Bunnyhopping, a viable strategy or utter nonesense

[Amdor]

So, while I'm writing and working up the courage to run a TTB campaign, which will be my first time as FM/GM/DM/etc. and my players are brainstorming character concepts, they discovered something strange:

The 2nd edition rulebook states that a character can jump after moving for free, with the base distance of half their Ht in yards and double that if they charged. If they want to get further, they can take a TN 5 Athletics duel to increase the distance jumped by half their Ht on a success (or double that on charge), plus one additional time that for every margin of success. So if a PC takes Wall of Muscle and trains in Athletics, they can easily increase their walks and charges by 4,5 and 9 yards respectively.

Not only this, if the same character has Athletics at skill rank 3, they can take the Showboating trigger, meaning that if they get a on the Athletics duel to increase their jump distance, they can take a free attack (which might get a bonus, I can't recall).

All this, at no visible drawbacks.

So tell me, is this a viable strategy and a free way for every character to gain 1-9 yards increase to all their movement, as well as potential free attacks everywhere if they put a little effort into it, or have we misread or misunderstood something, and it doesn't work at all like that?

 

(I'm using a friends book, that I seldom have at hand, so I can't quote page numbers and might remember stuff wrong)

[gribble]

While admittedly not 100% clear from the rules text, I'd say that any jumping distance is intended to be part of the Walk/Run/Charge distance moved,  not in addition to it.

The relevant text seems to be: "Jumping is done as part of a Walk, Run, or Charge Action" in the third/final paragraph of the Jumping section on page 294.

E.g. If a PC has a Walk of 4, a Charge of 6 and a (standard) Height of 2, then when they take the Walk action, they can move up to 4 yards, and at any point up to 1 yard of that distance can be a horizontal jump. If they take the Charge action, they can move up to 6 yards, and at any point up to 2 yards of that distance can be a horizontal jump, etc.
With a successful TN 5 Athletics Challenge, they can Walk up to 4 yards, and up to 2 yards of that can be a jump. If they hit a 10, up to 2.5 yards can be a jump, if they hit a fifteen up to 3 yards, etc. If they manage to hit a 25+ (somehow) then all of the 4 yards Walk distance can be jumped. Alternatively, they can Charge up to 6 yards, and up to 4 yards of that can be a jump, up to 5 yards can be jumped if they hit a 10 on the Challenge, and all of it (i.e. up to 6 yards) if they hit a 15 or more on the Challenge.

[Griautis]

19 minutes ago, gribble said:

While admittedly not 100% clear from the rules text, I'd say that any jumping distance is intended to be part of the Walk/Run/Charge distance moved,  not in addition to it.

The relevant text seems to be: "Jumping is done as part of a Walk, Run, or Charge Action" in the third/final paragraph of the Jumping section on page 294.

E.g. If a PC has a Walk of 4, a Charge of 6 and a (standard) Height of 2, then when they take the Walk action, they can move up to 4 yards, and at any point up to 1 yard of that distance can be a horizontal jump. If they take the Charge action, they can move up to 6 yards, and at any point up to 2 yards of that distance can be a horizontal jump, etc.
With a successful TN 5 Athletics Challenge, they can Walk up to 4 yards, and up to 2 yards of that can be a jump. If they hit a 10, up to 2.5 yards can be a jump, if they hit a fifteen up to 3 yards, etc. If they manage to hit a 25+ (somehow) then all of the 4 yards Walk distance can be jumped. Alternatively, they can Charge up to 6 yards, and up to 4 yards of that can be a jump, up to 5 yards can be jumped if they hit a 10 on the Challenge, and all of it (i.e. up to 6 yards) if they hit a 15 or more on the Challenge.

That interpretation fixes the distances thing, however it still means that you can do artificial jumps to trigger attacks? 
Tho,I wonder how easy it is to get attacks in other ways. After all, having a skill at 3 with a trigger, just so you have a chance at an additional attack/turn doesn't seem too broken. Since once the character is engaged, he won't be moving, this is more a "have a single chance to get a free attack against each opponent you move up to" which is fine.

Of course, someone could argue about "jumping around the opponent", but then at least I'd say "no" to my player, as this is just gaming the system for no story benefit whatsoever. Tho, this argument won't fly for everyone, I care more about things making sense, not all the ways the system can be abused 

[Amdor]

Thanks @gribble and @Griautis

Jump distances substituting the normal walk/charge distances would solve my main worry, that being a beginning character charging 10+ yards without issues. That would change jumping to more of utility movement, being used to bypass difficult terrain etc. which makes way more sense. I have to reread the rules to see if it can clearly be interpreted this way.

Showboating isn't that much of an issue. It can give the character 3 Attacks on a charge, but being a trigger it still requires luck or cheating. Outside that, the character needs to spend their AP on moving and possibly netting a free attack, instead of straight up attacking.

[Griautis]

1 hour ago, Amdor said:

Thanks @gribble and @Griautis

Jump distances substituting the normal walk/charge distances would solve my main worry, that being a beginning character charging 10+ yards without issues. That would change jumping to more of utility movement, being used to bypass difficult terrain etc. which makes way more sense. I have to reread the rules to see if it can clearly be interpreted this way.

Showboating isn't that much of an issue. It can give the character 3 Attacks on a charge, but being a trigger it still requires luck or cheating. Outside that, the character needs to spend their AP on moving and possibly netting a free attack, instead of straight up attacking.

Oh right, I messed up and forgot that he's not using an attack if he's walking around So yeah, everything works great, if it can cleanly be interpreted as using up the movement. Can you confirm after your investigation? 

[gribble]

The exact relevant rules text is: "While using the Walk Action, a character can leap horizontally... <info on calculating distance>" and "Jumping is done as part of a Walk, Run, or Charge Action... <info on AP cost>".

So IMO the rules text is ambiguous and could be read either way. This is simply the way I'd interpret it as it makes the most sense, and is I believe the intent (I can't believe the intent is to increase movement distances by such large amounts).

@Mason would be the one to confirm 100% if needed.

And yes, I agree that show boating isn't really an issue. It's a big investment, and not game breaking IMO.

[Mason]

It's intended to allow characters to jump a certain distance within the parameters of their normal Walk Action (as gribble mentioned earlier).

Apologies for the vague wording!

[Amdor]

Thanks @Mason, we can always count on you to clear up confusion.