Stoutstien
lunk
Quality of play change I made was to remove size and weight and replace it with bulk. It allows me to make the Minotaur "larger"without countless little interactions that can cause issues.
D&D 5E All character races are Medium-sized...why?
- Thread starter Casimir Liber
- Start date
Because 5E players aren't as wonderfully flexible as you all seem to claim. 
WotC doesn't trust you to take their rules and work sensibly with them, rather than create overpowered monstrosities (a la the Sorlock). So instead they go with "Rulings, not rules" and tell you "If you want oversized PCs, then you go ahead and create your own rules and make your own adjudications with them, while we maintain a nice even default for the entire spectrum of the playerbase."
WotC doesn't trust you to take their rules and work sensibly with them, rather than create overpowered monstrosities (a la the Sorlock). So instead they go with "Rulings, not rules" and tell you "If you want oversized PCs, then you go ahead and create your own rules and make your own adjudications with them, while we maintain a nice even default for the entire spectrum of the playerbase."
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
No, there really isn't any good reason--other than inadequate game design.
Just about any resemblance of realism/ reality was thrown out the window for the sake of simplicity.
As for the aura argument, when you consider all the hassles a Large creature will have to deal with, giving them a bit more isn't a big deal. After all, if they want to move into a 5-ft space, it is difficult terrain and they have disadvantage on attacks and DEX saves.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I think it's less the game and its potential as much as its the approach design is taking about issues of balance. Giving a large PC an ASI to Strength, an effectively larger area for auras, a bit more damage from weapons, a bit of advantage in a few situations as well as trouble moving in restricted spaces- these don't have to be viewed as game breaking. But it is the approach the R&D team is taking.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
I mean, they're not game-breaking in the sense that it'll fall apart, but together those things are an absolutely gigantic, overwhelming advantage over a size M (esp. as "restricted spaces" is a chore to deal with, and no edition has great rules for it), that you'd have to be outright silly to not pick a size L creature if intending to be a melee-primary class.
That's probably not ideal when most races are naturally size M.
There are ways around it - Level Adjustment in 3.XE for one - but it is a big deal.
All that said, LFQW was a much bigger deal, and that wasn't handled at all by the rules, even when they were making size a trade-off and so on.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
It's easy enough to remove the aura issue by making the aura a 10' radius (or whatever size) centered on the creature. Then Large creatures would be able to impact fewer other creatures with their aura because they take up more of it themselves. Then you can make them Large again and not worry about it.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
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.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
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.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Probably not from WotC, no. But complexity is not a bad word. Level Up is 5e-inspired and can absolutely handle this.
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
The High Aldwin
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.
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
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
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.
(* 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
Hero
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
Legend
Yeah, I'm on board with getting rid of power gamers!
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
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.
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.
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Weiley31
Legend
Hey now, they at least have the common sense to later upgrade to rocket jets to avoid stair issues.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
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
Legend
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