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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 5880429" data-attributes="member: 6688937">Let's say "incomplete". <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> I feel like you need to add the words "mechanically defined" throughout your theory:Trust me you can have tons of variety without a grid, but its not mechanically defined variety. The game I'm currently playing in doesn't really use mechanically grid-defined powers, and we have plenty of cinematic stuff. Just a few days ago my barbarian ran across a banquet table to jump into combat amidst the evil clerics at the other side. Without the grid, you have an infinite number of ways to chop up the bad guys.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" />I feel the opposite way about the way 5e is headed. I think it needs to "de-grid" to get back to more basic feel. Especially since combat takes so darn long in 3+e. I mean, I like combat to be a big part of D&D, just not the same combat for the entire session. Also, you can do plenty of that stuff in your middle paragraph without a grid. My 2e group did it for years with no grid, just using open maps and measurement in inches. I've recently played a few games that use a "zone" method. That gives you a lot of the mechanical advantages/options of a grid without the speed cost.Using Zones "How many targets in that zone can I hit with my Lightning Bolt?" can be answered with a d4 (probably defined either in the Lightning Bolt spell description or as a general note about Bolt spells. That's a lot quicker (believe it or not) than waiting for the Wizard's player to take a 5'step and carefully plot his spell squares to maximize the number of critters affected. (Honestly, most DMs I know, including myself, don't have their combat narrative so closely defined that hitting 2 or 5 goblins will matter. Its the pondering of geometry that seems to take so long.)P.S. Y'know, as much as people seem to fear letting the DM decide things... I'm starting to think the DMG needs a big section on "How not to be a twit."</blockquote>

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