Monster Natural Attacks - UPDATE!!!

[Hypersmurf]

My response to a question like "Is A X or Y?" was something like, "Yes..."

I think I remember that one... or a similar response someone posted here at one stage

-Hyp.

 

[Black Arrow]

Re: Re: Re: Monster Natural Attacks - UPDATE!!!

Every CS answer I've ever seen has been clearly wrong, contradicting the rules as written. Can anyone show me a counterexample? Something they got right, or that can at least be supported by the books? Please?

[Sarcasm noted : )] I think customer service got it right. But maybe with respect to a somewhat tangential issue... dive attacks. Under "Fly" description in Monster Manual (p. 7) it states, "Creatures that fly can make dive attacks. A dive attack works just like a charge, but the diving creature must move a minimum of 30 feet. It can only make claw attacks, but these deal double damage."

Claw attacks here are described in the plural. I always interpreted this as meaning a creature subjected to a "roc dive" attack would not only be hit by two claw attacks, but suffer double damage to boot.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Re: Re: Re: Monster Natural Attacks - UPDATE!!!

Every CS answer I've ever seen has been clearly wrong, contradicting the rules as written. Can anyone show me a counterexample? Something they got right, or that can at least be supported by the books? Please?

That's interesting. Come to think of it, I've never seen a correct answer from CS either.

I'll craft a really, really easy question for them and send it off.

Edit: Should I send it to questions@wizards.com or custserv@wizards.com?

 

[dcollins]

Try "custserv". I think that's the address I see more frequently.

 

[Deset Gled]

My response to a question like "Is A X or Y?" was something like, "Yes, because <something unrelated to A, X, and Y>")

Technically, this probably is a correct answer (and, as some have noted, possibly the first we've gotten word of).

To use similair notation to yours, rethink the question as "Is A part of the set of answers {B}, where X and Y are both elements of {B}?" They then responded, correctly, "Yes, A is indeed an element of {B}. It is possible that A could be X or a could be Y, but I choose not to be that specific in my answer."

This is a lot like pulling over to the side of the road and asking a pedestrian "Where am I?", to have them respond "You are in a car." No help at all to your problem, but still a correct answer.

 

[Bauglir]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Monster Natural Attacks - UPDATE!!!

[Sarcasm noted : )] I think customer service got it right. But maybe with respect to a somewhat tangential issue... dive attacks. Under "Fly" description in Monster Manual (p. 7) it states, "Creatures that fly can make dive attacks. A dive attack works just like a charge, but the diving creature must move a minimum of 30 feet. It can only make claw attacks, but these deal double damage."

Claw attacks here are described in the plural. I always interpreted this as meaning a creature subjected to a "roc dive" attack would not only be hit by two claw attacks, but suffer double damage to boot.

Under the same logic (note my extra highlight), flying creatures can make multiple dive attacks each round..

 

[LGodamus]

Black arrow you can chalk up your misunderstanding of the dive rules due to a cute grammatical trait of the english language.....you are trying to infer a little to much .

 

[CRGreathouse]

Technically, this probably is a correct answer (and, as some have noted, possibly the first we've gotten word of).

Yeah, but it was irrelevant -- it would be like answering a question with "1+1=2". I don't care if they can give trivial answers (true or otherwise); I care if they can give useful support.

 

[Artoomis]

Technically, this probably is a correct answer (and, as some have noted, possibly the first we've gotten word of).

To use similair notation to yours, rethink the question as "Is A part of the set of answers {B}, where X and Y are both elements of {B}?" They then responded, correctly, "Yes, A is indeed an element of {B}. It is possible that A could be X or a could be Y, but I choose not to be that specific in my answer."

This is a lot like pulling over to the side of the road and asking a pedestrian "Where am I?", to have them respond "You are in a car." No help at all to your problem, but still a correct answer.

So a couple of passengers hire a helicopter for a heli-tour of Redmond, WA. A terrible fog sets in, and the pilot is afraid for all their lives. He asks the passengers to be on the lookout for anything they can see other than fog. On of them spots a building sticking up out of the fog.

The pilot hovers near a window, through which he can see a group of people in some sort of conference room. Thinking quickly, he has one of his passengers to make up a sign and hold it up so the folks inside could read it. The sign read, "Where are we?"

After a minute or two of confering with each other, the building's occupants grabbed an easel and wrote a note on it, which they turned towards the helicopter. The note read, "You are in a helicopter!"

The pilot immediately flew a few hundred yards away and safely landed the helicopter. His passengers, astounded, asked how he managed to do that. He replied: "Easy - I knew right where we were. With such a technically correct but totally useless answer we could only be at Microsoft HQ."

Ba-bump-bump.

 

[Black Arrow]

Black arrow you can chalk up your misunderstanding of the dive rules due to a cute grammatical trait of the english language.....you are trying to infer a little to much .

English is messed up. Description as is certainly lends to differing interpretations. Hope the 3.5e team can be a little more clear and precise in the wording of like passages.

"A dive attack works just like a charge, but the diving creature... can only make claw attacks, [and] these deal double damage."

Combining the preceding sentence with the last sentence is how my brain processed that information... associated [multiple] claw attacks with a [single] dive attack.

Would have been no room for doubt if the passage stated "The diving creature... can only make a single claw attack, but it deals double damage." [Like you said, I may be trying to infer too much though]. Guess I can blame slapshod editing here.