Creatures and sizes
 

Is there any good rule of thumb when fighting the hex sizes of creatures in ITL or elsewhere. Question rose today when a spell caster wants to know what would constitute 1 hex creature when casting illusion.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

If the rules don't say otherwise, then a creature is one hex. At least, that's a general rule of thumb.

Some regulars here have tied critter size in hexes to ST in a way that's roughly consistent with the size of creatures as described in RAW, but it is an inference based on induction and isn't really necessary in day-to-day play.

If the creature he wants to summon up as an illusion isn't listed in ITL, then pick the nearest you can find. A horse, for instance, is two hexes. An elephant is a massive 10 hexes[1]. A rhino must be between the two.

Of course, if he's looking for a one-hex illusion, he's hopefully thinking smaller. Big cats are almost all 2-hex, with the jaguar an exception. Bears are a little less clearly stated. The cave bear is explicitly 2 hexes. I'd put the grizzly as the same. I might put the "less formidable" bears as 1 hex.

I'm kinda curious what he wanted to illusion up.

[1] I'm guessing that this is a megahex plus three hexes on one side.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

Hex facings for various critters including the elephant are given in TFT Companion

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

Thanks, Henry!

It was shaped as I guessed -- but of course, the number of hexes was pretty suggestive.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

When casting an illusion it is best to stick to the creatures that may be summoned. This way if you foe has a basic understanding of magic, he will be left guessing if it was summoned vs illusion. That is, if you create a troll illusion before them, they know there is no Summon Troll spell and will immediately attempt to disbelieve.

There are four 1-hex summon creatures:
- wolf
- human fighter (Summon Myrmidon)
- bear
- gargoyle

Bear is one of the toughest 1 hex creatures to beat, so it tends to be a great one as an illusion. Gargoyle is handy if you need a creature that can fly into HTH. Please note that an illusion cannot separate into pieces. So, you can have an illusion of a fighter with a longbow, but he won't be able to shoot any arrows (illusionary arrows will never separate from the fighter).

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

The most useful 1-hex illusion I've found is to duplicate your experienced meat shield. You get the full benefit of their talents and melee gear, the enemy doesn't know which figure to disbelieve, and the meat shield lasts twice as long.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

At least the spell caster in the OP asked first.

Had a new player join our TFT group long ago, read the rules first, then create a wizard as his first PC.

The first (and only) time he played with us, the first time his wizard did anything, he rolled the dice (making his DX roll to cast his first spell), firmly planted his index finger on a hex on the board, and announced with extreme glee "A 3-hex Gargoyle appears here!"

Following a moment of shocked silence by the rest of us, we all giggled and then explained to him, no, a 3-hex Gargoyle did not appear and why it didn't.

He was so upset he quit the group the same day. Never heard from him again.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

Phiwum and I had a conversation about a Wizard Reptile with Summon Giant spell. Wouldn't he be able to summon a giant reptile man? The problem is that we could find no reptile equivalent of the humanoid giant. Phiwum pointed it out, I dug through ITL and other creature info and couldn't find a 3 hex saurian giant. There are some 4 hex creatures of that type but nothing that fits nicely into the Summon Giant spell. So, until such a creature is found, I had to concur with Phiwum.

Of course, even though I have read the rules, I knew that consulting with a GM was best practice. I didn't wait until the middle of a battle to try to get away with it and then run off butt hurt when the GM said, No.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

I think a saurian giant is a great idea! Definitely gonna add one of those to my campaign.

Re: Creatures and sizes
 

I think of all of the Summons spells are hyper-specific. They are invoking the exact totem named in the spell, calling it by name, so with each Summons spell what you call is what you get.

That said, I wish there were far more Summons spells. We don't even have a Summon Snake, do we, and that's one of the animals from original Melee! And yes, each and every one should continue to be learned separately.

I'd allow an Illusion of any animal or creature the GM (or the RAW) said existed in that particular game world, but it has to be something the PCs have at least heard or read of, if not actually seen in person. I'd only allow the Illusion of a 3-hex reptile man if there were actually known to be 3-hex reptile men in existence.

Of course as GM you can wave that magic wand (aka your #2 pencil) anytime you want and say "Yes, there are giant reptile men on the island of Thera, found in the southern part of the Winedark Sea", so that's that. But it's up to the GM. A PC can't up and decide a new species exists, as in my case where the guy wanted a 3-hex Gargoyle.