Okay so I just had a math nerd friend of mine who doesn't play D&D ruin the spell Galder's Tower for me, basically by breaking down that nothing the spell says can fit in it's rooms would be able to fit there, and that the spells rooms would effectively take up just 4 squares on a map. This makes me mad because, not being a math person myself, I imagined the spell making rooms that were, you know, room sized. Something like 30x30 idk. Having space to move around but nothing more that that. I never really got the idea of square feet, and now both Glader's Tower and Tiny Hut are ruined for me because math says they are dumb and stupid.

Sorry for this rant. I know it's uncouth and immature, but I've always hated the math parts of D&D and any tabletop game really. I like the spectacle and the imagination of the fantasy of it all. It's really grinds my gears to have something that has always made my life stressful and agonizing make part of something I love unfun by saying that the only reason it was fun to begin with was because I was too stupid to understand how dumb it really was. Like a baby playing with a ball and thinking it's the greatest form of entertainment the universe will ever know.

Wait 'til you see what math does to Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion.

It's magic.  The inside doesn't have to be as big as the outside.  Think Tardis.  I read the spell as the dimensions are what one would see and measure form the outside, but of course the inside is more just the right size to fit what is described comfortably...  

but the spell describes it as 100 square feet. That is so incredibly small. I imagined it being such that the party could go inside and rest and stuff. I wish it described the outside as taking up the space, but the inside is bigger, but it doesn't.

To me that's fine for a lone wizard who will increasingly place more and more levels to the tower. Essentially it becomes  your wizard's permanent home should he retire. So long as there's enough room for my gnome to run around, sod everyone else! If they want to sleep, they can use the lounger and sleep on the chairs!

Also, remember that 5ft squares are combat scale. People can pack into a much smaller space reasonably comfortably without too much bother.

I just imagined a space that apparently was a little closer to 300 square feet.

If we assume the classic cylindrical tower, then each circular room with area 100 square feet, would have a radius of 11 feet. Now, that may sound tiny, but let's contextualise that. That's enough for two average sized people to lay end to end across the center of the circle. In terms of what the spell offers, you could easily accommodate the options.

If we're talking a square tower, that's a 10ft by 10ft space, which for a single person occupancy, isn't that bad (especially considering you get 10 floors). We're talking a small bedroom, a small dining space etc, but 10 of them.

It's also important to remember, as noted, the whole "1 creature per 5 foot square" only applies in combat. A five foot square is a very large space and isn't the amount of space people occupy in their day to day lives.

From the comments below the spell, someone did a map... https://i.imgur.com/245hd14.png

Yeah, that's incredibly cramped in my opinion. I'm debating making my own version in homebrew that is just a bigger area.

100 sq feet is cozy sure, but galder's tower can fit the furniture it says. Not every object needs its own 5×5 square of the room. Bedroom: bed 20 sq ft, chest ~6 sq ft, chairs 2 sq ft each can easily space them, fire place embedded in wall uses <4 sq ft, ladder and hatch at most 16 sq ft (serves as open floor when closed). Hell my living room fits 2 recliners, 2 end tables, a reclining couch, and an entertainment center in a little over 100 sq ft (probably around 150 sq ft, would have to ditch the entertainment center and move chairs closer together to fit in tower roughly matches lounge room).

And tiny hut is supposed to be just big enough for 10 medium creatures to sleep in. Ironically, it is over 1.5× the size of the tower (at level 3).

Magnificent mansion is decently sized at 5000 sq ft (200 5×5 squares). Though that pales in comparison to the spell's 90000 sq ft area. Maybe that is supposed to be landscape around the mansion or set the building limits (300 ft in any direction).

But it's a relatively low level spell not meant for having parties and such...  For fancier they would want Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion.  But as I mentioned earlier, I would use the area as the outside area and allow a bigger inside.  But not too much bigger, this isn't for a lavish lifestyle...

Ooft. To be fair we were measuring Galders tower as being 10 grids by 10 grids. 

Quote from Davedamon >>

If we're talking a square tower, that's a 10ft by 10ft space, which for a single person occupancy, isn't that bad (especially considering you get 10 floors). We're talking a small bedroom, a small dining space etc, but 10 of them.

 The tower is 2 stories tall and only adds 1 floor per level above 3rd, capping at 8.

Precisely. I don't want to make it enormous, just an average living room size per floor at least.

But Galder's tower is way smaller than the average living room. It's pretty much the size of a bathroom per floor.

So adjust how you wish.  Your table, your rules.

You got a big bathroom mister.  

Quote from Okashido >>

But Galder's tower is way smaller than the average living room. It's pretty much the size of a bathroom per floor.

 10×10 is bigger than the average bathroom, kitchen, or dinning room, about 75% the size of an average guest bedroom, and about half the size of a living room.

It is the medieval equivalent of a camper trailer. Small, but functional.

I always just pictured the point was to flex on the rest of the party.

You retire for the night into a 10' x 10' tower with a fancy bed and a frickin sauna while the Fighter crawls into his leaky 3' x 7' tent.