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Sudden Leap

You can make a Jump check as a swift action and move the distance determined by your check result. You provoke attacks of opportunity with this movement, and you must move in a straight line. As with any movement, you can attempt a Tumble check to avoid any attacks you provoke with this sudden leap. You can’t move through enemies, unless you succeed on the appropriate Tumble check.

Is Sudden Leap's jump DC doubled if you don't have a 20 ft. running start?

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Relevant material to consider.

D&D 3.5 FAQ

Does the Jump check and subsequent jump made as part of the Sudden Leap boost (ToB 89) count against the initiator’s movement as described in the Jump skill?

No. Sudden Leap is its own swift action, not part of a move action, so the movement is in addition to any you might make using other actions.

A Customer Service response where R&D was consulted (from old WOTC forum)

A number of tiger claw maneuvers do something based on the results of a jump check. Is the jump DC doubled if you have not made a 20ft run-up, as with other jump DCs in the PHB?

The jump check DCs given in the Player's Handbook assume that you get a running start, but the DC for jump checks required for those tiger claw maneuvers do not make the same assumption. You would not need to get a running start for those jump checks, and the DC would not increase if you hadn't been running.

I'd just like to confirm that if I used the Sudden Leap maneuver from standing still (or just having made a full attack), and got a total of 20 on the jump check, that I'd be able to move up-to 20ft. The reason I ask is that the maneuver technically uses the DCs for distance from the PHB, which do have the doubling for not taking a running jump applied to them.

You are correct. The abilities do use the DC checks based on the jump DCs in the Player's Handbook. I've checked with the folks in R&D and the original answer I gave you is correct. The Tiger Claw maneuver DCs aren’t doubled for a standing jump.

D&D 3.5 is a game of exceptions, and the people who worked on it didn't always write the rules with the utmost precision. When a rule is in doubt, discovering the intent behind it is nice. Even with the so called myriad problems with the FAQ, it makes perfect sense that "Tiger Claw maneuver DCs aren’t doubled for a standing jump.". Otherwise the jump maneuvers of Tiger Claw discipline become seriously gimped. Remember Tome of Battle wanted to let non casters "break" some rules as well, except using the extraordinary and supernatural (too a small degree) rules.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Except, of course, that the FAQ is a mediocre source of the rules’ intent, because by-and-large it wasn’t written by the actual authors, nor even in consultation with those authors. Impossible to know if the authors were consulted in this case, but this answer would be much improved by acknowledging the myriad problems with the FAQ rather than passing the FAQ off as a “godsend.” \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Aug 10, 2018 at 13:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the comment KRyan. I respect your knowledge of the game. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zarus
    Aug 11, 2018 at 3:19

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