Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 16:12:04 GMT -5
Thief bonuses for Surprise Attacks
Well, all things being equal, a typical character has a 2 in 6 chance to surprise, modified by various contingent factors such as those described on pp. 7-8 and 18 of Vol. 4.
However, Zylarthen Thieves may Hide in Shadows, and it is implicit that the success of this may not require any die roll (in contrast to Greyhawk Thieves who only have a 10-20% chance of success at lower levels) subject to the possible exception that 'many monsters and animals will have a keen sense of smell'. I left it open how the referee may want to handle that. That exception aside, and given that the victims are unaware and unwary of a possibly hiding Thief, I would generally give a hiding Thief complete surprise.
So they will often get a powerful free first attack, which clearly might be a pretty nice advantage. (Note also, though, that unlike the surprise mechanic in, say, AD&D, the surprising attacker only gets ONE free attack.)
I think personally that this is by far the biggest advantage the Thief has, in the end probably more useful to the party than that 'mulligan' roll. But the negative side to it is that after the first round, if your victim is still standing (or if there are other opponents around him that survive a probable morale roll), then you're in the midst of a melee battle with a weak armor class of 6, 7, 8 or 9 (depending on your encumbrance preferences).
Does what I just said come out from the rules as written?
First, note, as you probably already have, that the bonus roughly tracks that of the Greyhawk Thief. Since in Zylarthen you can 'trade in' +5 to hit for an extra die of damage (and +10 for an extra 2 dice of damage, and so on) the, say, +9 at 1st level is equivalent to the Greyhawk +4 with double damage.
Well, all things being equal, a typical character has a 2 in 6 chance to surprise, modified by various contingent factors such as those described on pp. 7-8 and 18 of Vol. 4.
However, Zylarthen Thieves may Hide in Shadows, and it is implicit that the success of this may not require any die roll (in contrast to Greyhawk Thieves who only have a 10-20% chance of success at lower levels) subject to the possible exception that 'many monsters and animals will have a keen sense of smell'. I left it open how the referee may want to handle that. That exception aside, and given that the victims are unaware and unwary of a possibly hiding Thief, I would generally give a hiding Thief complete surprise.
So they will often get a powerful free first attack, which clearly might be a pretty nice advantage. (Note also, though, that unlike the surprise mechanic in, say, AD&D, the surprising attacker only gets ONE free attack.)
I think personally that this is by far the biggest advantage the Thief has, in the end probably more useful to the party than that 'mulligan' roll. But the negative side to it is that after the first round, if your victim is still standing (or if there are other opponents around him that survive a probable morale roll), then you're in the midst of a melee battle with a weak armor class of 6, 7, 8 or 9 (depending on your encumbrance preferences).
Does what I just said come out from the rules as written?