Figuring up the distance...

[kreynolds]

OK. Stupid question. How do you figure up the distance between yourself and a target that is so many feet away from you and so many feet up in the air? I remember seeing a chart in Dragon Mag that showed this, but I can't remember what issue it was in (Water, water, everywhere?).

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Yes, there was a chart in that article of Dragon. It's the one with the Gnome iconic illusionist on the cover (#291).

Or you could use the Pythagorean Theorem. C squared = A squared + B squared, where C is the hypotenuse of the right triangle (the distance you are looking for). A and B are the horizontal and vertical distances. Square A and B, add them together, and the answer is the square root of that number.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

An approximation that's considerably easier to figure in your head, and accurate to within about 10%, is:

MAX(distance, height) + 1/2 MIN(distance, height)

This is roughly the same approximation as counting every other diagonal on a square grid as 10 feet instead of 5. The MAX and MIN business just works out the necessary number of "diagonals" for you in a way that you don't necessarily have to visualize.

 

[KarinsDad]

An approximation that's considerably easier to figure in your head, and accurate to within about 10%, is:

MAX(distance, height) + 1/2 MIN(distance, height)

Thanks DR!

I've always rough guessed it, but it's cool to have a formula that is close.


KR, you could always make your own chart.

 

[kreynolds]

KR, you could always make your own chart.

I plan to. I do that with material that I use on a frequent basis, such as weapons, armor, weapon and armor enhancements, feats, prestige classes, spells, various magic items, commonly used rules (grapple, bull rush), etc, etc.

I just found out that a buddy of mine has the issue with the chart in it, so I'll probably just whip one up to match it, that way it's more portable.