SRD Talk:Jump Skill

Buggy Link

In "special", two lines below, there is a buggy link to the 'run' feat. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.108.164.233 (talk • contribs) 22:57, 20 February 2008 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Got it, thanks. --Green Dragon 23:21, 20 February 2008 (MST)

Jump from Mount

Is it possible to jump off of your mount, and if so what is the DC? Zau 14:15, 15 April 2008 (MDT)

I don't see any rules for it, but I'd say it's a check for a fast dismount, unless there's something specific you're trying to accomplish with it that fast dismount wouldn't normally cover. —Sledged (talk) 14:28, 15 April 2008 (MDT)

Uberjumping + Fall damage

I made a thri-kreen that has fairly insane jump skill, due to their racial bonus, allowing him to jump at least 14 feet into the air vertically. The jump skill allows mitigation of only the first 10ft of fall damage, so if I manage to jump higher than 20ft at a later time, how the hell does fall damage work? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Redgaia (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

Falling damage is 1d6 per 10 feet, max 20d6. See SRD:Falling.

Though since your thri-kreen is jumping instead of falling, the first 10ft would be non-lethal. If your character succeeds on a DC 15 jump check he ignores the first 10ft and the second 10ft are non-lethal. So your thri-kreen who jumps 20ft straight up has to come 20 ft straight down: 1d6 non-lethal + 1d6 lethal, which reduces to 1d6 non-lethal if they make a DC 15 jump check (and if you can jump 20 ft straight up, you should be able to make a DC 15 jump check!). JazzMan 16:26, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Or you could be a monk, but that may not fit with where your character was going. Also, whats with the max 20d6 fall damage? I saw this rule a while ago, except I've never played with it, it's just the dumbest thing I've ever seen. So your character could fall 2895762876 miles and live (Of course, not really, the lack of oxygen as you fall, the air pressure, and once you hit terminal velocity it could be fairly dangerous... and thats not including any vacuum damage you would take.)? Just seems a bit weird to me though. Why was this rule ever implemented?--Vrail 16:50, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Metagame-wise, it's probably to keep people from taking advantage of it. It would be, AFAIK, the only unlimited damage progression in existence. Physics-wise, though, terminal velocity is terminal velocity. If you hit terminal velocity after falling for X miles (according to Wikipedia, it only takes a human 15 seconds of falling — less than 3 game rounds — to hit terminal velocity), it doesn't matter whether you fall X feet or X + 1 million feet; you will be dealt the exact same amount of damage. WotC just happened to call this damage 20d6.

Also, don't forget that any character who can survive 20d6 damage is superhuman. A human commoner can have AT MOST 6 HP (assuming max HP at first level and the elite array ability score distribution, with 15 in CON), or on average 2.5 HP (standard array, roll HP). A terminal velocity fall will deal AT LEAST 20 damage. That paragon human commoner will have to be MINIMUM 2nd level to have a chance of not outright dying, or 4th level to have a chance of hitting the bottom and not pass out. The chance of the 2nd level not dying, if my calculations are correct, is 0.00000000000019%. The chance of the 4th level guy not passing out (0+ HP after the landing) is 0.00000000000035%. A commoner who put all ability increases into CON and rolled a 4 every time he leveled would have to reach 14th level (112 HP, 0.0000000037%) before he no longer had to worry about dying from a fall, and 15th level (120 HP, 0.00000000093%) before he no longer has to worry about passing out from a fall.

To make lots of math short, in a land where people can sling spells, shoot multiple arrows at a time, and punch faster than the eye, the terminal velocity rule is actually surprisingly realistic. If anything, it's almost *too* powerful. JazzMan 19:53, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Right, I forgot about that, thanks for pointing this out. Also, you don't have to be superhuman, just 20th level or so, your not superhuman until you 21st! :P--Vrail 19:59, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I just did my research. It takes an average limp person with average body weight 1,880 feat (573 meters, I'm Canadian) to reach terminal velocity. DnD assumes it only takes 200 feat. Really using this logic you should be able to take a maximum of 188d6 from falling damage. So even the terminal velocity argument is flawed. Oh, and just as a side note, it's impossible to hit terminal velocity, what we're talking about is hitting 99% of terminal velocity. --Vrail 20:10, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Err, no that just means they got the distance wrong. Or more accurately, they simplified the distance to make it more playable. If you were dealt 188d6 damage after falling only 3 rounds then there's really no reason to have falling damage in the first place; just tell your players they always die if they fall from any height that takes them more than one round to hit bottom. But that's no fun, now is it? And it's not very heroic. So just because their terminal velocity doesn't line up with "real world" terminal velocity, it doesn't mean that that's not the reason damage caps at 20d6. (Err I think I got my double negatives worked out there... does that make sense?) What other reason could there be fore capping damage at a set amount other than terminal velocity? JazzMan 21:42, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Lol, I know, just felt like playing devils advocate, I think I might do that to much :D--Vrail 21:57, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Meh, and I play the apologist too much, so I guess we're even :) JazzMan 23:00, 22 May 2010 (UTC)