D&D General Miniatures shouldn't be edition-dependent (a Fire Giant size rant)

My 90s Ral Partha Fire Giant is now a youngling. Problem solved!

wingsandsword said:

Seriously, this is getting frustrating, every time I post here about D&D, everyone just assumes I'm talking about 5e. Note this post is NOT tagged for 5e, it was tagged for D&D General. Does anyone even pay attention to post tags anymore?

Is this just a 5e fansite, or is it for all D&D editions, because this is far, FAR from the first time I've tried to talk about D&D and everyone just assumes I'm talking about 5e, or tries to pressure me to switch to 5e.

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ENWorld's always been whatever edition is current. You probably should have gone with the 3e tag, because D&D General will still pull in people who don't know or care about 3e specifics. It doesn't help if people don't fully read what you wrote. Or if they comment on an edition they're not familiar with; there's been a good number of changes to the rules over the years after all and some things apply differently across them.

I will agree with you on the people who just say "play 5e instead!", that doesn't rely reply to your statements and it is a bit rude as well.

coyote6 said:

FWIW, not all 3e giants are Large - so you can use the huge fire giant mini for some kind of weird cloud or storm giant. Maybe one pretending to be the high king of fire giants, or something. Or use it for that fire giant high priest with righteous might.

Also, look for Pathfinder 1e miniatures - the giants are (IIRC) the same size as 3e, and as the minis are more recent, they may be easier to find and cheaper to acquire. Check out WizKids' Pathfinder Battles minis, too. (However, I don't know what PF 2e giants are like, so double check before you buy any PF 2e minis!)

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Pathfinder giants are similar to 3.5, but their fire giants are taller than their frost giants.

in 3.5 though you can always consider them advanced and make them the larger versions i do like the larger models. the GF9 collector series and wizkids preprimed are both official D&D lines and thus are in scale with 5e...

i also play 3.5E but i make giants, dragons, etc as big as i need. dragons i still use the 2e sizes (so crazy big at the upper end)...

SF

StarFyre said:

in 3.5 though you can always consider them advanced and make them the larger versions i do like the larger models. the GF9 collector series and wizkids preprimed are both official D&D lines and thus are in scale with 5e...

i also play 3.5E but i make giants, dragons, etc as big as i need. dragons i still use the 2e sizes (so crazy big at the upper end)...

SF

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Fire giants advance by character class and not by HD in 3.5 though. For something like a huge fire giant by the rules there are things like the gigantean template from the Advanced Bestiary.

I pretty much disagree. This is pretty much saying that designers should not have the ability to make lore level changes between editions. I feel that setting and lore are just as important of a vector for designers to consider when looking at how to improve the game.

I have a acquired miniatures in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00, 10, and 20s. I have 12mm, 20mm, 1", 25mm, 28mm, 32mm, 35mm, 3", 6", and 12" in my collection. I have giants smaller than other medium creatures, and a Tressym that is technically gargantuan. I have a spectrum of fire giant sizes that cover a very wide spectrum - and I use them all. My current pet project is to find a good miniature for a roc that matches the size listed in the MM - so a 3'6" wingspan on the 'miniature'. I found a stuffed eagle, but I think I can do better. I have tubs that fill up 4 floor to ceiling shelving units of minis, plus a display case with the big uns.

During a non-COVID era, when I'm actually using miniatures, over half of the monsters I bring to the table are homebrew. This keeps experienced players on their toes as they do not know what to expect when they see a merbunny with a unicorn horn swim up to the side of a ship. It also allows me to provide something unique to add to a battle when I have all of these different sizes of miniatures.

I also have a large number of black disks of various sizes. I use them frequently to indicate something is larger than the mini represents.

With these approaches and tools at my disposal, there are are only a small handful of miniatures I regret buying (and those are because of durability issues, mostly).

This is not a problem. It is an opportunity.

Campbell said:

I pretty much disagree. This is pretty much saying that designers should not have the ability to make lore level changes between editions. I feel that setting and lore are just as important of a vector for designers to consider when looking at how to improve the game.

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I think there's a difference between a little shuffling around (like giant heights or adding new lore that complements what's there) and much broader changes (like making storm giants evil). One isn't very likely to pose a barrier to long term campaigns converting to the new ruleset, the other has the potential to be an inconvenience. Ideally, a new edition of a game should be shooting for relatively easy replacement of its predecessor, not throwing up hurdles to its own success.

billd91 said:

I think there's a difference between a little shuffling around (like giant heights or adding new lore that complements what's there) and much broader changes (like making storm giants evil). One isn't very likely to pose a barrier to long term campaigns converting to the new ruleset, the other has the potential to be an inconvenience.

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How are we defining long term campaign? Because as cool as it is that there are campaigns which have been going on for years and years, I don't think that's the common experience and catering to that group probably isn't the best idea.

Voadam said:

Fire giants advance by character class and not by HD in 3.5 though. For something like a huge fire giant by the rules there are things like the gigantean template from the Advanced Bestiary.

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Wouldn't Jotunblood be more appropriate in that case?