Most RPG rules questions start with something reasonable, like Can I jump over this pit? or Does fireball set the curtains on fire? This one starts with a much more dangerous question: How many adventurers can we cram into one five-foot square before the rules collapse? Tyler digs into decades of D&D and Pathfinder rules looking for an answer, while Ash does increasingly questionable celebrity impressions, Randall weaponizes every edge case he can find, and Tyler's cats provide live demonstrations of why personal space is apparently optional.
This week, we're getting uncomfortably close as we dig into the surprisingly complicated rules for creatures sharing spaces. Can you walk through an ally? What about an enemy? Can a tiny creature just hang out in your square? What happens if somebody gets shoved into someone else? And, most importantly, can another player give you a piggyback ride and technically become your mount?
We trace the rules from D&D 3.5 through 2014 and 2024 D&D 5e before arriving at Pathfinder 2e, comparing how each system handles movement, size differences, prone creatures, incapacitated creatures, forced movement, swarms, and all the weird situations where two creatures wind up occupying the same chunk of battlefield.
Along the way, Tyler discovers that some rules are clearer than expected and others become significantly worse the longer you stare at them. Pathfinder 2e earns some praise for actually explaining what happens when creatures accidentally collide, while 2024 5e raises uncomfortable questions about exactly who falls prone and when. Meanwhile, Ash turns rules text into an excuse for a parade of impressions, Randall threatens the Grand Canyon with rules exploits, and the cats continue proving that tiny creatures respect neither game mechanics nor boundaries.
DnD 5.x
PF2: Tactical Movement
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D&D 3.5 was surprisingly explicit about moving through allies, enemies, helpless creatures, and creatures of dramatically different sizes.
2014 5e simplifies those rules considerably, but that simplicity creates some strange gaps when creatures accidentally or forcibly end up sharing a space.
2024 5e improves several things, especially interactions with Tiny and incapacitated creatures, but its rule about creatures falling prone when a turn ends while sharing a space creates a whole new argument about what exactly end a turn means.
Pathfinder 2e gives the GM a clear answer when creatures accidentally occupy the same square: somebody gets moved, somebody may fall prone, and the GM decides how the mess gets resolved.
Pathfinder 2e also handles willing creatures, unwilling creatures, prone creatures, Tiny creatures, objects, and forced movement with much more specific rules. Tumble Through exists for a reason.
Forced movement in Pathfinder cannot simply put a creature somewhere it cannot normally occupy, which immediately kills several wonderfully stupid launching-people-into-the-air strategies.
Swarms are the exception everyone should remember. They want to share your space because getting directly on top of you is how they ruin your day.
The ultimate lesson is that creatures sharing spaces is one of those rules nobody thinks about until it happens. Then everyone stops the game, opens three rulebooks, and discovers they've been doing it differently for years.
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Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.
Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.
Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.
Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.
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