Say my character stands on top of a rocky outcropping, 10 ft. high. She's 10 ft. from the ledge, so she has the possibility of a running start. She has a movement of 30 ft. Some 25 ft. from the cliff, 35 ft. from my character, stands an enemy. Say she jumps out from the cliff, aiming to land adjacent to the enemy. The jump is thus 20 ft. long and incorporates a 10 ft. drop.
A normal 20 ft. long jump has a DC of 20 (plus modifiers). Intentionally falling (jumping down) 10 ft. allows a DC 15 acrobatics check to negate the damage (which would otherwise be 1d6 non-lethal and render you prone).
How do I make this jump? Do I roll twice, once for jumping 20 ft. straight out and once for falling 10 ft.?
Yes, you roll once for the 20' jump and again to negate the damage.
What's the saying, martials can't have nice things? =)
I suppose you're right, Fuzzy-Wuzzy.
Maybe I'll house rule this. It seems to me like should be easier to jump a long distance if you start from high ground. And I absolutely loath the idea of rolling the same skill twice for something as mundane as making a jump and still get nothing more story-building than »it worked« out of the rules.
Perhaps only rolling against the highest of the two DCs would work.
Or highest DC +2 for each subsumed check to reflect the increased difficulty?
You could maybe give a +2 to the jump check for distance, but I'd also be inclined to give a -2 to the falling check, because it's really hard to land on your feet in that forward moving situation. Seriously, it will kill your knees. Of course, this is Pathfinder and not reality, so go cinematic if that's more fun for you as the DM.
If the rolls don't both succeed you'll get more than "it worked" out of it.... "You run, jump, and fall flat on your face adjacent to the enemy, who must now make a DC 15 Will save or die laughing."
I agree that starting from high ground should lower the DC of the forward jump, but I have no idea by how much.
Use the +2 or +4 bonus for a favorable circumstance, not perfect but it is something.
Thanks for the answers and suggestion!
I realised that often the jump length doesn't matter. Jumps are made as part of a move action, right? So if I make the 20 ft. jump or just make it 10 ft. across and then move the remaining difference on foot makes no difference.
Unless, of course, you also need to jump over something. A pit, a creature, difficult terrain or a trap. But at least in some situations, I don't have to bother with rolling twice. Which is nice.
As for it being easier to jump a long distance if you start from high ground, a favourable circumstance bonus sounds like an easy way.
I thought of something like:
For every 10 ft. a jumping character falls, she can jump an additional 5 ft. horizontally as a bonus movement.
Though that might be a bit complicated. Will take your input and talk to my players.
I'd be hesitant to give that to everyone since its an alternate racial trait