Giant constrictors are not anacondas

[Eladrinblade]

For the longest time, I just always assumed that constrictors were like pythons or something and giant constrictors were anacondas. Giants are huge and anacondas are 20-something feet long, makes sense, right? Well, no. I was doing some research on whether or not it was feasible to have anaconda-sized constrictor snakes in a temperate setting, and I noticed that anacondas are only 200-some pounds full grown...

A regular constrictor is medium-sized and has 17 str and 19 hp. A giant constrictor is huge-sized, has 25 str and 63 hp, and they do 1d8+10 with a bite and another 1d8+10 with a constrict. Anacondas are nowhere near that dangerous, strong, or tough; nowhere close. Constrictors are anacondas, giant constrictors are Titanoboas; dinosaur snakes, basically. An anaconda curled up can easily fit in a 5ft square, thus medium; it's total length of 4-5 squares doesn't mean it actually takes up that many.

This same logic should probably apply to vipers; I'm pretty much positive there are no medium-sized vipers in real life.

[Biggus]

I largely agree; based on weight, the very largest specimens of modern anacondas and pythons may reach large size, which fits as constrictor snakes can be advanced to large size. A typical adult would definitely be medium. By weight, even titanoboas should only be large.

A couple of caveats though: the height/length/weight figures in the creature size and scale table are not strictly adhered to, for example some creatures which take up a lot of space are classed as being larger than their weight would suggest, and vice versa (for example, a gelatinous cube weighs far more than a normal large creature, but as it's cube-shaped it's still classed as large).

Also, I'm pretty sure they don't use the amount of space a snake would take when it's coiled to determine its size, they assume it's uncoiled and moving about as its size is largely used to determine its combat statistics. So, I suspect they class snakes as one size category larger than they would be based on weight.

EDIT: thought of an example of creatures whose weight is much lower than their size would suggest: skeletons. A human skeleton typically weighs about one-seventh of what the person did when they were alive, but is still classed as medium.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Eladrinblade
I was doing some research on whether or not it was feasible to have anaconda-sized constrictor snakes in a temperate setting, and I noticed that anacondas are only 200-some pounds full grown...

Large anacondas can reach nearly 30 feet and exceed 500 pounds, although these are outliers rather than the average. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if anacondas reached those larger values more commonly in the past.


Originally Posted by Eladrinblade
For the longest time, I just always assumed that constrictors were like pythons or something and giant constrictors were anacondas.

The terminology can be confusing. Anacondas are boas, from the family Boidae, which is an exclusively New World group of snakes, almost entirely Neotropical. The pythons (Pythonidae) are a related group from Europe and Asia. Pythons are exclusively egg-layers, while New World boas are live-bearers.

Pythons and boas both rely on constriction of their prey, with some unusual variations such as the woma in central Australia, which uses a coil of its body to crush rodents against the wall of their burrows. In the general sense, both pythons and boas are “constrictors,” although the well-known Boa constrictor is a boid species distributed throughout the Neotropics.


Originally Posted by Eladrinblade
This same logic should probably apply to vipers; I'm pretty much positive there are no medium-sized vipers in real life.

Bushmasters can reach 10-12 feet, although they top out around 15 pounds. Gaboon vipers aren’t as long, about 7 feet at most, but they can reach over 20 pounds.

[Maat Mons]

On the one hand, D&D has dinosaurs, megaladons, and mammoths so it's completely plausible that the giant constrictor statblock corresponds to a prehistoric creature.

On the other hand, D&D housecats can kill a man in a fair fight, so the giant constrictor statblock severely overestimating living animals is also completely plausible.

[Duff]

You may be overthinking this

[Khedrac]

This same logic should probably apply to vipers; I'm pretty much positive there are no medium-sized vipers in real life.

Now this depends what you mean by "viper". In real life a the vipers are a specific family of venomous snakes that effectively have hinged fangs enabling their bites to have more penetration that other snakes their size.

In D&D terms a "viper" seems to be any venomous snake.

So, what's a real-life "medium" venomous snake? Consider the King Cobra. Now most snakes, including king cobras, can only raise the front third of their body off the ground, which means a 6ft long snake can only raise its head 2 ft.
An average king cobra is about 12 ft long so it gets its head 4 ft off the ground, and the largest known was over 19 ft long - so this is a venomous snake that can look a 6 ft barbarian in the eye!

It may not be "medium" by mass, but it sure is by size.