Height advantage
Occupying higher ground grants combat bonuses — accuracy, damage, range, or line of sight — making elevation a positional resource. Height advantage adds a vertical axis to tactical positioning: the map's topography becomes a contested asset, high ground is worth fighting for, and verticality enriches otherwise-flat encounter design. Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2 grant ranged bonuses from elevation, encouraging players to seize ledges and rooftops. Designers use height to reward map awareness, to make terrain meaningful beyond obstacles, and to give ranged units a positional identity. Key decisions: bonus magnitude and type (accuracy versus damage versus range), whether it applies to melee, how it interacts with cover and line of sight, and jump/climb mechanics that make claiming height a real action with cost. Pitfall: if high ground is both easy to reach and strongly dominant, every fight becomes a scramble for the same peak — reaching elevation should cost tempo or exposure so the advantage is earned and contestable.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: tactics, rpg