Backstory: My character was on a boat and jumped to a nearby dock to clear an area of enemies. The dock was 20 feet away and 5 feet up. Rushed for time, we concluded the DC would be 40 (20 for long jump+20 for high jump). Which was fine, this character can make the jump without rolling. However, wanting to make sure I have the information in the following scenarios Also as this character is PFS if there is any RAW on this topic that would be preferred...
Searching the forums i have found that a lot of people use the old 3.5 rule where you make a parabola with the apex being 1/4 your distance, this is fine for some jumps, my dock example would have been around a DC 32 if you were following these rules. However this doesn't always work, especially if you need to travel up more than you need to travel forward, jumping to the top of a 10 foot wall 5 feet away for example.
So after scouring the interwebs I am leaning towards just doing what the GM did, where you just add the two DCs together. While this method does make jumps even harder than they already are, it is the only thing that I see that is easy to calculate and can be applied to any situation.
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Did you have a 10' running start? If not, the long jump should have been DC 40 all by itself. Not sure if one needs a running start to do a high jump, but the rules suggest that you do, so the DC of the 5' rise would be 40 as well (if you didn't have a 10' running start).
On your original question, I agree with doing it the way you did. The other alternatives are too mathy... in order to end 5' higher 20 ' away, you'd need to peak at 10-15'... Just add them.
I've always run it as the higher of the two DCs.
So a 20ft long jump is DC 20. A 5ft high jump is also DC 20. In this case the DC is 20 regardless, unless you don't have a running start in which case the DC is 40.
my current character is a ninja, so no running start needed.
@Claxon In the tables you have participated in, has taking the highest of the DCs made it too easy? Idk...
my current character is a ninja, so no running start needed.
@Claxon In the tables you have participated in, has taking the highest of the DCs made it too easy? Idk...
At the table I play at/GM at usually anyone who has focused on a skill typically ends up blowing the DCs out of the water for the most part.
It's just how the system ends up working in my experience.
A DC 20 isn't something a first level character can usually accomplish, but could if they're very lucky. But it something a 10th level character can pass with only an investment of 1 skill point per level (assuming not in combat and take 10).
However, a DC 40 would be something that almost noone could pull of without very special investment into acrobatics. You would need 1 point per level, class skill, high dex, perhaps skill focus on magical items to boost your jump. Without skill focus or magical item you would only end up at a +30ish meaning you stil have to roll well in combat to succeed, but honestly a 5ft high jump isn't particularly heroic.
If you look at 3.5 for "guidance" I believe it had ruled that you reach a height of 1/4 your long jump distance which to me indicates basically that they intended the DC to be worst of either, not additive.
a horizontal jump's peak height is one-fourth of the horizontal distance
DC 40 lets you jump 40', with a 10' apex at 20' distance. That is 5' higher than needed.
DC 30 lets you jump 30', with a 7.5' apex at 15' distance. A little high a little early. Much closer to the true DC value for 20' away and 5' up.However, without a running start, the DC is doubled.
I would rule a DC of 60.
EDIT: Didn't see the ninja bit.
DC of 30, provided you retain some ki.
You only need 15 if you are 10th level and have ki.
/cevah