Ok guys,
So I am wondering if there is a formula to lower a monsters CR? Take a CR10 monster and make it a CR9-CR8? Reduce hit points? Lower DC for saving throws? Decrease attack bonus? etc.
Exmple:
I really like the Bebiliths attacks, special abilities and poison; though it is a CR10 crature and I want to make it more of a CR9-CR8 for my group.
Bebilith (AC 22, 150 hp, DR 10/good)
How would you go about doing this???
My game is Saturday so I need to know ASAP.
THANKS GUYS!!!
You can apply the young template from the bestiary dropping the CR by 1.
Rebuild Rules: Size decrease by one category; AC reduce natural armor by –2 (minimum +0); Attacks decrease damage dice by 1 step; Ability Scores –4 Strength, –4 Con, +4 size bonus to Dex.
Remember to recalculate approrpiate dc's for instance, Dismantle armor's DC is strength based. So the -4 str will drop this dc by 2. Rot is constitution based, so it would also drop by 2 due to -4 con.
And ofcourse hit points, die size on natural weapons, attack bonuses and damage due to strength drop, and AC would be recalculated as well.
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Page 291 in the Bestiary has a chart for how strong each aspect of a monster should be at each CR. Bebilith is a bruiser, so he's really easy to convert-- all of his values are at, near or above the "high" chart, so you just lower those values down from CR 10 to CR 8 standards.
Here, I did it for you for fun.
Bebilith into a CR8 -
Reduce hp to 120hp
Saves go down by 2/2/0 to +13 +9 +7
AC goes from 22/9/21 to 21/9/20; Bebilith has a low AC. Fighters hit him on 5/10s (8+4+2+1+1=+16) but 3/4ths hit him on 9/14s (6+4+2=+12). Seems about right.
Okay, so now for his attack bonus. At 8, you should have +1 armor and the necessary kit to have good AC. Fighter in full plate with +2 Dex mod, +1 ring and +1 amulet has 9+2+1+1=23 AC. Fighter with a +1 heavy shield has 26. Add in this guy being hasted and he has 27.
So, the bebilith should have a +16 to hit. Rolls 11s and hits him, rolls under and doesn't. A 10 fighter would have +2 full plate, +3 dex mod, +2 ring and +2 amulet for 27, shield for 31. Bebilith hits him on 11s too. Keep that balance.
If everything hits, he does average 16 + 28 = 44. So he does medium damage. Of course, he has power attack, and a BAB of +12, so add +8 to all 3 and you get 68 damage average. So now he does very high damage for his CR.
To reduce that, let's just remove power attack. Back to 44. High for 8 is 35, so 44 is about right for the amount of damage he should be dealing.
Then, dismantle and rot DCs, which are 25 and 23 respectively. Kind of high when looking at the chart-- he should have 19 or so in there. 6 higher and 4 higher, so... CR 8's high DC is 18. DC 23 for dismantle and DC 21 for Rot doesn't seem to harsh. A good fort class has a +10~, so they save on a 11. A good reflex class has a +10~, so they save on a 13.
Finally, DR. I'd make it DR 7/good. An ECL 10 party can spontaneously get effects to break DR good, maybe has a +1 holy weapon, etc. whereas an ECL 8 party has a much lower chance of this. DR 7 also kind of covers the "curve" and makes the DR scale a bit, so that the DR 7 is almost like DR 10. Er, here's an example.
8th fighter with 4 STR, +1 1h weap = 1d8+14 vs DR 7 = 1d8+7
10th fighter with 5 STR, +2 1h weap = 1d8+16 vs DR 10 = 1d8+6
8th fighter with 4 STR, +1 2h weap = 2d6+19 vs DR 7 = 2d6+12
10th fighter with 5 STR, +2 2h weap = 2d6+22 vs DR 10 = 2d6+12
Conclusion:
His hp goes from 150 to 120.
Saves go down to 13/9/7.
AC goes down to 21/9/20.
Attack bonus goes down to +16. BAB reduction, not strength, so he now has +9 BAB. This makes his CMB and CMD go down by 3 as well.
Damage stays the same but he loses Power Attack.
DCs go down by 2 each.
DR goes from 10 to 7.
I'd call that CR 8 or so.
Now, that's service!
That is indeed beautiful service! thank you so much for the help in figuring out how to lower the CR. Will be using that in the coming weeks to add some interesting lower CR monsters to the Camp. that I am running.