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

[Sacrosanct]

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.

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.

Yep. Miniature scale creep has been growing since the late 80s. It is fairly annoying that it doesn't look right to use some of my favorite Grenadier minis at the same table as modern minis. The monsters looks tiny and relatively harmless (a modern reaper fighter is larger than a Ral Partha wyvern, and modern horses are almost as big as the 80s dragons), and the modern halflings are larger than the human barbarians.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

The halfling figures I see produced by various companies today are teeny tiny. The ones I see at my local game store are made by WizKids these days but we used to see some Reaper as well. (Reaper kind of fell off the face of the Earth around here for some reason.) And the vast majority of the models I see that would work for a PC don't have monstrous cloaks billowing out two or three adjacent spaces. Most of them fit just fine in one square on the map.

You obviously don't know Sean.

 

[teitan]

100% and I’ve also noticed that monsters have grown because of the base. Beholders are absolutely HUMONGOUS now compared to BITD.

 

[teitan]

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?

You adjust it to a number divisible by 3 so 24. 8 squares.

 

[MGibster]

Yep. Miniature scale creep has been growing since the late 80s. It is fairly annoying that it doesn't look right to use some of my favorite Grenadier minis at the same table as modern minis. The monsters looks tiny and relatively harmless (a modern reaper fighter is larger than a Ral Partha wyvern, and modern horses are almost as big as the 80s dragons), and the modern halflings are larger than the human barbarians.

I have a soft spot in my heart for those miniatures I grew up with from the 80s and 90s. But the market has changed quite a bit and what they're producing these days is heads and shoulders above what was possible thirty or more years ago. This is one of my absolute favorite miniatures from back in the day painted by some guy named Tony Brotherton I found online. This is the Ral Partha ogre mage and I used to own in. I wish I still had it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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?

Just make them 1 yard slower?

 

[Richards]

I have a soft spot in my heart for those miniatures I grew up with from the 80s and 90s. But the market has changed quite a bit and what they're producing these days is heads and shoulders above what was possible thirty or more years ago. This is one of my absolute favorite miniatures from back in the day painted by some guy named Tony Brotherton I found online. This is the Ral Partha ogre mage and I used to own in. I wish I still had it.

View attachment 130697

I've got that one! I never got around to painting it, though. I ought to let my son have a go at it.

Johnathan

 

[Older Beholder]

It’s hard not notice the size creep, in some cases I think it’s warranted where monsters in the past have been undersized.

As someone that usually picks up a brick of most D&D and pathfinder sets, I‘m use to a disparity in sizes and styles but the larger size (giants for example) are a little frustrating from a storage perspective.

I can understand an irritation with minis that overlap the edge of the base, I make sure to not use character minis that have that issue.

 

[wicked cool]

the scale is all over the place still . Goblins that are made by nolzurs are much smaller than most prepainted counterparts (there are some nolzurs prepainted ) that came in the raider pack that are small). also clearly they cant get the aboleth size correct

no problem with overhanging bases. Cramming in the WOTC was a problem and when they leaned over they were prone to tipping

 

[Sacrosanct]

It’s hard not notice the size creep, in some cases I think it’s warranted where monsters in the past have been undersized.

Back in the day they were made from metal, so it's easy to understand the size limitations. With plastic, they can make them more to scale. However, I agree that almost every mini made in the past 10 years is hard to put into storage containers since they have bits sticking out everywhere now, and are larger in general to boot. Even the PC hero minis.