I might be confused. I know Athletics is for jump distance, but I thought Acrobatics was for avoiding landing prone.
RAW,
Acrobatics has nothing to do with jumping, or rather with landing after jump. This is purely in the domain of Athletics.
+1 to the whole idea. Personally, I would like to see it this way:
- White - safe landing is guaranteed
- Yellow - success in Athletics is neccessary to stay on foot
- Red - guaranteed prone on landing
There is certainly no need to stick to RAW, but let's at least be clear on what RAW is:
Jumping section from 5e basic rules-Athletics has nothing to do with sticking a landing and rarely has anything to do with how far you can jump.
-How far/high you can jump is determined by your STR score/modifier and whether you got a running start.
-Your Athletics skill comes into play when you are trying to jump over a low obstacle, like a hurdle or a hedge.
-Your Acrobatics skill comes into play when you are landing a jump in difficult terrain.
-Your DM might ask you to make an Athletics check if you are trying to pull off a jump longer/higher than you would normally be able to make.
Acrobatics has to do with coordination, flexibility, and balance, which makes sense when trying to stick a difficult landing.
Athletics is a little bit nebulous, but I think it lives somewhere in the space between raw strength and endurance, which is why it is used for climbing, swimming, and grappling (i.e. tasks where you need to employ your strength over a significant period of time). It's not totally out of line to use it for jumping stuff, but raw STR feels a little more appropriate to me.
All of that said, yes, the game definitely needs to communicate to you how difficult a particular jump is (or at least how difficult it
seems) before you attempt it.