Size categories limits

[Dualswinger]

So I was rereading Volos and came across an interesting little thing. A goblin could be up to 4’1” and be considered small, but the dwarf could be as short as 4’0” and be medium.

Now obviously the dwarf will be MUCH broader and heavier, but it got me thinking. If a player elected to play as a changing, what would be the maximum height that you’d allow them to be?

RAW the tallest character I’ve found is a Rune Knight Firbolg, who has a potential max height of 9’2”

[Greywander]

In theory, I think a medium sized creature is supposed to occupy a five foot cube, but I think in practice they're more concerned with the 2D area on the battle grid than the 3D volume. This is why something like a goliath or firbolg is medium and not large; they might be really tall, but because they're bipedal they still occupy a 5 foot square. I still think they should maybe count as large, but there seems to be a design restriction against having large PC races.

Something to notice is that a medium creature occupies a 5 foot square, while a tiny creature occupies a 2.5 foot square, exactly half. A small creature nominally occupies a 5 foot square like a medium creature does, but I think if you divide that by the square root of two you'll get the more accurate measurement of a 3.5355339 foot square. So a small creature is one that can fit inside a ~3.5 foot square.

Even this is tricky, however, as obviously a human doesn't take up the entire 5 foot area. Rather, I think it's assumed that that's how much room they need in order to effectively swing a weapon or use somatic components or whatever other actions may require motion of some kind. If you stand closer than 5 feet, you might get hit by accident when they swing their weapon, for example.

Another thing to consider is that I think size is not just a measure of the physical space occupied, but also the weight/mass of the creature. This might be why something like a dwarf, despite being shorter, are still considered medium, as they're more massive than something like a gnome or halfling. You could have a creature that occupies a large space, but is very spindly and light weight (maybe something like a spider), and that might change their size as well. Although at that point it might make more sense to split size and weight into separate traits.

You could probably come up with a rough chart showing the typical height (bipedal) or length (quadrupedal) ranges for different size categories, as well as the different weight ranges for different sizes. Even then, though, it probably wouldn't be 100% accurate, and you'd always have edge cases where a creature's height/length is in one category while its weight is in another.

[MaxWilson]

So I was rereading Volos and came across an interesting little thing. A goblin could be up to 4’1” and be considered small, but the dwarf could be as short as 4’0” and be medium.

Now obviously the dwarf will be MUCH broader and heavier, but it got me thinking. If a player elected to play as a changing, what would be the maximum height that you’d allow them to be?

RAW the tallest character I’ve found is a Rune Knight Firbolg, who has a potential max height of 9’2”

A wild mage can be arbitrarily tall (or short) with the right die rolls. There's a _slight_ bias towards growth, about an inch per hundred wild surges IIRC.

[Naanomi]

A wild mage can be arbitrarily tall (or short) with the right die rolls. There's a _slight_ bias towards growth, about an inch per hundred wild surges IIRC.
We had a halfling wildmage who was within 2 rolls of disappearing entirely once

[Valmark]

As long as it's reasonable for the race, I would have no limitation regarding the character's weight and height- can't say I've been in a situation were I would have had to take a stance, though.


We had a halfling wildmage who was within 2 rolls of disappearing entirely once

Now I want to see this happen.

[Dualswinger]

As long as it's reasonable for the race, I would have no limitation regarding the character's weight and height- can't say I've been in a situation were I would have had to take a stance, though.

The situation where you'd need to take a stance is a changeling just becoming as tall as possible to reach whatever they need. Especially if they take advantage of the Runeknight or enlarge spell

[Naanomi]

A kobold Wild Mage could be 0'' tall after three bad wild surges... or negative height with more... Their weight doesn't change that I can see. Infinite density achieved

[Valmark]

The situation where you'd need to take a stance is a changeling just becoming as tall as possible to reach whatever they need. Especially if they take advantage of the Runeknight or enlarge spell

Same rule, as long as it's reasonable for the race they take the shape of.