Dungeon Master Assistance

How to easily determine the distance between points in 3D space.

“My character is 50 feet away from the base of a 60 foot cliff and firing my shortbow (range 80/320). How far away is the target standing on top of the cliff? Do I have to roll at disadvantage or is it still short range?”
“I have a fly speed of 60 feet. My opponent is flying 45 feet away (as measured on the battlemat) and is also 25 feet higher than me. Can I fly to within 5 foot of him on my turn?”

I have been using a simple technique to quickly determine the distance at my table. First I determine the horizontal distance and the vertical distance. Take 1/2 the shorter of the two (rounded down) and add it to the longer. When all of these distances are in 5 foot increments and the distances are less than 50 feet it works fairly well, but it obviously has its limitations.

Another option is to use the Pythagorean theorem, but my math isn’t all that good.

You could have a calculator at the table. One with trig functions would be useful.

Some people keep a link to a Pythagorean Theorem Calculator website on their device. Here is a good one:
https://www.omnicalculator.com/math/pythagorean-theorem

I decided that the easiest way for me would be to have a simple look-up table printed out and available at the table when we played, so I created this one.

Download your free copy HERE