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<blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 4014570" data-attributes="member: 1457">I like this in concept, but I don't think it'd work in practice. For example, if a combat is between two people the vague distance category--or range--will always be the same for both combatants. They're either pretty close to each, or wicked far apart, or whatever. If one person changes the range, the range is newly established for both combatants. So no problem. But what about a combat between two groups? Now you need to know how far each person is from each other combatant--friend *and* foe. Bob Fighter could be hand to hand with Goblin With Sword, pretty close to Headless Zombie, and pretty close to Adam the Cleric... but Adam the Cleric could be wicked far from headless zombie, or he could be pretty close or even hand to hand with it. Relative range to every combatant would have to be tracked for each combatant. Big problem.The best way to track all these interrelations is a battlemat. You say you're concerned with the theatrical feel. So instead of tossing the map, I suggest you instead throw out the hard limits to movement rules. Be a little loose with the hard limit on movement rate and 5' steps. Maybe use action points to enable any kind of movement that meets the general approval of all the players at the game (including DM). I do this in my Savage Tide campaign. Players can spend an action point to do any kind of &quot;stunt&quot;. For example: dive from a cliff, leap a roaring bonfire, leap onto a sail and use a knife to slow one's descent, swing on a rope, whatever. From a mechanical point of view it's like an auto &quot;take 30&quot; on a tumble, clumb, swim, ride, balance or jump (or all of the above) check--but we don't actually do the math. Action points are essentially a &quot;spend this to do something cool&quot; card.But we still use the battlemat to keep track of who is where.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zaruthustran, post: 4014570, member: 1457"] I like this in concept, but I don't think it'd work in practice. For example, if a combat is between two people the vague distance category--or range--will always be the same for both combatants. They're either pretty close to each, or wicked far apart, or whatever. If one person changes the range, the range is newly established for both combatants. So no problem. But what about a combat between two [u]groups[/u]? Now you need to know how far each person is from each other combatant--friend *and* foe. Bob Fighter could be hand to hand with Goblin With Sword, pretty close to Headless Zombie, and pretty close to Adam the Cleric... but Adam the Cleric could be wicked far from headless zombie, or he could be pretty close or even hand to hand with it. Relative range to every combatant would have to be tracked for each combatant. Big problem. The best way to track all these interrelations is a battlemat. You say you're concerned with the theatrical feel. So instead of tossing the map, I suggest you instead throw out the hard limits to movement rules. Be a little loose with the hard limit on movement rate and 5' steps. Maybe use action points to enable any kind of movement that meets the general approval of all the players at the game (including DM). I do this in my Savage Tide campaign. Players can spend an action point to do any kind of "stunt". For example: dive from a cliff, leap a roaring bonfire, leap onto a sail and use a knife to slow one's descent, swing on a rope, whatever. From a mechanical point of view it's like an auto "take 30" on a tumble, clumb, swim, ride, balance or jump (or all of the above) check--but we don't actually do the math. Action points are essentially a "spend this to do something cool" card. But we still use the battlemat to keep track of who is where. [/QUOTE]

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