Questons may contain TOE spoilers

[gav]

Hello folks.
I am at work and trying to write up my Tower of the Elephant game :wink:
I wonder if anyone could help me with answers to a couple of questions.

Could someone explain under the Lion stats it says BAB/Grp +3/+12 then Atk claw+7. Which do I use? Is it the +7 or do I use the +12

Do monsters and creatures have a natural finesse with their claws and bites etc e.g gore and slam

Do monstrous plants bypass armour with their attacks

poison needle traps do they bypass armour

Is their a maximum to the Power attack feat.

I have a pc in the party who is 8th level barbarian with 95 hp DR of 9. Ive tried the flanking and ganging up of gaurds etc but invariably each attack only resolves in 1 point of damage. How can I challenge this player as I fear he may become bored if there is no threat to his character. Any tips or ideas please.
By the way the other characters in this party are taking a good kickin. :twisted:

 

[VincentDarlage]

Could someone explain under the Lion stats it says BAB/Grp +3/+12 then Atk claw+7. Which do I use? Is it the +7 or do I use the +12

Depends. Is the lion doing an attack or is he grappling? If he is attacking, use the +7. If he is grappling, use the +12.

poison needle traps do they bypass armour

No.

Is their a maximum to the Power attack feat.

Yes.

I have a pc in the party who is 8th level barbarian with 95 hp DR of 9. Ive tried the flanking and ganging up of gaurds etc but invariably each attack only resolves in 1 point of damage. How can I challenge this player as I fear he may become bored if there is no threat to his character. Any tips or ideas please.
By the way the other characters in this party are taking a good kickin. :twisted:

Grapple him, then drown him in a trough of water. Grapple him, and have bystanders poke at him. Use polearms and two-handed weapons with Power Attack and Improved Criticals. Don't forget heavy armour limits his Dex bonus to Dodge - arrows will probably bring him down if shot from a specialised bow. Put him in a situation where he is fighting on a roof or parapet or wall - his balance is probably abysmal - and have characters bull rush him off the wall/roof/parapet into the street or moat below. If into a moat, he will sink and drown. If he gets his armour off, then the baddies can be waiting for him to climb out.

 

[Oly]

Could someone explain under the Lion stats it says BAB/Grp +3/+12 then Atk claw+7. Which do I use? Is it the +7 or do I use the +12

The +7 seems to be right for the claw attack. I can't quite remember the logic behind animals attacks but the grapple gets an additional +4 because the lion is a large animal, well it is in Tales of the Black Kingdom anyway. I'd have thought that the claw should have been +8, +3 BAB and +5 Strength. However as said maybe
it's something to do with it being a claw attack.

Is their a maximum to the Power attack feat.

The maximum is attack penalty, and therefore damage bonus, is the BAB of the character/creature/whatever.

I have a pc in the party who is 8th level barbarian with 95 hp DR of 9. Ive tried the flanking and ganging up of gaurds etc but invariably each attack only resolves in 1 point of damage. How can I challenge this player as I fear he may become bored if there is no threat to his character. Any tips or ideas please.
By the way the other characters in this party are taking a good kickin. :twisted:

Finesse around the armour? Take his armour away (I'm a firm believer in the spirit of the books where equipment doesn't make the adventurer and don't like the players to be too reliant on any one item)? High strength opponents with high AP weapons?

Edited to add: Oh and have opponents gang up so that some of them pin the Barbarian (-5 penalty to defence, additional -4 against other characters, no dodge and no parry. Normal human defence is 5 against the grappler, 1 against everyone else) and then the rest take advantage of his lowered defence to finesse around the armour.

 

[urdinaran]

This is just one example of what you can do:

Have a group of Zingaran Thieves attack him, using finesse attacks in order to bypass his armor.

Zingaran Thief 6

To Hit:

BAB +4
DEX 18 +4
Flanking (?) +2
Arming Sword (racial) +1

Total: +11 (additional attackers each round gain +1 for each attacker before him)

Damage:

Sneak Attack (class) +3d6/+3d8
Light Footed (class) +1d6/+1d8
Zingaran (racial) +1d6
Arming Sword (sneak attack style) 1d10

Total: 1d10+4d8+1d6 (6-48 pts damage, 27 avg)

Feats: Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, +1 more feat
Class Special Ability: Crippling Strike or Opportunist
Skills: 9 ranks Bluff (CHA)

Have the surround him and feint. They can Bluff as a move action and still attack in the same round. This makes his DV 10; since he has a DR 9, they need to get a 19 to bypass his armor with a finesse attack. With crippling strike you can deal him 2 pts STR damage, or with Opportunist other zingaran thieves get an AoO on him, once again finesse.

Should take an average of 4 attacks like this to take him down. Say, 6 thieves, about 2 rounds he's dead.

Other options: have some big burly guy come in and grapple him (High STR, Improved Grapple, etc.), while the thieves poke at him.

There are more options available, it's just about how you want to approach it. You could go for attacks that focus on high STR/AP for example. Bow fire is another option.

 

[René]

I have a pc in the party who is 8th level barbarian with 95 hp DR of 9. Ive tried the flanking and ganging up of gaurds etc but invariably each attack only resolves in 1 point of damage. How can I challenge this player as I fear he may become bored if there is no threat to his character. Any tips or ideas please.

Sneak Attack combined with Improved Feint.

 

[gav]

Thanks for the response everyone
Ive made some notes for the next session. I just have to get it right on the night. Ill let you know how it goes :wink:

 

[Zul Daire]

Agonising Doom :twisted:

 

[argo]

Could someone explain under the Lion stats it says BAB/Grp +3/+12 then Atk claw+7. Which do I use? Is it the +7 or do I use the +12

The lion has a BAB of +3, this is exactly like a character's BAB. His Grapple check modifier is +12, this includes his Str modifier as well as his special size modifier, use this for opposed grapple checks but not for the initial touch attack required to start the grapple. His claw attack is made with a +7 bonus, this includes his relevant ability modifier as well as any other special modifiers he may have.

Do monsters and creatures have a natural finesse with their claws and bites etc e.g gore and slam

Natural weapons are always finessable weapons. Weither or not a monster chooses to finess with his natural weapon depends a great deal on the individual monster.

Do monstrous plants bypass armour with their attacks

Depends on the monster. If the monster's weapon has a listed AP then he can penetrate like normal. If the monster is using finesse then he can bypass like normal. The fact that he is plant monster as opposed to an animal monster is not important.

poison needle traps do they bypass armour

As a general rule I would say no but traps frequently have special rules built in. If the trap says that it makes a finesse attack then I would let it bypass armor. If it doesnt then I would assume it makes a normal melee attack.

Is their a maximum to the Power attack feat.

Power Attack works for mosters the same way it works for players. The maximum penalty you can take to your attack is equall to your BAB (that is, you cannot take a penalty larger than your BAB). You then apply the penalty as a bonus to damage at a 1-to-1 ratio for natural weapons and one-handed weapons at at a 2-to-1 ratio for two handed weapons.

So if the Lion above also has the power attack feat then he can power attack for a maximum of 3 with his claw attack because that is his BAB. He takes a -3 penalty to hit and a +3 bonus to damage (claw is a natural weapon)


Hope that helps.

 

[gav]

Thanks for the tips
The last session worked well. I managed to surrround the players and made use of flanking,ganging up, aid another and trip with the bill.
The PCs are average 8th level and came up against 10 Zamorian gaurds 2nd level. They defeated the gaurds but it was not easy and proved to be much more challenging. They have yet to meet the Royal gaurd and their infamous captain :twisted:
Thanks again :wink: