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Old 07-09-2018, 05:20 PM   #1
tbeard1999
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
Default Standard Monster Damage

It might be useful to create a chart showing standard damage (I'd assume based on ST) for various natural and monster weapons. Examples would include bite, claw, tail sweep, stinger, and horns.

These would be "suggestions" only; a GM or monster designer could always vary from them.

This could be a great resource for GMs who want to create their own monsters and will help guard against unintentional inconsistencies between creatures with similar stats. For instance, why does a ST 30 troll do the same damage with his bare hands that a ST 60 dragon does with his claws?

As a first approximation, I'd start with the TFT bare handed damage chart (AM, page 21).

Bare hands with no claws would use the base damage.

Claws might do +2 to base damage.

A bite might do base damage, but +2 in HTH.

Horns might do base damage but can perform charge attacks like pole weapons.

Tail sweeps might do base damage, but the target must make a 3/DX roll to avoid being knocked down if (say) 5 points of damage are done BEFORE armor protection is taken into account.

Stingers might do base ST damage minus 1, but could be poisoned.

Long stingers might act like stingers, but have a 2 hex range.

Etc.

Addendum - for reference, cutlasses and shortswords add an average of 4.5 points damage to the damage listed on the barehanded damage chart. Broadswords and 1 handed bastard swords add and average of 5.5 damage points to the damage listed on the barehanded damage chart. 2 handed clubs add 3; 1 handed clubs add 2 and daggers/foils add 3.

Note - These are all "off the cuff" rules, so consider them as examples, not serious rule proposals.

Last edited by tbeard1999; 07-10-2018 at 02:38 PM.
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Old 07-09-2018, 06:04 PM   #2
Steve Jackson
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Interesting idea!

Poisons, of course, are the wild card.
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Old 07-09-2018, 06:17 PM   #3
tbeard1999
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

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Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
Interesting idea!

Poisons, of course, are the wild card.
Agreed, but they can be left to GM tailoring, since animal venoms vary wildly in lethality. Although a system of basic poison types might be useful as a reference.

Example - Basic venom is listed in levels from 0 to (say) 6 and does that many dice of damage. A creature who takes any damage from a poison stinger or teeth must make a 3/ST roll. If he passes, he takes half damage. If he fails, he takes full damage.

Weak basic venom is listed in levels from 0 to (say) 3. A creature who takes any damage from a poison stinger or teeth must make a 3/ST roll. If he passes, he takes no damage. If he fails, he takes the indicated amount of damage.

There are 3 main types of basic and weak basic venom:

Instantaneous - damage is taken immediately. Antidote is only effective if taken immediately (i.e. within 1 turn).

Fast-Acting - Take 2 points of damage immediately. The rest is taken at the rate of 2 points of damage per minute until the poison runs its course. Taking an antidote stops any future damage but doesn't heal damage already taken.

Slow-Acting - Take 1 point of damage immediately. The rest is taken at the rate of 1 damage point per minute until the poison runs its course. Taking an antidote stops any future damage but doesn't heal damage already taken.

Figures won't know how much damage the venom will inflict. A Physicker can slow Fast Acting and Slow Acting poison to the rate of 1 damage per minute and 1 damage per 2 minutes respectively.

A figure who misses his ST roll will also be dizzy from the poison -2 DX for the next hour.

Multiple venom hits will add 1/2 the normal damage to the poison hits to be taken. Most venoms have little additional effect after 2 doses.

Last edited by tbeard1999; 07-09-2018 at 06:21 PM.
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Old 07-09-2018, 10:15 PM   #4
JLV
 
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Location: Arizona
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
Interesting idea!

Poisons, of course, are the wild card.
Even there, you could go with some standardized types of poison (either the unimaginatively named "A," "B," "C," or "nerve toxin," "blood agent," "muscle paralyzer" and give some standardized rolls to save ("Blood Agent: 4/ST," etc.) plus some standard effects ("Muscle paralyzer does 1d6/2 hits, but reduces the victim's ST by -6..." for example).

Then, assuming you have four or five "types" of poison, the GM can mix and match and even extrapolate from there...
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Old 07-09-2018, 11:26 PM   #5
Rick_Smith
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
Interesting idea!

Poisons, of course, are the wild card.
Hi all,
Poisons that take instantaneous effect are pretty rare in real life. So in my campaign, when someone gets poisoned, I put a poison die beside the figure. It counts down until it reaches zero and then the poison takes effect. Some will count down to zero, do a little burst of nastiness, and then start counting down again! :-D

Every poison description says what can be done to treat it.

Poisons are much more dramatic when they are this looming cloud of horribleness hanging over the PC's head, rather than instantly taking effect.

Warm regards, Rick.
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Old 07-10-2018, 12:33 AM   #6
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Guidelines could be nice but I'd say they should include explanation that ST for TFT monsters is mostly about how much damage it takes to kill them, engage them, knock them down, resist Thrown spells, etc. After all, the damage is listed in the monster description, and it wouldn't make sense for it to be linear unless the ST listed were really about their muscle and they had the same body construction.

(BTW, even giant dragons seem fairly weak (relative to their size) in TFT to me in terms of both raw ST and damage... unless they have magic items and use their speed/flight/IQ to good advantage...)
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Old 07-10-2018, 02:42 PM   #7
tbeard1999
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
Guidelines could be nice but I'd say they should include explanation that ST for TFT monsters is mostly about how much damage it takes to kill them, engage them, knock them down, resist Thrown spells, etc. After all, the damage is listed in the monster description, and it wouldn't make sense for it to be linear unless the ST listed were really about their muscle and they had the same body construction.

(BTW, even giant dragons seem fairly weak (relative to their size) in TFT to me in terms of both raw ST and damage... unless they have magic items and use their speed/flight/IQ to good advantage...)
One thing that makes certain D&D monsters nasty is multiple attacks. I always spruced-up TFT dragons by giving them 2 claw, 1 bite and 1 tail attack each turn. I eliminated the ST cost for breathing fire and just limited it to 5 (I think) times a day. I probably also increased the claw damage done.
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Old 07-10-2018, 03:04 PM   #8
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

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Originally Posted by tbeard1999 View Post
One thing that makes certain D&D monsters nasty is multiple attacks. I always spruced-up TFT dragons by giving them 2 claw, 1 bite and 1 tail attack each turn. I eliminated the ST cost for breathing fire and just limited it to 5 (I think) times a day. I probably also increased the claw damage done.
That would help a lot. With the ST cost to breathe, dragons are often hurting themselves more than it helps them to use it, but it's their strongest attack... though it's also pretty limited due to the -1/hex range penalty from the "head" hex, and only affecting one person if it hits. TFT dragons as written only have one claw attack and no bite attack (...), so, yeah, I like your version.
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Old 07-10-2018, 03:17 PM   #9
Rick_Smith
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
Default Ways to beef up dragons.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbeard1999 View Post
One thing that makes certain D&D monsters nasty is multiple attacks. I always spruced-up TFT dragons by giving them 2 claw, 1 bite and 1 tail attack each turn. I eliminated the ST cost for breathing fire and just limited it to 5 (I think) times a day. I probably also increased the claw damage done.
Hi Ty, everyone.
Hopefully dragons can be beefed up a bit.

In my campaign, I let the larger dragons beat their wings out to the sides as a free attack. It was unlikely to do much damage (except with the huge dragons), but there was a good chance the wind and impact would knock you off your feet. I also beefed up the tail attack, so as dragons got bigger, it would do damage as well as knocking you over.

Warm regards, Rick.
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Old 07-10-2018, 03:21 PM   #10
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Standard Monster Damage

Giving them the mounted combat +2 damage bonus for claw attacks made when flying 8 hexes or more is another help... though of course it only applies where there's enough room to do that.

There should probably be a mention of what's involved for a dragon to grab someone and pull them into the sky and drop them...
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