Jumping and Charging

[carborundum]

One of the players in my 3.0 campaign has a ring of jumping and boot of Striding & Springing. This means an average Jump check of around 50 letting him spring into the rigging of the Sea Wyvern and generally lark about.

Fair enough, it's more flavour than causing problems so far, and the players love it.

Here's the problem, I'd replaced the basilisk with a dracolisk and he wanted to charge it, jumping the last 10 feet into the air to get it. He gets double damage while charging....

I thought it was cool and he was making Fortitude saves every round as the only non-blindfolded/blindsighted character just so he could do it. You take a risk and you get a reward, so I let him do it.

Now I'm wondering how bad a precedent it was...

Can someone summarise the rules a bit for me please? I guess it wasn't technically a straight line for a start. Is there a feat to do such things?

[Nero24200]

I beleive the feat your player was using is called Leap Attack. The general jist of it is make a 10ft jump while charging and you deal double your normal power attack damage. All in all the predicament the player was in didn't sound bad at all, that one attack (if it actually hit) probably did more damage than any other attack made that combat.

[HJ]

carborundum wrote:

One of the players in my 3.0 campaign has a ring of jumping and boot of Striding & Springing. This means an average Jump check of around 50 letting him spring into the rigging of the Sea Wyvern and generally lark about.

On a side note - the ring & the boots both provide a competence bonus so they'd overlap rather than stack

[carborundum]

So he DID need a feat. Ah well, it was cool! He hit it with one of his spiked shields (don't go there) and has a feat for double shield bash charge damage. He's having fun and it's not as bad as some of the characters he's had :)

As far as the bonuses are concerned, I thought they stacked in 3.0 - the ring untyped and boots competence bonus. Not a biggie.

The jump wasn't more than his max move (in total) and with the ring there's no height limit anyway. What would happen if the total jump ended up longer than his (charge) move, say he went over a cliff. Would he land in the next round?

I'll tell him it was a one-off til he invests in a feat. Cheers!

[Jal Dorak]

You could also argue that since he is jumping up to attack during the charge that he is not moving in a "straight line" (at least, not in three dimensions), so he wouldn't gain the charging bonus. Pretty strict ruling, but I find it works for the amount of 3D combat my crazy players come up with.

[The Black Bard]

Leap attack sets the precedent that you can jump in a charge. The question is whether the feat is the chicken or the egg in that case.

Personally, I think the "straight line" of a charge, is meant to imply that you can't do anything that would cause a significant loss of momentum, like turning around a corner. The "no charging through allies squares" despite that normally ally squares do not interfere with movement would seem to support that.

A jump (especially a long jump) doesn't really detract from momentum, so I'd rule it as fine. Otherwise, the feat Flying Kick doesn't work so well either, as it implies a state of not touching the ground at impact. A high jump could be more problematic, but then again, an upward thrust combined with a powerful jump would be about the last thing I wan't coming at my exposed underbelly.

I guess my only real argument for the relative power of a charging jump attack would be this.

Just my 2cp.

[Jal Dorak]

That's a fair assessment BB. Although, you could just say that you can't jump/charge unless you possess Leap Attack. But the feat description does suggest you can do it normally.

I'm looking at it that charging requires the constant application of force, which you would lose by no longer running. That's way to "physics" for D&D though.

However, in this case it appears the PC was attacking at the apex of the jump, which I believe is not allowed by Leap Attack as written?

[varianor]

If the player invested a feat, and has the item, and runs around charging to do double damage, yes, they will have some visually impressive piles of hit points dealt. I think that's really cool! (The Jump rules may be "realistic" but they kinda suck for doing really fun stuff like a movie.) Remember that a player who is moving is not doing iterative attacks. The net result may be close to the same.

[SmiloDan]

You might also want to check out the Acrobatic Charge class feature of the Swashbuckler. I think it's borderline 3.0. I know the Jump rules changed from 3.0 to 3.5. I forget what movement rules did.

But it sounds like fun. I love it when my PCs get to run around and Jump, Climb, and Balance and stuff. I'm DMing a swashbuckling campaign, and I encourage creative uses of movement in combat. One reason I really like the Scout class.

[Jal Dorak]

Found the "official" answer:

D&D 3.5 FAQ wrote:

You can make a long jump as part of a charge. You must
still follow all the normal rules for making a charge, such as
moving in a straight line on the battle grid. This tactic can let
you avoid some of the normal restrictions against charging. If a
square of difficult terrain is between you and your charge
target, you could possibly jump over it with a long jump. (The
fact that your jump means that your movement isn’t a perfectly
straight line doesn’t make the charge illegal—you’re still
moving in a straight line as far as the battle grid is concerned,
and the jump isn’t really changing your direction.)

Making a high jump as part of a charge is trickier. It’s hard
to imagine a significant high jump that doesn’t change your
direction; after all, you’re now moving vertically rather than
laterally. Furthermore, if you have to slow your movement at
any point of the charge, you can’t make the charge. For
instance, if you make a high jump toward a ledge as part of a
charge, then have to pull yourself up to the ledge before
continuing, that’s not a charge, it’s a move or a double move.
It’s the same for the “hop up” maneuver described on page 77
in the PH: Since it counts as 10 feet of movement, you can’t
perform such a maneuver as part of a charge.

Fleet of Foot (found in the PG) and Psionic Charge (from
the XPH) might make performing a high jump as part of a
charge a little easier. Both feats allow a single change in
direction of up to 90 degrees during the charge, which should
be sufficient to allow you to make a high jump as part of a
charge. Neither feat allows you to ignore the restrictions on
slowed movement during a charge.

If you’re capable of making a high jump that brings you at
least 5 feet above an enemy, you could employ the Battle Jump
feat (from Una) without having to start at a higher location. Of
course, that would require a Jump check result of at least 40 for
a Medium opponent, so it’s out of reach of most characters.
You’d also have to make the Jump check from adjacent to your
foe, so it would provoke attacks of opportunity (since you’re
moving upward out of a threatened square). All in all, it sounds
like a pretty tricky maneuver, but cinematically very exciting
indeed.