As the DM, it would be really nice if I could have options to change what is and is not available to the player view. There are times, when it would be nice to disable the use of the measurement tool as well as not let them see the dot grid.
I think it adds a measure of immersion when the player ask something like “I want to fireball X location, can I hit all three of those people without hitting my friends” or “Do I have enough movement to catch up to that person” and the answer can be, something like “its close, you’ll find out if you try it”. As it is, there is often a lot of just the player’s measuring stuff, and then changing what they will do based on that, which isn’t wrong in and of itself, but just lends itself to a different feel and pacing.
Some sort of settings, maybe in the DM account, not on the map itself, that select what is available for players connected to one of your maps. Or a per-map setting could also work just fine.
I think it adds a measure of immersion when the player ask something like “I want to fireball X location, can I hit all three of those people without hitting my friends” or “Do I have enough movement to catch up to that person” and the answer can be, something like “its close, you’ll find out if you try it”.
I disagree with that. In my opinion, players should know what their character knows and not be punished for something they forgot to ask or can’t accurately measure, when their character would have more information than them.
A wizard knows how big his fireball will be, and a high intelligence score would likely mean that same wizard would be able to accurately estimate range, distance, etc.
A barbarian probably wouldn’t know a fireball’s exact range, of course, but that character would definitely know if they can move fast enough on their turn to catch up with an ally or enemy.
There is a difference between knowing how big a fireball is (for example) and knowing exactly how that lines up with a messy real world combat with normally mere seconds to make decisions. Like I mentioned, it is partly a different style of play, but in my opinion, the player does know exactly what what their character knows. Its perfectly reasonable to know the radius of a spell, but not (again IMO) as common to accurately be able to judge perfect distances from an on the ground vantage point. What you described seems to line up with the players knowing MORE than their character would know.