D&D 5E All character races are Medium-sized...why?

[Ixal]

It would be offset somewhat if they went back to size adjustments to AC. So, Large creatures would be easier to hit and Small creatures would be a harder to hit. Something even like a simple +1/-1 would be fine.

Anyway, there are a number of ways things could be done, but since any of them add more complexity to the system, I doubt we'll see them in anything 5E-inspired.

In Starfinder ranged combat is more important and thus also is cover. And good look finding cover as large creature...

In D&D that usually less of a concern (no idea what the cover rules in 5E even are).

 

[DND_Reborn]

Probably not from WotC, no. But complexity is not a bad word. Level Up is 5e-inspired and can absolutely handle this.

True enough. At this point I've fairly given up on 5E, there is just "too much" in it of the wrong sort of thing for me. Level-Up has some good things in it, but since it is 5E-based it has the wrong stuff, too, so it won't work, either.

In D&D that usually less of a concern (no idea what the cover rules in 5E even are).

Pretty much half-cover is +2 AC and 3/4-cover is +5 AC. Certain features and such allow you to ignore cover when attacking a creature.

To determine how much cover you have depends on how many unobstructed "lines" of sight you can draw between the attacker and defender. Also how much of you is covered (like standing behind a low wall) can grant you some cover.

Getting cover is pretty much up to the DM if you are playing ToM instead of using minis.

Getting total-cover means you are completely behind an obstacle of some sort (no visible sight lines). Of course, another one of 5E's brilliant issues is behind behind a wall but seen through a glass window is still considered total-cover.

 

[Blue]

One of the missed opportunities of 5e is that outside of ability score modifiers (which are now becoming more fluid at many tables), there's precious little design space given for powers within the race. They don't get enough features that you can offset a race that is large, or unrestricted flight, or the like. If all of the races were basically cooler, then there's a real opportunity cost for picking one with much of that invested in a big feature, in that you aren't getting the multitude of features that the other races would offer. They also removed* the concept of a race having a penalty to offset strong abilities.

(* There are still a few cases - centaurs can't climb as well, small races have problems with heavy weapons, and PHB small sized races have a speed of 25'. But these seem more like nods to verisimilitude than power balance.)

There are options from earlier editions like tiny flying pixies (or were they sprites) that I can't think of how they would fit within 5e.

So that's why we have medium sized Pony People who could theoretically ride a Monster Manual Centaur, instead of actual large sized race.

 

[LordEntrails]

I blame it on power gamers. PGs are a pain in the ass to design for if you are trying to build a balanced system, and in past editions large PCs were easily exploited. So easier to just get rid of them.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I blame it on power gamers. PGs are a pain in the ass to design for if you are trying to build a balanced system, and in past editions large PCs were easily exploited. So easier to just get rid of them.

Yeah, I'm on board with getting rid of power gamers!

 

[CleverNickName]

All I'm gonna say is that I once hosted a one-shot game where half the party was Large-sized: an ogre, a minotaur, and a centaur were all in the party, along with a medium tiefling and a medium half-elf. And it was perfectly fine.

How did I do it? I changed the grid from 1 square = 5 x 5 feet, to 1 square = 10 x 10 feet. That's all.

Everything scaled up accordingly (all areas, ranges, etc., were converted to "squares" and played accordingly. "Range 30 feet"? That's 6 squares.) Medium-sized creatures still occupied "one square," but so did Large-sized creatures. It didn't break the game, even though it doubled the ranges, movement rates, and areas of effect. Characters were still moving 6 squares per turn, still able to reach adjacent creatures, still had darkvision out to 12 squares, etc., regardless of their size.

We didn't have Small characters in the party, but if we did, I would have treated them like I do Tiny creatures on a 5' grid.

 

[Weiley31]

Pathfinder, MCDM's Arcadia Magazines, and Call of the Netherdeep's answer to Larger sized weapons, is to basically increase the Damage Die of the weapon by one. So a 2D4 becomes a 2D6, a 2D6 becomes a 2D8, a 1D4 becomes a 1D6, etc, etc, etc, etc.

 

[Weiley31]

daleks

Hey now, they at least have the common sense to later upgrade to rocket jets to avoid stair issues.

 

[Charlaquin]

Large is a design nightmare when you stop pretending the grid doesn't exist. What squares do you occupy? Do you have natural reach? Do you do more damage inherently? What about AoEs?

Small is something people decide to make a nightmare because they feel the need to punish them for being Short Kings.

Small isn’t really a nightmare because it has next to no functional difference from Medium any more. I’m pretty sure the only difference at this point is the disadvantage with Heavy weapons.

 

[Weiley31]

You just have to rely on 3rd party stuff to help with this. There's an expansion for Level Up that helps you design your own heritages, including Large ones. It works just fine.

ARCADIA 14 | March 2022

ARCADIA 14 is here! This issue contains the following three articles and has cover from Henrik Rosenborg. Inside ARCADIA 14: The Big and the Small by Willy Abeel with art from Gustavo Pelissari. Want to play an ogre character? Of course you do. They have layers. What about a pixie? Heck yeah...

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Also, this too.