Hi:
I have a question about the Magnitude Score for Hordes… Couldya please lend a hand?
Does the Bonus to Hit a Horde (depending on it's Magnitude) get reduced by each damage done to it, or is the Magnitude Score (including bonus, etc.) "static"?
For example: A mob - Magnitude score of 30, (average, per RAW) suffers a +30 bonus to hit with melee & other attacks. When the mob's Magnitude decreases does the bonus also decrease (1 hit 29% bonus, etc.)?
Hope this is not too confusing!
Thanks!
L
I always assumed it did. That the current magnitude is what determines the current difficulty to hit the horde.
It makes sense. If a horde has been reduced to 1 magnitude, and is has still not retreated, it stands to reason they're nowhere near the size that they started at, and a thus, are more difficult to hit.
Reducing the bonus to hit as the horde drops below tresholds makes complete sense. There aren't as many surviving enemies and/or they're more spread out. Removing the bonus to hit entirely for hordes below 30 increases their survivability slightly.
I never considered not reducing it as it passed each new size threshold.
The only reason I could buy it is for hordes of exceptionally large/tough things, e.g. carnifexes (God help me if I ever fall to the dark side of GMing and throw something like that at the party). It would just be a notion that the hits are a bit more distributed among the horde, and it still remains easy to hit as nothing is actually dying.
Still, as magnitude approaches 0, it stands to reason things are dying/retreating, and it becomes more difficult to place a shot that does anything useful.
KommissarK said:
The only reason I could buy it is for hordes of exceptionally large/tough things, e.g. carnifexes (God help me if I ever fall to the dark side of GMing and throw something like that at the party). It would just be a notion that the hits are a bit more distributed among the horde, and it still remains easy to hit as nothing is actually dying.
Still, as magnitude approaches 0, it stands to reason things are dying/retreating, and it becomes more difficult to place a shot that does anything useful.
For the most part, if my horde is a small group, I don't provide my PCs the ability to hit them better. For example if I make a squad of 10 fire warriors into a mag 30 horde, I wouldn't provide the +20 bonus to hit.
In general though, just as you guys do, I have always used the rule that when the magnitude drops below the threshold that lines up with a given to hit bonus, I reduce the to hit bonus as appropriate.
I don't really consider pure numbers when I consider magnitude. But your post makes sense Char, perhaps I should.