[Mechanics] Battlegrid rules overview

[Causa]

Hey guys,

This game is a learning experience for us all, so I figured we could have a thread for rules references and questions, so that other people can reference it if they have the same question later.

As most of you know, this is my first time DMing a game on forums, and there are a lot of differences between forum D&D and tabletop...I'm coming to realize that, so as things click into place and we find a happy medium, there are probably going to be a few rough patches in the rules.

I'm going to post some common battlegrid rules and I would like those of you experienced with forum RP to post standards-of-play such as handling turns and things like "full round actions" in an environment that is not real time.

I am trying to reference JaggedEdge, who is the DM who taught me, but he makes it look so easy, it's hard to pick up on his skill.

Moving on~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

Critical Rolls: If you land a hit in your critical threat area: 20 for a lot of weapons, 19-20 on some, and 18-20 on very few, you then need to roll a confirmation attack with all the same bonuses....stat, magic weapon, buffs, bard music...whatever. If you hit on the second roll, you critical. If you critical on the second roll, I usually interpret that as an insta-kill, unless the creature has more HP and Damage Reduction than double your critical damage.

For example: Kevdak the Half-Orc Barbarian totally slaughtered a skeleton last night. He landed a crit, confirmed it, and his Great Axe has a x3 critical modifier. That's three full d12s of damage plus his strength bonus each time.

Attacks and Damage~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melee Weapons: You roll your Base Attack bonus + Strength Mod + any weapon bonuses like masterwork, or weapon focus (weapon you have), + d20.

For damage you add your strength modifier to the damage roll, so 1d8+3 if you have 16 strength.

Ranged Weapons: You do BAB + Dex + weapon bonuses, you do NOT add strength unless you have a composite bow. Composite bows are made of stronger materials like laminated wood and bone, and can tolerate the stress of a heavier pull weight. So you Do add your Strength bonus to composite bow. If you get one of these and have questions, just ask.

Thrown Weapons: Thrown weapons are a hybrid of the two. You use BAB + DEX + Bonuses, but you also add Strength to damage. A sling counts as a thrown weapon.

Movement~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I built the maps that we are playing on to a scale of 1 inch = 5 feet. Your tokens are all 1 inch^2, as are the enemy tokens.

Basically in combat, characters can control 5 feet of space each, but they don't have to. In the case of party members, you all can move through each others space freely, and you can shoot over each other freely as long as the target is not adjacent to an ally.

Since the squares are in 5 foot increments, it fits into your movement speed that 30ft = 6 squares, and if you have tiny halfling legs, 20ft = 4 squares.

You all can take a 5 foot step (1 square) as a free action, if you don't move as your move action. So if you use your move action to load a crossbow, or draw a sword, you can still move 1 square, then attack or use your standard action.