Playing without a Grid

Parent page Encounters

The Pathfinder rules are built to play combat encounters on a 1-inch grid, but you can play without a grid or map. In what’s traditionally called the “theater of the mind,” you and other players imagine the locations of the combatants and the environment. In this style of play, you’ll frequently need to make judgment calls. These are usually simple, like “Can I see the ogre from where I’m standing?” or “Can I get to the ogre with one Stride?” It’s often best to have a player tell you what they want to do, such as “I want to cross the beam to get to the ogre and attack it.” Then, you tell the player how that breaks down into actions, like “You’ll need to spend one action and succeed at an Acrobatics check, then Stride to get close enough, then you’ll have one action left for a Strike.”