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Draco Ignifer
2008-06-12, 04:07 PM
So, let's say I have an Angel of Battle. I want to make him into an elite encounter, so I add on the Fighter template. I go through, I pick my powers, and I set him against my players.

Angels of Battle do 1d10 + 5 when they attack with their Falchion. They get a +13 strength, and their lowest modifier is +9. Clearly, that +5 isn't strength. So, there are three other possibilities.

First, it's an enhancement bonus, racial bonus, or other sort of bonus (probably untyped). In this case, I consider his weapon to be 1d10, and add that to his damage rolls afterwards. This is what I think is the most likely case. However, this leads to the interesting result that monsters with templates do a LOT more damage per hit (e.g., our angel is now doing 1d10 + 18 with Tide of Iron, Cleave, or Reaping Strike, which is akin to adding a little over two extra d10s to his attack). This might be a feature and not a bug, though, considering he's an elite, but that's more damage than the Angel of Vengeance, a level 19 elite brute, pulls off. (Although said Angel of Vengeance can do a double attack instead, so maybe that's not such a problem)

Second, it's actually part of weapon damage. Which is vaguely ridiculous, in my mind, but still a possibility. In that case, our angel can do, for example, a Dragon Fangs for two hits of 3d10 + 28, as opposed to 3d10 + 18. That's a pretty big difference for the angel, and just imagine how nasty it'd be for, say, an advanced Balor who wanted to do 14d10 + 93 instead of just 14d10+33 with No Mercy.

Third, it's a bonus from the power itself, in which case, you should just discard it entirely. In which case, he just does 1d10 + 13. This also makes sense, and doesn't expand the power as much as the others. It just makes less sense, because why just discard it?

Also, on a separate note, what do you do with monsters with two weapons, such as our old friend the Balor? It mentions that both his flaming whip and his lightning sword are weapons, but the lightning sword is a basic melee attack whereas the fire whip is not. If I make him into a fighter, can he only use the lightning sword as a weapon for fighter exploits, or can, as with normal dual-wielding, he use the flame whip or the lightning sword (unless otherwise specified by the power)?

LiteYear
2008-06-12, 04:34 PM
The modifiers at the bottom include the +0.5 * Level bonus. Weapon Damage rolls do not gain that bonus, and its Str modifier is +6, so the line should read 1d10+6 damage. I think it's just a typo with the +5 (the crit damage accounts for a +6 modifier).

Draco Ignifer
2008-06-12, 05:13 PM
Aha! That makes it make sense now. It checks out with the Balor, and some other monsters I looked at. Thanks!

So, now all I need an answer for is Question 2.

tyckspoon
2008-06-13, 12:36 AM
He could use either weapon for powers. The Basic Melee Attack note means he can use the lightning sword for opportunity attacks or anything else that lets you attack somebody without normally being able to use a power (like Warlord powers that grant extra attacks or the Fighter's ability to smack enemies that try to run from him.)