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Originally posted by TomCosta

The royal line of Hartsvale has some giantish blood, but are considered fully human. Nevertheless, they were said to be extremely tall-- Queen Brianna (2E era) was 7 feet tall. I don't recall if they mentioned how tall the men were, but I'm guessing well into the 7s if not around 8 would not be unheard of. Wulfgar (of Drizzt fame) was also 7 feet or just shy of it and weighed 350 lb.

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Originally posted by Ayrik

One of the "interesting people" inhabiting one of the cities in the 2E FRA supplement is about 8' tall, described as a hale and hearty red-headed red-bearded barbarian lumberjack type with the last name "Stormkin". I recall that (as the name implies) he's thought to have some storm giant blood and is thought by all the locals to be the tallest human in the Realms.

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Originally posted by Markustay
There was an Orc - from The Vast, IIRC, who was 15' tall. Seriously - I kid you not. I guess some orcs grow pretty damn big.

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Originally posted by BadCatMan

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Originally posted by Ayrik

One of the "interesting people" inhabiting one of the cities in the 2E FRA supplement is about 8' tall, described as a hale and hearty red-headed red-bearded barbarian lumberjack type with the last name "Stormkin". I recall that (as the name implies) he's thought to have some storm giant blood and is thought by all the locals to be the tallest human in the Realms.

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I think you have him muddled with someone else. Duke Haldyn Stormkin is a leader of the city of Calaunt, but FRA does no more than give his height and strength. And he's taller, a whopping 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall. The name "Stormkin" does suggest giant blood, storm or otherwise.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Haldyn_Stormkin

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Originally posted by Markustay

Buildings are just as bad, especially on older maps. Eric Boyd and I ran into this problem in the Daggerford maps, which we had to increase the scale. There were 'buildings' just 10' square. Even a halfling would find that a bit 'snug'.

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Originally posted by Markustay
I think I may becoming a bit too 'crotchity' for this planet. Anyone know a good one I can move to?

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Originally posted by Markustay

Because of the type of (kitchen-sink) fantasy setting FR is, 'pure blood' anything is almost ridiculous, especially given that even among species that normally can't interbreed, both can usually interbreed with something else (like most goblinoids, or humans for that matter). Then add-in 35K+ years and stir.

Thus, humans ranging from 3' all the way on up to 9' could be 'normal', in such a setting. Mind you, that dwarven half-breeds are always considered 'fully dwarven' (they favor the dwarven parent - Moradin makes strong genes LOL), buuuuut... they will still be abnormally tall, or abnormally short in the cases where they mix with gnomes and halflings.

As a person who spent most of his life in construction, I've actually given quite a bit of thought to architecture in FR (and D&D/fantasy settings in general). Although 8' high ceilings are the 'norm' in America, I doubt they would be in The Realms. I've been in houses that were 200+ years old, and the commoner's ceilings were more like 7' back then, if that. But in a fantasy setting where height ranges are quite different, I would imagine anything outside of a rural community would have 10' ceilings on average, not just for large humans, but also for a variety of non-humans who tend to be quite large (dragonborn, tielfings because of their horns, even well-mannered gnolls, minotaurs, and bugbears, etc). In cities, most major structures would probably have at least 12' ceilings, meaning the outward appearance of structures would also be quite a bit larger. Even a a simple two-story structure would be the size of a RW three-story building.

Part of the problem I run into with maps is that designers seem to have a total lack of the concept of 'scale'. I wish I could say its all older material (and in FR, it mostly is), but I am currently going over some PF/Golarion maps and I keep running into their 'mountain problem', which I thought was only grossly apparent in the Darkmoon Vale stuff, but I just came across several ranges of mountains that fit inside a one mile spot on a map. A mountain 'range' that fit inside a mile.
I've sometimes made comments about how good the crack must be in Renton, but apparently the crack is equally good over in Redmond. you can fit ONE decent sized mountain in a one-mile area. Thats it... and that's not even all that big (on average around 2600' or so). Buildings are just as bad, especially on older maps. Eric Boyd and I ran into this problem in the Daggerford maps, which we had to increase the scale. There were 'buildings' just 10' square. Even a halfling would find that a bit 'snug'.

Cartographers SHOULD correct these kinds of problems, but in fantasy mapping they DON'T, because they are NOT cartographers - they are artists. They make pretty maps. Thats it. Now couple this problem ('tiny footprints' for buildings) with the above problem of ceiling height, and its no longer even ludicrous.. its way beyond that. So you have a structure that's 10-15' square (about the size of an average bedroom these days), but its over 30' tall? They must have some truly amazing building materials in fantasy - the engineer in me has a vein throbbing in my head at this. Wood has span limits. As you increase the span, you have to increase the thickness. Now, if those walls have to be 1' thick to hold everything up, how much crazier is a 10' wide house? (because now you have only 8' of interior room).

And THIS is why I HATE doing city and town maps. They shouldn't look anything like our RW city maps. Major IP's should not only have the position of 'traffic cop', they need someone called 'reality check guy' (and 'guy' now-a-days also means females - like when you walk into a room and say, "Hi guys!" to your friends. I am NOT being misogynistic here. And the fact that I feel I have to explain that annoys the heck out of me).

I think I may becoming a bit too 'crotchity' for this planet. Anyone know a good one I can move to?

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Originally posted by Markustay

Dwarf: "Excuse me sir, but don't you think making tunnels and rooms sized large-enough for dragons seems like inviting catastrophe?"
Dwarf King: "Nonsense! The bigger the better! Just because the last 399 dwarf-halls fell to invading dragons doesn't mean ours will!"

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Originally posted by TBeholder

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Originally posted by Markustay

Dwarf: "Excuse me sir, but don't you think making tunnels and rooms sized large-enough for dragons seems like inviting catastrophe?"
Dwarf King: "Nonsense! The bigger the better! Just because the last 399 dwarf-halls fell to invading dragons doesn't mean ours will!"

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One word: air.

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Originally posted by BadCatMan

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Originally posted by Markustay
There was an Orc - from The Vast, IIRC, who was 15' tall. Seriously - I kid you not. I guess some orcs grow pretty damn big.

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I've never encountered such a character in my Vast research, so this orc must be from someplace else.

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Glorundoun is that rarest of things; a shrewd schemer, a truly foresighted orc who plans years ahead, spreading rumors and founding alliances and sending the orcs he commands (a rogue band of outcasts and misfits from many tribes, including “misshapen” orcs visibly different from the norm [such as having three left arms but only one right arm, or long, prehensile tails], plus a few humans, half-orcs, and others - - who at his firm and sometimes violent insistence are treated as “full orcs” by the rest) on missions to accomplish specific tasks that will shape the opinions, deeds, and settlement locations of others.
Active in the Vast, Impiltur, and the Moonsea North, and moving about often, Glorundoun has been behind much of the “orc dangers” that imperil human mining and travel away from the Inner Sea shores; he wants to keep humans from settling, taming, and then spreading over all of the region (so as to prevent all “monsters” [such as himself] ever being crowded right out of non-frozen areas where they can forage).
Glorundoun has no interest in ruling any orc tribe or disputing with tribes, but expects other orcs to cooperate with him once they know what he’s busy doing; if they don’t, he customarily ignores chieftans and warband leaders and speaks directly to the orcs being led by them. If any orc defies him or hampers his schemes, he won’t hesitate to destroy them - - but won’t engage in open confrontation he’ll likely lose, calmly withdrawing to strike at them later.
Glorundoun enjoys eating, drinking, and sex (with partners of all races), but will never let pursuit of such enjoyments lull him into being exposed to the attacks of foes, or distracted from what’s afoot right now.
Glorundoun uses the non-orc members of his band in deceptions, so as to deal with humans and others without them (initially, at least) realizing they’re “treating with orcs,” and seizes and caches items such as weapons and tools, coins and gems, and other useful goods whenever he can, for use later. Over years of successful exploits, he’s established dozens of hidden caches that each hold enough wealth to purchase buildings in many human-dominated cities outright, as well as scores of smaller caches (if buying a building, ship, or caravan will help a scheme succeed, he’ll boldly do so).
Glorundoun himself is gigantic, standing 14 feet tall at his shoulders (which are fully six feet across), and having a flattened, “toad-like” hairless head twice as large as most orcs. His left front tusk is broken off and yellowed with decay, and several wide white scars wander across his features.

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Originally posted by TBeholder

Tall humans tend to be giant-blooded often enough that it's the suspected reason #1.
Kolmin Stagblade, Madeiron Sunderstone, Haldyn Stormkin

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Originally posted by Markustay

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Originally posted by BadCatMan

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Originally posted by Markustay
There was an Orc - from The Vast, IIRC, who was 15' tall. Seriously - I kid you not. I guess some orcs grow pretty damn big.

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I've never encountered such a character in my Vast research, so this orc must be from someplace else.

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So when one works on the FRwiki, one considers themselves 'infallible', does one not?

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Originally posted by Markustay

it seems likely that some of the leaders of the Orcish kingdom may have been 'more than just orchish', and this guy could be some sort of 'throwback'. Vastar orcs did seem to be a step above the normal, northern 'mountain orcs' on some levels.

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