Are there any rules for generating and adjusting ability scores for a monstrous PC, or does a player wanting to play as a monster have to use the stats given for the monster?
From the Pathfinder Bestiary, page 6 :
Ability Scores: The creature’s ability scores are listed here.
Unless otherwise indicated, a creature’s ability scores represent the baseline of its racial modifiers applied to scores of 10 or 11.
Creatures with NPC class levels have stats in the standard array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8), while creatures with character class levels have the elite array (15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8); in both cases, the creature’s ability score modifiers are listed at the end of its description.
From the Pathfinder Bestiary, page 6 :
Ability Scores: The creature’s ability scores are listed here.
Unless otherwise indicated, a creature’s ability scores represent the baseline of its racial modifiers applied to scores of 10 or 11.
Creatures with NPC class levels have stats in the standard array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8), while creatures with character class levels have the elite array (15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8); in both cases, the creature’s ability score modifiers are listed at the end of its description.
On p. 297 of the Bestiary, it says that "Creatures with class levels receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores, assigned in a manner that enhances their class abilities." This would correspond to adding the elite array to a creature with base ability scores. The thing is, it would correspond to adding the 3.5 elite array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, and not the Pathfinder elite array of 15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8. The Pathfinder elite array would change one of the +2's to a +0.
Was the Pathfinder elite array meant to have been changed from 3.5? Personally, I prefer keeping that extra +2 in there. It is the elite array, after all, and the 3.5 version is equivalent to a 15-point buy score.
Well, Pathfinder added an additional +2 to an ability score based on race, do I would assume that it is an intentional change to off-set this for the 7 player races.
Creative Director
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On p. 297 of the Bestiary, it says that "Creatures with class levels receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores, assigned in a manner that enhances their class abilities." This would correspond to adding the elite array to a creature with base ability scores. The thing is, it would correspond to adding the 3.5 elite array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, and not the Pathfinder elite array of 15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8. The Pathfinder elite array would change one of the +2's to a +0.
Was the Pathfinder elite array meant to have been changed from 3.5? Personally, I prefer keeping that extra +2 in there. It is the elite array, after all, and the 3.5 version is equivalent to a 15-point buy score.
The Elite array, as part of the "generating ability scores" part of the game, is not part of the SRD. We had to come up with a slightly different set of rules as a result. We don't even actually call it the "elite" array in Pathfinder; we call it the "heroic" option.
Adding +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, –2 to a monster's stats is the correct method, in any event, and results in fundamentally the same type of adjustment as the 3.5 elite array without forcing you to do math to figure out the monster's standard ability scores and then rebuild them by replacing its ability scores with new scores.