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So I'm trying to understand the way skill bonuses are calculated for monsters to understand if it differs at all to NPCs and PCs. Currently I'm trying to work out how the skill bonuses for a Bugbear calculate, just as an example and also because I'm advancing one with a Half-Fiend Template (everything else has been calculated already).

A standard Bugbear has 3HD and an Int modifier of 0 for a total of 6 skill ranks (2/HD for Humanoid creatures). Its stat block lists Intimidate +7, Perception +8, and Stealth +10. Subtracting the +4 racial bonuses to Intimidate/Stealth and +1 Dex bonus to Stealth leaves me with +3 Intimidate, +8 Perception, and +5 Stealth. Subtracting the feat bonuses to Intimidate and Perception results in +0 Intimidate, +5 Perception, and +5 Stealth, and Intimidate goes down to -1 because of the Cha penalty. Finally, removing the class skill bonus from perception and stealth granted by Stalker (Ex) leaves me with -1 Intimidate, +2 Perception, and +2 Stealth.

If my calculations are correct (which they might not be), the remaining points should come exclusively from skill ranks - balancing all three to 0 requires only 5, meaning one skill rank goes unused. Is there something I'm missing, or do monsters just have different rules I'm not aware of?

Sorry for the arbitrary question - I just get curious about the finer rules and like to know how things are calculated.

I'm currently trying to apply the half-fiend template from the Bestiary to a standard Bugbear (CR 2), but am having trouble understanding how additional HP is calculated for the example half-fiend given by the book - the "Half-Fiend Minotaur" (CR 6). The base monster for this example, the Minotaur (CR 4), has the same HD (6D10) as the Half-Fiend Minotaur, which is in line with the rule about not recalculating the monster's HD despite the type change to outsider - but the additional HP modifier for the Minotaur (+12) changes to +24 for the Half-Fiend Minotaur, for HP equal to 6D10 + 24. A Half-Fiend Bugbear would retain its normal 3D8 HD, but does the original HP modifier of +3 increase at all? I'm not quite understanding why in the example given by the book the modifier changes from +12 to +24.