Jump Spell and distance

Quote from R3sistance >>

Climbing down a cliff face, using the levitation spell, having a fly speed, walking down an incline would all be ways to descend 30 foot which are not falls however.

Why not? The book doesn't say when a fall begins. If downward movement doesn't mean falling, then why does jumping? If Downward velocity does mean falling, then climbing down is falling.

The issue here is that we're trying to assert certainty and clarification where the system we are working with simply does not support that. It's trash and needs to be updated.

Quote from Frachese>>

Take-off and landing exert similar forces. And when it comes to high jump in athletics, cushioning the landing was only introduced in tandem with new jumping techniques.

Precisely my thinking. If the spell hasn't ended yet, you're being bolstered by magic to allow your bones to survive the acceleration that would get you 30 ft up in the air. You will experience the exact same physical forces on landing. Why would they suddenly break now? And you're supposed to be able to do it again next turn too.

The sports jumping is a terrible argument IMO. They have cushions because they've mutilated sport to the point that it's entirely about making a single, hyper-defined number go up, whatever the cost to practicality. You can squeeze out a few micrometers by jumping recklessly such that you can't catch yourself on the way down, which will make you win a competition but is a completely useless real-world skill, and doesn't negate the fact that athletes jumping a centimeter lower but with more realistic landing configuration are not hurting themselves on landing. And don't even get me started on pole vaulters. They needed help from a machine to get that high, of course their bodies don't hit the ground nicely. We can't compare what they're doing to discussion of jumping with your body.

Quote from Plaguescarred >>

Quote from Satanihavet>>

Why would you suddenly fall? You are mid-jump.

Every time you jump, assuming you are not falling flat on your ass or hitting your head, your jump does not end as soon as your trajectory changes and starts pointing towards the ground. Your jump ends after you landed. 

 

 

 There's no such thing as mid-jump, either you're jumping, or you not moving.

A jump end after the distance cleared is reached and you stop moving. If you jump 30 feet, the jump ends after such distance. Normally each foot you jump costs a foot of movement but in the case of Jump the distance increase exponentially.

So trying to make a 30 feet long jump over a 75 feet chasm will result in a fall since you're in midair after the jump.

Similarly, trying to make a 30 feet high jump in the air will result in a fall since you're in midair after the jump.

 "A jump end after the distance cleared is reached"
So by this logic jumping down is not falling, and as long as you land before your jump ends, you do not take falling damage. With the jump spell, that gives you 30 feet of jumping, whether that is up or down.

Another posted that all jumping is either a Long Jump or a High Jump. High Jump very specifically does not say "up". It says vertical. Down is in the vertical direction.

So, as long as you land by the time you reach the limit of your jump you do not take fall damage and jumping can be done in any coordinate direction. Sure seems like the Jump Spell would 100%, RAW (and imo RAI) mean that you can jump 30' down.

I would go so far to argue that even if your jump ends in open air, your fall does not start until that point. So you could jump down a 35' drop and take no falling damage, or a 40' drop and take 1d6 falling damage. Again, your jump ends after the distance reached, only then you begin falling.

Here's a scenario. A character is on the ledge of a chasm 20' wide, but there is no corresponding ledge directly across from them, but there IS a ledge 10 feet down on the other side. The character's Long Jump isn't high enough to clear the width of the chasm. Could they with the Jump Spell, and how much falling damage would they be subjected to? What if they could clear that chasm just with their Long Jump. How much falling damage would they take when they land on the lower ledge on the other side of the chasm?

Granted, this gets murky, as the Jumping rules dictate you are either High Jumping or Long Jumping, suggesting you cannot jump diagonally. RAW in this instance both characters make the jump and are subjected to 1d6 falling damage for falling after their Long Jump.

Now the next scenario. Same character, same chasm, same ledge. But look! There's a ledge 20' directly below them. Can the character get to that ledge safely without falling?

With the Jump Spell, yes. As the Jump Spell explicitly states they can jump 30', no direction specified. And High Jump does not specify "up", you could High Jump straight down up to 30' without ever falling.
What about no Jump Spell? You're safe as long as your destination is within the distance you can High Jump. At least, rules as written. But which High Jump distance? This is where it becomes murky. I would argue if there is 10' of space at the bottom of the ledge, you are essentially running High Jump in reverse and would use that distance to determine what is safe. And if there is not 10' of space at the bottom then you use your standing High Jump distance.

Is this intended? I'd say yes. While D&D isn't a physics simulator it is fairly intuitive to understand the forces at play are the same. If I can jump 15' into the air why can't I land from that far? Now, the real world answer gets a bit complicated but again, not a physics engine.