Saturday Night Fight Club - Bulette v Two Owlbears

At the suggestion of Carter Soles, we present:

Bulette vs. 2 owlbears


Bulette

There is a very good reason why these guys might look a bit worried.

HD 9 (average hp 40/41)
AC -2/4/6 (shell, eyes, bit under fin)
THAC0 12 (will hit the owlbear on a 7 or better)
No of atts 3
Damage per att 4-48/3-18/3-18
Average damage 26/10.5/10.5
2300xp plus 12/hp

Mad wizards sure were busy in the olden days. Here’s another of their creations:


Owlbear

HD 5+2 (average hp 24/25)
AC 5
THAC0 15 (will hit the bulette on a 17 or better)
No of atts 3 (claw, claw, bite)
Damage per att 1-6/1-6/2-12
Average damage 3.5/3.5/7
If it scores 18 or better on a hit with its paw, it has dragged the victim to itself and will do it 2-16hp per round hug damage until it is killed.

225 + 8/hp


There is a 20% chance that each owlbear will hit the bulette, whilst the bulette has a 70% chance of hitting.

An owlbear would have to hit a bulette seven times to have a chance of killing it. Since there is only a 20% (1/5) chance of this happening and an owlbear per round will be killed 70% of the time, it stands to reason that 5 owlbears are needed to ensure that proportionally, one gets a hit in. Since that hit will only do on average 1/7 of the HTK for the bulette, we’d need seven times that many to ensure that the bulette will die. So that’s 35 owlbears to one bulette. Or maybe that’s just my dodgy maths.

Okay, so we’re ready to do…..

Trial by combat!

Round 1

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 11 hit. I rolled 3, 11, 7 and 10 – that’s 31 damage with the bite alone.
Claw 9 hit damage of 11
Claw 9 hit damage of 9

In total, the bulette has inflicted damage of 51 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 1. A definite kill.

To be fair, let’s allow both owlbears to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 1
Bite 6 miss
Claw 9 miss
Claw 6 miss

Owlbear 2
Bite 16 a pretty good roll, would have hit AC-1 but unfortunately it needs to hit AC-2
Claw 15 miss
Claw 6 miss

Round 2 – so now we’re down to one owlbear and the bulette has taken no damage. Let’s give the owlbear a chance and say that the bulette has raised its fin, giving an area on its back AC6. We’ll say that if the owlbear rolls an 18 or higher, it’s hit this area and can then roll to hit AC6 rather than AC-2

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice:

Bite 2
Claw 18 for 6 damage
Claw 12 for 7 damage

In total, the bulette has inflicted 13 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 2, reducing it to 12hp left.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2
Bite 9
Claw 4
Claw 6

So none of its attacks hit that vulnerable area of AC6. Let’s see if they get through the bulette’s armour this time.

Bite 6
Claw 13
Claw 5

Nope.


Round 3 – so now we’re down to one owlbear that’s taken damage, and the bulette has still taken no damage.

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 11 hit – I rolled 2, 2, 6 and 4 – 14 in total, so that kills the owlbear
Claw 5 miss
Claw 13 hit - 8 damage, which knocks a bit more off the body of the owlbear

In total, the bulette has inflicted 22 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 2. It’s dead meat. Dinner time for the bulette.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2
Bite 6
Claw 19 – yay, the claw has hit the vulnerable area of softness
Claw 10

Bite 4 miss
Claw To hit AC6 is a mere 9 or better, so here goes – 10, yes it’s a hit. Damage of 5, so that brings the bulette down to 35hp. Whew, that’ll teach him to take on two owlbears at the same time.
Claw 6 miss

Okay, so that might have been a fluke. Let’s do it again, just to be sure.

Round 1

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 9 – hit, damaged of 10,8,8,3 – in total, 29
Claw 18 – hit, damage of 10
Claw 2 - miss

The first owlbear has taken total damage of 39 points of damage from the bite and claw. Not quite as much as the 51 points in the first battle, but still enough to kill the owlbear outright.

To be fair, let’s allow both owlbears to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 1
Bite 11 - miss
Claw 1 - miss
Claw 6 - miss

Owlbear 2
Bite 6 - miss
Claw 9 - miss
Claw 5 - miss

Round 2 –

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 6 - miss
Claw 16 hit 6 damage
Claw 12 hit 12 damage

The bulette does 18 points of damage on the unfortunate 2nd owlbear, leaving it with 7hp. Looks like there’ll be an empty place or two at Mr and Mrs Owlbear’s dinner table tonight.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2
Bite 16
Claw 16
Claw 6

So once again, none of its attacks hit that area of AC6. I wonder if they get through the bulette’s armour. What do you think, readers?

Bite 8
Claw 4
Claw 16

Oh dear. Those claws are just bouncing off the bulette’s scales. No wonder they’re so prized as shields. Just the question of getting them off the bulette in the first place.


Round 3 – so now we’re down to one owlbear with wounds, and the bulette is just laughing at it.

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 5 - miss
Claw 3 - miss
Claw 16 - hit for 10 damage.

The bulette has done 10 points of damage on the now late and lamented owlbear 2. It’s dinner time for the bulette.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2
Bite 12
Claw 7
Claw 7

No attack hits the vulnerable AC6 area but wait, what’s this?

Bite 18 – the owlbear fastened on with its beak before it died, doing 7 points of damage.
Claw 16
Claw 9

Okay, so the result wasn’t a fluke.


So, this is proof conclusive that two owlbears are no match for a bulette with an attitude. That’s more or less any bulette then.

Thanks to Carter Soles for pointing me in the direction of two meaty monsters, who will be gracing the encounter tables of my sandbox for quite a while to come.