Pythagorus in the machine

[Kzach]

I'm curious to know what methods people use to determine distance for miniatures combat when flying creatures are involved.

I can't seem to find anything in the PHB or DMG about it.

 

[Dalzig]

I can't believe that I can't find it... but the RAW for flying ranges is that you take the largest number between horizontal distance and vertical distance. So if the creature is 5 over and 4 up, then it is 5 squares away when counting range for attacks.

Edit: Ha! DMG 45, Movement in Three Dimensions, p5-6.

 

[LittleFuzzy]

The recommendation in the DMG under the flying combat rules is to choose a plane of reference *the ground if only some things are flying, any arbitrary plane otherwise* and then stick an appriopriate die next to the creatures whose number indicates how many squares above or below the plane they are.

Or are you asking how to count the distance? In which case the DMG's all too brief aerial combat section says a square is a square. You just have more directions which can be diagnols

 

[Kzach]

Oh cool... geez, so obvious now that it's been pointed out. I swear I looked everywhere, lol. Thanks.

 

[nittanytbone]

Pythogoras is dead, along with his friend, Descartes.

It may not make much sense logically, but for a game, it works great. No more pulling out the calculator in the middle of a fight!

 

[Danceofmasks]

Cartesian duality works fine in 4e.
Not so sure about Archimedes' leverage, though. Or fluid displacement.
Hmm ...

 

[ricardo440]

What about Einstein's relativity?

If you have a chain of people 12 spaces apart on a long road, then the first moves twice and uses a minor action to pass a batton to the next person. they then move twice passing the same batton to a third ...

The batton moves n times the speed of the individual without ever moving at greater than the speed of the individuals!

How many people does it take to break the speed of light for the batton? About 9 million in a line.

 

[arscott]

I believe I've actually done that in 3e--1st-level characters fighting animated Iron statues (hardness 10), with one adamantine short-sword between us.

 

[Christian]

I can't believe that I can't find it... but the RAW for flying ranges is that you take the largest number between horizontal distance and vertical distance. So if the creature is 5 over and 4 up, then it is 5 squares away when counting range for attacks.

Edit: Ha! DMG 45, Movement in Three Dimensions, p5-6.

... which is just the 4E diagonal measurement rule in a simpler guise. A pretty useful thing to have in your head, actually--don't worry about counting squares along a path, the distance to a target is the larger of the square counts along the file and along the rank. And any path between you and the target which gets closer to it at each step is a path of that length, and therefore (by fundamental principles of geometry), a straight line--which is why you don't have to worry about finding straight paths to the target for 4E charges.

It all makes sense now. Sort of.