Old School Monsters

phiwum · 04-30-2023, 10:51 AM

ETA: When I started this post, there had been no feedback. After posting, I realize that some responses had come in in the interim.

I'm afraid that I didn't get any real feedback here, but I did have a conversation on the discord server. I have made the following changes to blood hawks, which perhaps should be in the house rules section but also make sense in this thread.

I'll go through my reasoning here. If you just want the punchline, see below.

I think that a -3DX to hit a flying creature is too much, given the already present -4 DX for flight. However, these hawks are supposed to be particularly hard to hit, so I have decided to make the total penalty for a blood hawk on the wing -5 DX. That's still a huge penalty, so that an average person (DX 10) is still looking for an automatic hit (5%). A DX 12 fighter can now hit him 15% of the time.

A blood hawk is a less than one-hex creature. I assume that means it must attack from the same hex as its victim. This raises two questions: Does it suffer a -4 DX penalty for an attack while flying or, like a dragonet, does it waive the penalty? And can blood hawks stack?

As far as stacking goes, there's a case to be made that the blood hawk is larger than a dragonet and should not stack. After all, they are as large as the largest normal hawks, and on earth, that's a two meter wingspan. On the other hand, when attacking, they favor the small, unarmored and wounded, and that rule would have no effect at all if each target can have at most one attacker (in-hex attack). It seems to me that if this is a key feature of blood hawk attacks -- and it's a good one -- then the hawks must be allowed to stack. I favor two to a hex stacking.

(Alternatively, one could rule that although a blood hawk is less than one hex, he attacks from an adjacent hex, so that stacking is not an issue. This would allow up to seven hawks to attack one target, one in each adjacent hex and one from overhead. I didn't go this route because it doesn't really fit with how hawks attack.)

With the stacking settled, let's consider the -4 DX penalty for attacking while in the air. Without the penalty, we're looking at an 84% chance for the hawk to hit, so the ratio between hitting and being hit is a stunning 17:1 for DX 10 characters, dropping to a bit less than 6:1 for DX 12 characters. With the penalty, the blood hawk has a measly adjDX 9, so the two ratios become about 8:1 and 2.5:1, respectively. The ratios are still high for adjDX 9 and furthermore, the waiving of the -4 DX penalty is said to apply for dragonets or smaller. The largest earth hawks are twice the body length of the foot-long dragonet, so I'm going with the -4 DX penalty.

Finally, the 1d+3 damage of a blood hawk may seem too high. That's the same as a long lankin or a single hydra head on a large hydra. However, we've significantly decreased the expected damage per turn by effectively lowering the hawk's adjDX from 13 to 9. As a result, the expected damage per turn from a blood hawk is 2.59 hits against an unarmored man. A man with leather will take on average less than one hit per turn. An unarmored man will take 0.72 hits per turn while defending and waiting for an opening to increase his DX by up to three points. If his DX is 10 to begin with, that still puts him at a disadvantage against the blood hawk however (adjDX 8 vs. the blood hawk's adjDX 9, or 25% to hit vs. 38%).

Note that if two blood hawks are attacking, the probability of being hit by at least one of the two is 60% or 18% if defending. This is very formidable for a typical traveler. I'm still considering adjusting the damage. Options include two 1d-2 attacks or a single 1d attack. I might play with the numbers some more.

Thus, here's my final (for now) interpretation of the blood hawk:
ST 4, DX 13, IQ 4, MA 30
Attack: 1d+3
The blood hawk is adept at dodging so all attacks against the hawk on the wing are at an additional -1DX to hit, for a total penalty of -5DX. The hawk itself is at -4DX penalty for attacking while flying. Hawks prefer wounded, small or unarmored targets and can stack two to a hex. They are found in casts of 2d+1 hawks.

04-30-2023, 10:51 AM	#19
phiwum Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Boston area	Re: Old School Monsters ETA: When I started this post, there had been no feedback. After posting, I realize that some responses had come in in the interim. I'm afraid that I didn't get any real feedback here, but I did have a conversation on the discord server. I have made the following changes to blood hawks, which perhaps should be in the house rules section but also make sense in this thread. I'll go through my reasoning here. If you just want the punchline, see below. I think that a -3DX to hit a flying creature is too much, given the already present -4 DX for flight. However, these hawks are supposed to be particularly hard to hit, so I have decided to make the total penalty for a blood hawk on the wing -5 DX. That's still a huge penalty, so that an average person (DX 10) is still looking for an automatic hit (5%). A DX 12 fighter can now hit him 15% of the time. A blood hawk is a less than one-hex creature. I assume that means it must attack from the same hex as its victim. This raises two questions: Does it suffer a -4 DX penalty for an attack while flying or, like a dragonet, does it waive the penalty? And can blood hawks stack? As far as stacking goes, there's a case to be made that the blood hawk is larger than a dragonet and should not stack. After all, they are as large as the largest normal hawks, and on earth, that's a two meter wingspan. On the other hand, when attacking, they favor the small, unarmored and wounded, and that rule would have no effect at all if each target can have at most one attacker (in-hex attack). It seems to me that if this is a key feature of blood hawk attacks -- and it's a good one -- then the hawks must be allowed to stack. I favor two to a hex stacking. (Alternatively, one could rule that although a blood hawk is less than one hex, he attacks from an adjacent hex, so that stacking is not an issue. This would allow up to seven hawks to attack one target, one in each adjacent hex and one from overhead. I didn't go this route because it doesn't really fit with how hawks attack.) With the stacking settled, let's consider the -4 DX penalty for attacking while in the air. Without the penalty, we're looking at an 84% chance for the hawk to hit, so the ratio between hitting and being hit is a stunning 17:1 for DX 10 characters, dropping to a bit less than 6:1 for DX 12 characters. With the penalty, the blood hawk has a measly adjDX 9, so the two ratios become about 8:1 and 2.5:1, respectively. The ratios are still high for adjDX 9 and furthermore, the waiving of the -4 DX penalty is said to apply for dragonets or smaller. The largest earth hawks are twice the body length of the foot-long dragonet, so I'm going with the -4 DX penalty. Finally, the 1d+3 damage of a blood hawk may seem too high. That's the same as a long lankin or a single hydra head on a large hydra. However, we've significantly decreased the expected damage per turn by effectively lowering the hawk's adjDX from 13 to 9. As a result, the expected damage per turn from a blood hawk is 2.59 hits against an unarmored man. A man with leather will take on average less than one hit per turn. An unarmored man will take 0.72 hits per turn while defending and waiting for an opening to increase his DX by up to three points. If his DX is 10 to begin with, that still puts him at a disadvantage against the blood hawk however (adjDX 8 vs. the blood hawk's adjDX 9, or 25% to hit vs. 38%). Note that if two blood hawks are attacking, the probability of being hit by at least one of the two is 60% or 18% if defending. This is very formidable for a typical traveler. I'm still considering adjusting the damage. Options include two 1d-2 attacks or a single 1d attack. I might play with the numbers some more. Thus, here's my final (for now) interpretation of the blood hawk: ST 4, DX 13, IQ 4, MA 30 Attack: 1d+3 The blood hawk is adept at dodging so all attacks against the hawk on the wing are at an additional -1DX to hit, for a total penalty of -5DX. The hawk itself is at -4DX penalty for attacking while flying. Hawks prefer wounded, small or unarmored targets and can stack two to a hex. They are found in casts of 2d+1 hawks. Last edited by phiwum; 04-30-2023 at 12:07 PM.