SO, why is the Balor's AC 36 when its Bonuses are +4 deflection, +7 Dex, +16 natural, and –1 size? That's 26 right?
Is this a typo, or does it get a +10 bonus I don't know about.
Errr...AC is 10+Bonuses...
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Shut up with your math!
Follow up question then. If you apply a template with a bonus to Natural Armor to something with Natural Armor do the two bonuses stack, or does it just take the bigger bonus?
Templates replace Natural Armor unless it says it gains a +X bonus TO its natural armor.
EX: The Zombie template gives an NA bonus based on size. It does NOT add to existing NA (just look at any of the zombified versions of creatures with Natural Armor...the bonus is always lower).
Compare/Contrast the Zombie and Vampire templates' armor entries.
Armor Class: Natural armor is based on the zombie's size: <Table Omitted>
Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +6.
Now there's another wording that gives an armor bonus replacement that gives the option to keep the previous, lemme see if I can find an example.
Ah, here we go. An example from the Animal Lord.
AC: An animal lord gains the base animal or base creature's natural armor bonus, whichever is higher, in both of its forms—this bonus is increased by +2 to determine the animal lord's actual natural armor bonus.
That bolded bit show up on a few other templates as well.
So, to sum up:
If it says "It gets Natural Armor +X", it takes that number specifically.
If it says the NA "Improves by X" it's as the base creature +X.
If it says "It gains a Natural Armor bonus of +X, or the creature's own Natural Armor, whichever is higher", take the higher one.
So if I apply the Diamond Template to a Balor it would gain the temporary HP and loose 3 points off it's natural armor because the template would replace its current Natural Armor?
This makes sense, the 200 Temporary HP makes being easier to hit less daunting, but I don't know if(at level 20) it's good enough to justify putting the template on it since they may be dishing out that kind of damage in a few shots.
I can't speak to the intent of that one. It's by a 3rd party publisher, and they don't always use the proper wording.
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The wording of the Diamond template describes it as a 'bonus to natural armor' which seems to suggest that the new number would be added to pre-existing natural armor.
The example diamond spider seems to assume that as well, as it modifies a giant spider (which would normally have a +1 NA) with the template, which, with the spiders Con 12, would add another +1 NA, resulting in a +2 NA, which is in fact what the templated spider has.
That's how I was reading it too, but I think that makes it too hard to hit? It's a +13 bonus on top of it's ac giving it a 50.
So, with +5 weapon, flanking, feats (assume weapon focus and greater weapon focus at least) and max strength (+4 to start +2 for levels, maybe +3 for magic items That gives a level 20 fighter a +38 to hit on his first swing.... Maybe it's not that hard if they fight smart.
This would be the last fight of a fairly long campaign, I just want to make sure they don't get to the end and get steamrolled by the OP Diamond Demon.
Considering that that template increases a creature's CR by 2, it might not even be enough. Two balors would be the same CR encounter.
Diamond Balor Barbarian.
Prepare for pain.
I was thinking Anti-Paladin....
Diamond Balor Aristocrat.
He can oppress like no other.