| Moorningstaar |
I've been perusing the beastiary for some time now and I'm suddenly less sure of something than I was. Up until now I'd been assuming than when you view a skill or stat you added the conditional bonus in parentheses whenever that condition came up. For instance in the description for Brownie (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/brownie) it says it has acrobatics +8 (+4 jump)
Seems fairly clear that it has a +12 when its using acrobatics to jump.
Yet sometimes these added bonuses seem ridiculous. For instance the Mire Brute: (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/elemental/mire -brute/)
states that it's CMB is +34(+38 grapple). This suggests to me that it's normal cmb is 34 but if it's grappling it becomes a 72. This seems unusually high.
Now if the (bonus number) were lower than the CMB I'd assume it was to be added, but I haven't been able to find any examples of that for CMB. I remember seeing this but its possible I was looking at skills. Both are in the same section so it seems weird that they would change the format, but again, some of these stats seem a bit ridiculous.
Thanks
| B.O.B.Johnson |
Skill bonuses like the one you cited is not an add-on, it's a replacement. Meaning if the brownie uses acrobatics to jump, it gets +4 to the roll, not +8 or +12.
This is because it has a slower speed than 30 ft. Any creature that has less than 30 ft speed takes a stacking -4 on jump checks, while any creature above 30 ft get a bonus +4 on jump checks.
| B.O.B.Johnson |
As to the mire brute, the beast has the 'grab' special attack. If you read the bestiary grab (ex) rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/universal-monster-rule s#TOC-Grab-Ex-) any creature that has it gets +4 on grapple checks as a bonus. So while its CMB is normally +34, if it is making a grapple check, it rolls +38 instead, not 34+38.
It's like Improved Grapple feat. You take that feat, and from then on you get +2 to your CMB on any grapple checks. One key difference there is that while Grab gives +4 to CMB, it doesn't to CMD, but Improved Grapple gives +2 to both CMB and CMD on grapple checks.
| B.O.B.Johnson |
PS, here's the relevant rules on jumping acrobatics: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/skills/acrobatics.html#jump ing
Specifically this line:
Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet. Creatures with a base land speed below 30 feet receive a –4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed below 30 feet.