Not using Grid / minis / pawns

[HawaiiSteveO]

The PHB indicates using grid as an option. Would you play in a game that didn't ? In my limited experience with playing in a few groups minis etc seem to be expected now. Pathfinder assumes it, although 5e does not.Way back when we never did, and had a great time.I'd love to go out and drop $$ on all this stuff, but I'm a gamer on a budget

 

[Nikosandros]

I certainly would. In fact, I do. I've never used a grid in 5e or in AD&D. I often use some minis (or other kind of tokens) to indicate general position and marching order.

 

[delericho]

I haven't used a grid in years, even when playing 3.5e. It works (and worked) just fine.

The only edition I would absolutely use a grid for is 4e.

 

[wedgeski]

I only use a grid in 5E for the larger combats, or where positioning is important (due to terrain effects, for example). This is about 1 in 5 combats, in my current games.

So, not only would I happily play in a game without mini's, I happily run one too.

 

[Aribar]

The game isn't designed to be gridless (don't believe there are any rules for it, everything has super precise measurements, there's rules related to positioning, etc.), just like third and fourth edition, but it can work. I wouldn't object to playing in a gridless game, but I wouldn't care about combat nearly as much since the "can I reach him in my move?", "how'd she get past our fighter to me?", "can I fireball the mob without hitting Jeff?" stuff would be annoying.

 

[Illithidbix]

Almost every game I've played across 2E, 3E, 3.5E, (some) 4E and 5E hasn't.

It was only really 4E that we commonly used it.
Sometimes we'd draw vague diagrams, sometimes we'd use a whiteboard with vague diagrams, sometimes we'd put minis on them, but in many cases we didn't not any visual representation at all.

 

[Curmudjinn]

I haven't used a grid since AD&D, and never in a game I've gamemastered. If a situation becomes so nit-picky that a grid would be needed to resolve it, I just grant whatever positive result would be available to the PCs. I don't like to get bogged down with needless minutiae.

I've always used an increment scale similar to how Fate does it. Close, Near, Far, Distant, etc. The PCs inform me which one they will be in and we go from there.

 

[GameOgre]

I do often play without a grid. It's fine. Heck I even played without one in Pathfinder.

Sometimes a grid can add more fun but a lot of the time it doesn't.

 

[ProphetSword]

As a DM, I wouldn't run a D&D game without a grid. In my youth, during the heyday of AD&D 1st Edition, we ran gridless and had numerous issues. Introducing the grid removed these issues. No more arguments about who did or didn't get hit by a fireball. No more questions about how the room is laid out and where the enemies are located.

If your players know what they're doing, grid-based combat in 5e can be just as fast as gridless.

 

[iserith]

I run games with Roll20, both online and in-person. I create maps and tokens as visual aids, but I make the grid invisible to take away any impetus for square counting. There's a ruler tool in case someone is not sure about distance. This is only needed sometimes as mostly you can just estimate. The map is there to help clarify fictional positioning so that we don't have to go over it during play.

I would play in a game that doesn't use visual aids like this, but much prefer that we do use them to cut down on the number of questions players often ask about who is where and what range it is to whom.