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I have a frankly nightmarish build with a lot of reach and a huge bonus to tripping. Then I started wondering about how this build would fare in a fight with an ubercharger. You can trip while flatfooted with Combat Reflexes... but how does that interact with Leap Attack? Can you trip someone while they're jumping? What happens to an airborne tripped character?

Looking at the closest analogy, a flying character can be tripped, and falls as if they hadn't maintained their minimum forward speed (falls 150 ft and takes falling damage if they hit the ground). In this question about tripping flying creatures with good or better maneuverability it came up that:

Creatures that fly without wings (and any creature with perfect maneuverability) can't be tripped while flying.

I don't know whether flying via momentum (i.e. jumping) counts for this, and the source is not RAW (I assume FAQ or similar, but the link was dead). Does it make sense for a jumping character who gets tripped to promptly fall flat on their face? Or would momentum keep them moving forward to their target, and if so would they still be able to attack upon reaching them (presumably taking the -4 penalty for attacking while prone)?

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You can trip him

The jumper is knocked prone, as being knocked prone is the effect of a trip attack. The prone condition is defined as:

Prone: The character is on the ground.

Jumping is a part of movement, and tripping a moving character effectively ends their movement (as their rate is 5 feet per round at a crawl as a move action, and they already moved) putting them on the ground until they take an action to stand up (barring special abilities or actions).

No rules state that a jumping character is immune to this, and they're not called out at all in the article referenced either, where swimmers, climbers and fliers are all called out. Nor is it called out in either of the other two articles that the Trip article refers to for more info on tripping fliers and houserules, or for more trip rulings.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Aren't we all though? Fair enough. Comment removed. (Though I'm still not actually sure what your title means. You might consider rephrasing it to be clear what your position is.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Rubiksmoose
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 5:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ Works for me. I'll also assume that since they've gone from airborne to on the ground they take fall damage if they were high enough. \$\endgroup\$
    – Elliot
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Poetically Psychotic If your reach is greater than 10', then there might be some risk of falling damage, but most jumping charges will be long jumps, which have a max loft of 1/4 the distance. If the charger is jumping less than 40', then there'd be no possibility of falling damage. For longer jumps, the center of the arc would be the only parts that would offer a falling damage risk. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chemus
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 20:09

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