You can make a long jump as part of a charge. You muststill follow all the normal rules for making a charge, such as moving in a straight line on the battle grid. This tactic can let you avoid some of the normal restrictions against charging. If a square of difficult terrain is between you and your charge target, you could possibly jump over it with a long jump. (The fact that your jump means that your movement isn’t a perfectly straight line doesn’t make the charge illegal—you’re still moving in a straight line as far as the battle grid is concerned, and the jump isn’t really changing your direction.)
Making a high jump as part of a charge is trickier. It’s hard to imagine a significant high jump that doesn’t change your direction; after all, you’re now moving vertically rather than laterally. Furthermore, if you have to slow your movement at any point of the charge, you can’t make the charge. For instance,
if you make a high jump toward a ledge as part of a charge, then have to pull yourself up to the ledge before continuing,
that’s not a charge, it’s a move or a double move. It’s the same for the “hop up” maneuver described on page 77 in the PH: Since it counts as 10 feet of movement, you can’t perform such a maneuver as part of a charge.
Fleet of Foot (found in the PG)
and Psionic Charge (from the XPH)
might make performing a high jump as part of a charge a little easier. Both feats allow a single change in direction of up to 90 degrees during the charge, which
should be sufficient to allow you to make a high jump as part of a charge. Neither feat allows you to ignore the restrictions on slowed movement during a charge.
If you’re capable of making a high jump that brings you at least 5 feet above an enemy, you could employ the Battle Jump feat (from Una) without having to start at a higher location. Of course, that would require a Jump check result of at least 40 for a Medium opponent, so it’s out of reach of most characters.
You’d also have to make the Jump check from adjacent to your foe, so it would provoke attacks of opportunity (since you’re moving upward out of a threatened square). All in all, it sounds like a pretty tricky maneuver, but cinematically very exciting
indeed.
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