[Basic] Skill of the week: Jumping

[johndallman]

Jumping is the DX/E athletic skill of, well, jumping. You can use half of Jumping in place of Basic Move for calculating jumps. It also uses the "skill replaces attribute" mechanic: you can use your Jumping skill to replace DX in calculations of jumping distance, height, etc. Jumping has no default, and no skills default to it; it is a prerequisite for Flying Leap, and is penalised by the Bowlegged quirk.

The jumping rules are on B.352, and are a bit complicated: it's one of those places where there's arguably too much arithmetic. For jumps that matter, using Basic Move (or half Jumping skill) penalised for encumbrance adds realism without much additional complexity. Jumping skill dates from GURPS 1e, but its benefits changed at 4e, along with the change in jumping rules.

The rule about using Jumping/2 in place of Basic Move is the important part of this skill, and it makes a point in Jumping valuable for any character with DX greater than their HT, if they're going to be doing athletic things. I have the impression that this varies greatly with campaign style: my major GURPS campaigns have been Steampunk, where there were usually Maxim steam flyers available, Laundry, which had some shooting, but very little running or jumping, and Infinite Cabal, where there's rarely a need for athleticism on the Astral Plane. How important is athletic ability in your campaigns?

Jumping is a reasonably common skill on published templates, but rarely a primary skill. Action has simplified rules that assume humans using the skill, and utilises it for several Parkour moves and for boarding enemy vehicles; Acrobatics is an alternative for some of these stunts, but not all of them. Aliens: Sparrials have it as a racially learned skill, and Banestorm Dwarves have it as a Taboo Trait. DF has the simplified rules for humans, and Low-Tech has a technique for mounting a horse based on Jumping. Martial Arts has many moves that require Jumping skill, Technical Grappling points out that pouncing cats use the skill and Yrth Fighting Styles has combat pole-vaulting. Monster Hunters has further simplified jumping rules. Power-Ups volumes 2, 3 5, 6 and 7 have examples for this skill and it appears in a notably large number of wildcard skills. Powers, Psionic Powers, Supers and Chinese Elemental Powers have more things you can do with Jumping. Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic and Urban Magics have ways to boost the skill, while Underground Adventures mentions conditions that boost it. And beware of Zombies with Super Jump.

If I was looking to simplify the skill list, I'd fold Jumping into Acrobatics, and if I was revising things more comprehensively, I'd look at creating an Athletics skill with some Techniques to cover Jumping, Acrobatics and several other athletic skills.

Has Jumping been important in your games?

[Leynok]

I tend to ignore the Jumping skill, mainly cause as far as I can tell, it's not worth it. Why pay 8 points to improve Jumping when 5 points can get me the same jumping distance by just buying Basic Move? Along with the other bonuses that gives.
Only reason I would consider getting it is for a high DX, low Basic Move character, and the number of characters I make in that build that I also want to be able to jump far are about as low as you'd expect.

[Christopher R. Rice]

I just got Boots of Jumping 6 in the Dungeon Fantasy game I'm playing in. Combined with my already impressive jump and parkour skills I'm looking at a 22 - which is awesome.

For my campaigns, Jumping has been used to scramble over rooftops, increase jumping distance for low Basic Move characters, playing jump rope with a magic rope to get into a hidden townhouse in the middle of Boston, and infiltrating a local athletic event as a triple-jump champion.

Overall, it may be an Easy skill but if you plan on being remotely flashy/acrobatic you need it.

[Verjigorm]

The Jumping rules themselves are a bit too generous. Jumping 16 and Basic Move 6 will put you well into the "top 100 jumpers of ALL time". Jumping 18 I think allows you to exceed anything a human has done in jumping.

[Koningkrush]

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=136287

There's also this thread where everyone was trying to figure out how to prevent players from easily becoming world class jumpers with average stats. The last post is one where I tried to house rule the jumping mechanics to be more in line with reality.

[dataweaver]

Since this is a discussion of the jumping skill let me address that. I don't think jumping should be a skill. I'd rather see a more general athletics skill. Jumping strikes me as more of a technique than a skill.

I would not fold Acrobatics into Athletics; rather, Athletics would cover Running, Jumping, Climbing, Hiking, and maybe Swimming.

[Zeta Blaze]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Since this is a discussion of the jumping skill let me address that. I don't think jumping should be a skill. I'd rather see a more general athletics skill. Jumping strikes me as more of a technique than a skill.

I would not fold Acrobatics into Athletics; rather, Athletics would cover Running, Jumping, Climbing, Hiking, and maybe Swimming.

I agree in general but i would put jumping in athletics i would fold it in to Acrobatics.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Leynok

I tend to ignore the Jumping skill, mainly cause as far as I can tell, it's not worth it. Why pay 8 points to improve Jumping when 5 points can get me the same jumping distance by just buying Basic Move? Along with the other bonuses that gives.
Only reason I would consider getting it is for a high DX, low Basic Move character, and the number of characters I make in that build that I also want to be able to jump far are about as low as you'd expect.

Yes, this. 1pt in Jumping might be good for a peculiarly designed character but it takes 2 pts to get anything more than the "half skill replaces Ground Move" feature and as noted, 5 pts gets you a general +1 to Ground Move.

Then there's the many ways HT helps keep your character alive while it adds to Dodge, Basic Speed and Basic Move too.

I would substantially re-work Jumping in a new edition.

[kabson]

How much would DX (only for jumping) cost? (or maybe +1 BM (jumping))

I agree that it should be folded into a more general skill, but then I almost always do.

[RogerBW]

It's worth bearing in mind that the "half Jumping skill replaces Basic Move" rule only applies to jumping distance. If you buy up your Basic Move instead you also get faster walks, runs, and so on.

I don't think this has ever come up in one of my games, though a fair few characters in my files have it. Generally the entire party wants to get across the chasm, so Mr Amazing Jumper will take a rope with him; the exact distance someone can jump isn't often very important.