How do you progress spellcasting monsters?

[RUMBLETiGER]

I want to make a Nymph NPC with higher level Druidic casting than the base creature posesses. Do I simply progress additional HD and increase Druidic casting as if she gained a level in Druid? Or is there another way to do this?

 

[Starbuck_II]

Add levels a of Druid or Druid Prc, spellcasting stacks (natural + class) in most cases.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Add levels a of Druid or Druid Prc, spellcasting stacks (natural + class) in most cases.

Oohh.... Druid PrC, yeah, I think I'll go that way. Already has a BAB, spellcasting and Wild Empathy, that much allow it to qualify for a number of PrCs.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Just a suggestion, but 3e-based Trailblazer had a recent Kickstarter book "Trailblazer: Teratologue" published that builds upon the SRD monsters. It offers a fantastic streamlined method for advancing monsters over the more complicated ways in the 3.x core rules. It's a $5 .pdf on RPGNow.

 

[Li Shenron]

I want to make a Nymph NPC with higher level Druidic casting than the base creature posesses. Do I simply progress additional HD and increase Druidic casting as if she gained a level in Druid? Or is there another way to do this?

I would do it that way, just adding X class levels, so if the monster normally "casts spells as a 7th level Druid" i.e. has same spell list, spells known, spells per day as a Druid 7, it would now have same spell list, spells known and spells per day as a Druid 7+X. The additional Druid levels would also increase BAB, ST, HP, skills and possibly give some extra abilities, and CR would increase by X.

In case of the 3.0 Nymph (although I can bet that PF has updated this creature) it might be technically a bit different, because the 3.0 SRD doesn't say that a Nymph casts spells as a 7th level Druid but rather "can also replicate druid spells as 7th-level casters". Maybe it is the same, but to me it sounds more like the Nymph can just freely cast whatever spells a Druid 7 could.

In many ways, the 3.0 Nymph was not really meant to be a combat encounter, but once again I could bet that PF heavily changed this.

 

[MarkB]

In case of the 3.0 Nymph (although I can bet that PF has updated this creature) it might be technically a bit different, because the 3.0 SRD doesn't say that a Nymph casts spells as a 7th level Druid but rather "can also replicate druid spells as 7th-level casters". Maybe it is the same, but to me it sounds more like the Nymph can just freely cast whatever spells a Druid 7 could.

Even by the 3.5e SRD this is changed to "cast spells as a 7th-level Druid", to the extent of the stat block including a 'typical' set of memorised spells.

 

[Empirate]

Fun stuff: adding dual-progression PrCs to monsters with racial spellcasting. I ran a Rakshasa Ur-Priest/Mystic Theurge as an NPC once. Powerful stuff. Originally I had thought Rakshasa with the Monster of Legend template for racial Sorcerer and Cleric casting, but Ur-Priest does the job better...

 

[Ahnehnois]

Personally, I just give them a level of spellcasting with every HD they advance as a monster.

 

[Empirate]

Well, this thread is broken. I posted here a while ago and never saw my post - and it's still marked as "unread new posts" whenever I visit the site, in spite of staying the same for days.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

This thread is acting funny, I can see that people have posted from outside the thread, but I cannot see what they have posted, once I open it.