Post/Author/DateTime	Post
eyelessgame 09-01-06, 07:49 PM	A spirit naga has 9 HD and casts spells as a 7th level sorcerer. Suppose I advance this spirit naga to 27th HD. By the RAW, it would seem that the resulting creature still casts spells only as a 7th level sorcerer. If I were to choose to increase this large naga's caster level by, say, four (to 11th level), how would that affect its CR? Since there's very little to a sorcerer beyond his spell list and metamagic, and the advanced naga has six additional feats, surely this boosts the CR by 2 at least... should it boost more?
dok 09-01-06, 07:58 PM	Suppose I advance this spirit naga to 27th HD. By the RAW, it would seem that the resulting creature still casts spells only as a 7th level sorcerer. That's correct. Advancing a creature by hit dice makes them bigger, stronger, and better physical combatants. But it won't increase things like spellcasting ability, or add new or unique special abilities. That's what advancing by character class or adding templates are for. If I were to choose to increase this large naga's caster level by, say, four (to 11th level), how would that affect its CR? It would increase it's CR by almost the same amount as if you added 4 levels of Sorcerer: +4 CR. The correct approach, though, isn't to arbitrarily increase the caster level, but to advance the creature by character class. So instead of advancing the Spirit Naga by +18 HD (+5.5 CR, approximately), you advance it by only +4 HD (+2 CR) and then give it four levels of Sorcerer. (associated class levels add +1 CR per level) It's still Large, but instead of getting the Average BAB, d8 hit dice, and boost to its Poison and Gaze DCs, it gets two additional levels of spells to cast.
eyelessgame 09-01-06, 08:13 PM	The correct approach, though, isn't to arbitrarily increase the caster level, but to advance the creature by character class. So instead of advancing the Spirit Naga by +18 HD (+5.5 CR, approximately), you advance it by only +4 HD (+2 CR) and then give it four levels of Sorcerer. (associated class levels add +1 CR per level) It's still Large, but instead of getting the Average BAB, d8 hit dice, and boost to its Poison and Gaze DCs, it gets two additional levels of spells to cast. I was only reluctant to do this because, well, the monster doesn't list "By character class" under Advancement. Moreover, does advancement by character class pick up where it left off? Does a naga with 4 levels of sorcerer cast sorcerer, cleric, Evil and Chaos domain spells at 11th level?
dok 09-01-06, 09:06 PM	I was only reluctant to do this because, well, the monster doesn't list "By character class" under Advancement. Pretty much any monster that has an intelligence score and is capable of speech can advance by character class. Creatures with "by character class" listed for their advancement can only advance by character class. Moreover, does advancement by character class pick up where it left off? Does a naga with 4 levels of sorcerer cast sorcerer, cleric, Evil and Chaos domain spells at 11th level? The RAW isn't entirely clear, but a good house rule is to allow them to stack as you'd expect. A Spirit Naga with 4 levels of Sorcerer casts spells as a Sorcerer of 11th level, and may select Spells Known from the Evil & Chaos domains, as well as from the Cleric class list. The other alternatives are partial stacking (11th level sorcerer, but only Known spells from Cleric/Evil/Chaos 3rd level or lower) or no stacking at all (7th level Sorcerer with Cleric/Evil/Chaos access, and 4th level Sorcerer with Sorcerer Access) Of the three possibilities, the first one makes the most sense, and requires the least work to impliment.