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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lareit" data-source="post: 970088" data-attributes="member: 12777">Is there a way to consistently determine a monsters ECL.I tried using CR and HD combined and alone to see if there was a formula that could be derived using the examples in the Dungeon Master's Guidebook but could not deduct any semblance of a consistant formula.My main intrest lies in Salamanders, Slaadi and Illithid, but this is for virtually any monster useable. I can not find a consistant way to determine their ECL. I'm not even certain how certain monsters have such a high ecl at times while others are so much lower.I'm also curious about monster HD and character classes. Are they forced to remain at their base HD prior to taking a chr class or can they advance in their monster HD any and then take a chr class. If they do advance any, does that also determine how many levels their class could obtain from then on?EX:Monster with base 12HD takes 20 levels of fighter.Could same monster who advanced to 16HD before becomming a fighter gain 20 levels or would they be limited to 16 levels.Thanks for your time.</blockquote>