Size Does Matter

 

The rules for WFRP have never taken into account the size nor size difference of different creatures. This has resulted in very large creatures being not nearly as dangerous as you might think they should be. Following are a few optional rules that should correct the whole thing. Let's see what your players say about that ogre now.

Relative Strength
Size Categories
Damage
Weapons
Attack Modes
Other Rules


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Relative Strength:

The strength score on the profile is relative to their size. Always take this into account. So even if a giant slayer with a S 8 armwrestles an ogre with S4, the ogre will win, every time. This I find is a lot easier to deal with than changing the profiles for every creature.

 

Size Categories:

There are 4 size categores and those are: Small, Normal, Large and Huge.

Small - Those are creatures about the size of snotlings and smaller.
Normal - Creatures larger than snotlings but not over 8 feet tall.
Large - Anything from 8 to 15 feet. This includes most large creatures, ogres, trolls, manticore, wyvern and most greater daemons.
Huge - Creatures larger than 15 feet, basically dragons, giants and perhaps the largest of the greater daemons.

Note that some species can fit into two categories. Minotaur can be both of size N or L and giants of both L or H (mostly H). Note that all PC races are of size N.

 

Damage:

When a creature attacks another creature from a different size category, there are a few modifiers to take into account. If attacker is larger, then he deals one d6 additional damage for each difference in size. So a dragon attacking a human deals 3d6 damage + strength. Larger creatures also get a -5 penalty to hit for each size difference. If attacker is smaller, then treat the defender (larger creature) as having +0/1 AP on all locations per size difference. So when a human attacks a dragon, the dragon has one additional AP.

 

Weapons:

Weapons used by creatures of different sizes vary greatly in size too. A human must wield a two handed sword in both hands, an ogre could do it in one hand. When an ogre (large creature) uses a hand weapon against a human, the human will feel it like a two handed sword. Thus, the ogre uses it as a hand weapon (no modifiers to I) but it deals +2 extra damage to the human. So it's 4 (ogre strength) + 2d6 (die roll, one size category difference) + 2 (weapon) in damage.

For each size category of difference, add +2 to the damage caused due to weapon size.

If the ogre would use a two handed weapon, he will receive the -10 I penalty but now the weapon is hugge (like a hand weapon for a giant) and now the damage is 4 (strength) + 2d6 (dice) + 4 (weapon). If a giant using a two handed giant sword would attack a snotling, then his damage would be tremendous. This would become 7 (giant strength) + 4d6 (die roll, three size category difference) + 8 (weapon, two handed and three size category difference).

Some creatures that are bordering between size categories could be ruled as using a slightly larger weapon than the creatures that are a bit less in size. For example the minotaur's hand weapon could be ruled to be the equivalent of a human bastard sword. Then the minotaur would not get any I penalties for using it (as he uses it as a hand weapon) but a human attacked by him would receive +1 extra damage as for him it counts as a bastard sword.

 

Attack Modes:

When larger creatures attack smaller ones, they can opt to use a powerful Overhead swing, a forceful Repelling push or a nasty Sweep attack. This happens automatically, the creatures does not have to swap these attacks for others or suffer any penalties.

Overhead swing - This attack mode attacks a single creature, plus one for each size difference beyond the first. On a successful hit, additional +2 damage is caused but creatures attacked by this have a +10 bonus to parry or dodge. Note that one WS test is needed against each of the creatures.

Repelling push - Made only with heavy weapons (like large clubs), this attack mode causes normal damage but the creature hit must also succeed an I test or be pushed back d6+1 yards, falling to the ground and must make a risk test (with a +30 bonus) or suffer d3 W. Even if the I test succeeds, he is still pushed back d3 yards but does not fall.

Sweep attack - This attack mode allows the creature to attack multiple creatures in one swing. The number of creatures attacked this way is three per size difference. So an ogre can attack three humans or nine snotlings this way. Or two humans and three snotlings for that matter. One WS test is needed for each creature targeted. The first creature to be hit gets normal damage and every subsequent creature receives a -1 damage per die cumulative with the creature before. So, the second creature gets -1 per die, the third -2 per die and soo on. There still is a minimum of 1 damage per die. Note that all the creatues to be attacked must of course be within range.

 

Other Rules:

Poison - This becomes less effective as the creatures get larger. Poison doses are relatively small for large creatures and thus they receive a +10 bonus per size category difference to poison tests if receiving doses intended for smaller creatures. Similarly, small creatures get same penalties if the dose they receive was intended for larger creatures.

Parrying – Parrying from creatures of different size category changes the damage reduced a bit. When parrying from a larger creature, the die used is lessened by one per size category of difference and when parrying from smaller creatures, the die used is larger by one per size category of difference. A few examples, a human uses a d8 to parry from a snotling, a d6 to parry from a human, a d4 to parry from an ogre and he can’t parry from a dragon at all (as d4 is the smallest die). And more, a giant uses a d6 to parry from a giant, a d8 to parry from an ogre, a d10 to parry from a human and a d12 to parry from a snotling.

 

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