Eye for Distance and jumping

[hal]

Hi All,
I'm going to start a campaign and my one player is REALLY researching things (God bless his soul) with respect to things that normally do NOT appear in standard games. Thanks to him, I'm paying attention to various other skills like Parkour and the like. Since he's putting the points into the skills and advantages, I feel that it is the GM's due Diligence to become familiar with things so that the player is rewarded for his work.

Which brings me to the point of the quirk "Eye for Distance". Effectively, it seems to grant a +1 bonus for shooting such that the player character is assumed to benefit from a range finder even if the character doesn't have one.

That's fine and dandy, but here is the fun part.

If said character is about to leap across a gap between buildings, he's going to want to know what the distances are between where he's leaping from to where he's potentially going to land. Now, with the rules for a Running Broad jump, I can estimate the distances between where he's at and where he can land. If the building next to him is higher than the building he's jumping off of, one might expect that it is going to cost him some of his forward movement for some of his HEIGHT benefit of a high jump. So, like Jason Bourne - he may run to the edge of his building, and then try for a balcony that is lower than his. Acrobatics rolls can successfully negate up to 5 yards of drop from falling damage.

In the end analysis, as I prep myself for possible situations that may arise in game play - being able to estimate a height means that the character can generally know what is or is not within his capabilities. Then there are the extra effort rules.

Example scenario: Let's say our hero doesn't have Jumping as skill, but instead, has a move allowance of 8 due to having a Speed of 7 (ie, spent 15 to raise speed from 6.25 and spent 5 to have +1 movement allowance). He also has an acrobatics skill of 15. He sees a gap inside of an old abandoned slaughterhouse (gratings were removed etc). He's got just enough light from a dying flashlight, to ascertain that the gap MIGHT be about 30' wide. He also gulps because he figures that the floor is barely seen below, maybe 20 to 20 feet deep. Because he was in sports in high school (track and such), he knows that he can jump almost 26 feet if he runs about 21 feet before trying to jump. He would need to be able to gain another FOUR feet distance. He decides to try to run the entire distance necessary, gain the 21 feet of running speed before trying to jump, and jump in such a manner as to flip at the very end. From an observer, it looks like he is running almost to where he would land, and Somersault that last bit of extra distance. Call it 1 yard extra gain if he successfully does a sommersault. So, he needs to jump 27 feet. That's not quite a 10% increase in jumping range (he can jump 26 feet) as far as extra effort goes...

GM: We, let's see. You're dehydrated from not drinking water for 24 hours, it is over 80 degrees in the building, so call it -3 fatigue over all. Make a will -4 saving roll to see if you can get that extra effort.

Player: Minus four! Geez! -1 for the extra effort, why the extra 3?

GM: Something to do with how dehydrated you're feeling. Technically, I should hit you with an additional -1 damage and -1 fatigue, beyond 1 for every 8 hours not drinking, but I'm feeling benevolent.

Player: Ok Ok, I'll take what I can get. I need a Will-4 roll. **Shaking the dice**

GM: um, no. Do you commit to the run AND the Leap now?

Player: (hesitating) Looks like I have no Choice!

GM: No, you can find an alternate way out ya know. Might take longer, your flashlight may go dead in that time, but you always have a choice!

Player: Never mind, I'm going to jump and pray...

GM: OK, rolling for your Will (Secret Roll, 12-4 = 8. Rolling a 9, and wincing)

Player: What? Did I make the extra effort?

GM: Well, now is the time to make that nice fancy acrobatics roll.

Player: Ok, Success by 3, what happened? Did I run full speed, position my body for the sommersault and then make a flip at the end to land on the edge?

GM: Well, good news bad news. As you reach the point where you expected to make your flip, you realize that you're just not going to land on your feet. You'll be lucky if you can grab the edge and avoid the drop. Sadly, your feet miss the edge by a mere 1 foot, and your only hope is to try and grab the edge of the other side with your finger tips. Dex saving roll and a ST saving roll please. Be thankful you made your flip successfully, or you wouldn't even have that.

Player: <rolling> Made my Dex roll. <rolling> Missed by ST roll by 1!

GM: Well, that grab arrests your fall momentarily, but your finger tips lose their grip and you start to fall...

Player: "Can I use my acrobatics to roll when I hit the ground?"

GM: But of course.

Player: Ok, made the acrobatics roll, how far did I fall?

GM: Well, would have been a 30 foot fall. (Seeing the player wince) which thankfully gets modified to 15 foot fall. Roll twice on the hit location table to see where you take 2d6 damage, 1d6 per location.

Player: Left leg, chest.

GM: as you rolled at the bottom, your left leg breaks the initial landing, and when you rolled, your chest slammed into something unyielding, looks like maybe a buried I-Beam. 3 points to the leg, and 5 points to the chest...

So there you have it, prepping for what MAY happen during an adventure session. SHOULD that Eye for Distance advantage come into play for the character estimating the distance? I'd say "Sure, if it works for gun judging distances, it should be useful for gauging actual distances for purposes of jumping. What say you?

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by hal

... SHOULD that Eye for Distance advantage come into play for the character estimating the distance?

Of course it should. That's what it does.

"You can accurately gauge distances within line of sight
without using tools. Error is around 5%; where relevant, the
GM will secretly roll 2d-7 for the percentage, keeping negative
numbers." -GURPS Power Ups 2: Perks, p.13

[Rolando]

Good jumping in action description!

I would recommend Daredevil to the player too.

[Pursuivant]

If it matters, I'd allow a character to make a Per roll or a Per-based Jumping skill to roughly estimate the distance ("I can definitely/probably jump that" vs. "Probably too far").

A character with Jumping skill and Eye for Distance doesn't need to roll. They will know exactly how far they can jump under ordinary circumstances in addition to being able to estimate the required jump distance to within +/-5%.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

If it matters, I'd allow a character to make a Per roll or a Per-based Jumping skill to roughly estimate the distance ("I can definitely/probably jump that" vs. "Probably too far").

A character with Jumping skill and Eye for Distance doesn't need to roll. They will know exactly how far they can jump under ordinary circumstances in addition to being able to estimate the required jump distance to within +/-5%.

I wonder if it would work better if I allow EYE FOR DISTANCE to grant a +1 bonus to pushing the envelope (aka extra effort). It seems in the video, that those who engage in that activity are routinely putting themselves at physical risk. That might make the difference between one who does this with and without the eye for distance.

Sort of a lesser Daredevil kind of thing.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by hal

I wonder if it would work better if I allow EYE FOR DISTANCE to grant a +1 bonus to pushing the envelope (aka extra effort).

Eye for Distance is fine as is. Effectively it's Accessory (Distance Measuring Tool).

I'd treat a bonus to Jumping skill as a different perk, either modeled on modified Will or modified Lifting ST. Jumping ST (Lifting ST, only for jumps) might be a valid perk.[/QUOTE]