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

[Morrus]

Definitely doesn’t both me.

 

[el-remmen]

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...).

Four people can fight comfortably (if fighting could ever be called comfortable ) in a 10' x 10' room. Clearly a lot more people could physically fit in there. Does 5E have squeezing and more than one person in a box rules? My group had house rules for that stuff in 2E and 3E.

 

[Mecheon]

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.

You say 'politely', I say 'Not physically possible and those demons broke that poor rexes tail when they made him fiendish'

 

[Lanefan]

Four people can fight comfortably (if fighting could ever be called comfortable ) in a 10' x 10' room. Clearly a lot more people could physically fit in there. Does 5E have squeezing and more than one person in a box rules? My group had house rules for that stuff in 2E and 3E.

I'm used to 1e, where it takes three normal-size people to effectively hold a 10'-wide passage unless one or more is using a reach weapon or polearm.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

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?

Technically aren’t Goristro larger then Baphomet?

 

[MGibster]

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.

I don't really know anything about the manufacturing process, but miniatures have gotten cheaper and better over the last two decades. The current 5E T-Rex is heads and shoulders an improvement over the Fiendish T-Rex from 3E. While it's tail and head extend beyond the base, both are tall enough for most human sized miniatures to fit in base-to-base contact without causing much of an issue and as the model is well balanced it won't tip over if you look at it funny.

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.

I don't find it annoying at all. When I whip out my monster and lay it on the ta ble for my players to beat on I want them to be seriously impressed. (Phrasing?) Thanks in large part to pressure from Reaper's Bones line of products, more companies are producing great looking large miniatures that are actually affordable. I think the T-Rex I bought only cost me about $16.00 and I considered it a bargain.

 

[ccs]

Can't say I'm at all bothered by this.
I'd purchase a good looking t-rex, dragon,, etc vs a conveniently shaped one any day.

 

[pukunui]

I was more bothered by the fact that some of the early WizKids 5e minis weren't big enough! The first few dragons and giants were too small (some on Large bases instead of Huge), and two of the first lot of elementals were only Medium instead of Large. On the flip side, the initial ogre was too big, and subsequent releases have scaled them back down to their pre-5e size.

 

[Argyle King]

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...).

The 5-foot square has always been odd to me because of what you mention (and similar issues).

I'd much rather that the base unit be made to represent 3 feet (1 yard or roughly a meter).

Though, I suppose that does somewhat mess with how movement speeds are measured. How is a creature with 25-ft speed handled in 3-ft increments?

 

[pogre]

Scale creep is an industry-wide trend as others have mentioned. Even within the same company miniatures get bigger and bigger.

It does not really bother me with monsters - sometimes it is annoying with humans and human-like creatures. Even then, I just figure there are all sorts of different sized folks. Although having 2020 halflings tower over my 1980s human is admittedly annoying.