Battle without a grid [Archive] - Wizards Community

Battle without a grid [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
bloatedfirebreathingpengu
05-05-07, 11:16 PM Hello. I'm a newbie player who has only played a few games with my friend. I'm interested in not having to be the DM (it's hard), and was going to join a game on AIM.
My question is, how do you run combat without a grid? I've only ever played D&D with a grid for battle, so I'm a little confused. If anybody could explain this to me, or post a link to an explanation, it would be greatly appreciated.
Gnarl
05-06-07, 04:32 AM It's pretty much the same as with a battle grid except you have to imagine it :D.

It leads to a whole lot more disputes though, especially with area of effect spells.

When I first started playing D&D, we didn't use the battle grid. Fireballs rarely affected more than 1/3 of our opponents and cones were a whole lot easier to use.
Dire_Rhino
05-06-07, 04:00 PM I do all of my DMing over AIM, so perhaps I can offer insight.

As a player, without a grid, you are very dependent on the DM to offer you specific clues to your actions. I use specific wordings to represent distance:

"The orc moves near you": Can hit w/10' reach
"The orc moves next to you": Can hit w/5' reach, provokes AoOs.
and so forth.

This would be a good thing to discuss with your DM before you start, so you know it.

Note that the DM should always have a grid that he uses, to properly adjudicate spell effects, AoOs, movement, reach, etc.

For more tactical combats (which I enjoy), I take a piece of graph paper and make a battlemat. I then label one side A-Z and one 1-26 (or whatever), scan it, and post it online or send it to my players. That way, when terrain, etc. will be a factor, each person can see and move (I move to A32 and attack... etc). I do require more description than that, though.

~DR
Thane26425
05-06-07, 04:10 PM We didn't have grids back in First Edition. The way we handled it was a couple of rules, templates for cones and blast areas made of poster board and Lincoln Logs or Tinker toys to make the walls for rooms and such. We used scale cut outs of furniture from an architech's template, made of poster board.

It wasn't hard to put together walls in a hurry, especially the "standard" type walls (20' x 30' for example). Oddly shaped walls, unless there was some special purpose to them were usually just squared up for speed of game play. Furniture templates could then be dropped in and figures placed.

Combat would then take place. In 3.5, you could make counters for the figures, mainly the PCs, to stand on representing the typical 5' threat area for a Medium-sized Humaniod. If using a reach weapon, you can estimate double that distance keeping a ruler handy for final say. You can also use those bases to judge enemy position. Simply, if the typical enemy is within reach of the PC, the PC can reach it. As stated, you can estimate a 10' threat.

Movement can be done by using a ruler marked for the movement rates, standard move only, for the different characters. If they move more, simply move them to the end of the ruler once, then start over again. You can also use knotted string, but that is really hard to keep straight and leads to more arguments than using a ruler, at least it did in my games.

Now, the templates worked best for me when they were hollow, cut into a piece of poster board (poster board because it is rigid). That way, you could look through the hole to see who was in the area of effect or not. It could even be laid on the table if no one was near the edges.

Most of this works on a table top. Very large rooms or outdoor encounters might require using the floor. For outdoor encounters, we didn't bother placing every single tree or usually any at all. We just went by the rules for terrain and applied the penalties, etc., assuming the enemy, and PCs would be using cover when available, unless charging or the like. We would use coins to mark things like sink holes, swampy ground, streams etc., however.

Hope this helps. Any other questions?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
bloatedfirebreathingpengu 05-05-07, 11:16 PM	Hello. I'm a newbie player who has only played a few games with my friend. I'm interested in not having to be the DM (it's hard), and was going to join a game on AIM. My question is, how do you run combat without a grid? I've only ever played D&D with a grid for battle, so I'm a little confused. If anybody could explain this to me, or post a link to an explanation, it would be greatly appreciated.
Gnarl 05-06-07, 04:32 AM	It's pretty much the same as with a battle grid except you have to imagine it :D. It leads to a whole lot more disputes though, especially with area of effect spells. When I first started playing D&D, we didn't use the battle grid. Fireballs rarely affected more than 1/3 of our opponents and cones were a whole lot easier to use.
Dire_Rhino 05-06-07, 04:00 PM	I do all of my DMing over AIM, so perhaps I can offer insight. As a player, without a grid, you are very dependent on the DM to offer you specific clues to your actions. I use specific wordings to represent distance: "The orc moves near you": Can hit w/10' reach "The orc moves next to you": Can hit w/5' reach, provokes AoOs. and so forth. This would be a good thing to discuss with your DM before you start, so you know it. Note that the DM should always have a grid that he uses, to properly adjudicate spell effects, AoOs, movement, reach, etc. For more tactical combats (which I enjoy), I take a piece of graph paper and make a battlemat. I then label one side A-Z and one 1-26 (or whatever), scan it, and post it online or send it to my players. That way, when terrain, etc. will be a factor, each person can see and move (I move to A32 and attack... etc). I do require more description than that, though. ~DR
Thane26425 05-06-07, 04:10 PM	We didn't have grids back in First Edition. The way we handled it was a couple of rules, templates for cones and blast areas made of poster board and Lincoln Logs or Tinker toys to make the walls for rooms and such. We used scale cut outs of furniture from an architech's template, made of poster board. It wasn't hard to put together walls in a hurry, especially the "standard" type walls (20' x 30' for example). Oddly shaped walls, unless there was some special purpose to them were usually just squared up for speed of game play. Furniture templates could then be dropped in and figures placed. Combat would then take place. In 3.5, you could make counters for the figures, mainly the PCs, to stand on representing the typical 5' threat area for a Medium-sized Humaniod. If using a reach weapon, you can estimate double that distance keeping a ruler handy for final say. You can also use those bases to judge enemy position. Simply, if the typical enemy is within reach of the PC, the PC can reach it. As stated, you can estimate a 10' threat. Movement can be done by using a ruler marked for the movement rates, standard move only, for the different characters. If they move more, simply move them to the end of the ruler once, then start over again. You can also use knotted string, but that is really hard to keep straight and leads to more arguments than using a ruler, at least it did in my games. Now, the templates worked best for me when they were hollow, cut into a piece of poster board (poster board because it is rigid). That way, you could look through the hole to see who was in the area of effect or not. It could even be laid on the table if no one was near the edges. Most of this works on a table top. Very large rooms or outdoor encounters might require using the floor. For outdoor encounters, we didn't bother placing every single tree or usually any at all. We just went by the rules for terrain and applied the penalties, etc., assuming the enemy, and PCs would be using cover when available, unless charging or the like. We would use coins to mark things like sink holes, swampy ground, streams etc., however. Hope this helps. Any other questions?