Missing table

[Shadowdragon]

On page 26 of the core BRP book it says "Values for SIZ characteristics higher than 25 can be found in Chapter Eight: Equipment on page 237." I looked on page 237 and there's no table on that page. I skimmed the entire book and I couldn't spot a table for SIZ values over 25. Is there supposed to be such a table in the core book? Are SIZ values over 25 simply +2 inches equals +1 SIZ?

[Mechashef]

On page 26 of the core BRP book it says "Values for SIZ characteristics higher than 25 can be found in Chapter Eight: Equipment on page 237." I looked on page 237 and there's no table on that page. I skimmed the entire book and I couldn't spot a table for SIZ values over 25. Is there supposed to be such a table in the core book? Are SIZ values over 25 simply +2 inches equals +1 SIZ?

Try page 296 (from memory).


My understanding about SIZ is that is primarily indicates mass, not height, which may be causing you some confusion.

[Mechashef]

Take a look at: http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/ba...rrected-2.html

Post number 15 is the best SIZ table I've seen for BRP.

[Atgxtg]

Take a look at: http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/ba...rrected-2.html

Post number 15 is the best SIZ table I've seen for BRP.

Well, you just made my day.

[Mechashef]

Well, you just made my day.

It is only fair to give credit where credit is due.

I've spent heaps of time looking at the EQ3 SIZ table and the only conclusion I could come up with was that it was "odd".

Once you told me about the SIZ + 8 equals double the mass, it made sense.

There are still errors in the official table (as you have pointed out), and it is debatable how well the SIZ ranges given for various real creatures actually represent the weights of those creatures, but that is not the fault of the table itself.

I had created my own modification of the official table, but have dropped it in favour of yours.


When are you going to put it into the downloads section?

[Shadowdragon]

I'm usually better at figuring out how tall or long something is. Is there a way to figure out a creature's average weight based on it's height or length? Say I've got a 4 foot tall goblin, or a 20 foot tall giant, or a 40 foot long dragon, etc. how do I figure out how much their average weight is?

[Al.]

I'm usually better at figuring out how tall or long something is. Is there a way to figure out a creature's average weight based on it's height or length? Say I've got a 4 foot tall goblin, or a 20 foot tall giant, or a 40 foot long dragon, etc. how do I figure out how much their average weight is?

By a bit of guesstimation.

SIZ in BRP is explicitly a measure of mass (the author of BRP's predecessor RuneQuest slapped me down - politely - in a playtest forum and told me so straight)

One problem is that SIZ progression is non-linear (I confess I don't quite understand why but wiser people than I have said that otherwise it would just explode out all control) so any equation will be either fairly complex OR only valid for a small range of SIZ values.

The other is that density is going to have a BIG impact. For animals no doubt one COULD draw up a chart of SIZ - mass - estimated height/length. 'Simply' (hmmm) plugging in the length of a real world animal with a mass similar to that in the mass column.



Al the not very helpful

[Shadowdragon]

What would be some benchmarks for SIZ then? I'm just trying to figure out how big SIZ 30 actually is and how it compares to SIZ 300, for example. Some examples using common real world animals/objects/terrain features would be really helpful. If a T-Rex was SIZ whatever then a dragon of about equal size would be about the same SIZ. If a 1 inch long spider is SIZ whatever then a spider 10 feet long would be SIZ whatever. Stuff like that.

[Thalaba]

I think the problem with height/length is that it just isnt straight forward. Sure, for humanoids you could probably compare, but how to you compare the height of a human to that of a horse. How do you compare a horse to a giraffe, or the length of a python to an elephant? Mass, by contrast, is easy to compare. Furthermore, mass makes more sense forming part of the calculation for determining HP and Damage bonus that height does. Tall people aren't necessarily more swarthy, nor do they hit harder.

But I see where your coming from - I've run into this issue in my games, too. Just how tall is a SIZ 25 giant ape, and can it fit through the door?

What's probably needed is something to compare size to height for average humanoids (as opposed to short, fat humanoids, or tall thin ones). And from there, basically each creature description could use a line stating that 'this creature ranges in height from X to Y'. But that's a lot of work and I'm not up to it, so I just wing it.

Thalaba

[Shadowdragon]

For me it's more the other way, I'm statting out a bunch of creatures and I have no idea what SIZ to give them. Should a 10 foot long spider be SIZ 20, 30, 40, 100? Are 4 foot tall goblins SIZ 4, 6, 8? In other games size is split into very few levels (D&D only has 9, Savage Worlds has 12 I think). It's difficult to go from them to a system like BRP that breaks size down into hundreds of teeny-tiny levels. If SIZ weren't so important in BRP I'd just get rid of it or exchange it for something a lot easier and simpler.