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Chapter 2: Building Games / Building Creatures / Strikes

Strike Damage

Source GM Core pg. 120 2.0
The Strike Damage table gives the damage a creature should deal with a single Strike. You might use a lower category if the creature has better accuracy, or a higher category if its accuracy is lower.

A creature that's meant to be primarily a melee threat uses high damage for its melee Strikes, or moderate for melee Strikes that have the agile trait. Ranged attacks more typically use the moderate value, or even low. A creature that's meant to be highly damaging uses the extreme damage values, but might then have a moderate attack bonus. As with most statistics, extreme damage is more likely at higher levels. You can also use the extreme value for special attacks that the creature can use only a limited number of times or under circumstances that aren't likely to happen every round.

More versatile creatures, such as ones that can cast some spells and aren't meant to primarily get their damage through Strikes, go one category lower: moderate for their main melee Strikes, low for agile and ranged Strikes. Spellcasters and other creatures that aren't meant to be competent in a direct fight might use the low damage value, or even less if they completely don't care about their Strikes.

The Strike Damage table entries include a damage expression (a die roll or rolls plus a flat modifier) you can use as is, or you can take the damage in parentheses and build your own damage expression to hit that number. If you do the latter, remember that a d4 counts as 2.5 damage, a d6 as 3.5, a d8 as 4.5, a d10 as 5.5, and a d12 as 6.5. Usually, a damage expression works best when roughly half the damage is from dice and half is from the flat modifier. If your creature deals special damage, like 1d6 fire from flaming attacks, that counts toward its total damage per Strike. Keep in mind that a creature using a weapon should have a damage value that feels right for that weapon. Extreme damage works well for two-handed weapons that use d10s or d12s for damage. On the other hand, a dagger uses only d4s, so a dagger wielder would need something like sneak attack to deal extreme damage, or you might compensate for the dagger's lower damage per Strike by giving the creature the ability to attack more efficiently or use other tricks.

Table 2–10: Strike Damage

LevelExtremeHighModerateLow
–11d6+1 (4)1d4+1 (3)1d4 (3)1d4 (2)
01d6+3 (6)1d6+2 (5)1d4+2 (4)1d4+1 (3)
11d8+4 (8)1d6+3 (6)1d6+2 (5)1d4+2 (4)
21d12+4 (11)1d10+4 (9)1d8+4 (8)1d6+3 (6)
31d12+8 (15)1d10+6 (12)1d8+6 (10)1d6+5 (8)
42d10+7 (18)2d8+5 (14)2d6+5 (12)2d4+4 (9)
52d12+7 (20)2d8+7 (16)2d6+6 (13)2d4+6 (11)
62d12+10 (23)2d8+9 (18)2d6+8 (15)2d4+7 (12)
72d12+12 (25)2d10+9 (20)2d8+8 (17)2d6+6 (13)
82d12+15 (28)2d10+11 (22)2d8+9 (18)2d6+8 (15)
92d12+17 (30)2d10+13 (24)2d8+11 (20)2d6+9 (16)
102d12+20 (33)2d12+13 (26)2d10+11 (22)2d6+10 (17)
112d12+22 (35)2d12+15 (28)2d10+12 (23)2d8+10 (19)
123d12+19 (38)3d10+14 (30)3d8+12 (25)3d6+10 (20)
133d12+21 (40)3d10+16 (32)3d8+14 (27)3d6+11 (21)
143d12+24 (43)3d10+18 (34)3d8+15 (28)3d6+13 (23)
153d12+26 (45)3d12+17 (36)3d10+14 (30)3d6+14 (24)
163d12+29 (48)3d12+18 (37)3d10+15 (31)3d6+15 (25)
173d12+31 (50)3d12+19 (38)3d10+16 (32)3d6+16 (26)
183d12+34 (53)3d12+20 (40)3d10+17 (33)3d6+17 (27)
194d12+29 (55)4d10+20 (42)4d8+17 (35)4d6+14 (28)
204d12+32 (58)4d10+22 (44)4d8+19 (37)4d6+15 (29)
214d12+34 (60)4d10+24 (46)4d8+20 (38)4d6+17 (31)
224d12+37 (63)4d10+26 (48)4d8+22 (40)4d6+18 (32)
234d12+39 (65)4d12+24 (50)4d10+20 (42)4d6+19 (33)
244d12+42 (68)4d12+26 (52)4d10+22 (44)4d6+21 (35)