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View Full Version : Combat with NPC's on CoC 7th Ed



NickT
February 7th, 2021, 15:46
Hi, I have been running through some mock combats in Coc 7th and I have found something I don't understand, I would suspect it is a bug, but it seems so fundamental to the system that I cannot believe that it would not have been noticed before.

With player characters if you take damage equal to half your maximum hits you suffer a "major wound", and if you take damage equal to your Maximum hit points or greater you suffer "instant death".
My understanding of the rules is that the same applies to NPC's, but there is no record for NPCs of their Original/Maximum hit points, and the "major wounds/instant death" calculations are therefore based on current hit points. This means that when you fight an NPC they always suffer instant death when reduced to zero hit points, and also will suffer a major wound near the end of the combat.

Am I missing something obvious here? :confused:

damned
February 8th, 2021, 02:58
If the damage from a single attack is:
* Less than half the character’s maximum hit points, it is regular damage.
* Equal to or more than half the character’s maximum hit points, it is a Major Wound.
* More than the character’s maximum hit points, the result is death.

p.119 says fairly specifically characters maximum

damned
February 8th, 2021, 03:09
p120 also seems to refer specifically to characters



Major Wound: The Effects
A Major Wound results when an attack delivers an amount of damage equal to or greater than half of the character’s maximum hit points in a single attack. A character that has received a major wound may die if their current hit points are reduced to zero.
When a character takes a major wound:
* Tick the Major Wound box.
* The character immediately falls prone.
* Make a successful CON roll to avoid the character falling unconscious.
* If current hit points fall to zero while the Major Wound box is ticked, the character is dying (see Dying, below).


Do you have a reference for Major Wounds and NPCs?

Trenloe
February 8th, 2021, 09:13
... there is no record for NPCs of their Original/Maximum hit points, and the "major wounds/instant death" calculations are therefore based on current hit points.
There's no visible record in the NPC entry in the CT, but the code does remember the maximum HP. You can see this is you apply damage to an NPC in the CT then create a copy of that NPC - the new entry has the original HP.


This means that when you fight an NPC they always suffer instant death when reduced to zero hit points, and also will suffer a major wound near the end of the combat.
Have you see this occur or is this just supposition based off thinking the visible HP are used in the calculation?

damned
February 8th, 2021, 10:56
I just did some testing and checked under the hood.
Major Wounds do get applied to NPCs in the ruleset and it does appear to be based off the initial HP.

NickT
February 8th, 2021, 16:58
I must have been doing something strange then because I had an NPC with 22hp, it took 8 damage (current hits now 14) it then took a further 8 points and was marked as a major wound, finally hit for a further 7 points and was marked as "instant death" I will see if I can recreate it for you. If it is some unusual combo of circumstances, it explains why it hasn't been noticed before ;>)
NickT

NickT
February 8th, 2021, 17:32
Well, I tried to reproduce it with no success, I guess I must put it down to inexperience with the system. sorry for crying Wolf ;>)
NickT