Several years ago, I sent a letter to one of the authors that contributed regularly to the old Adventurers' Club magazine, who had a regular "rules questions"-type column in AC. (Unfortunately, I do not recall either the gentleman's name or the title of his column, nor do I recall the specific issue number wherein my letter was printed.) In this letter, I argued that the Growth Tables (for characters, vehicles, and bases) were incomplete. (This discovery of mine came about when I tried designing an asteroid base for Mechanon, and I realized that I couldn't get the internal volume that I thought I should.)

Specifically, I argued that:

1. the "Size" attribute was the two-dimensional area (i.e., the cross-section) of the character, vehicle, or base, and not the true volume of the thing;
2. a third dimension, "Depth/Thickness", should be included, which should have an assumed, approximate value equal to one-half of the "Width" (which, in turn, had an assumed, approximate value of one-half the "Height"); and, finally,
3. this third attribute could then be used to determine the true "Volume" of the thing in question, leading to a more accurate "Usable Volume" (for vehicles and bases).

In this same letter, I argued that a certain level of Growth should automatically give the character some degree of "Area Effect" for his hand-to-hand attacks. But, at what specific point, and how much of an area effect?

To answer this question, I compared the DCV penalties for Growth to the OCV penalties for the hit locations for "Hand" and "Foot". The OCV penalty for a hand is -6, and the OCV penalty for a foot is -8. Now, in my case, my hands are somewhat smaller than my feet, and I presume that this holds true for most people. So why does a hand (the smaller body part) have a lower hit penalty than a foot? Since hands are used in HTH combat (indeed, in all forms of combat) much more often feet, it was easier to hit hands instead of feet, because they will be "in the way" much more often than feet. (If I recall correctly, Aaron Allston mentioned this somewhere in Ninja Hero, but please don't hold me to this.)

Having decided that the OCV penalty for "Foot" is based almost entirely on the relative size of that body part, I decided to let this penalty be my guide. Therefore, I reasoned that when this OCV penalty is exactly matched by the DCV penalty for Growth, then that specific level of Growth is the one that first grants the character an automatic "Area Effect" Advantage for his HTH attacks. Thus, at 12 levels of Growth (60 base points for characters), the character receives an automatic "Area Effect" Advantage for his Strength for hand-to-hand attacks.

Consolidated "Growth" Table

Levels of Growth

"X"

"Y"

"Z"

Area

DCV

Volume

Mass

KB

Usable Volume

Extra Reach

HTH AE Size

(0)

1" (2 m)

0.5" (1 m)

0.25" (0.5 m)

0.5 hx

±0

0.125 hx

100 kg

±0"

(n/a)

+0"

1

1.25"

0.64"

0.32"

0.8 hx

±0

0.25 hx

200 kg

-1"

0.125 hx

+0"

2

1.6"

0.8"

0.4"

1.25 hx

-1

0.5 hx

400 kg

-2"

0.25 hx

+0"

3

2"

1"

0.5"

2 hx

-2

1 hx

800 kg

-3"

0.5 hx

+1"

4

2.5"

1.25"

0.64"

3.2 hx

-2

2 hx

1,600 kg

-4"

1 hx

+1"

5

3.2"

1.6"

0.8"

5 hx

-3

4 hx

3.2 tn

-5"

2 hx

+1"

6

4"

2"

1"

8 hx

-4

8 hx

6.4 tn

-6"

4 hx

+2"

7

5"

2.5"

1.25"

12.5 hx

-4

16 hx

12.5 tn

-7"

8 hx

+2"

8

6.4"

3.2"

1.6"

20 hx

-5

32 hx

25 tn

-8"

16 hx

+3"

9

8"

4"

2"

32 hx

-6

64 hx

50 tn

-9"

32 hx

+4"

10

10"

5"

2.5"

50 hx

-6

125 hx

100 tn

-10"

64 hx

+5"

11

12.5"

6.4"

3.2"

80 hx

-7

250 hx

200 tn

-11"

125 hx

+6"

12

16"

8"

4"

125 hx

-8

500 hx

400 tn

-12"

250 hx

+8"

0.5 (1) hx

13

20"

10"

5"

200 hx

-8

1,000 hx

800 tn

-13"

500 hx

+10"

0.8 (1) hx

14

25"

12.5"

6.4"

320 hx

-9

2,000 hx

1,600 tn

-14"

1,000 hx

+12"

1.25 (1) hx

15

32"

16"

8"

500 hx

-10

4,000 hx

3.2K tn

-15"

2,000 hx

+16"

2 hx

16

40"

20"

10"

800 hx

-10

8,000 hx

6.4K tn

-16"

4,000 hx

+20"

3.2 (3) hx

17

50"

25"

12.5"

1,250 hx

-11

16K hx

12.5K tn

-17"

8,000 hx

+25"

5 hx

18

64"

32"

16"

2,000 hx

-12

32K hx

25K tn

-18"

16K hx

+32"

8 hx

19

80"

40"

20"

3,200 hx

-12

64K hx

50K tn

-19"

32K hx

+40"

12.5 (13) hx

20

100"

50"

25"

5,000 hx

-13

125K hx

100K tn

-20"

64K hx

+50"

20 hx

21

125"

64"

32"

8,000 hx

-14

250K hx

200K tn

-21"

125K hx

+64"

32 hx

22

160"

80"

40"

12.5K hx

-14

500K hx

400K tn

-22"

250K hx

+80"

50 hx

23

200"

100"

50"

20K hx

-15

1M hx

800K tn

-23"

500K hx

+100"

80 hx

24

250"

125"

64"

32K hx

-16

2M hx

1.6M tn

-24"

1M hx

+125"

125 hx

25

320"

160"

80"

50K hx

-16

4M hx

3.2M tn

-25"

2M hx

+160"

200 hx

26

400"

200"

100"

80K hx

-17

8M hx

6.4M tn

-26"

4M hx

+200"

320 hx

27

500" (1 km)

250"

125"

125K hx

-18

16M hx

12.5M tn

-27"

8M hx

+250"

500 hx

28

640"

320"

160"

200K hx

-18

32M hx

25M tn

-28"

16M hx

+320"

800 hx

29

800"

400"

200"

320K hx

-19

64M hx

50M tn

-29"

32M hx

+400"

1,250 hx

30

1,000" (2 km)

500"

250"

500K hx

-20

125M hx

100M tn

-30"

64M hx

+500" (+1 km)

2,000 hx