Feb14
on February 14, 2017
Parkour
The spiritual cousin to last week’s strip.
Bounding across rooftops is a staple of fantastic fiction. While less common in fantasy campaigns, it’s the standard mode of travel for most urban vigilantes. As such, you’d think rogues would be master leapers. The legacy of the thief-acrobat falls under the purview of the class. And yet, in most editions of the game, jumping is tied to Strength and thus something fighters and barbarians are more skilled at accomplishing. Pathfinder is one of the few exceptions, as jumping is Acrobatics in that variant of the ruleset.
Now, I remember reading a thing about killer DMs who demand a skill check for walking normally…where was it…?
Well, I tried myself in real life a couple times and I can say that jumping from a rooftop to another is a matter of both strenght and dexterity: the first to gain enough propulsion to cover the distance, and the second to avoid slipping or landing heavily (or come crushing through the tiles altogether).
Therefore as a DM I usually require two separate rolls (well, if the STR related one fails, the second may not be necessary after all…)