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By now, it's been clarified by Jeremy Crawford in his Sage Advice column that the Harengon trait "Rabbit Hop" is a bonus action that doesn't consume movement, and that it gains the bonuses of the spell "Jump". So, the same could be said about other spells and abilities with similar wording, such as Step of the Wind ("... and your jump distance is doubled for the turn") or Adjust Density ("While the weight of a creature is halved by this effect, the creature's speed increases by 10 feet, it can jump twice as far as normal..."). But a point that I have seen different answers about is regarding Boots of striding and springing.

Boots of striding and springing's relevant part of its text says that "In addition, you can jump three times the normal distance," but then its text immediately specifically clarifies that " though you can't jump farther than your remaining movement would allow".

Since both statements are part of the same sentence, with the comma tying them together, RAW I believe that option c) of the described below would apply. But I would like to hear a second opinion.

So, considering that Rabbit Hop doesn't expend movement, would the boots:

a) Just affect high jump and long jump, which use movement, and not Rabbit Hop.

b) Affect Rabbit Hop, but only adding 3x remaining movement to the total jumping distance.

c) Affect Rabbit Hop, but limiting the total jumping distance (including the bonuses from "Jump", "Step of the Wind" and "Adjust Density") to remaining movement.

d) Triple jumping distance, without factoring remaining movement.

Jack
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chinoscut
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2 Answers2

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Case d: Triple Rabbit Hop's distance without limitation (all other forms of jumping would be limited by movement as usual)

I don't think there's an unambiguous interpretation here, but personally, I'd interpret the rules for Rabbit Hop not consuming movement (using a bonus action instead) as being more specific than the rules for the boots being limited by remaining movement (which are assuming they apply to a normal jump which does consume, and is therefore limited by, movement). The limitation from the boots only applies when movement is being consumed by the jump in the first place; since it isn't, you can triple the Rabbit Hop distance without limitation.

ShadowRanger
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    I have seen that the "specific trumps general" argument usually stands for most cases, so I really hope you are right, because that's what I want the answer to be, hahah. Else, it would demand me to do more character building gimnastics to get to at least 200 ft in order to do max fall damage. (The idea is a Harengon Rune Knight Grappler that grabs his opponent and seismic tosses them. – chinoscut Oct 17 '23 at 01:11
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Boots of Springing and Striding do not enhance Rabbit Hop

Magic items and spells each have their specific rules, and do what these say. Boots of Striding and Springing says:

While you wear these boots, your walking speed becomes 30 feet, unless your walking speed is higher, and your speed isn't reduced if you are encumbered or wearing heavy armor. In addition, you can jump three times the normal distance, though you can't jump farther than your remaining movement would allow.

The jumping of the boots consumes movement, which is why you cannot jump further than the remaining movement. It refers to your normal jumping distance, which is depended on your characters speed, and is about the normal kind of jumping that consumes your movement.

The Sage Advice Compendium entry on magic-enhanced jumping supports this and reads (about the jump spell which says "The creature's jump distance is tripled until the spell ends."):

What happens when a jump spell gives a creature a jump distance greater than its walking speed? Your jump is limited by how far you can move; each foot jumped uses a foot of movement. [...] If the jump spell is cast on you, that potential jump distance is tripled. [...] If your speed is 30 feet, you can use only 30 feet of that jump distance on your turn, unless you take the Dash action, which allows you to leap the full 45 feet.

The harengon's Rabbit Hop1 is a bonus action that operates outside of the normal jumping that consumes movement: it does not require enough remaining movement to execute the jump, just that your current speed is not 0. The distance is not otherwise dependent on your speed, like the distance of normal jumps is. It is fixed to five times your proficiency bonus. Because of this, Boots of Springing and Striding, which affect the normal jump distance, not your special bonus action jump distance, do not interact with Rabbit Hop at all. Your option (a) is the closest to this.

Jeremey Crawfords statements are not rules, unless they get added to the the official Sage Advice Compendium, currently in v. 2.7, which has no entry on the harengon feature. They however confirm the notion that the jump does not consume movement:

The Rabbit Hop trait lets a harengon jump as a bonus action, and that jump doesn’t consume any of the harengon’s normal movement.

They also say

Does the jump spell benefit Rabbit Hop? Yes, the jump spell can affect the jump distance of Rabbit Hop. If you cast that spell on a harengon, enjoy the magnificent leaps!

I think this interpretation is incorrect given the rules text, but clearly shows the intent that any kind of jumping should be enhanced. However, even if you agree with it, jump differs from the boots: jump works on any "jump distance", while the boots are limited to your normal jump distance.

That said, and especially given the designer support, check with your DM. A supercharged-jumping harengon might be a lot of fun, and the boots require attunement, so being able to do this is not a freebie. They might be willing to rule that version (d) is OK in their game.


1 Harengon's current, official version is the one from Modenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Universe (p. 22), with this Rabbit Hop feature:

As a bonus action, you can jump a number of feet equal to five times your proficiency bonus, without provoking opportunity attacks. You can use this trait only if your speed is greater than 0. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Jack
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Nobody the Hobgoblin
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    Yeah, I think this is the right take. But maybe I’m biased, it’s the same logic I used in my very first answer in the site. – Thomas Markov Oct 16 '23 at 22:10
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    @ThomasMarkov And you managed to make the point in a much more economic way, word-count wise, than I did here. – Nobody the Hobgoblin Oct 16 '23 at 22:13
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    The feature in question here is a bit different, so I think the extended commentary is appropriate. – Thomas Markov Oct 16 '23 at 22:14
  • @NobodytheHobgoblin First, thank you for taking your time to give such a thorough answer.

    Secondly, I meant Rabbit Hop, not Bunny Hop. My bad.

    Third, by "clarified by Sage" I mean this article, wrote by Jeremy Crawford:

    https://dnd.wizards.com/sage-advice/creature-evolutions

    There, he clarifies the following:

    Does the jump spell benefit Rabbit Hop? Yes, the jump spell can affect the jump distance of Rabbit Hop. If you cast that spell on a harengon, enjoy the magnificent leaps!

    – chinoscut Oct 17 '23 at 01:06
  • Therefore, this would seem to invalidate your argument about what is meant by "normal distance", which is still a vague term. – chinoscut Oct 17 '23 at 01:06
  • @ThomasMarkov

    I do agree that it is logical to interpret that if the intended effect of the boots was to be the same as the spell Jump, then why use a different wording and not the same. But then again, at the time it was written, jumping as a bonus action without consuming movement wasn't an option, so maybe it works as you describe it, but now that Rabbit Hop exists as a jump that doesnt consume movement, then it may circunvent that restriction. But I think I am cherrypicking because I want it to be that way.

    – chinoscut Oct 17 '23 at 01:23
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    @chinoscut First, thank you so much for the clarifications, they are very helpful, in particular the link to JC. Unless what he says ends up in official SAC (which they seem to have stopped updating, maybe due to focus on 6e), that is however not official. It is great to unterstand designer intent, and strengthens playing it by case d; but JC has made a lot of erroneous and contradictory rulings over time, so I would not depend on it for what the rules actually say. – Nobody the Hobgoblin Oct 17 '23 at 05:09
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    @chinoscut Also, jump and boots differ: the boots work only on normal distance, jump works just on distance (without the "normal") – Nobody the Hobgoblin Oct 17 '23 at 05:11
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    In 5e the method used involves not having to look up rules, so reminders like the line about movement speed are common. Any mileage in assuming this is just a rule reminder rather than a specific restriction of the item? I suspect when it was written there was no jumping without using movement. – SeriousBri Oct 17 '23 at 06:01
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    @SeriousBri Yes, I think you are right, they did not think about this at the time it was written. Its quite unusual that the Harengon jump does not consume movement, and contrary to the approach they took before on this. I think its not overpowered either as really, normal jumping is rather weak. Their intent is clearly that these items would work on any kind of jumps. – Nobody the Hobgoblin Oct 17 '23 at 07:15