limited to twice the difference between the ceiling height and the character height. A 7’ tall goliath barbarian with 20 str in a 10’ high corridor would be limited to a 6’ jump distance. Meanwhile a 3’ tall halfling with 14 strength in the same corridor would be able to long jump their full distance.
Jeremy Crawford on Sage Advice suggested only taking fall damage if the fall exceeded the jump height.
I think it makes sense thar if sn ability gives your legs the strength to propel you x height, it'd give them the ability to withstand the descent from that height. Obviously not RAW, but easy to flavour as the magic of a spell, beast feature of springy Harengon legs.
@@TheZandaz This is by far the most reasonable interpretation. If your legs have enough spring in them to launch you X feet in the air, then they also have enough spring to absorb the landing. Fall damage isn't just because you dropped 10 feet. It's because you fell. You're not in control during a fall, you land awkwardly, and it hurts.
Climbing speed, high strength, parkour champion.
I’ve jumped off of the roof of a 1 story house and been fine. At least in my younger years.
I definitely don’t have a 10ft vertical.
I could see myself getting hurt badly if I fell down that distance unprepared.
It saddens and amuses me that non-spellcasters have this tome of dark secrets to navigate when they want to jump, while spellcasters cast one spell and never worry about it again.
It's not very complicated at all without Jump. Just your strength ability score in feet as long as you have room for a running start.
I personally rule that if a character wants to jump (over a chasm, for instance) and is capable of making that jump normally, they will make the jump. If they run out of movement before clearing that area, I rule that, until their next turn starts, they are suspended in midair. This doesn't make literal sense, but neither does standing around for six seconds doing nothing while the enemies go. It allows for cinematic moments like getting attacked or attacking in the middle of a jump.
My only problem with the Long Jumping mechanics is movement speed before-
Take a Tabaxian, a Rogue, a Monk, or even a Wizard like a Bladesinger or with the Longstrider spell with something like the Mobile feat strapped attached for added measure; I feel there needs to be clarification or AJ optional rule regarding how many feat you move ahead of time.
Because if my group’s Tabaxian Rogue/Monk named Bella, with her abysmal _6_ Strength Score does something ridiculous like sprint 120 feet before leaping through the air over a crowded street from one building’s roof to the next (a solid 30 foot distance), I feel like it should be more than possible
The notion that you can move in any direction before the jump is TRDSIC.
As a DM I insist that the 10 ft. of movement prior to the jump be in the direction of the jump. This emulates a running long jump and is why you can get more distance than a standing long jump. It makes zero sense that you would get extra distance on a northerly jump if your movement prior to the jump was to the west, east, or laughably south.
Ironically, in High Jump for track and field, running at where you want to jump is worst option, since you keep too much forward momentum, not being able to convert it as well straight upwards.
You instead run at it from an angle so that you get extra distance upwards from that momentum change.
Granted, in everyday use (which DnD would be closer to), you'd want it moreso to grip a ledge after, versus an almost acrobatic stunt jumping straight over the ledge. Trying to grab a ledge while controrting midair, would either fail miserably as you instantly lose your grip, or probably snap your arms if you somehow managed to grab hold...
Not that it changes much for DnD, but thought that was an interesting thing that isn't intuitive, but could come up in a session potentially.
Edit: But a long jump 100% goes the direction you're jumping. Forward momentum is forward momentum.
Pathfinder 2 rules for jump were nice and straight forward. Jump is based on speed. It can be increased by an athletics check where, for example, the DC for a long jump is equal to the distance in feet of the jump. Distance still limited by your speed.
A 10 foot wide gap should only require 10 feet of jump distance regardless of being on a grid or not. You need 15 feet of movement to complete the move on a grid (if your DM doesn't let you stay in partial squares), but you only need to be in the air for 10 of that.
Yeah. Had a dm that wouldn't let me cover a 15 foot gap with an 18 str because of grids.
Well, I’d say 11 feet jump distance without an athletics check to grab the edge or an acrobatics check to tuck and roll. Exactly 10 feet of jump distance for a 10’ gap means you’ve missed either the front end or the back end of the jump.
Yeah D&D! Running, jumping, climbing up trees, rolling dice while we're up there.
Love me some harengon. Go first, mad hops, perception. Everything I want.
There really ought to be a rule for deliberately jumping down. It’d make sense for someone to be able to use some portion of movement and maybe a skill check to reduce the effective distance you’d fall. Got a 20 foot ledge? Maybe you can take your high-jump distance off the fall length. It ought to be modest, because slow fall abilities ought to be used, but having something there makes sense.
So I always rule it if you can jump 20 ft but you only have 10 ft of movement left you end your turn midjump. Then on the start of your next turn you finish the jump using part of your allowed movement for the next turn. I never say "No you can't do that because you don't have enough movement, even though your strength says you can." I just make them pay it on the next turn.
An interesting thing to consider is that a few of the tallest playable races can have heights of 8 feet. As mentioned in the video a character with 20 Strength can high jump 8 feet and reach an additional 1/2 their height above their head. This lets 8 foot tall character reach ledges and creatures that are 20 feet up, 8(Jump) + 8 (height) + 4 (arms).
I've used this a lot, and you be surprised how many things DMs put 20 feet up because they think you can't reach them. Balconies, tops of walls, flying creatures, cookies... fun times
The house rule I use at my table is that you can extend a long jump to the next 5 foot increment with an athletics check. The DC is 10 + the additional distance jumped. e.g. if your strength score is 18, you can extend it to 20 feet with a DC 12 Athletics check. Same deal for high jumps.
Rounding makes everyone’s lives easier and the check is easy enough that most strength based martials hit it just fine, but still provides a small change of failure with a little tension, and it doesn’t slow things down much.
That seems fair.
I would also allow Acrobatics here, but otherwise yeah that's a pretty good rule for it. If you jump across a 10 foot gap with an 11 foot jump... your feet probably *did* touch the ground on the other side, but half of you is probably still hanging over that pit in a precarious position and regaining your balance after the jump is certainly more Acrobatics than Athletics.
would your also allow a DC 17 check for a 25 feet jump or is it always limited to "rounding up" basically?
One of the best jump rule videos I've seen. Very clear and helpful. Thank you!
Funfact: highjump is 3+Strmod
It doesnt have a minimum, so... if somehow you have -3str, your highjump would be 0 (zero) (3 + -3)
And, the spell Jump triplicate your jump distance... which is zero, so 0x3= still 0... so with a 5 in str, and the spell jump, your long jump would be 15ft, but you can barely highjump a few inches from the ground
Under these rules, a cat have a -4str can jump -1ft high even when real cats can jump 6 times their height, and a elephant with a +6str can jump 9ft high even when the real ones cant even jump
Enjoy!
Noticed how vague the jumping rules were in a recent session where a wizard wanted to hit two mounted bearded devils with a lightning bolt without hitting their mounts, which were under the effects of a hypnotic pattern. I allowed him to attempt a high jump to line them up so it would work, but ran into the problems of 1) no guidelines on a DC for an athletics check to jump 10 feet in the air (his STR would normally only allow 2 feet) or whether a check should be allowed for that, 2) whether he should be able to cast a spell at the apex of the jump before going down or whether he should immediately fall, and 3) although not related to jumping, the vagueness of where a mounted creature is positioned on its mount. (Ultimately I just gave him a DC 10 athletics check to make it work as intended, which he failed because 8 STR wizard, and only had the jump attempt use up 2 feet of movement, but it was an interesting situation to have to make a ruling on)
This was cool. I wonder if bugbears would get an extra bit of reach for their high jump?
I love my Harengon Beast Barbarian! You are right - you get some insane jumps when you combine Rabbit Hop, Beastial Soul, and the Boots of Springing and Striding.
imo, if you're proficient/expert in athletics you should add your PB to the distance you can jump.
Don't forget Monk. With Step of the Wind, by jump distance is doubled for the turn post Disengage OR Dash. And I obviate any concerns over falling damage with Slow Fall @4. All I have to do is spend 1 Chi! What a deal
Combining a solid jump with spiderclimb or similar is really fun. My dhampir's favorite move is to disengage to the ceiling.
Casting Jump on horse or a phantom steed can yield some pretty spectacular results. If your party has an obstacle to cross, the steed can jump back and fourth to bring each party member one at a time. A riding horse has 16 strength and a warhorse has a whopping 18 strength. With that you could get the whole party across a 54 ft gap or over a 21 ft high wall. Not bad for a 1st level spell.
IMO, it would be easier to make the long jump into an Athletics check, with the DC the distance of the jump. Got a 10' ravine to jump? Make a DC 10 Athletics check, and take 10' movement prejump, then 10' for the jump itself. Most characters with 30' total movement would have another 10' to move after the jump
I like that idea. Makes sense too
I like the idea of adding athletics, but I fear putting risk on what should be simple jumps. Dc 10, + 7 to athletics? That's still a 10%ish chance to fail, which is too high if falling could mean death. God forbid if you've only a +2 or a -1.
I allow base jump distance as written, but allow extra distance at 5dc per 1 foot gained.
@@ParaisoFlower It's supposed to be dangerous. Training your character in Athletics will help overcome such obstacles.
If a PC needs to clear a 10 door gap on a grid, I would rule that they need to take 15 feet of movement, 10 of which have to be a jump.
Also, I rule that if you run out of movement halfway through the jump, and you can't extend your movement further, you can just finish the jump on your next turn. It's important to note here that theoretically, a player could jump halfway over a gap at the end of their turn (or high in the air or down from a balcony if they're a monk or something), be out of reach for enemy attacks, then land next turn.
I've cleverly circumvented this issue by asking my players not to abuse it. On some maps, this can still be a real issue, though, and I plan my encounters accordingly.
I like, literally just have a lecture on this to my group last night. Was reading from the book.
We were covering what constitutes "falling" which is a little ambiguous. This is because we were asking what happens if you jump to a lower platform then where you started.
If the “fall” after a jump is considered falling in D&D (which I’m still undecided on), we could use the “Falling on a creature” rule from Xanathar’s to force a creature we fall upon to make a DC 15 Dex save or be prone. If we didnt jump higher than 10ft, then we end up trading some movement to knock an enemy prone while we remain standing!
This would be a great opportunity to mention the TCE optional rule on p. 170 for falling onto a creature which is a potential way to get advantage on all melee attacks using only movement, might need an ally to cast the now decent Jump spell on you if you don't already have a super jump, I think ~15ft high is minimum required:
"If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them. The impacted creature is also knocked prone, unless it is two or more sizes larger than the falling creature."
Don't forget about the grung, who have a 25 ft long jump and 15 ft high jump regardless of moving 10 ft before hand or not.
The extra jump distance on the grid luckily checks out to 5 feet (no matter the actual jump distance).
You can make use of that for all kinds of simple homebrew rules, e.g. you can simply increase everyone's jump distance by 5 feet. You could also require them to roll an athletics check, and if they fail they only get to jump the normal distance.
I was surprised not to hear anything about difficult terrain, there could be some interesting debate over jumping over Entangle created difficult terrain vs. Web created
@@RTukka I thought jumps landing on difficult terrain called for acrobatics as RAW? Maybe it was homebrew for my games, but could have sworn it was 🤔
Maybe I'm crazy? It comes up so rarely that I definitely couldn't say
House rule; failing damage from jumping is reduced by your Strength modifier + proficiency bonus.
Note to self: Properly work out house rules for jumping.
So far I always eyeballed it when my players wanted to jump and often just had jumps be bonus actions, which makes was more sense to me.
Jumping itself only mentions going prone if you land in difficult terrain and fail a DC 10 acrobatics check. It's something to think about.
Thanks Chris. If you don’t move the initial 10 feet, is the extra jumping distance from the various special features you mentioned also halved?
The way I read it, the special features would be added the same for a standing jump.
You can’t finish your turn mid air like some sort of cartoon character? Then on your next turn you move another 30 feet? When you finish the jump?
I never liked the jumping rules in 5e. The best jumpers in the world rely more on technique than strength. Proficiency in Athletism should be playing a bigger role.
You telling me mammoths are not the best jumpers in real life?
It should be strength score + your athletics bonus.
@@andrewgreeb916 A t-rex might get some fearsome jumps in however. The arms would probably make them terrible at slam dunking despite that unfortunately.
Balance-wise, I’m glad Strength is the stat it’s keyed to, even if skill proficiency should play a bigger role. Strength is often such a dump stat that it’s good for the game when it’s actually used for something.
@@thebitterfig9903
But...
That really only impacts the Rogue. Everyone else casts Fly and never worries about jumping again.
8:09 All I can think of is that "A lion can jump 36 feet" meme here. I laughed harder at this than I probably should have.
Druid in Bear form jumping at people = Soiled shorts
Weird thing: A druid wildshaped into an elephant can jump further than a druid wildshaped into a lion.
Deep Lion Lore. You have to roll at least a 25 on your Nature check to know this.
There's been an errata where they eliminate negative str modifiers from the jumps.
The wizard can jump 10 feet long and 3 or 4 feet high I forget which. I think you can also grab onto a ledge 1.5 times or half your height above your jump.
I borrow a rule from older editions where you can safely jump down from a height=to your jump height, that's specifically jumping down not falling. And your own jumps aren't hurting you the leg buff that got you up can take the landing.
The rules system isn’t perfect, for sure. A cat has 3 STR and can jump higher and further than most humans. That being said, a -STR should limit jumps, IMO. Weak people cannot jump 10 feet.
I know sage advice said you can safely fall the same height jumped, which I agree should be the standard. But this should only apply for jumping. If falling over a ledge, though, fall damage should still occur as normal.
I'm afraid not. The errata only prevents you from having a negative high jump distance (like if your strength modifier is less than -3): "The first sentence has been changed to 'When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier (minimum of 0 feet) if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump.' "
Pretty sure it was confirmed that you can subtract vertical jump distance from fall distance to reduce damage due to the ruling that you do not take damage from the “fall” portion of a high jump or from jumping down off a wall or building.
I generally avoid house rules, but my house rule for falling is, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics check to avoid taking any damage or falling prone. The DC is the number of feet fallen.
My jump rule
Jumping
You must declare where you are jumping to before you roll. If the jump isn't long enough, you jump as close to your destination as possible. At minimum, you spend 5ft of movement. Strength (athletics or acrobatics) check. Disadvantage if you don’t have room for a running start. You may spend movement in feet up to the number rolled to move vertically, then horizontally in one direction. Spend an extra foot of movement for every foot you move vertically. Jump multipliers multiply both the distance you can jump and the number of feet you move per foot during the jump.
Landing (Partial Credit: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
When you land you may roll an athletics or acrobatics check and apply any bonuses to jumping. Subtract half the total from the distance fallen (rounded down) before calculating fall damage.
Toss
You may attempt to Toss a creature or sizable object you are grappling. Make the same check as a grapple. On a success, the grapple ends and you make an (athletics) jump check to see how far they are thrown. Jumping rules apply. Instead of spending movement the maximum distance for the throw is your movement speed.
When the thrown creature or object crashes into something you may spend an attack to make an unarmed strike against that thing. If what it crashed into is still in the way, the thrown creature or object ends its movement.
Glory Paladin also has a channel divinity that affects jumps.
You didn't talk about difficult terrain, which isn't a very large part to be sure, but it's worth mentioning the fact that landing in difficult terrain requires you to save or fall prone, and the idea of jumping over difficult terrain.
I did, but not until 5:25
@@TreantmonksTemple oh wow I watched the whole video but completely missed that, my bad.
If you jump past an enemy, does that provoke an OA? And if they have a sentinel ability, does that make them fall where they stop?
Also just because you can jump up to a height, do I have to move as high? If I want to jump up to a roof only instead of 10 feet above it?
Jumping is movement, so it treats opportunity attacks like any other movement. Sentinel should work too-you just for swatted out of the air.
As to distance, there’s nothing that says you have to jump as far as you can, so it’s totally reasonable to only jump to the roof not 10 feet over.
I assume if you move out of an enemy's reach it doesn't matter if it's part of a jump or not
I usually rule it that if you can jump to a natural height thats above 10 feet, if you initiated the jump you don't take fall damage.
I have a Satyr with Mirthful Leap and the Boots of Striding and Springing lol
I played a oneshot where my character was a beast barbarian 6 / monk 2. With a ring of jumping, expertise in athletics (plus advantage when raging), and step of the wind, I could almost literally kill myself by making a single high jump and taking the falling damage.
As a DM, I allow Athletics to be added in Jump checks, not just Strength.
One question I've had is what happens if we jump outside of combat? Is it still limited by the movement we would have on a turn when we aren't in initiative? Does being out of combat then allow us to potentially jump farther or higher?
The only time it would is if for some reason our jump distance is so high we can't use it all with our movement rate, which would at least be uncommon.
@@TreantmonksTemple Right, I'm thinking of cases like the Beast barbarian combined with the Jump spell or ridiculously high strength like from a Storm Giant Strength belt.
Can you use successive standing jumps to escape from Spike Growth without taking damage? The character would not be moving in the Spike Growth area per se, just jumping over it. Since the spikes require a check to notice, they probably aren't very high, so you might not need any minimum jump height to clear them.
you are still landing on the spikes, you probably will still take damage when landing, although this is a an ask your dm
spike growth not a plane but a sphere
@@Thaytor spike growth aoe is the ground, so a flat 20’ radius circle.
Maaaybe. The rules aren't clear on this.
When you land in Difficult Terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.
What's interesting is how the Jump spell effect can't be used unless you use the dash action to extend your movement speed to 60.
That's poorly defined enough in the RAW that most tables will rule it differently. I believe word from Jcraw aligns with you here though.
Personally, I prefer "superjumping" to not be bound by your movement because things like the Jump spell and Grung exist... Basically, I rule it that if you start a jump without enough movement speed to finish it, you complete the jump on your next turn spending the appropriate amount of movement distance then... Admittedly this puts some strain on the monkey brain because it "looks" like the character is hanging stationary in the air, rather than everything happening on the battlefield at roughly the same time, but I think that's a small price to pay for a PC to be able to make the full use of their jumping ability without being constrained by battlemap rules.
Only for classes with a high strength. The Wizard with 8 Strength and the Jump spell would have a running long-jump of 24 feet (effectively 20 feet because needing to move 10 feet prior) and a standing long-jump of 12 feet.
While not exactly RAW, I would say the movement limitation only really matters in combat. If a spellcaster wants to expend a resource to allow the Barbarian to jump 60 ft during exploration or downtime, I don't personally know any DMs who'd say they can't.
It works with the Rabbit Hop ability tho
There’s nothing in the Jump spell that limits the jump distance to movement. The spell would be a broken mechanic immediately for any character with 7 or higher strength and a base movement speed of 30.
So if I make a standing high jump with a modifier of -2 or less, will I proceed to clip into the floor where I am standing? Trying to speedrun our campaign and I'm in a glitches allowed category.
Now I'm wondering whether that 1.5xheight rule should get an extra 5 feet for bugbears...
I would be curious to see some of the tactics that might emerge uniquely for a Harengon. For instance, if you grapple a target, jump and drop them. Probably not a great source of damage, but a fun option.
Hey man I just wanted to say that I think you make such great content, and that I have seen that you have a great character through seeing you in various collabs and one-shots. You are great, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
My one BUILD REQUEST: Please make a melee Conquest paladin (main) multiclassed with at least one level in Undead Warlock. Similar to the Undead Supportlock Build by Colby from d4, but melee.
Thank, and have a great day night or whatever.
Flattery will get you everywhere.
Yay, the jumping video 😃
Is there any means of optimizing jumps in combat? I am thinking along the line of the Dragoon from Final Fantasy’s. Which often use jumps as part of their attacks, both high jumps and long jumps.
Obvious considerations is to avoid attacks of opportunity, and canceling out falling damage, and obviously making attacks as part of the jump.
Great video. Can you make a similar video about climbing? I’m playing a monk and I’m always frustrated with the climbing action being based on Strength. As you know monks need DEX and WIS so STR is often relatively low. Climbing should allow for a DEX option for DC checks. By the way, my DM never allows automatic climbing success. He always insists on some sort of strength check, which with a STR of 11 I usually fail. Thanks!
I think you might be wrong about the 15 foot grid jump. you "pay" 5 feet of movement to enter a rectangle on the grid. that movement doesnt have to be all jumping though.
I think there's got to be some DM interpretation there. I would never require a pc to jump 15 feet to clear a 10' gap.
Our table doesn't use a lot of pit traps, but every campaign at my table includes at least one ten foot wide trench or hole or gap that we must cross, added in specifically to force the people who dumped strength to get creative. No matter who's DMing, there's always a pit, then we have to look up jumping rules for five minutes and figure out who can do what and when and how. And this happens every time we see a pit that we must all cross. We have to look the rules up EVERY TIME because you just can't memorize these, they slide out of my brain like butter
Unless you do this at very low levels then I largely would see it as incidental. Between Misty Step being dead simple to get and the number of species that have some form of flight (even if they may be very unhappy to use it if it is once a day) it just is not much of an issue. (And that is not counting the fact that I love my equipment. )
"It says here, that you can reach 1.5 times your height. I'm 8 feet tall. I fall over."
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 jokes aside, the idea of using a tall goliath as a bridge for the 8 strength halfling sorcerer is a really fun one and it could actually work lmao
I'm thinking about playing an air genasi swashbuckler rogue that used to be an acrobat in a circus so i want him to be good at jumping but i can't give him high STR because i need high DEX CHA and CON. Does anybody have any ideas? I could ask my DM to start with the ring of jumping or the boots of striding and springing but they require attunement and at high levels it's not worth an attunement slot.
Get a 2 lvl Warlock dip for repelling blast, an immovable rod and ask your DM, what does he think about 3rd Newton law.
@@MSDoL
It's magic, I ain't gotta explain shit
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 And what's your magic gonna do against the deadliest SoB in space? :)
@@MSDoL
Violate all three of Newton's laws with a cantrip most often used for party tricks, considered all but useless for any serious mage.
Also my Silvery Barb finger is getting itchy.
Not sure if this was a tongue slip, or me just not fully understanding how the feature works, but can you spend a ki point to gain the extended jump of a Step of the Wind without taking the Dash or Disengage actions as you bonus action? Rabbit Hop is a bonus action, so I imagined that the two couldn't be combined.
I only ask because it seems weird to mention Step of the Wind as part of the list of things that can modify the jump distance of a Rabbit Hop when both features require a bonus action to use, whereas the other two features on that list do not.
Monk’s jump improvement via step of the wind requires your bonus action unfortunately
Do you think a rule that if you attack someone while falling you have disadvantage on the attack roll but deal additional damage equal to the number of feet you fall would be easily abused?
What I do:
Athletics DC for the jump = the Strength score you would need for that jump
Was kind of expecting some discussion of the “tactic” some other channels and forums have advocated of using high jump plus the falling onto another creature rules (from Tasha’s) to knock opponents prone.
I argue that the high jump rules don’t give you the 5’ of forward movement needed to land in the guy next to you’s square so the whole idea is flawed but I’d’ve been interested to hear your thoughts on it.
Horizontal jumps include a degree of vertical movement. Because that's how jumping works. The notion that a vertical jump cannot also include a bit of horizontal movement seems silly.
@@OffRoadRN sure but if it’s 1’ forward then you haven’t succeeded at getting where you need to be for this tactic.
Hell if it’s 2’ or 3’ you probably haven’t succeeded.
For this tactic to work the player needs control of their forward motion on a high jump and the rules do not give you that.
@@jameshardie7678 In a case like this where the rules are not explicit, it's a good idea to apply some common sense. From your reply, I can only assume you've never jumped. So brace yourself... You do, in fact, have control of your horizontal movement when you jump.
@@OffRoadRN *eyerolls* a combat strategy that is 100% down to DM Fiat is not a viable combat strategy. And it is entirely DM fiat - the rules do not give you the precision you mistakenly think all real humans have.
You are arguing in favor of a TRDSIC here, and a particularly ludicrous one at that.
Big-brain TRDSIC: the rules for high jump don't actually say you descend at ALL, so that means you can just walk on air and jump again, right? So as long as you can high jump 1 foot (str 6+) you can spend all your movement repeatedly high jumping until you're 30 ft in the air.
No mention of grungs?
i had a one shot character harengan with boots of springing and striding and his druid friend cast jump on him for 180 feet of jump as a bonus action.
Wow
speaking of fall damage, Wasn't there some rule that if you fall onto another creature, you share the damage or divide the damage between the creatures hit by the fall?
Yes, it's one of the optional rules in Tasha's
I don’t understand one thing Athletics says “you try to jump an unusually long distance” in the player’s handbook - but the rules do not make clear that the skill should be used as such else where? The issue to me is just the “may be used” in parts of the rules when it should be “should be used” and “it giver you x general effect”. We know that in RL technique really can make a big difference in these jump distances so it should be encouraged as well as a roll to make it. (Not going into the fact that size really SHOULD matter in these calculations for jumping)
Just my 2 cents worth the interaction it counts as.
I wish jump could give you more movement than your movement speed provides, idk how to balance it I just like the idea of moving farther if you commit to a jump and you are strong
Grung, while technically not official have a set long or high jump
Video uploaded three minutes ago. Comments from one month ago.
WHAT IS THIS TIME TRAVEL SORCERY?!
Videos released for patrons early
Chronoturgy wizards breaking the game again
is there any rules for starting a jump in difficult terrain?
Not that I'm aware of
Just that movement is halved.
The ability for average-strength creatures to jump across 10 foot spans of terrain for free is one of a handful of reasons why the grease spell just... isn't as good as it sounds.
grease is for making stairs an unwise option
@@andrewgreeb916 Oh, it's absolutely got it's uses, but they're limited. It's great to counter corner-peeking and making cover harder to use in general, and you might find value setting it at a corner... (or if the GM doesn't know to or is merciful and doesn't make all the monsters just jump over it)
But if they start their turn in the aoe of the spell, their movement is halved, which significantly affects their ability to jump.
I think jump distance should be constitution based. Skinny fit people can jump well and strong powerlifters not so well.
The new One DnD play test materials shake up the whole mechanics and IMO not for the better.
My old dm allowed dex for jumps, sadly making strength more useless
How much do the top-level patrons pay in order to play in the monthly one-shot? I'm brand spankin' new to D&D and living a wretched lifestyle but I would be honored to play a game with treantmonk; been binge-watching this channel for weeks and really itching to play 🎲
Currently that patron level is unpublished as I had so many I couldn't schedule any more one shots. It may be republished at the end of the year with a cap this time.
so what your saying is boots of jumping are mostly useless
I believe movies and video games greatly exaggerate what jumping is for humans. I challenge an average person (10 Str) to make a 10 ft jump and say the jumping rules are not close to accurate.
That being said, I believe the movement limitations are designed to avoid rule exploits. If a jump was part of an out of combat scenario, I’d ignore the movement/round limitation. In combat, I’d rule that any additional movement needed to complete the jump be subtracted from the next round and you can’t take any other actions until the jump is resolved. This would be interesting if the enemy Lightning Lures the PC out of mid air. 🤔
Because of the grid system and athletics checks, for long jumps, I think a DC equal to the distance to jump is appropriate (15ft = DC 15). Failing by less than 5 results in a DC 10 Acrobatics or Athletics check to grab the ledge. For high jumps, RAW is okay. We don’t really have a lot of rules for vertical movement, in general.
It makes sense that most significant jumps will require a dash. The consequences of running out of movement mid-jump never made sense, though. Maybe you should be committed to finishing the jump at the start of your next turn and can't make Dex saves until you land? Call the condition "free fall" or "mid-jump"? I'm imagining a football player over-committing to a jump and getting plastered by a defender. It seems more reasonable.
Grung base high jump is greater than a creature with a 30 Str
One more reason you should join the Grung Gang.
All of your friends will love you when you join the Grung Gang. I reccomend Hand of Mercy Monk for maximum Grung Gang potential.
Engagement
The best jumping character I've built is a Loxodon Monk: the Leaping Pachyderm! This character not only can perform powerful leaps for supreme battlefield mobility (second only to actually Flying), but can employ an unorthodox, yet deadly battle strategy: Grab! Leap! Drop!
Monk gives this character three features to improve their jumping: Step of the Wind (doubles jump distance), Unarmored Movement (increases the maximum distance a jump can cover), and Slow Fall (negates fall damage).
Loxodon provides many fantastic racial traits for a martial character (Powerful Build allows for heavy/numerous creatures and objects to be carried/dragged, Serenity protects from mental conditions, Trunk grapples one additional creature, & Keen Smell provides advantage on spotting ambushes and hidden enemies), but the most important trait is its Natural Armor (12 AC + Constitution modifier), which allows this build to dump Dexterity, pump Strength, and still have a decent AC (for a Monk).
Tortle could also be used with its own Natural Armor (17 AC), but it otherwise lacks any significant racial traits for this martial build (Claws are redundant with Unarmed Strikes, Hold Breath is situational, Survival Instinct provides a non-combat skill, and Shell Defense prevents jumping).
At level 20, assuming this character has a Strength score of 20, doesn't have access to magic items or spells, and uses both its action and bonus action to Dash (by activating Step of Wind), it can cover the following distances in 1 Round (6 seconds):
Maximum Movement: 180 feet (60 feet x 3)
Running Long Jump: 40 feet (20 feet x 2)
Running High Jump: 16 feet (8 feet x 2)
If this character does have access to magic items (Boots of Striding and Springing, Ring of Jumping) and spells (Jump, Haste), then it can cover the following distances 1 Round:
Maximum Movement (Haste spell): 480 feet (60 feet x 2 x 4)
Running Long Jump (B.o.S.a.S., Ring of Jumping/Jump spell, & Haste spell): 360 feet (20 feet x 2 x 3 x 3)
Running High Jump (B.o.S.a.S., Ring of Jumping/Jump spell, & Haste spell): 144 feet (8 feet x 2 x 3 x 3)
people who say strength is useless don't play with Encumbrance. We do at my table and it fixes Dex being OP
But Kobold from Pact Tactics told me never to jump.
resuming: jumping rules in 5e sucks. create your own homebrew rules..
So an elephant (STR 22) can jump 22 feet.
Meanwhile, in mundane world, elephants can't jump at all.
Hmm, I wonder if strength is not the limiting factor here.
Not to be difficult, but when you say jumping is a reason why strength isn't completely useless it seem to ring hollow to me. Has it come up that often that the strength character can jump high or far enough to save the day but a fly, spider climb or grappling hook was not available/useful in the situation? Strength isn't pointless to me but it's more part of character fantasy than an effective way to solve adventuring problems.
The gap is 10 feet no way I would make someone jump 15 to get 10.. if you need to jump 15 say it’s a 15 gap… if it’s 12 day it’s 12… I will so split if need be. I could see an argue if it meets you have to fall prone… but why…
Also high jump… jumping to grab us easy to understand… but jumping to clear, jumping to stand.
For example: nfl players average 36ish inches… 3 feet…. They are not “10”s. But then again a jr high weenie can “high jump” hurdle or even more so using good form, over 5 feet.
Then you have that standing box jump… aka you can jump up and land on feet. That will be more then jump from ground, but less then “clear a bar” jump. So I always struggle with. Jump x high to hit, jump x high to grab, jump x high to get on table/ledge, jump x high to clear a wall (with out grabbing and pulling up) or jumping over an enemy.
I have to leave it to a full up judgment call, but that risks inconsistency, and maybe that is fine…
Can't play a _Final Fantasy_ Dragoon. Damn.