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..DMs
ONLY
This
week I'll present two wildly different pieces of advice
for Dungeon Masters: a new way of determining the
Challenge Ratings of templated
creatures, and an off-beat method for handling
invisible characters.
More
Accurate Challenge Ratings
Some
of the CRs for templates in the Monster Manual
don't reflect the true power of the resulting templated
creatures as well as they might. Specifically, the
templates that simply tell you to add a flat number
(usually +2) to the base creatureís CR are not as
accurate as they could be.
The
reason? Some of the templates become more powerful,
the more powerful the base creature is. Half-fiends
and half-celestials, for example, get greater and
greater abilities as the base creature's HD increases.
Other templates, however, are just big packages of
abilities that don't change much. These, like the
vampire, are proportionately more valuable to a low-level
creature than a high level one. In either case, the
resulting CR is often not appropriate to the creature's
actual power level.
The
CR modifications I describe below are not Monster
Manual errata. I don't know if Wizards is going
to do anything about this issue -- this method is
just what I would recommend. Consider using the following
CR adjustments for these templates:
Ghost
Up
to 3 HD, as base creature +3
4
HD to 10 HD, as base creature +2
11+
HD, as base creature +1
Half-Celestial
Up
to 4 HD, as base creature +1
5
HD to 10 HD, as base creature +2
11+
HD, as base creature +3
If a half-celestial does not have the Intelligence
or Wisdom to gain spell-like abilities, use this
CR modification:
Up
to 10 HD, as base creature +1
11+
HD, as base creature
Half-Dragon
Up
to 3 HD, as base creature +3
4
HD to 10 HD, as base creature +2
11+
HD, as base creature +1
Half-Fiend
Up
to 4 HD, as base creature +1
5
HD to 10 HD, as base creature +2
11+
HD, as base creature +3
If
a half-fiend does not have the Intelligence or Wisdom
to gain spell-like abilities, use this CR modification:
Up
to 10 HD, as base creature +1
11+
HD, as base creature
Lycanthrope
Up
to 3 HD, as animal +3 or as character levels would
indicate +1, whichever is higher
4
HD to 10 HD, as animal +2 or as character levels
would indicate, whichever is higher
11+
HD, as animal +1 or as character levels would indicate,
whichever is higher
Vampire
Up
to 3 HD, as base creature +3
4
HD to 10 HD, as base creature +2
11+
HD, as base creature +1
Other
Templates
The
celestial and fiendish creature templates are good
as they stand -- in fact, they use this approach
already. The lich, since it's based on at least
11th-level characters, also looks good as is.
So,
how many times has this happened to you? It's a big
fight, and you turn to the rogue and say, "The
ogre hits you for 8 points of damage." The person
playing the rogue says, "But how can he see me?
I'm invisible!"And just five minutes earlier,
you recall, when the cleric came up to the same invisible
rogue and gave him a cure light wounds spell,
no one thought to point out that the rogue was invisible.
There's a solution for this difficulty, though I warn
you -- it's a bit drastic.
Make
the rogue sit under the table.
Sounds
crazy, right? But it works. Nobody forgets that they
can't see Bill's character if they can't see Bill.
Now everyone immediately remembers that Bill's rogue
is invisible and that extra steps are needed to cope
with that fact. The cleric's player will have to work
out with Bill, whose voice wafts up from under the
table, that the rogue will have to come to the cleric
for healing, not the other way around. You, as the
DM, wonít think to have an NPC accidentally react
to the rogue, but you won't forget about him, either.
Obviously,
this works only if you're playing the game at a table,
but most people do. A more important consideration
is the effect this can have on the game. On the positive
side, it's memorable and fun. On the negative side,
it can get silly and disruptive. Perhaps, if Bill's
character goes invisible a lot, you should use this
strange tactic only for a major encounter -- or maybe
just for a change of pace. Lastly, make sure Bill's
okay with this (it's fine if he's a little
thrown), and obviously let him poke his head up if
there's a map to see and when it's his turn to roll
dice.
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