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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5819751" data-attributes="member: 78958">I'd put Zargon at CR 10, 11 at the outmost. Compare to a few other CR 12 monsters and you see why:The Kraken is an eminently good point of departure. It has twice the HP with comparable AC to Zargon. It has much more accurate, more, AND more powerful, attacks. Its Resist Energy spell-like can even emulate your monster's elemental resistances. It is furthermore aquatic (difficult environment built-in), and has a few other interesting abilities. It is generally speaking much more powerful overall.The Roper can also be considered a grappling monster of sorts. It has very low HP for the level and all but average AC, but given its typical tactics, it will at least usually get the first shot off. Cold resistance, fire vulnerability, electricity immunity... roughly comparable to Zargon. With its HUGE SR for the level, the Roper is nigh invulnerable to direct spell damage, anyway. The Roper's attacks initiate something that's similar to grappling, but don't put the monster at a disadvantage, and cannot be defeated easily except with Freedom of Movement. Its nastiest ability is the powerful debuff it puts on anything it touches with its strands. All in all, the Roper is probably about as dangerous as Zargon, generally speaking, but it can be a little more disconcerting to fight, I think. I also think the Roper is a weak CR 12, incidentally.The Colossal Monstrous Scorpion is another grappler. It's colossal, with a Str of 30, so its grapple mod is about as powerful as it gets. It also has TWICE Zargon's HP, and better AC. It has fewer attacks, but it's poisonous (1d10 Con, impossible save DC at the level). It also has a mindless vermin's perks and drawbacks: mind-affecting immunity, but also a distinct lack of imagination. In a straight-up brawl, it beats nine kinds of sheet out of Zargon. It might be easier to get rid of to intelligent opponents.The 11-headed Cryo/Pyrohydra has lower HP, comparable AC, but fast healing 21 (!), and 11 (!) breath weapons. It can't grapple and has no elemental resistance, but has 11 attacks instead of 6, and the [cold/fire] subtype. Overall, it is the more powerful monster, I'd say, although the difference isn't as obvious as with the Kraken or Scorpion. Fast healing coupled with huge up-front AoE damage should push it ahead of Zargon.The Kolyarut has much less HP, but much better AC, which more or less cancels each other out. It also has normal Construct immunities, DR that's hard to overcome, Fast Healing, AND Vampiric Touch at will, making it rather durable overall. Its melee attacks aren't up to snuff, but it has a nasty ranged option in its Enervation rays, which Zargon lacks. Lots of save-or-die/suck abilities, plus Invisibility (also at will) offer quite a few options. It also has non-trivial (for the level) SR. All in all, the Kolyarut has the potential to be a much, much nastier monster than Zargon.Generally speaking, Zargon can't hold a candle to most of these creatures. You might want to consider giving him some kind of offensive/defensive twist to shake things up a little. How about Mirror Image 3/day and a Mind Flayer's Mind Blast 3/day?</blockquote>

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