Emerald Grasshopper and the Powerful Leap feat

[Derek Schubert]

Does a character with the skill feat Powerful Leap get any different results out of an Emerald Grasshopper talisman, compared to one without the feat?

The Emerald Grasshopper talisman gives a benefit when a typical character succeeds at an Athletics check to High Jump, but a character with Powerful Leap gets the same result as a success without rolling. The talisman doesn't seem to account for that. (Rules quotes below.)

If I'm GMing and a character has the feat and the talisman, here are some options I could see for myself:
(A) RAW, ignore Powerful Leap and make them roll the DC 30 Athletics check
(B) also RAW as in the High Jump wording, make them roll Athletics at a lower DC "due to the situation" (the feat and/or the talisman)
(C) make them roll Athletics but treat the result as one better because they effectively succeed at a DC 30 High Jump without rolling: a 21-29 "failure" would become a success and grant the 50ft Grasshopper leap, or a 30+ "success" would become a critical success and grant the 75ft leap
(D) not make them roll for an automatic 50ft leap, but they can roll and try for the 75ft critical success
(E) house-rule Emerald Grasshopper before this situation even comes up, and say that it enhances all vertical Leaps to be 10x higher than normal.

Thanks for looking.

Emerald Grasshopper wrote:

...Trigger You attempt a High Jump but haven’t rolled yet ...

... When you activate it, if you succeed at the Athletics check, you Leap up to 50 feet vertically and up to 10 feet horizontally. If you critically succeed, you can Leap up to 75 feet vertically and 20 feet horizontally.

High Jump (Athletics) wrote:

You Stride, then make a vertical Leap and attempt a DC 30 Athletics check to increase the height of your jump. If you didn’t Stride at least 10 feet, you automatically fail your check. This DC might be increased or decreased due to the situation, as determined by the GM.

Critical Success Increase the maximum vertical distance to 8 feet, or increase the maximum vertical distance to 5 feet and maximum horizontal distance to 10 feet.
Success Increase the maximum vertical distance to 5 feet.
Failure You Leap normally.
Critical Failure You don’t Leap at all, and instead you fall prone in your space.

Leap wrote:

The Leap basic action is used for High Jump and Long Jump. Leap lets you take a careful, short jump. ... If you make a vertical Leap, you can move up to 3 feet vertically and 5 feet horizontally onto an elevated surface.

Powerful Leap wrote:

When you Leap, you can jump 5 feet up with a vertical Leap, and you increase the distance you can jump horizontally by 5 feet.

[Cordell Kintner]

I say because it's so much higher, the Emerald Grasshopper would overwrite whatever your normal distance/height would be.

Powerful Leap only applies to the Leap action, not a High Jump. It essentially makes a High Jump unnecessary unless you want to go higher than 5 feet. If using the Grasshopper you still need to use the High Jump activity.

I would not reduce the DC of a High Jump because they have the Talisman. They are attempting to jump 50 ft straight into the air, which would require at least 100ft of Fly Speed to do. (moving up is difficult terrain) A DC 30 Athletics Check is the least of their worries.

If they are worried about action economy, tell them about Quick Jump

[breithauptclan]

Leap and High Jump are two different actions. So I don't think High Jump and Emerald Grasshopper would be interacting much at all.

If you attempt a High Jump and activate the Grasshopper, but fail the check and end up only doing a Leap instead, then you could use the distance from Powerful Leap. The distances from the Grasshopper wouldn't apply because you failed the check and while the item is activated and used, it won't have any effect since its effect only happens if you succeed at the High Jump check.

Quick Jump would let a character High Jump with one action, but it doesn't change the distance jumped or the DC. And Emerald Grasshopper doesn't change the action cost or the DC, but does change the distance jumped. I don't see a conflict there to use both and have both apply.