DMG II -- In my hands . . .

[Greylock]

I gave it a long look-through yesterday and can't think of a single good reason to buy it. I was actually going to get it as a present for a friend, and I decided he'd probably be insulted once he'd read it. (He's a very experienced DM.)

The best parts of the book for an experienced DM are the world building bits, and frankly, IMVHO, that all pales in comparison to A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe.

And I really, really wish they'd stop this new trend of putting campaign settings or adventures in books dedicated to other subjects. Yes, I want WotC to do this stuff, but jumping jiminy, release them as stand alones and put more relevant content in the other books.

 

[Laman Stahros]

This is a little to brief for me to be sure if I'm getting it. Say you have a bunch of 1 HD base creatures; you make one Mob for every 30. The stats for the mob are calculated by advancing the base 1 HD creature to 30 HD and Collossal size?

Is this right?

No, a mob consists of 48 Small or Medium creatures or 12 Large creatures. Hit Dice are based on creature type, so a mob of human commoners has 30d8, not 30d4 (class hit die for commoners). Base attack bonus is also based on creature type, so a mob of elf fighters has a BAB of +22. The size of the mob is Gargantuan, not Collossal.

 

[Laman Stahros]

So, the question has already been asked, but I'm not sure it's been answered:

Is a Mob just a swarm of creatures too big to be part of a swarm? Also, must the membership of a mob be homogenous, or can dwarves and elves riot together?

It looks like they have to be at least the same type (humanoid, for example), but it doesn't say anything about whether two different races could or could not be combined.

 

[Felon]

Geez, wonder why the DMG II threads haven't been merged yet?

No, a mob consists of 48 Small or Medium creatures or 12 Large creatures. Hit Dice are based on creature type, so a mob of human commoners has 30d8, not 30d4 (class hit die for commoners). Base attack bonus is also based on creature type, so a mob of elf fighters has a BAB of +22. The size of the mob is Gargantuan, not Collossal.

Thanks for the info!

So the the mob does have to make an attack roll. How many attacks does a mob get against a target?

Don't suppose the rules make the Cleave and Great Cleave feats useful against a mob?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Geez, wonder why the DMG II threads haven't been merged yet?

Thanks for the info!

So the the mob does have to make an attack roll. How many attacks does a mob get against a target?

Don't suppose the rules make the Cleave and Great Cleave feats useful against a mob?

Actually, no. Mobs don't make attack rolls for standard attacks; they cause damage to anything in their area, like swarms.

Still, they have a BAB. It's useful to know for special attacks like grapple.

 

[Gez]

*snicker*

"Crikey! This mob is a bit stringy!"

Or, in a more D&D way, you could have this kind of silliness:
"My epic troll barbarian grapple the mob!" *roll* "Success! The mob's pined and helpless now!"

 

[Gez]

No, a mob consists of 48 Small or Medium creatures or 12 Large creatures. Hit Dice are based on creature type, so a mob of human commoners has 30d8, not 30d4 (class hit die for commoners). Base attack bonus is also based on creature type, so a mob of elf fighters has a BAB of +22. The size of the mob is Gargantuan, not Colossal.

Does that mean that a mob of bugbear (3 racial HD each IIRC) and a mob of kobolds would have the same hp?

 

[Quickbeam]

Sure to be a hot topic here, and a big seller at the hobby shops for the next couple months.

 

[Silveras]

Much like Swarms, Mobs are treated as a single creature of 30 HD. Reducing the *Mob* to 0 hp breaks it up. In the aftermath, there are rules to determine what happened to any specific creature whose condition you care about.

The standard is 30% are killed and 30% are at 0 hp, if the damage used to break it up was Lethal damage. If only NonLethal damage was inflicted, no one is dead, just unconscious.

All Mobs of the same type have the same HD. The example notes that a Mob of Human Commoners would use 30d8 for hit points, not 30d4. A Mob of Bugbears and a Mob of Kobolds would each have 30d8 as well. The abilities of individuals are subsumed into the whole of the Mob. Special attacks that are part of the creature's normal attacks continue to function, but any special qualities that require an action to use are lost. Gaze attacks are continuous, and function normally, but the Mob's 30 HD sets the save DC.

Mobs are more vulnerable to area attacks, and take extra damage from them. Spells that affect a few individuals use the negative level mechanic: each creature incapacitation, killed, neutralized, or whatever imposes 2 negative levels on the Mob. As they are not from negative energy, most of the usual defenses do not apply. When the Mob's negative levels reach its Hit Dice, it breaks up.

Because individual Kobolds are weaker than individual Bugbears, area attacks that neutralize creatures will break up a Mob of Kobolds faster than a Mob of Bugbears because more Kobolds will fall to the same attack.

Like swarms, larger Mobs are represented as multiple "normal" Mobs.

 

[Mercule]

Gaze attacks are continuous, and function normally, but the Mob's 30 HD sets the save DC.

*Urp*

A mob of medusae?