Running Combat in 3D in DnD and Pathfinder

dndbeginner, gaming, garbage in your games

You know, I just launched a YouTube series on using garbage in your role playing games. Perhaps doing so during a pandemic where we can’t get together physically was not the ideal time to do so…..but I did. The second video is about runnning 3D combat. (you can see the video at the bottom of the page if you’d rather start there).

It’s hard to keep track of where everyone is in 3D, so I thought I’d show you how you can re-use garbage to do so. Of course, you don’t need garbage, but we all have it, why not use it!

How High is Everyone Off the Ground?

The main issue with 3D combat is determining how far away everyone is from each other. 

Let’s discuss this still shot…..

We have a party of four PCs facing a black dragon. The dragonborn and the dwarf are on the map, indicating they are at ground level. The other three are flying. The angel is on an olive oil lid, and the sorcerer is on an olive oil insert. The dragon is on a parmesan cheese container from a pizza delivery.

Next to each of the flying miniatures is a 20-sided die. To know how up someone is, just multiply the number by 5. So, the dragon is seventy-five feet in the air. Matt Colville, in his excellent “Playing the Game” series on YouTube suggests that we ignore the hypotenuse when managing combat in 2D, and it’s even more important we do so in 3D. I could show you a bunch of numbers, or you can trust me and agree that we should just use the longest lines.

Using the Longest Lines in 3D Combat

Again, let’s look at this picture…..

The sorcerer and the angel are either ten feet (two squares vertically), twnety feet (four squares horizontally), or five feet (one square up on the dice) from each other. In this case, we use twnety feet. In the “real world” no one is standing still or hovering (mostly no one) every moment of combat, so just use the longest single line. 

Let’s look at another example, this time the angel and the dragon…..
They certainly aren’t the five feet away indicated by the one square of horizontal difference. That leaves the thirty feet in vertical, or the fifty feet in up and down (15-5 on the two dice is 10, times 5, is fifty feet). The easiest assumption is therefore that they are fifty feet from each other.

If you want to add some variance for the hypotenuse being longer…..I suggest the following (again, because combatants are in constant motion, this is for estimating purposes). Roll a d4. On a 1 or a 2, add no distance. On a 3 add five feet. On a 4 add ten feet.

What if the No One is on Land?

If everyone is flying, or swimming, and there is no “level zero” then we can use something like a clear box (berry container, or cherry tomato container, for example). 

Like this:
 
In this case, we have three miniatures resting on the top of a container. They are at the same level as each other. The sorcerer is on top of the olive oil insert, with a 2 on the die, so she’s ten feet above them. One sea devil is below them, with a 10 on the die, so it is fifty feet below the dwarf, dragonborn, and other sea devil. The angel is also below those three, but only twenty feet (and therefore, thirty feet above the lower sea devil). 
 

Calculating distances is then the same as the example above, just use the longest line. Note that you could place the container above the two minis on the map, indicating the creatures above them are directly above them.

I hope that this tutorial and the video help you manage 3D combat in your role playing games! 

PS, I hope you also watch the other videos, and like them and comment on them.

Good gaming everyone!