Monster Ability Modifiers

[Geez3r]

I was on the home news page and saw the collected pdf for all the monsters "Announced" so far and began looking over their stat blocks. Upon doing so something caught my eye; at the bottom of most of the stat blocks, it gives the creature's ability scores and in parenthesis, their ability modifiers. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but what I noticed is that the ability modifiers are not consistent.

Let's compare the Bodak Reaver [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 18 soldier] to the Bodak Skulk [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 16 Lurker]:

Strength: The Reaver has a 22 (+15) while the Skulk has a 21 (+13).
Dexterity: The Reaver has a 21 (+14) while the Skulk has a 19 (+12).
Constitution: The Reaver has a 23 (+15) while the Skulk has a 22 (+14).
Intelligence: 10 (+9) vs. 6 (+6)
Wis: 16 (+12) vs. 15 (+10)
Cha: 23 (+15) vs. 23 (+14)


Now, I could very well just be missing something painfully obvious, but right now it seems as if those modifiers are just really random. Anyone care to shed a bit of light on this?

 

[helium3]

I was on the home news page and saw the collected pdf for all the monsters "Announced" so far and began looking over their stat blocks. Upon doing so something caught my eye; at the bottom of most of the stat blocks, it gives the creature's ability scores and in parenthesis, their ability modifiers. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but what I noticed is that the ability modifiers are not consistent.

Let's compare the Bodak Reaver [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 18 soldier] to the Bodak Skulk [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 16 Lurker]:

Strength: The Reaver has a 22 (+15) while the Skulk has a 21 (+13).
Dexterity: The Reaver has a 21 (+14) while the Skulk has a 19 (+12).
Constitution: The Reaver has a 23 (+15) while the Skulk has a 22 (+14).
Intelligence: 10 (+9) vs. 6 (+6)
Wis: 16 (+12) vs. 15 (+10)
Cha: 23 (+15) vs. 23 (+14)


Now, I could very well just be missing something painfully obvious, but right now it seems as if those modifiers are just really random. Anyone care to shed a bit of light on this?

I would assume that they're using some sort of ability score array and assigning the numbers in a manner that fits the creature's "role." Then they add the racial modifiers. Can't quite figure why they have different modifiers for the same Charisma score. That implies either an "error" or monsters DO NOT get a blanket +1 to each ability score per 2 levels.

 

[Storminator]

I was on the home news page and saw the collected pdf for all the monsters "Announced" so far and began looking over their stat blocks. Upon doing so something caught my eye; at the bottom of most of the stat blocks, it gives the creature's ability scores and in parenthesis, their ability modifiers. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but what I noticed is that the ability modifiers are not consistent.

Let's compare the Bodak Reaver [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 18 soldier] to the Bodak Skulk [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 16 Lurker]:

Strength: The Reaver has a 22 (+15) while the Skulk has a 21 (+13).
Dexterity: The Reaver has a 21 (+14) while the Skulk has a 19 (+12).
Constitution: The Reaver has a 23 (+15) while the Skulk has a 22 (+14).
Intelligence: 10 (+9) vs. 6 (+6)
Wis: 16 (+12) vs. 15 (+10)
Cha: 23 (+15) vs. 23 (+14)


Now, I could very well just be missing something painfully obvious, but right now it seems as if those modifiers are just really random. Anyone care to shed a bit of light on this?

The modifiers include the +1/2 level.

Strength 22 gives a +6, and the reaver is level 18 for another +9 = +15
Strength 21 gives a +5, and the skulk is level 16 for another +8 = +13

Nothing more than that.

PS

 

[Knight Otu]

Now, I could very well just be missing something painfully obvious, but right now it seems as if those modifiers are just really random. Anyone care to shed a bit of light on this?

It's the base ability modifier (same as 3.X) plus 1/2 level. Note that these bonuses are for checks, attacks, and the like. Damage (and IIRC some other things) are not affected.

 

[Revinor]

Strength: The Reaver has a 22 (+15) while the Skulk has a 21 (+13).
Dexterity: The Reaver has a 21 (+14) while the Skulk has a 19 (+12).
Constitution: The Reaver has a 23 (+15) while the Skulk has a 22 (+14).
Intelligence: 10 (+9) vs. 6 (+6)
Wis: 16 (+12) vs. 15 (+10)
Cha: 23 (+15) vs. 23 (+14)

Modifiers are like in 3e, plus half level rounded down. This means Reaver has +9 from level, while Skulk has +8.

Str: +6(22 stat) +9 (18/2 lvl) = +15 versus +5(21 stat) + 8 (16/2 lvl) = +13
etc

Everything adds up perfectly.

 

[Flynn]

Let's compare the Bodak Reaver [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 18 soldier] to the Bodak Skulk [medium shadow humanoid (undead) - level 16 Lurker]:

Strength: The Reaver has a 22 (+15) while the Skulk has a 21 (+13).
Dexterity: The Reaver has a 21 (+14) while the Skulk has a 19 (+12).
Constitution: The Reaver has a 23 (+15) while the Skulk has a 22 (+14).
Intelligence: 10 (+9) vs. 6 (+6)
Wis: 16 (+12) vs. 15 (+10)
Cha: 23 (+15) vs. 23 (+14)

The Reaver is 18th Level, so each ability score should be +9, plus the standard 3E modifier, since half of 18 is 9:

Str 22 (+9 base +6 stat=) +15
Dex 21 (+9 base +5 stat=) +14
Con 23 (+9 base +6 stat=) +15
Int 10 (+9 base +0 stat=) +9
Wis 16 (+9 base +3 stat=) +12
Cha 23 (+9 base +6 stat=) +15

That looks good.

The Skulk is 16th Level, so each ability score should be +8, plus the standard 3E modifier, since half of 16 is 8:

Str 21 (+8 base +5 stat=) +13
Dex 19 (+8 base +4 stat=) +12
Con 22 (+8 base +6 stat=) +14
Int 6 (+8 base -2 stat=) +6
Wis 15 (+8 base +2 stat=) +10
Cha 23 (+8 base +6 stat=) +14

That looks good, too.

So, it appears that the numbers match the premise that an ability score modifier is equal to half your level (rounded down), plus your 3E ability score modifier.

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

Edit: Looks like a couple of people posted at the same time on this one. Enjoy!

 

[helium3]

The modifiers include the +1/2 level.

Strength 22 gives a +6, and the reaver is level 18 for another +9 = +15
Strength 21 gives a +5, and the skulk is level 16 for another +8 = +13

Nothing more than that.

PS

Oh right. They're different levels. Durr.

 

[Patlin]

Modifiers are like in 3e, plus half level rounded down. This means Reaver has +9 from level, while Skulk has +8.

Str: +6(22 stat) +9 (18/2 lvl) = +15 versus +5(21 stat) + 8 (16/2 lvl) = +13
etc

Everything adds up perfectly.

Worth noting (and slightly confusing) the +1/2 level doesn't seem to apply to damage... so it's not universal. If you have an 18 strength and are level 10, for example, your strength attack v. AC for 1d6+str damage would appear to be +9 v. AC for 1d6+4 damage.

At least, I think it is.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Worth noting (and slightly confusing) the +1/2 level doesn't seem to apply to damage... so it's not universal. If you have an 18 strength and are level 10, for example, your strength attack v. AC for 1d6+str damage would appear to be +9 v. AC for 1d6+4 damage.

At least, I think it is.

It only applies to ability modifiers to d20 rolls. Skill checks, attacks, that kind of thing.