animal companion (or just monsters in general) stats / minimum dmg

[strangepork]

So i am working on my lvl 1 druid. he has a snake, viper (small).

Its str is listed as 8, which of course would give a -1 to damage.

Damage is listed as 1d3 + poison

Do i do 1d3, or 1d3 -1?

If 1d3 - 1, is there a minimum of 1 point or can he do 0??

thanks!

[strangepork]

also, if his strength goes from 8 to 10, is he still a d3? if it goes to 12, is he d3 + 1?

[Starglim]

1d3 - 1 damage. If the die roll shows 0 or negative damage, he does 1 nonlethal damage instead.

His damage die doesn't change if his strength increases.

[strangepork]

huh, not what i expected but awesome, thanks! Sounds like you know your stuff =D

[Are]

I think Starglim misunderstood one part of your question. As you suggested, if the strength increases from 8 to 10, his damage will be "d3+0", and if the strength again increases from 10 to 12, the damage will be "d3+1".

[Name Violation]

yes, 8 str SUBTRACTS a point of damage min 1. so it deals its d3 damage dice plus negative one from str.

actually if you deal les than 1 you do 1 nonlethal

[Ulfrik Frostmane]

Sorry to necro this post, but I've never understood the damage for something like a Familiar: Melee 2 claws +4 (1d2–4), bite +4 (1d3–4) on the Cat, for example. If they do 1d2-4, they never do any damage? Or they only ever can do 1 non-lethal? (If so, why not just write it that way?)

[SlimGauge]

Ulfrik Frostmane wrote:

I've never understood the damage for something like a Familiar: Melee 2 claws +4 (1d2–4), bite +4 (1d3–4) on the Cat, for example. If they do 1d2-4, they never do any damage? Or they only ever can do 1 non-lethal? (If so, why not just write it that way?)

Because they might get (probably magical) effects that add static bonuses or change the number or size of the die, so the die size and static bonuses must be kept separate.

[Nefreet]

Ulfrik Frostmane wrote:

I've never understood the damage for something like a Familiar: Melee 2 claws +4 (1d2–4), bite +4 (1d3–4) on the Cat, for example. If they do 1d2-4, they never do any damage? Or they only ever can do 1 non-lethal? (If so, why not just write it that way?)

Say you used Share Spells to cast Enlarge Person on your Cat Familiar. You'd need to know how to progress its damage dice.

1d2-4 jumps to 1d3-3, and 1d3-4 jumps to 1d4-3 (which could potentially deal 1 lethal damage).

Stack on Bull's Strength, and you've almost completely mitigated it's nonlethal potential.

Or you could strap on an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists and watch kitty become a terror.

[Ulfrik Frostmane]

Ah! Thanks! So until they get Enlarged or something, they do not do much at all. That makes sense.

Thank you!