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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lacyon" data-source="post: 4177574" data-attributes="member: 63046">Why do you even need a template? Build the Evil Twin(s) X levels lower (or higher) out of the PHB.Or, if you're just going to use your PC's character sheet, photocopy it and make a note of the adjustments.Either way, it doesn't need to be in the MM.What? Any DM with a vague awareness of what his PCs are capable of is going to take LESS time to pick among the PCs abilities than the player himself? Can I have some of what you're smoking?Okay. So now giving the phane the ability to summon these guys in its text means that the phane can't have a written XP value, because it's dependent on the PCs level.This is based on a total misreading of my statement. Of course you fight more powerful things. But those more powerful things give you more XP. A creature whose power level scales must have a scaling XP value to match.Then the phane can only actually be a level 26 monster when it faces level 26 PCs (assuming your template balances things that way). Since the PCs could fight one at level 24, or at level 28, its XP value would fluctuate based on the PC level.Meanwhile, if you build, say, 3 level 26 "evil twins" out of the PHB (or even just the monster creation guidelines and copy over some of the PCs powers) and pair it with the phane, you get a balanced level 26 encounter, but you still have the option of building fewer, higher-level evil twins or more, lower-level evil twins, or whatever combination gets you the encounter balance you want.You have the tools to do this. They're in the PHB, the DMG, and maybe even the MM. They're just not put in a monster's stat block, because that's not the right place for them.Then just use the "monster-building guidelines" in the DMG to come up with a monster (or set of monsters) that's an appropriately-level challenge and give them some of the PCs favorite abilities. You still don't need anything in the MM telling you how to do this.If the system works as advertised, the Pit Fiend should be appropriate for a much wider range than just level 18 PCs. Maybe the system breaks down when you're 10 levels apart, but most of the time it should be worth 18,000 XP no matter who its up against.Clearly. But a phane which can summon such evil twins has the XP value of a level 26 Elite monster plus some value that's indeterminate until you know what opponents it's facing.No, I'm telling you that its silly to restate so much information from the PHB and DMG into the MM. I'm telling you that the reason the designers have kept saying that you can stat out NPCs with full PC writeups if you want is because its true. I'm telling you that a creature with a variable-strength summoning spell is itself more like a template than a monster because you can't properly gauge its power level without knowing what it summons.In short, I'm telling you that the designers are better than that. Everything you want should be available, they just didn't spend pagecount presenting duplicate information and making monsters in their monster book that are harder to run than they need to be.</blockquote>

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