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I'm currently statting out Vesket as a challenge for 6 players in the next chapter of my Kingmaker conversions, and there seem to be some serious miscalculations on his stats.
Firstly, Vesket starts as an advanced lizardfolk, yet his stats don't seem to match this.
Vesket's Stats (1 stat point used somewhere)-
Str 23, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 12
Vesket's Stats with the advanced template removed-
Str 19, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 4, Wis 4, Cha 8
Vesket's Stats if he was medium sized instead of large-
Str 17, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 4, Wis 4, Cha 8
Int and Wisdom 4? Seriously? Compare to an average lizardfolk and a lizardfolk with the advanced template's statistics.
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 14
The advanced lizardfolk is far superior in stats, and yet the normal lizardfolk has these stats-
Str 13, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 10
In a culture where the average Lizardfolk has Int 9 and Wisdom 10 the Lizard King is exceptionally stupid and lacking any common sense- hes also less likeable than the average lizardfolk with his 8 charisma.
^^ All of the above could possibly be explained by some horrific point buy system where Vesket got treated to a 5 point point buy and got to nerf his stats to an awful standard for no extra benefit, but his natural armour is also 2 points lower than a normal Lizardfolk with the advanced template; it wasn't raised with the advanced template.
So am I overlooking something or did something go wrong with Vesket's stat block in the Paizo machine? Or perhaps the lesson here is not to reverse engineer anything and look for sense :)
Edit: Vesket also doesn't qualify for vital strike with BAB+5...
I have noticed that Paizo's NPC stat blocks are often filled with mechanical errors. I recall in 2nd Darkness fighting the crime boss in volume two who wasn't proficient with his weapon of choice (though he suffered no proficiency penalty). And there was an encounter later that listed tactics that weren't even possible for the NPC, because they lacked the spells necessary to even perform them.
It's probably one of my greater frustrations with Paizo's products - the characters they build just don't hold up to my general expectations of functionality.
My advice would be that building Vesket as he mechanically should be would likely result in a greater challenge that'd probably be more appropriate to a 6 person party, though he'd also likely benefit from an additional class level or something to boot.
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I have noticed that Paizo's NPC stat blocks are often filled with mechanical errors. I recall in 2nd Darkness fighting the crime boss in volume two who wasn't proficient with his weapon of choice (though he suffered no proficiency penalty). And there was an encounter later that listed tactics that weren't even possible for the NPC, because they lacked the spells necessary to even perform them.
It's probably one of my greater frustrations with Paizo's products - the characters they build just don't hold up to my general expectations of functionality.
My advice would be that building Vesket as he mechanically should be would likely result in a greater challenge that'd probably be more appropriate to a 6 person party, though he'd also likely benefit from an additional class level or something to boot.
He has 5 racial HD as well as two fighter levels, I don't think that was the issue here, he could have easily had the correct stats and feats and still be a LOWER CR than he is.
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Sometimes stats are altered for story reasons, I think. Take Auchs in Chapter 1 as an example. If Vesket was much smarter, I'm not sure he'd be quite so gullible(wisps are native to the area, lack any special mimicry or persuasion powers, etc). It might have been a choice.
The nat armor is probably a mistake. I often forget about it when adding the advanced template myself.