D&D 5E Altitude and range

[I'm A Banana]

This is a reason the play with a grid. Then you can easily count the distance by quickly drawing out a side view to scale on the margins of the battlemat and counting the squares.

See, I go the other way - this is a reason that a grid isn't going to be much more accurate than just saying "take the greater distance".

But I suppose we've all got different thresholds for that.

 

[Pickles III]

Here's what I do:

1) Put a die next to any flying creature to note how many squares upward the creature is from their position on the table.
2) Measure distance the same way you would for a non-flying creature that was the number of spaces indicated on the die to the right or left of their position on the table.

That's a great answer if you are using 1-2-1 diagonals or similar (rulers?). If you use 1-1-1 diagonals than it reduces to giving the answer that each dimension separately has to be in range.

I CBA with the 1-2-1 but I would not mix 1-2-1 flat measurements with 1-1-1 vertical ones so would use your method in a game that did.

 

[EdL]

For spells something needs to be done, like using one of the methods already mentioned. But for missile weapons shooting downwards you obviously get extra range. (Who's going to believe that a rock you throw off a cliff is just going to stop mid-air and hang there?)

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

...for missile weapons shooting downwards you obviously get extra range. (Who's going to believe that a rock you throw off a cliff is just going to stop mid-air and hang there?)

No one is going to believe that the rock just stops in mid-air, but that's far from the only explanation as to why you don't get an increase in your range because of altitude when using a missile weapon.

Being above your target doesn't make aiming any easier, so even though the projectile absolutely will continue to travel thanks to gravity, that doesn't actually "obviously" translate to not having disadvantage (extending your short range) or not simply missing entirely (extending your long range).

 

[Lehrbuch]

No one is going to believe that the rock just stops in mid-air, but that's far from the only explanation as to why you don't get an increase in your range because of altitude when using a missile weapon.

Also, if you're going to feck about extending missile weapon range when shooting downwards, you should probably be thinking about reducing missile weapon range when shooting upwards. And if you're going to do that you probably want to think about wind speed, humidity, thermal rises from some conflagration the wizard has caused nearby, and so forth.

I'm happy not thinking too hard about it, and applying advantage/disadvantage if a player raises a good point at the time.

 

[Blue]

Quickish way that's compatible with 1-2-1 diagonals for a 5' grid.

A. Figure the distance to base and the height in squares. (So if it's 25' away and 15' feet up, that's 5 and 3.)
B. Count the smaller as if it's a diagonal. So "3" would be "1 + 2 + 1", or 4.
C. Add the difference between them. (5 - 3 = 2, so the total would be the 4 from step B plus 2 from here for a total of 6.)

Basically what this is doing is pretending they are on the map, counting out the 1-2-1 diagonal until you are in it's row and then just count over to it.

 

[kclark]

If you just want a real simple and quick, but pretty dirty method.
Just take the longer distance and add 1/2 the shorter one.

So a 30 ft distance with 40 ft elevation would be 40+15=55 ft range.
Actual range is 50 ft.

A 80 ft range with 20 ft elevation would be 80+10=90 ft range.
Actual range is 82.

Close enough for when I don't feel like calculating the actual range, and I like doing
algebra in my head.