D&D 3D

[NunoM]

I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but...

How do you handle 3D in your game?

For example: a fireball blasts an area. How do you handle flying creatures? If the creature is hovering just above the "point of impact" it's easy. The not so easy part is figuring out if it affects creatures in other locations and directions...

Our gaming group simplified things (overly so, IMO) by dividing the area in 5ft high layers. The fireball blasts the layer the point of impact is in, but not the 5ft layers above or below. In other words, the fireball is 2D. I don't like this, but i must agree it's the easiest way to deal with it.

So... How do you guys do it?

[Agita]

If you want to do it mathematically correctly, the Pythagorean is your friend.
If you don't want to sit down and calculate the distance of a given flying creature to a spell's point of origin every time, and are using a map, you can use the area templates in the DMG and just put them up vertically.
If not using a map, then it's largely up to the DM, anyway.

[phaedrusxy]

Uhh... definitely not 2D...

If you're using an actual map, and don't have the spell area templates Agita is talking about, you could use a ruler (or two). Measure how many inches/centimeters 4 "squares" is (the radius of the fireball), and then measure how far that reaches from the point of origin of the spell out towards your fliers.

All the gaming I do is PbP, so I use the Pythagorean theorem, because Time is on my side.

[NunoM]

Yeah, i forgot to mention that... We use good old friend Pythagorean to handle stuff like an archer shooting against flying targets (i.e.: "can i use PB-shot? Sneak attack?" and stuff like that...). It gets tougher (and longer) when multiple targets and round areas enter the scene...

We do use maps, but the templates are long gone and the maps are a legacy from other RPGs we played, so they don't have the same square dimensions of the templates.

But your suggestions sound good, thanks! I can't believe we didn't remember something as simple as that
I'll definitely work around those...