[PnP] pnp Digest, Vol 40, Issue 20

[Paul L. Ming]

Hiya.

> 1.A question regarding monsters
>
> How good is a monster like the troll with a natural  NWI of -2 with a
> weapon?
> The description of most monster describe what kind of preferred weapon
> they use but not how good they are?
> Myself i rule that they are profficient with his preferred weapon and an
> EL of (1d12+2) up to his maximum due to stats.
> The troll for example uses stone club as preferred weapon he uses Mace
> skill his maximum is (s+St)10 =(50+35)10=9 which means with a roll of
> 1d12+2 he could have between 3 and 9 in EL
>   
   I think 1d12+2 is way to high. I've always just kinda 'ad-hoc'ed' it 
based on how tough I wanted the fight to be. That said, I did, of 
course, have some guidelines. :)
   My general rule was that if the creature had a weapon, it's EL in 
that weapon was equal to 1d3 + ability bonuses used in the Maximum EL 
formula. So a creature wielding a scimitar who had a SB +2 AB+1 would 
have 1d3+3 EL in it. Of course, certain monsters dictated more expertise 
(chieftens, clan heroes, really bad-ass ogres with a name, etc.) in 
which case I generally picked an EL appropriate to their likely 
experience (usually using their CEL as a base; 1/2 of CEL rounded up, 
+1d3, + SB, StB, DB, AB, as depending on the weapon used).
   You know how for 'normal races' they are divided into "NPC class" and 
"Character class" as per book 4? I think of monsters the same way. The 
ones in the book are the "normal, every day 'npc class' level 
monsters"...but there are always exceptional individuals (the "unique, 
more experienced 'character class' level monsters). Exceptional monsters 
is where the cool 'variation' rules in the back of Book 3 come into play. :)

   If you think my EL's are generally too low, I chose these levels for 
a reason. The reason is simple, the *highest* EL I've ever seen a PC 
start with in a weapon was, iirc, EL8. This is without the special event 
"Trained with weapon master"...for that I think it was EL12. It has been 
my experience that an EL of greater than 5 is uncommon for a starting 
character. For characters that have been around the block a few times, 
it still didn't reach more than about EL10. The EL a person/creature has 
in a weapon makes a HUGE difference in combat; that extra 2 or 3 EL's 
makes or breaks Severe and Deadly hits all the time. Also, by trying to 
keep EL's lower, it makes tactics more and more desirable; if you can 
wiggle a -3 or -5 bonus out from using your terrain and team work it can 
make the difference between success and imminent death.

> 2.Nr of attacks for monsters
>
> When a description of a monster description  tells he uses claw and bite
> for example i as a GM rules hes got 2 or even possibly more attacks how
> do you GM out there rule?
   As far as I can tell, unless the monster description under "SPECIAL - 
..." lists it, no monster gets multiple attacks. That said, it's never 
stopped me. :) I based my rule on the creatures PMR as well as the 
creatures description. If the creature has a description that mentions 
they use any sort of 'man made' weapon (like the troll, for example), 
then they do *not* get multiple attacks. Other non-weapon wielding 
creaturs I give one attack per 4 PMR. So a creature that has a PMR of 
5/4/5/4 would get 2 attacks, 1 attack, 2 attacks, 1 attack. For example, 
a Cait Sith has a PMR of 12/12/12/12 (yes, they are that fast!) would 
get a full 3 attacks *every phase*.
   Fast creatures = more chances for maneuvering for another attack. So 
far, I don't use this for anything 'normal' (re: human, elf, dwarf, 
faerry; the 'pc races')...only for 'monsters'.

Paul L. Ming