Showing Critter Altitude in Combat
Friday, April 17, 2009 at 06:55PM Few sessions are played in my campaigns where a monster or a PC isn’t flitting around the battlefield like a coked-up sprite (stoned fey, not the soft drinks). Naturally we need a way to represent a critter that’s above versus below, and once you’ve mastered that the inevitable question is “how high?” or “how low?”
Skree! On a side note, Googling "stoned fairy" is far safer than you might think.
Here are several tested methods of representing those pesky fliers from both sides of the screen.
Draw on the Battlemat
A simple notation next to a mini will serve without any pesky balancing acts. However, what do you do when multiple critters share a vertical space?
Pizza Box Lid Supports
These relatively stable little tripods can be glued or stacked precariously for varying heights, and they’ll fit multiple medium-sized or smaller figures within the tower.
Dice
Larger than normal d6s will often work (until someone bumps the table or rolls their d20 through the battlefield). You can use the number at the top to keep track of altitude
Dice Containers
These clear plastic containers do the job, and can be written upon with dry-erase markers.
Pogs
Again, you’ll have trouble placing multiple minis in the same square, and they’re really only good for medium or smaller minis.
Spend Some Money
Buy the professional solution from someone like Fiery Dragon (those spell effect template overlays look pretty sweet)...
What about you?
None of the solutions above are as convenient or effective as I’d like. Do you have a strong idea for showing altitude in combat? Let us know, please!
altitude, dice, flying, minatures in Running Encounters, Table Tools 
Reader Comments (3)
Since I use LEGOs as minis, it's simplicity itself to build a little tower of them...at least for the minifigs. I haven't yet used any big models as fliers...
We've been using d6s, but other than that, it's pretty abstract. "He's too high for you to hit with X attack, but you can hit him with Y."
Lego minis, Joshua? Curiosity piqued. How do they look? Got any pics online we can see?
Hey Swordgleam, us too, but those dice get left on the map as the battles move around, and more often than not we forget the height. I guess the ideal solution would be a 3D projected light image of some kind... until then, I guess I'll keep my eyes open.
Thanks for stopping by!