Despite being poor creatures in the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, these felines are not as agile as their real-world counterparts due to a strange rule quirk.
DMs often dread having to look up certain unpopular aspects of D&D rules due to their nonsensical nature. These include grappling in combat, fall damage, and jumping. At some point, players will inevitably want to use one of these rules, and DMs will be compelled to consult the rulebook.
In D&D 5e, the rules for jumping can be unnecessarily complex, making it a tedious process to understand. Instead of a universal distance for all characters, individual Strength scores are used to calculate how far or how high a character can jump.
It is noteworthy how the jumping rules have a varying impact on different animals. For instance, the house cat has statistics in D&D 5e’s Monster Manual, making it a potential enemy, but it is unlikely to pose a threat to most characters.
As online discussions among fans have pointed out, a cat’s Strength penalty renders it unable to perform any of the jumping actions outlined in the rules. In contrast, the mammoth’s impressive +7 Strength modifier allows it to excel at jumping.
Cats possess a natural climbing ability that enables them to scale walls similar to Spider-Man, however, they are limited in their jumping range.
It is ironic that this rule applies to other animals in D&D 5e as well, yet they possess unique abilities that make up for their shortcomings. The frog, for instance, shares a significant penalty in Strength, but it has been granted the Standing Leap trait, which enables it to circumvent the usual jumping regulations.
Generally, in situations such as these, Dungeon Masters (DMs) may make slight adjustments to the rules, such as allowing cats to use their higher Dexterity modifier for jumping or disregarding the penalty entirely for movement purposes.
It is rather entertaining to imagine real-life creatures, renowned for their agility and impressive balance, being unable to leap in the D&D realm simply due to the gods’ mishandling of the laws of reality.
Perhaps the future update to the D&D 5e rules will finally rectify the issue with cats and allow them to jump and maneuver through the air as they naturally would.
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