Dragon size

[Celebrim]

40'x40' facing wt. 40' tail and a serpentine neck implies a total length of 120' or so from snout to tail tip. That's pretty darn big. I personally feel that is so big that a human cannot at present get his mind around the scale of a living moving creature that big. Maybe by standing on the runway while jumbo jets fly inches above your head, but then jets lack the organic rippling power of a living thing. Maybe scuba diving with blue whales, but then again, I don't think anyone has ever managed to do that. Forty yards long is plenty big. Get in a canoe and have a 18' foot long croc swim along side you. Have a full grown african elephant charge you. Get some perspective before you imagine the need for something bigger. That's just huge. Colossal even. What do you need bigger for? The bigger you get beyond the ability of your players to grasp the bigness of the creature, the more cartoonish your critter becomes in thier imagination.

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

[Q]The bigger you get beyond the ability of your players to grasp the bigness of the creature, the more cartoonish your critter becomes in thier imagination.[/Q]

Dammnit. He's right.

I originally wrote over 200ft long. He is the largest dragon on all of Faerun, so perhaps more, but then again with the last post its all been thrown into jeapordy.

How long is 200ft? give me something of equivilent size to match it to if you can think of something appropriate... I need a mental scale in my head.

At the moment, Klauth is sitting at about 250ft long from tail to snarl. Is this right? [Spider sits down and cries at his inadequacy to make a decision on his own, and also mourns his lack of knowledge in spacial mathematics]

 

[Oni]

Well how about a (American) football field, that is 300 ft so try to envision that, or better yet if you have one nearby go out and walk the length of it. Now try to imagine its height based on that length, and the wingspan.....that would be most impressive.

 

[Celebrim]

Spider: At 250' long, Klauth is somewhat bigger than the tower of Big Ben and his wings are slightly less immence than a soccer pitch. His head is perhaps the size of a double decker bus. His larger teeth might be the length of the PC's.

If cross sectional area is any indication of the ability to withstand damage, Klauth should have about 7000 h.p. and a natural DR of around 50/-. Of course, we probably shouldn't bring up the physics here, because at something like 4000 metric tons, Klauth should crushed by his own weight. But of course, this is fantasy.

I suppose I could find use for a dragon of that size, but I'm having a hard time imagining a guy with a sword fighting it. His legs are like 10' across at the ankle, and his body might well be 30' or more up off the ground. Just stepping on a character should end the fight.

I'm not saying you can't have Klauth that big, I'm just saying I find no particular need to have 'Super Star Destroyers' if I already have 'Star Destroyers'. At what point do you stop?

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Klauth doesn't fight the PC's - they're all around 2nd or 3rd level when they meet him - and yes, he steps on someone and pins him down without trying. I wanted a trigger happy PC talk his way out, not fight (and he did it admirably, although at a cost).

Anyway, thats my reasoning and the Big Ben sizing example is about right for what I'm imagining him to be. He is the greatest dragon of the north, after all.

Cheers for the help everyone.