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.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

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

I propose a compromise: yards.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Yoink & Yoink

 

[Tonguez]

Yeah I remember doing the experiment at one point - 5ft and 30ft are pretty good indicators (you get the measures on a fencing piste too)

 

[TheCosmicKid]

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.

Yeah. I'm using meters for the space opera campaign I'm currently planning. People may think it's because meters are more scientific, but it's actually this.

 

[Sacrosanct]

As an American myself, when I was overseas for 6 years, I really enjoyed metric better. I wish we would go to that.

 

[aco175]

No wonder the halflings can move through those spaces.

 

[Celebrim]

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

Until you are dividing into 1/3rds. The Imperial system was designed around fractional notation for a era when people didn't have calculators. Look up the Imperial system of liquid measures. It's seems really bizarre until you realize that barrels are designed to neatly divided into 1/8ths, 1/7ths, 1/6ths, 1/5ths, 1/4ths, 1/3rds or 1/2s as you like. Trying doing that with decimals.

 

[BlivetWidget]

I prefer metric for every day usage, but for a fantasy game I'm quite happy with feet, stones, drams, etc.

Metric on the streets, imperial in the... sheets?

 

[Mistwell]

Now I feel like doing this, but making a 40' by 40' space of 5' spaces. And maybe something to represent the diameter of a fireball spell. Maybe I will do that while setting up Halloween stuff this year...so there are monsters for the squares.

 

[Kramodlog]

Now to increase the size of the guy to huge...

 

[Charlaquin]

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!)

If you could just end your turn in an ally’s space I think it would work fine.

 

[Charlaquin]

As an American myself, when I was overseas for 6 years, I really enjoyed metric better. I wish we would go to that.

Unfortunately, because our country is so damn big, it would be a tremendous (and tremendously expensive) undertaking to make the switch nationwide.

 

[Charlaquin]

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.

I propose the following solution. Create a new weapon property, “Warding.” When a creature enters the reach of a weapon with the Warding property, it provokes an Attack of Opportunity (and change the wording on the Sentinel Feat to say that you treat all weapons as Warding). Now you can have for categories of weapon length: Reach and Warding, just Reach, just Warding, and neither. Pikes and Lances fall into the first category. Glaives and halberds fall into the second. Longswords, Greatswords, Greataxes, Quarterstaves, and Spears fall into the third.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I think a 1-yard or 1-meter (take your pick, I prefer imperial...) spacing would be better, making the reach 1 unit as well. If your reach overlaps, you can attack (see diagram).

EDIT: actually, if you wanted to use something like this, the rule for attacking would have to be something like your target has to be in a square adjacent to your reach (or within your reach).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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 use yards in my system, in part because I wanted it to be the space you literally stand in, not the space you control, but also in part because it’s close enough to meters for the difference to almost never matter, and everyone groks one or the other.

I propose the following solution. Create a new weapon property, “Warding.” When a creature enters the reach of a weapon with the Warding property, it provokes an Attack of Opportunity (and change the wording on the Sentinel Feat to say that you treat all weapons as Warding). Now you can have for categories of weapon length: Reach and Warding, just Reach, just Warding, and neither. Pikes and Lances fall into the first category. Glaives and halberds fall into the second. Longswords, Greatswords, Greataxes, Quarterstaves, and Spears fall into the third.

That’s and interesting idea. It’s simpler than I’d have expected for something of that nature, too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think a 1-yard or 1-meter (take your pick, I prefer imperial...) spacing would be better, making the reach 1 unit as well. If your reach overlaps, you can attack (see diagram).

View attachment 113970

The medieval esoterica and old world fencing nerd in me wants to make the reach a second circle around the center circle, and draw out lines of attack and tangential movement.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think a 1-yard or 1-meter (take your pick, I prefer imperial...) spacing would be better, making the reach 1 unit as well. If your reach overlaps, you can attack (see diagram).

View attachment 113970

Ooh, that’s a really cool solution! Totally stealing this for the hypothetical “if I made my own RPG” that I’ll never actually end up making!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ooh, that’s a really cool solution! Totally stealing this for the hypothetical “if I made my own RPG” that I’ll never actually end up making!

It’s what I use in mine, more or less. Every weapon has a reach in yards, so two swordfighters can keep each other at a great enough distance that another combatant could run stupidly between them, or one could rush the other to rattle them and push them around.

 

[andargor]

Very meme-able:

 

[Al'Kelhar]

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

Only if your feet ends in hands.