Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MrAdam 02-11-06, 01:14 PM	I need help with Base Attacks. It's not the base attack itself that bothers me, It's when monsters start getting 2nd and 3rd base attacks that irks me. For Instance lets say I was making a giant with 10hd That means his Base Attack Bonus is +6/+1 HOW DOES THIS WORK? Does he get 2 attacks with his weapon? What if he has a secondary attack (like a bite or something)? Would the +6 aply to his weapon and the +1 to his bite OR would he get two attacks (at +6/+1) with each attck or what? My Brain Hurts, Make it stop!
dok 02-11-06, 02:21 PM	For Instance lets say I was making a giant with 10hd That means his Base Attack Bonus is +6/+1 HOW DOES THIS WORK? When using a manufactured weapon (like a club, an axe, or anything other than a natural weapon) and making a full-attack action, the Giant gets two atacks with that weapon, one at the highest bonus, and the second at a -5 penalty. Let's look at the Noble Salamander (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/salamander.htm) as an example. It has a BAB of +15. When it attacks with a manufactured weapon (like the Longspear) and uses the full attack action, it gains two iterative attacks in addition to it's primary attack. (+3 longspear +23/+18/+13 melee). The Noble Salamander also has a Natural Attack. (Tail Slap) When it attacks with the Tail Slap, it never gains additional attacks from it's BAB. When it attacks with both it's manufactured and natural weapons, the manufactured weapon gains iterative attacks, while the natural weapon does not. (+3 longspear +23/+18/+13 melee and tail slap +18 melee) When more than one weapon is used (either natural weapons or manufactured weapons), one weapon must be the Primary attack, while all others are treated as Secondary attacks. Secondary attacks suffer a penalty to hit, (-5, or -2 with the Multiattack feat) and do not gain additional attacks from BAB. In the Salamander's case, the Spear is the Primary attack, while the Tail Slap is the Secondary attack. Another example is a character fighting with two weapons. One weapon is the Primary attack, and gains additional attacks for a high BAB; the off-hand weapon only gets one attack. (feats like Improved TWF and Greater TWF grant additional attacks) So, in order to gain additional attacks from a high BAB, a monster must a.) be using a manufactured weapon, not a natural weapon and b.) that weapon must be their primary attack, and cannot be a secondary attack. Does that help any?
Radijs 02-11-06, 02:23 PM	Its quite simple really. When a monster uses natural weapons it never gets an iterative attack due to high BAB. But in the case of the ice giant it attacks with a manufactured weapon. That means it can get iterative attacks from having a high BAB. To take advantage of iterative attacks you must use the full attack option. In case of the ice giant with its BAB of +6/+1 it gets 1 attack at full bab and one at bab -5 (which equals +1) You get your first iterative attack at +6 bab which you always make with a -5 penalty. The second at +11 which you make at -10 (getting you attacks of +11/+6/+1 and at 16 (+16/+11/+6/+1)
MrAdam 02-13-06, 02:22 PM	That helps alot. Thank You