How to describe combat with large size discrepancy?

C

Chriskaballa

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #1

Forgive me for asking this question if I sound stupid, but I'm a fairly new DM and am soon going to be confronted with this issue.

I mean, sure, everyone can imagine a combat between two human fighters, swinging their swords, or two Colossal dragons locked in a tight battle. But what happens if you take one of each and they fight? How do you describe their attacks on each other? How would I describe the fighter being hit with a bite or claw attack without having him totally eviscerated? And how do I describe the human man swinging his sword at a creature bigger than his house? What or where would he hit? If he knew a monster that size had a weak spot, wold he even be able to hit and damage a creature that big in the first place, let alone penetrate the weak spot?

So, in other words, can you help me on how to describe attacks by creatures far larger or far smaller than their opponent?

~Chris

 

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M

Moulin Rogue

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #2

How did you handle combat scenes between a human and a gnome?

The fighters have probably had a bit of fighting experience by the time they're fighting creatures much larger than themselves. They could be savvy enough to know how to avoid the worst of the claw and bite attacks (at least until a crit) by ducking and weaving, telegraphing an attack and bringing up their shield, etc. But sometimes to avoid getting their head sheared off they have to give up an opening to a more vulnerable spot and bear some damage there. That's true of general D&D combat with HP being as abstract as they are.

If it's a big slow lumbering type, have the combatant duck and weave - "you dodge to the left just in time to avoid the ogre's club slamming to the floor where you stood a second ago". I would imagine a large humanoid enemy would have to crouch forward just a bit or he'd be swinging over the top of the PCs' heads with big wide strokes all the time - and needs to protect his feet and legs too. So it might not be too hard to land body blows on those tall guys after all. Maybe you could stand in front of a little kid, imagine him/her as trying to attack you with a melee weapon, and see what positions come naturally to you for the best attack/defense.

 

Last edited: Apr 2, 2002

DWARF

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #3

You did watch Lord of the Rings, right? There's plenty of size difference combat in their. Battle with Sauron, the Balrog, giant squid, hobbits, ogres. There's a lot of source material for descriptions there...

 

N

nameless

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #4

There is a small difference there. The cave troll was maybe huge, maybe large in size. That's big, but forseeable that humans could hit its vitals. A 100 foot tall colossal skeleton, frex, whose ankle is probably about as high as a human can reach is a different matter.

I don't have any good advice on the matter, unfortunately. When my PCs fought a colossal skeleton, I said that they were hacking at a vulnerable point in the foot/lower leg, and when that point went (the skeleton ran out of HPs), the skeleton crashed down and broke. Then the problem to deal with is being crushed by a colossal creature falling down on top of you. There are also no rules for this...

-nameless

 

K

kenjib

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #5

It seems like you would need a lance, longspear or the like to attack a dragon - something that can penetrate deeply. I like how that was the weapon of choice in Dragonslayer. It makes sense. A sword doesn't seem like it would be effective at all.

If dragons were a manageable size like many of the dragons in folklore then swords would be fine, but dragons of the size that D&D portrays them just seem far too large for swords. Of course D&D doesn't have the mechanics to make a distinction like that, and I don't think it would be worth the added complexity anyway.

You point about the dragon's claws is interesting as well. I thought it would be kind of neat for there to be an effect that, when you get hit, you must make a reflex save or also get knocked prone, but it's also probably not worth the added complexity - plus you'd have to figure in the silliness of getting knocked down and standing up over and over again every round.

 

H

hong

WotC's bitch

• Apr 2, 2002

• #6

kenjib said:

You point about the dragon's claws is interesting as well. I thought it would be kind of neat for there to be an effect that, when you get hit, you must make a reflex save or also get knocked prone, but it's also probably not worth the added complexity - plus you'd have to figure in the silliness of getting knocked down and standing up over and over again every round.

Click to expand...

Note that the Knockdown feat in S&F does exactly this. There's something for B.A.D.D. to consider....

 

C

Chriskaballa

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #7

*BUMP* because I have a game today & tomorrow and because of the morning shuffle.

 

Henry

Autoexreginated

• Apr 2, 2002

• #8

Chris, you have indeed hit upon the biggest problem in D&D - describing a fight between two vastly different combatants. Because of the abstract nature, there is not much to say except what others above has said. I will however postulate that because you are dealing with Magic and Magical weapons, that the "+" enhancements on the weapons that heroes use would make it more able to cleave flesh and bone that would be unable to be hurt otherwise.

Notice how all dragons have damage resistance at some point? To me, this represents the inability for normal weapons to damage something the size of a house. In my opinion, all creatures of size Huge or larger should have some sort of Damage Resistance, because of the inability to weapons one hundredth its size to be unable to hurt it. With a Colossal Dragon, even a hero using a longspear would be like trying to kill a cow with a prison shiv.

 

H

hong

WotC's bitch

• Apr 2, 2002

• #9

Henry said:

Notice how all dragons have damage resistance at some point? To me, this represents the inability for normal weapons to damage something the size of a house. In my opinion, all creatures of size Huge or larger should have some sort of Damage Resistance, because of the inability to weapons one hundredth its size to be unable to hurt it. With a Colossal Dragon, even a hero using a longspear would be like trying to kill a cow with a prison shiv.

Click to expand...

Well, that's just something unique to _dragons_. It isn't an inherent feature of big monsters; for example, dire animals and big monstrous vermin don't have any DR. The difficulty of hurting big things is modelled by giving them 1) lots of HD; and 2) natural armour bonuses to AC. Have a look at the rules for upsizing creatures on p.12 of the MM.

 

K

kenjib

First Post

• Apr 2, 2002

• #10

hong said:

Note that the Knockdown feat in S&F does exactly this. There's something for B.A.D.D. to consider....

Click to expand...

Ah, thanks Hong. I'll check that out. It sounds useful.