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<blockquote data-quote="Orius" data-source="post: 1531464" data-attributes="member: 8863">Oh, I totally agree.&nbsp; You've got a sort of conditional positioning going on without the maps - the player has his character in the most optimal position when his turn in the initiative comes up, and then suddenly pulls him back when the DM gets his initiative.&nbsp; And of course, if the DM is in the mood to smack a PC around (and I've been there), he just sort of makes a rule call,&nbsp; throws logic out the window, and smacks the PC around.&nbsp; I prefer using a mat and minis, and I prefered it even in 2e, because it seems to generate more tactical thinking.Primarily AoO.&nbsp; They're a pain in the ass to judge without a mat, because there really isn't a crystal clear sense of where everyone is at the moment.&nbsp; Sure, no battle mat might keep things in the players' imagination more, but if you've got a standard sized playing group, you've got 5 different imaginations each seeing the combat from their own independant PoVs.&nbsp; If anything, no&nbsp; mats led to so many arguments and confusion over where everyone was, I simply ended up ignoring AoO rules when a map wasn't in use (primarily Internet based games).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Orius, post: 1531464, member: 8863"] Oh, I totally agree. You've got a sort of conditional positioning going on without the maps - the player has his character in the most optimal position when his turn in the initiative comes up, and then suddenly pulls him back when the DM gets his initiative. And of course, if the DM is in the mood to smack a PC around (and I've been there), he just sort of makes a rule call, throws logic out the window, and smacks the PC around. I prefer using a mat and minis, and I prefered it even in 2e, because it seems to generate more tactical thinking. Primarily AoO. They're a pain in the ass to judge without a mat, because there really isn't a crystal clear sense of where everyone is at the moment. Sure, no battle mat might keep things in the players' imagination more, but if you've got a standard sized playing group, you've got 5 different imaginations each seeing the combat from their own independant PoVs. If anything, no mats led to so many arguments and confusion over where everyone was, I simply ended up ignoring AoO rules when a map wasn't in use (primarily Internet based games). [/QUOTE]

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