actionman
Emperor Mongoose
Would their melee reach even be enough to reach the bear before they're swatted?
Traveller Creature Encounter Ideas
- Thread starter DeHammer
- Start date
Would their melee reach even be enough to reach the bear before they're swatted?
Discussions about what would happen with a real bear are somewhat irrelevant as you are using Traveller rules.
I would strongly suggest dry running this with credible rolls to see what the chances of survival actually are. The nastiest normal gun in the CSC is running 4-5D. You are averaging maybe 20 points damage. You are taking 6 off that for the armour. Ammunition designed to do more damage tends to multiply the armour value. You can do a few more points with a good to hit roll, but chances are they won't have time to aim for more than a single minor action. At least the +4 for being large might help. Auto might up the damage but the big damage guns don't tend to be auto.
Conversely 4D damage + effect on a person in the normal levels of armour (less than 10 points) is likely to completely strip their END at least so anyone struck or bitten is in deep trouble.
You might have a significant proportion of the party not even there at time of needs due to the effects of the roar (and if any are wounded the reduced END will make that check that much more difficult).
If the bear gets surprise then it could go sideways very quickly.
I try to avoid these sorts of encounters as though they are realistic (mother nature can be a heartless bitch) they can also be campaign ending. There is a tendency to think the final chapter in a campaign needs an end of level guardian like in video games, but remember the point of the end of level guardian in video games was to tempt you with success while extracting the most amount of money from you. In non arcade version you will generally save the game before taking them on, unless you play a very special version of Traveller, there is no save game. If you have spent weeks as a player, with lots of clever play and commitment to get to this point, you would be very disappointed if Pooh on PCP killed enough of the party that you effectively had to start again from scratch.
"Exit, pursued by a bear" as the bard had it.
I would strongly suggest dry running this with credible rolls to see what the chances of survival actually are. The nastiest normal gun in the CSC is running 4-5D. You are averaging maybe 20 points damage. You are taking 6 off that for the armour. Ammunition designed to do more damage tends to multiply the armour value. You can do a few more points with a good to hit roll, but chances are they won't have time to aim for more than a single minor action. At least the +4 for being large might help. Auto might up the damage but the big damage guns don't tend to be auto.
Conversely 4D damage + effect on a person in the normal levels of armour (less than 10 points) is likely to completely strip their END at least so anyone struck or bitten is in deep trouble.
You might have a significant proportion of the party not even there at time of needs due to the effects of the roar (and if any are wounded the reduced END will make that check that much more difficult).
If the bear gets surprise then it could go sideways very quickly.
I try to avoid these sorts of encounters as though they are realistic (mother nature can be a heartless bitch) they can also be campaign ending. There is a tendency to think the final chapter in a campaign needs an end of level guardian like in video games, but remember the point of the end of level guardian in video games was to tempt you with success while extracting the most amount of money from you. In non arcade version you will generally save the game before taking them on, unless you play a very special version of Traveller, there is no save game. If you have spent weeks as a player, with lots of clever play and commitment to get to this point, you would be very disappointed if Pooh on PCP killed enough of the party that you effectively had to start again from scratch.
"Exit, pursued by a bear" as the bard had it.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Assuming local law enforcement isn't expected to inspect your armament, you could take along a couple of heavy hitters, like a rocket propelled grenade launcher, just in case.
Fat and muscle doesn't count as composite armour.
Fat and muscle doesn't count as composite armour.
agentwigggles
Emperor Mongoose
Once in Melee, only pistols can be used a as a gun. Everything else gets treated as a club. I also wouldnt suggest area effect weapons in melee.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
Traveller characters don't hold up well against getting hit by things powerful enough to penetrate their armour. Combat efficiency goes downhill pretty quick when you start taking damage. A typical D&D boss fight where everyone stands around trading damage tends not to work out so well, unless the dice fall exactly right. Somebody might get hurt.
With my group, you'd really have to force the encounter if I wanted it to play out as a melee fight, as they'd be thinking of ways to not have to fight the bear, and still get what they want. Or to one-shot it with a giant gun. Which is fine, though sometimes they mess up and end up in a pit with a tentacle monster or covered with giant jumping spiders. I'd play it as a cat and mouse game instead, with some NPCs along to be the mice and show how the monster works, forcing the players to out-think the bear.
As a player, I would try to lure the bear out with bait and shoot it from a distance. It has to eat, therefore it has to hunt, and you can get it then. Of course, they might not know about it, and that just means the travellers haven't done their research - as any animal like this is going to be widely known and remarked on. So fair enough TPK in that case. But if they have done their research, they will know that this kind of bear exists, and will see signs of it around the cave if they look - scat, old kills, tracks.
With my group, you'd really have to force the encounter if I wanted it to play out as a melee fight, as they'd be thinking of ways to not have to fight the bear, and still get what they want. Or to one-shot it with a giant gun. Which is fine, though sometimes they mess up and end up in a pit with a tentacle monster or covered with giant jumping spiders. I'd play it as a cat and mouse game instead, with some NPCs along to be the mice and show how the monster works, forcing the players to out-think the bear.
As a player, I would try to lure the bear out with bait and shoot it from a distance. It has to eat, therefore it has to hunt, and you can get it then. Of course, they might not know about it, and that just means the travellers haven't done their research - as any animal like this is going to be widely known and remarked on. So fair enough TPK in that case. But if they have done their research, they will know that this kind of bear exists, and will see signs of it around the cave if they look - scat, old kills, tracks.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Emperor Mongoose
Most animals will flee if startled strongly. Flashbangs could be the most effective way to "fight" the bear and in fact most animals that respond like typical real world creatures. Chemical irritants (pepper spray as an example) are another.
