Space/Reach question

[Ranger REG]

My Druid is shaped into a Large Earth Elemental. 10x10 with a 5' reach. But Large Earth Elementals are 16' tall. Could I hit something 20' off the ground? In essence, that would make my space 10x10x15 tall. Is there something in the books about this? I know what my logic would tell me, but some DMs don't care about logic. Especially since D&D breaks logic with their rules all the time.

Don't go with logic. Use common sense or plausible judgment. If your creature is 16 feet tall, then he should threaten 5 feet above his height. He can hit something that is just 20 feet off the ground, but he won't hit anything that is 25 feet (unless he has a reach weapon) or higher (might as well use a ranged attack).

 

[Dimwhit]

The vertical reaches are reasonable, the elementals tend to be far too tall across the board. Having its height also be its vertical reach is quite reasonable if the DM decides that the MM height represents the elemental taking a 10 at the base, 16' high stalagmite shape.

The maximum vertical reach (height the creature can reach without jumping) for an average creature of a given size is shown on the table below. (As a Medium creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.) Quadrupedal creatures don’t have the same vertical reach as a bipedal creature; treat them as being one size category smaller.

Creature Size Vertical Reach
Colossal 128 ft.
Gargantuan 64 ft.
Huge 32 ft.
Large 16 ft.
Medium 8 ft.
Small 4 ft.
Tiny 2 ft.
Diminutive 1 ft.
Fine 1/2 ft.

What about Giants? Take Frost Giants. 10'x10' spacing, but they're 15' tall. And since they're humanoid, limiting them to a 16' vertical reach is crazy.

I tend to go with Ranger REG. Common sense *should* rule here. If a creature has a height listed, round it down to the nearest 5' increment and treat that as its vertical spacing, then add reach from there to determine it. If no height is listed, go with the cube spacing. Makes sense.

 

[Felnar]

Thanks to Felnar for that bit of stupidity on my part.

are you blaming me?

 

[Dimwhit]

are you blaming me?

Hehe. I guess I didn't word that so well, eh?

 

[hafrogman]

The vertical reaches are reasonable, the elementals tend to be far too tall across the board. Having its height also be its vertical reach is quite reasonable if the DM decides that the MM height represents the elemental taking a 10 at the base, 16' high stalagmite shape.

The reaches are in general quite reasonable I agree. And technically they do say that they are for average height creatures of that size. It was just the idea of a dwarf reaching 8ft up that struck me as odd. . .

 

[MarkB]

The reaches are in general quite reasonable I agree. And technically they do say that they are for average height creatures of that size. It was just the idea of a dwarf reaching 8ft up that struck me as odd. . .

Dwarves are treated as quadrupeds in terms of stability, so just treat them as quadrupeds for vertical reach purposes too.

Or maybe they're just tall for their height.

 

[hafrogman]

Dwarves are treated as quadrupeds in terms of stability, so just treat them as quadrupeds for vertical reach purposes too.

Or maybe they're just tall for their height.

4' reach? I'm 4'1"! Dammit, how am I going to put my hat on now?

I'm going to have to go with your second theory.