RPGaDay: Medium

While there's nothing inherently wrong with the size chart from D&D/Pathfinder, it can make it rather hard to talk about things.  Particularly things that are medium.

Here, for example, is Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, a.k.a. Thor, a.k.a. World's Strongest Man 2018, although probably better known in nerd circles for playing Ser Gregor Clegane, The Mountain that Rides, in Game of Thrones.  Standing at 6'9" and weighing 397–441 lb, I would not hesitate to describe him as huge.

But by D&D standards, Thor here isn't huge.  He's not even large.  Despite being fifteen inches taller than me and three times my weight, he is still firmly in the category of 'medium'.  In fact, if you dig up the old height and weight charts from D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder 1, 'medium' also encompasses his co-star Peter Dinklage at 4'5" and 110lb.  'Medium' is doing a lot of work here.

So how exactly do you indicate to players that they've encountered something of Thor-like proportions?  It's been an issue in our games.

"You open the door to see a huge werewolf staring back at you."

"Holy shit!  How did it get through this narrow doorway?  How is it fitting under that low ceiling?  Is that room it's in even fifteen foot across?"

So the solution we've come up with, when we need to describe a medium creature of exceptional size, is to describe them as 'really medium'.  Sure, maybe being attacked by a really medium werewolf doesn't have quite the same impact, but it's certainly made things a lot clearer.