Bestiary Questions

[artificer]

I have some basic questions about the bestiary:

1) As a campaign progress what is more common: using different creatures with higher CR or "leveling up" previously used creatures types?

2) In the bestiary HP is usually presented in this form: hp 370 (20d10+260). When using the creature should I use the 370 or should I roll the specified HD?

3)Goblins have hp 6 (1d10+1). But there is a note: Goblins are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. What does it means?

4)CR 1: Represents the kind of challenge a level 1 PC can take (as an average) and CR 2 a challenge that usually requires 2 PCs?

Thanks in advance!

[Chemlak]

1) Whatever suits your campaign best. Either option works.

2) the total shown is an average dice roll. Use it if you don't want to bother rolling individual hit points.

3)NPCs don't get max hp at 1st level. (Or is it NPC classes? I forget.)

4) CR 1 is an average encounter for a party of 4-5 1st level PCs.

[Heaven's Agent]

artificer wrote:

3)Goblins have hp 6 (1d10+1). But there is a note: Goblins are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. What does it means?

It means that the hp included in the stat block are the result of the goblin's class, in that particular case warrior 1. Additionally it means that if you include goblins that are not 1st-level warriors, you should change the hp to reflect their class levels. For example, a goblin adept 1 would have the following hp line:

hp 4 (1d6+1)

[Kimera757]

artificer wrote:

I have some basic questions about the bestiary:

1) As a campaign progress what is more common: using different creatures with higher CR or "leveling up" previously used creatures types?

Whichever you like, but the latter is more work.

Quote:

2) In the bestiary HP is usually presented in this form: hp 370 (20d10+260). When using the creature should I use the 370 or should I roll the specified HD?

You're better off using the listed hit points, unless you have a lot of d10s and don't mind spending time rolling dice and adding up the numbers :)

Quote:

3)Goblins have hp 6 (1d10+1). But there is a note: Goblins are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. What does it means?

As mentioned before, a warrior 1. I think if the goblin had taken PC class levels (eg rogue) it maxes out the first Hit Dice. It worked that way in 3.x anyway.

Quote:

4)CR 1: Represents the kind of challenge a level 1 PC can take (as an average) and CR 2 a challenge that usually requires 2 PCs?

Thanks in advance!

Not really, no. You should be thinking in terms of EL more than CR.

A single CR 1 creature is also an EL 1, and in theory a challenge to a 1st-level party of approximately four PCs. (It isn't though. A single creature simply doesn't have enough actions or resiliency to challenge a party. You're better off using 2 CR 1/2 creatures instead, spacing them so they can't be killed by the same spell.) Two CR 1 creatures would be an EL 2 encounter. Normally doubling the number of monsters would raise the EL by 2, but the rule is a little soft around the edges.

(A CR 10 monster would be an EL 10 encounter, two of them would be EL 12, and four would be EL 14. This wasn't true in the above example, because at level 1 the math is a bit weird. If you had 10th-level PCs, you're probably better off using 4 CR 6 monsters than a CR 10 monster, even though those are both EL 10 encounters.)

An encounter of EL = party level (with 4 or so PCs) is generally a weak challenge, as PCs are expected to face four such encounters per day before they can rest and recharge spells. An "equal" encounter such as (for a 1st-level party) a 1st-level wizard, 1st-level rogue, 1st-level fighter and 1st-level cleric NPC would be over EL 1 and would be a pretty tough challenge.

[artificer]

Heaven's Agent wrote:

artificer wrote:

3)Goblins have hp 6 (1d10+1). But there is a note: Goblins are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. What does it means?

It means that the hp included in the stat block are the result of the goblin's class, in that particular case warrior 1. Additionally it means that if you include goblins that are not 1st-level warriors, you should change the hp to reflect their class levels. For example, a goblin adept 1 would have the following hp line:

hp 4 (1d6+1)

Please tell me if I am wrong but if I choose a Goblin adept/shaman I will not only change the HP but many other attributes. So basically is like if it were a whole different "species" in terms that I will have to go to the bestiary and look for that particular "version" of the creature instead of simply changing a value in the original (warrior in this case) one.

[Chemlak]

Creatures without racial hit dice (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, humans, elves, dwarves, and a whole string of others) are all built using the NPC creation rules, as per the CRB. The entries in the Bestiary are for the most common classes encountered, to save you the work.

[Kimera757]

artificer wrote:

Please tell me if I am wrong but if I choose a Goblin adept/shaman I will not only change the HP but many other attributes. So basically is like if it were a whole different "species" in terms that I will have to go to the bestiary and look for that particular "version" of the creature instead of simply changing a value in the original (warrior in this case) one.

Correct, but think of it this way:

Make a 1st-level adept/shaman. Now apply the "goblin template". That's +2 Dexterity, -2 to other stats, etc. (The fact that it's a goblin is less important than it being an adept/shaman.)

Note that creating NPCs can take a lot of work, especially at higher levels where you need to buy them gear. (There's a Wealth by Level table for NPCs. Somewhere.)

[Chemlak]

Kimera757 wrote:

Note that creating NPCs can take a lot of work, especially at higher levels where you need to buy them gear. (There's a Wealth by Level table for NPCs. Somewhere.)

Said table can be found here, along with all the other rules for creating NPCs.

[artificer]

Kimera757 wrote:

Make a 1st-level adept/shaman. Now apply the "goblin template". That's +2 Dexterity, -2 to other stats, etc. (The fact that it's a goblin is less important than it being an adept/shaman.)

So in the case of the goblin the "template" will be the section named goblin characters on page 156 of the bestiary?

That means that on top of the +2 DEX of being a goblin warrior 1 I should also add the +4 DEX of being a goblin character for a +6 DEX total? Or is the template already applied in the warrior +2?

[Heaven's Agent]

It's not really a template; don't add it to an existing stat block.

The "Goblin Characters" information is arranged in the same manner as Racial Traits for the standard player races in the Core Rule Book (p 21-27). When defining racial characteristics simply follow the same steps you would when creating a player character, but instead of adding the Racial Traits described in the CRB, use those outlined under "Goblin Characters."

[artificer]

Thanks a lot for the answers