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Message: <blockquote data-quote="epithet" data-source="post: 7440033" data-attributes="member: 6796566">I thought about this in the context of the recent centaur/minotaur UA article, and I came to the conclusion that the idea of trying to force intuitively large creatures into a medium size was bull excrement.I find that a level 1 feat is a great tool for defining your character, and my group has been using them since the beginning. It seems to me that the easy way to deal with large characters in that context is to make the level 1 feat a mandatory "Large PC" feat. If you don't want to do that at level 1, you could mandate that the large race PC would start as a medium teenager and become large with the first ASI.When it comes down to it, the size difference isn't that big a deal in terms of game mechanics. You add an extra die to weapon attacks, which is not unlike adding your stat bonus - it will average out to 3 or 4 points of damage per hit. Compare that to heavy armor master, which resists 3 points per hit - it's certainly in the range of other feats, mechanically. Being large also carries some drawbacks, making you squeeze through 5 foot openings and find another way around anything smaller than that. Your armor should be priced like barding for a mount, your food and water consumption should be at least doubled (charitably assuming some economy of scale vis your metabolism) or more realistically quadrupled. Even the extra die for attacks depends on the availability of weapons for your size. I'd let a large character use a versatile weapon one-handed with the two-handed damage, but that's barely a +1 damage per hit benefit. I'd say a large character could use a medium 2 hander with one hand, but with a -1 to hit because of balance.Overall, I see nothing about a large character that would break my game. I think that the refusal of Wiz to even consider a large PC is part of their ongoing commitment to simplify D&D to the point where it is easy for new players and DMs to pick up, and while I appreciate that objective I think it doesn't need to rule out more complex mechanics for those of us who have the desire to use them. Of course, we tend to just make the rules we want to play if official sources fail to provide them, so I guess Wiz might be right to keep it simple for the newbies.Edit: I think another point worth making is that you can handle stat balance by using a point-buy system and requiring a minimum STR for your large characters. If you want a centaur ranger DEX build, that's fine - but you still have to have at least a 16 strength after your racial bonuses. Of course, if you want a minotaur barbarian that's not much of an impediment.</blockquote>

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