Beginner GM question regarding adding class levels to monsters

[Commander Salamander]

Let's say I wanted to make a Duergar with a level of Cleric. Would that make the Duergar a warrior 1/cleric 1? In other words, will every Duergar always have a level of warrior since that is how they are listed in the Bestiary?

Thanks!

[Fergie]

It would be a Duergar cleric 1. Races with a class listed generally mean that you can change that class to any PC or NPC class.

Don't forget to add +4, +4, +2, +2, -2 to the abilities in a way that best benefits the class chosen.

And please post here, it sounds like a cool NPC to use!

[Commander Salamander]

Thanks for the reply... I have a follow-up question:

If the standard Duergar is warrior 1, why is the HD in the Bestiary listed as 1d8+2 and not 1d10+2? (i.e. warrior is listed as HD d10 in the Core rulebook)

On a totally unrelated note, any idea why the Hobgoblin is CR 1/2 and the Gnoll is CR 1 in the Bestiary? In virtually every case the Hobgoblin stat is equivalent or better...

Thanks again.

[Inconvenience]

That is what is commonly referred to as a "copy paste error" basically its because they simply took the stat block from the 3.5 MM and rearranged it into the bestiary without updating it with the changes for pathfinder.

[Commander Salamander]

Inconvenience wrote:

That is what is commonly referred to as a "copy paste error" basically its because they simply took the stat block from the 3.5 MM and rearranged it into the bestiary without updating it with the changes for pathfinder.

=(

Have they issued corrected versions via pdf? If this is common then I feel a bit ripped off by the Bestiary, as it seems to be little more than a hardbound reformatting of openly available information.

Oh well, on the whole I very much like Pathfinder.

[Tikael]

It has been fixed in the errata.

You can get the errata for the other books from your downloads page.

[Commander Salamander]

Tikael wrote:

It has been fixed in the errata.

You can get the errata for the other books from your downloads page.

Thanks Elan, I mean Nale, I mean Tikael...

[The Wraith]

Just to be more specific:

- creatures without any class level are treated as having all 11s (if the number is odd) or 10s (if the number is even) on their scores before racial modifiers.

- creatures with NPC Class Levels (Adept, Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert and Warrior) are created with the Standard Array (13,12,11,10,9,8) on their scores before racial modifiers, so basically you have to add a +2,+2,-2,-2 somewhere on their scores. Please note that these scores are already included in the monster description if it already possesses a NPC Class Levels (like Goblins or Duergars), so if you want to give a Character Class Level to such a creature, you have actually to remove these Standard Array modifiers before applying those granted by Character Class Levels (see below).

- creatures with Character Class Levels (Fighter, Bard, Cleric, and so on) are created with the Elite Array (15,14,13,12,10,8) on their scores before racial modifiers, so basically you have to add a +4,+4,+2,+2,-2 somewhere on their scores (these modifiers are already included for creatures in the Bestiary which already possess Character Class Levels, like Aasimars and Hobgoblins, for example). These 'class modifiers' replace (do not add to) those of NPCs Class Levels, if the monster was originally stated with NPC Class Levels but you replaced or added Character Class Levels.

So, the Duergar Cleric of your example would not simply add a +4,+4,+2,+2,-2 on his scores, since he already benefits from the Standard Array of +2,+2,-2,-2 (being a Warrior). You have to replace the Standard bonuses with the Elite bonuses first.

You can easily check this on such creatures, since their Racial Modifiers are always shown in their description - in the case of Duergar, for example, +2 Con, +2 Wis, -4 Cha; removing the Racial Modifiers you will obtain Str 12, Dex 9, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8 (the Standard Array, of course). Making him a Cleric would simply require to swap these scores with the Elite Array (in the fashion you like - being a Cleric the 15 would go easily to Wisdom, for example, and so on) and then re-apply the Racial modifiers of +2 Con, +2 Wis, -4 Cha.

Hope this helps.