Part of an ongoing series of 5e Rules notes.

So not a lot exciting here, but sooner or later a player’s going to want to know if they can jump up to something, jump over something, etc.

Basic Jumping Rules

Jumping is all about Strength.

• Running¹ Long Jump: Travel STR feet forward.⁴
• Standing Long Jump: Travel STR/2 feet forward.^2,4
• Running¹ High Jump: Travel (STR bonus + 3) feet upward.³
• Standing High Jump: Travel (STR bonus + 3)/2 feet upward.^2,3

¹ “Running” means you move at least 10 feet before making the jump. This is presumably, but not RAW, in the direction of the jump.
² Round down!
³ A Strength(Athletics) roll might let you go a little higher.
⁴ In a long jump you can clear a low obstacle (distance/4 feet high) with as DC10 Strength (Athletics) check

So, as an example, the 6-foot tall Fighter with a Strength of 16 (+3 Bonus) can:

• Do a Running Long Jump of 16 feet forward (clearing a 4 foot high obstacle)
• Do a Standing Long Jump of 8 feet forward (clearing a 2 foot high obstacle)
• Do a Running High Jump of 6 feet high (with a reach of up to 9 feet)
• Do a Standing High Jump of 3 feet high (with a reach of up to 6 feet)

If you land in difficult terrain, you need a DC10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to not fall down prone.

You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the (height of the jump ) + (1½ times your height). (See, putting a height value on your character sheet finally means something!)

Movement and Jumping

The RAW rule is, your jump in feet (up or across) counts against your Movement. That implies that if you have a Speed of 30, and you want to try and long jump 20 feet, you can only move 10 feet beforehand. (Jumps can’t split across turns.)

Jump spells can extend your jump, but the rule of 1 foot / 1 foot against Movement still applies.

For example, the Jump spell or a Ring of Jumping lets you triple your Jump — so the Fighter described above would get a Running Long Jump of (16×3=) 48 feet, right? Nope. If their Speed is only 30, they can only Jump that far (or less, given the 10 foot lead-up to a Running Long Jump).

This limitation can be extended, though, through:

• Speed magic (e.g., Haste, which doubles your Speed)
• The Dash action (which effectively doubles your Speed for the turn).

Note that while the RAW indicate this limitation, there is some dispute among 5e’s designers.

Jumping and Falling

There are cases with spells where it is possible to jump higher than 10 feet, which raises the question as to whether you then take damage upon landing again.

People can disagree, but I’d be inclined to say no, especially as magic is involved: if your (magically-enhanced) muscles can propel you upwards 20 feet, they can absorb the (same) shock in landing after returning to the ground.