D&D 4E What Aspects of 4E Made It into 5E?

[Satyrn]

Definitely don't recall that. Lot's of 10' squares from dungeon maps.

Aye, that fits with 3 1/3 foot squares. And lets you fight 3 abreast instead of just 2.

But, seriously, if you're stating everything in real units of measure - m, in, ft, yds, plank lengths, parsecs, furlongs, whatever - you're not making life easy on yourself on either a grid or TotM.

I can't imagine how what you say here is true. How would I be able to use a fantasy measure effectively? What game even does that?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Aye, that fits with 3 1/3 foot squares. And lets you fight 3 abreast instead of just 2.

Until you get into weapon space requirements, anyway.

I can't imagine how what you say here is true. How would I be able to use a fantasy measure effectively? What game even does that?

Abstract measure, not fantasy. Squares, hexes, moves, range-bands, areas, &c. With or without a scale to translate it to a familiar unit.

 

[Satyrn]

Until you get into weapon space requirements, anyway.

Maybe. Maybe not.

But you seem like you're stuck on 5 feet as some magically right size for a square, to the point where you'll say this -

Sorta a Halfling scale? Normal characters like gnomes and halflings take up one square, freakishly huge ones like humans & orcs, 4? Or would a 'square' be 3x3x6, like a GURPS 'people tube' hex?

- as though humans fit in a single 5 foot cube, so I won't be surprised if you're wrong about weapon space requirements being any more of a problem than they are now.

 

[Tony Vargas]

But you seem like you're stuck on 5 feet as some magically right size for a square

Like 3 1/3, it's intuitive when you've been using 10' squares on dungeon maps for decades,( but, no fraction, FWIW).

as though humans fit in a single 5 foot cube

Not as well as they fit in a Hero 2m hex(agonal prism) or a 3x3x6 GURPS people tube hex(agonal prism), but a lot better than they'd fit in a 3.33x3.33x3.33 cube, while it'd fit a Halfling nicely, so it seemed a fair question.

so I won't be surprised if you're wrong about weapon space requirements being any more of a problem than they are now.

Not a problem, just another one of those fiddly rules that was factually there back in the day.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

The second set allows the DM to simply say "yes" to a fun scene and only at that point decide the exact locations of said chicken, banister, and pot.

Which is to say, it's easier for the DM to cheat if nobody else can see the map.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

Which is to say, it's easier for the DM to cheat if nobody else can see the map.

Which is not what I said at all. Quoting myself from earlier in the thread . . .

Playing Theatre of the Mind can require a fair amount of trust between players and DM.

Sounds like you distrust your DM.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Which is not what I said at all. Quoting myself from earlier in the thread . . .

Sounds like you distrust your DM.

If I'm playing in a Theater of the Mind game, then I need to trust the DM.

And you demonstrate why the DM needs to be trustworthy, as you go on to explain how you abuse that trust in order to mis-represent the state of the environment. You contrive things in order to let the PCs pull off "cool" stunts that they may not have been able to perform if everything had been set out on a grid. Cheating in favor of the players is still cheating.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

That's yer seasoned player, right there. You can tell the high-player-skill/CaW types by the way they ask you seemingly stupid questions cagily, then spring an action on you based on them. Annoying...

Aw, come on. Some of us do that for comedic effect. Nothing adversarial about it -- we just want to keep them guessing until we finally get to the punchline.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

And you demonstrate why the DM needs to be trustworthy, as you go on to explain how you abuse that trust in order to mis-represent the state of the environment. You contrive things in order to let the PCs pull off "cool" stunts that they may not have been able to perform if everything had been set out on a grid. Cheating in favor of the players is still cheating.

Oh no, my DM is letting me do cool things! I feel so abused!