Dragon Safari: An adventure for TFT

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Gargoyles and Giants start with zero added points.

How do I generate a below-zero Gargoyle without marking her as a child?

You have to make a GM call because RAW does not define what attribute totals mean for non-base-32-point races. And RAW doesn't tell you much about NPCs other than the listings of what point totals mean, and sample characters.

Per the earlier discussion of XP costs varying for races with different-scaled attributes, I would tend to think that points for individual giants and gargoyles could vary, but ST would vary more than humans, and DX and IQ would vary less and be subject to limits.

Gargoyles:

It seems to me that 32-point PC gargoyles are sub-average for typical adult gargoyles, because a "regular gargoyle" is listed in the Summon Gargoyle spell (and basic Melee, as always) as ST 20 DX 11 IQ 8 (39 points). Original ITL PC gargoyles were ST 16 DX 11 IQ 8, no extras.

I think the 32-point PC gargoyles are clearly 32-points for (meta) "fairness" notions, but does mean ST 13 gargoyles are thought reasonable, though well weaker than the "regular" ST 20 ones.

Seems to me the GM is left to interpret that (and your generator is optimistic trying to do all combinations of races and types - gargoyle ranchers? gargoyle navy?). Notably, we don't know what their actual normal min stats are.

My own interpretation would be that:
* Common capable warrior gargoyles are about ST 20, corresponding to 32-point humans (from comparing Summon Gargoyle to Summon Myrmidon, and Melee stats).
* Average human 30 thus equates to average gargoyle ST 18.
* ST 16 gargoyles are probably weak and/or young.
* ST 13 gargoyles are probable at or near minimum for normal non-dependent-youth gargoyles, maybe min ST 11 or 12.
* Gargoyle min IQ 8, statistically like human IQ 8-12. 9 like human 13-15. 10 like human 16+.
* DX seems to tend to be 11, but I imagine could be as low as 9 or as high as 13 and still be within common norms.

So in making random below-average-but-normal NPCs gargoyles, I might make them something like:
ST 10 + 2d6 / 2 (round up)
DX 9 + 2d6 / 3 (round down)
IQ 3d6 -8, min 8

Giants:

Giants are unchanged from old ITL, and are one of the few examples that nicely lists both NPC stat ranges, and PC stat ranges, and shows the PC stats are for the low end of all possible giant attributes, at ST 25 DX 9 IQ 7.

Melee (old and new) lists giants varying a bit more than ITL does, suggesting min ST 24, and max but exceptional ST at 50, and not mentioning a max DX but says "rarely more than 9" which is cool because it is relevant to NPC population statistic rather than just listing a range and leaving people to think maybe it's as common and as easy for a giant to add 1 to IQ as to ST, just with a maximum.

My own interpretation would be that:
* Typical average giants have about ST 30 (the ST you get when you cast Summon Giant), so ST 30 DX 9 IQ 7 corresponds demographically to a 30-point human.
* ST 25 giants are probably young or weakish for other reasons. Perhaps ST 24 is what giants tend to be when they come of age.
* There may be some DX 8 giants, but they'd be about as rare as a DX 8 human.
* Other giants are DX 9 or 10, and that's a fairly big deal, with distribution being maybe 50/50 over the healthy adult population that isn't DX 8 or less somehow.
* IQ 10 is described as "genius giant", so I'd tend to equate that to maybe human IQ 14-16+, and rare. Many IQ 7 or 8, a fair number 9, only a few 10.

So in making random below-average-but-normal NPCs giants, I might make them something like:
ST 24 + 1d6
DX 9 (maybe 1 in 6 of being DX 8)
IQ 7 + 3d6 / 6 (round down)