Enlarge person and low ceiling heights

[Ashtagon]

By RAW, enlarge person lets the person grow only up to the extent that the space available allows. In a standard dungeon corridor, that's a 10 foot ceiling, which isn't really enough for a Large character to move freely. I'm curious what GMs do in this case:

Say "eh, whatever," and let it slide?

Make all dungeons with minimum 15 foot high ceilings?

Use the rules for squeezing into tight spaces (except that it's not really too tight for that)?

Treat it as difficult terrain and limit his Dexterity bonus?

Say the spell let's him grow a bit, but not enough to count as Large in game terms (effectively the spell flubbs)?

Something else?

Edit: I note that a Large creature can technically be 8 feet tall. So let's suppose we have a ceiling that is 7 feet high - high enough not to bother Medium creatures, but low enough to stop any Large creature entering.

[Curmudgeon]

Given that tall creatures can hunch/bend over, Enlarge Person will work as long as the creature can physically fit into the space. When they're bent over, the rules for squeezing (based on character width) apply. So they'll get both the benefits as well as the drawbacks of their larger size.

[HighWater]

By RAW, enlarge person lets the person grow only up to the extent that the space available allows. In a standard dungeon corridor, that's a 10 foot ceiling, which isn't really enough for a Large character to move freely. I'm curious what GMs do in this case:

Say "eh, whatever," and let it slide?

Make all dungeons with minimum 15 foot high ceilings?

Use the rules for squeezing into tight spaces (except that it's not really too tight for that)?

Treat it as difficult terrain and limit his Dexterity bonus?

Say the spell let's him grow a bit, but not enough to count as Large in game terms (effectively the spell flubbs)?

Something else?

Actually, the limit to how tall a medium creature can be is 8 ft. That means a 10ft ceiling is high enough for even a stunted enlarged person to be considered "large" with all the benefits the spell grants. I'd probably let the enlarged person grow to the height the ceiling permits, call him large (if it's over 8ft) and enforce squeezing penalties if the corridor width is 5ft instead of the required 10 for a large creature to move freely (it won't stop him growing because he's not actually 10 ft wide, just needs 10ft of space for optimal combat).

That said, most of my dungeons feature wider and higher set-ups, because I like the architecture and there's so darn much in D&D that goes past medium. If the builders of the dungeon want to move one of their pet protectors around (or I just want to feature a wandering large monster in an abandoned dungeon) a 10ft high, 5 ft wide corridor is going to cause serious (verisimiltude) problems.

[Ashtagon]

Actually, the limit to how tall a medium creature can be is 8 ft. That means a 10ft ceiling is high enough for even a stunted enlarged person to be considered "large" with all the benefits the spell grants. I'd probably let the enlarged person grow to the height the ceiling permits, call him large (if it's over 8ft) and enforce squeezing penalties if the corridor width is 5ft instead of the required 10 for a large creature to move freely (it won't stop him growing because he's not actually 10 ft wide, just needs 10ft of space for optimal combat).

Fair point. What about the 7-foot high ceiling corridors though? For actual mine shafts made by Medium creatures, that would not be unrealistic at all.

[HighWater]

Fair point. What about the 7-foot high ceiling corridors though? For actual mine shafts made by Medium creatures, that would not be unrealistic at all.

Depends on whether that particular creature can still swing a pickaxe properly within a 7 ft space, but if we make them small miners we can definitely say that the mine doesn't need to be tall enough for large creatures. I'd probably point out when someone wants to cast Enlarge Person inside a shaft like that that person is not going to fit while standing up. If they still want to go ahead with it, saying their character will hunch over and/or walk around with bended knees, they can do it but with some nice squeezing rules. Still, mineshafts often broaden and heighten, following the ore that was excavated and in those rooms, the Large character would be more effective.

I think the "insufficient room" refers to very small confinements, such as a cage, where room is already limited for a medium character...

[John Longarrow]

Ashtagon
The biggest impact tends to be when a now LARGE character tries something like jumping.
In a previous game, our Goliath Meatshield raged (Goliath subs to become LARGE when raging) then tried jumping on a table. In a room 10' tall.
DM got a little creative. Had him do a jump check (massive) followed by a reflex (failed). Hit his head on the center beam and wound up prone on top of the table. Table failed a save and was crushed under the big guy. His weapon was also left stuck in the CEILING.

In all, a fun time was had. This also began Lo'Mak's path towards favored enemy (HOUSE)!

[Syne]

The thing is, I don't keep track of ceiling height unless I want to make a point (e.g. very large room of very small one). If I do specifically state that the height of the ceiling is low, then enlarging would have consequences. Otherwise I would ignore it, or say something to the effect that the character's head almost brushes the ceiling. But I wouldn't go "Aha! the height of the ceiling was actually 7 feet, even though I've never mentioned it before".

Enlarging beyond Large within a normal dungeon would have serious consequences, because that starts to seriously stretch belief. The spell will succeed only partially, increasing the character's size but However, if I state the room is very large, then enlarging to any size would be okay.

Large characters jumping would also be pushing it. Class abilities that rely on jumping (E.g. Tiger Claw) would still function in some way, though.