Another "a square is a square is a square" question

[tafkamhokie]

Several powers and abilities trigger if you are the closest ally to the target or if you target the closest opponent.

Take the warlock prime shot. +1 to ranged attacks if no allies are closer to the target than you are.

W=warlock
F=fighter
G=Goblin

XFW
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GXX

Both the fighter and warlock are 2 squares away, but it is pretty obvious the fighter is closer. Can the warlock benefit from prime shot here? Similarly, if the goblin has a power that can only target the closest opponent, is that the fighter or can he choose between the fighter and the warlock?

 

[Branduil]

Yes the Warlock can use the power.

 

[James McMurray]

Both the fighter and warlock are 2 squares away, but it is pretty obvious the fighter is closer.

In tactical D&D the two are the same distance away: 2 squares.

Can the warlock benefit from prime shot here?

Yep.

Similarly, if the goblin has a power that can only target the closest opponent, is that the fighter or can he choose between the fighter and the warlock?

If multiple targets are the same distance away you get to pick which one you consider closest.

 

[baberg]

Both the fighter and warlock are 2 squares away, but it is pretty obvious the fighter is closer.

Nope, the fighter is not closer. As you said, they are both 2 squares away. Thus they are the same distance away.

 

[Tony Vargas]

4e went for simplicity, so a square is, indeed a square. This means that running around an obsctacle often costs you no movement, and that as long as two charactes aren't farther apart than they are distant from an enemy, they'll be the same distance from that enemy - and, since the game counts all squares the same, all the time, it really doesn't matter.


If you switch from squares to hexes, you might find it a bit less jarring, though it changes the dynamics of combat, with only 6 characters able to surround and engage one same-size enemy, and all AEs effectively becoming smaller (able to affect fewer packed-together targets).


Aside from that, if you want to avoid (or take advantage of) the oddities, you have to remember some things. Always place a wall close to you, or close to the target you're trying to block - a wall equidistant between you is easier to mover around, because you get more diagonal moves before reaching and after moving around the wall. When you want to 'spread out,' don't just spread out in a line, have some character hang back, too. That sort of thing.

 

[ValhallaGH]

running around an obsctacle often costs you no movement,

Unless those obstacles completely fill the square they are in. In which case you can't 'cut the corner' but instead have to go completely around it. Which is well explained in the combat chapter.

 

[Kaffis]

Unless those obstacles completely fill the square they are in. In which case you can't 'cut the corner' but instead have to go completely around it. Which is well explained in the combat chapter.

I think he was referring to a small obstacle in an otherwise open area. Since you can move diagonally without losing "forward speed," you can veer around and back without losing any movement.

Just changes what you have to consider an obstacle. Use more corners and half-high walls, and less pillars.