Ability Modifiers on Official Monsters

[rogueboy]

I've been lurking on the forums for a while trying to get a feel for how 4e's going to work, but I haven't posted until now.

Moving on to my actual question, I've noticed that a lot of the monster stat blocks that have been released have modifiers that don't seem to follow from the 'standard' ability modifier determinations we're used to in 3.x, and what I understand to be continuing in 4e, at least for players.

For example, the Succubus has Str 11 (+4), Dex 18 (+8), Wis 19 (+8), Con 10 (+4), Int 15 (+6), Cha 22 (+10), and the Pit Fiend has Str 32 (+24), Dex 24 (+20), Wis 20 (+18),
Con 27 (+21), Int 22 (+19), Cha 28 (+22). Each monster seems to be consistent across it's stats (a stat that is 2n higher than another has a modifier n higher), but it doesn't seem consistent with the 10 base for PCs, or even with any base value for monsters. The Succubus seems to use 2 as the 'base' (no modifier) stat score, while the Pit Fiend seems to use -16 as the base stat score.

Have I missed something, or is this something that other people have noticed and wondered about?

 

[Shroomy]

Those modifiers after the stats are not the ability score modifiers, they are a number derived from half the monsters level (rounded down) + the ability modifier (which does follow the 3.x progression). These would be the monster's untrained skill/ability check modifiers.

 

[malraux]

Total modifier = 3e modifier + 1/2*level

 

[rogueboy]

Ah, that would make sense. I figured there was probably something simple I was missing, thank you.