Feeling weird about height

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

So, I am a 6,4 man with Scandinavian and German roots. Naturally I love playing as Nords and being the biggest character around. I've been playing ESO for close to 6 years now and I have almost ALWAYS played as a Nord. I'm trying to branch out now and play as a cool Khajiit White Tiger Dragonknight. But running around, even at max height, I feel so short compared to everyone else. Maybe it's just that I'm used to super tall nords or maybe any race that isn't a Orsimer, Nord or Altmer is short. Does anyone else feel like this? If so would allowing all races to be whatever height between a certain minimum and maximum be bad or good. I personally would love it. What do you think? (Sorry if format weird, first time posting to forums)

NotaDaedraWorshipper · June 2022

I've characters of all the races with various heights and that's the way I like them. The races of Tamriel has different looks, which includes height, and I definitely don't want them all to be able to be the same.

A khajiit at their tallest is only notable short to nords and altmer above average. That leaves the majority of other races with their varied heights.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

@NotaDaedraWorshipper
Very true. As far as lore goes you're 100% correct. All the races do have height ranges that would not make much sense besides to change except for just because. I do wish we could be the Pahmar Raht and Cathay Raht Khajiit though. Maybe not as big as the ones we see in elsweyr but still some bigger "jaguar men" khajiit would be pretty cool. I know that mentioneed adding those before the game was released but I doubt they will ever implement it even though it would be lore friendly.

And yes it seems that the tallest Khajiit is about half a head shorter than the tallest Nord so it's not a really big difference.

Katheriah · June 2022

I'm an IRL shorty and I play the shortest bosmer, the tallest altmer and everything in between.

I guess I'm not too bothered by height.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

@Katheriah Gotta love those tiny Bosmer. Especially the ones who run around with a two handed weapon. Watch your ankles around them!

Hapexamendios · June 2022

I think their uppercuts are more dangerous.

FeedbackOnly · June 2022

I always Max height my characters as I am tall in real life

Anony_Mouse · June 2022

Jarl_Ironheart wrote: »

So, I am a 6,4 man with Scandinavian and German roots. Naturally I love playing as Nords and being the biggest character around. I've been playing ESO for close to 6 years now and I have almost ALWAYS played as a Nord. I'm trying to branch out now and play as a cool Khajiit White Tiger Dragonknight. But running around, even at max height, I feel so short compared to everyone else. Maybe it's just that I'm used to super tall nords or maybe any race that isn't a Orsimer, Nord or Altmer is short. Does anyone else feel like this? If so would allowing all races to be whatever height between a certain minimum and maximum be bad or good. I personally would love it. What do you think? (Sorry if format weird, first time posting to forums)

Try a Bosmer

fun fact; a short Bosmer can have trouble jumping over most obstacles in Tamriel, like fences and boxes and ...up stairs xD

Ermiq · June 2022

A Nord char created with the minimal height slider is still higher than a normal height race char created with maxed out slider, so even a lowest Nord will be higher than any Breton, for example.
NPCs usually have mid level height of their race. So, if you create a Khajiit with maxed out height, you will be higher than Imperial, Breton, Dunmer, Khajiit and Argonian NPCs, but you will be lower than any Nord, Orc or Altmer NPC.

By the way, in 1st person mode you might feel lower than you are. That's just the way 1st person camera is set up in the game. It is positioned a bit lower than the eye level of you character.

Nightowl_74 · June 2022

It depends on the game for me, sometimes being very large makes it tough to keep track of smaller party members, but here in ESO I play solo and my characters vary quite a bit in height. I don't tend to go with the max or minimum, though, they're all somewhere in between. In real life I'm very short.

Syldras · June 2022

Why do characters in a role playing game have to have the same height as you in real life? What exactly bothers you about it? That it's a different perspective than what you're used to irl? Not immersive? So you can't play a short person but playing a humanoid cat is fine? I'm really wondering as it's something I wouldn't waste a single thought on. There are different cultures on Nirn, they are built differently, look differently, just like it's with people irl.

phaneub17_ESO · June 2022

I have the shortest bosmer girl with a really big maul.

ghastley · June 2022

Anony_Mouse wrote: »

fun fact; a short Bosmer can have trouble jumping over most obstacles in Tamriel, like fences and boxes and ...up stairs xD

And any character has a problem stepping over a small rock.

I do not know if short characters get a reduced hit box, but that could be a significant advantage in combat if you are easier to miss.

Remathilis · June 2022

I have an RP couple who are married. One is the tallest a male bosmer can be, the other is the shortest a female altmer can be. They still can't dance eye to eye.

Belegnole · June 2022

My current main is the shortest Khajiit possible. It helps when he and Amber are being sneaky. I on the other hand am not short at all.

Kiralyn2000 · June 2022

Only time I've really noticed height in ESO was when my short Bosmer couldn't get to some loot boxes on the top of library shelves in Summerset.

Don't really think about it all that much when creating characters (except when doing something specifically about height, like the super-small & super-large characters I made in City Of Heroes. But that was like 3 feet tall or 9 feet tall, it was notable.

)

Marginis · June 2022

I just dislike how many people max out height on already tall races or go minimum height on already short races. I get that those are possible, but the amount of variance and the sheer number of people who min/max height is a bit immersion breaking for me, however minorly that is. I mean, Altmer are supposed to be taller than average, and Bosmer shorter than average. It's not supposed to be the case that Altmer are giants and Bosmer are goblins.

In regard to OP, I think what I mentioned above relates. If you are comparing a player Khajiit to other players, even with a maxed out height your cat is going to seem small - especially if you are used to tall characters. Try comparing your height to NPCs, rather than players or your own characters with otherwise maxed out height, and your height might seem a bit more reasonable.

zaria · June 2022

Anony_Mouse wrote: »

Jarl_Ironheart wrote: »

So, I am a 6,4 man with Scandinavian and German roots. Naturally I love playing as Nords and being the biggest character around. I've been playing ESO for close to 6 years now and I have almost ALWAYS played as a Nord. I'm trying to branch out now and play as a cool Khajiit White Tiger Dragonknight. But running around, even at max height, I feel so short compared to everyone else. Maybe it's just that I'm used to super tall nords or maybe any race that isn't a Orsimer, Nord or Altmer is short. Does anyone else feel like this? If so would allowing all races to be whatever height between a certain minimum and maximum be bad or good. I personally would love it. What do you think? (Sorry if format weird, first time posting to forums)

Try a Bosmer

fun fact; a short Bosmer can have trouble jumping over most obstacles in Tamriel, like fences and boxes and ...up stairs xD

I know character height affect how deep water they can walk in, suspect it also affect jumping like the Cyrodil transit shrine at the home base who some can jump up on but not able to on my Khajiit.

More stupid height also affect how deep water you can ride in. Yes character height not mount height

whitecrow · June 2022

I accidentally made my Bosmer shorter than I intended, due to there being no sense of scale in the character creation room. But I grew to like it, and every once in a while someone says "smol" within earshot which makes me laugh.

In real life I am a bit short, but it has nothing to do with how I made my characters.

Syldras · June 2022

zaria wrote: »

More stupid height also affect how deep water you can ride in. Yes character height not mount height

I think mounts scale with your character.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

Syldras wrote: »

Why do characters in a role playing game have to have the same height as you in real life? What exactly bothers you about it? That it's a different perspective than what you're used to irl? Not immersive? So you can't play a short person but playing a humanoid cat is fine? I'm really wondering as it's something I wouldn't waste a single thought on. There are different cultures on Nirn, they are built differently, look differently, just like it's with people irl.

To answer your question, it's mainly because I like to make a character that I can insert my self as. That's why I pretty much always play Nords because I can very much see myself being a nord as I love the cold, I do enjoy mead, I can be hot-headed/stubborn and I am pretty much the biggest one in the room being 6'4 250lbs. So when I make a character that is shorter than other people my brain makes me feel like something isn't right. Not sure why it's like that but hey, that's my explanation.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

Syldras wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

More stupid height also affect how deep water you can ride in. Yes character height not mount height

I think mounts scale with your character.

From what I have noticed it does. So a Max Nord on a bear is a beefy freight train.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

Marginis wrote: »

I just dislike how many people max out height on already tall races or go minimum height on already short races. I get that those are possible, but the amount of variance and the sheer number of people who min/max height is a bit immersion breaking for me, however minorly that is. I mean, Altmer are supposed to be taller than average, and Bosmer shorter than average. It's not supposed to be the case that Altmer are giants and Bosmer are goblins.

In regard to OP, I think what I mentioned above relates. If you are comparing a player Khajiit to other players, even with a maxed out height your cat is going to seem small - especially if you are used to tall characters. Try comparing your height to NPCs, rather than players or your own characters with otherwise maxed out height, and your height might seem a bit more reasonable.

It has gotten a bit less irritating when I ignore all the half giant players running around and focus on NPC height. And after some testing of size reference in game I've found that a max height Khajit's top of their head comes to the nose of a max height Nord so irs only about a say 4inch or 5 inch difference.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

After doing some reading and height comparisons it seems that max height Khajiit is around 6'3 to 6'4 while max height nord is around 6'8 to 6'9. So my Khajiit is my height and is tall, it's just Nords in this ES game are exceptionally tall compared to previous games.

Danikat · June 2022

I think feeling short compared to everyone else is just because you're used to playing a max height nord. My characters range from a short (but not minimum height) bosmer to a tall nord and I spend most of my time playing a khajiit who is below average height, and using the thief personality so she's not standing up straight and if I notice the difference I don't think much about it.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

Danikat wrote: »

I think feeling short compared to everyone else is just because you're used to playing a max height nord. My characters range from a short (but not minimum height) bosmer to a tall nord and I spend most of my time playing a khajiit who is below average height, and using the thief personality so she's not standing up straight and if I notice the difference I don't think much about it.

That's what my girlfriend says "I don't think everyone is short, I think you're used to seeing a giant wall." So you're right, I just gotta get over that habit of seeing a giant.

EozZoe1989 · June 2022

what about the big cats,, they need be 11 foot.. we wanna make big cats too

captainwolfos · June 2022

Height (along with voice) is the main thing I consistently forget to set in the character creator, so it's usually a surprise for me every time how tall my new toon is.

Jarl_Ironheart · June 2022

EozZoe1989 wrote: »

what about the big cats,, they need be 11 foot.. we wanna make big cats too

100% Agree. Let us be the freaking Cathay-Raht and Pahmar-Raht. They have the models for them in game and they could allow us to be Altmer and Nord height.

JellySunset · June 2022

I always slide the height slider to the shortest it will go, personal preference and all that (apart from my male character he is a Nord and around the middle of the slider) I main a Bosmer and really like my characters to be short. When I play my Altmer characters they are just super tall even on the shortest, it goes with the race of course but I do wish I could make them Bosmer small haha.

Arunei · June 2022

Jarl_Ironheart wrote: »

EozZoe1989 wrote: »

what about the big cats,, they need be 11 foot.. we wanna make big cats too

100% Agree. Let us be the freaking Cathay-Raht and Pahmar-Raht. They have the models for them in game and they could allow us to be Altmer and Nord height.

The main problem with player models being that big is that every Motif, Style, and Costume (armor as well as weapons) would need to be stretched to fit them, and fabric already stretched weird as it is (dresses when a character using a mobile Personality for example, the fabric distorts weirdly instead of actually shifting and moving like real fabric).

It's unfortunately why most of the Races don't have a very big difference in height. I wish we could make both shorter and taller characters, though; I have a tiny Suthay who's barely over four feet tall and a Demiprince who's close to eight feet. I also wish we could put numbers in for height instead of using sliders because then character height would be uniform (all 6 ft characters would be that tall, instead of two different Races being the same height but one model being noticeably taller than the other).