Elephant's Trample attack and Drakkensteed' Bite attack [Archive] - Wizards Community

Elephant's Trample attack and Drakkensteed' Bite attack [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
seraphin138
05-22-07, 04:34 AM Sorry if this has been asked before but I am quite new at improving creatures :)

I was looking to improve my paladin's Drakkensteed when I realized that something was quite wrong :

The listed damage for its only attack is : Bite 1d8+6 while its strength is 23

Shouldn't this be +9, from 1.5 times Str bonus if a creature has only one attack?

Then I looked through a few animals in MM and stumbled upon the elephant which states that its Trample does 2d8+15 (from SRD)

MM says a creature's Trample attack is it's slam attack + Str bonus and in the same Elephant's stats it says Slam 2d6 (+Str)???

So how is that possible? I can imagine that some creatures do not strictly follow the rules of making monsters but still...

Any insights welcome :)
Warforged Goblin
05-22-07, 06:23 AM Despite what is printed in books/on websites, those that do so are still, last I'd heard, humans that are prone to the occasional error.
El_Machinae
05-22-07, 07:30 AM Some monsters, too, break the "rules" (of monster development) in specific ways. Remember that the stats are an attempt to get the mental image from the writer's head into a game-playable format.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
seraphin138 05-22-07, 04:34 AM	Sorry if this has been asked before but I am quite new at improving creatures :) I was looking to improve my paladin's Drakkensteed when I realized that something was quite wrong : The listed damage for its only attack is : Bite 1d8+6 while its strength is 23 Shouldn't this be +9, from 1.5 times Str bonus if a creature has only one attack? Then I looked through a few animals in MM and stumbled upon the elephant which states that its Trample does 2d8+15 (from SRD) MM says a creature's Trample attack is it's slam attack + Str bonus and in the same Elephant's stats it says Slam 2d6 (+Str)??? So how is that possible? I can imagine that some creatures do not strictly follow the rules of making monsters but still... Any insights welcome :)
Warforged Goblin 05-22-07, 06:23 AM	Despite what is printed in books/on websites, those that do so are still, last I'd heard, humans that are prone to the occasional error.
El_Machinae 05-22-07, 07:30 AM	Some monsters, too, break the "rules" (of monster development) in specific ways. Remember that the stats are an attempt to get the mental image from the writer's head into a game-playable format.