I just realized...

[DonQuixote]

So, a while ago, I became disillusioned with Colossal creatures.  Sure, it was fun plunking a box set of The Silmarillion on CD onto the table when my party faced the Tarrasque--the box was actually perfectly six squares to a side--but...they just didn't seem that big.  Six squares to a side?  Not even as big as a building!

Well, I started thinking about it today, and I realized that I need to start making smaller buildings.

A Colossal creature takes up a space that is 30 feet to a side.  That's 900 square feet, or roughly the size of a two-bedroom apartment.  That's pretty nice, considering that we're just talking about this thing's standing space.

So, simply by standing, this thing takes up enough space for two humans to live in comfortably.  On top of that, the minimum height for a Colossal biped is listed as 64 feet.  Doesn't sound like much, does it?  I mean, compared to that two-bedroom apartment...

Well, apparently, that's roughly the height of a five-story building.  Now, think about that for a moment.  In the standard medieval setting, you mostly have villages and a few keeps.  Five stories is far higher than anything in a village, and few castle keeps exceeded five floors.  From what I remember from my medieval history course, most castles would probably be around three or four.  Now, their stories might be taller than those of a modern building, but the point is that this thing stands in a space larger than the average commoner's hut and is around the same height as the lord's keep.

Maybe this isn't news for anyone else, but I had never really thought about the translation of size.  I had just thought: "Oh, 30 feet.  That's, what, six times as large as a human?  Feh."

Never again will I make that mistake.  This has had a serious impact on the way that I view creatures on the battlemat.


Has anyone else had one of these moments of realization?  Share your stories, if you have them!

[altpersona]

our first house was 580sq feet. 

the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is about 60 feet off the water.

[Solo]

Repeat after me: Area is a square, volume is a cube.

[DonQuixote]

Repeat after me: Area is a square, volume is a cube.

When did I mention volume?  I was talking about the area that they take up on the battle mat, not their complete dimensions.

If I were talking about volume, I'd mention that a Colossal biped takes up 57,600 cubic feet--nearly three times the volume of the water that passes through Niagara Falls in a second.

[NunoM]

I remember my gaming party was a bit disappointed with the size (not the power) of a Huge Monstrous Scorpion...

The exact words were: "15ft/10ft... that's all? Not much bigger than a horse for a huge vermin?"

[kitep]

Has anyone else had one of these moments of realization?  Share your stories, if you have them!

When I prepare a liar, a 20x20 room seems really small - but it's bigger than most of the rooms in my house.

[sirpercival]

Has anyone else had one of these moments of realization?  Share your stories, if you have them!

When I prepare a liar, a 20x20 room seems really small - but it's bigger than most of the rooms in my house.

I guess you need a lot of space for some righteous fibbing...

[RedWarlock]

I'm in general dissatisfied with the sizing system for large/huge/gargantuan/colossal creatures. They double in a dimension, except for battlemat purposes. A 4 to 8ft humanoid (let's say 6ft average) takes up a 5ft square on the mat, but a 64-108 ft (let's say an average of 86 feet) tall giant only takes up a 30ft square? This isn't even getting into the 2-4ft small humanoids that still take up that 5ft square... You couldn't even lay one down and have it fill a side!

It's a good thing they stop at colossal, or we'd have super-humungous creatures in the 400ft range that can't actually take a widened stance in the 'space' they occupy.

(Personally, I rewrote the sizing system to use yards/meters, and have all the sizes go up 1 yard at a time, and gain 4 feet in height. At least is scales geometrically. I do run out of upper sizing terms, though.)

[DonQuixote]

but a 64-108 ft (let's say an average of 86 feet) tall giant only takes up a 30ft square?

The problem is that the 30ft square is actually 900 square feet.  Which is pretty damned big.  It just doesn't look that way to us.

[veekie]

It helps to think of size scales in a way your mind can relate to.
Fine - Insect sized
Diminutive - Rodent sized
Tiny - Housecat sized
Small - Child sized
Medium - Base scale
Large - Small land vehicle, could be a minicar or a large bike.
Huge - Large land vehicle like a truck, or an apartment.
Gargantuan - House sized or small WATER vehicle sized.
Colossal - Building sized or medium water vehicle sized.

[Vicerious]

For those of you who may play Minecraft:  one block in Minecraft is 1 meter to a side.  That means you'd have to build a room 10 blocks wide by 10 blocks long by 20 tall to give a Colossal biped enough room to stand up straight and do nothing else.  For those who don't play Minecraft, I recommend playing with the demo to get a feel for this scale.  Your Minecraft player character is 2 blocks tall.

[RedWarlock]

but a 64-108 ft (let's say an average of 86 feet) tall giant only takes up a 30ft square?

The problem is that the 30ft square is actually 900 square feet.  Which is pretty damned big.  It just doesn't look that way to us.

Doesn't matter. I'm talking about space proportionate to height. They don't scale up together. Imagine you as a 6ft or so human were given only a 2x2 ft square to stand and fight in combat. It doesn't work very well, does it?

[dipolartech]

I've done that sort of thing before, we call it a "knife fight in a phone booth" drill and you pretty much don't get to do anything with your feet, and you can easily run out of space to maneuver arms. Now trying to imagine being stuck in a phone booth while people are running at you with swords sounds like a bad day.

[Amechra]

In these situations, I just really want to adapt that one monster from Iron Heroes to D&D.

Namely, the one you climb Shadow of the Collosus style. 

[NiteCyper]

(click to show/hide)

So, a while ago, I became disillusioned with Colossal creatures.  Sure, it was fun plunking a box set of The Silmarillion on CD onto the table when my party faced the Tarrasque--the box was actually perfectly six squares to a side--but...they just didn't seem that big.  Six squares to a side?  Not even as big as a building!

Well, I started thinking about it today, and I realized that I need to start making smaller buildings.

A Colossal creature takes up a space that is 30 feet to a side.  That's 900 square feet, or roughly the size of a two-bedroom apartment.  That's pretty nice, considering that we're just talking about this thing's standing space.

So, simply by standing, this thing takes up enough space for two humans to live in comfortably.  On top of that, the minimum height for a Colossal biped is listed as 64 feet.  Doesn't sound like much, does it?  I mean, compared to that two-bedroom apartment...

Well, apparently, that's roughly the height of a five-story building.  Now, think about that for a moment.  In the standard medieval setting, you mostly have villages and a few keeps.  Five stories is far higher than anything in a village, and few castle keeps exceeded five floors.  From what I remember from my medieval history course, most castles would probably be around three or four.  Now, their stories might be taller than those of a modern building, but the point is that this thing stands in a space larger than the average commoner's hut and is around the same height as the lord's keep.

Maybe this isn't news for anyone else, but I had never really thought about the translation of size.  I had just thought: "Oh, 30 feet.  That's, what, six times as large as a human?  Feh."

Never again will I make that mistake.  This has had a serious impact on the way that I view creatures on the battlemat.


Has anyone else had one of these moments of realization?  Share your stories, if you have them!

• Bird's-eye view belittles.
• Child's-eye view embiggens.
• I got the sense of scale the moment that I saw the core illustration of sizes.
  

It helps to think of size scales in a way your mind can relate to.
Fine - Insect sized
Diminutive - Rodent sized
[...]
Gargantuan - House sized or small WATER vehicle sized.

• A sparrow is Fine-sized, and I consider them to be much bigger than insects.
• When I think of a small WATER vehicle, I think of a jet-ski, which is not as big as a house.

[veekie]

Well, not a personal water vehicle. I forgot those existed.

[Agrippa]

In these situations, I just really want to adapt that one monster from Iron Heroes to D&D.

Namely, the one you climb Shadow of the Collosus style. 

What is it called then? It sounds cool.

[Maat Mons]

A sparrow is Fine-sized, and I consider them to be much bigger than insects.

Well, most insects.

[Halinn]

Rather than think in only one dimension (six times as large as a human), remember that with three of those sides, a colossal thing is 216 times as large as a human. To me, that says more than how many square meters/feet it takes up. It's about a 14x15 square, if you just had the dragon at human height.

[caelic]

The exact words were: "15ft/10ft... that's all? Not much bigger than a horse for a huge vermin?"

...to which I can only say that if I ever encounter a scorpion bigger than a horse, I doubt "unimpressed" will be my RL reaction.  "Badly in need of a fresh change of underwear" is much more likely.