How big is big?

[CrimsonWineGlass]

Recently, my DM and I got into an argument. I was playing a barbarian who used a huge sized greatsword and he stated that the greatsword was too large to fit into the tavern I wanted to enter. I didn't think it would be that big. This brings me to my question.

How big is a greatsword, a dagger, a club and a longsword at large sized, huge sized, gargantuan and collosal, preferably in feet or compared to more common objects. I know what they are sized for, but I'm not so sure how big they are, even vaguely.

 

[frankthedm]

Jolly green giant is the white tunic is huge. A typical human is next to the orge/troll

Center guy has a huge greatsword.

BTW That is a very big commoner in the pic.

Fitting it in the bar should be just as had as fitting in a long beam of wood in the place, nocking drinks to the floor and such. Though don't be surprised if the DM assesses a huge penalty on attacks if the DM lets you swing the thing in there.

 

[Starglim]

A greatsword is about the same length as the height of the race that wields it, so a Huge greatsword would be a minimum of 16 feet long.

edit: Clubs and longswords are a bit more than half the height of their wielders, so Huge versions would be 10 feet or longer. Daggers vary greatly in length but I would think between 2 and 4 feet for Huge.

 

[Rkhet]

...and yet, you get no reach. Bah.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Heh. Imagine trying to swing a small tree trunk. Yeah, I agree with the DM about not being able to get a Huge greatsword into a tavern. I can see the patrons or bouncers watching someone walking up carrying this thing. First, I'd think if I saw anyone carrying a fairly thick piece of metal that was 16' long, I'd be pretty freaked out to begin with (that's heavy). Second, I'd think that none of the local NPCs would imagine it's anything other than a trophy that this barbarian had gotten from killing some local giant.

Maybe they'd allow it to be brought in, after space had been cleared--especially if the tavern owner could make money charging people to come see the enormous sword.

Dave

 

[Infiniti2000]

Recently, my DM and I got into an argument. I was playing a barbarian who used a huge sized greatsword ...

The argument should have been that you couldn't use it, unless you are Large and have Monkey Grip.

 

[CrimsonWineGlass]

Thanks guys, and now I can see where he is coming from. I was thinking 8 ft. tall at biggest, but I can see where a 16 foot long piece of razor sharp adamantium might just cause problems in a tavern.

 

[Krafen]

The argument should have been that you couldn't use it, unless you are Large and have Monkey Grip.

Goliath with Monkey Grip maybe?

 

[IndyPendant]

Meh. If he's going to make up non-RAW rules (which is, essentially, what he is doing here) that penalize you for the length of your weapon, I would have demanded at least reach for it. "Right. So I can't bring it into the bar cuz it's 15+ feet long. Okay, I get it. I can't hit the guy that's 10 feet away from me with my 15 foot greatsword because...?"

What does your char wear for gear? Full plate and shield? Do the patrons have any problems with the fact that your party is dressed to fight a minor war? Does the town? Does your GM know that running around in full heavy armour would be extremely fatiguing under almost all circumstances? That it was almost always restricted to planned, short engagements--or horsemen? Or how about the fact that swinging almost any killing weapon is extremely fatiguing? Have you travelled through a desert--geared up the entire time in full metal armour yet? And don't get me going on the whole 'realism' of the DND hit point system! : )

Let's go back to the greatsword, on a more serious note. We've established the GM won't let you take it into a tavern because it's too big. I would be seriously nervous about entering any dungeon. If the hall is 10' wide or less (heck, 20' wide or less!) is he suddenly going to invoke 'realism' again and refuse to let you wield it? Are you suddenly going to have to have no allies beside you to be able to properly swing at an enemy?

I always hate it when my fellow GMs suddenly limit a player due to 'realism'--in DND. DND is *not* a realistic game! It's about larger-than-life heroes swinging swords and wielding magical powers against horrible monsters/BBEGs.

Flavour text--and the length of a huge greatsword is flavour in DND, and nothing but--can be used to justify anything. And regardless of whether the GM's motives were outright malicious or not--they very well might not have been--he is, inarguably, cherrypicking his enforcement of 'realism'. --In other words, whether he intends it or not, he's employing favouritism and hypocrisy.

*shrug*

 

[MarkB]

I always hate it when my fellow GMs suddenly limit a player due to 'realism'--in DND. DND is *not* a realistic game! It's about larger-than-life heroes swinging swords and wielding magical powers against horrible monsters/BBEGs.

The trouble with larger-than-life heroes is that they sometimes have trouble fitting through narrow doorways.

Flavour text--and the length of a huge greatsword is flavour in DND, and nothing but--can be used to justify anything. And regardless of whether the GM's motives were outright malicious or not--they very well might not have been--he is, inarguably, cherrypicking his enforcement of 'realism'. --In other words, whether he intends it or not, he's employing favouritism and hypocrisy.

*shrug*

The physical size of a piece of oversized equipment is not flavour text. It's a physical object that exists in the gameworld, and it should be treated as such. To not do so is to cherrypick which aspects of 'realism' you enforce.