A dagger does d4 damage. A dagger is not a small knife, it's like 8 inches of blade. Compared to that, a human bite should be like a d2 on the high side.
The stronger muscles of a human body is the one of their jaw. A bite can do serious damage. And when you dagger will cut or stab, your bite will ripe away skin and flesh.
If you bite an artery even a human can kill something. You can bite of a finger if you want to.
The problem is people only think of biting in " I chomp and then I let go" instead of " I bite and do not let go but pull bake so I tear that chunk of the person off".
What are you going to do? Leave them at the inn? You can absolutely bring them with you and use them as the opportunity arises. Just because it's a knife fight and you have a knife doesn't mean you can only use the knife...
The thing with human mouths, though, is that they're gross. A dagger will fuck you up, but a mouth may hurt at the time, and then later it's ✨BACTERIA TIME✨. I think maybe they can get a little bonus for that.
2d4+2 is the bite attack of a wolf, not a dog, a dog bite is way lower that the one of a wolf. Also, I guess I could have wrote better my proposed human bite damage as max(1d4-2, 0) that gives a average of 0.75.
I don’t think 7 vs 0.75 is accurate. A single wolf bite would fuck you up, to be sure. But this implies that a human bite is about as dangerous as a mousetrap… which, let’s be honest, is virtually nothing. Humans are capable of biting through not only skin and muscle, but to the bone, and even through the bone in certain cases.
And that is the bite of a commoner, you think a lvl 20 barbarians bite wouldn’t go straight through most bone?
Average peasant has 4 hp.
Max average strike of a dagger does 4 damage. Even if it doesn't strike a vital area, if you get a full, solid, clean hit with that blade, they dead.
If you crit, i.e. hit a vital spot. They definitely dead and the 8inch blade might even take out a tougher boy.
Damage is supposed to imply how effective the strike is on a hit. A 1 is a decent slice or puncture. Possible stitches, not guaranteed. 2 damage? That's a good shank. Stitches recommended, gonna need some medical attention, picture getting stabbed in the hand or getting a slice across the arm or leg. 3 damage? That person is WOUNDED they won't keep fighting if it isn't life or death picture a meaty stab to the bicep or shoulder or side, nowhere critical, but you know you can't take another hit. And 4 is death.