Gridless Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition (4e)

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To reduce the impact of tactical positioning, making storytelling more powerful and flexible. To make combat simple enough that players can keep all relevant information in their head. To allow all players to track their character’s positioning individually.

Current Status: Untested

Next Status: Balance Testing (PM if you are interested in participating in an online test.)

Note: You may also want to check out Fluid 4e at At-Will blog. These two systems were developed independently and have taken slightly different approaches.

Concepts

Rationale

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edtion emphasizes position a great deal. Every character must be placed in absolute position to each other character in the encounter on every turn. This makes positioning one of the most critical tactical elements of 4e, but it is also very time consuming. Attacks and other actions can be picked out in advance, but determining exactly where to move to often has to be done on the player’s turn, since the positions of the other creatures is the most likely thing to change from turn to turn. Tracking enemy positions, the range of bursts, auras, and zones, obstacles, difficult terrain, and traps takes up limited focus.

By divorcing the positioning of creatures from the gameboard itself, combat can range over wide distances as heroes attack, retreat, dodge, climb, leap, and flee. They can perform whatever maneuver or dodge makes sense for their character without spending valuable game time haggling over DCs, selecting the perfect movement path, debating the rules for immediate actions, or triangulating their position with their allies and enemies.

“The Melee”

“The melee” is an abstract term describing the focal point of a combat zone, and everything within melee distance of it. During battle, it can be convenient to describe objects or characters in relation to the melee. The melee is not a fixed thing. It moves back and forth across the room or terrain. Characters enter and leave the melee, and with some frequency there will be more than one.

Mechanics

The Game Board

The game board for simplified 4e is your imagination. Images are helpful in many capacities, but not necessary. What is necessary is for each player to have a rough sense of each character’s position relative to the themselves.

Gridless 4e uses relative positioning. In combat, in practice, there is a knot of enemies and allies in melee combat, and several satellites of controllers and lurkers orbiting them. Therefore simplified 4e uses three distances: melee, burst, and ranged. There are also three “pseudo ranges.” These are adjacent, near, and far. These words are not defined mechanically, aside from guidelines. Instead they use real-world estimates. Adjacent means just what it says. A creature who is adjacent to you is close enough that you could reach out and touch them without moving your feet. Near refers to creatures or objects who are outside the range of most ranged spells. Only a few spells and weapons can target creatures in this range. These spells and weapons have an additional range that is measured in feet. Far refers to anything that is out of range of any personal attacks. Generally, going into near or far distances are only possible out of doors, but some very large caverns or rooms might allow it.

When there are few creatures in the encounter, each player may be able to keep their position relative to his character stored in his head. When there are many characters in play, this can become difficult or almost impossible. When that happens, you may find this drawing useful. Print out several of them to keep track of many melee centers in a single encounter.

Rule 0:

Use your best judgement when adapting square distances to Gridless distances. In general, think “what is the most typical benefit and drawback of this ability?” when deciding whether or not it should be a burst, ranged, or melee ability.

For example, Gridless allows melee 2 powers to reach burst range, even though that means that they can attack a rogue throwing a dagger who would ordinarily be three squares out of their reach. This is because reach weapons would be virtually worthless without the ability to attack creatures further away from them than other melee touch or melee 1 attacks, but the dagger’s throwing property would be just as useful as the ranged property of a bow if it could be used from ranged range.

Since the near-constant movement of a typical 4e game is almost entirely abstracted by gridless 4e, the assumption is that the halberd-wielding creature will more often be able to shift, slide or otherwise get close enough to attack the dagger-thrower (without escaping melee and without engaging the dagger thrower) just as often as the dagger-thrower will manage to evade the halberd.

The slight advantage of a slightly longer reach and the slight advantage of a short distance throwing weapon remain slight advantages.

In the game world, this would resolve itself as the halberd wielder being able to move a few feet in relative safety and then use a thrust with the full reach of his blade to hit the dagger thrower. As a drawback, he gives up the opportunity to engage another target in melee for this attack, effectively “turning his back” on enemies who are within arms reach of him.

Attacking

Following is a list of common attack ranges and their effective Gridless range:

DnD4e Range	Maximum Gridless 4e Range	Special Targeting Notes
Area Burst X within 5	Burst	See Bursts below for rules concerning the area of bursts.
Area Burst X within 10	Ranged
Blast 3	Melee	You may also target the melee from burst range with a blast 3+ attack. You do not engage the targets if you do so.
Blast 3+	Burst	Does not engage at this range.
Burst 1-2	Melee	Close burst 1 engages all targets.
Burst 3+	Burst
Burst 10+	Ranged	Bursts greater than 10 cover the entire area of combat.
Charging	Burst	You must move from burst range of your target to melee range of your target. This attack engages the target.
Melee 1	Melee
Melee 2+	Burst
Melee Touch	Melee
Melee Touch (Reach)	Burst	Does not engage at this range unless the attacker has threatening reach.
Melee Weapon	Melee
Melee Weapon (Reach)	Burst	Does not engage at this range unless the attacker has threatening reach.
Ranged 5	Burst
Ranged 10+	Ranged
Ranged Weapon (Missile)	Ranged
Ranged Weapon (Missile, Long Range)	Near Distance
Ranged Weapon (Thrown)	Burst
Ranged Weapon (Thrown, Long Range)	Ranged

Movement

To determine how far you can move, sum all 4e movement squares that you can enter contiguously. For example, if a power lets you attack, then shift 3 squares, and then you desire to move your speed of 6 squares, then you have 9 squares of movement. However, if a power allows you to shift 3 squares and make an attack, then you would have either 9 squares of movement before the attack, or 3 squares before and 6 squares after.

Unlike 4e movement, Gridless movement is targeted similar to an attack. When you move, choose a creature or melee node who you are moving in relation to. Based on the number of squares that you have to make your total movement, determine how far you can move. The distance you can move varies based on whether you are closing or escaping the target, and also whether or not you are currently engaged by another creature. If you are in melee range of any enemy, then the melee is always the target of your movement.

A Quick FAQ on Movement

Q. Why does it take more movement to move away from an enemy than to move closer to it?

A. Melee fighters are constantly in motion. Characters thrust and dodge, and thus the melee expands and contracts without warning to those around it, and rarely does the eye of the tempest remain in one place for longer than even a second. It is much easier to get swallowed up in the action than to create a safe barrier between yourself and the swordsmen.

Mechanically, slower characters are almost always more proficient at melee, while faster creatures are more effective at range. If it was as easy to keep slow creatures at bay as it is to get close and engage them, faster characters could kite almost any slow enemy to death without risk. It is therefore necessary to give some small advantage to slow characters.

Q. What if I am both “escaping” and also “closing?” That is, what if I am moving away from one enemy and closer to another?

A. Unless you are in melee range of the enemy you are escaping, use the enemy you are closing on as the target of your movement.

Q. These tables are complicated! Is there any way to break this down so it’s simpler and easier to calculate without referencing them during the game?

A. Unfortunately, not really. The numbers will always seem arbitrary because they are an attempt to graft a relative positioning system onto an absolute system with a minimum of loss. But once you get the hang of what it means to close and escape, the best table to reference is the last one. As you can see, the movement required increases by 3 to go from one range to the next, with the smallest number being to go from burst to melee (1) and the largest to go from ranged to near distance (8). If you can remember that it requires one square of movement to go from burst range to melee range and 5 squares to go from burst range to ranged range, you can calculate the movement needed to change any other ranges. It makes sense to me to think: “Even a gnome in heavy armor can advance, but it takes a dwarf to get back out.” I.E. it takes 4 movement squares (the speed of a gnome in heavy armor) to go from ranged to burst, but 5 (the speed of a dwarf) to move back again. From this you can calculate that it takes 1 square of movement to to go from burst to melee and 2 and 8 respectively to go from melee to burst or ranged to near distance.

Q. Do you really expect me to figure out where I would be if I were ¼ revolution around a creature without referencing a grid?

A. Knowing this is only really important for determining cover. If you don’t want to use the relative positioning tracker above, then it is only really important to know that with 10 squares of movement you can negate any cover granted by one enemy to another (by moving 180º around the melee) without ever moving closer than burst range of them, and the same at ranged range with 16 squares of movement. While the latter will likely only arise with very fast enemies in late stages of the game, 10 squares of movement is not hard to come by for archer rangers and other ranged strikers, who may have an interest in negating cover.

Distances

Following is a list of common distances and their rough equivalent Gridless 4e range:

4e Movement	If you are not engaged, you can move…	If you are engaged, you can move…
1 square	…from burst range to melee range of a creature.	…nowhere, but Shift/Pull/Push/Slide 1 disengages from all adjacent creatures
2 squares	…from burst range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to burst range of a creature	…nowhere, but Shift/Pull/Push/Slide 1 disengages from all adjacent creatures
3 squares	…from burst range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to burst range of a creature	…from melee range to burst range of a creature
4 squares	…from burst range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to burst range of a creature …from ranged range to burst range of a creature	…from melee range to burst range of a creature
5 squares	…from ranged range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to burst range of a creature …from burst range to ranged range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at burst range	…from melee range to burst range of a creature
6 squares	…from ranged range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to burst range of a creature …from burst range to ranged range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at burst range	…from melee range to burst range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at burst range
7 squares	…from ranged range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to ranged range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at burst range	…from melee range to burst range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at burst range
8 squares	…from ranged range to melee range of a creature …from melee range to ranged range of a creature …from ranged range to near distance … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at ranged range	…from melee range to ranged range of a creature … ¼ revolution around a creature, remaining at ranged range

Following are approximations of the necessary squares of movement required to change a character’s range from the melee.

From	To	Movement required (Movement if Engaged)
Melee	Burst	2+(3+)
Melee	Ranged	7+(8+)
Burst	Melee	1+
Burst	Ranged	5+
Burst	Near Distance	13+
Ranged	Melee	5+
Ranged	Burst	4+
Ranged	Near Distance	8+
	¼ revolution around the melee at burst range	5+(6+)
	¼ revolution around the melee at ranged range	8+(9+)
Note: Even with 15+ squares of movement, it is generally impossible to go directly from melee to Near Distance in a single round. Note: A creature who is pushed, pulled, or slid 1+ squares is disengaged from all enemies.

In brief:

Range	Movement required to close	Movement required to escape
Melee	--	2 (3 if engaged)
Burst	1	5
Ranged	4	8

Terrain & Obstacles

Because the characters in Gridless 4e are always presumed to be moving together constantly to maintain their relative positions, the position of most terrain can be tracked according to its position relative to the melee.

With regard to obstacles such as pillars, furniture, statues, and other assorted scenery that frequently arises in Dungeons and Dragons, remember that Gridless 4e is foremost a shared terminology for relative position, but absolute location still matters. A character might be in burst range because he is standing twenty feet away on a featureless plain, or he might be only a few feet away but capable of easily putting himself out of your melee reach because there is a long table between you.

When seeking an advantage from terrain or attempting to present scenery as an obstacle to his opponent, it falls to the player seeking the benefit to describe it and the action he will take to accomplish it. For example, if a dodgy swashbuckler is trying to evade a guard with a longsword, he might let himself be backed against the aforementioned table and then tumble under it to get to burst range, forcing the guard to run around it.

Following are some guidelines for seeking advantages from terrain obstacles:

1. Be specific about the advantage you are seeking. In a fevered battle between experienced combatants fighting for their lives, your character is unlikely to be able to properly leverage advantages he is unaware of. Therefore unless you state that you are seeking an advantage, players can assume that the advantage is still available. For example don’t just say that you are positioning yourself in a doorway, say that you are blocking the doorway to prevent yourself from being flanked.
2. Common advantages from terrain include blocking line of sight from ranged attacks, hiding or taking cover, jumping or tumbling in order to reduce the movement needed to attain a new range, or putting your back to a wall or object in order to avoid being flanked.
3. Sometimes you may need to make a skill check in order to gain an advantage. For example, in order to keep a doorway wider than yourself completely blocked, the DM may request an acrobatics check to determine how skillfully you can keep all possible angles covered. An enemy who is able to beat the check might be able to slip by you and attack another party member or provide flanking for his allies.

Zones

The size of zones is measured similarly to the range of attacks. A melee-size zone means that any creature in melee range of the zone are within the zone. A burst-size zone means that all creatures in burst range of the zone are within the zone. Track the center of the zone in the same way that you would track a creature, and use a marker to track it on the gameboard in the same way.

Difficult Terrain

Difficult terrain doubles both the closing and escaping movement distance to move out of a range. Difficult terrain always affects all characters in melee. Track the difficult terrain in the same manner that you would a zone.

Traps

DMs should use their judgement when determining if a PC walks over a trapped area. Since players cannot specify their exact route through a hallway, the manner in which the PC moves might be more important than where he moves. If a player specifies that he is creeping slowly, request a perception check to see if he notices the trap. If he is racing to catch a fleeing bad guy, he is almost certain to trigger the trap before he notices it.

Special Actions

Engagement is a way of tracking which of the various enemies and allies are flanking each other.

Engaging and Flanking

1. Engaging: If you have attacked an enemy or an enemy has attacked you with a melee range attack since the end of your last turn, and both you and the enemy remain in melee range of each other, you are considered engaged by that enemy (and vice-versa).
2. Flanking: If you have been attacked by two or more enemies with melee range attacks since the end of your last turn, you are flanked until you disengage from them. While flanked, you grant combat advantage to enemies flanking you. You are considered flanked from the moment that the second enemy moves into melee range, or at the start of its turn if it doesn’t need to move to reach you.
   • Note: In certain situations, flanking may be impossible. For example if you are fighting as part of a phalanx or if you are blocking a doorway. Special actions may be required to flank.
   • Note: You cannot both flank with and provide cover for the same ally.

A creature who has been engaged:

1. Requires an extra square of movement to escape melee.
2. Triggers opportunity attacks from the creatures who have engaged them if she uses ranged attacks.
3. Triggers opportunity attacks from creatures who have engaged it if it moves away from the melee without disengaging.

Disengaging

1. You may spend a move action to disengage from enemies you are engaged by in order to retreat safely, use ranged or area attacks, or escape a flanking position. Disengaging may entail sidestepping a clumsy attack, tumbling out of your enemy’s range, crouching behind your shield, or otherwise removing yourself from the melee for a short time. It gives you a split second of relative safety to breathe and either extricate yourself from combat delicately, make a ranged attack, or shift your body to keep your enemies in front of you.
2. While disengaged, you are no longer considered to be in melee, to be engaged, or to be flanked. Unless you move into burst range before the end of your turn, you are once again in melee at the end of your turn.
3. When you disengage, you no longer flank any enemies you have disengaged from.

Cover

You may provide cover from one half of the battlefield to one ally. While providing cover, you cannot flank, even if you engage the same target. Covering your ally means that you are dividing your attention between protecting him from ranged and burst range attacks. That might mean protecting him with your shield, warning him to dodge incoming arrows, or even throwing yourself in front of the attack.

Designate the ally you wish to cover for and against which side of the battlefield at the end of your turn. The ally must be one size larger than you or smaller, and must be adjacent to you. The ally has cover from all burst and ranged range attacks.
Note: Including charging!

You cannot both provide cover for and also flank with an ally, although you may flank with other allies. You do not have to engage the same enemy in order to provide cover to an ally. Two allies cannot provide cover for each other from the same direction.

Large Size and Larger

When targeting creatures who are large or larger, burst and ranged range attacks have their range increased by 1. So, for example, you could attack with a dagger from arrow range by making long range attacks at several medium creatures, but normal range attacks against any large creatures.