I have come back to Pathfinder after playing some other systems for the past few years. Now that I have DM'd the first playtest adventure, I am beginning to remember some of the things I was hoping might be changed by PF2, particularly in regards to movement on the grid and AoE effects.
PF2 continues to treat diagonal movment as 5 foot for the first square, 10 feet for the second square. In other systems, I've seen diagonal just simply be 5 foot for each square. Some would argue that "the other system" is less realistic which may or may not be true.
I susepct one of the reasons PF2 keeps this system is to make area of effects work on a grid. PF2's bursts and cones (and even aura's to some extent) rely on diagonals working the way they do. If the current system is not used, it creates some weird AoE templates.
However, in the system where diagonal movement is always 5 feet, AoEs have been altered, and I think work just fine (though it may lack some of the visuals we imagine). For example, a 15 foot cone in PF2 is converted to a 3x3 square (or cube). A 30 foot cone breath weapon becomes a 6x6 square (or cube).
My question is this: Does the simplicity of square or cube AoEs, and by extention, changing diagonal movement to only 5 feet per square, an improvment in the game or this is something that players want to keep as is.
I'm hoping this thread can serve as a feedback to the devs for consideration.
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Well, anybody who has ever read a geometry textbook or taken a class in basic geometry knows that the hypotenuse of a right triangle with a base of 5' and a height of 5' cannot be 5'.
Ever.
Doing a little math: h = square root of a^2 + b^2.
First 5' diagonal is 7.07 feet. Second is 14.14. Third is 21.21. Fourth is 28.28. Etc. Rounding those values to the nearest multiple of 5 is 5, 15, 20, 30, etc.
Ignoring all that, just put down two figures on a flip mat or other gridded surface. Put them 6 squares apart in a straight line. Measure it with a ruler. It will be 6 inches. Now do it 6 squares apart in a diagonal line and measure again. It will be about 8.5 inches which rounds up nicely to 9 inches.
But we all probably know all of that.
As for game play, I've never had to explain it more than once. It's never taken more than a minute or two to explain the math or demonstrate with a ruler (which I always have at my table for measuring things when I'm not using a flip mat).
After that initial discussion, everyone is on board and nobody has any trouble remembering it or using it.
Making gamist rules that ignore basic geometry can create weird situations. Ask any experienced chess player about Triangulation in chess.
So, whenever it's possible (meaning, makes sense and is not obstructive to simple and efficient play), I prefer to let math win the day.
