Radiation drake

[Boedullus]

In Escape from the Prison Moon's alien archives, I noticed the radiation drake's atomic bolt dealt 3d10+3 (plus radiation exposure). For a CR 9 creature, I'd have expected a +9 modifier. Is that an error, a deliberate decision...? I even wondered if the damage from the radiation exposure would add up to 9 on a failed save, but medium radiation (DC 17) would be 7 damage, for a total of +10, so that doesn't seem quite it either. Wondering!

[ghostunderasheet]

Could it suffering from radiation sickness? The attack is just the radiation that its body was able to purge from itself. Eew if that is the case... its vomiting on the party.....

[Tender Tendrils]

Well I tend to expect variations from the npc creation rules when they design creatures for the archive or ap - they are game designers and being able to make judgement calls and tweak things is why they have jobs as professional game designers.

They probably determined that the +9 was too much in addition to the radiation, or they playtested and the drake was too strong in the context of the adventure.