Maps and Miniatures
Source GM Core pg. 28
A grid and miniatures can make it easier to visualize combat for players and give a visual centerpiece for the players to focus on. A setup can range from a basic grid with some hasty marker lines and coins for miniatures to a full-color Flip-Mat with official pre-painted minis or cardboard pawns, all the way to a set of 3D dungeon terrain and hand-painted minis for each character. Many virtual tabletops have preset maps, token packs, and built-in functions for movement and line of sight. All of these resources can be fun to play on! Your setup should match your time commitment, budget, and the aesthetics you want.
You can also bring the setting alive by describing sensory details like sounds, smells, temperature, and 3D elements that aren't represented on your map. Describing the echoing ring of a bullet rebounding off a carbon shield, an errant sonic scream spell that shatters all the bottles in the cantina, and the like makes the game feel more alive.
Placing miniatures on a grid can make it feel like you need to be exacting with the rules, but there's still room for improvisation! You might give another 5 feet of movement to someone running downhill if it will make their turn more dramatic. You're empowered to give players minor boosts that fit the story you want to tell and to fill in nuances of the location beyond what appears on the map.
You can also bring the setting alive by describing sensory details like sounds, smells, temperature, and 3D elements that aren't represented on your map. Describing the echoing ring of a bullet rebounding off a carbon shield, an errant sonic scream spell that shatters all the bottles in the cantina, and the like makes the game feel more alive.
Placing miniatures on a grid can make it feel like you need to be exacting with the rules, but there's still room for improvisation! You might give another 5 feet of movement to someone running downhill if it will make their turn more dramatic. You're empowered to give players minor boosts that fit the story you want to tell and to fill in nuances of the location beyond what appears on the map.
Cover
Source GM Core pg. 28
You determine whether a character has cover. The rules for drawing lines found in Player Core are useful in simple cases, but in more complicated situations, use your own discretion to make the call. Consider the details of the environment and 3D space beyond what's on the battle mat. For instance, a holographic advertisement might give cover, or a PC who climbed onto a ledge might have a clear shot at an enemy standing behind a short wall. Be generous to PCs who use creativity to get into smart positions, especially if they spend valuable actions to move or Take Cover.
Splitting and Combining Movement
Source GM Core pg. 28
The different types of actions representing movement are split up to clarify how the rules work with a creature's actions. However, you can end up in odd situations, such as when a creature wants to jump vertically to get something and needs to move just a bit to get in range, then Leap, then continue moving. This can end up feeling like they're losing a lot of their movement to make this happen. At your discretion, you can allow the PCs to essentially combine these into one fluid movement as a 2-action activity: moving into range for a Leap, then Leaping, then using the rest of their Speed.
This typically works only for chaining types of movement together. Doing something like Interacting to open a door or making a Strike usually arrests movement long enough that doing so in the middle of movement isn't practical.
This typically works only for chaining types of movement together. Doing something like Interacting to open a door or making a Strike usually arrests movement long enough that doing so in the middle of movement isn't practical.