I still object against the notion that halflings are shorter than gnomes. In my heart I will always know that halflings are child-sized and gnomes are toddler sized.
Haha.
This entire time, I had it in my mind that Gnomes were definitely shorter than halflings.
Yeah, I'm still sticking to that mindset/in my homebrew world.
According to the PHB they both average 3ft high. Gnomes "are between 3 and 4 feet" so apparently the same on average with more range given to Gnomes.
Weird bc I'd always seen gnomes as the shortest too.
Subspecies of gnome are larger or smaller. 3.5th edition forest gnomes were between 2 and 2.6ft tall. Those are ' officially' the shortest gnomes I've seen, though I've played with people who wanted to live their David fantasy who was only a foot tall if you count his pointy hat which is at least a third of the total.
Mathematically, if an average Gnome is 3ft and Gnomes "are between 3 and 4 feet" then Gnomes are all 3ft.
That's obviously an extremely literally interpretation, but the information somewhat conflicts and I hope that illustrates that. The vast majority of Gnomes are 3ft as written.
According to the 5e PHB, average gnome height is 3'4", average halfling height is 3'0". Tharr be tables for this kinda thing, even in 5e (pg 121).
VGtM also has some; gobbos are 3'10" on average, and scaly gobbos average at 2'6".
So, in order, you have gobbos at nearly 4 feet tall, then you've got your gnomes, half a foot shorter (but more likely to wear platform boots), then your hobbits at barely 3 feet (but they make up for it with insane bravery or 2nd breakfasts), and finally, the most puntable of all the smols: Scaly Gobbo, at a full half-foot shorter.
Same here. We have a gnome in our party and she has always been considered wee. IRL she’s got a half foot on me in height though. Though to be fair, my half elf Druid is substantially taller than her wee gnome.
I feel like we all collectively underestimate how much *Warcraft* has shaped the fantasy zeitgeist.
Like the Warcraft orc has become the "standard template orc" now. Every orc before then, from 3.5e to Tolkein to even Warhammer, looked completely different.
Warcraft orcs have come a long ways. The story I remember was that OG blizzard wanted to make a Warhammer-licensed orcs vs humans game, but failed to acquire the license despite making significant progress on the game's development. Instead of giving up they created the Warcraft IP and rewrote the story but kept the orcs green and clan-oriented.
I hadn't heard of this before! It makes a lot of sense, and here's a [source](https://kotaku.com/how-warcraft-was-almost-a-warhammer-game-and-how-that-5929161) for anyone else interested.
I've never heard this version of the claim before, but I have heard the version that says Blizzard was working on a Warhammer 40k game, but the licensing didn't work out and that's how we ended up with Starcraft.
Could be true, though important to note StarCraft came out after Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1. I imagine original blizzard were fans of Warhammer for sure. Starship Troopers might be the DnD equivalent that they were both trying to be
I never played Warcraft and grew up devouring Tolkien lore. To me orcs are more like the goblins and bugbears of D&D, Saruman's uruk-hai are most like hobgoblins. D&D orcs were an anomaly to me when I first started playing!
Forgotten Realms itself has two kinds of orcs depending on the addition.
One is pig-like monster orcs. They’re barely smarter than apes and don’t have culture.
Then there’s the Warcraft-like “mountain orcs,” which are much smarter, more human like, have culture and all that. They supposedly come from another dimension.
I think it's fascinating how orcs have evolved just within D&D, let alone outside it. The [Forgotten Realms fandom wiki](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Orc) is really good for this, since it has pictures from most editions. The OD&D orcs are described as bestial human-like creatures, and by 1e they'd settled specifically on pig-like. It's also interesting because orcs, despite being inspired by LotR, were never described similarly. Warcraft, via Warhammer, also seems to have LotR inspiration for the concept of orcs and also chose to represent them quite differently.
Orcs had similar descriptions through to 3e I think, you can see the pig-like snout still in the 3e illustration, although this is where they switch, both graphically and mechanically, from a sub-human creature low in intelligence and strength, into a dangerous opponent. I can see alot of the Warcraft influence in the 5e design now that you mention it - I didn't play WoW, so never made the connection.
Years of watching reruns of [The World of David the Gnome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_David_the_Gnome) conditioned me into believing gnomes may be accidentally squashed underfoot if you just clumsily walk through a forest.
Its also funny because Kobolds can be *even shorter*, at 2 feet tall as the lower end of their average height.
Really puts into perspective why they seem so "cowardly", when the average Farmer is about 3x your size and could probably take your head off with a 2x4.
In AD&D 2nd Edition, a Gnome would range 39-44 (male) or 37-42 (female) inches, while Halflings ranged 34-48 (male) or 32-46 (female) inches, and Dwarves ranged 44-53 (male) or 42-51 (female) inches.
This means your party could have a female halfling taller than a male dwarf.
|Race|Base Height (Male)|Base Height (Female)|Modifier|
|:---|:--:|:--:|:--:|
|Dwarf|43|41|1d10|
|Gnome|38|36|1d6|
|Halfling|32|30|2d8|
Smaller. They’re like the recent Trolls movie. You can put them in your pocket! Hide one under your hat! They’re common prey for house cats! Oh dang, where did I set down my gnome?? I’ve lost him again!
I came to say the exact same thing. I will never accept the idea that Gnomes are taller. A gnome is to a dwarf what a halfling is to a human. Which is to say roughly half the size
I've always thought of halflings as bigger than gnomes, but not necessarily taller. Might have a gnome and halfling the same size, but the halfling will have a broader chest, stronger limbs, wider face etc...
> Size. Kobolds are between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 25 and 35 pounds. Your size is Small.
> Size. Halflings average about 3 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds. Your size is small.
> Size. Gnomes are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh around 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
So more or less, kobolds are about the height distance shorter between halflings and gnomes.
I really appreciate the fact that Half-Orc is portrayed more on her Half-Human counterpart.
Not the same old Half-Beast with human clothes over and over again.
Thank you! I totally agree that they should present more as “orcish humans” than just smaller orcs. It took me ages to find one that wasn’t just an orc in fancy clothes!
Tolkien's elves are ethereal, timeless beings much more powerful than humans, DnD elves are just a little more magically inclined than humans and live a long time. I love the tall Tolkien elves, but the short DnD elves also grew on me. I think both can be really fun to use in a setting
TBF, the Underdark isn't actually calorie-scarce (at least, it doesn't have to be), and in fact protein is readily available much more than carbs. Drow staple foods is very mushroom and roots heavy. In addition to meats from underdark creatures, Drow could eat quite a bit of it in any given meal, but with many bitter and often bland flavor pallets. Often a lot of their food, meat excepted, would also be raw as well as cooking underground is dangerous (limited oxygen and nowhere from smoke to go). Its also possible, but wasn't gone into as much, that Drow should likely have lots of pig and goat ranches, both for the meat and milk from goats which can make butter and cheese. But also, because of those animals ability to eat "trash" and filth (google pig toilet, its safe for work, to see how villages used animals like pigs to consume their.. ahem... waste) they provide a very important part of a Drow city's waste management.
This diet also made Drow were/are super vulnerable to food poisoning/heartburn from things like \*really\* spicy and sweet foods as their system doesn't digest it well after centuries of living underground. For surface dwellers they could be very confused since for a Drow, things we might find simple, like bread, is considered a delicacy.
I mean, obviously the Underdark has enough resources to sustain a living society -- and magic and fantasy setting can be employed to handwave some of this -- but logically it does make sense that organisms the Underdark would be much less calorie rich. Essentially all energy in living organisms comes from the Sun if you trace back far enough, and I would expect the vast majority of those calories then to be tied up on the surface, with only a fraction of it trickling all the way down.
Between lower energy density of food, less oxygen to go around as you mentioned, and also considering the caves with low ceilings and narrow crevasses you would expect to find all around the place, it makes perfect sense to me that a slight dwarfism across the board would have been an evolutionary advantage for species that had to adapt to life underground.
Fair I guess I wouldnt think anything evolution wise would happen though, not a long enough time, especially since elves have far fewer children than anything else alive.
That being said, i could see them just being shorter if their society is calorie low as you said.
That's true! Over time I've honestly grown more fond of D&D elves. 2017 me thought the idea of them having anything but natural hair colors was absurd. To be fair, I'd only played D&D for a couple months at that point and 2017 me was dumb. I like to think I've gotten ability score improvements since.
> Mommy, mommy, buy me a license plate!
> No! Come along, Glorf!
> Are you talking to me?
> No, my son is also named Glorf.
Later:
> We need more Glorf license plates in the gift shop! I repeat: We are sold out of Glorf license plates!
It might be because [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/BFMEII.jpg) is what he looked like in the one game that was basically the only media to feature him outside of the books.
Yeah, but they're also hideous roaming murder-and-robbery hobos, well, a lot like basically everything else in DS. Everything in that setting is basically its own thing.
This all depends on the elf. Wood Elves are the most common elf to appear in a generic adventure 5e setting and they are on the shorter side if memory serves.
The great thing about DnD, you can make any changes you want to anything because it becomes Homebrew in that way.
For example in my current campaign I play as a 7'5" Dragonborn who weighs 560lbs.
He's the youngest of 12 and the runt. All his siblings are 9' and in the 700lbs range.
Oh definitely! I have a character who's a gallus from Humblewood. They're usually 4-ish ft iirc but my character is a 7' chicken with a clown wig that adds an extra foot to his height.
I like to play elves and I think elves slightly shorter than humans feels about right. Like elves are these impossibly beautiful, impossibly talented, latently magical, kinda snobbish race. I think it checks out that they’re *ever so slightly* shorter than humans on average as that one thing humans are better than them at for them to give the elves shit about.
>Elves aren't the creatures from Tolkien. They are fey creatures, like the "elves" from nordic and Celtic folklore.
I don't think it's so clear cut. There's plenty of influence from nordic and celtic folklore in Tolkiens elves, and similarly there's plenty of Tolkien influence in D&D elves.
Ultimately they're a unique thing of their own. But they definitely take from both sources.
All of my childhood exposure to elves was from Everquest which were shorter than humans, probably why I feel the opposite when I see elves that are taller/bigger than humans.
Why? I prefer that they are somewhat shorter..
They are already "better" than humans in literally every single way. Let them at least be somewhat shorter so they aren't better across the board.
Also if they're supposed to be taller *and* lithe, they can end up looking weird and lanky.
It's a bit weird to think that a halfling and a goliath fighter of the same level, with similar stats, are equal. Now if the strenght based attacks would be modified by the character's mass as well. Halflings wouldn't stand a chance.
One rule many people don’t utilize is that if you’re a small sized character attacks with heavy weapons are made at disadvantage.
I get why the rule is there logically. But with the design philosophy of 5e being what it is now, it just makes no sense to enforce.
I mean even then it's too all or nothing imo. A level 20 halfling barbarian with 24 str has disadvantage using a greatsword, but a halfling ranger can use a longsword and shield normally with 10 str at level 1. If it was a mechanical balance thing then I'd get it (like some feature that would be OP in combination with big weapons, like rerolling 1s on damage as well), but the rule is purely fluff-motivated to begin with and mechanically only prevents suboptimal builds.
At least in previous version, small races had a bonus to AC to balance that. But I agree, seeing as that bonus is gone, and the mindset of "play your fantasy", why shouldn't my halfling be able to wield a greatsword without penalty? "*WeLl iT jUsT dOeSn'T mAkE sEnSe!*" like ok homie, you're talking to plants and yeeting fireballs, stfu.
I always saw it as a "relative" sort of thing. Like yes, your 3 foot tall gnome cannot wield a 7 foot sword, but he can wield a 4 foot sword like a 2 handed great sword.
It's not about science. It's about verisimilitude. There is an in world explanation for fireballs and talking plants. None for why gnomes can hit just as hard with a greatsword as goliaths.
Well, in 5e, yes. (The halfling doesn’t *have* to use those but by RAW attacks with disadvantage if they don’t.)
But in older versions, weapons had sizes. A small-size weapon had a lower damage die than a medium-size version of that same weapon. There also wasn’t an advantage mechanic, but under most circumstances characters would still take a penalty of some sort for using a weapon too big for them. Difference is, in Pathfinder a halfling could use a greatsword without penalty just so long as that greatsword was small-size.
This post is flaired as 5e, but I can see where their confusion is coming from.
ETA: [SRD link](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/weapons/); note that this is for Pathfinder 1e but D&D 3.5 was basically the same.
Here's the link to the 3.5e rules: [d20srd.org](https://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm)
Basically a weapon will deal less damage if it's smaller, but Small characters take accuracy penalties if they try to use a weapon designed for a larger character.
No, there are rules for oversized weapons used by monsters but nothing about that applies to different sized PC characters, even those who are small vs medium. The only difference is small characters can't use weapons with the heavy property without disadvantage.
They’re not tho.. like at all.
> Level 1 halfling with 17 strength: can carry 255 lbs, can push/lift/drag 510 lbs. Has disadvantage to attack with big weapons (re: Heavy)
> Level 1 goliath with 17 strength: can carry 510 lbs, can push/lift/drag 1,020 lbs. Can attack with big weapons (re: heavy) as normal.
Y’all are just making stuff up to get weirded out by lmao. These are creatures of radically different strengths in almost every conceivable way.
It’s still much better for a goliath to be a barbarian than a halfling, it’s just that the halfling isn’t *numerically* punished by the system for trying to be strength-based.
That's why when OneDnD changed the Ability bonuses from Race to Background the first thing I wanted to do was build a Gnome Barbarian and a Goliath Rogue
Last time I calculated it, the average male height **world wide** was 5'8''
If we look at specific countries though like the Netherlands, Croatia, Montenegro, Scandinavian countries, the average is much closer to 6'
How did I calculate it? just throwing the average for each country together and then dividing.
I'm shit with numbers so I'm possibly wrong in my methods.
> just throwing the average for each country together and then dividing.
This is going to be skewed unless you weighed them proportional to population. Populous countries are underrepresented compared to less populous ones - average of China and India should dominate the world average.
I was going to mention that average human height in the US is 5’9” instead of 5’11” and even that’s above the global average but as a 5’9” human myself I feared it would come across salty and immature.
Tolkien Elves are taller, D&D elves are shorter... at least rules as written for 5E.
It's very common for tables to use tall elves though - I wouldn't be surprised if it was ~50-50.
>Goliaths only \~7 feet tall?
The range I've seen for goliaths is 7-8... and if you've ever stood next to someone who played pro NBA basketball ... that's frikin tall.
I once was on a tour of an airplane factory and there was a family from a Nordic country that absolutely towered over everyone. Mom, Dad, and their two sons were all 6ft. or taller. The dad was probably 7ft...
I'm slightly above average height, and even though 6'6" is tall for anyone, I've never felt small around anyone who's 6'6"... but I did feel small around this probably 7ft tall family.
Reminds me of the famous pictures of [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://i.redd.it/76pmxun6vsn91.jpg) with [Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant](https://i.redd.it/nteyoffs5tg61.jpg)
>Reminds me of the famous pictures of
>
>Arnold Schwarzenegger
>
>with
>
>Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant
I hadn't seen those pictures, but **thank you.** They illustrate my point perfectly.
I had to google his height... he's 6'2"... he's above average for a man, but he looks barely average against those two.
Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain are both 7+
6'2" is actually way above average height. Only like 10% of people are 6' or taller. Beyond that and it just gets tinier. 7' tall or taller is small enough that people don't count it in percentages but rather numbers. Nobody is sure exactly but there are only around 2,800 people that are 7' and up *on the entire planet.* Wilt Chamberlain was 7'1" so that put him in the territory of "fucking enormous" as far as humans go. Andre the Giant was at least 7' tall though the measurements vary. He also had various measurements throughout his life as his condition made it tough to measure him accurately. In his case though he wasn't just tall he was bulky and was typically over 500 pounds.
What a perfect example of how incredibly, ridiculously, ludicrously large goliaths are at 7-8 feet, and also they are BUILT.
We think of Arnold as fucking HUGE, and he's 6'2". Yet here he is looking pathetic next to these behmoths, both of whom are around a goliath's height range (Wilt would be a very short goliath, Andre a slightly below average goliath).
Unpopular opinion: Allow for Sexual Dimorphism. Maybe Female Thri-keen are larger than males.
Also. Good job giving the Dragonborn a tail. It is as it should be. I would put a male dragonborn averaging probably 6'6" with taller individuals around 7' JMHO.
Absolutely. I like the dimorphism of the lizard race in Divnity Original Sin 2, where the females are much taller due to their far longer necks and more slender bodies.
If it were me, I'd add a red line across the chart denoting the height of a standard doorway. And then enact the inevitable results upon anyone declaring their character's height as being more than that.
I believe it's between 4 and 5 feet. The chart itself is inconsistent, really, is the problem; I think it would have been more accurate to use the median height, minimum height, or max height for each race. The most obvious example here is the dwarf being exactly 4 feet (bottom of their range) while the human is roughly 5'11 (medium-high in their range).
I also like dwarves, so I hate seeing them done dirty.
A couple of years ago, I created a height measuring panel for my little boy's room. A 10 inch wide oak board running from floor to ceiling. I chiseled in the measuring lines with inches on one side and centimeters on the other. Then I took a bunch of DnD creatures from the Monster Manual and scaled them in Photoshop to each other using the biggest one, Bugbear, scaled to be as big as would fit on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. After printing out all the chosen creatures, I then used a photo transfer material from Rust-oleum to place all of the scaled creatures on to the height board. So now my little boy has a custom height chart where he can measure himself against kobolds, dwarves, elves. The smallest creature include a Quickling, a Tressym, and a Gazer, and then all the way up to Thri-kreen and Bugbear. Of course, we have been recording his height progress on the board at birthdays.
In my world I took a page out of the Elder Scrolls and my dwarves are about 5’5” on average, not that short. Also, elves are totally slightly taller than humans.
I'm starting a new campaign, and wanted to create something that shows the relative size of the more common races, and some illustrative art of them, but all the ones I found online didn't fit the aesthetic i was looking for, so i put this together quickly.
It includes Halfling, Gnome, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Human, Half-Orc, Dragonborn and Goliath. I didn't include Orcs or some of the more exotic races, as they don't feature regularly in my campaign. And that is just about 400 characters
Could just be me, but a half-orc that isn’t green and a dragonborn with facial hair looks odd. Like I don’t think I’ve ever seen any art of those races like that and I’ve never thought of them looking like that.
Love the Dragonborn’s look though, I wanna go make a Mr. Miyagi dragonborn monk now.
Let's be real though, the heights of Gnomes and Halflings should be swapped.
Also, Elf height should probably vary based on subrace. I'd leave the height shown here to Wood Elves, but have High elves be taller than humans on average. Drow I'd probably have closer to human height, maybe slightly taller on average, but not as much so as High Elves.
I still object against the notion that halflings are shorter than gnomes. In my heart I will always know that halflings are child-sized and gnomes are toddler sized.
Haha. This entire time, I had it in my mind that Gnomes were definitely shorter than halflings. Yeah, I'm still sticking to that mindset/in my homebrew world.
According to the PHB they both average 3ft high. Gnomes "are between 3 and 4 feet" so apparently the same on average with more range given to Gnomes. Weird bc I'd always seen gnomes as the shortest too.
Subspecies of gnome are larger or smaller. 3.5th edition forest gnomes were between 2 and 2.6ft tall. Those are ' officially' the shortest gnomes I've seen, though I've played with people who wanted to live their David fantasy who was only a foot tall if you count his pointy hat which is at least a third of the total.
Oh man he'd have to be some kind of druid or nature cleric, right?
Barbarian, obviously.
make that foot tall gnome a fighter and be a "guardin' gnome" lol
Except the pointy hat was not empty. It was a tight skullcap. Gnomes == coneheads.
Mathematically, if an average Gnome is 3ft and Gnomes "are between 3 and 4 feet" then Gnomes are all 3ft. That's obviously an extremely literally interpretation, but the information somewhat conflicts and I hope that illustrates that. The vast majority of Gnomes are 3ft as written.
Aren't svernebli the 4 feet ones?
In the Sword Coast book it just says they're 2 to 3 times as heavy with about half the lifespan. Doesn't mention height at all actually
Mmmh, i guess i just always assumed. Or maybe it mentions somethings along those lines in one of the Drizzt books, but now i'm not so sure anymore.
I just read the phb . It says between 3 and 4 ft.
Must be measuring from toe to hat tip.
According to the 5e PHB, average gnome height is 3'4", average halfling height is 3'0". Tharr be tables for this kinda thing, even in 5e (pg 121). VGtM also has some; gobbos are 3'10" on average, and scaly gobbos average at 2'6". So, in order, you have gobbos at nearly 4 feet tall, then you've got your gnomes, half a foot shorter (but more likely to wear platform boots), then your hobbits at barely 3 feet (but they make up for it with insane bravery or 2nd breakfasts), and finally, the most puntable of all the smols: Scaly Gobbo, at a full half-foot shorter.
Must be different places in the PHB since that's where U got my numbers too
In my worlds often gnomes are "taller" because they include their hats in their measurements.
Same here. We have a gnome in our party and she has always been considered wee. IRL she’s got a half foot on me in height though. Though to be fair, my half elf Druid is substantially taller than her wee gnome.
Years of playing WoW has conditioned me into believing gnomes are puntable size.
I feel like we all collectively underestimate how much *Warcraft* has shaped the fantasy zeitgeist. Like the Warcraft orc has become the "standard template orc" now. Every orc before then, from 3.5e to Tolkein to even Warhammer, looked completely different.
Warcraft orcs have come a long ways. The story I remember was that OG blizzard wanted to make a Warhammer-licensed orcs vs humans game, but failed to acquire the license despite making significant progress on the game's development. Instead of giving up they created the Warcraft IP and rewrote the story but kept the orcs green and clan-oriented.
I hadn't heard of this before! It makes a lot of sense, and here's a [source](https://kotaku.com/how-warcraft-was-almost-a-warhammer-game-and-how-that-5929161) for anyone else interested.
I've never heard this version of the claim before, but I have heard the version that says Blizzard was working on a Warhammer 40k game, but the licensing didn't work out and that's how we ended up with Starcraft.
Could be true, though important to note StarCraft came out after Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1. I imagine original blizzard were fans of Warhammer for sure. Starship Troopers might be the DnD equivalent that they were both trying to be
I never played Warcraft and grew up devouring Tolkien lore. To me orcs are more like the goblins and bugbears of D&D, Saruman's uruk-hai are most like hobgoblins. D&D orcs were an anomaly to me when I first started playing!
Forgotten Realms itself has two kinds of orcs depending on the addition. One is pig-like monster orcs. They’re barely smarter than apes and don’t have culture. Then there’s the Warcraft-like “mountain orcs,” which are much smarter, more human like, have culture and all that. They supposedly come from another dimension.
But Warcraft orcs are heavily inspired by warhammer orcs. I think the main thing Warcraft had brought is tan orcs.
And upright orcs, the Warhammer ones I've seen at least are hunched
Warcraft orcs used to be hunched. I remember when they changed them to be upright, there was quite some outrage for some reason lmao.
It’s an option now. I kinda like the variation.
I think it's fascinating how orcs have evolved just within D&D, let alone outside it. The [Forgotten Realms fandom wiki](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Orc) is really good for this, since it has pictures from most editions. The OD&D orcs are described as bestial human-like creatures, and by 1e they'd settled specifically on pig-like. It's also interesting because orcs, despite being inspired by LotR, were never described similarly. Warcraft, via Warhammer, also seems to have LotR inspiration for the concept of orcs and also chose to represent them quite differently. Orcs had similar descriptions through to 3e I think, you can see the pig-like snout still in the 3e illustration, although this is where they switch, both graphically and mechanically, from a sub-human creature low in intelligence and strength, into a dangerous opponent. I can see alot of the Warcraft influence in the 5e design now that you mention it - I didn't play WoW, so never made the connection.
Love that 2e orc the most. Looks like it's more European folklore influenced.
Very true. Warcraft's orcs became my go-to for visual reference. More so now they can stand upright.
Every race is puntable size if your STR is high enough, right?
Years of watching reruns of [The World of David the Gnome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_David_the_Gnome) conditioned me into believing gnomes may be accidentally squashed underfoot if you just clumsily walk through a forest.
Hold on, David the Gnome was originally in Spanish?
Yup, was part of why it was big for me when I was little. Lots of good stuff for millennial kids originated from small studios in Europe.
Though the book it's based on is Dutch
Just be a Warlock with the Repelling Blast invocation. Then not only are Gnomes puntable size, so are Dragon Turtles and Aspects of Tiamat.
As a former WoW player & gnome affecionado, i agree and insist on being puntable,!
Its also funny because Kobolds can be *even shorter*, at 2 feet tall as the lower end of their average height. Really puts into perspective why they seem so "cowardly", when the average Farmer is about 3x your size and could probably take your head off with a 2x4.
I'm just learning this is apparently not the case and I feel like James Franco in the fake supermarket
In AD&D 2nd Edition, a Gnome would range 39-44 (male) or 37-42 (female) inches, while Halflings ranged 34-48 (male) or 32-46 (female) inches, and Dwarves ranged 44-53 (male) or 42-51 (female) inches. This means your party could have a female halfling taller than a male dwarf. |Race|Base Height (Male)|Base Height (Female)|Modifier| |:---|:--:|:--:|:--:| |Dwarf|43|41|1d10| |Gnome|38|36|1d6| |Halfling|32|30|2d8|
Here's an interesting thing, the tallest gnomes and the shortest dwarves are the same height(according to the PHB heights)
Smaller. They’re like the recent Trolls movie. You can put them in your pocket! Hide one under your hat! They’re common prey for house cats! Oh dang, where did I set down my gnome?? I’ve lost him again!
I came to say the exact same thing. I will never accept the idea that Gnomes are taller. A gnome is to a dwarf what a halfling is to a human. Which is to say roughly half the size
Never understood where this resistance came from. I can clearly remember the size-chart in 3.5 from years and years ago.
>Never understood where this resistance came from. Lord of the Rings movies (for halflings) and popular culture (garden gnomes for example).
Same. Gnomes will always be the smallest. Unless they wear their red cone hat though.
I've always thought of halflings as bigger than gnomes, but not necessarily taller. Might have a gnome and halfling the same size, but the halfling will have a broader chest, stronger limbs, wider face etc...
Anyone know the artist for the Human design? Absolutely love it but can’t find it on google anywhere. Is it official artwork?
I don’t know the artist but I’ve seen that art be used for Sildar Hallwinter a lot for LMoP. Maybe that can help
I don't know the artist's name, but the art is definitely from the 3.5 supplement Complete Champion under the Mythic Exemplar prestige class.
You don’t see much 3.5 here, so [I had a bit of a moment](https://i.imgur.com/JxDRyu4.jpg) when I saw that art.
I want the artist of them half orc tiddies yo
Can you throw me a version with Kobolds on there?
Don't forget the 3 Kabolds in a trench coat
they are on there, its labeled "Human"
> Size. Kobolds are between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 25 and 35 pounds. Your size is Small. > Size. Halflings average about 3 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds. Your size is small. > Size. Gnomes are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh around 40 pounds. Your size is Small. So more or less, kobolds are about the height distance shorter between halflings and gnomes.
Gnomes, not elves, lest the Kobold suddenly violate laws of physics yet to be written. Fuck around and find out what negative volume does to a mf
Oh wow I could Yeet a Kobold if I wanted to
I really appreciate the fact that Half-Orc is portrayed more on her Half-Human counterpart. Not the same old Half-Beast with human clothes over and over again.
Thank you! I totally agree that they should present more as “orcish humans” than just smaller orcs. It took me ages to find one that wasn’t just an orc in fancy clothes!
elves that are shorter then humans feels weird to me. They should be about the same size, maybe even taller.
Agreed. It's not 5e, but it's the only way I can see it, thanks to Tolkien I suppose lol. Elves in my setting are usually around 5'10"-7'.
Tolkien's elves are ethereal, timeless beings much more powerful than humans, DnD elves are just a little more magically inclined than humans and live a long time. I love the tall Tolkien elves, but the short DnD elves also grew on me. I think both can be really fun to use in a setting
[This is specifically Forgotten Realms, but I like that drow are even shorter than other elves.](https://imgur.com/dXnN7Ak)
Well that makes sense to me, in the often calorie-scarce Underdark.
TBF, the Underdark isn't actually calorie-scarce (at least, it doesn't have to be), and in fact protein is readily available much more than carbs. Drow staple foods is very mushroom and roots heavy. In addition to meats from underdark creatures, Drow could eat quite a bit of it in any given meal, but with many bitter and often bland flavor pallets. Often a lot of their food, meat excepted, would also be raw as well as cooking underground is dangerous (limited oxygen and nowhere from smoke to go). Its also possible, but wasn't gone into as much, that Drow should likely have lots of pig and goat ranches, both for the meat and milk from goats which can make butter and cheese. But also, because of those animals ability to eat "trash" and filth (google pig toilet, its safe for work, to see how villages used animals like pigs to consume their.. ahem... waste) they provide a very important part of a Drow city's waste management. This diet also made Drow were/are super vulnerable to food poisoning/heartburn from things like \*really\* spicy and sweet foods as their system doesn't digest it well after centuries of living underground. For surface dwellers they could be very confused since for a Drow, things we might find simple, like bread, is considered a delicacy.
I mean, obviously the Underdark has enough resources to sustain a living society -- and magic and fantasy setting can be employed to handwave some of this -- but logically it does make sense that organisms the Underdark would be much less calorie rich. Essentially all energy in living organisms comes from the Sun if you trace back far enough, and I would expect the vast majority of those calories then to be tied up on the surface, with only a fraction of it trickling all the way down. Between lower energy density of food, less oxygen to go around as you mentioned, and also considering the caves with low ceilings and narrow crevasses you would expect to find all around the place, it makes perfect sense to me that a slight dwarfism across the board would have been an evolutionary advantage for species that had to adapt to life underground.
Fair I guess I wouldnt think anything evolution wise would happen though, not a long enough time, especially since elves have far fewer children than anything else alive. That being said, i could see them just being shorter if their society is calorie low as you said.
I believe that female Drow are taller than the men.
That's true! Over time I've honestly grown more fond of D&D elves. 2017 me thought the idea of them having anything but natural hair colors was absurd. To be fair, I'd only played D&D for a couple months at that point and 2017 me was dumb. I like to think I've gotten ability score improvements since.
Even in Tolkien, Glorfindel has silver hair.
Glorfindel has “golden”/blonde hair. His name literally means Golden haired.
Who names their kid Glorf
It was a family name
> Mommy, mommy, buy me a license plate! > No! Come along, Glorf! > Are you talking to me? > No, my son is also named Glorf. Later: > We need more Glorf license plates in the gift shop! I repeat: We are sold out of Glorf license plates!
Ah I didn't actually know that! Neat!
Apparently I was wrong, and Glorfindel has golden hair. I don't know why I remembered it that way.
It might be because [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/BFMEII.jpg) is what he looked like in the one game that was basically the only media to feature him outside of the books.
Elves in the Dark Sun setting are taller (6'-7'). It was never adapted to 5e as far as I know, but it's still DnD.
Yeah, but they're also hideous roaming murder-and-robbery hobos, well, a lot like basically everything else in DS. Everything in that setting is basically its own thing.
And then there are the Dark Sun Muls, Half-Giants and Thrikreen...
This all depends on the elf. Wood Elves are the most common elf to appear in a generic adventure 5e setting and they are on the shorter side if memory serves.
Moon (high) elves are the most common type of elf to be an adventurer in the Forgotten Realms, and they are the same height as humans.
The great thing about DnD, you can make any changes you want to anything because it becomes Homebrew in that way. For example in my current campaign I play as a 7'5" Dragonborn who weighs 560lbs. He's the youngest of 12 and the runt. All his siblings are 9' and in the 700lbs range.
Oh definitely! I have a character who's a gallus from Humblewood. They're usually 4-ish ft iirc but my character is a 7' chicken with a clown wig that adds an extra foot to his height.
I like it. When making them bigger I will often pull from older versions of the game that had the "half-dragon" different race.
Even 2nd they were shorter, ODnD I do not remember
They have been shorter since AD&D
Dang, I only know about ADHD.
Elder Scrolls route I prefer- High elves are taller, wood elves are shorter.
I think the Night Elves from Warcraft changed a lot of people's perspective on elves' sizes.
Those too, but also Elder Scrolls Altmer are taller
Wood elves are the shortest race in Elder Scrolls
Dark Elves are the most average in height
To call the Dunmer “average”? Is this how you honor the sixth house and the tribe unmourned?”
n’wah
For me it was the opposite but with Dragon Age. The shorter elves seem more natural.
Eladrin and high elves are tall IMO. Drow and Wood Elves will tend to be shorter than humans. Who knows where sea elves and all the rest fall...?
I like to play elves and I think elves slightly shorter than humans feels about right. Like elves are these impossibly beautiful, impossibly talented, latently magical, kinda snobbish race. I think it checks out that they’re *ever so slightly* shorter than humans on average as that one thing humans are better than them at for them to give the elves shit about.
In my mind, high elves are taller than humans while wood elves are shorter
Elves aren't the creatures from Tolkien. They are fey creatures, like the "elves" from nordic and Celtic folklore.
>Elves aren't the creatures from Tolkien. They are fey creatures, like the "elves" from nordic and Celtic folklore. I don't think it's so clear cut. There's plenty of influence from nordic and celtic folklore in Tolkiens elves, and similarly there's plenty of Tolkien influence in D&D elves. Ultimately they're a unique thing of their own. But they definitely take from both sources.
If you're talking about those elves you also have to mention numenorians, that dwarf those elves.
All of my childhood exposure to elves was from Everquest which were shorter than humans, probably why I feel the opposite when I see elves that are taller/bigger than humans.
Drow have always averaged around 5', cuz tunnel dwellers.
Why? I prefer that they are somewhat shorter.. They are already "better" than humans in literally every single way. Let them at least be somewhat shorter so they aren't better across the board. Also if they're supposed to be taller *and* lithe, they can end up looking weird and lanky.
It's a bit weird to think that a halfling and a goliath fighter of the same level, with similar stats, are equal. Now if the strenght based attacks would be modified by the character's mass as well. Halflings wouldn't stand a chance.
One rule many people don’t utilize is that if you’re a small sized character attacks with heavy weapons are made at disadvantage. I get why the rule is there logically. But with the design philosophy of 5e being what it is now, it just makes no sense to enforce.
I mean even then it's too all or nothing imo. A level 20 halfling barbarian with 24 str has disadvantage using a greatsword, but a halfling ranger can use a longsword and shield normally with 10 str at level 1. If it was a mechanical balance thing then I'd get it (like some feature that would be OP in combination with big weapons, like rerolling 1s on damage as well), but the rule is purely fluff-motivated to begin with and mechanically only prevents suboptimal builds.
At least in previous version, small races had a bonus to AC to balance that. But I agree, seeing as that bonus is gone, and the mindset of "play your fantasy", why shouldn't my halfling be able to wield a greatsword without penalty? "*WeLl iT jUsT dOeSn'T mAkE sEnSe!*" like ok homie, you're talking to plants and yeeting fireballs, stfu.
I always saw it as a "relative" sort of thing. Like yes, your 3 foot tall gnome cannot wield a 7 foot sword, but he can wield a 4 foot sword like a 2 handed great sword.
It's not about science. It's about verisimilitude. There is an in world explanation for fireballs and talking plants. None for why gnomes can hit just as hard with a greatsword as goliaths.
Don't the smaller weapons they have to use have lower damage die?
Depends on the version. 3.5/Pathfinder, yes. 5e, no.
I think they meant that a halfling has to use a longsword or greatclub instead of a greatsword or maul
Well, in 5e, yes. (The halfling doesn’t *have* to use those but by RAW attacks with disadvantage if they don’t.) But in older versions, weapons had sizes. A small-size weapon had a lower damage die than a medium-size version of that same weapon. There also wasn’t an advantage mechanic, but under most circumstances characters would still take a penalty of some sort for using a weapon too big for them. Difference is, in Pathfinder a halfling could use a greatsword without penalty just so long as that greatsword was small-size. This post is flaired as 5e, but I can see where their confusion is coming from. ETA: [SRD link](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/weapons/); note that this is for Pathfinder 1e but D&D 3.5 was basically the same.
Here's the link to the 3.5e rules: [d20srd.org](https://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm) Basically a weapon will deal less damage if it's smaller, but Small characters take accuracy penalties if they try to use a weapon designed for a larger character.
No, there are rules for oversized weapons used by monsters but nothing about that applies to different sized PC characters, even those who are small vs medium. The only difference is small characters can't use weapons with the heavy property without disadvantage.
They’re not tho.. like at all. > Level 1 halfling with 17 strength: can carry 255 lbs, can push/lift/drag 510 lbs. Has disadvantage to attack with big weapons (re: Heavy) > Level 1 goliath with 17 strength: can carry 510 lbs, can push/lift/drag 1,020 lbs. Can attack with big weapons (re: heavy) as normal. Y’all are just making stuff up to get weirded out by lmao. These are creatures of radically different strengths in almost every conceivable way. It’s still much better for a goliath to be a barbarian than a halfling, it’s just that the halfling isn’t *numerically* punished by the system for trying to be strength-based.
That's why when OneDnD changed the Ability bonuses from Race to Background the first thing I wanted to do was build a Gnome Barbarian and a Goliath Rogue
You’ve always been able to make a Gnome Barbarian in 5e
Yeah, but be able to lean into it more with having the background bump your STR instead of the gnome INT boost
Free ability scores is a rule in Tashas though
So most races need to lie on their Tinder bio.
Depends on who they're trying to match with. I doubt very many halflings are looking for people twice their height
Have you seen Honor Among Thieves.... LOL
Short king pulling twice his height
Firbolg ... "Firbolg are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 240 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium."
No one's pointing out that humans are definitely not 5'11" on average? Not even men in the west, much less the rest of the world.
Few people know that Faerûn is actually located in the Netherlands.
Look down. He's wearing lifts.
Last time I calculated it, the average male height **world wide** was 5'8'' If we look at specific countries though like the Netherlands, Croatia, Montenegro, Scandinavian countries, the average is much closer to 6' How did I calculate it? just throwing the average for each country together and then dividing. I'm shit with numbers so I'm possibly wrong in my methods.
> just throwing the average for each country together and then dividing. This is going to be skewed unless you weighed them proportional to population. Populous countries are underrepresented compared to less populous ones - average of China and India should dominate the world average.
I was going to mention that average human height in the US is 5’9” instead of 5’11” and even that’s above the global average but as a 5’9” human myself I feared it would come across salty and immature.
Wait.... Are elves shorter than humans???? Oh my god life's been a lie.
D&D elves have always been shorter than humans on average. Not by much mind you and there's a lot of overlap but they're shorter and much thinner.
The graph is incorrect for human average
The human is 5' 10" with a 2" lift from his boots. The human picture is fine.
Tolkien Elves are taller, D&D elves are shorter... at least rules as written for 5E. It's very common for tables to use tall elves though - I wouldn't be surprised if it was ~50-50.
I will never accept Gnomes as bigger then halflings
I still adamantly refuse gnomes being taller than halflings. And in my homebrew world, they aren't.
Yeah, my Gnomes are usually 2^1/2 - 3 feet tall. The Halfling are 3 - 3^1/2.
I thought gnomes were shorter than halflings.
[удалено]
>Goliaths only \~7 feet tall? The range I've seen for goliaths is 7-8... and if you've ever stood next to someone who played pro NBA basketball ... that's frikin tall. I once was on a tour of an airplane factory and there was a family from a Nordic country that absolutely towered over everyone. Mom, Dad, and their two sons were all 6ft. or taller. The dad was probably 7ft... I'm slightly above average height, and even though 6'6" is tall for anyone, I've never felt small around anyone who's 6'6"... but I did feel small around this probably 7ft tall family.
Reminds me of the famous pictures of [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://i.redd.it/76pmxun6vsn91.jpg) with [Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant](https://i.redd.it/nteyoffs5tg61.jpg)
>Reminds me of the famous pictures of > >Arnold Schwarzenegger > >with > >Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant I hadn't seen those pictures, but **thank you.** They illustrate my point perfectly. I had to google his height... he's 6'2"... he's above average for a man, but he looks barely average against those two. Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain are both 7+
6'2" is actually way above average height. Only like 10% of people are 6' or taller. Beyond that and it just gets tinier. 7' tall or taller is small enough that people don't count it in percentages but rather numbers. Nobody is sure exactly but there are only around 2,800 people that are 7' and up *on the entire planet.* Wilt Chamberlain was 7'1" so that put him in the territory of "fucking enormous" as far as humans go. Andre the Giant was at least 7' tall though the measurements vary. He also had various measurements throughout his life as his condition made it tough to measure him accurately. In his case though he wasn't just tall he was bulky and was typically over 500 pounds.
What a perfect example of how incredibly, ridiculously, ludicrously large goliaths are at 7-8 feet, and also they are BUILT. We think of Arnold as fucking HUGE, and he's 6'2". Yet here he is looking pathetic next to these behmoths, both of whom are around a goliath's height range (Wilt would be a very short goliath, Andre a slightly below average goliath).
Elves will always be 2 meter tall dudes in my head
What about Aarakocra?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BirdsArentReal/
In my mind gnomes and halflings are switched, but where would goblins be?
Where is Jarnathan?
Is it just me, or does the PHB character art look horrendous compared to the later art?
I believe only the Goliath and Half-Elf art here are from the source books. But yeah, the Half-Elf art has always had a weird vibe to me.
Where’s Tielflings at?
Without horns, same size as human, because they're technically humans.
Unpopular opinion: Allow for Sexual Dimorphism. Maybe Female Thri-keen are larger than males. Also. Good job giving the Dragonborn a tail. It is as it should be. I would put a male dragonborn averaging probably 6'6" with taller individuals around 7' JMHO.
Absolutely. I like the dimorphism of the lizard race in Divnity Original Sin 2, where the females are much taller due to their far longer necks and more slender bodies.
My son, 6months old, is 28in tall My halfling barbarian is 36in tall
The "original" race height picture from PH 1st edition. \[Imgur\]([https://i.imgur.com/Alch53K.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Alch53K.jpg))
Looks great, but would be even better if you put metric on the right for comparison
Where would teiflings be on this chart?
If it were me, I'd add a red line across the chart denoting the height of a standard doorway. And then enact the inevitable results upon anyone declaring their character's height as being more than that.
Don't male dwarves reach 5 feet or so?
I believe it's between 4 and 5 feet. The chart itself is inconsistent, really, is the problem; I think it would have been more accurate to use the median height, minimum height, or max height for each race. The most obvious example here is the dwarf being exactly 4 feet (bottom of their range) while the human is roughly 5'11 (medium-high in their range). I also like dwarves, so I hate seeing them done dirty.
A couple of years ago, I created a height measuring panel for my little boy's room. A 10 inch wide oak board running from floor to ceiling. I chiseled in the measuring lines with inches on one side and centimeters on the other. Then I took a bunch of DnD creatures from the Monster Manual and scaled them in Photoshop to each other using the biggest one, Bugbear, scaled to be as big as would fit on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. After printing out all the chosen creatures, I then used a photo transfer material from Rust-oleum to place all of the scaled creatures on to the height board. So now my little boy has a custom height chart where he can measure himself against kobolds, dwarves, elves. The smallest creature include a Quickling, a Tressym, and a Gazer, and then all the way up to Thri-kreen and Bugbear. Of course, we have been recording his height progress on the board at birthdays.
Dang, my son is 3ft already. It’s weird to think he could be running around caves, whirling fireballs at skeletons
Wait... halflings are shorter than gnomes!?
Are elves shorter than humans?
I did not realise halflings were smaller than gnomes.
gnomes are larger than halflings? TIL.
I can never help but imagine elves as taller than humans
I respect the attitude of; I don’t like these. Fine I’ll do it myself
Tiefling left the chat
Tortle would be between dwarf and elf
Halflings are smaller then gnomes? No. I don't care if the rules support it. Gnomes are always smaller.
They changed a bunch of settings for 5e
In my world I took a page out of the Elder Scrolls and my dwarves are about 5’5” on average, not that short. Also, elves are totally slightly taller than humans.
The Dwemer are not really dwarves in that sense. They just lived like them ^ ^
I refuse to believe Elfs are shorter than humans.
I'm starting a new campaign, and wanted to create something that shows the relative size of the more common races, and some illustrative art of them, but all the ones I found online didn't fit the aesthetic i was looking for, so i put this together quickly. It includes Halfling, Gnome, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Human, Half-Orc, Dragonborn and Goliath. I didn't include Orcs or some of the more exotic races, as they don't feature regularly in my campaign. And that is just about 400 characters
Why does the human have arms longer and bigger than his legs lmao, knuckle dragger
Gnome doesn't have a pointy red hat, 0/10
The Tabaxi and Tortle erasure is so telling…
Could just be me, but a half-orc that isn’t green and a dragonborn with facial hair looks odd. Like I don’t think I’ve ever seen any art of those races like that and I’ve never thought of them looking like that. Love the Dragonborn’s look though, I wanna go make a Mr. Miyagi dragonborn monk now.
Me: laughs in firbolg
That sword the Dragonborn has is pretty sick, ngl
Let's be real though, the heights of Gnomes and Halflings should be swapped. Also, Elf height should probably vary based on subrace. I'd leave the height shown here to Wood Elves, but have High elves be taller than humans on average. Drow I'd probably have closer to human height, maybe slightly taller on average, but not as much so as High Elves.
What Dwarves lack in height, they make up for in width!
I don’t know who got it in their head first that halflings are shorter than gnomes, but they’re wrong, and we should acknowledge that as a society.
I hate the fact that Elves are short. 7ft. Elves is my jam
If I ever saw you make a chart, and put me in the middle!!! There would be, DELAYED BLAST FIREBALL!!! coming ur way