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I have heard that some foreign language translations of 3.5 use meters in the rules text instead of feet. How big is a square in these metric translations? Are weight measurements given in Newtons or kilograms?

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    \$\begingroup\$ See meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/5545/… for a meta question relating to this question \$\endgroup\$
    – Wibbs
    Apr 29, 2015 at 16:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ @IanMacDonald Meter and metre are both correct, depending on where you live. Compare theater and theatre. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 29, 2015 at 17:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie The places where meter is the correct spelling is not also a place where I would expect them to use the metric system. This is why it seems strange to me. Why go half-way with the conversion? \$\endgroup\$ Apr 29, 2015 at 17:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ @IanMacDonald Because SI unit use and regional English spelling are entirely unrelated. Meter is standard in Canada and the US (though this Canadian personally prefers metre). Contrary to appearances, metric is in wide use in North America, particularly in the scientific community. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 29, 2015 at 17:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ They should have kept the US standard measures. It definitely adds to the medieval look and feel of the game. ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – edgerunner
    May 8, 2015 at 15:42

3 Answers 3

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The Dungeons & Dragons books translated into Portuguese use the metric system. The translator represented 1 yard as 1 meter, 5 feet as 1.5m and 1 pound as 0.5 kg.

As an example, a dagger in the 3.5 Player's Handbook (Livro do Jogador) weighs 0.5kg and its range is 3m.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is true for both Brazillian Portuguese and Portugal's Portuguese. \$\endgroup\$
    – T. Sar
    Apr 29, 2015 at 21:17
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The German translation also uses meters, 5 feet being 1.5m.

A fireball for example has a range of 120m plus 12m per Level and a radius of 6m.

Weight is measured in "Pfund" which is the same as pounds.

Jump distances and DCs are measured in meters, too. For example, jumping over a chasm starts at 1.5m at DC 5 and goes up by 5 for each 1.5m. Jumping over an obstacle starts at DC 4 for 30cm and goes up by 4 for each 30cm.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Out of curiosity: how are Jump DCs calculated? \$\endgroup\$
    – burlap
    Apr 30, 2015 at 8:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @burlap added jump distances. \$\endgroup\$
    – nvoigt
    May 1, 2015 at 9:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ @nvoigt Thanks! Jumping doesn't seem any easier with metric DCs than converting feet to meters in my head each time... \$\endgroup\$
    – burlap
    May 1, 2015 at 19:12
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The Italian edition of D&D 3.5 books have 5 feet being 1.5 meters.

I'm not totally sure about pounds, but I have my 3.0 manuals in Italian and 1 pound is 0.45 kg

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