Jump question in 3.5

[Grozomah]

Hey playground!

In the campaign i'm in i'm playing a melee character with leap strike, +19 jump score and a reach weapon. In the last session there was an interesting situation, where i charged and wanted to do the prereq 10 ft jump. What happened was that i rolled well (36) and the DM said that i jump 15 feet (rounded down from 18, didn't have a running start).

That meant that i effectively jumped too close for a strike with my reach weapon. After some confusion on my part and some pleading with my DM he was cool about it and let me be in the square i wanted. Still, the question remained and after the session i went to scroll through the SRD, but didn't find anything tangible.

So my question to you, playground, is can you overjump the distance you try to jump? Or can my character actually jump anything less than 10 ft?

[Deophaun]

You cannot "overjump."

How non-opposed skill checks work is you determine what you want to do first. Then you use that to set the DC. If you meet the DC, you succeed. If you don't, you fail. So, looking at the Long Jump:

Long Jump

A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap like a chasm or stream. At the midpoint of the jump, you attain a vertical height equal to one-quarter of the horizontal distance. The DC for the jump is equal to the distance jumped (in feet).
So if you want to jump 10 feet without a running start, the DC is 20. If you make the check, you jump 10 feet, regardless of how much you go over.

Your DM is doing it backwards: he's taking your roll and then setting the DC based on the result.

[TuggyNE]

So my question to you, playground, is can you overjump the distance you try to jump?

No. Skill checks (and all of 3.5, almost) are based on the principle that higher is better, and if you pass the DC you did what you wanted. The DC for jumping is set by the distance you wish to jump, and therefore success means you cleared that distance.

It would be interesting to have an option for failure that can end up with you jumping too far instead of not far enough in some cases (specifically, when the DM considers that you'd be trying to avoid overjumping), but in any case, succeeding too hard should never under any circumstances be problematic in immediate repercussions.

[Grozomah]

Thank you both for this clarification. I'll be able to coherently present my case in the next session. :smallsmile: