Handy tips for 3D combat?

[InnaBinder]

How do you folks handle the various oddities of movement on a mat/grid that come up when flight, swimming, or other modes of locomotion allow for movement in three dimensions?

[kitep]

We usually set the figure on something like a can or a die to show she's not at ground level, and then just remember how high up she's flying.  Swimming and other things haven't really come up, but we'd probably use the same method, just to mark that they're not at the same level.

[Halinn]

Mostly, we've avoided aerial combat, so flight is mainly a binary check around our table.

[InnaBinder]

 Full disclosure: I'm asking because of the aforementioned holding cell, which it appears my players are about to seek out.  At least one of them has a Swim speed natively, and I believe at least one other of them will gain it via spell, with the others relying on items.  So, I'd like to make it as engaging as possible without bogging it down (pun not intended).

[Eagle of Fire]

The best investment I ever made in my D&D gear was to order a custom plastic gaming mat at my local Stapples. For something like 25 bucks I have a plastic mat which contain nothing more than a few hundred of squares of the right size from one side of the mat to the other.

Then I bought pencils for dry boards with a dry eraser and I simply draw whatever I need directly on the mat.

To answer your question, when I have several levels of the same location to draw, I use different colors (I have 4: black, blue, green, red) and I use dots instead of full lines to picture the lower levels.

Make drawing a dungeon with several tunnels holding the whole thing together fun and easy!

For flying creatures... Well, I simply get them higher somehow on the mat and I remember where they are exactly. I guess I would do the same if there was some kind of way for going infinitely down too.

[Unbeliever]

We use stands to put them on, and then usually place a d10 (often the percentiles ones that read 10, 20 ...) next to them to note their height.