Your Strength sets how far you can jump. Both editions use the same two formulas:
- •Long jump: up to your Strength score in feet if you move at least 10 feet immediately before the jump. A standing long jump covers half that.
- •High jump: 3 + your Strength modifier in feet with the same 10-foot run-up, or half that standing.
Every foot you jump costs a foot of movement, and so does the run-up. With a 30-foot speed, a 10-foot run-up leaves 20 feet for the jump itself unless you Dash. While in the air you can reach up to your jump height plus 1½ times your own height: a 6-foot character who high jumps 5 feet can grab a ledge 14 feet up.
Athletics and Acrobatics checks
At the GM’s option, clearing a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump’s distance), such as a hedge, takes a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. Landing in difficult terrain takes a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, or you land prone. The 2014 rules also let the GM allow a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than normal, but give no formula, so the calculator doesn’t add one.
What changed in 2024
- •Jump spell. In 2014 it triples the target’s jump distance for 1 minute. In 2024 it is a bonus action, and once on each of its turns the target can jump up to 30 feet by spending 10 feet of movement.
- •High jump minimum. The 2024 rule says a high jump is never less than 0 feet. The 2014 text doesn’t say so, and the calculator floors it at 0 in both.
- •Run-up. 2014 says you move 10 feet "on foot"; 2024 drops the words "on foot".
- •Class features. The 2014 Champion’s Remarkable Athlete adds your Strength modifier to a running long jump; the 2024 version gives advantage on Athletics instead. The 2014 Thief’s Second-Story Work adds your Dexterity modifier to a running jump; in 2024 it lets you use Dexterity instead of Strength.
- •Step of the Wind doubles a monk’s jump distance for the turn in both editions.
Worked example
A fighter with Strength 16 (+3) and a 30-foot speed runs 10 feet and long jumps up to 16 feet, using 26 feet of movement in total. From a standstill the same jump is 8 feet. A running high jump is 3 + 3 = 6 feet, and at 6 feet tall she can reach a ledge 6 + 9 = 15 feet up. With the 2014 Jump spell her long jump becomes 48 feet, but she can still only cover as much ground as she has movement left.
Strength also sets your carrying capacity. Falling short of a ledge? See what happens with the fall damage calculator. A Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power raises your Strength score, and with it every jump.
Sources: SRD 5.1 ("Movement: Jumping"; Jump; Monk Step of the Wind; Champion; Thief) and SRD 5.2.1 (Rules Glossary "Long Jump" and "High Jump"; Jump; Monk; Champion; Thief) by Wizards of the Coast (CC-BY-4.0).