Enlarge or reduce person Enlarge person was a transmutation spell that doubled the height of one humanoid with a corresponding increase in mass . Earlier versions of this spell were called Aksa ' s growth or simply enlarge and worked on both humanoids and objects , but to different degrees . " Enlarge " was reversible , and the shrinking spell was called reduce . With the Second Sundering the spell changed name to simply Enlarge / reduce but worked much the same way . Effects . The transmutation version of this spell instantly doubled a person ' s height and increased their mass by a factor of 8 . All clothing , equipment , and items carried were also doubled in each dimension , but any item that left the possession of the recipient immediately reverted to its original size . Enlarged people had greater strength and increased reach , but less dexterity . Enlarged weapons did more damage , but projectiles or thrown weapons reverted to original size , doing normal damage ( possibly enhanced by the double - size weapon that fired it or the strength of the arm that threw it ) . This version of the spell had a range of 25 ft ( 7 . 6 m ) and a duration of 1 minute for first - level casters . Range increased 5 ft ( 1 . 5 m ) and duration increase by 1 minute for every two experience levels the caster had obtained . There were two alteration versions of this spell , both called " enlarge " , that differed slightly in range , scope and duration . Both worked on any single creature or symbiotic or communal entity ( like an ant colony ) or one object . The oldest version could affect up to 10 ft ( 0 . 283 m ) of living matter or half that amount of non - living matter , per level of the caster . Its range was 5 yd ( 4 . 6 m ) per level and duration was 10 minutes per level . The newer alteration spell could affect 10 ft of either living or non - living matter per level , with the same range but half the duration ( i . e . , 5 minutes per level ) . The amount of growth or shrinkage was also experience level - based for both alteration versions , and the formulas were fairly complicated . For the oldest version , a creature could be step - wise increased up to a maximum of triple their original size . For non - living matter the maximum was double the size . For " reduce " , the minimum size was one - third and one - half respectively . The newer alteration version had no upper limit , it was simply 10 % growth per level of the caster . For the newer " reduce " , the step sizes changed when the target reached certain arbitrary thresholds , and the minimum size was 0 . 1 in ( 0 . 25 cm ) . Magic properties were not altered by any version of this spell — a magic sword had the same bonus regardless of size , and a potion had to be fully consumed regardless of volume . Any unwilling target of this spell could resist its effects with sufficient fortitude . " Enlarge person " countered and was countered by " reduce person " . Likewise , " enlarge " countered and was countered by " reduce " . After the Second Sundering the spell could enlarge or reduce a person as before but it simply made the target a size smaller or larger . The effect would last for up to a minute and a target that was made larger would cause more damage wile a smaller one less so . Every thing the target carried would change with the body but if something is dropped it would revert to its original size . Components . All versions of this spell had verbal and somatic components and required a pinch of powdered iron for the material component . History . The spell was invented by the Netherese arcanist Aksa the Destroyer in −2135 DR .