Jumping in 5e DnD -- Everything You Need to Know.

Jumping in Dungeons and Dragons is a fairly straight forward endeavor, but this article will cover everything you need to know. You're probably sitting at a table right now either as a: 

1. Player trying to do something really daring, cool, or exciting
2. GM trying to figure out if your player just offed their own character by jumping into a chasm.

Given those circumstances, let's cut right to the chase.

Jumping Rule Basics

Jumping is a matter of movement, so it doesn't cost you an action or a bonus action (not counting someone casting the jump spell on you - that'll cost them an action unless it's cast because you've got the ring of jumping). Jumping costs movement both in that you need to move ten feet beforehand to get your max jumping ability AND each foot jumped counts against your movement.

Long Jump Rules

The long jump is probably the one that you'll use most often (though it'd be pretty sick if you pulled out some matrix-level bounding around using high jump).

With the long jump, you're going to jump horizontally a distance that is equal to your strength score, as long as you move 10 feet before you jump. If you're jumping from standing still, you can only jump a distance equal to half your strength score.

This doesn't really account for the height the character jumps, though, so the DM might make a player roll a DC 10 Strength check if you've gotta jump over a low barrier, like a stump sticking out of a stream or you're trying to hop some bushes. The DM has a little extra up their sleeves, here, too: if you're going to land in Difficult Terrain, the DM can make you roll a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check and you'll land prone if you fail.

High Jump Rules

High jumping will utilize your Strength Modifier instead of your Strength score, but you get an additional 3 feet of height. You still need that 10 foot running start to maximize your jump (that head start lets you jump your strength modifier in height + 3 feet). If you don't move ten feet beforehand, you're only going to be able to jump half that number. Not half your strength modifier, but half of (strength modifier + 3).

If you're jumping trying to reach something high up, as opposed to jumping out of the way of something, you can use 1.5 times your character height as your reach.

Here's an example: If you're trying to reach a rope that's 20 feet in the air, and you're a 6-foot-tall barbarian with a Strength score of 16(+2), it'd look like this: 

With a running start: jumps 5 feet + 9 feet of reach.

Without a running start: jumps 2.5 feet + 9 feet of reach.

New Jump Rules for DnD in 2024

Nope, none. So far, they haven't changed a thing related to jumping. As a matter of fact, the text hasn't changed more than a word or two.

Magic Items to Improve Jump

There are a few obvious, and a couple of other not-so-obvious ways to use magic items to increase your jump distance and jump height. When we think about items that increase our jumping height, we’re looking for something that: 

1. Directly impacts jump (obvious)
2. Improves our Strength
3. Increases your movement
4. Improves your Dexterity

Improving our strength is the best path forward, since that directly correlates with both vertical and horizontal jumping. Let’s see what we’ve got: 

Uncommon Magic Items for Jumping Better

Potion of Hill Giant Strength.

The Potion of Hill Giant Strength will increase your Strength to 21 for one hour, so it’s a great option if you’re moving through some caverns or rolling initiative in an area with multi-level terrain. With the potion, you’re looking at a horizontal jump distance of 21 feet, but there’s a catch: 

If you only have the base movement of 30 feet, you won’t be able to get the full 10 foot running start, because that along with the jump would put you at 31 feet. You can still jump for ⅔ of your movement, which is very useful if you’re a Monk or Rogue who needs to get in and out of combat quickly. 

Your Horizontal Jump will also benefit pretty well as the potion of hill giant strength will give you a +5 modifier, allowing you to jump a total of 8 feet – and don’t forget, you can reach 1.5x the height of your character, so it’s not unlikely that you’ll be able to jump 17+ feet into the air. 

Boots of Striding and Springing. 

The Boots of Striding and Springing literally triple your normal jump distance. If you have this AND the Potion of Hill Giant Strength, you could jump over 60 feet if your remaining movement allowed it. 

Gauntlets of Ogre Power

The Gauntlets of Ogre Power aren’t quite as useful as the Potion of Hill Giant Strength, giving you a Strength score of only 19 (+4 modifier), but it’s active all the time, not just when you have and consume a potion. It requires attunement, so don’t forget to do that before you rest. 

Ring of Jumping

This one is pretty obvious, but the Ring of Jumping is a great choice. If you’re trying to minmax your way into a max jump build—why you would do that is beyond me but, hey, you do you—this is a must have item on your list. It’ll give you triple the normal jump distance, just like the Boots of Striding and Springing.

Take this ten times out of ten over the Boots of Striding and Springing - there are many more boots with greater utility than rings. 

Wind Fan

Here me out. The Wind Fan allows you to cast the Gust of Wind spell from the fan. That spell pushes creatures who fail a strength save 15 feet in the direction of the fan. 

The best part here is that it isn’t impacted by your movement speed. Pop on the ring of jumping, give yourself a potion of hill giant strength, and get a running head start? That’s 76 feet of jumping. 

Niche Use: Boots of the Winterlands

These don’t directly impact your Strength or jump ability, but the Boots of the Winterlands do nullify any difficult terrain effects in cold environments. You get a few other benefits, too - resistance to cold damage and you can tolerate temperatures down to -50 degrees F if you have no additional protection – and down to -100F if you’re wearing heavy clothes.

Rare Magic Items to Jump Farther

Belt of Hill Giant Strength

The Belt of Hill Giant Strength works just like the Potion of Hill Giant Strength, with the added benefit that it is a wearable, so it lasts as long as you’re wearing it. 21 Strength (that’s a +5 modifier) gives you a jump distance of 21 feet horizontally, or 8 feet vertically. 

Boots of Speed

The Boots of Speed will double your walking speed, thereby doubling the distance that you could possibly cover via a jump. If you’ve got the Boots of Speed, Belt of Hill Giant Strength, and the Ring of Jumping? You’re looking at an olympic vaulter. 

Potion of Frost Giant Strength & Potion of Stone Giant Strength

The older, more rare siblings of the Potion of Hill Giant Strength, Potions of Frost/Stone Giant strength are going to give you a strength of 23 (that’s a +6 modifier), so you’re getting almost a full standard movement’s worth of jumping with them. 

Very Rare Items

The Manual of Gainful Exercise

A real deep cut of an item, but the Manual of Gainful Exercise will increase your Strength score by 2 and raise the maximum for Strength by that much. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s a two foot increase horizontally and one foot vertically. 

Potion of Cloud Giant Strength

Again, much like Hill/Stone/Frost Giant Strength belts and their requisite Belts, the Potion of Cloud Giant Strength boosts strength all the way up to 27 for an hour. That’s a 27 foot horizontal jump and an 11 foot vertical jump, not counting your reach. With reach, you’re looking at about a 20 foot vertical reach. 

Maximum Jump Distance in DnD

You can jump really far. It’s pretty complicated to figure out exactly how to get there, but the maximum distance you can jump, with the right conditions, is 288 feet. It requires building your character around jumping entirely, but maybe that’s what you’re into?

Check out this reddit thread from /u/YOGZULA for the full detail.

FAQ’s For Jumping in 5e

Is jumping an action or bonus action?

Neither! Jumping is not an action, a bonus action, or anything else – it is a part of normal movement. Jumping only requires that you have the distance that you want to cover available in your movement. 

Do you need to get a running start before you jump?

If you want to jump the full distance, yes, absolutely. You can jump half the distance from standing, but if you want to get the most out of your jump you’ll need to move ten feet first. 

What’s the best magic item for jumping?

The Ring of Jumping, or the Belt of Cloud Giant Strength are the best magic items for jumping, but the Belt of Cloud Giant Strength is more useful in the end, since it does so much to improve your strength (it automatically puts strength at 27).

What’s the best spell to increase jump?

Well that’d probably be jump. It gives the target three times their normal jump distance – they’ll just need the movement to cover that distance, as well.