D&D 5E 2.5 ft grid spaces - crazy idea?

[Shiroiken]

Preface: this is an idea for playing on Roll20, where the mapping and miniatures are easily adjusted in size.

So, I was thinking the other day about a dungeon adventure, and I needed to put a door on a map in such a way that it didn't line up with the grid. I was considering the ramifications of this, should combat occur, when I thought: why not set the grid to 2.5 ft instead of 5 ft? I began thinking more and more about it, and while it seems a bit crazy, I'm interested in the idea.

Pros: It would allow more refined movement, especially for slower characters (25 ft speed) when dealing with difficult terrain or standing up from prone. Tiny creatures would have their own space, rather than 4 to a square.

Cons: Needing to Zoom out to see the map better (not a huge disadvantage, since most of us do this normally). Needing to count additional spaces for movement (slowing the game down?). Do creatures need to be adjacent, or within 2.5 ft to melee attack?

Is there anything else I didn't consider? Is this something that is a worthwhile idea, or not really worth the effort?

 

[Yaarel]

Awesome: 1 meter squares ( ≈ 3.3 feet ≈ 1 yard )

Crazy: 2.5 feet squares



10 meters ≈ 30 speed
10 meters ≈ close quarters combat
10 meters ≈ thrown weapon

 

[Morrus]

I initially read that as "25 ft" -- at which point, of course, it would basically be zones. But it says 2.5 ft, which is an entirely different matter!

 

[Yaarel]

Also

10 feet ≈ 3 meters

 

[Hillsy7]

Awesome: 1 meter squares ( ≈ 3.3 feet ≈ 1 yard )

Crazy: 2.5 feet squares



10 meters ≈ 30 speed
10 meters ≈ close quarters combat
10 meters ≈ thrown weapon

On what planet does simply halving the existing units of measurements (5ft), which has almost 0 impact on any currently existing rules, but does allow more precision when applied to certain others = Crazy. And completely rewriting the existing system of measurement that impacts nearly ever aspect of the game = Awesome?

"I was thinking of putting half mile markers in on the roads, give people a bit more accuracy."
"That's Crazy! Do something Awesome instead like removing all mile markers and put in Furlong markers instead!"

 

[Yaarel]

Half mile markers?

Measuring everything in 2640-foot units, would be crazy.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Is there anything else I didn't consider? Is this something that is a worthwhile idea, or not really worth the effort?

If you set the grid to 2.5', presumably then you'd have all PCs occupying 2x2 spaces, correct? If that is the case, I know personally I find moving minis that take up 2x2 spaces (like ogres, trolls and giants) in a typical 5' square grid to be a bit slower when counting moving out... because the mini is only moving half of its base size forward per square and you have to remember to do that.

It's not a dealbreaker by any stretch... but moving Small and Medium creatures that occupy a single 5' grid square and moving forward in standard 5' grid square increments is much easier and much faster. So to then cut their movement now down to essentially half-squares and having to move 12 of them for a standard 30' move does not make me feel like it is worth it. Especially not just to solve a door map issue. But that's just me.

 

[jgsugden]

I don't think I'd go there. In a situation where I felt that the 5' scale was not going to work for a combat due to the size of the opponents or the terrain where it takes place, I'd probably just not use the minis and would go to a theater of the mind approach.

 

[Eltab]

If you have some places where a Small character / opponent can squeeze through but a Medium character cannot possibly fit, this might be useful. (Kobolds?)

If you want to have a brawl in a normal house (which has 5'wide hallways) you can do this.

If you want to prevent Halflings from hiding behind their friends (because there is no physical way to fit both characters in the square at once) you can do this.

If your PCs go everywhere with a 10' pole in the lead, this gives them "extra reach" and also makes it hard to get the pole around corners.

If everybody has been zapped with a Shrink to 50% spell (Reduce/Enlarge?) then changing the scale would work just fine.

 

[Xeviat]

I've been thinking of doing meter squares, so this isn't too far off. You could make Halflings take up 1 square and possibly even add in ranges of reach for light, one-handed, two-handed, and reach weapons. I'd want to see more rules for zoning and positioning, to make the game more tactical. It would slow things down, though.


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