[RPG] Can a character relay a distance to another character in exact feet/squares

battle-mapdnd-3.5e

This weekend while playing, our wizard found an invisible creature (detected with see invis) and when asked where it was by the party, the player started counting the squares to give an exact measure of where it was.
The GM balked and said that this was not possible but they could give a general distance such as close range or about 50 feet.
The party argued that this was easily possible to do in real life (IRL). Note, it is not easy for me personally but one person stated it was because I am not combat trained (several of them are military/ex-miltiary) and that the characters all are. After so many debates, I don't really go for "I can do this IRL answers" anymore, I prefer to have rules written (for or against, or going with GM call).

Are there rules given for characters being able to relay distances by exact feet or squares?

Note, I know the character must be able to tell because otherwise, spell casting ranges would be difficult to impossible.
The key here is being able to relay exact distance, such as in this case where only one character could see the foe.
I admit the player themself having to count the squares has made me skeptical.

Best Answer

As SevenSidedDie says, there are no rules for this, so you(r DM) needs to make a ruling one way or the other.

Personally, if I was the DM on the spot, I'd probably rule that:

  • Yes, the characters can totally call out "invisible goblin on my 2 o'clock, distance 30 feet!" and be understood. If necessary, they can also use their finger to point.

  • No, I'm not going to quibble about whether the characters would know such tactics, or whether they'd really be appropriate for the setting, at least not without a very good reason. The characters, at least past level 1 in any typical campaign, are all highly experienced combat veterans; they'll know how to do that, or something equivalent.

  • Yes, relaying the information to the other players in squares is a perfectly reasonable abstraction. Or we could just skip that bit and just assume that the other characters now know where the enemy is.

  • Yes, the other characters can attack the indicated square. However, the target creature is still invisible, and thus has total concealment, so even by RAW, they'll have a 50% chance of missing it completely.

  • If the target is more than, say, 10 squares away, I might even give the other characters an additional penalty to hit, because they're not even sure exactly which square the target is in. Also, unless they're using telepathy or something, the target might be able to hear the shout and take evasive action, which might merit a further penalty to hit. Neither of those is RAW (as far as I know), but I'd consider them quite reasonable rulings, depending on the exact circumstances.

  • If anybody objected, I would discuss these rulings (especially the last one) with my players, and adjust them accordingly. However, I would also remind them that, whatever they can do, their enemies can do as well. If their wizard can pinpoint an invisible enemy's position exactly from 500 feet away, and relay it to the rest of the party, then so, presumably, can any intelligent enemy with See Invisible. That should, hopefully, be sufficient incentive to reach a decision that's actually more or less balanced.