Scale

PUCS is a simplistic system and this fact affords it some interesting advantages in developing monsters and defining what there capabilities are. Firstly what is a typical human is easily understood. When creating a monster relative to normal human it is quite easy to see how deadly the monster might be.

Human
A normal human has all attributes of 40 and so a movement (Strength + Reflex) of 80. Presuming this person has no martial training, they can pick up a club or a knife or a sword and have a 10% chance of hitting in melee.

Goblin
Let us consider a fairly common and low power monster the goblin. A goblin is smaller then a normal human, weaker, and none to bright. However they have some martial skills and they are much faster (Movement 120) then a normal human. In a straight up fight between a goblin and human, the goblin's 35% verses the human's 10% is a clear advantage. It is not hard to imagine a small set of goblins easily destroying/routing a much larger group of humans. After all if it goes badly for the goblins they can run 50% faster and easily get away.

Minimally Trained Human
If a human has basic martial training (Basic Melee) there attack score doubles to 20%. It is not hard to imagine that some proportion of the general population would have this training, either from life experience or perhaps from being pressed into military service sometime in the past.

In this scenario the a straight up fight between the two still favors the goblin with 35% verses 20%. However it is more difficult to invision a small set of goblins destroying/routing a much larger group of humans. Due to the goblin advantage being reduced by half.

Moderately Trained Human
If a human has some specialized training in a weapon (Simple Weapons) for example a club, they have a 45% of hitting in melee. This human has likely spent sometime in either the watch or repeated pressing into military service and probably has even had a some melee under their belt.

In this scenario a straight up fight between the two slightly favors the human with 45% verses 35%. This makes it difficult to envision a small group of goblins destroying/routing a larger group of humans. Even if only a few humans are at this level among many humans it may be enough to turn the tide.

The Man at Arms
If a human has specialized training in a weapon (Blades 2, Light Armor & Shield) for example a short sword, they have a 50% of hitting in melee. This human has likely been a man at arms or a professional soldier.

In this scenario a straight up fight between the two strongly favors the human with 50% verses 35%. The human gets as many as two attacks and as many as 3 defense rolls. This makes it difficult to envision a small group of goblins even attacking a larger group of humans. Even if only a few humans are at this level among many humans it would be enough to turn the tide.

The Scale
The point of all these examples is that goblin, would be absolutely terrifying and deadly to a normal human even if there were large numbers of humans relative to the number of goblins. With even a little skill this quickly reverses.

If you consider larger creatures, say a werewolf or a troll. The human could never match the speed of a werewolf (250) or the strength of troll (200). Tangling with either of these beasts even if you are highly skilled is a dance with death. A single blow (+10 on damage) from the troll is lethal to even a heavily armored human. The werewolf is so fast, you would be hard pressed to even attack it as it can attack and move away from you in most cases.

Conclusion
To me this scale is just one more thing that makes PUCS so good. It highlight what is wrong with D20 and the like. A creature that is 12' tall and weighs 500# and hits you... is lethal. You can tangle with the creature in melee but you will have to focus all your energy on not getting hit in order to survive. In D20 at high enough level you could take on this creature without fear. This would never be the case in PUCS, you would always need companions or better yet attack it with ranged weapons.

PUCS Complete Outline

PUCS - Outline

PUCS - Rules
- Character Attributes
- Movement
- Skills
- Gap
- Combat
- Initiative
- Round
- Melee
- Magic
- Critical Blunders
- Critical Hits
- Free Attack
- Missile
- Damage
- Weapons
- Armor
- Healing
- Misc
PUCS - Topics
- Creating a Character
- Improving Skills
- Improving Attributes
- Running A Game
- Example Melee
PUCS - Skills
- Skills Magical
- Skills Martial
- Skills Other
PUCS - Lists
- Equipment
- Armor
- Weapons
PUCS - Monsters
PUCS - Glossary