|
Hi, I am a bit confused on how adding class levels to monsters would work in practice.
First of all, if one is to allow a monster race (e.g. kobold or gnoll) as a viable race for PCs, how are the modifiers to the six abilities extracted from the Bestiary tables? What about other racial bonuese/penalties, favourite classes, bonus to skills, etc.?
Second (this is for monsters proper, not PC races) suppose I want to add 3 sorcerer levels to a dragon. How does that work? Do these levels stack up with the sorcerer capabilities that the dragon already has (caster level, spells per day and known spells, etc.)? What about the bloodline? Would the levels stack up also for bloodline powers?
And what if - instead - I add 3 cleric levels? I assume those would not stack up in terms of CL.
Thanks.
Adding classes to a Monster PC varies - depending how much a given class actually impacts the monsters abilities.
An Ogre for example, is naturally going to benefit more from combat focused classes (each level of this class adds +1 to the creatures CR) whereas non-combat focused classes (like Wizard or Bard) would only add +1 CR per two levels (and then +1 CR per level when the number of levels equal the base creatures Hit Dice for its race) - This bit is explained toward the back of the Bestiary for 'Monstrous PC's -
A Dragon that wants to add 3 levels of Sorceror for example gains ALL the listed benefits that come with that - Bloodlines, etc. But of course, the Draconic bloodline isnt going to be terribly much use for it - so pick something else to reflect the Dragons distant ancestry. This stacks with the Dragons effective levels for what spells it knows and can cast but the Dragons innate racial Sorceror levels do NOT count toward Bloodline abilities gained by taking levels in Sorceress.
Also I am pretty sure Dragons can pick Cleric spells and cast them as a Sorceror of the same level, they just choose these spells as part of their 'Spells Known', but I may be wrong, thats how it worked in 3.5 but I am sure its intact in this version.
My own NPC for example is a Half-Fiend Nymph with a few levels in the Druid class, she adds those Druid levels to her effective spellcasting ability but she doesnt gain a stronger companion than what her attained Druid level allows for example, as well as any special abilities the Druid class grants - the Half-Fiend Nymph part of her character are very much like 'levels' , and she 'multiclassed' into Druid which adds to some of her abilities and not in others.
I hope this helps.
|
|
How adding levels works depends on a couple of factors (bestiary p296-297). One is whether or not it already has class levels. If it does not, you add "+4, +4, +2, +2, +0, -2" to its statistics (presumably in a way that benefits the class chosen). The other factor is what "role" the monster falls into and what class you are adding. If the role of the monster and the class are the same, then every class level adds +1 to the CR. Otherwise it adds a +1 per 2 levels added.
Note that for "spell" role monsters only add on a one-to-one basis if the class being taken stacks with the source of casting they already have. This happens if the monster's casting is described as "casts spells as an Xth level Y", such as a couatl which "casts spell as a 9th-level sorcerer".
As for the extracting the abilities... Also depends.
If it normally has class levels it uses either the Basic Array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 before racial adjustments) or the Heroic Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 before racial adjustments). If it has an NPC class, it uses the former. If it has a PC class, it uses the latter. You would have to "undo" the adjustments from these before determining racial modifiers, which you could try to predict by using the "NPC Ability Scores" chart on page 453 of the core rulebook.
If it doesn't have a class level (or does, but you've undone the modifiers from the "base" before adjustment) you then subtract 10 from all even stats, and 11 from all odd stats. These are your racial modifiers.
Example: A kobold (good one to use because it has listed adjustments) has stats of 9, 13, 10, 10, 9 and 8. The base for a "melee NPC" is 13, 11, 12, 9, 10, 8. Removing these (by adding -3, -1, -2, 1, 0, 2) gives us 6, 12, 8, 11, 9, 10. Subtracting as appropriate gives modifiers of -4 str, +2 dex, -2 con, -2 wisdom. Since they do not have a -2 wisdom I assume that the wisdom and intelligence placements were swapped, as changing that assumption makes it match the "Kobold Characters" section.
(Noticed on Preview): Partially ninja'd.
|
|
Thank you to both Princess and Stabbity for clarifications.
Also I am pretty sure Dragons can pick Cleric spells and cast them as a Sorceror of the same level, they just choose these spells as part of their 'Spells Known', but I may be wrong, thats how it worked in 3.5 but I am sure its intact in this version.
That was 3.5, now the dragon can only select arcane spells:
Spells: A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its specific description. Its caster level depends on its age, as shown for each type.
Thank you to both Princess and Stabbity for clarifications.
Also I am pretty sure Dragons can pick Cleric spells and cast them as a Sorceror of the same level, they just choose these spells as part of their 'Spells Known', but I may be wrong, thats how it worked in 3.5 but I am sure its intact in this version.
That was 3.5, now the dragon can only select arcane spells:
Spells: A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its specific description. Its caster level depends on its age, as shown for each type.
in 3.5 only certainer colors of dragon could cast all cleric spells as arcane, and that ability was retained in the Bestiary for Gold and Silver Dragons (notice the asterisk under the Age Category/Special Ability/Caster Level table for those two dragon types). In 3.5 all colors of dragon could pick spells for particular cleric domains as arcane spells (which varied by dragon color), this ability was removed.