Token Movement distances

Is there any way to change to measuring distances to the 3.5 convention regarding diagonals? I.e. first diagonal is 5ft, second is 10ft, third is 5ft and so on. (I know this probably appears in other games as well, but I don't know of any off the top of my head)

Certainly applies to any D20 system, since they're all built on a 3.x base. 4e maintained this, too. I'd guess D&D Next did also, though I did not bother with it.

Just playing devil's advocate - the whole 5/10 thing was sort of a hack so we didn't have to be figuring out pythagorean equations in-game. now that there's a simple way to measure....I like using the actual measurements!

Yeah, it was designed to be easy to use by counting squares so that you wouldn't need a measuring tool. The whole idea of it is to use it instead of a measuring tool.

4e actually changed it so that cardinal and diagonal movement both count as one "square".

Just playing devil's advocate - the whole 5/10 thing was sort of a hack so we didn't have to be figuring out pythagorean equations in-game. now that there's a simple way to measure....I like using the actual measurements! That's great, except that these systems have this measuring scheme built in and it is a non-trivial thing to change how distances and areas are measured, from the standpoint of how it is going to affect the balance of the game. Spells and abilities were written based on that scheme, and their designers assumed it would be in play. Moreover, it's an annoying thing to have abilities change. Also, I've been trying the Roll20 ruler, and it gives "15 ft" for a movement 3 squares along the diagonal. Per Erik's comment, that's apparently correct for 4e, but it's 1. very wrong for a lot of game systems, and 2. not particularly accurate to the actual measure of the distance (which would be some 1.414... times rather than 1.5 times, but 1.5's a whole lot closer than 1.0). So I'm not sure what you mean by "actual measurements" Yeah, it was designed to be easy to use by counting squares so that you wouldn't need a measuring tool. The whole idea of it is to use it instead of a measuring tool. Right, but when you have a built-in measuring tool, how does it hurt to have it be *right*? It'd be a pretty simple toggle...

You'd need at least three settings. One for real distance. One for the D&D 3.x metric. One for the D&D 4 metric.

I'm not sure that "real distance" has any meaning at all on a 5 sq. ft. grid. Movement doesn't come in nearly fine enough increments. If you round to the nearest 5 ft., you'd have to move 30 diagonal squares at once to make any difference at all (properly that would be 42.4 – which rounds to 40 – vs. 45 if you use the 1.5 multiplier). So I don't see why that need be an option. A related option that *would* be useful to some, perhaps, is to change the increments used by the grid. I imagine that there exist games that don't use 5 ft. squares. For that matter, 4e just literally measures things in number of squares, IIRC (though I've already proven that I am not very familiar with the system).

Well, certainly! I play games that variously use 10-foot squares, one-yard hexes, one-metre hexes, two-metre hexes, that don't use any grids, and that don't use distance at all. Real distance matters in miniatures wargaming and in RPGs that are based on it, including original D&D, AD&D, BD&D, OD&D, and D&D Expert: D&D didn't use a grid until 3rd edition. And there are lots of others that don't use a grid at all. RuneQuest and the BRP family, I think; White Wolf's Storyteller family of games; lots of others. There are also games that use grids to regulate movement and adjacency for the purposes of hand-to-hand combat, but use real distance for weapons range—such as James Bond 007 with its 10-foot squares. In several hex-gridded games such as GURPS and ForeSight/HindSight movement is explicitly regulated by the grid, but missile weapons are given ranges in yards and metres respectively, and grid distance is used instead of real distance only by convention.

Right, but those games (as far as I know; can't claim any great familiarity with all of them) also don't use a grid, which – as far as I can tell – is non-optional in Roll20. Though that (gridless play) would also be another good feature. Depending on how token position is stored in Roll20, though, that may also have data overhead.

Right, but those games (as far as I know; can't claim any great familiarity with all of them) also don't use a grid, which – as far as I can tell – is non-optional in Roll20. Though that (gridless play) would also be another good feature. Depending on how token position is stored in Roll20, though, that may also have data overhead. You can turn off the grid on a page-by-page basis. Click the little flag at the top right to open the page selection menu, then hover over a page and select the settings menu (little gear icon). In there is an option for changing all sorts of things, including whether or not to have a grid.

Aha. And it does real measurement, which makes sense. Well, that's good, but doesn't solve my original issue.

My favorite d20 system (that I'm anxious to play on roll20) is Star Wars Saga Edition. It uses another DIFFERENT method of square movement measurement. ;) All diagonals count as 2 squares. And Saga doesn't measure in feet (or even meters, though the games measurements are in metric), but in actual squares. So having the ruler tool be customizable per game, to support: - 3e/3.5 D&D style d20 systems: diagonals count as 1.5 squares (first diagonal = 1, second diagonal = 2, third diagonal = 1, fourth diagonal = 2, etc.). - 4e D&D style d20 systems: all squares count a 1 square of movement (even diagonals). - Saga Edition style: diagonals count as 2 squares of movement (every diagonal). Ultimately, having an editor for the ruler tool would be the best option, letting you select whether it measures in feet, meters, or squares/hexes - and if in feet or meters, lets you denote what one square/hex equals in feet/meters. [shrug] This would be a huge benefit to my group!

I imagine the most popular systems used on Roll20 would be 3.5, Pathfinder, and 4e. Therefore, it seems prudent to provide tools conducive to such use. The measurement is not really critical, but neither are most of the tools available. They certainly are handy, though, and a system-accurate measurement system would be lovely. If it wasn't so niche, I'd even suggest letting you put your character's move speed into its profile and then have a toggleable aura that shows their range. Maybe let you mark grid squares as impassable or difficult terrain and have that accounted for...

I would *love* to see that. Ways to mark walls and the like would also make sense (may already be implemented as a form of vision-blocking, I don't know). Waypoints (i.e. making turns in movement) would also be great. Basically, if Roll20 handled movement the way MapTool handled movement, I'd drop MapTool instantly for this. Because it doesn't, I have not used Roll20. It's that simple.

Waypoints is a must. You don't move in a straight line most of the time, you need to move around opponents, etc. The way Maptool does movement would be extremely useful!

Despite having a lighter focus in the map, Fantasy Grounds II also makes use of waypoints for describing token movement. I agree it would be useful to have something similar for Roll20.