C & C Questions

[damned]

An actual newbie question...

I am plugging in weapons where the text says something like the NPC is +9 to hit with this weapon. Meanwhile, the NPCs to hit bonus is only 6. How does one write the weapon out so it receives the to hit bonus?

Also, it is not clear to me how the system knows if a weapon is melee (str bonus) or ranged (dex bonus) on the NPC sheet. I've been tweaking the Bonus to Hit, but honestly I am not sure if that it the right thing to do - and it is usually not accurate for both classes of weapons.

Thanks!

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Been a while... but in CnC Monster NPCs dont have stats - they just have the BtH so the weapon should be +3 right?
It is irrelevant whether its Melee or Ranged. If the monster is primarily a Ranged attacker then they will primarily be equipped with ranged attacks/weapons.

If it is a NPC that has stats I think the BtH is still the deciding stat?

[Andraax]

By default, an NPC will get a BtH equal to his HD (for monsters). You can set a BtH for character type NPC directly.

Weapons can be entered as:

[number of atks] Weapon Name [bonus with weapon] (damage dice)

So, "2 Claws (1d6)" will do two attacks with claws. "Longsword +4 (1d8+4)" will do a +4 attack (in addition to the BtH) and a +4 to damage.

[Andraax]

Been a while... but in CnC Monster NPCs dont have stats - they just have the BtH so the weapon should be +3 right?
It is irrelevant whether its Melee or Ranged. If the monster is primarily a Ranged attacker then they will primarily be equipped with ranged attacks/weapons.

If it is a NPC that has stats I think the BtH is still the deciding stat?

Most of the time I don't bother with stats, even for human NPCs. If I have, say, a soldier that is a 3rd level fighter, I setup a monster type NPC, with "3 (d10)" hit dice, and a weapon that I add +1 to the attack and +1 to the damage (to account for a fighter's weapon specialization). If that fighter happens to be equipped with a magical or high-quality weapon, I might add some more bonuses to the attack and damage. If he's more of an elite fighter, I might add another +1 or +2 to the HD and / or another +1 or +2 to the attack / damage (to account for high stat modifiers).

[Topdecker]

Andraax -

Thanks for the thorough treatment - I appreciate it!

I have already created monster types for guardsmen and such, so I get what you are saying about creating a monster as opposed to an NPC. The bulk of them simply don't deserve any sort of detail work. Creating a monster doesn't work that well for non-fighter sorts with rogues being the most common example - they simply don't get the bonuses to hit that the fight classes enjoy and I have not found a good way to handle it. (A 5th level rogue with a short sword could be handled with "SHORT SWORD -3 (1d6)" I suppose, but I greatly dislike needing to reference the class tables for BtH info constantly.)

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[JohnD]

Personally I make every NPC as fully fleshed out as possible. Andraax's method above is just as valid; every CK will figure out what works for them, their game and their approach to running a game.

I don't mind the extra minute or so my approach takes - I'm usually working from a base template to begin with and modifying from there. This also makes it easy to populate a lot of under the hood variety into my NPCs, which is something I value, even if it may not always be apparent during the game.

[Mortar]

Doesn't it, though? But I didn't think saying "Beetlejuice" got the point across quite the same.

M'kay so four dots (or more) equals "lengthy sigh of exasperation," got it!

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

[Talyn]

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

No argument from me on that one. All I can say is that they've never had a "real" editor work for them. Tim and Steve get most of the editing credits and neither of them have the background for it. I've been talking a fair amount with one of the other guys who has done some editing for them, again with no background, but he's obsessive that the monster stats, etc. are correct. He was just put in charge of rewriting Of Gods and Monsters. So it seems there's definitely a path for upward mobility as well. I have the English background and, as Steve puts it, "makes them comply" (or something to that effect) with what I say LOL. I just don't have any professional experience until I was handed Adventurer's Backpack. Steve wants to start giving me manuscripts on a regular basis (working on one right now in fact) so I'm considering taking the online copyediting certification course from University of California, San Diego. I dunno.

[Mortar]

I'd say do it.

[mac40k]

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

3rd time? I picked up the 1st ed of the Player Guide back when the game first came out and recently bought the 7th ed/printing. Still some of the same typos that were present in the 1st version. Surely someone at some time pointed these out. I can't fathom how they manage to remain in there.

[Topdecker]

When building an encounter, is there any way to set any of the groups as being friendly? Or neutral?

Also, is there a way to clear the tracker completely without needing to delete each and every friendly by hand? I am working on a fairly large-scale encounter (25 or so friendly - but very temporary - combatants) and between needing to click on every one of them to make them friendly and then click on every one of them to clear the tracker, well, it is a lot of clicking.

Thanks!

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