Page 1 of 2

Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 11:41 am
by cbarchuk
On a standard dungeon map where one square=10' does two diagonal squares still count as 20' when calculating distance? So can my fighter with only a combat movement of 20' move two diagonal squares?

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 11:22 pm
by CarrionScrawler
Diagonally, that's about 28 feet (28.2842712475 more precisely) compared to moving two 10' squares vertically or horizontally. It's a non-trivial difference mathematically, but if it's negligible to you and slows down your game unreasonably to accommodate for diagonals, just consider any two squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally as 20 feet for the purposes of movement.

Or consider a a vertical or horizontal square 10', and a diagonal square 15'.

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 6:03 am
by cbarchuk
CarrionScrawler wrote: Mon May 28, 2018 11:22 pm Diagonally, that's about 28 feet (28.2842712475 more precisely) compared to moving two 10' squares vertically or horizontally. It's a non-trivial difference mathematically, but if it's negligible to you and slows down your game unreasonably to accommodate for diagonals, just consider any two squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally as 20 feet for the purposes of movement.

Or consider a a vertical or horizontal square 10', and a diagonal square 15'.
Thank you very much! I knew it was a bit longer but some games make more of it than others.

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 8:40 am
by orobouros
One previous GM I had used the rule: 2 diagonal squares equals 3 adjacent squares. This makes the math work out fairly well without worrying about 3 significant figures but doesn't allow characters to exceed their abilities.

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 6:19 pm
by Hywaywolf
CarrionScrawler wrote: Mon May 28, 2018 11:22 pm Or consider a a vertical or horizontal square 10', and a diagonal square 15'.
I think this is the simplest way to look at it. . You run diagonally across 2 squares in a room to get to a open passage and then run straight for another 3 squares. (15+15+10+10+10)= 60'. or (2*15 + 3*10) = 60'

2 diagonals equals 3 squares also works, but leaves you with fractions if you move an odd number of diagonals.

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:39 am
by Solomoriah
Every second space entered diagonally counts as two spaces. It's not far from correct and works well in play, so it's how I've done it for years (since before BFRPG).

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:31 pm
by Longman
I always say you can move diagonally at the same cost. It's a goose and gander thing. If you can do it, the baddies can as well.

Then again, I often use 5' squares (ducks for cover) so maybe I might rethink with 10 footers.

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:18 pm
by GM Parseth
Longman wrote: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:31 pm I always say you can move diagonally at the same cost. It's a goose and gander thing. If you can do it, the baddies can as well.

Then again, I often use 5' squares (ducks for cover) so maybe I might rethink with 10 footers.
Same as me it seems!

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 10:43 pm
by pawibus
Yeah--using 5' squares, you can count each diagonal as 7' and it's very close to real-world (7.07') and at least the way my brain works, it's easier to count by fives or sevens consistently than to count by fives and then switch to alternating by fives and tens. In fact, once you get where you're going, if you round up or down to the nearest 5' it comes out to be the same distance (7->5, 14->15, 21->20, 28->30, etc.).

Re: Diagonal squares and distance

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:10 am
by Solomoriah
Counting every second diagonal square twice works equally well in 10' and 5' squares... just sayin'.