Hit Die, say I have a level 2 gnoll/level 2 Ranger, right? I drop the class hit die to 1 each and keep the 2 gnoll hit die as d12's, no? Or is it keep ALL hitdie, which doesn't seem to be the language in the MM, but change them to d12's...which would probably make skeletons really rather overpowered.
I'm probably answering my own question since I think the first time I was confused because I didn't see the "to a minimum of 1" for the class hit die rule, but I'm still a bit confused, do they become d12s or just 1's?
with the rules as I read them, and as I rolled them I get a 12 and a 9 for the undead gnoll hitdie, then two 1's from the ranger levels for a total of 23 hp. Am I right?
Hit Die, say I have a level 2 gnoll/level 2 Ranger, right? I drop the class hit die to 1 each and keep the 2 gnoll hit die as d12's, no? Or is it keep ALL hitdie, which doesn't seem to be the language in the MM, but change them to d12's...which would probably make skeletons really rather overpowered.
I'm probably answering my own question since I think the first time I was confused because I didn't see the "to a minimum of 1" for the class hit die rule, but I'm still a bit confused, do they become d12s or just 1's?with the rules as I read them, and as I rolled them I get a 12 and a 9 for the undead gnoll hitdie, then two 1's from the ranger levels for a total of 23 hp. Am I right?
No,
A gnoll skeleton would be a 2HD skeleton (2d12) only racial HD applies.
I think you are confused about the text.
Everything that has no racial hitdice and advances with classes is reduced to a 1 HD skeleton (kobold, goblin, orcs etc.)
Everything that has racial hitdice and class levels is reduced to its racial HD, like the gnoll, ogre, giants etc.
I think you are confused about the text.
Everything that has no racial hitdice and advances with classes is reduced to a 1 HD skeleton (kobold, goblin, orcs etc.)
Everything that has racial hitdice and class levels is reduced to its racial HD, like the gnoll, ogre, giants etc.
Of course I got confused by the text, haven't slept and it being the first time I tried to make a skeleton that wasn't straight out of the DMG or off the card I have for 'em. (Basically I knew it'd have only 2 hit die, but yeah.)
So now I can figure in properly the corpsecrafter feat. (since higher hitpoints in this encounter provides difficulty without boosting XP too high, though I am curious what Corpsecrafter would do to the Encounter Level, if anything. +4 strength and +2 hp per hitdie is fairly significant even if it is only 4 hp in the case of the gnoll and only 2 in the case of a human skeleton.)
lets your skellies rule; pc will just munch them anyway; keep all the HD's if you want, just make sure you make the ECL the right number; your monsters should not be continuously predicatable. True the rules do say they would only be 2d12, but you can make champions and whatnot if you like or apply any of the corpsecrafter feats or use the skelly variants in the back on Libre Mortis; if all of your gnoll skellies are always 2hd mindless thugs; well, throwing in a sleeper with some pizaze will keep the game interesting; strike fear and uncertanty into your players; its your monster; make him a monster. :)just dont short your players on the encounter exps.
In my experience; the corpsecrafter feats are nice, but never really change the outcome. fights against thugs like skellies are usually a breaze for a party and most parties rarely take even a hit or two before the skellies are all down; this doesnt really matter most of the time as they are just there in most adventure to get parties to expend their magics to destroy or heal; +4 str is only +2 to hit and skells dont have much of an attack anyway or any weapon feats so they are going to miss most of the time and +2 really doesnt make much difference; pc also tend to do a lot of damage and the extra 4 hps is really not going to matter to any 3rd level or higher pc. The feat that tends to make the most difference is the +4 turning resistance at low levels. I suggest you make a few base skellies; and load up a few with feats and depending on the oppenent you face; I think you will see that they all go down about the same time.
lets your skellies rule; pc will just munch them anyway; keep all the HD's if you want, just make sure you make the ECL the right number; your monsters should not be continuously predicatable. True the rules do say they would only be 2d12, but you can make champions and whatnot if you like or apply any of the corpsecrafter feats or use the skelly variants in the back on Libre Mortis; if all of your gnoll skellies are always 2hd mindless thugs; well, throwing in a sleeper with some pizaze will keep the game interesting; strike fear and uncertanty into your players; its your monster; make him a monster. :)just dont short your players on the encounter exps.
In my experience; the corpsecrafter feats are nice, but never really change the outcome. fights against thugs like skellies are usually a breaze for a party and most parties rarely take even a hit or two before the skellies are all down; this doesnt really matter most of the time as they are just there in most adventure to get parties to expend their magics to destroy or heal; +4 str is only +2 to hit and skells dont have much of an attack anyway or any weapon feats so they are going to miss most of the time and +2 really doesnt make much difference; pc also tend to do a lot of damage and the extra 4 hps is really not going to matter to any 3rd level or higher pc. The feat that tends to make the most difference is the +4 turning resistance at low levels. I suggest you make a few base skellies; and load up a few with feats and depending on the oppenent you face; I think you will see that they all go down about the same time.
I already slapped the basic corpsecrafter feat on something just short of a horde of gnoll skeletons, giving them above average hps (on average, only partly due to the extra 4 hp), and slapped on Awaken Undead as a bonus to making them a more cunning opponent, for instance they were taking concealment in brush and stalking the players, which made them paranoid but the pc and the npc who were up kept failing their spot and listen checks (well less so the listen checks, but totally the spot checks), eventually they woke up the rest of the party, but by that time the skeletons, well half the skeletons, made themselves known. My FAVORITE part was where the former Gnoll Ranger started pelting the dwarf with Arrows from an unseen posistion (since he was still near the fire no doubt about his visbility came into question), occasionally aiming at the fighter, she/it nearly killed him, and if it wasn't for the npc cleric, he might not be the only dead party member. (unfortunately for proper party balance, the npc cleric is freaking CR of 9 with 3 levels of sacred purifier. I was lazy and liked the prestige class, I actually DIDN'T use positive energy burst or sacred strike though, but his turning destroyed one skeleton and finally took down the she-b&!#* skeleton that was plaguing the party, by that point with a flail instead of a battle axe- I could have kept it scimitar from the stat cards, but screw that, they have battle axes (since unbeknownst to the PCs they were the same gnolls that one of them was attacked by and managed to kill 9 of by himself, with less tree cover in the PC's favor, the skeletons almost turned the tables on a party of 4! see he took the gnoll ranger's ghost strike battle axe...but I guess I might have forgot to point out that the dead gnoll had a flail on her as well as a composite shortbow he couldn't hope to use.)
All in all the encounter was marvelously drawn out, only stumbled on a few bits where we had to look up things...for one making sure the 9th level cleric actually turned the +6 turn resistant skeletons. (+2 Awaken Undead +4 corpsecrafter related feat), and how many- I ruled that even though he could turn up to 13 HDs worth, he only turned 1 even with an equatable roll- since a fellow DM in the room said that turn resistance is like adding hit die to the undead, but he could be wrong, so correct me if he is.