The 5 foot grid

[kingius]

In order to increase the tactical options in battles I am considering changing the scale from a foot square square grid tile to a 2 and a half foot square grid tile.

The basic idea is to open up more space in battles so that movement and position become more important. A standard doorway would occupy 2 grid tiles and be harder to hold and therefore less of a choke point. Areas would be harder to control with attacks of opportunity (a standard five foot reach would shrink to a 2 and a half foot reach; remaining a one tile extension, however a ten foot reach would now cover 4 grid tiles). Area effect spells would become more effective as there could potentially be twice as many creatures within the area. A standard 10 foot wide corridor could suddenly hold 4 characters, side by side, overriding the usual 5 foot space per character rule.

 

[MarkB]

Sounds like an effective way to make standard melee characters suck more.

 

[Ragmon]

Combat would be unrealistic, basically no swinging room, no room for maneuvering.
Try it out first, draw a 2,5x2,5 square on the ground, take a broom and try to kill the air with some fancy broom techniques, then you check how many time you stepped outside of the square.

I don't find the idea to be a very good one.

 

[the Jester]

Sounds terrible to me, frankly- if anything, just use 10' wide doors and bigger encounter areas.

 

[edhel]

Why not just go gridless and measure the distances like in war games?

 

[dafrca]

Why not just go gridless and measure the distances like in war games?

If you want to not use the 5' grid than I agree with edhel, go gridless.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

One of the primary reasons medium creatures occupy a 5x5 space is because that's roughly how much area it takes for a creature that size to be comfortable and effective in battle. If you're expecting a medium creature to be able to work in a space 1/4 that size then your expectations need to be retuned. Even small characters need a feat to fit two of them in a 5x5 space, and there's no way to fit four in a 5x5 without them squeezing and thus being hampered in combat unless some of them are helpless and thus not capable of doing much of anything.

In short, making the squares 2.5 on a side will actually castrate the characters' effectiveness and ability to perform in combat. Don't do it.

 

[frankthedm]

I'd say try out 3 squares = 10 feet. D&D is supposed to use squares of roughly a metre, but this was lost WAY back in the transition from 1E to 2E.

Quoting the original AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, regarding the use of miniatures in the game:

"Figure bases are necessarily broad in order to assure that the figure will stand... Because of this, it is usually necessary to use a ground scale twice that of the actual scale... squares of about one actual inch per side are suggested. Each ground scale inch can then be used to equal 3 1/2 linear feet, so a 10' wide scale corridor is three actual inches in width and shown as 3 separate squares. This allows depiction of the typical array of three figures abreast, and also enables easy handling of such figures when they are moved."​

In short, the corridors were drawn ten feet wide, but with the assumption that ten feet was enough for three people fighting side by side (three squares), not two.

And a little extra breathing room is definitely needed, especial when an artiste decides to start using the oversized 30mm round display bases for his miniatures

But in all honesty, since you are the DM, just make the rooms and corridor's bigger. Make the corridor 3 squares wide and important doors 2 wide double doors more often, don't bother to expand area effects.

 

[N'raac]

frankthe dm alludes to it - make the grid 2.5x2.5 (or 3 squares per 10') and area effects and ranges efectively grow, as you still only have so much table space.

 

[kingius]

I'd say try out 3 squares = 10 feet. D&D is supposed to use squares of roughly a metre, but this was lost WAY back in the transition from 1E to 2E.
And a little extra breathing room is definitely needed, especial when an artiste decides to start using the oversized 30mm round display bases for his miniatures

But in all honesty, since you are the DM, just make the rooms and corridor's bigger. Make the corridor 3 squares wide and important doors 2 wide double doors more often, don't bother to expand area effects.

The problem is that 15' or 20' wide corridors are not that realistic. A 20' wide corridor has to be at least 50' long to not feel like a room.

A gridless system (wargame style) could work. I've considered switching to this for outdoor combats so that features like hills do not have to conform to it... but not yet tried it. The grid feels like a good fit for indoor fights, though, where things are much more uniform. From the sounds of it though, no one here thinks a 2.5' grid size is a good idea (something to do with realism ... in a fantasy game... we are an odd bunch us gamers aren't we?).