> > At the end of the day, the world record for the high jump is currently
> > 2.45 metres. And that's off one foot. Acrobats using two feet regularly
> > manage three to four metres. Add in poles, spring boards, whatever and
> > greater heights are possible. (World record for the pole vault is 6.14
> > metres.) These are being done in a non-magical world by non-heroes.
>
> What level of ability would you give an Olympic-class athelete or
> World-class acrobat? They don't have a mere 17 in "leap". I'd allow a normal
> human in the real world to probably get up to w3 in a mundane skill.
>
This is the crux of the problem. The best acrobat in the world (xW3) has trouble getting over a normal tree, not notably tall (10W3 was the figure quoted earlier in the discussion). That's where the object is simply to get over, and land in one piece. In fact, thousands of acrobats can make 10 foot jumps with reasonable accuracy. Whereas a character with xW3 in Sword Fighting is a killing machine, capable of wiping the floor with Weaponthanes and with only a 1:400 chance of losing to a clan champion.
These numbers do not make sense to me.
> I'd disqualify poles & springboards from the discussion simply because they
> give a bonus or augment to the ability, thus complicating the issue - so
> we're talking standing or running start only, no extra help.
>
Perhaps this is part of the problem. I don't really care how a character gets over an obstacle - just that he does. If his skill of 'Leap Over Trees' really means 'leap, sumersault and scramble over trees' I don't really care. I mean, I'm not going to argue whether a high climb skill means hanging off rock faces by one finger or always having the gear to do the job, so I'm not for leap over trees. Therefore, poles and such seem perfectly reasonable to me.
>
> > There are people in THIS world who would have little or no trouble leaping
> > over many trees, using mundane abilities. Why do Gloranthans suddenly have
> > so much trouble?
>
> There are not many people in this world that have "little or no trouble"
> leaping over a 10' height. Those than can have trained to do so for a long
> time. There are millions of people in this world that have trouble doing so.
>
I'm not saying everyone should be able to. What I'm saying is, if someone writes the ability 'leap over trees' on their character sheet, I don't want different rules depending on whether it is a magical or mundane ability. I don't see the distinction being so black and white.
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson The Stable Yard - Internet Solutions gjr_at_... http://www.thestableyard.net
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