Bone Naga and other critters

[Zechi]

First of all I want to thank Paizo's staff for the great Adventure Path. My group really like's the campaign and as a DM I'm really amazed of the adventures and the very helpful layout, but I was a little bit disappointed that in 13 Cages the layout was changed, no more any quick info about light conditions, reaction, and auras. I think this quick overview was a superb innovation an I hoped all adventures in the Dungeon Magazin would feature this some time in the future. Why did you changed this?

My group finished Test of the Smomking Eye last session and after a short side trek for more XP we are beginning with Secret of the Soul Pillars.

I read the adventure and the following adventures and I'm not quite sure about the CRs of some of the monsters.

First of all the Bone Naga in Secret of the Soul Pillars casts Spells as a 14th level sorcerer and is CR:11? This cannot be correct or I'm missing something?

Second, I'm not really sure with the CRs and Power of all the Demodands. My problem is that all evil Outsiders (Demons and Devils) get buffed in the 3.5 Monster Manual. Most of them got higher Str and Con which gives all of them more hit points. The problem is that the Outsider in the Monster Manual 2 and Fiend Folio did not get this buff in their 3.5 writeup. So I think the Demodands have not enough hit points/con and perhaps even not enought Str.

I canged the Con of all Demodands so it matches their Str (which was done also with most Demons and Devils) but I'm not sure if this was a good move.

What did all the DMs out there with these critters? Did you change CRs and Power of some of the monsters?

[Squid]

The only changes that happened to the demodands, (or however you spell that,) is their Damage Reduction got changed from +1, etc. to good. There is a booklet available for download on www.wizards.com that shows all the changes made to Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II, as well as other books.

Squid

[James Jacobs]

The Death of the Quick Reference Format: The Light/Sound/Reaction/Aura format was dropped from "Thirteen Cages" (and all future adventures as well) because it simply took up too much space in the magazine. The information is still present in "Thirteen Cages" but it's hidden in the body text of the encounters (or in the core books, in the case of magic item and creature auras).

Bone Naga CR: CR 11 is correct; that's what it's listed as in the Monster Manual II, and there's no eratta yet for that book. That said, if you feel it to be too low, you can certainly alter it as you wish in your campaign (or perhaps just reduce its sorcerer caster level to 10 or so?).

Demodands: The demodands were designed with the majority of the 3.5 rules in mind. The change to how damage reduction works was one of the last additions to the revised rules, but everything else is solid, so there's no need to buff them up (unless you want to, of course—I'm sure the demodands won't mind!).

[Squid]

Personally, the Quick Reference format is something that I would absolutely hate to lose. The QRF made it so easy to tell my mage what auras he sees with his Detect Magic. I plead for you to bring it back in some format, even if it's a pdf download. Um... please?

Squid

[Zechi]

Thank you for your answers. I understand that especially the Aura-Information in high-level adventures is very long and perhaps not as useful. But I really appreciated the Light/Sound/Reaction information.

I'm aware of the MM2 CR:11 for the Bone Naga, but a 14th Level Sorcerer is CR:14 and the Bone Naga has much more natural powers than an ordinary human sorcerer. The Bone Naga has 15HD compared to 14HD for the normal human sorcerer. But I've found a solution in the new Forgotten Realms supplement Serpent Kingdoms there is a new Bone Naga template. With this one a Bone Naga who casts spells as a 14th level sorcerer would be CR:16 which should be right. So I will take you advice an lower its power a little bit.

I'm also aware of the revised edition boolet for the fiend folio but that was not my point. With most monsters the revision booklet does a good job, but not with evil outsiders. If you compare these monsters with the 3.5 Version of the demons and devils they are all not as powerful.

Compare the Farastu with the Hezrou 3.5. The Farastu has Hp:71 the Hezrou Hp:138. Formerly the 3.0E Hezrou had Con:17 (same Con as the Farastu) now ist has Con:29.

I'm interested if other DMs have buffed up the Demodands because of their low Hp/Con.

Zechi