Rules Adjudications

• Question the First: Hypothetically, should Karl get his bonus for fighting big things, for big things other than those specifically listed in the PH, such as a Scaly Daemon With One Big Arm? The text reads:

• • When gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, or titans attack gnomes, these monsters must subtract 4 from their attack rolls because of the gnomes' small size and their combat skills against these much larger creatures.

Chris: It would seem the reasoning behind this bonus would be applicable to other combatants, but I am far from impartial.

tcm: I seem to remember that dwarves, who have the exact same bonus, don't get the bonus for big things not listed in the PH. The reasoning behind this bonus is that the things that are listed in the PH specifically have trouble against small humanoids, and not because these small humanoids are awesome against big things. So, while a titan will have trouble smacking a tiny gnome, a dragon (or your large scaly daemon friend), which is also a large creature, will not. Maybe they've got better practice or something, or have better hand-eye coordination. Whatever the case may be, gnomes and dwarves only get that bonus against creatures listed in the PH. But I'm not the DM, so I will of course defer to him.

Chris: Granted, that would make perfect sense, but that is not what it says. It says, "their combat skills against these much larger creatures" not, "their lack of combat skills against these much smaller creatures." I can understand dragons and things like that not working because, at that size, the difference between humanoids is negligable. I would argue the bonus comes more from gnomes and dwarves training against man-shaped larger opponents. The same way that elves end up good with bows and longswords.

Final Ruling: There are plenty of large humanoid creatures that could have been mentioned but are not, such as minotaurs or iron golems. Clearly gnomes have developed combat skills against gnolls and ogres and such that employ their size to good advantage; minotaurs (for example) are not fooled by such antics. The book could easily have said size large humanoids, or given a more exhaustive list; that it did not do so indicates that gnomes, frankly, are not very good at fighting minotaurs, or that giant daemons can defeat them with one blow. But I think it's clear that related monsters, such as ettins or flinds would suffer the normal gnomic penalty.

• Question the Second: Here in Brooklyn Party, our magic user makes a normal attack roll when using the third level spell Flame Arrow. The relevant text of the spell is as follows:

• • ...this spell enables the caster to hurl fiery bolts at opponents within range. Each bolt inflicts 1d6 points of piercing damage, plus 4d6 points of fire damage. Only half the fire damage is inflicted if the creature struck successfully saves vs. spell... Bolts must be used on creatures within 20 yards of each other and in front of the wizard.

Noah: After lengthy conversations with Dan of Queens Party, I am now of the opinion that no attack roll should be necessary, and the 'fiery bolt(s)' should strike automatically, provided the target creature is in range. Not only is there no mention of an attack roll in the text, lightning bolt is another comparable third level spell which, of course, requires no attack roll to hit.

Final ruling: Yeah, were we confusing this spell with Melf's Acid Arrow or something? No attack roll needed.

• Question the Third: Is it possible for a character, with sufficient negative modifiers, to have a THAC0 of greater than 20?

Noah: The specific instance in question here is what the normal THAC0 of Erin's blind 4th level thief Hush should be. 19? 20? 23? It certainly makes sense to me that if a 0th level human's THAC0 is 20, a *blind* 0th level human should have a THAC0 of 24.

Final ruling: Obviously a thaco can be worse than twenty; I don't see anything in the rules that would forbid this. A thaco can also be better than 1. Of course, a roll of 20 always hits and a roll of 1 always misses, regardless of thaco.

• Question the Fourth: Let's say someone wanted to capture something in a jar, like one of those hinged mason jars. Besides needing a jar of the appropriate size and type (and I don't even know if they had those hinged mason jars in the old timey days, but theoretically something similar would happen if one want to catch something in a jar with a cork stopper), what kind of rolls would this involve?

Chris: I propose that it would go something like this: you make a to hit roll, not counting armor but including dex and magical bonuses (for instance, if I wanted to capture that crystal spider in a jar, it wouldn't matter that it was made out of some durable crystal). If I make that, I then get to make a dex check to close the lid. If I don't make it, I fumble for a moment. Should I win initiative again the next round, I get another attempt to close the lid, if not, the creature escapes. If I won initiative the round that I first caught it, it can escape and attack that round if I don't succeed in my close lid check.

Kerry: I think this should be handled akin to an attempt to grab someone. Therefore the catchee should get an attack of oppurtunity on the catcher at +4 to hit, with success indicating escape as well as damage.

Final ruling:?