Vertical reach

[Lokirime]

Hi all,

First post here. Apologies if this has been asked before.
Technical question for the gallery. Here are the specs:

Area: corridor 5' wide and 10' tall.
NPCs: a demon with _improved invisibility_ on the ground.
PCs: my halfling with _fly_.

My halfing knows the demon is in the corridor, so he decides to fly past it by hugging the ceiling and moving at full speed.
My DM ruled that as the demon is 6.5 feet tall, he could then reach up to the ceiling (as people 6.5 feet tall can do it in "Real Life") and in consequence the demon blocked me. I had to make a successful trip attack on the demon if I wanted to pass through.
I believe that the demon is entitled to an AoO, but it is not entitled to blocking the halfling. I argued that RL stuff was irrelevant as the D&D3E system uses an abstraction of 5' space occupied for medium sized creatures. The way I see it, by extending this abstraction to the vertical dimension, one can rule that a medium sized creature blocks a 5' cube and has reach in the adjacent 5' around it, below it (for those undersea fights) and above it (the case described above). Mixing Real Life criteria with system mechanics does not make sense IMO, as you are then playing with two system of rules: the D&D3E mechanics, and the DM's sense of realism (which is subjective). The discussion lasted the better part of an hour...

None of the sources consulted (see below) were of help in resolving this matter. At the end of the day, the DM allowed the halfling to flee above the space occupied by the demon, generating an AoO.

I would like to receive feedback on this topic, as our PC group is _fly_ intensive and this situation will be repeated.

Sources consulted:
PHB: Big and Little Creatures in Combat (pg. 131) plus Table 8-7.
MM1 & MM2: Explanation of the Size and Type decriptors in the Main Statistics Block Section.
Table in 8-7 in the PHB suggests that you some monsters are tall (and thus can block above 5'): for creatures bigger than medium size, an additional qualifier is included, frex "large (tall)" and "large (long)". The MM1 says nothing about this and the MM2 specifies that a) if the monster is a biped then the size figure in the descriptor refers to height and that b) if the monster is a quadruped (or more) then the size figure refers to length.
The is no ruling (that I found), however, that states or explains vertical reach. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

Lokirime

 

[daemonslye]

Seems to me the question is not so much about vertical
reach as ruling around whether creatures on the ground
are ruled to "fill their square/cube" as it were.

In your example, I would rule that unless the demon
did not prepare a readied action, you would get by with
an AOO (this might be a grapple though).

If the demon prepared an action (in response to you
attempting to flee just that way), then he would get
an action in addition to the AOO (say another grapple
attempt). If the demon wins, it is starting to look like
halfing-snacks tonight (unless you have a high escape
artist score or close q. fighting).

A question - Does your halfing have a reasonable tumble
skill modifier? I allow flying creatures to tumble. This
would allow you to move through the creatures square
without an AOO (tho readied actions will not be affected).

The meat of the question seems to lie in: "If a humanoid
shaped creature (5x5/10) is seven feet tall, would they "block"
the upper five feet of a ten foot area? Assuming a creature
is jumping, flying or otherwise attempting to cross that area."

Good question - If it came up while I was DM'ing, I would
likely rule that, further assuming you were small or medium,
you could move through that space. A large creature could
not.

Now - what if the demon is a "big sucker" and is hunched into
a small space (5'wx10'h)? Well, in this case, in addition to
his penalties to attack and AC, your little halfling will need
some good tumble skills or a borer to get through.

Just my opinion though. Your DM will have the final say.

~D

 

[Sejs]

if the demon wants to 'block' the halfling as he flies past, he would make a grapple attempt on the halfling when the halfer provokes an attack of opportunity for entering the demon's threatened area.


If he succeeds to grapple your halfling, you are blocked. If he pins you, he has you in his clutches. If you evade the grapple, the halfing is able to slip by and continue his move.



Hope this is of some help.