Beasts in HTH

[hcobb]

Defined at ITL 63: "(“Fighter,” here, means someone who"
...
"Some of your heroes will be pure fighters, but others should be"

[larsdangly]

I've always ignored the extra +1 damage for fighters; it is yet another rule that has to be remembered, it doesn't serve a particularly important purpose one way or the other, and it brings up the need for rulings that feel like they don't make much sense.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Defined at ITL 63: "(“Fighter,” here, means someone who"
...
"Some of your heroes will be pure fighters, but others should be"

Defined only for the purpose of that rough advice on how one might want to form a small adventuring party. It's clear to me that that is not talking about a rule-relevant definition.

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I've always ignored the extra +1 damage for fighters; it is yet another rule that has to be remembered, it doesn't serve a particularly important purpose one way or the other, and it brings up the need for rulings that feel like they don't make much sense.

I've always been sure the "for fighters" part didn't mean anything.

The +1 in HTH on the other hand, seems to me to represent the ability to do more unarmed damage to someone who's in your hex.

[Helborn]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I've always ignored the extra +1 damage for fighters; it is yet another rule that has to be remembered, it doesn't serve a particularly important purpose one way or the other, and it brings up the need for rulings that feel like they don't make much sense.

I have a cell on my character sheet for HTH damage and Dagger HTH damage. So, nothing to remember. (And, yes, my wizards only have one entry since they do the same damage in HTH whether they use a dagger or not.)

Too few characters use a club damage to justify a cell for that, though I do have a column in my Opponents Sheet for Club damage. Sadly, almost no opponents with clubs follow the Strength rules from ITL 122 so I have to add their damage manually.

[larsdangly]

Why would club users not follow the ST rules?

[phiwum]

I don't know about opponents who don't use club damage, but I notice that the Golem in BOU doesn't use the unarmed damage calculation despite using fists.

Mind you, I'm fine with that. Golems are typically ST 50 or greater, so 3d+1 unarmed damage. That's a bit much for my tastes.

But I'm glad that Helborn mentions club damage for Baddies. A small Ogre (ST 25) does 1d+3 unarmed. With a club, then, he does 1d+6 or 1d+7 (two-handed). That's an unusual damage roll, since it has such a large constant, larger even than the variable part. Does anyone else find that odd?

The range for 1d+7 is 8 to 13, with average 10.5. You could achieve the same average (almost) with 2d+3 or even 3d. Both of those would, of course, have greater range, which can be either good or bad.

I was kinda curious whether anyone has decided it would be better to change 1d+7 to some other damage roll and if so, what motivated you. I don't have a good argument for amending it. It's just that 1d+7 kinda strikes me as unusual.

[larsdangly]

I used to always convert +4 to 1d, but I set that aside along with most of my other many house rules when I started my current LE campaign.

[Axly Suregrip]

Yes, for example:

In ITL Summoned Giant's club 3+3 even though this is quite a bit more than what the HTH chart would give for a ST30 Giant. Also Wizard pg 19 all Giants of ST 30 do 2-1 damage with their bare hands. Again this is more than the HTH chart.

I think the 3+3 and 2-1 are a better fit for something like a giant, compared to the HTH chart. Any monster can deviate from the HTH. I see its best use is with humans and such.

[hcobb]

The spiked club is a giant's mace. Ogres use standard wooden clubs.

https://www.hcobb.com/tft/house_rules.html#giants

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

Yes, for example:

In ITL Summoned Giant's club 3+3 even though this is quite a bit more than what the HTH chart would give for a ST30 Giant. Also Wizard pg 19 all Giants of ST 30 do 2-1 damage with their bare hands. Again this is more than the HTH chart.

I think the 3+3 and 2-1 are a better fit for something like a giant, compared to the HTH chart. Any monster can deviate from the HTH. I see its best use is with humans and such.

I missed the 3d+3 in the Summon Giant spell. Thanks for pointing me at that, Axly.

An Ogre, then, would reasonably have a comparable damage. I'd probably knock it down a point or two for ST 25.