HEIGHT & WEIGHT of MONSTERS - General Discussion - D&D Beyond General - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

Because if you're trying to trap a monster in a Wall of Force ( ahemispherical dome or a sphere with a radius of up to 10 feet, or you can shape a flat surface made up of ten 10-foot-by-10-foot panels), figure out if a creature can fit into a particular part of a dungeon, reach a character who climbed up a wall trying to escape, it's important to have these stats.

You may think it doesn't matter if an Orc is 4" taller or shorter, but as your character progresses, you will face more complex creatures than Orcs. If you look at manuals from previous editions, the height is stated for every creature. There is a reason for this. There should at least be a chart of a height range for creatures in a certain category (Small 2.5'-4.5 feet, Medium 4.5'-8', etc...). There is one for 3.5e, but not for 5e. There are spells that give a specific height and radius of it's effects (walls, spheres, etc), and others that say it can hold a "large creature". It should be consistent, and at least give the players and DM a sense of how tall or how long their adversary is, rather than "giant size takes up a 15x15 area....."

Quote from Wysperra >>

Just make it up and use the size chart to give you a range.

Then why are we paying WotC for this? The size chart tells you how many squares/hexes the creature occupies. This is for AoE spells and effects. It has absolutely nothing to do with height. A small size creature takes up a 5x5 space, but the height is nowhere near 5 feet. A Giant takes up a 15x15 space, but they are taller than 15'. What kind of range are you thinking?

This is what 3.5 gave us.......

- Diminutive: 6" - 12"
- Tiny: 1' - 2'
- Small: 2' - 4'
- Medium: 4' - 8'
- Large: 8' - 16'
- Huge: 16' - 32'
- Gargantuan: 32' - 64'
- Colossal: 64'+

Thatinformation isprovided for 5e, intwodifferent places:

• Chapter 8 - Running the Game of the Dungeon Master's Guide provides a visual chart the heights of different size creatures.
• The introduction of the Monster Manual provides a more explicit table like the 3.5e version you reference.

So it seems WotC did provide this information as they have in previous editions

I have those charts.Very vague...

I didn't know the information was there until you pointed out it was in 3.5, so I went looking for it.

I wasn't being snarky, I was just providing what information I found. There's no need to be hostile, and I've actually never got beaten up because I don't go round being rude to random people for no good reason.

As for the "I don't know why that's so important" bit, I actually asked (genuinely) about the utility of that information, which you validly answered with your Wall of Force response.

Maybe you shouldn't be rude about me pointing out the information when your thread literally started with a complaint about WotC not providing the information when instead you couldn't be bothered to look for it. Pot, kettle, black?

I knew that chart was there. I didn't know that was what OP was asking for.

I thought this was about having more lore-type info (as opposed to rule-type) for describing the creatures or gauging stress on environments (dragon landing on castle, giant stepping on bridge).

Quote from DxJxC >>

I knew that chart was there. I didn't know that was what OP was asking for.

I thought this was about having more lore-type info (as opposed to rule-type) for describing the creatures or gauging stress on environments (dragon landing on castle, giant stepping on bridge).

Exactly! In 1ed the height was provided for every individual creature in any manual printed. It was there specifically for that reason.

The charts from 5e are extremely vague, and it shouldn't be that difficult to find specific heights of creatures. Example: Huge is 16-32 feet. That's a big gap when trying to plan an encounter with a big boss. Groups like Devils and Demons leave so much in the air, even the specific Demon Lords and Dukes of Hell don't have a description of their height.

Quote from Davedamon >>

I didn't know the information was there until you pointed out it was in 3.5, so I went looking for it.

I wasn't being snarky, I was just providing what information I found. There's no need to be hostile, and I've actually never got beaten up because I don't go round being rude to random people for no good reason.

As for the "I don't know why that's so important" bit, I actually asked (genuinely) about the utility of that information, which you validly answered with your Wall of Force response.

Maybe you shouldn't be rude about me pointing out the information when your thread literally started with a complaint about WotC not providing the information when instead you couldn't be bothered to look for it. Pot, kettle, black?

Point taken. My apologies. But I am frustrated as to the lack of detail 5e has because WotC has tried to streamline and simplify things. I love 5e, way better than any edition, but there are too many vague things left up in the air that can greatly affect encounters.

S'all good, no harm, no foul. I think a lot of stuff has been streamlined out because wotc doesn't think it matters enough to be core to the rules. For example, wall of force is worded in such a way that it's pretty easy to guesstimate to a satisfactory degree if a monster is in or out of the area.

I think that stuff like specific monster sizes only can really matter in Theatre of the Mind (as grid based doesn't really function at that level of specificity). Ironically TotM is also where it matters least as it's generally quite fast and loose, at least in my experience.

If this is a facet that factors into your game, I believe people have collated information from various sources to provide the information you need.

As an example:

In Mordenkaine's Tomb of Foes, Bael, a former Archduke and current Duke of the first layer of Hell Avernus, is listed as "Large Fiend(devil)." But nowhere in the paragraphs describing his attributes and such is his height listed. I've read it several times thinking I missed something, but nothing states what his height or description is. He's a major character in the Nine Hells, I would think something like that would warrant some finer details. Just sayin'.......

I think the answer is pretty obvious; it'd be tedious work for the monster designers, there's going to be variance in any species, and the info is rarely relevant.

Even in the cases where you do need size or weight for whatever reason, you don't actually need the exact number; you just need to know if it's greater or smaller than a certain value, so an approximation is fine. It's not too hard to come up with a ballpark figure.

Quote from Golaryn >>

Seems silly that a medium creature that is 8 foot tall using a 3 foot club can't hit a creature more than 5 feet off the ground.

There's no specific rule that says they can't. The rules are fuzzy at best when it comes to vertical space and vertical reach; a creature's space is only given in terms of a 2D area. Also, anyone can jump.

Quote from Golaryn >>

I have often had issues with the lack of height in the MM. Seems silly that a medium creature that is 8 foot tall using a 3 foot club can't hit a creature more than 5 feet off the ground.

They can hit a creature 5 feet off the ground. You can attack diagonally. They would have to be 10 feet off the ground to be out of reach, and that makes sense even for the 8 foot goliath with a 3 foot sword.

In fact, the opposite becomes the problem, a 3 foot halfling with a 1 foot dagger can cleanly hit an enemy 5 feet up. But it is just game balance at that point so as to not penalize small races.