Armor Check Penalty
Use this skill to leap over pits, vault low fences, or reach a tree’s lowest branches.
Check: The DC and the distance the character can cover vary according to the type of jump the character is attempting.
The character’s Jump check is modified by his or her speed. The DCs specified below assume a speed of 30 feet (the speed of a typical human). If the character’s speed is less than 30 feet, he or she takes a penalty of -6 for every 10 feet of speed less than 30. If the character’s speed is greater than 30 feet, he or she gains a bonus of +4 for every 10 feet over 30.
If the character has ranks in the Jump skill and succeeds on a check, the character lands on his or her feet (when appropriate) and can move as far as the character’s remaining movement allows. If the character attempts a Jump check untrained, the character lands prone unless he or she beats the DC by 5 or more. Standing from a prone position is a move action.
Distance moved by jumping is counted against maximum movement in a round. For example, Russell can move 30 feet as a move action. To leap over a 15-foot chasm, Russel moves 20 feet in a straight line, and jumps 10 feet horizontally (a total distance of 30 feet). He does not have sufficient movement to jump the chasm in a single move action. On his next move action, however, Russell completes the jump and makes a Jump check to see whether he succeeds. If the check succeeds, he clears the remaining 5 fee of the chasm and lands in the 5-foot square beyond the far edge of the chasm – a total distance of 10 feet. If he lands on his feet, he can use the remainder of his move action to move up to 20 feet. If he lands prone, his move action ends and he must take another move action to stand up.
A character can start a jump at the end of one turn and complete the jump at the beginning of his or her next turn (see Start/Complete Full-Round Action).
Long Jump: This is a horizontal jump, made across a gap such as a chasm or stream. At the midpoint of the jump, the character attains a vertical height equal to one-quarter the horizontal distance. The DC for the jump is equal to the distance jumped (in feet) + 5. For example, a 10-foot-wide pit rwquires a Jump check (DC 15) to cross. The DCs for long jumps of 5 to 30 feet are given in the table below. A character cannot jump a distance greater than his or her normal speed.
All Jump DCs covered here assume that the character can move at least 20 feet in a straight line before attempting the jump. If this is not the case, the DC for the jump is doubled.
| Long Jump Distance | DC* | Long Jump Distance | DC* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 feet | 10 | 20 feet | 25 |
| 10 feet | 15 | 25 feet | 30 |
| 15 feet | 20 | 30 feet | 35 |
If the character fails the check by less than 5, he or she doesn’t clear the distance, but can make a Reflex save (DC 15) to grab the far edge of the gap. The character ends his or her movement grasping the far edge. If that leaves the character dangling over a chasm or gap, getting up requires a move action and a Climb check (DC 15).
High Jump: This is a vertical leap, made to jump up to grasp something overhead, such as a tree limb or ledge. The DC for the jump is 2 + the height x4 (in feet). For example, the DC for a 3-foot high jump is 14 (2 + [3 x 4]). The DCs for high jumps of 1 to 8 feet are given in the table below.
All Jump DCs covered here assume that the character can move at least 20 feet in a straight line before attempting the jump. If this is not the case, the DC for the jump is doubled.
| High Jump Distance | DC* | High Jump Distance | DC* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 foot | 6 | 5 feet | 22 |
| 2 feet | 10 | 6 feet | 26 |
| 3 feet | 14 | 7 feet | 30 |
| 4 feet | 18 | 8 feet | 34 |
If the character succeeds on the check, he or she can reach the height. The character grasps the object he or she was trying to reach. If the character wishes to pull him or herself up, the character can do so with a move action and a Climb check (DC 15). If the character fails the Jump check, he or she does not reach the height, and lands on his or her feet in the same square from which the character jumped.
The difficulty of reaching a given height varies according to the size of the character or creature. Generally, the maximum height a creature can reach without jumping is given in the table below. (As a Medium-size creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.) If the creature is long instead of tall, treat it as one size category smaller.
| Creature Size | Maximum Height |
|---|---|
| Colossal | 128 ft. |
| Gargantuan | 64 ft. |
| Huge | 32 ft. |
| Large | 16 ft. |
| Medium-size | 8 ft. |
| Small | 4 ft. |
| Tiny | 2 ft. |
| Diminutive | 1 ft. |
| Fine | 0.5 ft. |
Hop Up: The character can jump up onto an object as tall as his or her waist with a Jump check (DC 10). Doing so counts as 10 feet of movement (so the character could move 20 feet, then hop up onto a counter, if his or her speed is 30 feet). The character does not need to get a running start to hop up (the DC is not doubled if you do not get a running start).
Jumping Down: If the character intentionally jumps from a height, he or she takes less damage than if the character just falls. The DC to jump down from a height is 15. The character does not have to get a running start to jump down (the DC is not doubled if the character does not get a running start).
If the character succeeds on the check, he or she takes falling damage as if the character had dropped 10 fewer feet than he or she actually did. Thus if the character jump down a height of just 10 feet, the character takes no damage. If the character jump down a height of 20 feet, the character takes damage as if he or she had fallen 10 feet.
Special: Effects that increase a character’s speed also increase the character’s jumping distance, since the check is modified by the character’s speed.
A character can take 10 when making a Jump check. If there is no danger associated with failing, the character can take 20. For example, you are free to take 20 to keep trying until you jump high enough to catch a low-hanging branch. You can’t take 20 when attempting to leap across the space separating two buildings, since any failure results in a long fall and damage as you character hits the ground below.
A character with the Acrobatic feat gets a +2 bonus on all Jump checks. A character with the Run feat gains a +2 competence bonus on Jump checks preceded by a 20-foot move.
Tumble can provide a +2 synergy bonus on Jump checks (see Skill Synergy).
Time: Using the Jump skill is either a move action or a full-round action, depending on whether the character starts and completes the jump during a single move action or a full-round action.