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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reffy" data-source="post: 5955134" data-attributes="member: 6676309">I've been inactive for a couple of months. Mostly because I got all the information I needed, everyone was very helpfull in my last topic.But I'm stuck again with something. The biggest problem I have is creating monsters/npc's with pathfinder. I will explain how far I got, using the instructions in the bestiary. I will also ask about some other minor problems I had regarding pathfinder.Hopefully you can help me out.Monster creation; Bestiary 1 Pathfinder. Page 290.This shows a step by step guide about how to create a monster. Let's say I want to create a bear as a boss/solo monster for a group of 3 lv2 players. It has to be challenging enough for that group, that they have to work together, and can rarely make mistakes. Otherwise they will lose or have to retrear.So that's the idea I will use. Let's head to step 1.Step 1: ConceptIn this step they ask abouth monster's CR, type, physical appearance and manner of fighting.Ok, I'll fill in everything I know.Type: Animal, cause it's a bear. (appendix 8: Monsters by type. pg317)Physical appearance: Large. Let's make it a brown bear. Manner of fighting: Combat Role. Since it's a bear and it attacks anyone it sees. It fights with it's claws and can also bite/grab. (appendix 13: Monster Roles. pg323.)Now comes CR, Challenge Rating. I said it has to be challenging for a group of 3 lv2 players. So how is CR determined? CR 3 means it's challenging for 1 lv3 character? The bestiary doesn't explain the formula of CR. Where can I find this information. For now, I guess CR3 will be good.Step 2: Target StatisticsI have to use table 1-1, to roughly determine the statistics of the bear, using it's CR.Ok. It's CR is 3. So it has the following stats at the moment.HP 30, AC 15, Attack 6-4, Damage 13-9, Primary Ability DC 14, Secondary Ability 10, Good save 6, Bad save 2.So I can use this as a guideline? Assuming that I have the correct CR?I don't fill in the stats yet?Step 3: Hit DiceSame as step 2, only now I'm determing the Hit Dice. I have to look at table 1-2, see the HD by monster type, and use that as a base.Animal, CR3, so the HD will be 4.So far so good.Step 4: SizeThis is easy. It's large.According to table 1-3, the minimum CR has to be 2. I determined it was 3, so that's allright. Base STR 18, Base DEX 8 and Base CON 14.Again, I have to use this as a base? We don't fill in the stats yet?Step 5: AbilitiesIn this step, we actually fill in the stats?Ok, I will use all the base stats I have, and change it to a bear that should be  equal in power of that of a 3 lv2 group. I hope that sentence has good grammar...HP 40AC 15Attack +5Damage 12Primary Ability DC. Since it's not using spells or spell-like abilities, I can skip this one? This also applies to the secondary ability DC.Fort 6, Ref 2, Will 3STR 18, DEX 9, CON 16, INT 3?, WIS 6, CHA -The bear is incapable of speech? Do they mean a language? Cause bears can communicate. If that's so, his INT will be 9 or 10.Charisma will also be 9 or 10. Doesn't matter that much.I use the base stats I picked in the previous steps. But I don't know how far I can deviate of those stats. Should I compare it to other base stats, and if I deviated too much, I have to change it's CR or deviate a little less.Step 6: Skills and FeatsFor skills, I have to look at table 1-4, but this table is confusing. It says at Animal, Hit Die d8. But "Hit Die" is not the same as "Hit Dice"?What do they mean with "Hit Die" in this table?Also, I notice just now that I have to use this table to determine more than just skills. So skills are not just skills like acrobatics, climb or perception. Skills are also HP, attack bonus and good saves? That's really confusing.Ok, I assume that Hit Die = HP. So for my bear, I pick 4D8 + 10? I just want my bear to have HP around 40.Base Attack Bonus (BAB) = HD x 3/4. With HD, do they mean Hit Die or Hit Dice? I assume it's Hit Dice. So 4 times 3/4 = 3. So that's it's medium BAB.I give it a slight boost, since it's a boss. So I pick 4. I can do that right?Good saves are REF and FORT. Because it's a giant bear, it's REF won't be that good. So I pick REF and Will as good saves, instead of REF and FORT.So for now, I pick FORT 6 and Will 5. Skill ranks. 2 + INT Modifier per HD. Ok...that's (2 + -1) x 4? 1 skill rank per Hit Dice = 4 skill ranks total. I'll use this for 1 rank in Climb, Swim, Survival and Perception.That means I have to give him some better ability scores.New stats. HP 32 - 42. I don't know how to convert that to d8 + X + CON.AC 15.Attack bonus 4.Damage 12 (or D12 + STR?)Fort 6.Ref 2.Will 5.STR 18, DEX 9, CON 16, INT 9, WIS 11, CHA 6.Skill ranks, 1 Climb, 1 Swim, 1 Survival and 1 Perception(spot/listen).Ok. Everything looks good. Now we go to feats.According to table 1-6 I can use two feats. Furthermore, can I use this table to level/delevel excisting monsters?For feats I use Extra Rage and Endurance. I want to give the bear the barbarian rage ability. Or something similiar. How does this choiche affect the overal CR/HD etc? Step 7: Other StatisticsIn this step I can determine AC and damage.Since the bear uses his natural armor. I give him 15 AC + DEX MOD (-1), so his AC will be 14. For damage, I want him to do about 11 damage on an average. So damage will be D12 + STR MOD (+4) = 10.5 on an average hit. That's good enough.The bear doesn't have any other resistances or special bonusses.Speed is 40 ft. Did I miss anything in this step?Step 8: Special Abilities and Qualities.So here I can add the barbarain rage ability. Or in this case, I call it Bears Rage. This rage works the same as the barbarain rage.I wont add anything other than that. But how do I know if I added too much or too less abilities? I don't want the monster to be weak, in this case.Step 9: TreasureLet's keep this simple. The group can poach it's skin, teeth, eyes and they can eat it's meat.Step 10: DetailsThe last step. It's a bear, so it lives in caves and/or forest areas. Alignment is neutral. Reach, since it's large, that will be 2? Ok. I wrote a lot. It actually helped, writing what I did. And seeing this for the second time, I managed to do fine.The things I still don't understand are CR, how it is determined, as I explained earlier.Hit Dice and Hit Die.How many special and/or spell like abilities I can add per CR and/or per Hit Dice.How to make a NPC. But first I want to know how to create a monster. After that, I will ask about NPC's. A final question regarding skill challenges. In 4e, you had a table on the DM screen and in the DMGuide, about skill challenges. You could see easy, medium and hard DC's for a player of a certain level. In pathfinder, you don't have such a table. So I want to use a formula, but I don't know where I can find that. Let's say a player has climb 8. So when he rolls for a climb check, his lowest would be 9 and his highest would be 28. Assuming he doesn't get any bonusses or penalties. His average is 18-20. So a medium climb DC would be 19? Easy would be 14 and hard would be 24?Enough writing for to day. I hope that people can help me with creating monsters in pathfinder. I really like D&D in general, and I love to create my own stories to entertain others. If you can help me figure this out, I would be really gratefull.Thanks in advance.</blockquote>

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