D&D 5E Opinions on Current D&D Miniature Sizes

[Hexmage-EN]

So I've noted that, in general, official 5E miniatures are much more likely than those in the 3E and 4E eras to feature sculpts that extend far out from the base.

The 5E Tyrannosaurus Rex mini sticks its head and tail far out from over the edge of its base, while the 3E Fiendish Tyrannosaurus Rex is politely posed in such a way that the tail and head remain over the base.

Dragons are especially egregious; a Large-sized 3E and 4E dragon looks puny compared to the 5E equivalent, whose wings spread out to the point that other minis have little space for themselves. For that reason I haven't purchased any 5E dragon miniatures, instead buying the more reasonably-sized Pathfinder equivalent (I also personally don't care for the mid-flight poses and would rather have a grounded dragon).

Another annoyance is that the minis for some Huge-sized creatures are very tall and massive. The goristro I purchased yesterday is actually taller and bulkier than the Gale Force 9 Baphomet miniature I bought a few months back. If I had known the goristro was going to make Baphomet look gangly by comparison I wouldn't have bought it.

To sum it up, am I alone in feeling this way?

 

[DemoMonkey]

Yes. Yes you are.

 

[aco175]

I have noticed this for a long time. I have a hill giant with a long club that sticks out from him into the next 5ft square, making it harder to place him on a grid. This has also been a problem with metal minis in another fashion for a long time as well. I never like the metal minis having swords and such sticking out from their base so they can break off. The plastic figures break to less of an extent. Maybe this start is where the current problem came from.

My latest figure problem is scale going from 1/72 to25mm, to heroic 28mm. I have new halflings that are as big as my old human fighters, who are so thin compared to the new heroic fighters. I just got some metal painted figures that are huge. I'm not sure they even are supposed to go with playable minis. I have Drizzt that must be 35mm scale compared to the normal figures.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

It's gotten to the point for me where I'm mostly looking to pre-5E minis, Pathfinder, Reaper, or various Etsy vendors for larger minis that will actually leave room for me to place other minis around them. There are thankfully some Huge-sized 5E minis that fit neatly above their base, like the behir.

Ones like the new T-Rex mini look cool by themselves, but what if I want two running around I'm gonna have a problem where each other's tails and heads are going to get in the way.

 

[el-remmen]

My guess is that you are not alone, but it doesn't bother me none.

I buy any kind of marker or mini I think will work and/or looks cool - and that I think will come in handy either to represent itself or a variety of similar creatures (for example, I bought a sleeve of plastic zombies that are too big, but whatever, I will still use them).

The other thing to keep in mind, I think, is that rarely are more than one of these big minis on the table at the same time, so the relative difference between one dragon and another or some other monster will rarely be noticed.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

The other thing to keep in mind, I think, is that rarely are more than one of these big minis on the table at the same time, so the relative difference between one dragon and another or some other monster will rarely be noticed.

Now that you mention it, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reasoning behind the design decisions, especially given that the data suggests most D&D games don't get into high levels.

 

[el-remmen]

Now that you mention it, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reasoning behind the design decisions, especially given that the data suggests most D&D games don't get into high levels.

Don't get me wrong. If I were designing a series of minis, I'd make sure they were all in scale to each other- but it isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me as a consumer.

My freewheelin' attiude about is probably influenced by the fact that there is no way, of course, that different companies are gonna make sure to be in scale with each other - and there is no way one company has all the kind/style of minis I want/need.

 

[jgsugden]

Scale is a huge problem, because the monsters often occupy spaces much smaller on the battlefield than their description described. In a 5'=1" scale, a roc should be 3'6" (or more) wide. The Tarrasque should be in inches tall, and as the art looks to spread out over as much space wide as it is tall, it should be filling in at least a 10 inch area, while it covers generally 4 by 4 for the monster base and has a reach of 20' more for the tail.

However, the game is designed as an abstraction exercise - not a simulation. To that end, I'd rather the miniatures serve the abstraction and were posed in a dynamic way, but in such a way that they do not get into slap fights on the battlefield.

 

[Lanefan]

My latest figure problem is scale going from 1/72 to25mm, to heroic 28mm. I have new halflings that are as big as my old human fighters, who are so thin compared to the new heroic fighters.

This.

Yes the larger size allows for more detail (which is probably why they do it), but then the grid squares need to be made larger to compensate; and not all of us have the physical table space for that.

It also leads to nonsense such as only 4 human-size people being able to fit into a 10x10 room; where reality would indicate many more could fit (for proof, think of any elevator...).

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I thought you could just click on the mini, grab a corner, and resize it (using the Alt key to keep it from clicking to the grid). Oh wait... in person minis! Uhhh... What are those again?