Quick question! Massive damage rule

[GurgleSnuff]

In Conan. When U hit for 20 points og DAM and u dont reduce enemy's HP to 0. Thaqt is massive DAM and u need to roll a fortitude check. But do a creature get benefits based on size on massive DAM or does this rule go for all creature big and small. Like in D&D it depnds on size whether u score massiv damage. In D&D its 50 HP in Conan its 20 HP.

THanks!

 

[Clovenhoof]

As per the RAW, the threshold is always 20 HP regardless of creature size. The reasoning here is that bigger creatures have a high fort save, and thus should be able to shrug off hits that only barely exceed the 20HP threshold.

For example, if a, let's say: Huge creature has a Fort +25, it will always(*) make the save against up to 30HP of damage, and still have a 50% chance to survive a 52HP Massive Damage Save.

*) keep in mind that a natural 1 still is an Automatic Failure, so you still have to roll the die.

Of course, if the designers didn't pay attention and gave a Gargantuan creature a mere +16 Fort, then you can indeed kill it off with a 20HP hit (a 25% chance that it fails the save).

 

[GurgleSnuff]

It sounds just and right One can always roll a 1 on the dice

Thanks dude!

 

[Majestic7]

Unfortunately, many big monsters are pretty easy to kill with massive damage, especially by a barbarian with high strength, power attack and two-handed weapon, since they have so low Fort saves. For example, a Lesser Son of Set has Fort +8 and the "normal" Son of Set has Fort +16.

I guess that fits to the spirit of the game, though it can be quite an anticlimax at times.

 

[Clovenhoof]

I am nerfing the TH Weapons somewhat in my game.
Firstly, several TH-weapons get their damage dice reduced, as Axerules and I discussed in the "Modified the rules" thread.
Secondly, Two-Handed Power Attack doesn't give x2 damage bonus in my game. Maybe I can allow x1,5 after some playtesting.

Last but not least, I reserve the right to simply change Fort saves of monsters that I think should be tougher.

 

[Soulmage]

Still, the massive damage based on size rule probably wouldn't hurt anything.

 

[quigs]

I prefer to use a mechanic I saw in Thieve's World. The weapons do their regular damage, not the Conan damage. So a greatsword would go back to 2d6. Armor adds to defense, not DR, but it also adds its armor bonus to your massive damage threshhold. So the threshhold looks like this.

Mass. Dam. Threshhold = Con score + armor bonus + size modifier + natural armor bonus

The size modifiers are equal to the grappling modifiers.

 

[Clovenhoof]

If you want to scale the MDS by creature size, I propose this:

Small:15
Medium:20
Large:25
Huge:30
etc.

About that rule revert:
How does Armour Piercing fit into the equation? Just curious.

Anyway it doesn't look right. It's turning around the Combat atmosphere of Conan completely. In Conan, combat is so deadly that two fighters of equal level will hit each other most of the time. Attack values can get to about +30 +D20 and defense maximum is something like 40 (base10 + 10 Abi + 15 Parry + 4 Shield +1 Parry) - so hit chance without Combat Expertise is around 50%.

In this Thieves' World, two like-levelled fighters will hardly ever hit each other: same Attack cap, but Defense can get as high as 50 (same as above plus 10 for Full plate) -- so you'll only hit on a natural 20.

 

[GurgleSnuff]

Yes I think i will use 15 FOR SMALL 2O FOR MEDIUM AND SO ON...

 

[Tim]

I ran my campaign with-out the massive damage roll, after 13 levels, most PCs had only 1 or 2 fate points. The game can be plenty dangerous without massivedamage. No one complained about its ommission and besides, for most creatures and PCs, 20+ points of damage from a single attack was planty brutal on its own.

 

[Auggie]

Massive Damage has sometimes been a pain in my butt, but it has also saved my players from certain death too. Like anything else, ya gotta take the good with the bad.

At least the enemy can do it to the PC's as well :twisted: