I just finished a game where I had three very different players, a wizard, a priest, and a troll. Of the three, the troll was a highly capable melee combatant, but the others were very, very weak. In fights, the troll was the obvious target for enemies to take down, as he appeared quite menacing. The only help I could find in the rules was to how to throw multiple, identical foes at him. Is there are any to run a combat in which multiple unique enemies gang up on the toughest PC?
Yup, just have the unique foes position against the Troll together as a group.
Interesting. I always found trolls to be really easy to deal with and have long suspected that they’re underpowered.
Tell me of this highly capable troll of yours!
He went with gray shading his power and forte, so while he didn’t deal a ton of damage, he could really take it. Between his natural troll armor and his superficial being 3 or 4, it took a lot to even to hurt the guy. If he rolled well on his armor, he could take at least a 4 damage blow without even registering a superficial wound. The player also threw his trait points into regeneration, so anything short of a blow that instantly killed him - and it would take a lot of damage to do that - wasn’t a real threat to the player. It was at most a temporary inconvenience.
How do I work out positioning for a character facing opponents with weapons of different lengths?
So he has like a G4 in Power and Forte? I would suggest using nets or something else that will not do direct damage, but pile on obstacle penalties or remove dice.
Yeah, if he spent 18 points on P and F, he can’t have many points left for Speed and Agility. Should be very easy to outmaneuver and disable him. Let his opponents fight smart! Also, winning against a half dozen archers will be a thrilling battle!
How is G4 Power not a ton of damage for a troll to do? (G4 = B20 doesn’t it?)
Does the troll have the trait that allows it to do Grey damage? Hands of Stone, I think it is? We assumed not.
As he “threw all his trait points into regeneration”, probably not. But if he was burned with G4 Power, his Brawling opens at G2 and so would meet the grey damage/grey skill prerequisites (unless I misunderstood something)
Don’t you also need a grey-shade weapon to deal grey-shade damage?
Yes, you need grey weapons, not skill. And for natural weapons that means a special trait.
Yes, but if you have grey shade power, are you not then a grey shade weapon? (I=G2/M=G4/S=G6).
If a mage has grey will and grey sorcery they are doing grey damage, basically the same thing.
No, Sorcery is an exception. This is covered in the IMS chapter.
Yeah, Grey Power or Weapon Skill does not automatically mean Grey Damage.
Actually, that reminds me: don’t you break your weapon if you have Grey-shade Power but a mundane weapon?
Ok, I found the part about grey fists in BWG IMS (thanks for pointing it out) I can’t seem to find Hands of Stone in BWG though.
It’s in the MoBu, I think.
Yes, Hands of Stone is a troll trait. There’s a couple others in there from other monsters. It’s not meant to be something normally achievable by the stocks in BWG.
Also, look at the Dragon, B’hemah, or Daemon to see how creatures with G shade power and Forte but lack a shade-shifting trait are handled. Then look at the entry for Giant.
Another comparison is the Daemon vs Greater Daemon.
Okay, no one is telling me any mechanics here. The game mechanics seem to operate under the assumption that all enemies against a single foe use the same weapon. Is there any to work the mechanics for one baddie trying to brain him while another tries to net him?