Height Standardization?

[ZStreeter]

This is a very minor annoyance for me, but maybe others will agree. I don't have a clue as to how long this might take to implement.

I did a search of the forums and couldn't find any recent discussion on standardizing heights for PCs. Perhaps an NPC you can speak with in the Nexus who gives you your current height and options to modify it?

I'm fairly certain numerous PCs already have appearances that have been altered beyond what the vanilla character creation sliders allow.

It'd be helpful in that characters who play gigantic 6'8"+ warriors are immediately and obviously gigantic instead of it being a note tucked in the bottom of their descriptions.

[Hoihe]

It'd also be helpful to figure out what people consider tall and short and standardize.


For me, 5'6"/170ish is average, 5'10 being tall and above very tall, 5' being short and under very short.


On the other hand, I once read a bio describing a 5'8" character as "short."

I was like wtf.


I've also seen people standing at minimum height for elves before the recent elf-height-change with the description of "5'4".

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Treat the middle of the slider as standard.

[Sun Wukong]

The problem with NWN2 is the bird eye view. It is hard to tell if someone is a hulking mass of muscle, when you just see their fancy hats.

And yes, middle is the avarage. However, there is genetic variation even among the forgotten realms human populations.

A Calishite, Tethyrian, Damaran, Mulan, Illuskan, Rashemi, and Chondathan.

I suppose Tethyrians, Illuskan, and Chondathan human varieties are the most common for this server.

[Tsidkenu]

Standard height ranges are available from the FR Players Handbook I believe, website version here.

As for 'oversize' characters, they ought to require DM permission to be above and beyond the normal limits for their race's height. I've read a few bios out there and... nope! You're not the same height as an ogre, sorry.

[Blame The Rogue]

i've always looked at, say, max human height within the standard slider, as very tall..perhaps 6ft 6in

i only use that height when i want a very larger person

i typically use one tick down as 6ft, etc

what bothers me, is that some npcs, are at or above max height. making my "tall" character appear short. i feel there should be rules and standards in place for npc creation, if there aren't already

the tall bouncer outside the tavern, get that. normal guards the height of half orcs....no bueno

[deserk]

One thing that the character creation process is a bit misrepresentative in is when it comes to the height of the elves, as they are actually as tall as humans in general (same with half-elves), something in FR that took exception to the default D&D racial height standards of 3.5 (where the elves were relatively shorter compared to humans as shown currently IG). Very odd that Obsidian missed this and a bit annoying, as drow consequently have nearly become elven midgets as a result, when they should just be a bit shorter than humans in general.

[Pimple]

As of the last patch on this server elves are the same height humans are. Just missing the drow.

[Valefort]

That's why they weren't changed, they're supposed to be short.

[Hoihe]

I stand by the idea that humans and elves are generally too tall in D&D.

[Reckeo]

It is a minor annoyance. It also depends on camera mode and angle. Depending on the view, at times, character depiction is overly large or too small and hard to gain a frame of reference. As a result, some of my characters are what I would consider too short or too tall etc etc. I typically try to compare my character to an average NPC human guard, but even then, I have no indicator of how tall they are supposed to be with their helmets and armor etc.

[chad878262]

Likely because it is based on U.S. standards... I recall a study from ~20+ years ago (so it's obviously no longer accurate) where Japanese men in Japan were an average height of 5'6" tall, men of Japanese descent in Hawaii were an average of 5'8" tall and men of Japanese decent in California were an average of 5'11" tall. As the height increased, so did the instance of heart disease. I believe the findings were related to the fact that more red meat consumption (thus more protein) caused for taller growth, along with greater risk to heart health.

On topic, the heights in D&D are likely based on averages in North America, so they are generally going to be taller than what some other countries populace would consider average.

Edit: it should also be noted that due to lesser restrictions the meat being consumed in the U.S. and to a lesser extent Hawaii may have been full of steroids, antibiotics and who knows what else which may have been more responsible for the growth and heart disease than the meat itself...

[Hoihe]

Likely because it is based on U.S. standards... I recall a study from ~20+ years ago (so it's obviously no longer accurate) where Japanese men in Japan were an average height of 5'6" tall, men of Japanese descent in Hawaii were an average of 5'8" tall and men of Japanese decent in California were an average of 5'11" tall. As the height increased, so did the instance of heart disease. I believe the findings were related to the fact that more red meat consumption (thus more protein) caused for taller growth, along with greater risk to heart health.

On topic, the heights in D&D are likely based on averages in North America, so they are generally going to be taller than what some other countries populace would consider average.

Edit: it should also be noted that due to lesser restrictions the meat being consumed in the U.S. and to a lesser extent Hawaii may have been full of steroids, antibiotics and who knows what else which may have been more responsible for the growth and heart disease than the meat itself...

That has a point. The majority of hungarians I meet, male and female, are about collarbone/nose height to me. I'm 173 cm tall, or 5'7".

[Deathgrowl]

Anything smaller than 2,4 meters and 350 kg is tiny.

[Hoihe]

Anything smaller than 2,4 meters and 350 kg is tiny.

Don't be such a racist, sir bearington.