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Monsters and class levels.

   
Monsters and class levels.

Ok im kinda confused on how this works. Exactly what can get class levels? What are the prerequisites?

Any monster with "Level Adjustment: +X" in their statblock. Even if it's +0.

If it has "Level Adjustment: —", it can't take class levels.

ok, and what book and page does it say that?

The Monsters stat-block should have a listing near the bottom called "Advancement:"
it should either say "By Class level" or have a HD/size advancement listed such as "13-18HD (medium), 19-36HD (large)"

The first one is obvious, you advance by taking class levels and only by taking class levels. Base classes have no pre-requisites and you can take any you care to, prestige classes "or racial paragon classes" have pre-requisites which you have to fulfill normally.

The second is something that is less obvious. According to the monster manual section on the Advancement: stat block
"The monster entry usually describes only the most commonly encountered version of a creature. The advancement line shows how tough a creature can get, in terms of extra Hit Dice. (This is not an absolute limit, but exceptions are extremely rare.) Often, intelligent creatures advance by gaining a level in a character class instead of just gaining a new Hit Die. (See Improving Monsters.)"

This indicates that you can advance by Hit Die or if intelligent by Hit Die OR Character class. For PC's it is usually more beneficial to gain levels in character classes rather than gaining an additional hit die of monstrous human or whatever.

I'm a bit new to DnD myself

so let me get this straight. if you have a creature with say, 4 HD at start and you find a +2 in it's stat block for level adjustment, then it's considered to be a sixth level creature. after that point you can't add any more monster hit dice, which would be not too smart anyways because generally player classes are stronger than your run-of-the-mill monster, yes?

then my question is that of lycanthropes. I see it is a template that can be added to any humanoid or giant, but do you need to have a class level (commoner, barbarian, what have you) before you take the template? is it free to take because of the Hit Dice?

Level Adjustment doesn't actually apply to monsters you're running, only player characters (and badly to them, at that!)

As a DM, all you're interested in is Challenge Rating... and even then only abstractly, as the real question is "Is this monster an appropriate challenge for my players?"

Challenge rating is a tool to assist you in that; it suggests that adding class levels to a monster is +1 CR each, or +1/2 CR for 'nonassociated' or NPC class levels up to a certain threshold, and lesser CR increases for simple monstrous HD.

Yeah, it's a mess.

To simplify:

1: As a DM planning monsters, ignore LA completely.
2: When making tougher monsters, refer to the advancement table.
2a: If it lists advancement by hit die, it's probably not a very smart monster; increase hit die to represent a bigger, tougher monster then the norm.
2b: If it lists advancement by class level, give it some appropriate class levels and feats to better challenge the party.
3: Monsters with class levels should normally have class levels appropriate to their type.
3a: If it's a fighter-type monster, high BaB classes are 'associated'; if it's a sneaky monster, rogue-type classes are 'associated'; if it has intrinsic spellcasting (ie: casts as an X-level Y), then Y is 'associated'.
3b: Associated class levels are +1 CR. Nonassociated class levels are +1/2 CR until they equal the creatures HD; and are considered associated for +1 CR thereafter. NPC class levels are always nonassociated, and only +1/2 CR.
4: For templates, just add the CR mod to the monster. Again, ignore LA completely; the only prerequisites are those explicitly stated by the template (usually a matter of creature type).
5: Aim for a CR appropriate to the challenge you want this encounter to be for the party. As you're doing extra work for this, this should be a slightly more challenging encounter then normal; scrubs you intend the characters to beat up easily don't deserve this much of your attention.
6: These rules are only guidelines. Use what works, not what the rules say should work; your own judgment as a DM must ultimately suffice.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Muar View Post
then my question is that of lycanthropes. I see it is a template that can be added to any humanoid or giant, but do you need to have a class level (commoner, barbarian, what have you) before you take the template? is it free to take because of the Hit Dice?
It's been a while; but I believe that you need one HD for your human/giant and one HD for your lycan-animal. So yes, you need one class lv.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Endovior View Post
1: As a DM planning monsters, ignore LA completely.
2: When making tougher monsters, refer to the advancement table.
2a: If it lists advancement by hit die, it's probably not a very smart monster; increase hit die to represent a bigger, tougher monster then the norm.
2b: If it lists advancement by class level, give it some appropriate class levels and feats to better challenge the party.
3: Monsters with class levels should normally have class levels appropriate to their type.
3a: If it's a fighter-type monster, high BaB classes are 'associated'; if it's a sneaky monster, rogue-type classes are 'associated'; if it has intrinsic spellcasting (ie: casts as an X-level Y), then Y is 'associated'.
3b: Associated class levels are +1 CR. Nonassociated class levels are +1/2 CR until they equal the creatures HD; and are considered associated for +1 CR thereafter. NPC class levels are always nonassociated, and only +1/2 CR.
4: For templates, just add the CR mod to the monster. Again, ignore LA completely; the only prerequisites are those explicitly stated by the template (usually a matter of creature type).
5: Aim for a CR appropriate to the challenge you want this encounter to be for the party. As you're doing extra work for this, this should be a slightly more challenging encounter then normal; scrubs you intend the characters to beat up easily don't deserve this much of your attention.
6: These rules are only guidelines. Use what works, not what the rules say should work; your own judgment as a DM must ultimately suffice.
That... sums it up pretty nicely. thank you.

and thanks Vath. I thought so





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