The old saying, "the best defense is a good offense" is clearly true in the AD&D game. And the best way to avoid suffering damage is to beat the foe so badly he wants to crawl under a rock or, better yet, run away. That's where morale checks come in.
The gnoll in front of Beornhelm smashes a mace against the fighter's shield, just as the searing heat of lightning clips all the hair on the side of his head. Instantly, the heat is followed by the booming thunderclap in his ear. All the while, some vile little creature is trying to gnaw on his shin! It's really enough to ruin an adventurer's day. But, Beornhelm is cool, calm and in control—because the player running him says so. The same can't be said for the monsters.
In almost all situations, players should be the ones who decide what their characters do. A DM should never tell a player, "Your character decides he doesn't want to get hurt and runs from the fight," unless that character is charmed and therefore controlled by the DM.
A suggestion that a character might want to retreat, advance, open a chest, or whatever, is all right, but a DM shouldn't force a player character to do something by simply insisting. Only under the most unusual circumstances—charm, magical fear, or other forced effects—should the DM dictate the actions of a player character.
Monsters and NPCs are an entirely different matter, however. The DM makes their decisions, trying to think like each creature or non-player character, in turn.
In combat, thinking like a creature mainly means deciding what actions it takes and how badly it wants to fight. As a general rule, monsters and NPCs are no more eager to die than player characters. Most withdraw when a fight starts to go badly.
Some panic and flee, even casting their weapons aside. If they think they can get mercy, brighter foes might fall to their knees and surrender. A few bloodthirsty or brainless types might fight to the death—but this doesn't happen too often. These are the things that make up morale, things the DM must decide, either through role-playing or dice rolling.
The Role-Playing Solution[]
The first (and best) way to handle morale is to determine it without rolling any dice or consulting any tables. This gives the biggest range of choices and prevents illogical things from happening. To decide what a creature does, think about its goals and reasons for fighting.
Unintelligent and animal intelligence creatures attack and most often for food or to protect their lair. Few ever attack for the sheer joy of killing.
Those attacking for food attack the things they normally hunt. A mountain lion, for example, doesn't hunt humans as a rule, and it doesn't stalk and attack humans as it would a deer. Such creatures normally allow a party of adventurers to pass by unhindered. Only when the creature is close to its lair does the chance of attack come into play. Animals often fight to protect their territory or their young.
When they do become involved in combat, animals and other creatures rarely fight to the death. When hunting, they certainly try to escape, especially if they are injured. Their interest is in food. If they can't get it easily, they'll try again elsewhere. Most often, it is only when pressed, with no avenue of escape, or perhaps when its young are threatened, that an animal will sacrifice its own life.
Of course, in an AD&D game, a creature can attack and fight to the death when that will make for the most drama and excitement. For example, say a group of characters spot a grizzly bear blocking the path ahead of them. Instead of wisely waiting for it to shamble off, the party foolishly puts some arrows into it. Enraged, the beast attacks the party with berserk fury, causing serious harm and teaching them an important lesson before it dies.
Intelligent creatures have more complicated motivations that the need for food and shelter. The DM decides what the creatures want. Greed hatred, fear, self-defense, and hunger are all motivations, but they are not worth dying for.
As a guideline for intelligent creature and NPC motivation, consider the actions of player characters. How often do they fight to the death? Why would they? At what point do they usually retreat?
Certainly, NPC adventurer parties should behave similarly to player characters. After all, their concerns are much the same as those of the player characters—getting cash and improving themselves. They are not very interested in dying.
On the other hand, members of some fanatical sects may willingly sacrifice themselves for the cause. Even so, a few have been known to reconsider at the last minute!
The morale of NPCs and intelligent creatures should also jibe with known facts about his, her, or its personality. If an NPC with the party has been portrayed as cowardly, he probably won't willingly march into the jaws of death. One noted for his slavish loyalty, on the other hand, might stand his ground, dying to protect his friends or master. There are many choices, and the AD&D game works best when a person, not the dice, makes the choice.
Dicing for Morale[]
Sometimes there are just too many things going on to keep track of all the motivations and reactions of the participants. For these times, use the following system to determine the morale of the creature or NPC. Never use this system for a player character!
First, do not check morale every round of a combat. Aside from the fact that this slows everything down, it also crates unbalanced and unrealistic battles. Everyone going into a fight expects a little danger. Only when the danger becomes too great should a morale check be rolled. Just when the DM rolls morale checks is a matter of judgment, but the following guidelines should prove useful.
Check Monster and NPC Morale When:
- The foes have been surprised, but only on the first round after surprise
- Faced by an obviously superior force
- An ally is slain by magic
- 25% of their group has fallen
- 50% of their group has fallen
- A companion is slain after more than 50% of the group has fallen
- Their leader deserts or is slain
- Fighting a creature they cannot harm due to magical protections
- Ordered to attempt a heroically dangerous task
- Offered temptation (bribe, chance to steal, etc.)*
- Told to act as a rear guard, such as covering a fighting withdrawal
- Directed to use up or use a charge from a personal powerful magical item*
- Given a chance to surrender (and have met the conditions for one other morale check)
- Completely surrounded
- * In this case, the morale check can be used to see if they agree or refuse.
Obviously, following the guidelines above too strictly can lead to illogical situations. Players, once they've learned the conditions calling for morale checks, may try to abuse the rules. For example, they might think to offer surrender terms to every monster they meet, figuring the odds of the morale check might work out their way.
Don't let players get away with this, and don't let the dice overrule logical or drama. When 1st-level player characters offer surrender terms to an ancient red dragon (obviously hoping for a lucky break on the dice), remember what common sense is saying: "There ain't no way!"
How to Make a Morale Check[]
Table 49 lists the base morale number for various types of creatures. Table 50 lists conditions and situations that can modify this base morale number. To roll a morale check, find the rating that most closely matches the creature. Add or subtract the modifiers that apply to the situation. Some modifiers, such as the number of Hit Dice can be calculated in advance. Roll 2d10.
If the total rolled on the dice is equal to or less than the morale rating, the creature is unaffected and keeps fighting. If the roll is greater, the creature panics and flees, or it takes some other appropriate action.
Failing a Morale Check[]
When a creature or NPC fails a morale check, its first concern is to escape or avoid whatever situation caused the check in the first place. If it is being overpowered in combat, it tries to flee. If the party's mage is blasting lightning bolts about, it tries to get away from him.
If there is no place to go, the NPC or monster, if it is intelligent enough, falls down and surrenders—provided it thinks the party is likely to spare its life. A goblin is not about to surrender to a bunch of bloodthirsty dwarves because it knows how kindly those dwarves treat captured goblins! Now, if there just happened to be a nice, compassionate-looking human there, the goblin might give up if the human could promise it safety.
How drastic a panicked creature's flight is depends on the DM's judgment and how much over the base morale the modified die roll was. If the roll was close to what was needed, the creature tries to back out of the combat and find safety nearby. If the morale check was blown badly, the creature just forgets everything and bugs out, casting aside anything that slows it down.
Lawful creatures normally try to fall back in some sort of organized manner—keeping together as a group or, at least, all fleeing to the same place. Chaotic creatures tend to break and run in any direction that promises safety.
Example of Morale: As the player characters slash through thick underbrush, they stumble across a band of 10 gnolls gnawing on roasted game birds. Neither group is surprised. An elf in the party shouts in the gnolls' language, "Surrender, you scum of the forest! You haven't a chance and we'll let you keep your miserable hides."
The DM refuses to roll a morale check, since the gnolls don't know if their enemies are strong or weak. Besides, the DM sees possibilities for a nice dramatic fight in this encounter.
Snarling, the gnolls hurl aside their badly cooked birds. The tallest one grunts out in the local tongue, "I think you wrong, tree-thing. We win fight. We take hides!" He hefts a great mace in his hands. The two groups attack. A furious, slashing battle ensues.
Suddenly, the mage of the party cuts loose with a magic missile spell, killing the largest of the gnolls. Now the DM rolls a morale check, both for the magic and the loss of the leader, applying appropriate modifiers.
The DM decides the gnolls are disorganized troops—a hunting party, not a war party. This gives them a base morale of 11. The gnolls have a -4 penalty (chaotic, fighting mages, and more than one check required in the round), giving an adjusted result of 7.
Two 10-sided dice are rolled, resulting in a 3 and a 2, for a total of 5. They pass the morale check, since the number rolled is less than their modified morale, and they decide to keep fighting.
In the next round, an NPC fighter with the party loses 25% of his hit points in wounds. The DM rolls a check for him as a hireling. His base morale is 12, but this is modified by -1 (+2 for mages on his side, -2 for his wounds, and -1 since his employer is lawful good and he is neutral), giving him a morale of 11. He rolls a total of 12—not good enough. He decides he's had enough and gets out of the fight, although he only goes so far as to hide behind a nearby tree and watch from safety.
No morale checks are made for the player characters—players make their own decisions.
| Creature Type | Morale |
|---|---|
| Non-intelligent monster | 18 |
| Animal, normal and peaceful | 3 |
| Animal, normal predator | 7 |
| Animal intelligence monster | 12 |
| Semi-intelligent monster | 11 |
| Low intelligence | 10 |
| Average 0-level human | 7 |
| Mobs | 9 |
| Militia | 10 |
| Green or disorganized troops | 11 |
| Regular soldiers | 12 |
| Elite soldiers | 14 |
| Hirelings | 12 |
| Henchmen | 15 |
| Situation | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Abandoned by friends | -6 |
| Creature lost 25% of its hp* | -2 |
| Creature lost 50% of its hp* | -4 |
| Creature is chaotic | -1 |
| Creature is fighting hated enemy | +4 |
| Creature is lawful | +1 |
| Creature was surprised | -2 |
| Creatures are fighting wizards or magic-using foes | -2 |
| Creatures with 1/2 HD or less | -2 |
| Creatures with greater than 1/2 HD, but less than 1 HD | -1 |
| Creatures with 4 to 8+ HD | +1 |
| Creatures with 9 to 14+ HD | +2 |
| Creatures with 15 or more HD | +3 |
| Defending home | +3 |
| Defensive terrain advantage | +1 |
| Each additional check required in round** | -1 |
| Leader is of different alignment | -1 |
| Most powerful ally killed | -4 |
| NPC has been favored | +2 |
| NPC has been poorly treated | -4 |
| No enemy slain | -2 |
| Outnumbered by 3 or more to 1 | -4 |
| Outnumber opponent 3 or more to 1 | +2 |
| Unable to affect opponent*** | -8 |
| Wizard or magic-using creature on same side | +2 |
- * Or a group that has lost that percentage of monster or creatures.
- ** -1/check required.
- *** Creatures protected from attack by magic or which require magic weapons to be struck and group does not possess these.