What scale is D&D? Miniature size, grid and creature bases

D&D is 1:60 scale: one inch on the battle map is 5 feet in the game, and the miniatures are 28mm. A Medium hero stands about 28 to 30 mm (1.1 to 1.2 in) tall on a 25 mm (1 in) base, and bigger creatures take bigger squares: 2 by 2 inches for Large, up to 4 by 4 for Gargantuan.

What scale is D&D?

D&D is 1:60 scale. The rules make each grid square 5 feet, and D&D battle mats print that square 1 inch wide. One inch on the table is therefore 5 feet (60 inches) in the game. At 1:60 a 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) person stands 28.8 mm tall, the height of a 28mm miniature.

The rule is in the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (SRD), the free Creative Commons rules text Wizards of the Coast publishes for Dungeons & Dragons. Its “Playing on a Grid” section makes each square 5 feet, so a Speed of 30 feet is 6 squares. The rules never give the square a size in inches.

The inch comes from the maps. WizKids, which makes the licensed D&D miniatures, prints its 3 by 5 ft D&D battle mats with 1 in grid lines. Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes gives D&D play maps as 1:60, 1 inch to 5 feet.

5 ft = 5 × 12 = 60 in, so 1 in on the map = 60 in in the game → 1:60
1 ft in the game = 304.8 mm / 60 = 5.08 mm (0.2 in) on the table

A foot is exactly 304.8 mm and an inch 25.4 mm, per the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Divide a real height by 60 for the figure:

Real height	Arithmetic	Figure at 1:60
1.73 m (5 ft 8 in), average man	1,730 / 60	28.8 mm (1.14 in)
6 ft	1,828.8 / 60	30.5 mm (1.20 in)
1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)	1,680 / 60	28.0 mm (1.10 in)

Both 28mm and 30mm figures land close to 1:60. Wikipedia puts 28mm at about 1:62 to 1:64 and heroic 30mm at 1:58 to 1:60. It notes that a 30mm figure at exactly 1:60 (30.48 mm) matches battle maps of 1 inch to 5 feet. Wizards of the Coast’s own prepainted D&D Miniatures, sold from 2003 to 2011, were 30mm scale.

Terrain uses the same 5.08 mm per foot. A 10 ft wide corridor is two squares, 2 in (50.8 mm) across.

What size minis do you need for D&D?

You need 28mm-scale miniatures on bases that fit the creature’s space on a 1-inch grid. WizKids makes the licensed D&D minis. It puts Medium figures on 25 mm (1 in) bases and Small ones on 20 mm. Large get 50 mm (2 in), Huge 75 mm (3 in) and Gargantuan 100 mm (4 in).

The base follows the creature’s size category. The SRD gives each size a square space in combat, and at 1 in to 5 ft that space is the footprint on the map:

Size	Space in the game	Squares	Footprint on a 1 in grid	WizKids base	SRD 5.2.1 examples
Tiny	2½ by 2½ ft	4 per square	½ in (12.7 mm)	not listed	Cat, Pseudodragon
Small	5 by 5 ft	1	1 in (25.4 mm)	20 mm	Gnome, Halfling, Goblin Warrior
Medium	5 by 5 ft	1	1 in (25.4 mm)	25 mm	Elf, Dwarf, Zombie
Large	10 by 10 ft	4 (2 by 2)	2 in (50.8 mm)	50 mm	Owlbear, Ogre
Huge	15 by 15 ft	9 (3 by 3)	3 in (76.2 mm)	75 mm	Hill Giant, Adult Red Dragon
Gargantuan	20 by 20 ft	16 (4 by 4)	4 in (101.6 mm)	100 mm	Ancient Red Dragon, Tarrasque

• Gargantuan can be bigger. The older SRD 5.1 lists Gargantuan as “20 by 20 ft. or larger”, and WizKids sells a Gargantuan Bahamut on a 200 mm base, about 7.9 in or 8 squares across.
• The space is not the body. SRD 5.1 says a creature’s space is the area it controls in combat, not its physical size; a typical Medium creature isn’t 5 feet wide. Wings and tails can overhang the base: WizKids’ Huge Adult Red Dragon Tyrant spans 8 in on its 3 in (75 mm) base.

How tall is each D&D species at 1:60?

The SRD gives each player species a size and a height range. At 1:60, every foot is 5.08 mm (0.2 in) of figure:

Species	Size	Height in the game	Figure at 1:60
Halfling	Small	2 to 3 ft	10.2 to 15.2 mm (0.4 to 0.6 in)
Gnome	Small	3 to 4 ft	15.2 to 20.3 mm (0.6 to 0.8 in)
Dwarf	Medium	4 to 5 ft	20.3 to 25.4 mm (0.8 to 1.0 in)
Elf	Medium	5 to 6 ft	25.4 to 30.5 mm (1.0 to 1.2 in)
Human	Medium or Small	4 to 7 ft, or 2 to 4 ft if Small	20.3 to 35.6 mm (0.8 to 1.4 in) as Medium
Dragonborn	Medium	5 to 7 ft	25.4 to 35.6 mm (1.0 to 1.4 in)
Orc	Medium	6 to 7 ft	30.5 to 35.6 mm (1.2 to 1.4 in)
Goliath	Medium	7 to 8 ft	35.6 to 40.6 mm (1.4 to 1.6 in)

A dwarf and a goliath share the same 1 in square, but at true 1:60 a goliath can stand twice as tall. “28mm” names the scale, not the height of every figure.

Do 32mm minis work for D&D?

Yes. The grid counts squares, not height, so a figure plays the same at any scale as long as its base fits its space. Wikipedia puts 32mm at about 1:54. Since 32 / 28 = 1.14, a 32mm figure stands 14% taller than a 28mm figure of the same person. To match a 32mm file to 28mm figures, print it at 87.5%; 28mm to 32mm is 114.29%. The miniature scale calculator works out any other pair.

How to size a 3D printed mini for its D&D space

Scale the model until its base matches the footprint for its size: 25.4 mm for Small or Medium (25 mm to match WizKids), 50.8 mm for Large, 76.2 mm for Huge and 101.6 mm for Gargantuan. The slicer percentage is target / current × 100.

1. Open the file in the slicer at 100% and read the base diameter (the X or Y size of the base).
2. Say an owlbear, a Large creature, comes on a 40 mm base. For a 50 mm base: 50 / 40 × 100 = 125%. For the full 2 in square: 50.8 / 40 × 100 = 127%.
3. Type the percentage with uniform scaling on, so the figure keeps its proportions.

If the file has no base, scale by height instead. For a 6 ft human at 1:60 the target is 30.5 mm, so a figure that measures 40 mm tall prints at 30.5 / 40 × 100 = 76.2%. If the figure is the right height but sits on the wrong base, cut that base off and glue the figure to one of the right size instead of scaling the whole model. The scale calculator turns any target size into the percentage to type.

This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) and the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. Both are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.