Infernal Dukes (Bestiary)

[Weylin]

I finished reading through the Bestiary (which I am very happy with overall) and have a question about the Pit Fiends. Specifically the Infernal Dukes.

It mentions that they usually have either a few class levels. As if pit fiends werent enough of a bad day, now he might have a few levels fighter or sorcerer. It then mentions some simply have extra powers and gives three examples (I especially liked Master of Magic).

My question is what do these extra powers add to the CR of the Pit Fiend?

-Weylin

[James Jacobs]

Infernal dukes are unique monsters meant to challenge a 20th level party. Just as you might throw a CR 15 monster at a 10th level party, you can throw a CR 25 infernal duke at a 20th level party as a climactic bad-guy encounter.

The monster advancement rules at the back of the book are great for determining how a pit fiend's CR increases as he gains levels. The infernal duke powers, though, are more swingy; some of them will help certain pit fiends more than others, and as a result you'd need to look pretty closely to determine if those powers would drastically change his CR, using the advice in Appendix 1 to help make the decision.

As a general rule, though, as long as you're only adding one duke power and giving a pit fiend a few class levels, you're probably safe just adjusting the CR for the class levels alone. Or if you're really nervous, just go ahead and give the pit fiend a +1 bump to CR when you make him a duke and give him a duke power. At the worst, that just means that the pit fiend gives out a bit more XP than it should, and when you're defeating a big bad guy like an infernal duke, that's perfectly okay.

[Weylin]

Thanks, James.

I was curious about that. Just wanted to make sure. While I dont run the games in our group, I am often "the rules guy" who acts as technical advisor sort of to our GMs. Frees them some to focus on story.

-Weylin