How Big Should a Roc Be?

[BearBear]

Don't mess with a roc!

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

If you're picturing a western-style type of design, I'd use the standards of the Rocs in D&D. They have dimensions similar to those of western-style dragons.
in other words somewhere between 9-18 meters in length, 24-37 meters wing-span.

In most fiction, Rocs are absolutely gigantic, bigger even than the largest dragons.

That said, though, it's not like there is a golden standard, so make them as big or small as you need them to be in your story.

Think about how we've always pictures a phoenix, and how different the phoenix in say Harry Potter is.

Go with what serves you best (as long as you maintain consistency)

 

[Gurkhal]

My dragons resemble the ones in Last Airbender serpentine but with 4 legs and huge wings. They can breath fire and are capable of speech. Generally they are wild and almost never seen. The older they get the more power they aquire (there is one who is a thousand years old who can change colors like a cuddle fish, and manipulate water but can't breath fire) the most common are fire breathing dragons but you have a few elemental dragons such as the one above which is a water dragon.

Roc have a bigger size than dragons are resilient against flames and can manipulate wind to incredible degrees usually (so no oxygen no fire)

Sounds like you've got things pretty well defined.

What strikes me with this pair up is that the roc will have the advantage if the two combatants are apart and dive in at each other with the roc's greater size and counter measures and resilience towards the dragon's flames.

Something which strike me in the dragon's advantage, if I've understood these things right, is that in a grapple match the dragon may have an advantage. The reason as to this is that the dragon's serpentine body might be harder to get hold off for the roc who also has two set of claws and a beak to hold on and hurt the dragon with. The dragon on the other hand has four set of claws and a jaw with which to do the the same, something which to my mind might give it more flexibility and can essentially grapple with the roc's claws and still have two set of claws to spare.

But I am in no way an expert on how animals fight each other save that the heavier and larger animal usually has an advantage.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Don't know if this will help but for a roc you might want to start with the largest eagle ever known to have existed and scale up - the Haast Eagle of New Zealand (yes I am a kiwi!).

Cheers, Greg.