Super High Jumps and Falling Damage

[Wolfswift]

So... I'm playing in a 3.5 game, my character has the Monk class's fast movement and I found out for every 10 feet over 30 feet you can move you get another +4 in jump, then I got boots of swiftness, they double speed and grant a +20 to jump, so my jump bonus is just... off the charts... So my question is if I can jump like 30 feet into the air, should I have to take 3d6 fall damage coming down? Or... 2d6 since I can easily make a DC 15 jump check to avoid the first 10 feet, but still... It seems pretty dumb to be able to jump so high, but not handle coming down from it. I've been looking and no where I can find does it say anything about higher DC jump checks to avoid further fall damage.

Also curiously the boots of swiftness state "the wearer’s jumping distance is not limited by his or her height" which I can find no mention of anywhere in the jump skill description, I looked into it a bit and evidently in 3.0 there was some kind of limit, so would that just be some leftover relic of that?

[Tyrex]

So... I'm playing in a 3.5 game, my character has the Monk class's fast movement and I found out for every 10 feet over 30 feet you can move you get another +4 in jump, then I got boots of swiftness, they double speed and grant a +20 to jump, so my jump bonus is just... off the charts... So my question is if I can jump like 30 feet into the air, should I have to take 3d6 fall damage coming down? Or... 2d6 since I can easily make a DC 15 jump check to avoid the first 10 feet, but still... It seems pretty dumb to be able to jump so high, but not handle coming down from it. I've been looking and no where I can find does it say anything about higher DC jump checks to avoid further fall damage.

Also curiously the boots of swiftness state "the wearer’s jumping distance is not limited by his or her height" which I can find no mention of anywhere in the jump skill description, I looked into it a bit and evidently in 3.0 there was some kind of limit, so would that just be some leftover relic of that?

From what I'm seeing its up to the DM. You don't have anything (that I know of) that would make you tougher or more agile so I would say yes, you take more fall damage. It's not like you're actually getting stronger legs to jump higher with. You're just being sped up with magic or monk meditation stuff.

[hamishspence]

Tumble checks can be used to reduce falling damage.

A ring of Feather Fall also helps - once you've fallen 5 ft (in this case, from the peak of your jump) your falling speed drops to "harmless" levels and you take no damage.

If you've not taken a running start, and don't have any class features that allow you to avoid this limitation (you're just doing an ordinary standing jump) you'd need to beat DC 240 to jump 30 feet straight up. With a running start, the DC would be 120.

EDIT: Swordsaged while I was editing.

[Crake]

Remember that a deliberate jump (regardless of whether you pass the DC15 jump check or not) reduces the first 1d6 damage to nonlethal, so if you deliberately jump 30ft into the air (which is DC120 by the way) you can reduce it to 1d6 lethal and 1d6 nonlethal. If you also succeed on a DC15 tumble check, you can reduce it down to no lethal damage and just 1d6 nonlethal. Of course, as a monk, if you jump near a vertical surface, you can just slowfall down it :smalltongue:

[icefractal]

You don't have anything (that I know of) that would make you tougher or more agile so I would say yes, you take more fall damage. It's not like you're actually getting stronger legs to jump higher with. You're just being sped up with magic or monk meditation stuff."Monk meditation stuff" would include heavy physical conditioning, so yes, I'd think it would help with the landing as well. The magic may or may not help, but in this case it's from the Boots of Swiftness, an Epic magic item that specifically boosts jumping. It would be a pretty shoddy item if it didn't give you the ability to handle the leaps it itself enabled.

I general, I'd say that you shouldn't take damage from your own jumps unless you go down farther than you went up to begin with, like jumping off of something tall.

Re: Limited by your height - that was a 3E rule that was dropped in 3.5E.

[KillianHawkeye]

Jumping is not the same as falling.

The rules for the Jump skill do not reference taking damage except in the section for jumping down from a height to a lower level. Other uses of the Jump skill do not incur falling damage, because the skill doesn't say you do.

[Wolfswift]

I realize it's a DC 120 to jump 30 feet, I was just using a semi-absurd jump height as an example. A level 20 Monk with 23 ranks in Jump, a +10 Dex mod, 90 feet of movement from Fast Movement and x2 from Boots of Swiftness 180 movement, getting +4 jump for every 10 feet over 30, which is 150 ft over 30 for +60, and a +20 competence bonus from boots of swiftness has a whopping +113 to jump, a 7 would make a DC 120, it becomes not too hard to do. My character is not actually a level 20 Monk, it's a very houseruled character, but that's not the point, the point is it becomes not hard to do with enough various bonuses to jump and/or speed.

I realize fall damage states a DC 15 Jump or Tumble check can negate the first 10 feet of fall damage, can you make both checks and negate the first 20 feet? I also know about non-lethal damage, I am really just looking to avoid taking damage from jumping altogether. I feel like if I can jump so high I should be able to take the fall, I feel like they should allow higher DC jump or tumble checks to avoid more fall damage, benefiting players with higher ability with those skills to take falls, especially from high jumps they can make.

I know feather falling would negate any fall damage, the issue there is I intend to be Battle Jumping and Leap Attacking, and Battle Jump states you can't effectively utilize it under the influence of a fly or levitate spell effect as you need to hurl yourself down upon your foe, it doesn't mention feather fall explicitely, but it can be inferred. I did consider if I could possibly have something like a Ring of Feather Falling if I can maybe cancel the feather fall midfall to fall far enough to put the hurt on my enemies and not take fall damage from it. But I could find nothing about being able to cancel a magic item's effect midway through.

I intend to talk to my GM about this, but I wanted to get my facts in order first. :smallsigh: He also stated previously if I crit my jump check I will jump like x5 high into the sky and fall and break my legs, I suspect he was joking, but I can't be sure... Also, I know you can't normally crit skill checks, it's a weird house rule I don't agree with.



Jumping is not the same as falling.

The rules for the Jump skill do not reference taking damage except in the section for jumping down from a height to a lower level. Other uses of the Jump skill do not incur falling damage, because the skill doesn't say you do.

This. So much this. I want so hard for this to be solid fact, I feel it should be and I hope my GM agrees.

[KillianHawkeye]

I realize fall damage states a DC 15 Jump or Tumble check can negate the first 10 feet of fall damage, can you make both checks and negate the first 20 feet?

To answer this question, yes you can. Additionally, the Epic usage of the Tumble skill allows for more reduction of falling damage for every extra 15 you can add to the DC (reduced by 20 feet at DC 30, 30 feet at DC 45, et cetera).

[Wolfswift]

To answer this question, yes you can. Additionally, the Epic usage of the Tumble skill allows for more reduction of falling damage for every extra 15 you can add to the DC (reduced by 20 feet at DC 30, 30 feet at DC 45, et cetera).

That helps, well if my GM accepts epic skill uses, but dangit, I looked into it and the same does not go for epic jump, and tumble doesn't grow like jump does by +4 for every 10 feet of movement beyond 30, so I can only reach about 50 tumble right now. I also saw epic tumble says a DC 100 tumble check negates any and all fall damage, that is tasty and I want it, but I need to find more ways to buff my tumble.

Still, as of right now, if my GM allows me to use this epic use of tumble, a DC 45 tumble check will resolve my jump fall problems for at least 30 ft jumps.

Though it still may not solve the issue of if he deviously actually allows a crit jump to skyrocket me into the stratosphere and then subsequently die of insane fall damage. I still will try to argue with him a crit skill should be an autosuccess and not an uncontrollably powerful use of a skill, if I aimed to jump 30 feet and roll a 20 I should not jump 150 feet, that is more like a crit fail, the failure to control the power of your jump... it's dumb and seriously hope he's just joking.

EDIT: Oh! I also found this expanded usage of the tumble skill is also listed in Oriental Adventures under New Uses for Old Skills on page 58, so that is a non-epic core source for that skill use, that might help convince him. I will still be opening with the whole jumping and falling are seperate and no where in jump does it state you should take fall damage for high jumps made under your own power.

[KillianHawkeye]

Though it still may not solve the issue of if he deviously actually allows a crit jump to skyrocket me into the stratosphere and then subsequently die of insane fall damage. I still will try to argue with him a crit skill should be an autosuccess and not an uncontrollably powerful use of a skill, if I aimed to jump 30 feet and roll a 20 I should not jump 150 feet, that is more like a crit fail, the failure to control the power of your jump... it's dumb and seriously hope he's just joking.

I can solve that problem right now, because Skill uses don't do anything special on a natural 20. There's no such thing as a critical success (or failure) when it comes to Skills or ability checks. That is only for attack rolls and saving throws.

[Wolfswift]

I can solve that problem right now, because Skill uses don't do anything special on a natural 20. There's no such thing as a critical success (or failure) when it comes to Skills or ability checks. That is only for attack rolls and saving throws.

I know that, my GM knows that, but as I said before it's his house rule, I think it's dumb, but as I am not the GM, I can't change it. Either way, I do beleive he was joking about criticaling a jump check, but still, in case he wants to be "goofy" and do it, I'd just straight up die. Well, not quite, I have enough HP to take a decent fall, but it'd still hurt like hell and not be very cool.

[skunk3]

The Anti-Impact armor enhancement is something I almost always put on my gear. It's 2,000 GP but it can really save your butt depending on who your DM is.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Flight with Good or Perfect maneuverability, or either the Hover feat or the wingover ability, would allow you to stop your falls on a dime. So just make sure you've got 10' or better reach, jump and hit them while you're still in midair, then stop. A phase cloak (MoI) bound to your shoulders chakra would allow you to go ethereal instead of the above, which should prevent fall damage as well.

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Necromancers can handle the body after the fall damage has been dealt.