D&D 4E Movement & Time in 4e

[DandD]

All hail our mighty meter overlords.

 

[Hussar]

Wouldn't it be easier just to list movement in feet (or *shudder* meters), rather than squares? That way, everyone would be able to relate without doing mental math, and it'd be more granular if such was required.

Lanefan

Which is easier? Many people play on battlemats, so, for them, they want squares. For those who don't play on battlemats, you just multiply by (presumably) 5. No different than before when you had to divide by 5.

I suppose the best answer would be to list both.

 

[mach1.9pants]

All hail our mighty meter overlords.

It is spelt metre, it is French! Bring it on WTF is a stone, yard, chain, fathom etc etc....I am sure it is the 21st century...LOL
Not that metres seem right when you are wearing platemail and a codpeice!

 

[Li Shenron]

1. maybe they have abandoned the 5' square in favor of 10' or something on those lines
2. maybe the system's measurement of time is in some way different. Instead of 6 second rounds, maybe they are 1 second rounds, like gurps, or something... If that were the case, maybe you can only move OR attack-- not both-- unless you are charging. Since they are getting rid of full attack actions, having this as a choice would streamline things without being so horrendus...

Thoughts?

My gut feeling says that they haven't changed either. But if they do have, it is most likely the length of the round and not size of the grid... it make no sense to suddenly invalidate all maps and minis products.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Okay, I noticed something intriguing in the stat cards for the spine devil. Here you can see a side-by-side comparison of the 4e and 3.x stats: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/bmouse70/IMG_1532.jpg

Now, notice the 4e has a move of 5 and fly of 7. The 3.x version has a move of 20 and a fly of 100. Assuming we're talking about squares, the 3.x version should be 4 and 20 flying. So what's with the land speed being 25% faster, and the flight speed being only one-third?

I have a couple ideas:

1. maybe they have abandoned the 5' square in favor of 10' or something on those lines
2. maybe the system's measurement of time is in some way different. Instead of 6 second rounds, maybe they are 1 second rounds, like gurps, or something... If that were the case, maybe you can only move OR attack-- not both-- unless you are charging. Since they are getting rid of full attack actions, having this as a choice would streamline things without being so horrendus...

Thoughts?

I think the most likely reason is

3. Flight movement has a higher multiple when 'running'; thus in combat it has a slight benefit, but for travelling it is much faster. (In fact it would make sense to have 'run' multipliers for different movement rates - e.g. crawling x2, two legs x4, four+ legs x6, flying x10 as a for-instance).

So flight would probably give some small movement speed benefits in combat (perhaps less for low maneuverability creatures, more for high maneuverability creatures... thus factoring maneuverability directly into combat movement rather than messing around with 'maneuverability classes A-D')

Cheers

 

[TerraDave]

Becuase a "6th level encounter" with flight: speed 100' is broken...

 

[Mercule]

Wouldn't it be easier just to list movement in feet (or *shudder* meters), rather than squares? That way, everyone would be able to relate without doing mental math, and it'd be more granular if such was required.

As someone else said, most people use a battlemat, so squares are easier.

It used to bug me, then I realized that 1E used inches (apparently, you were assumed to bring your tape measure) and 1" = 10'. That is, of course, unless 1" = 1", which was the case for a few spells.

 

[Paraxis]

Plus it is easier to just put in one line that says 1 square = 5 feet or 2 meters depending on what you are comfortable with, and be done with it. Makes translating the book to different countries easier.

 

[Pygon]

Given that logic, spells will probably have a range and area of effect listed by squares as well.

Fireball

Range: Long (80+8/level)
Area of effect: 4 radius burst

 

[BASHMAN]

As someone else said, most people use a battlemat, so squares are easier.

It used to bug me, then I realized that 1E used inches (apparently, you were assumed to bring your tape measure) and 1" = 10'. That is, of course, unless 1" = 1", which was the case for a few spells.

And 1" equaled 10 feet. Everything in older editions was 10 foot, not 5 foot squares for dungeon maps. The bigger scale I think made tactical use of miniatures less important-- but I am sure they will keep it 5 foot squares now that I think about it-- too many products would be invalidated by such a change.