Monsters Primary Attacks

[Lord Vangarel]

Do monsters with multiple weapons follow the character rules or the monster rules?

The reason I am asking is some monsters seem to but others don't. For example the Aboleth has four tentacles each attacking at +12 and dealing full damage, the Athach has 3 arms but only one is counted as primary so the second and third arms suffer attack and damage penalties. There is nothing to indicate why the Aboleth gets 4 full attacks and the Athach doesn't.

Wouldn't it be nice if all monsters followed the same rules?

 

[shilsen]

Creatures using natural weapons don't get penalties except if they have different types, e.g. claw, bite. The aboleth's attacks are all of the same type (tentacle), so they have the same bonus.

For creatures with arms and hands like the athach, there is always a primary hand and an off-hand and penalties for using the latter (moderated by feats like Ambidexterity, Multiweapon Fighting, etc.). The athach benefits from Multiattack, Multidexterity & Multiweapon Fighting, which improve its attack bonuses, but they don't change the damage bonuses to the primary and later attacks.

In short, you're right - it would be nice if all monsters followed the same rules

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Would it?
I think the rules make sense, at least if they want to differ between the different ways a creature might attack -
Many creatures prefer to use claws (reflected in a highter attack bonus), but if they would be able to bite, it might be more dangerous (reflected in a higher damage code).
Some creatures might be perfect in using both (Ettin can use both arms), some creatures are specifically trained in combat, so that they can use all their attacks with a high success (Multidexterity and so on...) ...

And, actually, there is no problem, since the stat blocks list the attacks the creature has and at what bonus, so you don`t have to care about how these are created (at least if there wasn`t some faults in the entries... )

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Another error

The Athach has Multidexterity which has a prereq of 15 Dex but the Athach only has a Dex of 12!!!!

 

[Zenon]

Re: Another error

The Athach has Multidexterity which has a prereq of 15 Dex but the Athach only has a Dex of 12!!!!

The same could be said of any 1st level ranger who wears light armor, they gain Ambidex and TWF without having to have the prerequisites.

It is a special of the creature, so prereq's are ignored.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Originally posted by Zenon
It is a special of the creature, so prereq's are ignored.

If it's a speical ability for the creature then wouldn't it make more sense to list it in the special qualities section so as to avoid confusion?