Hexes and offset squares

[Will]

I know I read a thread on ENWorld at SOME point regarding the issues faced with using hexes in D&D, but I can't find them and now that I'm contemplating using hexes or offset squares in 4e...
(I'd prefer offset squares, but I've only been able to find hexes as vinyl battlemats)

So:
Are hex ideas directly mappable to offset squares?
Advice on mapping with hexes and offset?
How easy is it to see a square map from a module and jot it down as a hex map?
Good rules for 'wall cuts through a hex'?
Reach?
Large/Huge monsters?
Are bursts from vertices or centers?
Any other rule weirdnesses?

Thanks!

 

[hong]

Hexes are topologically identical to offset squares. All the advantages and disadvantages of one apply to the other.

 

[Delta]

But, hexes are not geometrically equivalent to offset squares. I wouldn't want to use them, but in same cases they could be easier to use -- such as when drawing rectangular rooms on top (OP's question #3).

For hexes, Unearthed Arcana had a section on creature size, facing, spell areas, available here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/hexGrid.htm

 

[med stud]

I know I read a thread on ENWorld at SOME point regarding the issues faced with using hexes in D&D, but I can't find them and now that I'm contemplating using hexes or offset squares in 4e...
(I'd prefer offset squares, but I've only been able to find hexes as vinyl battlemats)

So:
Are hex ideas directly mappable to offset squares?
Advice on mapping with hexes and offset?
How easy is it to see a square map from a module and jot it down as a hex map?
Good rules for 'wall cuts through a hex'?
Reach?
Large/Huge monsters?
Are bursts from vertices or centers?
Any other rule weirdnesses?

Thanks!

I have used hexes for some adventures. I'm not an expert in any way. When it comes to square rooms and cut of hexes I made the "cut" hexes inaccesible. It didn't affect anything in practice. Theoretically it can lead to some strangeness but nothing came up in three sessions.

Flanking becomes easier, but that's hardly a weirdness or a problem. I made large monsters take up three hexes and huge monsters 7 hexes.

I usually convert radiuses to diameters and by doing that it's easy to judge on a hex map.

---

Not much advice, I hope it helps anyway.

 

[hong]

But, hexes are not geometrically equivalent to offset squares. I wouldn't want to use them, but in same cases they could be easier to use -- such as when drawing rectangular rooms on top (OP's question #3).

Eh, so the borders line up a bit differently. The grid itself is exactly the same.

I never actually understood why people were so happy that 3E started using squares as opposed to hexes. Sure, you can draw square and rectangular rooms nicely. As soon as you go into an irregularly shaped cave, which by my estimation makes up 43.952345% (plus or minus a bit) of all the maps out there, that becomes irrelevant. Even for constructed dungeons, you regularly see passages at an angle, wonkily shaped chambers and the like.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Eh, so the borders line up a bit differently. The grid itself is exactly the same.

I never actually understood why people were so happy that 3E started using squares as opposed to hexes.

Graph paper is easier to get by then Hex paper?

 

[KarinsDad]

Eh, so the borders line up a bit differently. The grid itself is exactly the same.

I never actually understood why people were so happy that 3E started using squares as opposed to hexes. Sure, you can draw square and rectangular rooms nicely. As soon as you go into an irregularly shaped cave, which by my estimation makes up 43.952345% (plus or minus a bit) of all the maps out there, that becomes irrelevant. Even for constructed dungeons, you regularly see passages at an angle, wonkily shaped chambers and the like.

Wow! Hong and I agree on something.

And actually, the mindset that all rooms/corridors must be North/South/East/West facing rectangles with least common denominator dimensions of 5 feet is also a bit strange. Why not have rectangular rooms that meet at weird angles and are 13 feet by 22 feet in dimensions?

We have an entire gaming community brainwashed into "staying between the lines". Yikes.


Also, we should go to 1 meter hexes. That way, a 20 ft by 20 ft room (~6x6 hexes) would look much bigger with more room to move around in (6x6 instead of 4x4).

 

[Flipguarder]

during play: oh look, yet another building that has a rectangular shape and its dimensions are divisible by 5.

 

[Will]

Would it seem workable to say 'if a line cuts through less than half of a hex, you can stand there normally'?

 

[Incendax]

Hex really seems like the way to go in 4th Edition.

Bursts are easier to manage, diagonal movement is non-existent, more realistic and organic dungeons and other locations, while flanking and other tactics are easier to execute. Heck, the only notable disadvantage is that monsters with abilities like Mob Attack cannot surround a hero with as many numbers, but offsetting that is the ability to more EASILY get them into the mobbing positions.