Dungeons & Dragons has some complex rules, and a studious fan has created a tool to help you figure out exactly how jumping works.
How did this even happen?!Image: Tyler Jacobson (Wizards of the Coast)
There are a few things in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons that are tough for a Dungeon Master to handle. Last night, for example, I had to figure out the a numeric value for exactly how difficult it would be for a ranger to use her lockpicks in order to unlock a 1000+ year old door with a completely separate kind of lock than the ones she was used to. It was, in a word, hard.
Jumping is another one of those difficult things to figure out. Dungeons & Dragons has rules for tracking movement and rules for doing jumps, and there are even certain classes, like the monk, that can do jumps better than everyone else. It can get to be a real headache trying to track that info and figure out exactly what every character and NPC is capable of at any given moment.
Luckily Reddit user fek_ has created a tool to help you figure out how and how high far a character can jump.
Are you a Dungeon Master puzzling over whether your players will be able to chase your thieving villain from rooftop to rooftop? You can use the tool. Are you a player who wants to fling yourself from a tower onto the back of a passing dragon and you’re worried about clearing the crenellations? Use the tool to check the leap.
If you’re heavily invested in the specific movement rules of Dungeons & Dragons, then this is a legitimately helpful tool. I know that I will be using it to keep the leaping kicks of my half-orc monk/barbarian in check during our next session. Or, alternatively, I might finally stage the dunking contest that I’ve always wanted to run.
Comments
9 responses to “Finally, A Tool For Figuring Out How To Jump In Dungeons & Dragons”
Playing dnd last night, Im playing a school of invention wizard and random cast Jump, ended up parkouring across a warehouse.
4e/5e make my face sad, the only thing wrong with 3e was WotC couldn’t sell you the book again.
By 3e I assume you meant 3.5e, in which case yes, it was indeed the high point.
1000+ year old lock that she’s not used to? Give her a thieves tools DC30.
Can’t figure out if they can jump somewhere? Acrobatics/Athletics check with a DC anywhere from 15 to 25.
Done. Any more questions? It’s not hard. D&D is easy.
It’s actually a neat little tool that factors in stats, class, running/standing, obstacles and terrain.
Yeah the system is flexible enough that you can just go “it is a very hard jump, DC30 athletics/acrobatics” or you can use this straight forward tool for distances and being a bit more exacting. I run my group theatre of the mind style, but this would be useful if you’re a mat user and want some defined distances for jumps.
Maybe less DM’ing like a strict autistic rainman number hitler, and just have fun with it.
It’s all make believe, imaginary, in your head, the only rules there needs to be are the ones you create. You don’t NEED to follow strictly to the square root of pi number values.
What if your group is all strict autistic rainman number hitlers that like to be able to refer to something so they can gauge stuff before they do it? What if people want different things from the game?
What? No. I … I don’t understand? Of course … the numbers… obey…. the numbers.
Oh no.
ThE voICes!! WHEre aRe my pILls?