Does height give you any advantages?

[DracoSuave]

Does height give you any advantages?

Seems like a relevant answer to the question posed. In fact, that is the first thing I thought of, but since Mengu beat me to it, no need to be redundant.

No, it is NOT relevant to the questions posed, had one bothered to read them:

Are there any (official) rules about characters that are physically above another character having any advantage? If I have a pit next to a cliff that's 20 feet below do the characters on the top gain any advantage when making ranged attacks? Conversely do the characters in the pit have any disadvantages trying to shoot out of the pit?

Mind you, had he titled the thread 'Does elevation give you any advantages?' I'm almost certain some people would pipe in that difference in distance from sea-level doesn't offer any in-game disadvantages as per the books, but you could use it as a feature of an encounter where shortness of breath affects the characters that reside in a coastal city, leaving the local monsters alone.

All that shows is a failure to read the OP, which when answering rules questions, is bad form.

 

[Klaus]

Are there any (official) rules about characters that are physically above another character having any advantage? If I have a pit next to a cliff that's 20 feet below do the characters on the top gain any advantage when making ranged attacks? Conversely do the characters in the pit have any disadvantages trying to shoot out of the pit?

I would think there is some sort of cover granted by the lip of the pit? Even if you're standing right on the edge, the people at the bottom of the pit can't see your entire body to aim?

A character crouching next to the pit's edge and firing in wouldn't be hampered by the pit, but would get cover from those inside the pit.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Even if he's standing at the very edge its still cover. People down below can't trace a line to the rear of his square. There are however a few interpretations of that depending on how you figure corners of a cube and extrapolate from squares to be fair.

The people on top can also go prone for another defensive bonus. Technically so can those below, but I don't think I'd allow that bonus myself in that particular situation.

Overall if played smart you can get a pretty decent defensive boost. Melee combat on the other hand really offers nothing.

 

[Mengu]

Which has nothing to do with this thread tho... which has to do with the advantage of being on that ledge.

Sorry, my mistake. I was thinking the OP was trying to shoot from inside a pit (like a trench) and gain some advantage for being tall or short. I failed to interpret height as elevation, chalked the bits that didn't make sense to me to poor English, and gave a quick response to answer my best interpretation of the thread title.

 

[On Puget Sound]

In melee I often allow +1 to attack for higher ground. This encourages people to jump onto tables and things. It's not in the rules though.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

and generally no good idea... depending on weapons and armor you wield...

 

[Jhaelen]

In melee I often allow +1 to attack for higher ground. This encourages people to jump onto tables and things. It's not in the rules though.

It may not be in the rules but it's part of the terrain description in every official module. So, I'd say it's pretty reasonable

 

[Felon]

Which has nothing to do with this thread tho... which has to do with the advantage of being on that ledge.

Height does mean elevation.

That's like saying 'Does a set of armor give you any bonuses' and replying 'No, cause you can't wear three armors at a time' just because set can mean 'three of a kind.'

It's not a malapropism to use height like that.

No, it is NOT relevant to the questions posed, had one bothered to read them:



Mind you, had he titled the thread 'Does elevation give you any advantages?' I'm almost certain some people would pipe in that difference in distance from sea-level doesn't offer any in-game disadvantages as per the books, but you could use it as a feature of an encounter where shortness of breath affects the characters that reside in a coastal city, leaving the local monsters alone.

All that shows is a failure to read the OP, which when answering rules questions, is bad form.

Someone appears to be in an unremittingly quarrelsome mood...and fer once it ain't me.

 

[Jarrod]

Mild thread necromancy...

For some reason we have been playing 4e as superior height/elevation grants combat advantage. Since day one. Now, it's entirely possible we made this up while smoking poor-performing d20s... but I'd like to think not. Did the playtest version have that rule? Does anyone know where it came from?

 

[Herschel]

Little old ladies at the grocery store really like us tall guys so we can reach the stuff on the top shelf for them.