Commander Salamander's page

I'm running my first campaign in a long time, and I'm just now tallying up XP for the first session. Some of the XP awards for creatures make no sense to me. Any thoughts on the following would be appreciated:

[1] How can an Orc and a Goblin both be the same CR? In my mind, Orcs are substantially more powerful (especially because of ferocity).

[2] How much XP would a Lvl 2 Duergar fighter be worth? I assume this falls under the category of "creatures whose hit dice are solely a factor of their class levels" (Core Rulebook p.398)? This would make the fighter CR 1, with 400 XP assigned. This seems off to me, since the Lvl 2 Duergar seems much more powerful than, for example a Gnoll (also CR 1).

Am I perhaps mistaken in giving the Duergar full hit points for the first fighter HD (this contributes to the Duergar having much higher hit points than a gnoll)? Or should I be using the "adding a class level to a monster that stacks with its existing abilities" category (Bestiary p.297)?

[3] How much XP would a Lvl 2 Half-Orc fighter be worth? CR1 with 400XP?

Thanks for any help/clarification that you all can offer.

The entry contains a table for other species of spiders, which have different CRs, sizes, and HDs. Do all of the other stats remain the same. For example, should the Tiny scarlet spider have the same BAB, damage, and poison as the Giant Spider?

Thanks!

Bit of a beginner GM... help would be much appreciated.

Scattered about the core rulebook are references to various types of bonuses (e.g. competence, enhancement, shield, armor, etc.). Is there any place where these are summarized along with the rules of what can and cannot stack? Should every type of bonus in the game come with one of these "type prefixes"?

Thanks!

Let's say I wanted to make a Duergar with a level of Cleric. Would that make the Duergar a warrior 1/cleric 1? In other words, will every Duergar always have a level of warrior since that is how they are listed in the Bestiary?

Thanks!