The Shepherd's Leap

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Anyone else wondering how they get the sheep down the rocks?

While mountain goats get more coverage, many species of sheep are quite capable of navigating even steep cliffs rather more effectively than humans. I'd say the sheep handle getting down on their own without much difficulty.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Varyon

While mountain goats get more coverage, many species of sheep are quite capable of navigating even steep cliffs rather more effectively than humans. I'd say the sheep handle getting down on their own without much difficulty.

Goats I could see ... I suspect I'm rather more used to lowland sheep that are quite capable of putting an end to themselves on flatter terrain than that...

[Anders]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Anyone else wondering how they get the sheep down the rocks?

They hired Harold the flying sheep to teach them how to fly.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

My assumption is that you initially grasp the pole near the top while diving out into space and aiming the pole-planting point as you begin your fall. Once the pole is planted, you pull yourself towards it while letting your body swing to impact the side of the pole. That bleeds off energy and helps you get into a position where you can press your legs and torso against the pole as well as your hands. That greatly increases the friction area giving greater speed control.

That would require some rather impressive acrobatics. When you swing around on impact (which admittedly should convert much of your downward velocity to forward velocity), you're going to dislodge the pole when you slam into it, at which point you'll need to quickly reorient so you can stab it into the ground at roughly the same angle you are now traveling so you can bleed off energy with a slide down. Pulling that off successfully should indeed negate more of the fall than the simple feet-first vertical drop I was assuming, but should probably call for a couple penalized Acrobatics roll - offhand, I'd say at -2 to do the pivot without losing control, then at -5 to reorient and stab the pole into the ground at the proper angle. If you can pull that off, I'd be comfortable letting you bleed energy off with a slide without any further roll. I think your idea of subtracting the length of the pole from the fall and then splitting the damage up between the limbs involved would be acceptable; I'd further let you subtract 5 yards from the fall before calculating the distance. But I think the vertical drop is more likely what is being done here.

Actually, a bit of searching finds this, which looks to be something of a hybrid - he leans forward, hops off, and upon impact slides down the pole. The angle and low resolution makes it difficult to calculate distance with that video, however.

[Donny Brook]

I found a video by using the local name as the search term. In the final moments is a good demonstration of the leap from a height higher than the pole:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m4fn0VlImq4

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Anyone else wondering how they get the sheep down the rocks?

Sheep probably handle that for themselves. They're notoriously hard to prevent from doing so, really.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Sheep probably handle that for themselves. They're notoriously hard to prevent from doing so, really.

I can believe sheep going down a cliff like that ... doing so uninjured would require a sort of sheep with which I'm not familiar. Presumably they exist in the Canaries.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

I can believe sheep going down a cliff like that ... doing so uninjured would require a sort of sheep with which I'm not familiar. Presumably they exist in the Canaries.

Looking further into it, the salto del pastor is more appropriately associated with goatherds. So while there are some species of sheep that are fine with terrain like this, the fellows originally doing the Shepherd's Leap were mostly working with goats. I suppose "Goatherd's Leap" would be a more accurate translation (to my knowledge pastor doesn't have any association with a specific animal, but the closest translation in English is shepherd).

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Looking further into it, the salto del pastor is more appropriately associated with goatherds. So while there are some species of sheep that are fine with terrain like this, the fellows originally doing the Shepherd's Leap were mostly working with goats. I suppose "Goatherd's Leap" would be a more accurate translation (to my knowledge pastor doesn't have any association with a specific animal, but the closest translation in English is shepherd).

The indo-european root means 'protector'. The association with herding is a later accretion and the specificity of herding sheep in particular is an artifact of translation to languages (e.g. English) where sheep-herder and goat-herder happen to have become separate words.

[Icelander]

'Goat' and 'sheep' division is pretty arbitrary. There are mountain sheep who climb like goats and species called 'goats' which don't have any association with highlands, mountains, steep slopes or jumping.

Archaeology usually can't differentiate between sheep or goat remains in ancient culture sites. I think the skill Animal Handling (Ovicaprids) should apply for goats and sheep, with an Optional Specialization if you want to be familiar with just one type. After all, it's Animal Handling (Equines), not (Horse), (Donkey) and (Mule).