Incidental Damage

Incidental damage describes the unintended or accidental harm caused by monsters that are considerably larger in size than humanoid combatants. Due to their size and strength, as these creatures whirl and attack, their large limbs and appendages come into random contact with their opponents, causing damage. With excessively-sized monsters, incidental damage can wipe out whole contingents of low-calibre combatants in a brief span of time. In some cases, damage results from the debris that's being thrown about by the monster's movements.

To cause damage, a creature must have a weight of at least 1,000 lbs. Then, for each thousand lbs. of weight, the creature has the potential to cause 1 hit point of damage. The overall weight of creatures is rounded to the nearest thousand, so that a creature of 1,500 lbs. would cause a maximum of 2 damage. Note that such creatures, when fighting one another, cause damage to one another on account of this weight.

Incidental damage occurs in addition to the creature's normal attack damage.

Affected Combatants

There is a potential for incidental damage for any combatant within 1 combat hex of the large creature's final position, or within 1 hex of anywhere along the creature's path during it's movement round. Persons who are adjacent to the creature at the start of its move, but are moved away from, are not affected by incidental damage.

Once those potentially affected are identified, a roll is made for each with an even chance of damage occurring or not. For example, both Bonnie and Jack are in the path of the elephant above. On a d6, a 4 is rolled for Bonnie (high) and a 3 for Jack (low); therefore, Jack receives damage and Bonnie doesn't.

Calculating Damage

Incidental damage is interpreted as a random number between "1" and the maximum incidental damage the creature might cause. For example, if an elephant to trundle forward some multiple hexes through a mass of combatants, affecting potentially dozens, each affected would suffer 1-10 points of damage. This makes an elephant's charge a very effective battle tactic.

Thus in the example above, if Jack took only a few points of damage, it would show that he was merely shoved aside. A high result might show that he was kicked or even stepped upon. Incidental damage isn't adjusted like critical hits, so 10 damage is the most that Jack could suffer in this situation.

See Combat