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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scurvy_Platypus" data-source="post: 5250264" data-attributes="member: 43283">I guess I have to ask, what's the point?One reason for going mini-less is because of a desire not to deal with all the fiddly bits of miniatures. This approach certainly doesn't seem like it's going to be _less_ fiddly, there's just a bunch of additional stuff to keep track of.I mean, it looks like you still have to track who's in combat with whom, you've got another list to maintain for everyone as to how many TP=Whatever movement, and you need to keep track of how many TP each character/monster has as well. And still try to track conditions, marks, etc.I run 4E mini-less right now and so far I haven't had a problem. I use an abstract positioning system (taken from a game called Agon by John Harper). You can see the Range Strip (which is the core of the system) here:<a href="http://www.agon-rpg.com/range_strip.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.agon-rpg.com/range_strip.pdf</a>So, ranges are all relative. Someone shows up in a strip and the strip right next to them is Close. If they're in the same strip, they're in Melee. I've got a small magnetic dry erase board with lines drawn on it. Each character's name is written on a small magnet, and then I've got extras to cover foes. I can organise the Initiative order on it and at the same time have the representation needed for who's in what range. Very simple to set up, easy to explain.Range bands are Melee, Close, Medium, Long, Extreme. I used the ranges of weapons from the PHB, so Extreme is basically max distance of a Long Bow.Combat Advantage is determined by 2 things: Narrative and number of foes. If the narrative suggests that a foe (or character) wouldn't be aware of something or would be disadvantaged in some fashion, CA is granted. If there's 2+ on a target, CA is granted.Push/Pull/Slide powers... there's not really a hard and fast rule here. A lot of the time, it's shoving someone around within the same Range Band. As a general rule, if someone is getting shoved around and it's granting Op Attacks, if someone is in the Range Band where an Opp Attack could occur, then they can take the Opp Attack; that's of course assuming that they can make one in the first place.Funky terrain (like lightning that hangs out in a square or whatever) is handled mainly by narrative. If there's some sort of struggle to get someone/maneuver them into funky terrain, a simple check/opposed check is my standard approach.I think that covers it.Obviously there's an element of "trust", but to be honest... there's _always_ an element of trust. You trust that the GM isn't going to screw you over on all sorts of things that they can. So "trust" in the case of mini-less combat is just one more element that people need to acknowledge but not really obsess over. I personally tend to operate on the Rule of Cool sort of thing and if there's a question whether something should favor the foes or the characters, characters win hands-down.Soooooo.... I'm not saying your system sucks, I'm just not quite sure what problem you're trying to address with it.Of course, there's also this approach to combat:<a href="http://at-will.omnivangelist.net/2009/12/fluid-4e-gridless-combat/" target="_blank">Fluid 4e: Gridless Combat.</a>There's some solid ideas there, especially the Move Save. My ranges are a bit different than what's there, but so far it hasn't been a problem; if need be I can tweak 'em more to match this version later.</blockquote>

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