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<blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 5647064" data-attributes="member: 23094"><p>I don't think a +0 or +1 to attack rolls is common at low levels at all, so I don't think the "immunity" part is as big an issue as you raise.</p><p></p><p>Additionally, consider three kobolds attacking a rogue, each of whom, individually, has a 20% chance to hit (e.g., they hit on a roll of 17 or better). Ignoring crits for the moment, each is wielding a shortsword and does 1d6 points of damage, or 3.5 on an average hit.</p><p></p><p>On an average attack, then, they do Chance to Hit * Damage per Hit, or 20% * 3.5, or 0.7 damage per attack. There's three of them, so three attacks do an average of 2.1 damage per round.</p><p></p><p>If, instead of attacking, the other kobolds aid another on the first guy's attempt, they increase his chance to hit from 20% to 40%. So the first kobold, who attacks "for real," does 40% * 3.5, or 1.4 damage per round. Thus, by combining your attacks, you're actually doing less average damage per round than if each kobold attacked separately.</p><p></p><p>What you've actually done is reduced the number of rolls you need to make per round while keeping average the average damage per round (1.4 for the combined vs. 2.1 for the separated) and the average number of rounds in which hits occur (40% for the combined vs. ~49% for the singles) <em>close enough for government work</em>.</p><p></p><p>Moreover, by reducing the number of rolls, you've also reduced the swinginess of combat - gone is the 0.8% chance of all three kobolds hitting in the same round and one-round-KOing a character.</p><p></p><p>Additionally, to respond to [MENTION=6679551]Arrowhawk[/MENTION] 's point three above:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I disagree with this advice in pretty much the strongest way possible. Why?</p><p></p><p>Because the characters who do the 1st through the 40th points of damage to a badguy don't really get to feel like they did something meaningful (unless a pile of them were done via a cool crit, but even then ...). The guy who does the 41st through the 46th and knocks it out? Yeah - he "killed" the monster.</p><p></p><p>And, here's a little secret:</p><p></p><p>When you clump up a bunch of weaker monsters into a squad, do you know what you're really doing?</p><p></p><p>:shiftyeyes:</p><p></p><p>You're making a single, large monster against which <em>attrition matters</em>.</p><p></p><p>This is not normally the case in D&D combat; a large monster threatens all the same squares regardless of whether it is at 100% HP or 5% HP, and it does the same damage at half hit points as at 1 left.</p><p></p><p>If, instead, you use a "squad," then for each appropriate percentage of hit points you hack away, you reduce the composite monster's attack bonus, size, reach, threatened area, etc., <em>and</em> your players get to see more monsters fall over and die on more characters' turns. More players get to feel like they're accomplishing things, rather than just ablating a monster's plot armor so that someone else can "win the fight."</p><p></p><p>It also tends to make spellcaster area-of-effect damage better, which may have the side effect of reducing caster tendency to work towards battlefield control and obviation, which will bring them closer in-line with the ground-pounders.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Patryn of Elvenshae, post: 5647064, member: 23094"] I don't think a +0 or +1 to attack rolls is common at low levels at all, so I don't think the "immunity" part is as big an issue as you raise. Additionally, consider three kobolds attacking a rogue, each of whom, individually, has a 20% chance to hit (e.g., they hit on a roll of 17 or better). Ignoring crits for the moment, each is wielding a shortsword and does 1d6 points of damage, or 3.5 on an average hit. On an average attack, then, they do Chance to Hit * Damage per Hit, or 20% * 3.5, or 0.7 damage per attack. There's three of them, so three attacks do an average of 2.1 damage per round. If, instead of attacking, the other kobolds aid another on the first guy's attempt, they increase his chance to hit from 20% to 40%. So the first kobold, who attacks "for real," does 40% * 3.5, or 1.4 damage per round. Thus, by combining your attacks, you're actually doing less average damage per round than if each kobold attacked separately. What you've actually done is reduced the number of rolls you need to make per round while keeping average the average damage per round (1.4 for the combined vs. 2.1 for the separated) and the average number of rounds in which hits occur (40% for the combined vs. ~49% for the singles) [I]close enough for government work[/I]. Moreover, by reducing the number of rolls, you've also reduced the swinginess of combat - gone is the 0.8% chance of all three kobolds hitting in the same round and one-round-KOing a character. Additionally, to respond to [MENTION=6679551]Arrowhawk[/MENTION] 's point three above: I disagree with this advice in pretty much the strongest way possible. Why? Because the characters who do the 1st through the 40th points of damage to a badguy don't really get to feel like they did something meaningful (unless a pile of them were done via a cool crit, but even then ...). The guy who does the 41st through the 46th and knocks it out? Yeah - he "killed" the monster. And, here's a little secret: When you clump up a bunch of weaker monsters into a squad, do you know what you're really doing? :shiftyeyes: You're making a single, large monster against which [I]attrition matters[/I]. This is not normally the case in D&D combat; a large monster threatens all the same squares regardless of whether it is at 100% HP or 5% HP, and it does the same damage at half hit points as at 1 left. If, instead, you use a "squad," then for each appropriate percentage of hit points you hack away, you reduce the composite monster's attack bonus, size, reach, threatened area, etc., [I]and[/I] your players get to see more monsters fall over and die on more characters' turns. More players get to feel like they're accomplishing things, rather than just ablating a monster's plot armor so that someone else can "win the fight." It also tends to make spellcaster area-of-effect damage better, which may have the side effect of reducing caster tendency to work towards battlefield control and obviation, which will bring them closer in-line with the ground-pounders. [/QUOTE]
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