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I’m making a grappler who can jump 8 feet normally, and therefore with the jump spell they can jump 24 ft.

What would happen if I were to grapple a creature, then jump with them and land on them?

I weigh 350 lbs. I’d also like to take advantage of the enlarge/reduce spell in some cases which multiplies my weight by 8 - bringing my character to a weight of 2800 lbs.

  • How much damage would I do if I jumped 8 feet, or 24 feet?
  • How much damage would I do if I'm enlarged?

(Yeah, pretty much making Zangief.)

SevenSidedDie
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Ben
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    There are a number or previously answered questions on this concept; a serarch with the [dnd-5e] tag and the terms "jump" and "grapple" should get them to pop up. Take a look at the answers to this question ... and this one – KorvinStarmast Dec 23 '18 at 13:25
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    As for taking damage yourself: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/57271/do-you-take-falling-damage-after-a-high-jump – fabian Dec 23 '18 at 13:29
  • I looked at the posts and they only mention fall damage. I was looking for an answer that addressed some sort of crushing damage, like if something fell on you only, instead of something it’s 350 lbs worth of bugbear or even 2800 lbs. – Ben Dec 23 '18 at 14:38
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    @Ben It looks like you edited your question and replaced it with "thanks", which I'm not sure if you meant to do, since that ended up removing the question so no one could understand what the answers we actually trying to answer. I reverted it to the previous version for you. – Zhuge Dec 23 '18 at 23:32

1 Answers1

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Probably not much damage (and not much height)

There are no rules for damage done by deliberately falling down on top of another enemy. A DM would have to make a ruling. It's quite possible that this would be considered either an unarmed attack or an attack with an improvised weapon. After all, you are not attacking with a weapon (hence unarmed attack), and on the list of improvised weapons you'll find (PHB, p. 148, bold added):

a table leg, a frying pan, a wagon wheel, or a dead goblin.

As such, the body of a creature seems to count as as an improvised weapon in some cases. Keep in mind, an improvised weapon will do 1d4+Strength Mod damage, and an unarmed attack will do 1+Strength Mod damage, regardless of your size or weight.

Also note: both of these options would require your action, not just your movement to attempt.

You can't jump as high as you think

While you are grappling another creature, your speed is halved. And although your jumping distance will be increased by the spell Jump, you still won't be able to jump further than your speed. As such, you could jump, at most, 15 feet up (assuming your usual speed is 30 feet).

Since falling distance is 1d6 per 10 of fall, this means you and your grappled foe would take 1d6 damage max of fall damage.

Also note that your calculation of your usual jump height is based on the formula for a running high jump (3+strength mod), which requires you to move 10 feet on foot right before the jump. A vertical jump without this run-up only can elevate you half as high as a running jump. So your actual maximum standing high jump distance is 4 feet normally, or 12 feet with the Jump spell. If you tried to do a running high jump while grappling, you'd use 10 feet of your 15 feet of speed on the run, and thus only be able to jump 5 feet up for the rest of your turn.

Falling on an enemy is more likely to cause trouble for you

If a DM decided that the size and weight of an enemy entered into the damage of them falling on you, keep in mind that they could use such a tactic on your character. And since you'll regularly be facing huge or larger creatures, I'd recommend against pushing too hard for the efficacy of this tactic: it's more likely to harm you than help you.

Gandalfmeansme
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  • I'm not seeing where in the linked question you get "can't jump further than your speed". Jumping costs movement but there are plenty of ways to get more movement. – Mark Wells Dec 25 '18 at 17:41
  • Quoting a quote in the linked question: "To be clear, things like the jump spell don't increase speed. You can jump crazy far, but your speed caps it. -Crawford" – Gandalfmeansme Dec 25 '18 at 18:00
  • Fair point that you could Dash to get around this restriction, but that takes an action, as does an unarmed attack/ attack with an improvised weapon, which the OP also wants to do. – Gandalfmeansme Dec 25 '18 at 18:02