D&D 5E Large Reach

[Charlaquin]

Large creatures don’t inherently have reach in 5e, nor do weapons built for Large creatures. Weapons built for Large creatures do have double the normal damage dice of the equivalent weapons for small creatures, which is one of the problems with Large size PC races in 5e. If you want to make a Dark Sun half-giant and you need to have it be Large size, the best options would be:

a.) just say they are Large but still suffer
Disadvantage on attacks with Large weapons. Maybe let them treat two-handed weapons as Versatile to express their side instead.

b.) let them use Large weapons but give them disadvantage with martial weapons (since Large simple weapons won’t deal too much more damage than Medium martial weapons)

or

c.) give them a level adjustment. That’s not normally a thing in 5e, but then again neither is Large PC races. If you gotta have a Large race and you gotta have it use Large weapons unrestricted, you’ll have to accept that it won’t be balanced with other PC races and include something like this to balance it out.

 

[Asisreo]

I haven't read the thread yet, but I believe your maximum reach is 20ft so far in 5e

 

[Northern Phoenix]

I haven't read the thread yet, but I believe your maximum reach is 20ft so far in 5e

The Kraken and certain other "Tentacle" themed monsters have up to 30, but 20 out from the space is the norm for "regular" Gargantuan.

 

[Haldrik]

In Theros, the Colossus of Arkos is Gargantuan and human-shaped wielding spear or sword, at only range 15. Then again, some giants are Huge but also with sword or "slam" at 15. The following is generally true for human-shaped creature, albeit occasionally inconsistent.

REACH
Gargantuan: 15 or 20
Huge: 10 or 15
Large: 5 or 10
Medium: 5 or 10
Small: 5
Tiny: 5

Unless I am missing something, I now have zero worries about Large size because of reach.



With regard to weapon size, damage might need more scrutiny? Maybe grappling too?

 

[77IM]

For over a year, I DM'd for a group with a PC bugbear who used a polearm -- reach 15 feet! It was never a problem at all. It gave the character increased mobility and sometimes allowed him to attack foes that would otherwise be surrounded, but wasn't imbalanced at all. The same player later made a bugbear rogue who would sneak-attack from 10 feet away using a dagger; again, it really wasn't a big deal. So I think reach should be fine.

I also DM'd a Large-sized giant PC for almost a year, and the 10x10 space wasn't an issue either. What was an issue was Larged-sized weapons, with double damage dice. I made the PC give up their "Extra Attack" ability in order to weild Large-sized double-dice weapons, which seems balanced (in fact, one attack at double dice is usually weaker than two attacks with normal dice), but it's still possible to abuse it with bonus-action attacks and haste and reaction attacks. So I'd tread carefully there. The Large-sized weapons were still not as overpowered as Great Weapon Master.

 

[Northern Phoenix]

For over a year, I DM'd for a group with a PC bugbear who used a polearm -- reach 15 feet! It was never a problem at all. It gave the character increased mobility and sometimes allowed him to attack foes that would otherwise be surrounded, but wasn't imbalanced at all. The same player later made a bugbear rogue who would sneak-attack from 10 feet away using a dagger; again, it really wasn't a big deal. So I think reach should be fine.

I also DM'd a Large-sized giant PC for almost a year, and the 10x10 space wasn't an issue either. What was an issue was Larged-sized weapons, with double damage dice. I made the PC give up their "Extra Attack" ability in order to weild Large-sized double-dice weapons, which seems balanced (in fact, one attack at double dice is usually weaker than two attacks with normal dice), but it's still possible to abuse it with bonus-action attacks and haste and reaction attacks. So I'd tread carefully there. The Large-sized weapons were still not as overpowered as Great Weapon Master.

I'd probably be fine with Large sized weapons on the condition of no Power Attack feats, that does make sense.

 

[Tonguez]

The AOO issue was the biggest problem in 3.5. Melee fighters couldn't get close to large creatures without getting smacked around unless they could tumble.

I thought that was the point of large creatures - reach is a feature not a problem

 

[Oofta]

I thought that was the point of large creatures - reach is a feature not a problem

Depends. If I was playing a PC is was a problem. If I was DMing it was a feature.

 

[Haldrik]

Any dpr enthusiasts want to do calculations?

What if larger weapons simply gain a flat d6 improvement for each size category larger than medium? As the only damage upgrade.

Is the total damage balanced or at least manageable enough?



With regard to flavor, bigger creatures tend to be stronger, so the Strength score itself is the flavor. And not everything big is necessarily strong, so there seems less need for extra Strength score improvements because of size. Meanwhile, Str 20 is plenty to represent crazy strong Large, and seems adequate for Huge. Str 21+ can probably wait for epic levels.

 

[Asisreo]

The Kraken and certain other "Tentacle" themed monsters have up to 30, but 20 out from the space is the norm for "regular" Gargantuan.

Correct. I was thinking in terms of PC's (without polymorph)