King of the Trollhaunt Warrens Questions?

[Wrathamon]

I just noticed some errors and a couple of things I wasnt sure about.

anyone know if there is a thread about errors or questions already?

SPOILERS AHEAD






They describe Skalmad with Chain armor but his statblock has hide for example.

His greataxe does the same damage as the normal troll claw attack.
His claw attack does less than the other trolls.

Both seemed a bit odd to me... wondering if anyone else thought the same?

Bax the NPC...

trying to break down his attack bonus, damage and AC and I cant figure it out.

Bax lvl 12 Soldier
+2 vicious flail, Weapon Focus (Flail), Str 21
Basic Attack: +18 vs. AC (+19 while bloodied); 2d10 + 12 damage (crit 2d12 +32).

+2 proficiency, +2 flail, +6 Lvl, +5 Str... that is +15 so does soldier give you +3 more?

And, I have no idea where the +12 is coming from on damage, or the +32 on a crit. None of the PC's come even close to this damage output for a basic attack.

several of his encounter abilities go from a 1d10 to a 1d12 on a crit?

AC: 32 from Scale Armor, heavy Shield, lvl 12 soldier, dex 17... how does he get 32? does Soldier add a bunch to AC?

 

[Chris Knapp]

Regarding Bax, I wouldn't get too hung up on whether he "builds out" properly. He is a monster after all (as evidenced by his Level 12 Soldier title) and was built using those rules. If you wish to spend a few hours statting him up with PC stats like 3E, then that's fine, but 4E doesn't require that.

As to his stats regarding a crit, that's how they do it now:
Normal attack damage = 1dX + Y
Crit damage = (special crit damage) + (max damage from normal attack)
In Bax's case, its 2d12 because his +2 weapon adds 1d12 per plus on a crit, and the +32 is the maxed out damage of his normal attack (2d10+12 = 32)

 

[Wrathamon]

Regarding Bax, I wouldn't get too hung up on whether he "builds out" properly. He is a monster after all (as evidenced by his Level 12 Soldier title) and was built using those rules. If you wish to spend a few hours statting him up with PC stats like 3E, then that's fine, but 4E doesn't require that.

As to his stats regarding a crit, that's how they do it now:
Normal attack damage = 1dX + Y
Crit damage = (special crit damage) + (max damage from normal attack)
In Bax's case, its 2d12 because his +2 weapon adds 1d12 per plus on a crit, and the +32 is the maxed out damage of his normal attack (2d10+12 = 32)

I am really just trying to figure out how they make monsters and where they come up with the numbers... thanks for breaking down the attack. But, how does he do 2d10+12? just cause he's a monster?

 

[Hazard_53188]

I am really just trying to figure out how they make monsters and where they come up with the numbers... thanks for breaking down the attack. But, how does he do 2d10+12? just cause he's a monster?

I don't have the book in front of me right now but as I recall there are a number of charts in the DMG that help you determine hit points, damage, etc when making your own monsters based on there level and what role you'd like them to perform in the combat.

 

[amadeus-darkened]

No one has addressed your other issue just yet but it follows the same reasoning as the first. Monsters are just built differently, his greataxe attack is given the average damage for his level +1. The real reason why I don't like that statblock is the claw attack. There is literally no reason why it should be there, it does less damage, hits the same defense, has no abilities tied to it that don't also tie into the greataxe, and it takes the same action to use. They really should have taken that out of the stats.

I suppose they lowered the damage so that when the DM had a choice between hewing with a greataxe or rending with a claw he would hew. But really, either way his basic melee attack should be doing about 2d6+7 so it is just a flavor piece. If you want to describe Skalmad as rending into his enemies with blood crusted claws then do so, the greataxe has absolutely no affect on his stats.

 

[Wrathamon]

I don't have the book in front of me right now but as I recall there are a number of charts in the DMG that help you determine hit points, damage, etc when making your own monsters based on there level and what role you'd like them to perform in the combat.

the suggested lvl 12 soldier based on those charts does

2d6+5
Bax does
2d10+12

which is why I was wondering
He has +2 for his flail (which is within the magic threshold chart) if I am reading that chart correctly
He gets +2 cause of weapon Focus Flail
and some bonus damage and an increase from 2d6s to 2d10s

Just seems Way more than the charts suggest which made me wonder if it was a typo.