H's page

So, several iterations of APs and such have things like ghouls and undead with barbarian levels, gaining at least the strength bonus from Barbarian rage. Barbarian rage is a Morale bonus, which undead are strictly immune to. I've searched through threads, and there are scant few where people go 'oh it's morale, but why do all these NPCs have undead that rage?' --

Why? Because Barbarian rage being a morale bonus is something that happened with the change to Pathfinder from 3.X. Barbarian rage used to be a flat 'bonus' not a 'morale bonus'. I suppose some people still think it's the case, because they played 3.5, and the Barbarian (and now Bloodrage) rage features read almost exactly the same as how they used to.. just with 'morale' neatly tucked in there.

Can there be an official ruling on this? How would I change NPCs who don't actually benefit from rage, such as several adversaries in the Mummy's Mask AP? I'm not looking at the book, but I even think they swapped over the Con score bonus to Cha!

While I have looked over additional resources, I was trying to get a clarification: Are the altars (if you start the game in a major city for instance) legal? Thematically I would like my character to pray to Pharasma's Altar daily due to his particular bent against undead.

I love all the ideas here I've seen and the options for monstrous PCs in the Bestiary, and generally like them. There are a lot of *easy* fixes, just by looking at older rules for a vast majority of the monsters in there. I like that HD mean less as you get higher level, but the problem of frontloading is always the main issue. Bugbears, goblinoids and several other races (especially my favorite, the Gnoll) can be done with about five minutes of your time...and JUST GLANCING at the old 3.5 material which I know ALL OF YOU HAVE.

One of the biggest issues I find is the use of monsters that you would *think* would work well, but due to one keystone ability, throw the whole thing out the window.

My issue is the Medusa. Now, I love Medusa, and the portrayal of it in the new Bestiary. That Fortitude save or permanent petrification is a major whammy, however! All my thoughts of making that character go somewhat the way of the Dodo, as the DM gets scared I will overuse such a powerful ability.

(Honestly, why would I not use it if I'm a Medusa? It's a great fear inducing tool after all, and the threat of being petrified by a legendary monster like her would be enough to stop any politician in his boots..aside from the societal penalties that might give.)

Medusa are CR 7. Wizards can petrify people at this point, but not all day long. They also have a pretty healthy amount of HD (8!) But other than this, they have few abilities which make them truly fearsome.

How do you balance this with the new rules honestly? I'm looking for interesting replies and rules cranking to get this to work out well. They're specifically built to hide themselves and actually *not* go around making tons of statues because then it would become a 'zomg, Medusa hunt!'