Quadrupeds and long jumping

[EggKookoo]

By RAW, a running long jump is your STR score in feet. But I have a Wild Shaping druid who needed to jump a pit in Dire Wolf form. Seventeen feet turned out to be enough but it got me wondering if quadrupeds shouldn't have some kind of distance buff, or the distance you can jump should somehow be tied to your movement. It would make some sense that faster creatures should cover longer jumps, no?

[hymer]

By RAW, a running long jump is your STR score in feet. But I have a Wild Shaping druid who needed to jump a pit in Dire Wolf form. Seventeen feet turned out to be enough but it got me wondering if quadrupeds shouldn't have some kind of distance buff, or the distance you can jump should somehow be tied to your movement. It would make some sense that faster creatures should cover longer jumps, no?

So elephants should not only be able to clear 22' chasms, they should get a bonus to their jumping distance for having 40' movement speed? :smallwink:

I don't think a blanket rule would be a good idea (the original one obviously isn't doing so well), as the above example suggests. Elephants shouldn't be able to jump much of anything at all regardless of their strength or speed. Likewise, a gibbon should be able to jump 20' gaps between trees as a matter of course, despite being smaller and weaker than a baboon (str 8). It makes more sense for the DM to adjudicate individual cases.

[EggKookoo]

Well, right, obviously "STR in feet" is broken as it stands. I was just reacting to how the Dire Wolf with a STR of 17 could jump 17 feet, while the gnome fighter with a STR of 15 could do nearly as well. Like the rules on carrying capacity, formulas that use ability scores often end up with surprising results.

I guess it would make more sense to give the wolf the Running Leap feature of the lion.

[hymer]

If you like. I'd just pick a distance it can jump independent of its strength. I think the DM is supposed to do that sort of thing. I'm guessing the original rule was made with humanoid PCs in mind.

[sophontteks]

Houserule that all animals are monks :smallcool:

[ZorroGames]

Houserule that all animals are monks :smallcool:

Monkish Elephant 🐘. Oh my.

[sophontteks]

Yeah, elephants can run over water at 80 feet per round and scale walls at the same speed. Don't mess with them.

[ZorroGames]

Yeah, elephants can run over water at 80 feet per round and scale walls at the same speed. Don't mess with them.

😱🤯🤣...............

[EggKookoo]

If you like. I'd just pick a distance it can jump independent of its strength. I think the DM is supposed to do that sort of thing. I'm guessing the original rule was made with humanoid PCs in mind.

No problem with a houserule. Just curious if anyone has already come up with something. I think just classifying some animals as "leapers" and giving them a Running Leap variant will work.