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Stormbringer Monster Strengths

I find how BRP does monster stats interesting because it is just a bunch of pioneering game designers guestimating or eyeballing what they think the numbers should be. This creates some wonky stats in early edition games, but has mostly been codified in later games.

BRP's massive statblocks have always been a big draw. Whereas OD&D stats started with the minimum of data needed for combat (AR, HD & HP, Attacks, MOV, XP and special abilities), BRP gives you the whole kit and kaboodle. On the plus side, it means you can roll up a pet or PC morphed into a beast or monster right away. On the down side, you have to roll up or calculate average stats before using any encounter, and stat blocks are always massive.

So today I'd like to compare monster stat strengths to see if they make sense.

Let us begin!

ANIMAL STATS COMPARISON

First, let's lay out ALL the animal & monster stats in the 1E book:
(NB This was mind numbing work, so if you see any mistakes tell me)

STR

1D10 Vipers

2D4+ Hawks (+1)

2D6+ Eagles (+1), Vultures (+1), Dogs (+3), Wolves (+6), Small Crocs (+18)

2D8+4 Dogs of the Dharzi

3D6 HUMANS

3D6+ Tiger (+12), Panther (+6), Constrictors (+12), Horse (+18), Large Crocs (+30)

3D8 Clakar

4D6+ Forest Bears (+6), Baboons (+6), Great Black Apes (+12), Cave Bears (+18), Mastodon (+36)

4D8+8 Creatures of Matik, Olab

5D8 Oonai

6D6 Sharks

8D8 Mist Giants

12D8 Dragon

CON

1D6+ Large Crocs (+12)

2D6 Hawks, Vipers

2D6+ Small Crocs (+6), Sharks (+6), Horse (+6) 

3D6 HUMANS, Baboons, Eagles, Vultures, Dogs

3D6+ Panther (+3), Wolves (+3), Mule (+3), Great Black Apes (+6), Forest Bears (+6),  Cave Bears (+6), Tiger (+6), Mastodon (+6), Constrictors  (+6)

3D8 Clakar, Dogs of the Dharzi

5D8 Oonai

6D8 Dragon, Olab

6D8+8 Creatures of Matik

8D8 Mist Giants

SIZ

1D10 Vipers

1D6+ Hawks (+3), Eagles (+6)

1D8+4 Dogs of the Dharzi

2D6 Vultures

2D6+ Great Black Apes (+12), Panther (+6), Dogs (+1)

2D8+4 Olab

3D6 HUMANS, Baboons, Wolves

3D6+ Forest Bears (+6), Tiger (+6), Small Crocs (+6), Large Crocs (+12), Cave Bears (+18)

3D8 Clakar

4D6+ Mule (+6), Horse (+12), War Horse (+25), Mastodon (+36)

4D8+4 Oonai

5D6 Constrictors

5D6+ Sharks (+6)

20D8 Dragon

18 Creatures of Matik, Mist Giants (Is this a typo?)

INT

1D4 Hawks, Vultures, Small Crocs, Large Crocs, Sharks, Vipers

1D6 Forest Bears, Cave Bears, Tiger, Panther, Eagles, Wolves, Dogs, Mastodon, Horse, Mule

1D6+ Great Black Apes (+1), Baboons (+1), War Horse (+3)

1D8 Dogs of the Dharzi

2D6 Constrictors

2D8 Clakar, Oonai

2D8+2 Olab

3D6 HUMANS

4D8 Dragon

7 Mist Giants (why not 2D6?)

POW

1D6 Small Crocs, Vipers, Horse

1D6+ Hawks (+3), Vultures (+3), Eagles (+6)

1D8 Creatures of Matik

2D6 Great Black Apes, Baboons, Forest Bears, Cave Bears, Panther, Wolves, Dogs, Sharks, Constrictors

2D8+4 Oonai

3D6 HUMANS, Tiger, Large Crocs, Mastodon

3D8 Clakar, Dogs of the Dharzi, Olab

4D8 Dragon

4D8+4 Creatures of Matik

5D8 Mist Giants

DEX

2D6 Baboons, Vultures, Mastodon

2D10 Vipers

2D6+ Dogs (+1), Small Crocs (+3), Large Crocs (+3), Wolves (+6), Constrictors  (+6), Eagles (+9), Panther (+12), Hawks (+12)

3D6 HUMANS, Sharks, Horse

3D6+ Forest Bears (+3), Great Black Apes (+6), Cave Bears (+6), Tiger (+6)

3D8 Dragon, Oonai, Creatures of Matik, Olab

4D8 Clakar, Mist Giants

Same as CON (3D8) Dogs of the Dharzi

CHA

1D8+2 Olab

3D6 HUMANS

ARMOR

1 Baboons, Panther, Eagles, Vultures, Horse

2 Great Black Apes, Tiger

3 Sharks (CON/3)

4 Cave Bears

5 Small Crocs

6 Mastodon

10 Large Crocs, Dragon, Creatures of Matik

Variable - Oonai

Immune to normal weapons (POW vs POW for enchanted) Mist Giants

PATTERN ANALYSIS

There is a lot of weirdness going on here. Some creatures have just a number for a characteristic, and there seems lots of duplication errors (Creatures of Matik and Mist Giant SIZ).

I might be guilty of apophenia, but let's try to suss out a system where it is easier to determine stats for creatures.

Before we begin with the details, let's start with a few definitions of things that pop out. 

Dice Ranges - We must remember that the whole array is humancentric, with the bell curve made by 3D6 as the norm of humans. Thus 3-8 is low for humans, 9-12 average, and 13-18 superior. Comparing all creature stats by this metric gives us an idea of relative strength.

1D6 Far below human ability
2D6 Less than human ability
3D6 Human norm
4D6+ More than human ability, the more dice the more superior.

Demon Dice - Using D8 instead of D6 really works well for me, as it reflects how they are supposed to have the edge as antagonists from another plane. In story terms, that extra bit of potential is what they get for aligning with Chaos I suppose. Alternately, using D4 instead of D6 reflects below human, animalistic arrays.

Oddball Dice - 1D10 Lower than human so inconsequential, but with a wide array.

Bonuses - Any bonus to the roll indicates there is a baseline from which their array of numbers starts.

+3 At least equal to minimum human (infants & invalids)
+6 At least equal to weakest humans (children)
+9 At least equal to average human
+12 At least equal to above average human
+18 At least equal to superior human
+36 At least equal to double human

As for Armor, the numbers seem not excessive, except I would probably bump up dragons by 5 points. I suppose one could whip up a system relating static animal armor ratings to variable human armors, but I prefer to leave a little chaos in and not worry about the bugbear of game balance.

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS

In the Big Gold Book there is a breakdown of what SIZ means, but nothing really descriptive for the other attributes. I am a career educator, so I'm always trying to find a description that is simple yet easily graspable. Here is how I would describe each attribute in a way that would help anyone trying to figure out relative powers of attributes.

STR - To understand strength, a good metric is how many humans are required to handle or hold down the creature.
1D6 Can be handled one handed
2D6 Can be handled two handed
3D6 Same as handling a human
4D6-6D6 Too tough for one human to handle
7D6+ Too tough for any number of humans to handle

CON - Similarly, we can define CON by how much damage it takes to beat the creature.
1D6 Can be beaten bare handed
2D6 Can be beaten with small 1H weapon
3D6 Best beaten with a two handed weapon.
4D6-6D6 Too tough for one human to handle
7D6+ Too tough for any number of humans to handle

SIZ - Simple comparison with human size, but without numbers for easier comprehension.
1D6 One third human size
2D6 One half human size
3D6 Same as human
4D6-6D6 Larger than human.
7D6+ Larger than twice a human.

INT - This is a tough one, and most BRP stats never go above 3 or 4D6.
1D6 Dumb animal
2D6 Crafty animal
3D6 Same as a human
4D6-6D6 Smarter than human
7D6+ Godlike intelligence. Since the GM is only human, this is modelled by something else, namely GM fiat or psychic powers and the like.

POW - This is another tough one, 
1D6 Unclouded by emotion or spirit.
2D6 Simple emotions or spirit
3D6 Same emotional or spiritual range as a human
4D6-6D6 Much deeper or complex emotions or spirit than humans
7D6+ Too complex for any human to relate to

DEX - If STR shows us how hard it is to hold down a creature, DEX shows us how hard it is to catch them.
1D6 Easily caught
2D6 Caught with effort
3D6 Same as a human
4D6-6D6 Too quick or agile to catch without traps or assistance
7D6+ Too tough for any number of humans to handle

CONCLUSION

You have to hand it to the old BRP designers, like fine craftsman they put together relative statistics without any overarching or explicit guidelines (so far as I know). And like the Bio-engineering system of Hawkmoon, with a little effort to one can organize the statistics into a workable guide, useful for designers or house rules.

Next, I want to see if I an organize and simplify monsters skills in a similar way. Finally, I will try and pare down monster stats to see how small an entry we can make for an instant GM reference, which should be useful no matter what edition you're running.