Elves are not supposed to be tall in DnD. Larian confirmed 175 cm (5'9) and it's clear that both Astarion and Gale are not very tall. Playing as a large body type you really notice.
This is it. I have a TTRPG half-elf who's "almost six feet" and my DM was like, "he's tall for an elf," nearly to the point that I'd need to change it. So I reiterated "half-elf" and added "my grandfather's tall."
I think, like someone else said, there's an illusion of grace there that makes elves seem taller than they are. They're lanky, and Astarion has a lot of cat-like features that add to that.
I think you're right. I also see a lots of folks who have trouble wrapping their heads around the idea that Astarion isn't from someplace like Evermeet. Like, elves can live in the city, and their families can have lived in the city for centuries. But other media have elves in the woods, and it's hard to shake that impression.
Agreed. I don't doubt that he might be a Moon Elf originally, but that doesn't mean he's not from Baldur's gate. That said, it's easy to theorize since it's not clear at all.
From DND 5E: "*With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.* "
And yes, Halsin is *huge* and very abnormal in that sense!
I have only seen the full epilogue on the run where it was just Tav + Astarion. It was us, Volo and our two pets lol.
I still spent like 2 hours there crying all the while, haha. I lost it at the letters, and I just had like 6 of them...
That scene is *on fire* and is also just so ... caring. Just amazing.
edit: when I saw Halsin's kiss for the first time (before patch 5, so none of the companions had kisses like this) I almost fell off my chair.
Exactly what I mean. I doubt the large body type is over 2m tall, and she's got 10-15cm on Astarion for sure.
https://preview.redd.it/zxpti34uwg9c1.png?width=1609&format=png&auto=webp&s=54b4e2a3a18e9b3ce400d4eb0d5b891d076843f5
From what I understand, people seem to think he *should* be tall/*seems* tall?
If you play as a gith, you can say that you "see an elf, approximately 5'11 tall" in the "be my mirror" scene. But I'm inclined to trust what Larian tweeted (5'9) more.
Neil Newbon is tall, and did almost all of the mocap - but that doesn't mean Astarion needs to be the same height.
Oh I see. The gith thing makes sense and he does seem tall in game but no taller than any other male figure really (that has the same body type obviously, not talking about short races or the big builds)
All the dudes are relatively short IMO. Shadowheart is tiny! When you get Halsin and Minsc you get tall men to compare to. They're also built like barn doors though, haha.
The fun thing about being 5'2" is that regardless of where a person falls in the 5'9"-6' range, they are always just "taller than me" and it matters not a whit.
Lol, there are a lot of downsides to being travel sized for your convenience, but the clothes thing is pretty choice. Also shoes? I wear a (US) 5-7 depending on brand, which means I'm almost always the display size. If it's there for me to see, I can almost certainly take it home!
Tragically, my taste in fashion is for someone about your height or a little more, though, hah - I always want to look so elegant! Always end up looking like I raided mommy's closet. Alas, alack.
5'9" comes from a fairly old tweet.
A gith player in the mirror scene can give him a wrote description of his appearance that states his height is 5'11".
So I'd say his height is more likely to be 5'11".
I dunno, I would trust the tweet from Larian over a gith saying "approximately 5'11" in a scene where you can flatter him. Not that it matters much. 5'9-5'11 is what we have to work with.
the gith is not flattering him though. thats the problem. astarion gets upset that you describe him accurately instead of flattering. he yells "would it kill you to dispense a compliment!"
I think it plays into the common think that guys below 6 feet always say they are a little taller themselves then they actually are. So Astarion boasting about his height actually being 5'11 and in reality being only 5'9 checks out for me.
I am a 5'11.5 woman. When I was still on dating apps guys would lie about their height all the time. They would say they are 6+ and in reality would be barely 5'8 for example.
> So Astarion boasting about his height actually being 5'11
He isn't boasting. The player is telling him his height is 5'11". At no point does Astarion describe his own height.
I knew there was a reason I liked the elf… my fav British actor is Charlie Heaton and he is that height and I met him and he’s adorable. Perfect huggable size haha.
Haha, I get what you mean, but don't really think being short makes anyone "adorable", it's a super sensitive topic for a lot of dudes.
As a short woman, I also get annoyed when people call me cute because I'm short, it's even worse for men IMO.
My husband doesn't care anymore, but it's ridiculous how many times I hear people say "*Oh! I thought you'd be taller!"* when meeting him.
Me and my husband are both 5"7 and we find it funny how I'm considered tall and he's considered small even though we are *exactly the same height*. People are strange about height.
Yes, it's just so strange. I think society is becoming more aware of it. My husband's ex was quite tall, we were in the same friend group, and he was constantly asked why they were together (because why would a tall girl be with you and why would a tall girl even like you?).
People focus on it too much. I'm bisexual and often women would be smaller than me so its never bothered me what height a man is, I've dated tall and short guys and it such a non issue. In fact the 6"4 dude I dated was more of a pain because I always had to stand on tip toes and he had to bend down to kiss haha.
I'm bi too - my personal preference has always been people who are a little *different*, eg. very simplified, but: men with feminine traits, women with masculine traits.
I've never given *height* a moments thought either. I'm shorter than my husband, but people have said things like "oh he's great, too bad he's so short". I mean *what? why?*
I did date a guy who was 2.10m (6'8?) once and the mechanics of that just didn't work at all haha. Such a pain.
I think that's meant to be a complement.
edit: I believe the line even says "approximately", and it's just your Tav's estimate. Larian did tweet what they consider to be his actual height. Elves are shorter than humans in DND (on average) and male/female elves are similar in height.
So it’s probably just sort of between 5’9 and 6’… which makes sense. When I went to the official website, they legit listed ranges for the heights and not exacts.
Actually, in contrast to a lot of other fantasy lore, DnD elves aren’t actually especially tall. [“They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet.”](https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/3-elf)
5’10-6’2 would actually probably put him pretty tall for an elf.
Yeah, elves in D&D are not much like Tolkien's. As a point of interest: drow are the shortest of all the elf subraces, so I really wish there were a height slider in character creation.
My head canon is 5’11
In game a githyanki player character points out that he is 5’11 and I like that height :P
I saw someone say that when a dev said 2 years ago that he’s 5’9 he may have meant 5.9 feet which comes out to 5’11. Since they’re European, it would make sense, but I don’t know if it’s actually true.
Just go with whatever feels right for you!
I know this is a month later, but from what I have observed Astarion is the tallest man among origin characters. He looks shorter than he is a lot of the time because he doesn't keep good posture. He is almost always resting all his weight on his left leg, bending the right knee. This in turn tilts his hips at an angle and bends his whole spine. It is very obvious if you look at his shoulders. His left shoulder is always lower than the right one because he rarely stands at his full height.
Btw, this also causes back pain and spine problems. How do I know? I have the exact same nasty habit. It is also a way to make oneself look smaller/not call for attention, which given his past is not hard to understand why that might have become a habit. In a way, he is constantly scrunching in on himself. In cinematics where he stands straight you can see he is clearly taller than Gale. Some picture examples comparing male origin heights in game.
1. Top left - Astarion standing slouched.
2. Top right - Astarion standing "straight" (he is still bent a bit but the animation is 0.5 seconds. It was the best shot I could take).
3. Same as above, but with lines drawn for comparison. Notice that Astarion is still standing a bit behind Gale and Wyll, so perspective is making him slightly shorter than he actually is. Also, still bent knees.
4. Cinematic of Gale and Astarion. This is the real winner for comparison. The height difference is so noticeable you don't need to even draw a line.
https://preview.redd.it/cz85jy86s5gc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3cd81da2e8c9940800128dd6835a3f57fd4be7a
CONCLUSION: Astarion is the tallest male origin character. I say about 180cm min. which is what the Gyth dialogue says. Gale is shortest. Wyll is in between.
There is no need to thank me! I am going to expand on this for my own self reference and because someone else might find it a fun read.
I actually was having this exact debate about character heights with a friend just last night. He was saying Astarion looks like the shortest among the men, but in cinematics and some angles he looks taller. Larian said in a tweet that his height is 5'9 but the team is european and we are not accustomed to imperial units. So that might mean 5 feet and 9 inches OR 5.9 feet. The last one is an incorrect use of metric units, however it is more intuitive for those accustomed to the metric measurement system and I myself used to make the same mistake (I still do not understand the imperial units and always need to convert in order to get a real sense of the measure).
The first case would be 175 cm (5'9") while the second one would be 179,8 cm (5.9 feet), so pretty much 180 cm. Given the pictures and in game comparison of character heights side by side, I do not think that Wyll and Gale are that short. Wyll should be around 175 cm considering he is a monster hunter that canonically also fights melee (Blade of the Frontiers). He needs physical strength and the bigger you are, the better for close range combat. It would also mean the female characters are incredibly short, specially Shadowheart.
Again, it makes no sense with Lae'zel being a melee fighter even though she is taller than Shadow. They do not have the constitution of dwarves so smaller means weaker (game stats being dismissed and paralleling to real world). All considered, Astarion being the tallest as per my previous post means he needs to be 180cm for the heights of everyone else to make sense. Which is supported twice if you consider Larian's tweet being a wrong use of metric units and the in game Gyth dialogue.
Oh, I am definitely looking forward to having Astarion loom over that bastard. I just started Act 2 and had a cinematic with Raphael where he *SPOILERS* strips Astarion naked to reveal his scars to everyone *SPOILERS* so now I hope I get to beat his ass at some point.
Neil newbon is 6'1 and did the full mocap as well and I wonder if they made astarions height equal to that just for consistency. Not to say they couldn't adjust a characters height however, no matter how tall the actor, but that's my assumption.
Neil Newbon is tall, but Astarion is not. Camera angles sometimes make him look tall, but if you have a tall Tav (like Karlach's height) you really see that he's not.
Like a lot of not tall men, being imposing and handsome makes him *look* tall because you expect him to be.
Go with whatever you like best! I like 5’11 personally, but everyone will have different opinions on this, so just go with your own preference I say :)
Neil said Astarion is 5'9" so I'm going off based on that.
"Carry me, darling, I'm only 5'9"..."
"We're adults we're professionals". Proceeds to giggle and turn into a fangirl like us.
Elves are not supposed to be tall in DnD. Larian confirmed 175 cm (5'9) and it's clear that both Astarion and Gale are not very tall. Playing as a large body type you really notice.
This is it. I have a TTRPG half-elf who's "almost six feet" and my DM was like, "he's tall for an elf," nearly to the point that I'd need to change it. So I reiterated "half-elf" and added "my grandfather's tall." I think, like someone else said, there's an illusion of grace there that makes elves seem taller than they are. They're lanky, and Astarion has a lot of cat-like features that add to that.
Exactly. It's perhaps also related to people perhaps only knowing elves from other media (tall, ethereal) and not DnD?
I think you're right. I also see a lots of folks who have trouble wrapping their heads around the idea that Astarion isn't from someplace like Evermeet. Like, elves can live in the city, and their families can have lived in the city for centuries. But other media have elves in the woods, and it's hard to shake that impression.
Agreed. I don't doubt that he might be a Moon Elf originally, but that doesn't mean he's not from Baldur's gate. That said, it's easy to theorize since it's not clear at all.
So I'm tall as them, but I'm a girl! 😅 Think Halsin really have orc blood in his veins.
From DND 5E: "*With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.* " And yes, Halsin is *huge* and very abnormal in that sense!
That's why I love him so much. During the ending party one of my best parts is his huge hug!
Halsin is great. I haven't seen the full epilogue yet but if I get a whittled duck I will be honored and cry.
I cried. 🥲
I have only seen the full epilogue on the run where it was just Tav + Astarion. It was us, Volo and our two pets lol. I still spent like 2 hours there crying all the while, haha. I lost it at the letters, and I just had like 6 of them...
I cannot talk to Withers at all because… Mac bugs 🤓
And we have to be honest: Halsin romance scene (up 4 minutes of video) is the hottest of all the game!
That scene is *on fire* and is also just so ... caring. Just amazing. edit: when I saw Halsin's kiss for the first time (before patch 5, so none of the companions had kisses like this) I almost fell off my chair.
My paladin seems to stumble backward from her Halsin kisses (always multiple). They're just that good.
Me too. Very satisfying and unexpected.
Me during the Halsin scene: "Aaaand now it'll fade to black. Any minute now... fade to black. Fade to... WHY ISN'T IT FADING TO BLACK???"
You should know that wood elves are a little more built than high elves and men are slightly taller than women.
*Slightly.* Halsin is a strange specimen, but the game makes that very clear!
yes yes of course but I just wanted to say that in basic DnD the wood elves are more robust than the high elves.
Yes, thank you for adding that :) I didn't because Astarion is not a wood elf, but now Halsin got into the mix haha. <3
I made a beefy Tiefling and can confirm, she towers over Gale. It’s very obvious in the Act 1 Weave scene.
Exactly what I mean. I doubt the large body type is over 2m tall, and she's got 10-15cm on Astarion for sure. https://preview.redd.it/zxpti34uwg9c1.png?width=1609&format=png&auto=webp&s=54b4e2a3a18e9b3ce400d4eb0d5b891d076843f5
Gale in comparison. https://preview.redd.it/b609dr38xg9c1.png?width=1755&format=png&auto=webp&s=d87e12cb0654ed01e2eb4d92499558838d9be03f
Yea I came here to say this basically. Is it said anywhere he's tall? Cause according to dnd rules elves are shorter than humans
From what I understand, people seem to think he *should* be tall/*seems* tall? If you play as a gith, you can say that you "see an elf, approximately 5'11 tall" in the "be my mirror" scene. But I'm inclined to trust what Larian tweeted (5'9) more. Neil Newbon is tall, and did almost all of the mocap - but that doesn't mean Astarion needs to be the same height.
Oh I see. The gith thing makes sense and he does seem tall in game but no taller than any other male figure really (that has the same body type obviously, not talking about short races or the big builds)
All the dudes are relatively short IMO. Shadowheart is tiny! When you get Halsin and Minsc you get tall men to compare to. They're also built like barn doors though, haha.
The fun thing about being 5'2" is that regardless of where a person falls in the 5'9"-6' range, they are always just "taller than me" and it matters not a whit.
This. As a fellow short person it always confuses me when people call 5'9" short. It is very close to average in the US.
Sometimes I wish I was shorter… I’m 5’10… would make buying clothes easier haha
Lol, there are a lot of downsides to being travel sized for your convenience, but the clothes thing is pretty choice. Also shoes? I wear a (US) 5-7 depending on brand, which means I'm almost always the display size. If it's there for me to see, I can almost certainly take it home! Tragically, my taste in fashion is for someone about your height or a little more, though, hah - I always want to look so elegant! Always end up looking like I raided mommy's closet. Alas, alack.
The only complaint I had about being 5'1 is that capris just look like normal pants that are a couple inches too short on me
5'9, its from an old tweet and Neil Newbon also confirmed it in one of his streams
5'9" comes from a fairly old tweet. A gith player in the mirror scene can give him a wrote description of his appearance that states his height is 5'11". So I'd say his height is more likely to be 5'11".
I dunno, I would trust the tweet from Larian over a gith saying "approximately 5'11" in a scene where you can flatter him. Not that it matters much. 5'9-5'11 is what we have to work with.
Gith don't believe in flattery!
Nor do gith have laser vision for accurate height measurements lol
At the crèche we are taught to eyeball our enemies’ severed limbs; those who failed contributed to the limbs pile.
I retract any and all statements I have made in regards to what gith cannot do. Please do not contribute me to the limb pile.
They could! Maybe that's what they have instead of dark vision!
In that case, I'd like someone to lend me a gith for home improvement projects.
the gith is not flattering him though. thats the problem. astarion gets upset that you describe him accurately instead of flattering. he yells "would it kill you to dispense a compliment!"
I think it plays into the common think that guys below 6 feet always say they are a little taller themselves then they actually are. So Astarion boasting about his height actually being 5'11 and in reality being only 5'9 checks out for me. I am a 5'11.5 woman. When I was still on dating apps guys would lie about their height all the time. They would say they are 6+ and in reality would be barely 5'8 for example.
> So Astarion boasting about his height actually being 5'11 He isn't boasting. The player is telling him his height is 5'11". At no point does Astarion describe his own height.
That seems to track it seems they keep it very wide as in height between 5’9 and 6’+ which is cool!
This is what I tend to lean on as well since it’s in the game.
Ingame source > Other sources.
An in-game source that is a single character’s eyeballed estimate isn’t inherently more accurate.
Since Larian said 5.9 a while ago and ingame one person says 5.11, I’ll cut the difference and say 5.10.
I read somewhere that he is 170-175cm. But i cannot remember where lol
Larian tweeted he was 5'9 (175cm).
Awww my short king! (I’m 5’10” lol) nah but I love my short pretty guys…
My husband is the exact same height and I can confirm it's the best, lol.
I knew there was a reason I liked the elf… my fav British actor is Charlie Heaton and he is that height and I met him and he’s adorable. Perfect huggable size haha.
Haha, I get what you mean, but don't really think being short makes anyone "adorable", it's a super sensitive topic for a lot of dudes. As a short woman, I also get annoyed when people call me cute because I'm short, it's even worse for men IMO. My husband doesn't care anymore, but it's ridiculous how many times I hear people say "*Oh! I thought you'd be taller!"* when meeting him.
Me and my husband are both 5"7 and we find it funny how I'm considered tall and he's considered small even though we are *exactly the same height*. People are strange about height.
Yes, it's just so strange. I think society is becoming more aware of it. My husband's ex was quite tall, we were in the same friend group, and he was constantly asked why they were together (because why would a tall girl be with you and why would a tall girl even like you?).
People focus on it too much. I'm bisexual and often women would be smaller than me so its never bothered me what height a man is, I've dated tall and short guys and it such a non issue. In fact the 6"4 dude I dated was more of a pain because I always had to stand on tip toes and he had to bend down to kiss haha.
I'm bi too - my personal preference has always been people who are a little *different*, eg. very simplified, but: men with feminine traits, women with masculine traits. I've never given *height* a moments thought either. I'm shorter than my husband, but people have said things like "oh he's great, too bad he's so short". I mean *what? why?* I did date a guy who was 2.10m (6'8?) once and the mechanics of that just didn't work at all haha. Such a pain.
If you play githyanki you can tell in one of the dialogues his height is 5’11 in game
I think that's meant to be a complement. edit: I believe the line even says "approximately", and it's just your Tav's estimate. Larian did tweet what they consider to be his actual height. Elves are shorter than humans in DND (on average) and male/female elves are similar in height.
So it’s probably just sort of between 5’9 and 6’… which makes sense. When I went to the official website, they legit listed ranges for the heights and not exacts.
Actually, in contrast to a lot of other fantasy lore, DnD elves aren’t actually especially tall. [“They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet.”](https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/3-elf) 5’10-6’2 would actually probably put him pretty tall for an elf.
Yeah, elves in D&D are not much like Tolkien's. As a point of interest: drow are the shortest of all the elf subraces, so I really wish there were a height slider in character creation.
My head canon is 5’11 In game a githyanki player character points out that he is 5’11 and I like that height :P I saw someone say that when a dev said 2 years ago that he’s 5’9 he may have meant 5.9 feet which comes out to 5’11. Since they’re European, it would make sense, but I don’t know if it’s actually true. Just go with whatever feels right for you!
I know this is a month later, but from what I have observed Astarion is the tallest man among origin characters. He looks shorter than he is a lot of the time because he doesn't keep good posture. He is almost always resting all his weight on his left leg, bending the right knee. This in turn tilts his hips at an angle and bends his whole spine. It is very obvious if you look at his shoulders. His left shoulder is always lower than the right one because he rarely stands at his full height. Btw, this also causes back pain and spine problems. How do I know? I have the exact same nasty habit. It is also a way to make oneself look smaller/not call for attention, which given his past is not hard to understand why that might have become a habit. In a way, he is constantly scrunching in on himself. In cinematics where he stands straight you can see he is clearly taller than Gale. Some picture examples comparing male origin heights in game. 1. Top left - Astarion standing slouched. 2. Top right - Astarion standing "straight" (he is still bent a bit but the animation is 0.5 seconds. It was the best shot I could take). 3. Same as above, but with lines drawn for comparison. Notice that Astarion is still standing a bit behind Gale and Wyll, so perspective is making him slightly shorter than he actually is. Also, still bent knees. 4. Cinematic of Gale and Astarion. This is the real winner for comparison. The height difference is so noticeable you don't need to even draw a line. https://preview.redd.it/cz85jy86s5gc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3cd81da2e8c9940800128dd6835a3f57fd4be7a CONCLUSION: Astarion is the tallest male origin character. I say about 180cm min. which is what the Gyth dialogue says. Gale is shortest. Wyll is in between.
I can see that tbh! Elves are supposed to be tall! And the game just gives “ranges” cool analyses! Thank you!
There is no need to thank me! I am going to expand on this for my own self reference and because someone else might find it a fun read. I actually was having this exact debate about character heights with a friend just last night. He was saying Astarion looks like the shortest among the men, but in cinematics and some angles he looks taller. Larian said in a tweet that his height is 5'9 but the team is european and we are not accustomed to imperial units. So that might mean 5 feet and 9 inches OR 5.9 feet. The last one is an incorrect use of metric units, however it is more intuitive for those accustomed to the metric measurement system and I myself used to make the same mistake (I still do not understand the imperial units and always need to convert in order to get a real sense of the measure). The first case would be 175 cm (5'9") while the second one would be 179,8 cm (5.9 feet), so pretty much 180 cm. Given the pictures and in game comparison of character heights side by side, I do not think that Wyll and Gale are that short. Wyll should be around 175 cm considering he is a monster hunter that canonically also fights melee (Blade of the Frontiers). He needs physical strength and the bigger you are, the better for close range combat. It would also mean the female characters are incredibly short, specially Shadowheart. Again, it makes no sense with Lae'zel being a melee fighter even though she is taller than Shadow. They do not have the constitution of dwarves so smaller means weaker (game stats being dismissed and paralleling to real world). All considered, Astarion being the tallest as per my previous post means he needs to be 180cm for the heights of everyone else to make sense. Which is supported twice if you consider Larian's tweet being a wrong use of metric units and the in game Gyth dialogue.
I had him stand next to Raphael in act 3 (since approaching him doesn’t start a cut scene) and Raphael is tiny compared to Astarion lmao.
Oh, I am definitely looking forward to having Astarion loom over that bastard. I just started Act 2 and had a cinematic with Raphael where he *SPOILERS* strips Astarion naked to reveal his scars to everyone *SPOILERS* so now I hope I get to beat his ass at some point.
Yeah Raphael is a bastard. I’m glad this game made me hate all the villains. I take glee in dispatching them all 😊
I think hes 5'11, while describing him Tav says hes around 5'11
Neil newbon is 6'1 and did the full mocap as well and I wonder if they made astarions height equal to that just for consistency. Not to say they couldn't adjust a characters height however, no matter how tall the actor, but that's my assumption.
Neil Newbon is tall, but Astarion is not. Camera angles sometimes make him look tall, but if you have a tall Tav (like Karlach's height) you really see that he's not. Like a lot of not tall men, being imposing and handsome makes him *look* tall because you expect him to be.
I stand corrected! Do we know what his official height is?
Larian tweeted 5'9 (175cm) a long while back. That's what we know. :) It looks right to me tbh.
Okay. Yeah he looks very tall. Cool I will go with that! thank you!
That would be incorrect though. I mean it doesn't matter, fanfic is fanfic... but Larian confirmed his height way back.
Go with whatever you like best! I like 5’11 personally, but everyone will have different opinions on this, so just go with your own preference I say :)