Coins in D&D

Okay, so being somewhat bored and nerdy, I decided to work out the dimensions of the coins our characters carry around.  There’s also some handy (I hope?) info for DMs, like reasonable strongbox sizes and weights.

Preface

I’m going to need to revisit the following, as I’ve just noticed that the size of a gold coin has been established as “about an eight-inch thick and an inch-and-a-quarter across” in the 3rd edition campaign setting book (p 91). This means that the gold and very likely the other coins are definitely alloyed with lighter metals. I’ll update this page as I get around to it.

Assumptions

The first assumption is made in one of the Player’s Handbooks: all coins have the same weight… when they’re minted, at least.  Any combination of 50 coins weighs 1 lb.  This is noteworthy simply because it’s heavier than you might expect.  The US quarter weighs 5.7 grams; a euro is 7.5 grams.  A D&D coin is 9 grams.  For something heavier, a US half‑dollar is 11.3 grams.

Second assumption is the composition of the coins.  In “real-world terms” it’s not reasonable for coins to be pure elemental platinum, gold, etc.  According to the internet, smelting metal from ore goes back to at least 10,000 BCE, and by 2500 BCE we were making bronze (copper+tin) weapons.  So NPCs in a medieval campaign are certainly up to the task of making coins which are a shiny veneer over cheap filler material.  However, the golden rule (K.I.S.S.) suggests that it’s okay (for a first draft, at least) to assume that coins are made entirely of the metal they’re named for — a gold piece is 100% gold, for example.  Don’t worry about seigneurage, or about where all that gold is coming from, because the size of the coins wouldn’t change that much if they were made more cheaply, and that’s all I’m concerned with at the moment anyway.  There are simpler assumptions to be made.  If you want to, you can declare that all coins have the same volume and therefore all round coins will be the same size, all square coins will be the same size, etc.  I wanted to create a little variety, as a beginning of the journey toward verisimilitude.  This has the immediate advantage of allowing, for example, the blind to distinguish between round coins of different metals by touch.

Finally, the diameter-thickness ratio. Coins should look and feel durable.  I arbitrarily decided that a ratio of 12 was good.  This is in-between a US nickel (10.9) and penny (12.5).  This ratio varies in real-world coins… for whatever reason.  For simplicity, I kept the 12:1 ratio constant.

Finding the Right Electrum

One of the fun bits was figuring out the electrum piece.  Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver — 20‑80% of each metal.  Gold is worth ten times as much as a like quantity of silver, and the combination needs to be worth five times silver.  It’s not rocket science; it works out to 4/9 gold plus 5/9 silver.

Show Me the Money

Copper: a copper coin is 25 mm (1 inch) across and 2.1 mm thick.  This is slightly larger than a US quarter, but smaller than a 1‑dollar coin.

Silver: a silver coin is 24 mm (0.9 inch) across and 2 mm thick.  This is close to the diameter of a Canadian 25‑cent coin.

Electrum: an electrum coin is 21 mm (0.8 inch) across and 1.8 mm thick.  This is the diameter of a US or Canadian 5‑cent coin.

Gold: a gold coin is 19.3 mm (0.8 inch) across and 1.6 mm thick.  This is slightly larger than a US or Canadian 1‑cent coin. (See the note in the Preface above).

Platinum: a platinum coin is 18.6 mm (0.7 inch) across and 1.6 mm thick.  This is the diameter of a US or Canadian 10‑cent coin.  This is naturally the smallest of the D&D coins because platinum is the heaviest of the metals.

Other Possible Coins

If you’re inclined toward using other materials…

Lead: 23 mm diameter, 1.9 mm thick.

Nickel: 25 mm diameter, 2.1 mm thick.

Tin or iron: 27 mm diameter, 2.2 mm thick.

Zinc: 27 mm diameter, 2.3 mm thick.

Malachite: 33 mm diameter, 2.8 mm thick.  Oo purty!

Basalt: 36 mm diameter, 3 mm thick.

Agate: 38 mm diameter, 3.1 mm thick.

Obsidian: 39 mm diameter, 3.2 mm thick.

I’ve kept the constant diameter-thickness ratio on the mineral coins here, but I’m inclined to reduce them to make the coins more durable.

Strongboxes

When looking to box up a bunch of coins, any size will do; if one box isn’t big enough, you can get a bigger one or two smaller ones.  But logically, some boxes are designed to hold coins, and I’m going to call those strongboxes here… even though I never use that word in actual play.

One logical way to build a strongbox is to start with the size of the coins.  You want your box to be just big enough to hold a number of efficiently arranged stacks of coins.  So at least two of the box’s measurements will always be multiples of the diameter of the coins to be stored in that box.  This is why the measurements and capacities of strongboxes may seem arbitrary.

Strongbox construction is by nature a proprietary process for each craftsman, and there are too many variables for me to declare any hard & fast costs here.  I’m just talking dimensions and capacities.  Speaking of which, the following measurements are interior dimensions.  The weights are given for coins only, assuming the boxes are fully loaded.

  1. The smallest practical strongbox measures 53x53x86 mm or 2.1×2.1×3.4 inches on the interior.  It will hold over 300 gold pieces, weighing up to 2.9 kg or 6.4 lbs.
  2. The next size measures 70x70x113 mm or 2.7×2.7×4.4 inches.  It will hold over 800 gp, weighing up to 7.5 kg or 17 lbs.
  3. 87x87x140 mm or 3.4×3.4×5.5 inches.  It will hold over 1500 gp, weighing up to 14 kg or 31 lbs.
  4. 103x103x167 mm or 4x4x6.5 inches.  It will hold over 2750 gp, weighing up to 25 kg or 55 lbs.
  5. 120x120x194 mm or 4.7×4.7×7.6 inches.  It will hold over 4600 gp, weighing up to 42 kg or 94 lbs.
  6. 137x137x221 mm or 5.4×5.4×8.7 inches.  It will hold over 7000 gp, weighing up to 65 kg or 142 lbs.
  7. 153x153x248 mm or 6x6x9.7 inches.  It will hold over 9600 gp, weighing up to 87 kg or 193 lbs.
  8. 170x170x275 mm or 6.7×6.7×10.8 inches.  It will hold over 13,600 gp, weighing up to 123 kg or 272 lbs.
  9. 187x187x302 mm or 7.3×7.3×11.9 inches.  It will hold over 18,500 gp, weighing up to 168 kg or 370 lbs.
  10. 204x204x329 mm or 8x8x12.9 inches.  It will hold over 24,400 gp, weighing up to 222 kg or 490 lbs.

If you need a larger capacity, custom sizes can be special-ordered from your friendly local specialty strongbox supplier for a nominal premium!


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Gold Per Encounter

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

I started on a better pricing scheme for bracers of armor but then realized that the reason behind the wonkiness of the official tables is that there is supposed to be a huge jump in the amount of gold characters are acquiring after level 20 versus before level 20. Well, I’m here to tell (and show) you that the huge jump is a myth. Yes, the “gp per encounter” number is higher at 21 than it was at 20, but not enough to justify “epic” magic items suddenly costing 10x as much. Epic items really aren’t all that epic, either, but that’s another post.

So I realized that before talking about bracers of armor, it was important to establish the budget PCs will have access to. Thus, the first progression to improve is the Treasure Values per Encounter table found on page 51 of the DMG 3.5 and Epic Treasure Values per Encounter on page 122 of the ELH.

Why?

The reason for doing this is simple… there’s no unified formula behind the official tables. I think there’s a hodgepodge of formulas used at different levels, but I don’t like hodgepodge. I like consistency. And in this particular case at least, I can approximate the hodgepodge fairly closely with a single formula that results in a smoother graph and —importantly for me— the peace of mind that comes from knowing how the numbers came to be in the table.

What’s the benefit to PCs?

More gold per encounter, from levels 7-18 and 25-40, and even when it’s slightly less from 18-24 it’s still very close. Overall, you’ll finish every level after 10 with slightly more gold using my table than you would have with the official tables.

What’s the benefit to NPCs (the DM)?

That means more gold for NPC gear too, which could mean they last longer against PCs and can put up more of a fight.

TL;DR

For any PC level:

(level cubed) x 0.11125 x 75 = gp per encounter.

Okay… hit me.

Part of the problem with deriving a formula was that the first several levels use an artificial lower limit of 300 gp per level.

I’ve wondered for a long time how they came up with the GP per encounter and “starting gold” numbers. It starts out easy— 300 gp per encounter at level 1, 600 at level 2, 900 at level 3, 1200 at level 4… character level, multiplied by 300 gp per encounter. I’m liking this. Then it goes to heck, ending up at 4,000 gp per encounter times the character level at level 20. And the rate at which this value improves is not continued at level 21 on the ELH table. That shoots down that idea.

Another problem, as you’ll notice on this graph, is that there’s a dimple… a rise in gold per level at 20. Note that while the gold per level is lower on my table, the total amount of gold you’ve acquired thus far is still higher at each level.

Then I thought maybe it’s based on XP rather than directly on level. Well, it’s not —at least not strictly— but that does provide the starting point for my replacement table. At level 40, the ELH table says give the PCs 534,000 gp per encounter. First, I’ll state the obvious: that’s a ridiculous amount of gold. Moving on, it’s also exactly 178 times the XP value of an encounter at level 40. Right… XP per encounter x 178 = GP per encounter… at level 40. That’s definitely not true at lower levels. So where is this number coming from?

178 is close to 160. In fact, it’s 160 x 1.1125… which is a weird number but oddly specific, so I ran with it. I started with CL^2 / 10. This equals, for example, 10 at level 10, 40 at level 20, 90 at level 30, and 160 at level 40. Then I multiplied by the mystical 1.1125. This yields, as noted, 178 at level 40. That means at level 40 this calculation will give us exactly the 534,000 gp per encounter that the official rules suggest… cool!

However, it’s a fair point that most gaming groups are probably not playing at level 40, and my table is way off from levels 10-13. In those cases, though, my formula gives the PCs more gold than the official tables —11106 vs 7500 per encounter at level 11; that’s almost 150% of the official amount— and it also means that NPCs of those levels have a bigger budget for their gear which could make for tougher fights, so I doubt anyone will complain about that. Complaints are going to come at levels 1-6, where my formulas give the PCs much less gold per level than the official tables. So, to remove PC complaints, I tentatively suggest using the official tables through level 6, after which the players should be mostly happier with my numbers. The counterpoint is that my numbers are more realistic, even if they’re less fun… no DM in his right mind would give a trio of goblins (CR 1) 100 gold apiece worth of gear and coins. The 8 gold my formula comes up with for that encounter is a lot more reasonable.

Even using my calculations from the beginning, PCs will accumulate 10% more gold by the time they finish level 10, 7% more than the official tables by level 20, 4% more at level 30, and 5% more at level 40.

Level XP/E GP/E (official) GP/E (calc)
1 75 300 8
2 150 600 66
3 225 900 225
4 300 1200 534
5 375 1600 1042
6 450 2000 1802
7 525 2600 2861
8 600 3400 4272
9 675 4500 6082
10 750 5800 8343
11 825 7500 11105
12 900 9800 14418
13 975 13000 18331
14 1050 17000 22895
15 1125 22000 28160
16 1200 28000 34176
17 1275 36000 40992
18 1350 47000 48660
19 1425 61000 57229
20 1500 80000 66750
21 1575 77271
22 1650 88844
23 1725 101518
24 1800 115344
25 1875 130371
26 1950 146649
27 2025 164230
28 2100 183162
29 2175 203495
30 2250 225281
31 2325 248568
32 2400 273408
33 2475 299849
34 2550 327942
35 2625 357738
36 2700 389286
37 2775 422635
38 2850 457838
39 2925 494942
40 3000 534000

Where’s the rest of the table?

The GP per encounter numbers are available on the SRD up to level 20, but not after that point. I don’t know if it’s okay to list the values from the ELH or not, so I’m erring on the side of caution. I will say that from level 21 onward, if you compare the “total gold accrued so far” my values give between 100% and 106% of the numbers derived from the official table.

I know it weakens my case to not show the numbers from 21-40, because at level 20 I’m giving the PCs 17% less gold than the official table, but that changes at level 25… as you should see on the graph.

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Vargouille

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

Vargouille, from the WotC Monster Manual 3.5 Art Gallery... click on the image for the link.
All rights are assumed to be reserved by Wizards of the Coast

At a Glance

An evil extraplanar outsider.

This monster —specifically its method of reproduction— is featured on Stupid Monsters, which is a fun read.

Size

The head is described as 18 inches tall, with a wingspan of 4 feet. This head size is proportional for a 12-foot tall human. So —contrary to the MM description— a vargouille is quite a bit larger than a human head. It’s about the size of a fire giant head.

Weight

A 12-foot tall human male would weight about 700 lbs. The human head typically accounts for about 8% of the overall body weight, so the vargouille’s base weight is 56 lbs. I add 25% (14 lbs) to account for the wings and tentacles. Finally, I increase the weight by 10% because it’s described as having leathery skin (which would be much thicker than normal skin) and it’s a lower-planar creature. This suggests a total weight of 78 lbs. The MM description says 10 lbs, but that’s just not logical… human heads, at less than 9 inches tall, often weigh more than 10 lbs.

Source

Disclaimer

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Gargoyle

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

An earthy monstrous humanoid.


Appearance

Size

The gargoyle is described in the Monster Manual. Basically it’s a living statue. The point of this section is to outline how big it is and how much it weighs.

The gargoyle is a monstrous humanoid, not a construct, so it’s not carved, and it’s not totally accurate to think of it as proportional to a human male. However, it does have two arms, two legs, and a head (plus wings and a tail) and I’m going to look at it as a human male with 25% extra body mass which accounts for the extra appendages.

It’s convenient to equate gargoyle height and HD, so that’s what I’m going to do. At 4 HD, a gargoyle is 4 ft tall and Medium size. At 8 HD, it’s 8 ft tall and Large size.

I see gargoyles being made of granite. Granite has a density/weight of 2691 kg per cubic meter, so a certain amount of granite is roughly 2.7 times the weight of an identical quantity of human flesh and bone.

The process for finding a reasonable weight for a gargoyle is pretty straightforward. Start with the weight of a healthy human male of the appropriate height… 180 lbs at 6 ft tall, for example. Add 25% for the wings, tail, and horns: 225 lbs. Finally, multiply by 2.7 because it’s all made of granite: a 6-foot gargoyle should weight about 600 lbs.

Here’s a more complete table.

Ht (ft) Wt (lbs)
4 265
5 415
6 600
7 825
8 1075
9 1350
10 1675
11 2000
12 2400
13 2800
14 3250
15 3750
16 4250
What You See
Art Review

Visually, there’s plenty of inspiration on Google, but I’m thinking here more specifically about humanoid gargoyles. Here’s one example from deviantArt, and this one is also good.


Climitat


Variations

Gargoyles are related to kapoacinth.


Notable Individuals

In Faerûn
Elsewhere

Sources

Primary Sources
Passing Mention

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Caryatid Column

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

A construct.

The caryatid column is described in the 3e Fiend Folio. Basically, it’s a stone golem with some special abilities. The point of this post is to outline how big it is and how much it weighs.

As noted in the FF, the caryatid column is crafted from marble. I assume that it’s shaped to be proportional to a human woman; most giants are also proportional to humans but you could make variant columns which resemble dwarves or orcs or skeletons if you wanted to… that would change these numbers.

Height

Using the blackstone gigant as a precedent, I suggest making caryatid column height equal to HD. This means that the caryatid column’s range of 6-18 HD translates to a range of 6 ft to 18 ft height.

Weight

Solid marble has a density/weight of about 2563 kg per cubic meter (that’s 160 lbs per cubic foot). A human woman, standing 6 feet tall, has a volume of about 0.067 cubic meters (2.4 cubic ft) which means a marble woman weighs 378 lbs. A 6 ft tall woman made of uh, womanstuff, on the other hand, should be somewhere around 147 lbs, which supports our knowledge that marble statues are heavier than people.

Column

As described in the FF, a caryatid column can shapechange into a simple, featureless, stone column. The dimensions of this column logically should depend on the volume of the stone lady.

Note that this column assumes that the caryatid column is carved in the image of a nude woman. If the column is carved to include a skirt or dress, it will have significantly more volume (and weight), and the column form will have a larger diameter.

Quarried

Finally, the FF also notes that the column must be carved out of a single block of marble. It might not be relevant to most adventurers but it could be a fun bit of trivia to know the size of the block needed to create these magnificent women.

So here’s how the numbers work out.

Ht (ft) Wt (lbs) Column Quarried
6 378 8 inches diameter, 6 ft tall 2 ft W x 1 ft D x 6 ft H: 12 cu ft (1920 lbs)
7 514 9 inches diameter, 7 ft tall 3 ft W x 2 ft D x 7 ft H: 42 cu ft (6720 lbs)
8 672 10 inches diameter, 8 ft tall 3 ft W x 2 ft D x 8 ft H: 48 cu ft (7680 lbs)
9 850 10 inches diameter, 9 ft tall 3 ft W x 2 ft D x 9 ft H: 54 cu ft (8640 lbs)
10 1050 11 inches diameter, 10 ft tall 4 ft W x 2 ft D x 10 ft H: 80 cu ft (12800 lbs)
11 1270 12 inches diameter, 11 ft tall 4 ft W x 2 ft D x 11 ft H: 88 cu ft (14080 lbs)
12 1512 12 inches diameter, 12 ft tall 4 ft W x 2 ft D x 12 ft H: 96 cu ft (15360 lbs)
13 1774 13 inches diameter, 13 ft tall 5 ft W x 3 ft D x 13 ft H: 195 cu ft (31200 lbs)
14 2058 13 inches diameter, 14 ft tall 5 ft W x 3 ft D x 14 ft H: 210 cu ft (33600 lbs)
15 2362 13 inches diameter, 15 ft tall 5 ft W x 3 ft D x 15 ft H: 225 cu ft (36000 lbs)
16 2688 14 inches diameter, 16 ft tall 6 ft W x 3 ft D x 16 ft H: 288 cu ft (46080 lbs)
17 3034 14 inches diameter, 17 ft tall 6 ft W x 3 ft D x 17 ft H: 306 cu ft (48960 lbs)
18 3402 15 inches diameter, 18 ft tall 6 ft W x 3 ft D x 18 ft H: 324 cu ft (51840 lbs)

Of course the height range is only a guideline. There could be smaller and larger columns.

Ht (ft) Wt (lbs) Column Quarried
1 10 3 inches diameter, 1 ft tall 1 ft W x 1 ft D x 1 ft H: 1 cu ft (160 lbs)
2 42 5 inches diameter, 2 ft tall 1 ft W x 1 ft D x 2 ft H: 2 cu ft (320 lbs)
3 94 6 inches diameter, 3 ft tall 1 ft W x 1 ft D x 3 ft H: 3 cu ft (480 lbs)
4 168 7 inches diameter, 4 ft tall 2 ft W x 1 ft D x 4 ft H: 8 cu ft (1280 lbs)
5 262 8 inches diameter, 5 ft tall 2 ft W x 1 ft D x 5 ft H: 10 cu ft (1600 lbs)
32 10751 20 inches diameter, 32 ft tall 11 ft W x 6 ft D x 32 ft H: 2112 cu ft (337,920 lbs)
64 43003 28 inches diameter, 64 ft tall 22 ft W x 11 ft D x 64 ft H: 15488 cu ft (2,478,080 lbs)
96 96758 34 inches diameter, 96 ft tall 32 ft W x 16 ft D x 96 ft H: 49152 cu ft (7,864,320 lbs)

Sources

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

An afternoon’s distraction

Background: I was reading an old adventure (specifically The Serpent’s Tooth in Dungeon #19) and I saw a suggested weight of 800 lbs for a barrel of beer. The dimensions of the barrel were given as 2 ft diameter and 4 ft height. I’m not a beer drinker, and I’ve never tried to lift a barrel of beer, but that seemed kinda excessively heavy, and maybe also too-conveniently rounded off, so I was curious about the accuracy. Naturally, I poked around the net for some numbers.

Beer is given by http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_liquids.htm as approximately 1010 kg per cubic meter. Multiplied by 0.0624 equals about 63 lbs per cubic foot. This is just slightly more than pure water.

According to http://www.crafty-owl.com/cooperage.htm, an empty barrel typically weighs 125 to 140 lbs. From Woodweb we can eventually approximate the weight of white oak at 47 lbs per cubic foot (760 kg per cubic meter) at a completely arbitrary 20% moisture content. It’s arbitrary because I can’t find any information on the moisture content of the wood typically used in making barrels. I am sure, however, that white oak is the right choice of wood, and I’ll trust Professor Wengert’s numbers.

Dividing the 125-140 lb barrel weight by 47 lbs per cubic foot, we get a range of 2.6 to 3 cubic feet of wood used in the construction of a barrel… 130 lbs means about 2.75 cubic feet of wood; those are nice round numbers. This is not completely accurate because that weight includes some metal bands used to hold the barrel together, but I don’t have separate numbers for the weight of these bands so this assumes the whole thing is made of wood.

A quick look at Tonnellerie Damy Père & Fils gives the dimensions of a smart-looking 300-liter barrel as approximately 41 inches tall and 31 inches in diameter, with a 25-inch head. It’s not the 4-foot tall, 2-foot across barrel from the description I read, but it does have a weight of 58 kg, which is quite close to the 130 lb average barrel size I arrived at above… which means that a very similar amount of wood is used in its construction, which in turn implies that the internal volume of these barrels should be close. Assuming that the arbitrary 20% moisture content is at least fairly accurate.

So basically, 300 liters of beer is what we’re looking at.

Using http://www.onlineconversion.com/volume.htm, we can convert directly from liters to cubic feet; 300 liters is about 10.6 cubic feet. Plugging in the weight of 63 lbs per cubic foot from above, that volume of beer weighs just about exactly 668 lbs. Plus the 130 lb barrel weight, and we have a total of… um, 798 lbs.

That was anti-climactic. Suddenly 800 lbs looks like a pretty fair estimate.

Side note: another section of the conversion site, http://www.onlineconversion.com/object_volume_barrel.htm, suggests a formula for calculating the volume of a barrel: h * Pi * (2*r1^2 + r2^2) / 3, where r1 is the diameter of the middle of the barrel and r2 is the diameter of the top of the barrel. However, we would need to know the internal measurements of the barrel in order to make use of this, and what we have is the external measurements, so it’s just a neat formula.

Using the numbers from Tonnellerie Damy here’s a quick list of barrel sizes and weights, in American units.

liters gallons diam(in) ht(in) empty (lb) full (lb)
225 59 28 37 99 600
228 60 28 35 99 607
265 70 28 37 99 689
300 79 31 41 128 796
350 92 33 41 154 933
400 106 33 42 185 1076
500 132 32 43 198 1311
600 159 41 44 220 1556
700 185 41 45 243 1802

Blackstone Gigant

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

A construct.

DM’s Notes

Since they’re constructs, they can be created in any shape. In particular, I see two versions being popular:

  • a gigant with two legs, resembling a female drow
  • a gigant with a snake tail, resembling a marilith

Drow Gigants

This examination looks first at the ones that are made to resemble multi-armed drow females. Blackstone gigants typically range from 32-96 HD; they’re Gargantuan at 32 HD and become Colossal at 64 HD. Conveniently, Gargantuan humanoids range from 32-64 feet in height. So I recommend making humanoid blackstone gigants’ height equal to HD.

At 32 ft tall, the “average” drow female would weigh about 4600 lbs. I calculate the volume of such a drow to be about 2.1 cu m, which means if she’s actually a blackstone gigant made of basalt, rather than a living drow, she weighs 13,900 lbs. There’s quite a bit of leeway here if you need it to be lighter or heavier; if you interpret “blackstone” to be obsidian, the weight might be as low as 10,600 lbs, but if you take it to mean black sapphire it’ll be more like 18,500 lbs. You can also increase the weight a bit by deciding that your gigant is armored and therefore has a little more bulk; gigants, as written, are nude except for perhaps some jewelry. The main factor controlling weight is what stone you carve it out of, rather than the presence of armor; different substances clearly means different weights. I think basalt is a good compromise, especially since it’s a very black stone.

I heard you were looking for some basalt?

The “deal” with blackstone gigants is that they frequently have more than two arms. So here are some variations, assuming that you use basalt as the stone and create the golem in the shape of a drow female (with legs, not a snake tail).

2 arms 4 arms 6 arms 8 arms
32 HD, 32 ft tall 13,900 lbs 15,150 lbs 16,400 lbs 17,650 lbs
64 HD, 64 ft tall 55,600 lbs 60,600 lbs 65,600 lbs 70,600 lbs
96 HD, 96 ft tall 125,000 lbs 136,300 lbs 147,600 lbs 158,800 lbs

Marilith Gigants

If you want to do the blackstone gigant as written in the Fiend Folio — which is to say, more like a marilith (phenomenal illustration) — then I suggest adding 75% to the above volume and weight numbers.

Why such a big addition? Because according to the experts, a human leg accounts for roughly 15% of total body weight. If 30% of our weight is legs, then 70% is our upper bodies. If you don’t add sufficient mass to balance out the upper body, then the creature’s center of gravity is too high and it falls over. Entertaining, but not very efficient in combat.

You might point out that the above statement doesn’t seem to make sense given that the mass of our legs is quite a bit less than that of our upper bodies (30% vs 70%) but the difference between a marilith and a human is that the human has legs, which must always be carefully positioned so as to maintain a vertical position. The marilith, in contrast, has sufficient mass in her lower body that she doesn’t need to remain coiled… she can do basically whatever she wants with her tail and remain upright while doing it. Therefore, the tail must overcompensate a bit. This is why I figure the marilith’s body mass is divided at least 40%/60% in favor of her lower body.

There’s also the point that snake flesh is probably more dense than human flesh. So far, Google is not my friend in this regard… I can’t find specific information. I’ll work on the numbers again if/when I get new information, but for now it does assume equal density.

Finally, the assumption is that a marilith “stands” 150% as tall as the humanoid upon which its upper body is based, due to the necessary bending of her lower body. As written in the Fiend Folio (and interpreted by me) the marilith is based on a 6 ft tall female; therefore she stands 9 ft tall. Of course she can reach much higher than that when she wants to, but that’s her normal standing height. Since the gigant merely replaces flesh with stone, the gigant’s shape will be exactly the same as that of a living marilith.

Here are some variations on the marilith-shaped gigant, still using a female drow for the upper body and still using basalt as the stone-of-choice.

2 arms 4 arms 6 arms 8 arms
32 HD, 48 ft tall 24,300 lbs 26,500 lbs 28,700 lbs 30,900 lbs
64 HD, 96 ft tall 97,250 lbs 106,000 lbs 114,750 lbs 123,500 lbs
96 HD, 144 ft tall 218,800 lbs 238,500 lbs 258,200 lbs 277,900 lbs

Sources

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