D&D 5E Hex Sizes

[1234A]

I really don't know if this is the right place to ask questions but I am going to anyways, I was reading the Dungeon Master's Guide 5e and it says that the hex size I should use is 5 hexes to the inch and I know that that measures out to 0.2 inches but I don't know if that is from one side to the opposing side or just the length of one side. Please, if anyone knows the answer to this tell me.

 

[Deset Gled]

I really don't know if this is the right place to ask questions but I am going to anyways, I was reading the Dungeon Master's Guide 5e and it says that the hex size I should use is 5 hexes to the inch and I know that that measures out to 0.2 inches but I don't know if that is from one side to the opposing side or just the length of one side. Please, if anyone knows the answer to this tell me.

I think the DMG says you should use a scale of 5 feet to one inch. That would be 1" for each side on a square, or 1" across parallel sides on a hex.

0.2" for any dimension on a hex is way to small.

 

[Irlo]

Measure your hexes from one side to the opposite side, not by the length of a side.

5 hexes per inch is certainly not too small for a campaign world or regional map. If you are using hexes instead of a grid on a battle map, then you will probably want 1" hexes.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I believe the question is in relation to DMG p14, which is talking about maps of the campaign world using hex paper of 5 hexes to the inch. It isn't talking about use of hexes for battle maps or battle grids. And in the case of world maps the number of hexes to the inch doesn't matter as long as the scale is the same. If you have a piece of paper with hexes measuring .2" and when used for a world map each hex represents... 5 miles, then it doesn't matter if you also have paper with hexes measuring .25" where each hex ALSO represents 5 miles. Just use whatever hex paper you have available. It's probably just as common, even more common today to not use paper for campaign maps at all but software.

 

[Orius]

Measuring distance between two hexes is properly done from the center of one hex to the center of another hex.

 

[Michael Linke]

If you're looking for technical terms, it's referring to the hex's "incircle diameter" or "short diagonal". That is the diameter of a circle that's fully contained within the hex.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Not the question you asked but....

For a battle map you are going to want to use 1" hexes that represent 5' "squares". Keep in mind that 5e battlemats are usually 1" squares, not 1"hexes.

For overland maps, you should choose hex size that fits the detail you want to include on the map. In my campaign world I have a zoomed in map (where a days liesurely travel by horse is 2 hexes or 3 following a road). The entire Duchy I mapped in detail has 3 cities spaced out about a week's ride from one end to another, so I have the paper loosely taking up about 28 hexes in width to cover the surroundings. I couldn't tell you the actual hex size this is.