Slam Attack

[Zeromage]

Could someone explain what a slam attack is? For instance, under the Vampire entry in the bestiary:

Melee slam +8 (1d4+4 plus energy drain)

Does the "slam" add extra damage, or is it just telling you what sort of attack it is?

Thanks, guys.

[thorin001]

It is just what sort of attack it is. If you look up Slam you will see that it is a primary natural attack that does bludgeoning damage.

[Zeromage]

Thanks!

[Liches-Be-Crazy]

"Slam" has always bugged me. What's the difference between a "slam" and an unarmed strike? Being a vampire Monk would be weird... Does his unarmed strike inflict drain? if not, why not?

It's just odd.

[lemeres]

Liches-Be-Crazy wrote:

"Slam" has always bugged me. What's the difference between a "slam" and an unarmed strike? Being a vampire Monk would be weird... Does his unarmed strike inflict drain? if not, why not?

It's just odd.

The way I always imagined it, I thought of the slam as more of a smacking/tossing/flinging type of thing that you would expect from creatures like gorillas, rather a disciplined and honed punch or kick.

To give a more illustrative example: I always thought of slams as the kind of attack the Hulk did when he used Loki as a rag doll during the Avengers (seriously, just look up a video of that scene and tell me it isn't a 'slam')

Now, how the hell a vampire's slam does energy drain is beyond me too. I would imagine it would be a bite attack, but hey....whatever.