Ghouls don't have multi-attack but they are given 2 types of attacks, bite and claws. The claws could be an action attack and the bite a bonus action attack, as per two weapon fighting? I realize they wouldn't get anything but their dice rolls on the second attack but I was mostly curios if this was a legal form of attack/action usage.
If you go by the two-weapon fighting rules, no it is not legal. A bite/claw/punch is considered an unarmed attack (weird I know). If you look at the tags associated to unarmed attack, it is not tagged as light, thus it cannot be used as an off-hand attack.
The creature, using class feats, would need Dual-Wielder to accomplish this. As a Monster it would need the Multi-Attack trait.
The claws have a paralyze effect, while the bite does roughly 2 extra damage at a minus 2 to hit. Generally then, a ghoul would use its claws until the enemy is paralyzed, then switch to the bite while the target is down and it gets advantage. Likewise, if the enemy is clearly immune to paralysis (elves for example) then the ghoul might only use bite.
Thanks for reminding me of the one-shot I ran where I mistakenly gave a pair of ghouls three attacks per round (two claws and a bite). Needless to say, they were awfully tough for CR1 monsters.
As I understand it, only one attack per round - which is plenty when you are swarmed by a half dozen or more ghouls.
The best description I have read goes something like this: they attack with claws (one attack per round) until the foe is paralyzed then they switch to bite attacks (at advantage with auto-critical on a hit due to the target being paralyzed). The guy that writes "The Monsters Know What They are Doing" blog does a good job of describing this.
I also like to include the optional lingering injuries table from the DMG whenever a player takes a critical, which is why my brother's cleric has only one eye right now: ghouls. It gets really interesting when you tell the player that the ghoul is eating huge chunks of flesh out of their paralyzed body.
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Ghouls don't have multi-attack but they are given 2 types of attacks, bite and claws. The claws could be an action attack and the bite a bonus action attack, as per two weapon fighting? I realize they wouldn't get anything but their dice rolls on the second attack but I was mostly curios if this was a legal form of attack/action usage.
If you go by the two-weapon fighting rules, no it is not legal. A bite/claw/punch is considered an unarmed attack (weird I know). If you look at the tags associated to unarmed attack, it is not tagged as light, thus it cannot be used as an off-hand attack.
The creature, using class feats, would need Dual-Wielder to accomplish this. As a Monster it would need the Multi-Attack trait.
So this means they just put the bite in there as flavor? I mean +2 to hit no one is using that.
The claws have a paralyze effect, while the bite does roughly 2 extra damage at a minus 2 to hit. Generally then, a ghoul would use its claws until the enemy is paralyzed, then switch to the bite while the target is down and it gets advantage. Likewise, if the enemy is clearly immune to paralysis (elves for example) then the ghoul might only use bite.
Thanks for reminding me of the one-shot I ran where I mistakenly gave a pair of ghouls three attacks per round (two claws and a bite). Needless to say, they were awfully tough for CR1 monsters.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
As I understand it, only one attack per round - which is plenty when you are swarmed by a half dozen or more ghouls.
The best description I have read goes something like this: they attack with claws (one attack per round) until the foe is paralyzed then they switch to bite attacks (at advantage with auto-critical on a hit due to the target being paralyzed). The guy that writes "The Monsters Know What They are Doing" blog does a good job of describing this.
I also like to include the optional lingering injuries table from the DMG whenever a player takes a critical, which is why my brother's cleric has only one eye right now: ghouls. It gets really interesting when you tell the player that the ghoul is eating huge chunks of flesh out of their paralyzed body.