The Battle Map (POCT)

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The Player's Option combat system is played on a gridded battle map with 1-inch squares. The battle map becomes a diagram of the battlefield that can be used with figures, stand-up counters, or markers. The exact location of each character or creature is important, since facing and terrain are critical to the tactics of a fight.
A number of games and accessories, such as the Dungeons & Dragons® Adventure Packs, include gridded maps. Feel free to borrow mapboards and modify them for use in your own campaign.
You can also use dry-erase boards, magnetic dungeon tiles, or washable gridded mats to portray your battlefield. You can make your own maps to customize the battlefield for each combat. In fact, it's a good idea for the DM to prepare for an encounter by making a map of the battlefield beforehand. As long as the map is marked in 1-inch squares, it will do.
Some DMs and players may prefer battle maps marked with hexes instead of squares. Hexes, however, introduce certain inconveniences to the rules that do not surface with a square grid. (For example, can figures occupy partial hexes near walls?) Nevertheless, with a few modifications it is certainly possible to adapt the Player's Option combat system to a hex grid.
==Figures and Facing==
Every character in a fight is represented by a miniature, stand-up, or marker of some kind. Figures show the location of every creature in the battle and also show the facing of each creature. In melee scale, one Man-sized creature fills one square on the map.
In any fight, facing is very important. It's hard to punch someone standing behind you unless you turn around. Each figure or marker on the battle map should have an obvious front facing. For miniatures in strange poses, everyone should agree beforehand what direction is the front of figure. “This figure faces the square his sword is pointing at” is good enough.
All figures have front, flank, and rear spaces. The three spaces in front of a figure are its front spaces, the two spaces directly beside it are flank spaces, and the three spaces behind it are rear spaces. Facings can be at the side of a square or at the corner (see diagram).
Normally, characters can only attack enemies in their front spaces and gain attack bonuses when they attack an enemy's flank or rear.
There are two situations where more than one figure can occupy a single square: grappled figures are both in the defender's square, and characters in close order (see Chapter Two) can fit two figures to a single square. If there is more than one figure in a square, each figure has the same front, flank, and rear spaces; no one is considered to be in the left side of the space, or the back of the space, or whatever.
Tiny (Size T) creatures can fit an unlimited number in one square, although it would be unusual for more than 10 to be in one space unless they were insect-sized.
Figures that are smaller than Man-sized (Size S) normally occupy one square each, but if space is tight they'll fight two to a square with no penalty. Small creatures in close order can fit three figures in a square.
Large (size L) creatures normally occupy one space on the map. They can fight in close order simply by occupying adjacent spaces.
Huge (size H) creatures occupy two to four spaces on the map, depending on their size and shape. Humanoids such as giants and ettins are two squares wide, creating an extra front space and an extra rear space. Horse-like or serpentine creatures have a narrow front and a long body, creating two extra flank spaces. Block-like or massive creatures occupy a four-space square.
Gargantuan (Size G) creatures occupy at least six spaces. They can be even bigger if the DM decides that the creature's proportions are truly immense. A dragon with a 40-foot body could take up a block of spaces two wide and eight long! Gargantuan creatures define front, flank, and rear spaces so that roughly one-third of the adjacent squares fall into each category.
Category:Player's Option: Combat & Tactics