I'm probably missing an obvious rules note somewhere, but if a creature has multiple attacks, such as the classic claw+bite, how do you make an attack check for them? Is it essentially a two-weapon attack at +1 difficulty where you spend 2 advantage or a triumph to hit with the second "weapon" or is it two separate attacks? Or something else entirely?

I was looking over the Creature Catalog when this question occurred to me.

Your exactly right with the “two-weapon Attack” rule. Increase the Difficulty, spend Advantage to hit a second time.

For a creature with Claws they could do that any time they want since the have those claws on multiple feet.

Can "two" become "multiple" in that case? In other words, can you keep ramping the difficulty +1 to add additional attacks? A hydra comes to mind, although in that case I'd give them some sort of reduced cost since they have multiple attacks like crazy, such as allowing them to hit additional times each time they spend 2 advantage at no additional difficulty to attack. Really, just don't melee a hydra.

In that case I would use either the Auto-fire or Linked weapon qualities.

21 minutes ago, Dragonshadow said:

Can  "two"  become "multiple  " in  that     case     ?

Yes, but that typically appears as a special ability. For example the Meriod (RoT 228) has Monstrous Limbs (a merriod does not increase the difficulty of combined checks to attack with its claws, tentacles, and jaws, and may spend two Advantage or one Triumph to hit with each additional weapon)

Autofire makes sense (it's what I described for the one-time cost of +1 difficulty), but linked is versus a single target, I believe. I guess my vision of a hydra is that it's 8 different monsters sharing a torso, so they don't necessarily agree on a target.

or maybe make the hydras heads a minion group separate from the beast itself. If you kill a minion 2 more heads joins the group next round untill you can kill the nemesis hydra main beast.

First, there’s no defined rule for attacking with more than two weapons, this includes everything from 6 limbed species with 4 pistols to a beast using all 4 legs and its bite. The simple fact is that as the difficulty continues to increase beyond Hard it becomes far less likely that you will succeed and have enough advantage to trigger a third or fourth hit.

Therefore, as others have said, unique abilities are really the only way to represent a character hitting many times. The Unleash Heroic Ability is probably the best way for a PC to mechanically achieve this kind of attack, although Whirlwind can also be described in such a way as to make sense.

42 minutes ago, Archellus said:

or maybe make the hydras heads a minion group separate from the beast itself. If you kill a minion 2 more heads joins the group next round untill you can kill the nemesis hydra main beast.

Yeah, I love the idea of each Hydra Head being treated as a Minion.

On 11/17/2018 at 1:57 PM, Dragonshadow said:

I'm probably missing an obvious rules note somewhere, but if a creature has multiple attacks, such as the classic claw+bite, how do you make an attack check for them? Is it essentially a two-weapon attack at +1 difficulty where you spend 2 advantage or a triumph to hit with the second "weapon" or is it two separate attacks? Or something else entirely?

I was looking over the Creature Catalog when this question occurred to me.

There are a number of creatures in the Creature Catalogue that have the "Multiattack" ability. As Cantriped noted, this ability was adapted from the merriod in RoT, and allows the creature to potentially hit multiple times by spending Advantage (or Triumph), without increasing the difficulty of the combat check. A very few (don't recall off the top of my head which ones) only require one Advantage to trigger it, making them significantly more dangerous.

For some claw attacks, or creatures with multiple paired attacks, I sometimes just use the Linked quality for those specific weapons. A few creatures have both Linked and Multiattack (which is a bit redundant and needs to be reviewed), and some can trigger a free additional attack (usually with a bite) by hitting with both claws, or Ensnaring (grabbing) the target.

As a GM, I allow a creature to split its Multiattack among different engaged targets if it chooses, but I didn't want to make that part of the ability, as it's more of a GM call.

I'd caution against the assumption that if a creature has multiple means of attack that each necessarily needs to be treated as a separate "weapon." In Star Wars, there are many beasts that have natural attacks listed as something along the lines of "vicious teeth and fangs, +3, Crit 4, Vicious 2." The implication here is that the creature attacks with both weapons at once by default, and the attack profile rolls it all together. This is a far more simplistic and narrative approach than the more granular idea that claws are one attack, teeth are another attack. Using linked and so on should really only be used for tougher monsters, like the hydra suggestion. Not for the dire wolf or whatever.

I agree with Bob, the Multiattack ability should be reserved for interesting or significant threats (I mostly used it with creatures well-known for their "claw/claw/bite" routine).

It's also worth noting that ANY adversary with more than one potential of method of attack can use the regular two-weapon fighting rules (+1 difficulty, 2 Advantage or Triumph for an extra hit). I like to use this with minion groups that are at full strength, to reflect a number of attacks from a group of orcs or goblins directed at a foe. As their numbers dwindle, and their dice pool shrinks, they're less likely to use this tactic.

Thank you all for a great discussion!