I'm trying to create 2 skelly champions an ogre and a human barbarian 4 (STR 18, DEX 13, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 12). But I'm just going silly, as I'm not really getting how to apply the template, do I keep all the feats the barbarian/ogre had before they were skellyfied? To work out the CR for the ogre would be CR 3 (3HD racial + 2HD template), and for the barbarian 4 (4HD class + 2HD template)?
Could I get a thumbs up or explanation/stat blocks so I can try to figure it out?
thx
A skeletal champion keeps all feats and gets Improved Initiative as a bonus feat. To work out the CR, check the CR table in the skeleton entry, and then add +1. The ogre skeletal champion has 5 HD (3 from ogre plus 2 additional HD from the template), which on that table is CR 2 for a normal skeleton, and thus CR 3 for a skeletal champion. The barbarian has 4 HD from his class and gains 2 racial HD from the template, for 6 total, a CR 3 according to the table, and thus CR 4 as a skeletal champion.
Thank you!!!
This thread seemed to be one of the most recent regarding skeletal champions, so I thought I would post here. I have seen various threads suggest how to calculate the CR of skeletal champions with class levels and I have two questions (one pertains to 3rd party software, though).
1) Exactly how did they arrive at CR 2 for the example skeletal champion warrior 1 in the Bestiary? It seems like you take the base human warrior 1 which has 1 HD, add the 2 HD from skeletal champion equals 3 HD and compare that to the table under Skeleton which equals CR 1, then add +1 CR to that for skeletal champion = CR 2. Is that right? Or is it that you take the base 2 HD from skeletal champion (since there are no racial hit die for classed humans) and compare that to the skeleton table (CR 1) plus 1 for skeletal champion plus 1/3 for warrior 1 = CR 2.3?
The former adds up to what is in the Bestiary, but the latter seems to work better when adding in more class levels (for high level skeletal champions). Ross B mentioned it works the second way in another thread, but then how to account for the Bestiary entry? Also (spoilering module info)...
2) Using Hero Lab to create a sorcerer 4 skeletal champion it tells me its CR is 7 which I don't get at all. Even if it uses what I would consider the correct way (2 CR for base skeletal champion plus 4 for sorcerer) I only get 6. Anyone know why it might be coming up with CR 7?
Thanks!
BTW, if I try to recreate the skeletal champion from the Bestiary in Hero Lab (warrior 1) it shows CR 1. Incidentally, if I remove the Warrior 1 level the CR goes from 1 to 2. Clearly there is an issue with Hero Lab and the CR's of skeletal champions. So please ignore my #2 above. Thanks!