I present the following situation for your consideration:

A hero is currently adjacent to a pit, and not adjacent to any monsters. The hero wishes to jump over the pit, using the rules from page 17 of the JitD book:

"If a hero or monster is aware of a pit, it may jump across the pit for three movement points for each space crossed. Simply place the figure on the other side of the pit after spending the movement points."

Adjacent to the pit (but not to the hero's current location) is a monster with the Grapple ability:

"Enemies adjacent to a figure with the Grapple ability cannot spend any movement points until the figure is dead. They may still attack as normal."

Question 1: If the hero declares that he is jumping across the pit, which of the following happens?
A) The hero is grappled over the pit space, causing him to fall into the pit, take damage, and remain there.
B) The hero successfully jumps over the pit, and then is possibly grappled when he lands, if the destination space is also adjacent to the monster.
C) The hero is not allowed to perform the jump and must pick something else to do.

Question 2: If the answer to question 1 is B (which seems most consistent with a literal reading of the rules), is there any reason that a hero could not "jump" past a figure with Grapple when there is no pit present? Also, would the hero be allowed to perform the maneuver if he was immune to the effects of the pit, for example if he had the Fly ability?

I personally would go for A)

My grounding for this are that I'm evil, vindictive, and I see no reason why the Monster's grapple shouldn't come in to affect. More to the point, if they're daft enough not to peruse the monster cards, or if they've had an encounter in the first place and forgotten then it sucks to be them!

However, if they're about to make a move out of ignorance and the monster cards require effort to gaze upon, then it may just depend on my mood at the time. The way of the Malicious Mentor! Learning by doing is by far the best way to make the lesson stick, so adopt a stance of 'What they don't know will hurt them, but It'll be funny for you at the time!'.

The point is, they're still moving across the pit. Should a Hero have a grapple like ability, could that Hero delay an opponent with leap? The same conundrum applies.

Actually, according to the FAQ, a figure using the Leap ability cannot be restrained by Grapple . "Leap is one of the few ways to escape a Grapple" or something to that effect.

Antistone said:

Q1. B. most definitely. Grapple merely prevents the spending of MP, not actual movement. Normally MP is spent step-by-step, however in the case of leaping of pits the MP are spent 3-at-once for the leap.

Q2. No rules or options are given for a hero to '"jump" whenever he feels like it - only if there is a pit to jump over. Therefore, the default situation is that a hero may not use a 'jump' to avoid a grappling monster. A flying hero could jump to avoid a pit (and as a side affect avoid a grapple) regardless of the pit not affecting him. Being affected by the pit is not a pre-requisiye of jumping.

Side note: being OL does not give a player rights to make up rules because he feels like it. However group consenting houserules are common. For example, my group usually plays a houserules where the LOS interrupting affect of being in a pit works both ways instead on only one way.

As for Leaping Monsters - they are not affected by Grapple anyway...

I would vote number 2 based on the wording of jumping over pits. It says spend three movement points, then place the hero on any space of your choosing. I think the usage of place instead of move makes the difference.

And by number 2 I meant B)

Corbon said:

Definitely. The trigger for a jump is a pit. The pit space is never entered.

1 B) The hero never actually enters the pit. The figure is simply placed on the other side.

2. No. Heros are only allowed to jump the pit spaces, no further.