Topic: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

Do monsters ever get a bonus to hit based on their hit dice or anything else? I've been reading through Better Than Any Man and it suddenly occured to me that none of the creatures appear to have any bonus to hit, regardless of hit dice. I'm okay with that, I just want to make sure I have the right end of the stick.

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

In the Referee book (page 49 in the Grindhouse edition, in the paragraph about monster hit dice), it states that monsters get +1 attack bonus per hit die.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

That'll be it then, my only reference at the moment is LFP1003, I better chase up a pdf of Grindhouse to tide me over until the new Ref's book gets done.

(5 minutes and a visit to DTRPG later...)

Anyone know where I can source a legitimite copy of Grindhouse on pdf, either Ref's Guide or the whole thing?

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

Cutter wrote:

That'll be it then, my only reference at the moment is LFP1003, I better chase up a pdf of Grindhouse to tide me over until the new Ref's book gets done.

(5 minutes and a visit to DTRPG later...)

Anyone know where I can source a legitimite copy of Grindhouse on pdf, either Ref's Guide or the whole thing?

I pulled the Grindhouse as the regular version because it really is a bit outdated now... a combination of not really wanting to keep selling stuff to people that might not know that new stuff is around the corner... and since I'll be updating the Grindhouse PDFs with the new Ref book PDF when it's ready, also not wanting to sell things cheaper than they should since I fully expect the Ref book PDF + R&M full PDF to cost more than the $17.75 the Grindhouse PDF cost.

(But I won't know the cost for sure until after the Ref book crowdfunding campaign that starts hopefully next week sometime. I'll be selling the PDF option there for 10€/about $13, but if enough extras get added that will go up up up.)

It's difficult business bullshit where I'm completely unclear on the line between shorting customers and shorting myself so I'm hedging bets.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

JimLotFP wrote:

It's difficult business bullshit where I'm completely unclear on the line between shorting customers and shorting myself so I'm hedging bets.

No worries, I'm not going anywhere, already planned my indiegogo pledge on the intel available :-)

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

Cutter wrote:

No worries, I'm not going anywhere, already planned my indiegogo pledge on the intel available :-)

Translation: I've been throwing my wallet at the screen periodically, waiting for that magical moment where it actually sticks.

We all have.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

A point of confusion for me is how quickly the plus 1 per HD can get out of hand. How do you balance a creature with a +5 to hit versus relatively low level parties? Five HD isn't that powerful a critter in the grand scheme of things yet I think they will be hitting more often than the PCs yet 5 HD critters are common enough to run in numbers. If I've missed something feel free to chime in.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

Monsters in the +5 range are pretty manageable with a bit of luck. PC armor class skyrockets surprisingly soon in my experience, especially if you're running with high DEX or, god forbid, a halfling.

Monsters that are much higher than that would probably be big and scary enough that closing into melee range would never really be a sensible option anyway.

Last edited by Sword Lake (2015-12-15 10:52:31)

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

TheBlackHandedWarlord wrote:

yet 5 HD critters are common enough to run in numbers.

How so?

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

JimLotFP wrote:
TheBlackHandedWarlord wrote:

yet 5 HD critters are common enough to run in numbers.

How so?

LOL you've caught me out I'm afraid. I moved recently and lost a lot of stuff.  In my vornheim book their is a blue tiger that has 6 HD which seems about right for a dammed tiger or lion. I wouldn't consider them to exotic in a game set in a fantasy pastiche for Africa. I hope that clarifies my point a little.
I haven't run anything like OSR games so I'm having a little trouble with balancing things out. Now Call of Cthulhu is right in my pilot house.

Re: Quick question regarding monster hit dice and chance to hit...

Balance and making sure opposition won't wipe the PCs out is only an issue if you force a confrontation at a certain point. If the PCs have options to avoid a fight being necessary or even foreknowledge and the ability to prepare, then the potency of opposition is not your problem.