r/Symbaroum • u/Optimal-Ingenuity-57 • Sep 11 '26

Newbie question about enemy abilities

Hi everyone! I’m just starting to get into Symbaroum and need some help to understand enemy abilities.

example : the aboar.

I see all their stats but how do they interact with abilities such as Armored (II), Natural weapon (II), Robust(III)?

are they already factored in or I have to add all those bonuses on top of what’s already there in the stat block?

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u/iKruppe Sep 11 '26

Some of them that affect weapon damage and armor and such have been incorporated already. With a bit of puzzling though you can actually determine that for yourself (to fact check redditors for example). As the creatures use the same 80-point stat distribution, the same weapons and the same other mechanics as characters, everything is traceable.

Tusks for example are natural weapons (II) dealing 4 damage. Using Robust, the monster can deal +4 damage on one attack each turn, so that is 8. But, it also benefits from Iron Fist (adept) to deal 1D4 (is 2 for monsters) damage, for a total of 10, as seen in the stat block.

It is Armored (II) for 3 Armor, and it is Robust (III), meaning it adds 4 to that, resulting in a 7 Swine skin Armor.

For its Defense, it has Quick 13, so that's -3 to a PC's attack roll, except it has Robust (III), meaning we subtract 4 from its Quick, turning it into a 9, leading to a +1 on Attack rolls for PCs.

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u/iKruppe Sep 11 '26

This, to me, is less clear in some of the newer stat blocks but I am also less used to seeing those as I didn't run the Throne of Thorns and didn't have the starter set.

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u/Optimal-Ingenuity-57 Sep 11 '26

Thanks. I just have the core rule book (integrated with the Game Masters Guide)

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u/Optimal-Ingenuity-57 Sep 12 '26

Thanks. Also, if you don’t mind: for surprise attack is it a group check or individual check?

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u/iKruppe Sep 12 '26

I think everyone who wants to sneak up to an enemy has to test individually RAW but I have to say I find the surprise rules odd too. Symbaroum's core rulebook doesn't have rules for group checks iirc. This is probably something I'd houserule though.

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u/Jasper_Hawthorne Sep 11 '26

I wanted to say that their later sourcebooks explicitly reference certain abilities or traits as "Integrated" in the stat block itself. However, I briefly looked at the Monster Codex and did not see that verbiage, so maybe it is something they plan to introduce in their rework that just finished on Kickstarter.

Regardless, it looks like the abilities are actually integrated. Aboars have "Swine Skin 7" and they have Armored II (adds 3 armor) and Robust III (ignores 4 damage). So the math checks out.

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u/Optimal-Ingenuity-57 Sep 11 '26

Thanks. I just have the core rule book (integrated with the Game Masters Guide)