11-12-2017, 09:20 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
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Monster Height
So say a halfling barbarian wants to swing his halberd at a dragon's skull. How will he know if he's tall enough to reach? What if a Gnome Martial artist wants to kick an Ovre in the head? Basically, how do you determine whether a hit location is out of reach?
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11-12-2017, 10:35 PM | #2 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Monster Height
DFRPG sneers at those sorts of realistic distinctions.
Sorry, that's actually about the straight jist of it. The Halfling Barbarian is using a fullsized Halberd, it's not any shorter and the Gnome can spring up and easily kick at human head height. So if it's within the Reach of a humie, it's within the Reach of a stuntie. |
11-13-2017, 06:58 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
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Re: Monster Height
Fair enough. How do I determine if a human with a dagger can put it in a dragon's eye?
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11-13-2017, 10:03 AM | #4 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Monster Height
If – since your last turn – a monster has attacked somebody of around your height in melee combat at a given reach, you can reach any part of that monster this turn with a melee attack which has that reach or more. That is, if you take your turn and then during other combatants' turns, a huge monster attacks you or a friend with a melee attack from reach 1, then when it's your turn again, you can attack any part of that monster with a reach 1+ attack. If the monster attacked from reach 2, you'll need reach 2+ to attack any body part, and so on.
If you lack sufficient reach, the GM uses common sense to decide what you can hit. However, the body part last used to attack, the feet and legs, and the lowest part of the torso should always be within reach. So if that monster swings a huge club with reach 3 and you have only reach 1, you'll still be able to attack the club, the hand holding the club, the monster's feet and legs, and the monster's torso. More detail than that gets into the complications Combat at Different Levels (Exploits, p. 47) says it wants to avoid. But as that rule implies, the GM can require the delvers to find high ground, fly, etc. to attack certain humongous foes.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
11-13-2017, 10:17 AM | #5 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Monster Height
Those who like complications can always use the full GURPS rule, which I'll summarize here (all modifiers to hit are in addition to normal hit location penalties):
One foot of vertical difference, or less: Ignore it.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
11-13-2017, 10:20 AM | #6 |
Join Date: May 2008
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Re: Monster Height
So then it's perfectly reasonable to assume a large dragon just wont expose skull/face for melee attack for example.
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11-13-2017, 10:47 AM | #7 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Monster Height
Normally, a dragon with reach 5 or 6 won't resort to its reach 1 attacks unless it must or it has no fear of reprisals. With four claw attacks, two wing attacks, a tail attack, and a breath attack, it can make its four attacks without reusing anything and without leaning in its head to bite or strike with horns. It's most likely move is to fly five yards overhead, striking downward with claws, tail, or wing beats. Even if it goes with Move and Attack, it has four shots at 9 or less . . . and can zoom away at Move 14 afterward.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
11-13-2017, 11:11 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Northeast Kansas
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Re: Monster Height
And if terrain prevents the dragon from taking flight, double knockback wingbeats are great at managing distance. Regardless, huge creatures can effectively keep skulls out of reach unless you make them bend over somehow.
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11-13-2017, 11:21 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: Monster Height
A spear specialty solves a number of reach problems.
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11-13-2017, 03:28 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: Monster Height
So do Heroic Archer and missile spells. For some fights, the party just has to have ranged attacks. (And making those encounters is a good way to make the archers and mages useful and appealing to players.)
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Tags |
gurps, hit location |
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