Monster attack roll confusion.

[Grenage]

Hi chaps,

I'm a little confused about the attack stats on the monsters I'm looking at - for a CR 1 encounter. Let's say I'm using 4 Sprites (1/3 each), which is a little over CR 1 - this will be the first encounter for my level one team.

Here's the offense text:

Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee shortsword +0 (1d2-4/19-20)
Ranged shortbow +7 (1d2-4)

So they can fly 12 squares - Speedy!

Ranged damage is I assume a 1d4 roll, halved and rounded down, then minus 4 and plus 7? This will never be other than 8 damage, unless it crits.

Melee is the same - but it will never be more than the minimum damage of 1, unless it crits, becoming 2.

So massive damage on a successful range attack, and very little if they move to melee range. I think I'm truly off with my understanding here.

P.S: Color Spray seems incredibly powerful for a CR 1/3 ability.

[Jeraa]

Grenage wrote:

Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee shortsword +0 (1d2-4/19-20)
Ranged shortbow +7 (1d2-4)

Ranged damage is I assume a 1d4 roll, halved and rounded down, then minus 4 and plus 7? This will never be other than 8 damage, unless it crits.

Melee is the same - but it will never be more than the minimum damage of 1, unless it crits, becoming 2.

Not quite. When making an attack with the shortbow, they get +7 on the attack roll to see if they hit (1d20+7 vs targets AC). If they do hit, they do 1d2-4 damage. In other word no damage, except there is a rule that if penalties reduce your damage below 1, the attack still deals 1 point of nonlethal damage.

With the shortsword, they get a +0 bonus n their attack roll, and deal 1d2-4 damage if they do hit.

Basically, both attacks only deal 1 point of nonlethal damage.

[Grenage]

Oh, that makes a bit more sense - and they do a lot less damage. The crit calculation is made after the damage? That would be a potential for 2.

I might need a few more Spirites, or something else to back them up.

I'm not misreading the power of Colour Spray, am I?

[Fergie]

Like Jeraa said, the +0 or +7 is what they add to their D20 roll vs AC. The damage is strange, but it is essentially 1 point of damage with each successful attack. (It is listed that way in case they get some kind of bonus that boosts up their strength, but you can ignore that for now, and just say 1 damage.)

"P.S: Color Spray seems incredibly powerful for a CR 1/3 ability."
It is! I guess it is tempered by the low DC for the saving throw and also that because of their alignment, they probably won't execute the downed victim.

[CR 1/4 Mite]

We make great opponents for low level characters, without any crazy spell like abilities!

[Jeraa]

Grenage wrote:

Oh, that makes a bit more sense - and they do a lot less damage. The crit calculation is made after the damage? That would be a potential for 2.

Crits don't multiply damage. You roll multiple times. The "minimum 1 nonlethal damage rule" won't kick in until the total damage is determined. Sprites will only ever do a singlepoint of nonlethal damage, even on a crit.

[My Self]

Oh boy. Color spray is one of the worst CR-appropriate things you could do to your players. It's in wizard/sorcerer optimization guides as one of the best 1st level spells. Notice:

Color Spray wrote:

2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)

If you fail your will save, you are absolutely toasted. If there are 4 of these guys and they all spray them out, there's a pretty good chance that your whole party will fail their saves. Then kaput.

Also note that if you do less than 1 damage, it automatically becomes 1 nonlethal damage. With 1d2-4, you always do that little damage. Also consider using a coin for 1d2.

[Jeraa]

Do note that even though sprites only deal nonlethal damage, they can still kill the PCs.

Coup de grace doesn't seem to care what type of damage it is when determining the Fort save vs death (which with sprites, will only be DC 11).

And nonlethal damage automatically converts to lethal damage is the target has an amount on nonlethal damage equal to their full maximum number of hit points. But at 1 point of damage each attack, they takes a while.

[My Self]

Instead of having to make saving throws to stabilize at negative hit points, you are simply knocked out. Which is pretty much as bad as going into negatives in combat, because you're on the ground and not contributing. Once you're all KO'ed, you've lost, because your enemies can do anything to you with impunity.

[Grenage]

Brilliant, thank you. In this particular instance the Sprites would merely leave the group unconscious.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, and then some.

The mites look like another good option for a CR1 encounter - although I might reskin them. :)