D&D 5E Faridah Stats

[Boarstorm]

Interestingly, WotC posted up MM-style stats for one of their novel protagonists today.

http://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/MM_Farideh.pdf

 

[Boarstorm]

At first glance, the greatclub entry seems to be a copy/paste error from one of the giants.

Also, this:

Special Equipment. Farideh has a rod that adds 1 to her spell save DC and spell attack modifier.

seems to confirm that such magic items are "a thing."

Too bad there isn't a Challenge Rating entry. Would maybe help us pin that down.

 

[Tormyr]

At first glance, the greatclub entry seems to be a copy/paste error from one of the giants.

Also, this:

Special Equipment. Farideh has a rod that adds 1 to her spell save DC and spell attack modifier.

seems to confirm that such magic items are "a thing."

Too bad there isn't a Challenge Rating entry. Would maybe help us pin that down.

Well, she has a +4 proficiency, so she is somewhere between CR9 and CR12. My guess is that as a 12th-level spellcaster, she is CR9, maybe 10 because of the hit points and resistances and such.

 

[Delandel]

She's not built like a monster. She's straight-up a level 12 tiefling warlock PC. Definitely lower than CR 12, probably CR 9 or 10, but since she's a PC and not a monster it's hard to tell.

 

[Tormyr]

She's not built like a monster. She's straight-up a level 12 tiefling warlock PC. Definitely lower than CR 12, probably CR 9 or 10, but since she's a PC and not a monster it's hard to tell.

The NPC mage is built basically the same way. Number of hit dice = level, correct number of spell slots, etc.. The obvious difference here is that she did get all the applicable warlock stuff. Arcane spellcasters CR is pretty much 2/3 of their level, which would have put her at CR8. With all of the PC goodness that she gets and good hit points and magic item, I could see CR9 or CR10 easily. What is interesting here is that there really is not that much difference with an Arcane spellcaster if you roll them up as a PC or as an NPC. The end result is pretty much the same give or take a bunch of traits. So mayber when the DMG comes out, there will not be that much difference in CR between an NPC built as a monster or as a PC.

 

[Delandel]

The NPC mage is built basically the same way. Number of hit dice = level, correct number of spell slots, etc.. The obvious difference here is that she did get all the applicable warlock stuff. Arcane spellcasters CR is pretty much 2/3 of their level, which would have put her at CR8. With all of the PC goodness that she gets and good hit points and magic item, I could see CR9 or CR10 easily. What is interesting here is that there really is not that much difference with an Arcane spellcaster if you roll them up as a PC or as an NPC. The end result is pretty much the same give or take a bunch of traits. So mayber when the DMG comes out, there will not be that much difference in CR between an NPC built as a monster or as a PC.

The mage in the MM follows the monster guidelines. A true wizard would have d6 health, since this mage is a medium-sized monster, it uses d8. It has no wizard class abilities outside of its spellcasting trait -- no ritual casting, no arcane recovery, no arcane tradition. That's fitting for a monster. They have "spellcasting as a X-level spellcaster" as a trait, but they aren't actually that class.

Surf does a great job breaking down monster stats:
http://surfarcher.blogspot.ca/

 

[Tormyr]

The mage in the MM follows the monster guidelines. A true wizard would have d6 health, since this mage is a medium-sized monster, it uses d8. It has no wizard class abilities outside of its spellcasting trait -- no ritual casting, no arcane recovery, no arcane tradition. That's fitting for a monster. They have "spellcasting as a X-level spellcaster" as a trait, but they aren't actually that class.

Surf does a great job breaking down monster stats:
http://surfarcher.blogspot.ca/

Sure, but what I was getting at was this was a case of the monster and NPC creation rules giving pretty much the same result (aside from the long list of traits). I don't have my PHB with me, but isn't the warlock a d8 class?

 

[Delandel]

Sure, but what I was getting at was this was a case of the monster and NPC creation rules giving pretty much the same result (aside from the long list of traits). I don't have my PHB with me, but isn't the warlock a d8 class?

I agree with you, NPCs are monsters that mimic PCs rather well, except they're simplified. Probably to make life easier for the DM. My only point of disagreement is that Faridah was built as a PC, not using monster/NPC guidelines.

Yes, warlock is a d8.

 

[the Jester]

Wow, there's a whole lot to keep track of in that stat block- to me, it's basically a very good argument, almost an advertisement, for designing NPCs as monsters instead of using the PC rules.

 

[Tormyr]

Wow, there's a whole lot to keep track of in that stat block- to me, it's basically a very good argument, almost an advertisement, for designing NPCs as monsters instead of using the PC rules.

Definitely, but some of the traits could "go away" or be moved to actions and the stat block would start looking more normal. A lot of creatures have these things, but they are not listed as traits.

Hellish Reistance Move to damage resistances section.
Greatclub Oops.
Infernal Legacy Move to Innate Spellcasting
Dark One's Blessing, Dark One's Own Luck, Fiendish Resilience Keep as trait
Mystic Arcanum Move to Innate Spellcasting
Pact of the Tome Just mention the grimoire in special equipment and list the cantrips
Armor of Shadows Innate Spellcasting - At will section
Beguiling Influence, Devil's Sight - Darkvision and proficiencies are already listed elsewhere
Eldritch Sight Innate Spellcasting - At will section
One With Shadows - Move to Action section

If you made those changes, you could create an NPC using PC rules and it would still look mostly like a regular NPC. I am not sure what to do with some of the warlock eldritch invocations, namely agonzing blast, as I am not as familiar with warlocks.