Hexes are cool!

[Particle_Man]

We tried using a hex-grid rather than square-grid and I personally think that they worked out a lot better. No more diagonal worries!

 

[Vorput]

Oddly... we used a hex grid rather than a square grid in our game last night for the first time. I couldn't stand it!

Figuring out spell shapes was a significant headache (that may get easier- but it just become too hard to visualize), drawing straight lines on the battlemap and measuring out distances was significantly more difficult (twice the DM messed up distances- since you no longer just count by line you intersect), and we never did find the rule of how fitting into one of the half spaces left in a 10 foot corridor on either side worked...

We all just gave up when our Beguiler cast a silent image which took up 5 10 foot CUBES.

Just odd that we had the exact opposite experience from you

Vorp

 

[theredrobedwizard]

Good for you? Personally, I don't like hexes; they never seemed to work out for my groups.

-TRRW

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Generally, I like hexes outdoors and squares indoors, but we haven't even used miniatures extensively since 2nd E and the game is increasingly built upon the presupposition that every group is using miniatures on a square grid map.

 

[Piratecat]

Hexes are evil. EVIL!

They scare me.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

Hexes are evil. EVIL!

They scare me.

Not as evil as pentagons in non-euclidian space. Try calculating range in an aerial combat in that!

 

[Mycanid]

Hexes are evil. EVIL!

They scare me.

Hmm ... what was that prestige class that was devoted to killing spellcasters?

I like using hexes for maps ... not so much for minature combat....

 

[Mycanid]

Not as evil as pentagons in non-euclidian space. Try calculating range in an aerial combat in that!

Oyy ...

 

[Christian]

Oddly... we used a hex grid rather than a square grid in our game last night for the first time. I couldn't stand it!

Figuring out spell shapes was a significant headache (that may get easier- but it just become too hard to visualize), drawing straight lines on the battlemap and measuring out distances was significantly more difficult (twice the DM messed up distances- since you no longer just count by line you intersect), and we never did find the rule of how fitting into one of the half spaces left in a 10 foot corridor on either side worked...

We all just gave up when our Beguiler cast a silent image which took up 5 10 foot CUBES.

Just odd that we had the exact opposite experience from you

Vorp

I've always had a slight preference for hexes over square grids in general, but I'd never actually seen them in play until I joined my current group. It's really grown on me ... It does take some getting used to, and there are a lot of conventions defined by squares that need to be re-worked for the hex grid. I think the key is to identify & resolve them before the game starts, so you're not having to wrangle over them during the session. When my druid cast Spike Stones, I knew exactly how I had to draw out the area of effect on our grid.

I'm not entirely happy with our rules for flanking Large & larger creatures--I think it's made a bit too easy--but it's simpler than my proposed solution, which is probably a good thing in gameplay.

A quick hint for measuring distances: a hex-to-hex zigzag path between two hexes that aren't along a line of hexes, has the same length as the sum of either of the two pairs of straight-hex lines intersecting at 120 degrees that connect them. The proof is left as an exercise for the student.

 

[Treebore]

I just use the laminated templates from my Fiery Dragon Battle Box and the ones I still have from Dungeon/Dragons.

Slap them onto the hex grids and you can get it to line up pretty good. Plus the DM always gives "benefit of the doubt", so we are not worried about great precision.

I have actually always preferred them for space type games. Probably because of my love for Traveller.