Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Perhaps the 1d12 should represent a per round damage, with automatic death after a few rounds, for the death roll.

While I'm definitely in line with this:

T. Foster wrote:I'm also dubious that getting smacked by a crocodile tail is something that would be more damaging on average than getting stabbed by a longsword or cleft by a battle axe

I also think that taken (perhaps very) abstractly, the idea of more damage for the croc is a way of seeing it as a pure killing machine, able to quickly kill the average human and without an ounce of thought or a moment of hesitation.

Sure, a "single attack" might not be more heinous than gross weapon damage from a hand axe to the hip-bone, but with a little narration, especially on a fatal damage roll, that "bite" could be turned into the capturing, rolling, drowning, etc. all in one fell swoop. The damage, then, is the distillation of the overall brutality and swiftness of the croc, rather than the power of its jaws and other attacks (though the power of a croc's jaws is nothing to sneeze at, of course).

This is the kind of stuff that gets me back into the mood for abstract combat, after my recent reading of the various HarnMaster editions (which- while I like HM- I don't think could handle any kind of croc attack with any kind of grace at all).

Chainsaw wrote:Extremely helpful.

T. Foster wrote:Sadly, the vorpal attack didn't make the cut for AD&D.

Oh, it's making the "cut" for my AD&D game.

How cool. WTF didn't that make the cut I wonder. Great stuff. It really gives flavor to these guys, something worth fearing.

Matthew wrote:Do crocodiles even use their tails to attack in reality?

no

they could be troublesome to an attacker, but they aren't an offensive tool the croc employs. It's certainly not deserving of an attack sequence entry, although it could be made into a special defense/alternate attack form.

gripping/grappling bite, followed by drowning/death rolls is the way it attacks man sized prey. Jaw/bite power IS what a croc is about, their bite strength is enormous, a person is extremely unlikely/impossible to escape via strength.