I've been reading through my Bestiary and I've seen that many things require a DC for example a Mephit:
"Breath Weapon (Su), Each type of mephit can unleash a particular breath weapon every 4 rounds as a standard action. The DC is Constitution-based and includes a +1 racial bonus."
But then things start to confuse me even more, there are sub-types of Mephit's and all of their breath weapon entries say different things and some call for reflex based saves such as the Salt Mephit:
"Breath Weapon: A cone of salt crystals that deals 1d4 slashing damage. The salt also causes living creatures to be sickened for 3 rounds. A Reflex save halves the damage and negates the sickened effect."
And then some entries like the gelatinous cube also call for a DC:
"Engulfed creatures are subject to the cube’s paralysis and acid, gain the pinned condition, are in danger of suffocating, and are trapped within its body until they are no longer pinned. The save DC is Strength-based."
So all in all I'm trying to ask how do I make up these DC's that the PC's are supposed to save against?
The formula for save DC against one of these abilities is;
10 (Base)
+ 1/2 of the monster's hit dice
+ the relevant ability score modifier of the monster
+ any additional bonuses (such as the mephit's racial bonus)
So a mephit with 14 constitution and 8 hit dice would have a breath weapon save DC of 10 + 4 + 2 + 1 (racial) = 17.
The DC is listed in the statblock. The text you are reading is information in case the creature gains a bonus or penalty to the relevant statistic.
Special Attacks breath weapon (15-foot cone, effect based on type, Reflex DC 13 for half )
Breath Weapon (Su) Each type of mephit can unleash a particular breath weapon every 4 rounds as a standard action. The DC is Constitution-based and includes a +1 racial bonus.
If the Mephit's constitution modifier goes up by +2 then the DC would also go up by +2.
If you are constructing a creature from scratch (or adding hitdice to an existing creature) the DC is usually 10 + 1/2HD + relevant ability score modifier + racial modifiers + anything else that may affect it. Note: Racial Hitdice is different than class hitdice. If an ability is racially based adding class levels usually does not increase the DC. If an ability is class based adding racial levels usually does not increase the DC.
- Gauss
Edit: anndddd Ninja'd! :)
The formula for save DC against one of these abilities is;
10 (Base)
+ 1/2 of the monster's hit dice
+ the relevant ability score modifier of the monster
+ any additional bonuses (such as the mephit's racial bonus)So a mephit with 14 constitution and 8 hit dice would have a breath weapon save DC of 10 + 4 + 2 + 1 (racial) = 17.
Is this the formula for all save DCs?
Is this the formula for all save DCs?The formula for save DC against one of these abilities is;
10 (Base)
+ 1/2 of the monster's hit dice
+ the relevant ability score modifier of the monster
+ any additional bonuses (such as the mephit's racial bonus)So a mephit with 14 constitution and 8 hit dice would have a breath weapon save DC of 10 + 4 + 2 + 1 (racial) = 17.
Yes. There may be rare exceptions here and there (I can't think of any), but yes, that's the formula.
Don't forget you won't have to calculate the DC unless something changes. If you are using the monster straight out of the book, as is, the DC is already listed in the stat-block.
Gauss already mentioned this I'm just repeating it just in case because that would be a lot of extra work for nothing.
One last think since we are kinda on the subject. How do I come up with random DC for unexpected events? Say what if a part of a cave, caves-in, how would I make the reflex save DC? Sorry for asking so many questions I've really only played, never GMed.
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"Characters in the bury zone of a cave-in take 8d6 points of damage, or half that amount if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. They are subsequently buried. Characters in the slide zone take 3d6 points of damage, or no damage at all if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. Characters in the slide zone who fail their saves are buried."
The DC for a cave-in is 15. A cave-in is a CR8 encounter. Basically you figure out what the CR is of the event you want then assign DCs (and other appropriate effects) based on that. There is a certain amount of GMmancy that goes with this sort of thing.
Felorn: The page you want for cave-ins is on CRB p415 in the Environment chapter.
- Gauss
For cases where there are no rules (which I'm mentioning simply because there do happen to be rules for cave-ins, as others have mentioned, and I think you were asking generally), a good rule of thumb to follow is this:
Novice: An untrained person should be okay to succeed - DC 10
Trained: A trained or lucky person should be okay to succeed -DC 15
Expert: A well-trained person or experienced adventurer (L7+) should be okay to succeed - DC 20
Master: A world-class expert or very experienced adventurer (L13+) should be okay to succeed - DC 25+
If your making a DC up on the fly, you can't go far wrong with DC 15.
Read Core Rule Book Page 410-447
Read Game Master Guilde Page 170-251
Read Beastiary 1 Page 290-313
I start with DC 15. Then I ask myself if the task is easy or difficult. If it's something I would expect to be easy I knock the DC down to 10. If it's something I would expect to be difficult I bump the DC up to 20 or 25.