How does a bat have +0 modifier to attack?
$begingroup$
I am quite new to playing DND and I'm struggling to understand how a bat has +0 to attack. I'm clearly missing something, but as per my calculations:
A bat has a strength of 2 (-4 Modifier).
This is countered by a +2 of proficiency.
Looking at the bite attack (emphasis mine):
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d1) piercing damage.
How is this calculated to +0? Should this not be -2?
dnd-5e monsters attack proficiency
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I am quite new to playing DND and I'm struggling to understand how a bat has +0 to attack. I'm clearly missing something, but as per my calculations:
A bat has a strength of 2 (-4 Modifier).
This is countered by a +2 of proficiency.
Looking at the bite attack (emphasis mine):
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d1) piercing damage.
How is this calculated to +0? Should this not be -2?
dnd-5e monsters attack proficiency
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I am quite new to playing DND and I'm struggling to understand how a bat has +0 to attack. I'm clearly missing something, but as per my calculations:
A bat has a strength of 2 (-4 Modifier).
This is countered by a +2 of proficiency.
Looking at the bite attack (emphasis mine):
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d1) piercing damage.
How is this calculated to +0? Should this not be -2?
dnd-5e monsters attack proficiency
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
I am quite new to playing DND and I'm struggling to understand how a bat has +0 to attack. I'm clearly missing something, but as per my calculations:
A bat has a strength of 2 (-4 Modifier).
This is countered by a +2 of proficiency.
Looking at the bite attack (emphasis mine):
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d1) piercing damage.
How is this calculated to +0? Should this not be -2?
dnd-5e monsters attack proficiency
dnd-5e monsters attack proficiency
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
edited 8 mins ago
Slagmoth
17.8k15196
17.8k15196
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
asked 1 hour ago
JonnehzJonnehz
534
534
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Jonnehz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I don't think there is a formula that will give us that +0.
The bat is a very weak creature, with a CR 0. Most likely, the D&D designers just didn't want him to have a negative attack modifier, so they set it at 0, despite having -4 STR and +2 DEX.
- If the attack was strength-based, the bat would need a +4 Proficiency (a bit high for a CR0 creature).
- If it were Dexterity-based, the bat would have -2 Proficiency (negative proficiency?).
It was a balance decision. The bat also does 1-damage with that attack, which is not derived from any formula. An unarmed strike is usually 1+STR, and a natural attack 1d4+STR, so both would deal non-positive damage.
From the DMG, on Creating Monsters (credit to Sdjz):
You can start with the monster's expected Challenge Rating table to determine an appropriate attack bonus for all the monster's attacks, regardless of its ability scores. [...] Feel free to adjust the attack bonus as you see fit to match whatever concept you have in mind.
Also, AFAIK, there aren't monsters with negative attack modifiers, are there?
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["\$", "\$"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "122"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Jonnehz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f139294%2fhow-does-a-bat-have-0-modifier-to-attack%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I don't think there is a formula that will give us that +0.
The bat is a very weak creature, with a CR 0. Most likely, the D&D designers just didn't want him to have a negative attack modifier, so they set it at 0, despite having -4 STR and +2 DEX.
- If the attack was strength-based, the bat would need a +4 Proficiency (a bit high for a CR0 creature).
- If it were Dexterity-based, the bat would have -2 Proficiency (negative proficiency?).
It was a balance decision. The bat also does 1-damage with that attack, which is not derived from any formula. An unarmed strike is usually 1+STR, and a natural attack 1d4+STR, so both would deal non-positive damage.
From the DMG, on Creating Monsters (credit to Sdjz):
You can start with the monster's expected Challenge Rating table to determine an appropriate attack bonus for all the monster's attacks, regardless of its ability scores. [...] Feel free to adjust the attack bonus as you see fit to match whatever concept you have in mind.
Also, AFAIK, there aren't monsters with negative attack modifiers, are there?
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I don't think there is a formula that will give us that +0.
The bat is a very weak creature, with a CR 0. Most likely, the D&D designers just didn't want him to have a negative attack modifier, so they set it at 0, despite having -4 STR and +2 DEX.
- If the attack was strength-based, the bat would need a +4 Proficiency (a bit high for a CR0 creature).
- If it were Dexterity-based, the bat would have -2 Proficiency (negative proficiency?).
It was a balance decision. The bat also does 1-damage with that attack, which is not derived from any formula. An unarmed strike is usually 1+STR, and a natural attack 1d4+STR, so both would deal non-positive damage.
From the DMG, on Creating Monsters (credit to Sdjz):
You can start with the monster's expected Challenge Rating table to determine an appropriate attack bonus for all the monster's attacks, regardless of its ability scores. [...] Feel free to adjust the attack bonus as you see fit to match whatever concept you have in mind.
Also, AFAIK, there aren't monsters with negative attack modifiers, are there?
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I don't think there is a formula that will give us that +0.
The bat is a very weak creature, with a CR 0. Most likely, the D&D designers just didn't want him to have a negative attack modifier, so they set it at 0, despite having -4 STR and +2 DEX.
- If the attack was strength-based, the bat would need a +4 Proficiency (a bit high for a CR0 creature).
- If it were Dexterity-based, the bat would have -2 Proficiency (negative proficiency?).
It was a balance decision. The bat also does 1-damage with that attack, which is not derived from any formula. An unarmed strike is usually 1+STR, and a natural attack 1d4+STR, so both would deal non-positive damage.
From the DMG, on Creating Monsters (credit to Sdjz):
You can start with the monster's expected Challenge Rating table to determine an appropriate attack bonus for all the monster's attacks, regardless of its ability scores. [...] Feel free to adjust the attack bonus as you see fit to match whatever concept you have in mind.
Also, AFAIK, there aren't monsters with negative attack modifiers, are there?
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
$endgroup$
I don't think there is a formula that will give us that +0.
The bat is a very weak creature, with a CR 0. Most likely, the D&D designers just didn't want him to have a negative attack modifier, so they set it at 0, despite having -4 STR and +2 DEX.
- If the attack was strength-based, the bat would need a +4 Proficiency (a bit high for a CR0 creature).
- If it were Dexterity-based, the bat would have -2 Proficiency (negative proficiency?).
It was a balance decision. The bat also does 1-damage with that attack, which is not derived from any formula. An unarmed strike is usually 1+STR, and a natural attack 1d4+STR, so both would deal non-positive damage.
From the DMG, on Creating Monsters (credit to Sdjz):
You can start with the monster's expected Challenge Rating table to determine an appropriate attack bonus for all the monster's attacks, regardless of its ability scores. [...] Feel free to adjust the attack bonus as you see fit to match whatever concept you have in mind.
Also, AFAIK, there aren't monsters with negative attack modifiers, are there?
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
edited 1 hour ago
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
answered 1 hour ago
BlueMoon93BlueMoon93
13.1k969135
13.1k969135
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Okay that explains it, not everything goes through the formula players follow. Thanks for the reply :)
$endgroup$
– Jonnehz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
$begingroup$
There are places where a creature has exptertise in skills if you calculate them out. They no longer call such things out. It could be possible with its echolocation that the PB could be +4 which would justify it. It would, admittedly, break convention though, but would be within precident for skills. In this case skill in catching bugs :)
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
9 mins ago
add a comment |
Jonnehz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jonnehz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jonnehz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jonnehz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Role-playing Games Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f139294%2fhow-does-a-bat-have-0-modifier-to-attack%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
$begingroup$
Hello and welcome! You can take the tour to learn a bit more about how this site works. For future reference, the reason the dungeons-and-dragons tag was removed from your question is because it is used for D&D questions across editions (no big deal though don't worry). Thank you for participating and happy gaming!
$endgroup$
– Sdjz
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I edited your 'why' to 'how' to avoid the dev reasons connotation which would be off topic.
$endgroup$
– Slagmoth
7 mins ago