The monster ability (reaction) Ferocity reads "Trigger The monster is reduced to 0 HP. Effect THe monster avoids being knocked out and remains at 1 HP, but its wounded value increases by 1. When it is wounded 3, it can no longer use this ability."
This seems like a really strong (almost too strong) ability. It is mitigated by the fact that it is a reaction so it can only be used once per turn. I am torn what I should say as a GM when this happens. The options I am pondering are A) full disclosure - letting them know exactly what is happening B) hint at what is happening or C) simply reply "it's still standing" after repeated hits.
I don't think it matters too much when a single monster is getting pounded on because it'll most likely only be able to use ferocity once. The specific fight that is coming up is with 1 big boar and 2 smaller boars vs a low level party of 2 martials and 2 casters. I am afraid the ferocity mechanic has a potential to make a challenging fight into a deadly one as the fighting gets spread out and ferocity could be used multiple times per boar.
What would you do?
Boars and orcs are notorious for keeping standing when they should be dropping. I'd let the players in on this, so at least Option B.
If they successfully Recall Knowledge on Boars they get to know it even earlier.
Excellent answers, thanks! My players are new enough that common knowledge about monster types are still being learned. I'm leaning towards option B with perhaps a free knowledge nature check the second time it happens.
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You could nudge them in the direction, when the first boar uses the reaction: "It seems odd to you that the boar is still standing and fighting, judging by the wounds he has. Maybe if you take a second to think about that?"
I would not give out free checks. Recall Knowledge takes an action.
We fought once a big orc fighter with 6 minions. The minions were ridiculously weak so we focused on the big fighter. The big fighter died without much use of Ferocity, but we haven't been able to kill a single minion (they fled when their boss died). Ferocity is weak if the party is able to focus fire. So, on a big guy, it's not great. But on minions, it can be awful.
It learned me to dislike it.
I'll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but one published 2e adventure finds the party encountering quite a few low-level orcs in a scenario where it seems difficult not to alert all of them at once.
I think it's somewhere around a dozen or so orc mooks against ~level 3 party, but they all have ferocity. It was a pretty tough victory for my players and I even ended up having a few of them run away when things went south for the orcs.
At first glance it looks really nasty, but I think with a Recall Knowledge check (for something like orcs, a pretty simple DC) it's easily overcome. Like you noted in the OP, it's a reaction so if you bring something below 1hp and then do it again with another attack on the same turn, it dies. Similarly, if one character triggers ferocity and then the next player hits the creature again before the round is up, that creature hasn't gotten its reaction back, so it dies there too.
Without knowing this it can be tough, and like SuperBidi said I think it's strongest on mooks. On mooks it actually strikes me as a way to give them a form of AoE resistance, to a degree, because you can't just burning hands or fireball once and be done with them. Though it is funny that you could have an orc survive an absolutely enormous blow; they're that tenacious!
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I ran the same encounter that Puna'chong is referring to. The way I described it as something like "you would have sworn that last hit would have killed the orc, but he/she seemed to remain standing by force of will alone." Had a couple orc make it to Wounded 3, as the Monk couldn't roll above a 5 to save her life (or ours) and the wizards (we had 2) would only attack once with a cantrip and then cast shield or move as their third action. i.e. lots of single hit rounds.
... Though it is funny that you could have an orc survive an absolutely enormous blow; they're that tenacious!
Its probably an edge case I wouldn't expect too often, but I applied that massive damage, if you take more then double your max hp in one hit, rule to my orcs. I had a player with a Giant Instinct Barbarian crit 3 orc brutes in a row at level 4 for 40+ damage each and just had them die despite the reaction.
Massive damage definitely applies, why wouldn't it?