D&D General Here's What A 5' Square Actually Looks Like

Over on imgur, a user called DoofusDad created a real-life five-foot square to illustrate what it actually looks like.

 

[erachima]

Those sandals do not appear to be DSHA-compliant footwear.

 

[Charlaquin]

Looks about right for the space a human-sized creature can control in close combat.

Really wish D&D would make the switch to metric. Especially cause you could make squares meters and then it would be 1-1. Maps would be a bit smaller, but I think that’s a worthwhile change.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Looks about right for the space a human-sized creature can control in close combat.

Really wish D&D would make the switch to metric. Especially cause you could make squares meters and then it would be 1-1. Maps would be a bit smaller, but I think that’s a worthwhile change.

I don't like that idea. Feet are easier to grasp.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't like that idea. Feet are easier to grasp.

Not for most of the world.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Not for most of the world.

I am canadian. Feet are still easier to grasp than meters for me.

 

[Charlaquin]

I am canadian. Feet are still easier to grasp than meters for me.

Funny, I’m American and I find meters easier. Decimalized systems are always superior.

Also, again with the ratio of squares to standard units of distance being 1:1.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Saved the image. This will be useful some day, no doubt about it.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Funny, I’m American and I find meters easier. Decimalized systems are always superior.

Also, again with the ratio of squares to standard units of distance being 1:1.

The system as a whole is superior I agree. But for distances on a map like this I find feet easier.

 

[Morrus]

Definitely gives a sense, if you added a sword, of how much space someone swinging round a long pointy stick takes up.

 

[Zardnaar]

We use metric but prefer 5' over 1 metre.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'm a cubit man myself.

Then again I've been told INT must be my dump stat.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Really wish D&D would make the switch to metric. Especially cause you could make squares meters and then it would be 1-1. Maps would be a bit smaller, but I think that’s a worthwhile change.

The issue I always run into is with regards to reach weapons. I really don't want a regular longsword to be a reach weapon, because that affects every combat ever, but I also don't want to say that it's impossible for a 4-foot long blade to hit someone across three feet of intervening distance.

 

[theapoapostolov]

The first thing my players asked, upon seeing this image, is why D&D doesn't clarify multiple characters standing in the same 5' x 5' space, such as back to back fighting, especially for denying flanking. Clearly, because of usage of miniatures, but that's not an answer to be given to realism-focused group.

Coordinated fighting in the same space requires a proper feat investment with worthwhile benefit, but a good house rule for back to back fighting for denying flanking could use some thinking.

 

[erachima]

You can just fudge it so the squares are 2x2 meters, at which point the only conversion problem ends up being when there's a jump check across a very precise distance.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Those sandals do not appear to be DSHA-compliant footwear.

DoofusDad's name checks out.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Cool. It's absolutely huge (in some ways, not in others) for two combatants to fight in TWO of 'em, but it's a neat visual. I mean, it goes to show why it's really hard to run fights on ships in D&D with the ships being remotely properly sized for it, but there you go.

(I mean, in a boarding action on a sailing ship, there'd be something like 20 people in there! Okay, I exaggerate, but not by much!)

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Now take a picture of an actual theater-of-the-mind.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Now take a picture of an actual theater-of-the-mind.

Spoiler

 

[Abstruse]

Definitely gives a sense, if you added a sword, of how much space someone swinging round a long pointy stick takes up.

I can't remember who did them, but I think I got these from Owen K.C. Stephens's social media. It's the same image flipped so you can see the space with two combatants, then photoshopped with sword and shield (though the swords look a bit large, like 2-handed swords being used one-handed).