Monster Evades

[languagegeek]

I ran into a bit of trouble GMing last session. Not all of the monsters in the corebook have the Evade skill listed. Seeing that Evade comes up in every combat situation, it's weird that it's absent. Anyway, not to slow the action down, I just assigned an ad hoc Evade value and carried on.

I remember a thread "Goblin Evade" where the answer was DEX*3, but on further thought, this ends up lower than what's given for Elf and Broo in the corebook.

Really what I'm looking for is an Evade % (official or not) that I can pencil in for each beastie. Before I start making up numbers, what have other people done about this, or have I simply missed the rule.

 

[Loz]

Pete made a very good observation that probably speaks to this.

Some creatures simply won't try and evade or parry. However, if you need an Evade % on the fly, I'd use DEX x3 and add 10%; that's the general formula I used for calculating Evade, Persistence and Resilience (different stats, obviously).

 

[languagegeek]

Pete made a very good observation that probably speaks to this.

Some creatures simply won't try and evade or parry. However, if you need an Evade % on the fly, I'd use DEX x3 and add 10%; that's the general formula I used for calculating Evade, Persistence and Resilience (different stats, obviously).

I imagine that any monster would need to use Evade against a Trip or Blind Opponent CM as this seems more of a reflex action than a "get out of the way of that arrow". In our case, it was the Trip Opponent CM that happened in-game.

DEX x3 + 10% seems about right, I'll go with that. Thank-you.

 

[Deleriad]

DEX x3 + 10% seems about right, I'll go with that. Thank-you.

Actually I *think* it might say that 4-legged creatures will use Athletics instead of Evade for things like trip etc.

 

[languagegeek]

Actually I *think* it might say that 4-legged creatures will use Athletics instead of Evade for things like trip etc.

Doesn't help with "Blind Opponent" though.

 

[soltakss]

I imagine that any monster would need to use Evade against a Trip or Blind Opponent CM as this seems more of a reflex action than a "get out of the way of that arrow". In our case, it was the Trip Opponent CM that happened in-game.

Depends on the opponent.

A goblin should be able to use Evade. A mammoth, however, might not be able to.

Which brings up the question - could you realistically use something like a Trip CM against a mammoth?

 

[Felixi]

I have another question about monsters and combat...

many monsters do not have combat maneuvers in their description.
Why? They can not use them?

 

[Loz]

many monsters do not have combat maneuvers in their description.
Why? They can not use them?

There are some CMs that certain creatures can't use because their natural weapons aren't capable of it: impale, for instance. However they can use other, non-weapon specific CMs just as any character can. Monster Coliseum, which ic chock-full of monsters, gives you notes on creature tactics and preferred CMs, so if you don't have that book its worth a look.

Otherwise, look at what the creature is and is most likely able to do. A tiger, using its claws, can certainly Sunder. A spitting cobra can certainly Blind...