D&D Miniature Sizes: Bases, Heights and What "28mm vs 32mm" Really Means
Miniature scale is the most confused topic at the table. Two numbers matter: the base footprint (rules) and the figure height (looks). Get both right and any mini fits any battle map.
Base size is the rules side
| Creature size | Grid squares | Base diameter |
|---|---|---|
| Tiny | 4 per square | ~12mm |
| Small / Medium | 1×1 | 25mm (1") |
| Large | 2×2 | 50mm (2") |
| Huge | 3×3 | 75mm (3") |
| Gargantuan | 4×4+ | 100mm+ (4") |
On a 1-inch grid these are non-negotiable — a Large minotaur on a 25mm base breaks flanking and opportunity-attack math.
Height is the looks side: 28mm vs 32mm
"28mm" and "32mm" describe how tall an average human figure stands, historically measured to the eyes. Official D&D prepainted minis are roughly 28mm; most modern STL sculpts (ours included) target 32mm "heroic" — slightly larger heads and hands that read better across the table and paint more forgivingly. Mixing the two works fine for monsters; side-by-side humans will show the difference, so pick one standard for player characters.
Monsters give you slack
Nobody knows how tall an aberration "should" be. Print bosses 10-20% larger than the chart says — a boss that looms gets a table reaction that a technically-correct one doesn't. Our product pages list a suggested D&D size class per model, and our scaling guide turns any of them into exact slicer percentages.