Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Orcmonk220 04-19-07, 05:03 PM	Hiya all I'm designing a Gnoll Druid who I want to be a CR 8 opponent. However, working out the CR slightly confuses me. A Gnoll has: 2d8 Racial HD LA +1 So, what level Druid would the Gnoll have to be to reach CR 8. I'm assuming it's 5, because, well, 5+2+1 is 8. But, I'm not so sure. Cheers Chris
YabaTheWhat 04-19-07, 05:06 PM	The two (CR & ECL) are pretty much unrelated.
Orcmonk220 04-19-07, 05:12 PM	OK, so what level am I looking at here? 6, 7, 8?
Merestil Haye 04-19-07, 05:29 PM	Druid 8. The CR of an advanced creature is calculated using these (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#advancedMonsterCha llengeRating) rules. Because the Gnoll has two racial HD, the rules on associated and unassociated classes are invoked. This means that you must decide whether the Druid is an associated class for a Gnoll. The guidelines suggest that a spellcasting class should be associated if the creature gets casting levels in the class as it advances its racial HD. Since the Gnoll does not, or get a Wis boost, or have Favoured Class : Druid, I would say no. Unassociated classes add one half a CR until the class level in any one equals the creature's racial HD. Remaining levels are considered associated and add 1 to the CR per level. That means the first two levels of Druid add only +½CR each, and the remaining six levels +1 each. Since a Gnoll's base CR is 1, that gives you 1 from the Gnoll, 1 from the first two levels of Druid and six from the other levels of Druid for a total of CR8.
Orcmonk220 04-19-07, 05:32 PM	Cheers for the link. So, would that means a 4th feat, as he's got 10 HD? Cheers Chris
YabaTheWhat 04-19-07, 06:22 PM	Cheers for the link. So, would that means a 4th feat, as he's got 10 HD? Cheers Chris Yes, it gets its 9HD feat.
runestar 04-19-07, 10:08 PM	This makes me wonder why anyone would bother with base races for spellcasting builds when the non-associated class rules make lizardfolk and gnolls that much more useful. A lizardfolk cleric has the same cr as a human cleric of the same lv, yet statistically superior in just about every way...:P
Orcmonk220 04-20-07, 11:01 AM	The problem with this is that you have to factor in LA too. That's what got me confused at first...
Merestil Haye 04-20-07, 12:06 PM	The problem with this is that you have to factor in LA too. That's what got me confused at first...No, you don't. LA has nothing whatsoever to do with a creature that is a challenge for the PCs to overcome. Nothing at all. It only affects creatures that are PCs in the campaign. Ignore it completely in this case.
Orcmonk220 04-20-07, 04:24 PM	I was refering to runester, but not i realise he was referring to NPC builds, not player builds. My bad.