Tokens and Grids

Is it possible for a GM to use a map with grids that does not force tokens to align-to-grid?  Specifically, I would like player tokens to not be forced to grid alignment, but still want those tokens to act as player tokens (i.e. Not setting them to "is drawing"). Sorry if this is the wrong forum sub-group to ask this question. Thanks.

Can you not just turn off the grid for that map? Or you want the grid displayed, but tokens don't "snap" to them?  You can hold ALT when moving tokens to prevent snapping.

I think the best approach is what Matt said:  Ask your Players to hold the ALT key while they drag-drop-reposition their tokens.  This will allow them to not snap-to-grid. Is that solution acceptable for your game, use-case?

I would like to keep the grid on to aid players with estimating distance for movement and combat. The only option I’m aware of without using the grids is the ruler tool but I and my players find it a little clunky to switch over to it repeatedly. I think that the approach of holding ALT might work tho. I might put it up to player vote to see which they prefer.  Thanks for the suggestion!

Download your map to something like photoshop or inkarnate.com, add grid to the actual graphic and re-upload.

If your map is not too large in pixel size, you could create a separate PNG file with transparent background and draw a visible grid on it. You can then add it additionally to the map layer as an overlay to your regular map (putting it in the foreground to your existing map in map layer). The benefit doing so would be, that you can easily reuse this transparent grid image for all your other maps (by simply resizing the grid image as needed in Roll20 map layer). Then you can completely turn off the Roll20 inherent grid, but your players can still see your own created grid as part of the map layer.

Stefan P. said: If your map is not too large in pixel size, you could create a separate PNG file with transparent background and draw a visible grid on it. You can then add it additionally to the map layer as an overlay to your regular map (putting it in the foreground to your existing map in map layer). The benefit doing so would be, that you can easily reuse this transparent grid image for all your other maps (by simply resizing the grid image as needed in Roll20 map layer). Then you can completely turn off the Roll20 inherent grid, but your players can still see your own created grid as part of the map layer. That's a very interesting approach.  Any suggestions on how to set up a separate PNG file?  My skills are limited in that regard, but I did recently learn how to turn a random image into a token/asset with a transparent background.  So I'm not adverse to trying something new.

I just did a quick google search for 'transparent grid for VTT' and there's a bunch out there. Here's a 20x20 (so if your grid is set to 70px cell width then the image dimensions should be set to 1400x1400).  I quickly threw it over a map, and was even able to change the color by applying a tint to the token image in Roll20. 

For the games I play in, we tend to turn off the grid entirely, then just measure movement with the waypoint system: Click and hold your token so you're moving it. Without releasing push the Q button to start measuring. Optional: push Q to drop waypoints along the way to measure a path. Optional: hold shift when releasing to leave the path visible to others. Optional: Press X with a token selected to view its last movement path. See: <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360039178654-Importing-and-Manipulating-Images#ImportingandManipulatingImages-Waypoints" rel="nofollow">https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360039178654-Importing-and-Manipulating-Images#ImportingandManipulatingImages-Waypoints</a>